DarthPenguin

Was an interesting first week - as a Bills fan not sure if i should be happy at the comeback or annoyed that it was needed tbh!

yeah for us my class works a lot of standing (we have a lot of judo black belts too though so it can be painful!) and has wrestling classes too. From those of us who aren't judo black belts, and have been training a while, a lot of us are enrolled in a variety of judo clubs too to work on it! It is good fun but i wish i had picked it up when a lot younger - starting judo in your mid 40s can be rough!

Thought i would check in and ask how the routine is going? Hopefully it is all going smoothly and you are seeing some benefits

Saturday 7 September BJJ Session Session was on closed guard techniques. Worked initially on back take from closed guard, arm drag your opponent, clamp tight (grabbing to far rear armpit), then climb up. Found the final securing back not that great mainly due to being a lot longer than the guy i was practising with so was tough to squeeze in. Then moved to flower sweep from there, assuming not taking back, once arm is trapped go for the sweep. Is a sweep i have always liked so it was good to practice it more. Went from there to drilling scissor sweep if couldn't get arm pinned against you and finished with scissor sweep into and armbar almost straight away. Armbar involved sliding your head side shoulder under the opponents arm as soon as you sweep them over and not coming up all the way, settling instead into armbar. Wasn't the smoothest so need to work on that quite a bit. Then some rounds of positional sparring and 'proper' sparring which both went fine

For me, personally, i would say it is the confidence of knowing you can take a hit etc. Silly as it sounds i can think of multiple times when people have been behaving in a manner they shouldn't and other people have been tolerating it out of worry etc. and i have been confident to speak up and deal with it. I remember my other half telling me once "but you can't say that to them they might hit you" and being nonplussed by my response of "i have been hit plenty of times by bigger people than that who likely know how to hit better" - thankfully there isn't a huge issue with weapons here otherwise would be different! I have also always thought that they are good for making you aware that appearances can be deceiving - plenty of exceptionally skilled and talented martial artists look like they couldn't hurt a fly - best one i can think of is just look at Mikey Musumeci : looks like a quiet, nerdy guy but is an amazing grappler / submission fighter.

Easter Eggs? That sounds intriguing! More seriously, well done Patrick, you have obviously put in a massive amount of time and effort to the update (not even including the work you put in previously making sure the site existed!) so thanks for all the work and it looks good :)

Best of luck tomorrow Patrick, am sure if will all go smoothly! If there is anything you need to help check it is going as expected that i can help with then please let me know.

Monday 2nd September Karate Session warm ups as per usual though a little more leg stretching which is good! lots more kids that adults tonight so the class got split into the 3 adults (one black belt and 2 1st kyu's - including myself) and the kids with another instructor. Lots of work on kata which was really good. Due to the smaller numbers we performed the katas individually which meant it was a lot easier for the instructor to drill down to little points. Got several useful comments and we worked quite a bit on drilling our individual comments. Did some kumite drills next: worked on punching a wall with glove on, with the goal being to just touch and no more, then tested our distance by removing the gloves. Was pleasantly surprised with how non beat up my knuckles were from doing it afterwards which is a good sign! Worked a few footwork drills after too. I am really awful at the stereotypical "bouncing" shotokan footwork, i use much more kickboxing style footwork i think which works better for me (not sure how best to articulate it but less bouncing!). The instructor was adamant that should be bouncing though which was a little sore on my ankles - i will try to adapt over time and see if i can have it as an option when needed going forwards. Really good session though

Tuesday 3 September Lifting Session Seated overhead barbell press 20kg x 5 35kg x 5 45kg x 3 50kg x 2 55kg x 1 55kg x 10 Trap bar deadlift 70kg x 5 80kg x 5 90kg x 3 105kg x 5 120kg x 3 135kg x 5 These felt good - think i could do more if needed which is good but will stick to the planned progression Bulgarian Split squat (superset with cable lateral raises. For both total reps = L + R) 16kg x 12 16kg x 12 16kg x 12 Cable lateral raise 15kg x 23 15kg x 23 had to call it there as needed to take my son to his athletics class

Friday 30 August Lifting Session Bench Press 20kg x 5 40kg x 5 55kg x 3 60kg x 3 65kg x 8 65kg x 8 65kg x 10 Squat 20kg x 5 40kg x 5 60kg x 3 67.5kg x 3 77.5kg x 3 87.5kg x 5 Cable chest fly (weight is per hand) 20kg x 13 20kg x 13 20kg x 13 Cable lateral raise (reps are total of L + R) 15kg x 24 15kg x 24

That sounds intriguing, i didn't realise there was a Sherlock themed one out there - i might just take a look for it next time i am in a bookshop / comic store (usually most weekends!)

sounds like a lot of fun! Also good to be at a bjj class that uses some stand up - too many totally ignore it!

Yeah am curious too! Am gradually beginning to get into it - read the first volume of Berserk the other day which was interesting!

Great, hope it goes well What kind of group classes or do they vary by the session?

Monday 26 August Lifting Session Trap bar deadlift 70kg x 5 85kg x 3 100kg x 3 110kg x 3 120kg x 8 120kg x 8 120kg x 10 Seated overhead press 20kg x 5 30kg x 5 42.5kg x 3 47.5kg x 3 52.5kg x 5 Cable chest fly (superset with bulgarian split squat) - weight is per hand 20kg x 12 20kg x 12 20kg x 12 Bulgarian split squat (reps = toal of L + R) 16kg x 10 16kg x 10 16kg x 10 these are feeling smoother and smoother every week Cable lateral shoulder raise (reps = total of l + r) 15kg x 16 15kg x 16 15kg x 16 Triceps overhead extension 30kg x 16 30kg x 16 30kg x 16