DarthPenguin

Honestly, I think the effectiveness of this kind of training with weights is overstated and not really useful. It's easy to fall into, though, because you are lead to believe that you're doing a movement pattern that is specific to your sport/activity. What you really end up doing is shortening the movement pattern from the full range of motion, and you can cause more stress on the knee by doing so. Something to keep in mind when strength training is to remember that strength is a general physical adaptation. You strength train, and you get stronger. You get better at doing your activity by practicing your activity. I honestly think you'll see better results in your MA activities if you just continue to do squats through the full range of motion, making yourself stronger overall, than you will by trying to make lifting weights look like your MA activity. My two cents, but I thought I'd offer. Valid points and thanks for chiming in Totally makes sense. I'm also looking at it like an overload type of thing. Still doing (and won't stop doing) normal full range squats as they are essential i think, but have seen plenty of stuff about the benefits of using partials to get used to having more weight etc on shoulders. Might play about with them still from that perspective but you do make some very good points

Best of luck - hopefully it all goes well just remind yourself of the benefits and hopefully that will help. When my father quit smoking years ago he did so cold turkey but in an interesting way that i think could work for people. He went out and bought several packets of cigarettes and placed them (unopened) in places he would normally see them (in the car, in the living room, upstairs in the house, in his desk at work). He then told himself every day that he had managed to leave them sealed for X days / years so lets see if he could get one more. He always said that having them easily accessible if he had been of a mind to use them helped with the cravings etc. as it wasn't something that he really wanted and couldn't have easily (he was a psychologist and gave this a lot of thought!). He also, initially, put away his usual cigarette spend each week and when it accumulated he bought something larger (he loved cameras so would get new lenses etc.) and reminded himself that he could only buy that because he had not smoked for X amount of time. From then, for the next 30 years or so until he passed away he also still referred to himself as a smoker, just one who had not had a cigarette for a long time. Anyway apologies if the above was rambling but thought it might offer some suggestions!

IT was a funny one but tbh i was hoping KC would take a WR high in the draft. I don't think that is the position that has hurt us most when we play KC. I would have been more worried about a proper 1st round CB (especially since our receivers project to be a little weaker this year).

As a Bills fan i hope you take a WR! Also, i would have preferred you to keep Snead to Chris Jones lol. It is beginning to get to a place like the old 49ers / Cowboys rivalry in the late 90s where the teams basically built a roster to beat the other one. For the Bills we need a team to beat the Chiefs, that is the roster goal! Might lead to some odd decisions on the face of it. E.g. we need a new WR but if a great lineman to try and counter Chris Jones is available maybe that would be better as it will come down to us vs the Chiefs again probably! It reminds me of the Brady/Manning rivalry, and sprinkle in some Joe Burrow in the place of Rothlesberger. I saw a post the other day where Burrow was making statements that the Bengals built their roster to beat the Chiefs. Could be him just playing that up, or could be he really thinks that. These coaches and team presidents have a tough job of building squads to compete with the cream of the crop, but also structuring the team to win the division. So hard to keep doing, and eventually there are some breaks in the cycle. Thats a pretty good analogy actually! Only difference is i think at the time most people thought Manning was the better player but Brady was a better winner. Now, i think most would say Mahomes is just ahead on both fronts!

Tuesday 7 May Lifting Session Seated overhead press 20kg x 5 25kg x 5 30kg x 3 37.5kg x 5 42.5kg x 5 50kg x 11 60kg x 2 Decided i was feeling quite strong so i would try 60kg as it has always been a sticking point for me. Was amazed that not only did i manage it but i managed a double! Chest fly 20kg x 12 20kg x 12 20kg x 12 Triceps pushdown straight bar (superset with biceps rope hammer curls) 25kg x 20 25kg x 20 25kg x 20 25kg x 20 25kg x 20 Biceps rope hammer curl 20kg x 20 20kg x 20 20kg x 20 20kg x 20 20kg x 20

Saturday 4 May Lifting Session Bench Press 20kg x 5 40kg x 5 55kg x 5 62.5kg x 5 72.5kg x 9 Fat Bar bent over row 20kg x 5 30kg x 5 40kg x 5 40kg x 5 40kg x 5 Got myself a new axle style oly barbell with the entire bar as thick as the ends as thought it will be good for grip. Was pleased with it. Took it easy as will build up grip and tendon strength gradually Face Pulls 20kg x 15 20kg x 15 20kg x 15 Triveps rope pushdowns 20kg x 20 20kg x 20 20kg x 20 20kg x 20 20kg x 20 decided to go light but get 100 reps in Anderson squat - about half squat depth 20kg x 5 60kg x 10 70kg x 10 80kg x 10 90kg x 10 Thought this might be worth working on going forwards to work on Judo leg strength. Squat from pins to remove stretch shortening cycle and from rounghly a half squat to get closer to the starting position i will be in when attempting a throw. Will do these as well as normal squats

Thursday 2 May Judo session Really good class though a tough one. Warm ups included carrying someone down the length of the mats (the mats are three competition sized matted areas in a row) on your back and also carrying them on your shoulders in a firemans carry. I had to do it with another guy who is 100kg+ so it was pretty tough! We then worked O-Goshi and a variant where you grab over the shoulder rather than around waist (can't remember the name!). We then got out crash mats and started working more throws: ura-nage, te-guruma , koshi guruma (i get the names mixed up as new but one was the standing firemans carry and the other one is the almost reverse version), o-goshi. Was fun though a heavy session. Split into two mats: one for the bigger people (with 4 of us) and one for the lighter guys (with about 9). So we had lots more reps to carry out since the longer line took more time! Finished with a few rounds of newaza. Was pretty tired but pleased how it went. Worst round was an ultra hw brown belt who passed my