DarthPenguin
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Posts posted by DarthPenguin
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Strength endurance session
Did this using ABF press protocal using 2 x 16kg KB. For this is did total of 60 reps of OH press in 2/3/5/10 style. Minimal rest
Assisted pull ups
-58kg x 11
-58kg x 11
-58kg x 11
Cable neck extension
5kg x 20
5kg x 20
5kg x 20
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Monday 17th November
Karate Session
Standard session. Just worked on grading required kihon and through all of the kata from Heian Shodan to Bassai Dai (in grading i need to do Bassai Dai plus one Heian of examiners choice). Also a few rounds of kumite
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Friday 14th November
Lifting Session
Back squat
20kg x 5
40kg x 3
60kg x 2
79kg x 5
79kg x 5
79kg x 5
79kg x 5
Barbell Bench Press
20kg x 5
40kg x 3
60kg x 2
71kg x 5
71kg x 5
71kg x 5
71kg x 5
Sumo Deadlift
79kg x 5
Assisted pull ups
-58kg x 10
-58kg x 10
-58kg x 10
Cable front raise (weight is per hand and did same for both hands)
7kg x 8
7kg x 8
7kg x 8
this made it clear that proportionately my shoulders are much weaker than the rest so i need to work on them!!
Cable Face Pull
11.5kg x 12
11.5kg x 12
11.5kg x 12
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Tuesday 11 November
Simple conditioning session
did a gentle 7.8kb in 21min on the indoor cycle followed by 2 sets of 15kg cable pullovers as i wanted to see what they were like to do
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Monday 10th November
Lifting Session
Back squat
20kg x 5
40kg x 3
60kg x 2
79kg x 5
79kg x 5
79kg x 5
79kg x 5
Barbell Bench Press
20kg x 5
40kg x 3
60kg x 2
71kg x 5
71kg x 5
71kg x 5
71kg x 5
Assisted pull ups
-43kg x 5
-58kg x 10
-58kg x 10
-58kg x 10
Got some more bands and decided i should start adding these in. Plan is to do higher hep sets and when i get to 15 per set reduce the banding down gradually until eventually none is needed
Triceps overhead single arm cable extension (weight is per hand and did same for left and right)
7kg x 15
7kg x 15
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Saturday 8th November
BJJ Session
We were working de la riva into seated guard. Working simple tripod sweep and also worked a worm guard style one. Also did several rounds of rolling which went ok (apart from getting effortlessly smashed by one of the black belts!)
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Friday 7th November
Lifting Session
Back squat
20kg x 5
40kg x 3
60kg x 2
80kg x 1
90kg x 3
90kg x 3
90kg x 3
90kg x 3
Barbell Bench Press
20kg x 5
40kg x 3
60kg x 2
83kg x 3
83kg x 3
83kg x 3
83kg x 3
Close grip bench
40kg x 10
40kg x 10
40kg x 10
cable chest fly (weight is per hand)
15kg x 12
15kg x 12
15kg x 12
Triceps overhead single arm cable extension (weight is per hand and did same for left and right)
7kg x 10
7kg x 10
One Hand Cable Row (standing) - with "gi grip"
27kg x 3 reps (per hand)
27kg x 3 reps (per hand)
27kg x 3 reps (per hand)
Weighted bridge (used 2 x 14kg kb)
28kg x 5
28kg x 5
28kg x 5
Captain of Crush grippers
identical work done for left and right hands. Same reps and strength for each.
Trainer (60lb) x 50
Trainer (60lb) x 50
Trainer (60lb) x 50
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On 11/17/2025 at 4:28 PM, bushido_man96 said:
11/15/2025
BJJ: 10:00 - 11:00 am. Open mat. Worked from mount position, with bottom player focusing on framing at the hips and trying not to let the arms get up above the top player's waist (which exposes them to isolation and submission and generally other sundry options). Bottom player was also to focus on getting an elbow planted into the ground inside the top player's knee, along with getting slightly onto that side. Top player was trying to isolate an arm. I had a wrist pinned but gave it up because I felt like I couldn't do anything with it; I let go and tried to scoop under the arm. I can't do that! Coach pointed me to a solution: I should have "walked up" to a higher mount position. While working this situational drill my arms got tired and really gassed out. We also switched it up where top player worked on a back step to avoid half-guard and get to side control. If we got caught in the half-guard, we worked on fighting out of that.
I was working with another short, stocky guy like myself and found myself quite off balance in the mount position, which made things even harder to deal with. I couldn't get both knees to sit on the ground to straddle, so I always felt like I was teetering or tottering.
We had a guest coach from a few hours west of us come in that coaches at the other schools that we are now under the umbrella of. He was really great at helping me out, and since we are affiliated, we'll probably have some more visits from him.
you guys still training nogi? You might find that gi suits you more - i prefer it since you can take grips etc and slow things down a little: less reliant on athleticism than nogi (i find anyway).
One suggestion would be to work out one or two moves you would like to implement when in mount (or any position) and try to focus on getting them step by step. Can also see if there is a top level instructor with youtube instructionals etc that is similar build / size to yourself that you think you could copy. Then work on small wins. Using your example above: if you find you are good at pinning a wrist consistently then excellent, work on things from there. Maybe you could then move it up to an Americana etc. So next step is to get it in right place; get second arm in etc. So even if you don't get it on someone you leave training saying "i got my grips, got it in position and they freed their arm", better than last week when couldn't get the grips etc. Also gives you something specific to work on: you can say to your coach "i get them into this position but they escape, what am i doing wrong to leave them the space?" etc.
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On 11/11/2025 at 10:05 PM, Patrick said:
The deluge of gambling ads across sporting events is a plague. I really dislike it, and while there are always going to be avenues to gamble, the accessibility of it is only begging for scandals. Having a toddler who watches sports, I am already getting ready for the eventual conversations about what it is, why he shouldn't do it, etc.
What is strange to me is there is a lot of gambling advertising / sponsorship etc. around football / soccer here in the UK, but typically there are not that many scandals around it. You get the odd one come to light occasionally, the player gets banned / jailed and thats it. I wonder what it is that causes these things to be worse in the US. Is puzzling tbh
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13 hours ago, Patrick said:
We're planning to try to get tickets to the 2028 Olympics here in Los Angeles. It is, of course, kind of silly to buy tickets in January 2026 for something happening in July 2028, but it feels like a once in a lifetime opportunity. Kind of scared to see what those prices look like, though.
Good luck! I didn't try for tickets for the London 2012 games (which is a fair distance but doable) and i had friends who went and said it was great. If you can manage it it would definitely be something to do i think, a once in a lifetime experience. Especially if your mini people will be old enough to take in the experience
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11 hours ago, KarateKen said:
This is exactly it. If enough people decide not to buy the tickets prices will drop.
Part of the problem also is the resale market. Some people are buying up lots of tickets and reselling them at a much higher price. This causes the original prices to be raised also because the entertainer looks at the ticket prices in the resale market and says, "why should a reseller make more money on my tickets than I do?" So, they raise the price to try and match it. Ticketmaster wants that ticket to keep reselling because every time it does, they get more money.
It is basically greed. I don't disagree with people being able to make a fair amount of extra profit etc. but it gets crazy. When a £100 ticket changes hands for £600 etc. then that is simply unreasonable. I liken it to the crazy air fares we get here around holiday time. The govt pass silly rules here around kids not being able to be out of school during the academic year for holidays (regardless of how well they are doing) so airlines blatantly exploit this. As an example i looked at flights for my family of 4, 2 adults 2 kids, last summer to a nearby European destination. Before school hol fares were c.£2k as soon as holidays start they were c.£4k-£6k! I can't see how this is not unfair monopolistic behaviour etc. but it is allowed. Myself i think they should be capped at the median yearly price +10%. That would allow them to make more profit from the increased demand but make it fair. I would like to see something similar for ticket resales tbh
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Tuesday 4th November
Strength Endurance session
KB double overhead press (2 x 14kg kb)
Did this in ABF style with minimal rest. sets of 2/3/5/20 reps. Rests were touch down between 2/3/5 then go again, 45 sec between 5 and 10 and 1min 10 sec after 10 rep set. Ran through 4 times for 80 total reps
Followed with a tri-set:
Bulgarian split squat (weight is per leg)
28kg x 7
28kg x 7
28kg x 7
Lat pulldown underhand
54kg x 8
54kg x 8
54kg x 8
E-Z bar curl
30kg x 5
30kg x 5
30kg x 5
Full session was done in 24min (including putting away all equipment and stretching a little at the beginning plus some isometric stretching at the end)
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Monday 3rd November
Karate Session
Small class but it was good for me to work on things. Ran through, in detail, everything i will need to do for Shodan grading in March. Pretty much managed to get 1-2-1 attention throughout which was great. Multiple rounds of kumite too which was also good with the 2nd dan who was there. Then just ran through all the Heian katas back to back followed by Tekki Shodan and Bassai Dai myself just to get some more practice in
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Sunday 2nd November
Lifting Session
Back squat
20kg x 5
40kg x 3
60kg x 2
80kg x 1
90kg x 3
90kg x 3
90kg x 3
90kg x 3
Barbell Bench Press
20kg x 5
40kg x 3
60kg x 2
83kg x 3
83kg x 3
83kg x 3
83kg x 3
Barbell sumo deadlift
90kg x 3
Biceps E-Z bar curl (tri set with one hand cable rows and triceps pushdowns)
30kg x 5
30kg x 5
30kg x 5
Triceps straight bar pushdown
27kg x 8
27kg x 8
27kg x 8
One Hand Cable Row (standing) - with "gi grip"
27kg x 3 reps (per hand)
27kg x 3 reps (per hand)
27kg x 3 reps (per hand)
Weighted bridge (used 2 x 14kg kb)
28kg x 5
28kg x 5
28kg x 5
Captain of Crush grippers
identical work done for left and right hands. Same reps and strength for each.
Trainer (60lb) x 10
Sport (80lb) x 6
0.5 (120lb) x 2
1 (140lb) x 6
1 (140lb) x 5
1 (140lb) x 5
1 (140lb) x 5
1 (140lb) x 5
Trainer (60lb) x 56
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Saturday 1st November
BJJ session
This session was a combination of working on escapes from pins and also working on transitioning pins. Did a series of games: initially the bottom person had to work on getting to their side; then work on side and getting an underhook; then added on the top person had to keep transitioning pins (So working side>kesa>north south> kesa other side> side > knee on belly etc
After this did a couple of rounds rolling. First one went well but then began to gas a bit and got handled in the 3rd one pretty easily - forgot how to pass an open guard pretty much lol - took my grips and just hung about like an idiot!
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Tuesday 28th October
Lifting Session
Back squat
20kg x 5
40kg x 3
60kg x 2
80kg x 5
80kg x 5
80kg x 5
80kg x 5
Barbell Bench Press
20kg x 5
40kg x 3
60kg x 2
74kg x 5
74kg x 5
74kg x 5
74kg x 5
Barbell sumo deadlift
80kg x 5
Biceps E-Z bar curl (tri set with one hand cable rows and triceps pushdowns)
28kg x 6
28kg x 6
28kg x 6
Triceps straight bar pushdown
26kg x 11
26kg x 11
26kg x 11
One Hand Cable Row (standing) - with "gi grip"
26kg x 6 reps (per hand)
26kg x 6 reps (per hand)
26kg x 6 reps (per hand)
Bulgarian Split Squats (weight is per leg) - identical done with left and right
28kg (2 x 14kg KB) x 6
28kg (2 x 14kg KB) x 6
28kg (2 x 14kg KB) x 6
Captain of Crush grippers
identical work done for left and right hands. Same reps and strength for each.
Trainer (60lb) x 10
Sport (80lb) x 6
0.5 (120lb) x 2
1 (140lb) x 5
1 (140lb) x 5
1 (140lb) x 5
1 (140lb) x 5
1 (140lb) x 5
Trainer (60lb) x 55
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Sunday 26 October
Strength Endurance session
ABC with 2 x 14kg kb
21 sets : classic reps
done EMOM
Underhand lat pulldown
52kg x 9
52kg x 9
52kg x 9
Barbell REverse E-Z bar curl
17kg x 10
17kg x 10
17kg x 10
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Friday 24th October
Lifting Session
Back squat
20kg x 5
40kg x 3
60kg x 2
80kg x 5
80kg x 5
80kg x 5
80kg x 5
Barbell Bench Press
20kg x 5
40kg x 3
60kg x 2
74kg x 5
74kg x 5
74kg x 5
74kg x 5
Barbell sumo deadlift
80kg x 5
Biceps E-Z bar curl (tri set with one hand cable rows and triceps pushdowns)
28kg x 6
28kg x 6
28kg x 6
Triceps straight bar pushdown
26kg x 11
26kg x 11
26kg x 11
One Hand Cable Row (standing) - with "gi grip"
26kg x 6 reps (per hand)
26kg x 6 reps (per hand)
26kg x 6 reps (per hand)
Bulgarian Split Squats (weight is per leg) - identical done with left and right
28kg (2 x 14kg KB) x 6
28kg (2 x 14kg KB) x 6
28kg (2 x 14kg KB) x 6
Captain of Crush grippers
identical work done for left and right hands. Same reps and strength for each.
Trainer (60lb) x 10
Sport (80lb) x 6
0.5 (120lb) x 2
1 (140lb) x 5
1 (140lb) x 5
1 (140lb) x 5
1 (140lb) x 5
1 (140lb) x 4
Trainer (60lb) x 54
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Axel Foley is an excellent choice! Myself i didn't dress up by my kids did: my daughter went as a Disney Princess and my son as Goku
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As a Mariners fan, if my team can't win i like the best team to win (never been one who roots for underdogs as i believe skill and ability should decide who wins rather than luck) so i was pleased to see the Dodgers win as i think they are the best team in baseball by a decent margin. Reminds me of the all conquering Yankees dynasty 20 years ago but with a better pitching staff. Plus is nice to see the player that i think is the clear GOAT in Ohtani get more rings. Only thing left for him to do now is put together a good enough pitching season to win a CY Young. That would instantly become a record that would never be broken i think : CY Young, MVP as a hitter, 50/50 club etc.. Think it could end up being the only record harder to break than CY Youngs wins record.
I wonder if he will fall foul of the same issue Michael Jordan did where he should, in my opinion, have 10-11 MVPs but they gave it to other players such as Karl Malone etc. even though MJ was superior as they had very good years. Ohtani's WAR total is untouchable due to being both one of the absolute best hitters plus a top tier pitcher - so by definition he pretty much has to be MVP every year
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19 hours ago, sensei8 said:
Apparently there’s more very rich wrestling fans that I give credit to. Every seat will be sold out for both days…I guarantee it…all the way from the cheap seats to the tycoon seats. Ha ha cheap seats…cheapest seats go for $674…doesn’t seem to cheap to me.
I love how whenever the powers that be are asked how can they justify the ticket prices and they’ll say…”Las Vegas is the entertainment capital of the world.” Really?!? I’m sure that when I went to Wrestlemania 9 that Las Vegas was still the entertainment capital back then.
Money-grubbing!!
yeah very true, as a non US resident (with tonnes of family all over the US) i find it quite sad the way things have changed over time.
Being apolitical (as i think both sides exploit this) the issues started when the change in media requirements in the late 80s came in (the one where the obligation to be factual / truthful was adjusted). That plus the unwillingness for bipartisan co-operation just leads to lots of problems. We have similar coming into force here where different sides are becoming increasingly polarised. Doesn't seem to happen as much in countries which follow proportional representation as some kind of consensus is required to govern (though there are other weaknesses to that system).
Either way the prices are completely nuts! Brings things into perspective when i was annoyed at the cost the other day when i bought 3 decent tickets for one of the medal nights at the 2026 Commonwealth Games Judo (it is being held in my home city), a large international competition, and it cost me £100!
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How can anyone possibly think that is a sensible and fair price??? Whats next : for a ticket you need to sign us over the deed to your property, minimum value 500k
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Thanks for the detailed response! I think i will try adding in the concentration kicks for definite (i think i used to do these in the past but haven't done them in years so a good idea).
Partner PNF stretching is a good idea too but might be a little harder to implement as not sure if i can easily access someone when in the house etc to help!
The strength point is a good one too - i was thinking that part of the issue might be that the outer hip muscles / my glutes may be weaker than they used to be so i have been trying to do a little more for them. I have tried to add in some sets of sumo deadlifts as i find i always feel them in the outer hip area (i used to do them years ago too), starting light and will eventually build it up - i can already feel it in that specific area when i do the lift. Also been adding in bulgarian split squats as i know they are good for the glute area; good for knee stability too and inner thing part of leg. Found a better way to set up to start them so feeling more comfortable doing them: currently been using 2 x kbs but going to try them soon with a barbell on my back and see how i do!
Will definitely try some of your suggestions though and will let you know how it works out over time
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Hi all,
I have recently been trying to work more on increasing my kicking height and thought asking on here might be a good idea and give me some useful suggestions/ advice!
Currently my kicking height is awful! Mostly waist height for side kicks etc, little bit higher for mawashi geri but not much - sometimes looks more when i am sparring as i am quite tall. Not a structural issue as when i was younger i could comfortably mawash geri above my head; side kick similar etc. so i dont think there is a hip issue or anything preventing me accessing that range of motion. Granted i am older now (soon to be 46) but cant see any reason other than flexibility / mobility why i can't get it back. Is my own fault as ceased to actively work on my flexibility as much when i stopped striking arts years ago and focused on grappling and then got injured etc.
I dug out my copy of Stretching Scientifically by Kurz, gave it a read, and have been working on it daily for the last few weeks.
Current plan i have put together and have been following has been as follows :
Twice Daily (morning and night) :
dynamic stretches: 3 sets of 10 for the following stretches
- front straight leg raises / swings
- sideways leg raises / swings
- backwards leg raises / swings
twice a week ( carried out after lifting session)
isometric / weighted stretching using the following exercises for 2 sets of 15 seconds
- jefferson curl (using a kb)
- side splits (though i am a decent way off it!) using body weight and actively tensing my inner thighs to pull myself in then in the stretch
- front splits (2 sets each for left and right leg forwards) with a kb in each hand
- horse stance (kb in middle)
- butterfly stretch (using kb in each hand on top of knees)
For each of these the second set i try to increase the stretch a little
I know it is a little early to see proper benefits but feels like it is improving a bit. Wanted to see if there is anything else that people would add/remove from the above or if they would change it then what they would recommend! Thanks!
UFC Gambling Scandal
in Pro Fighting Matches and Leagues
Posted
Actually it is the same here - can bet on almost anything: time for first yellow card, player who gets it, number of throw ins, time for throw in's etc. etc.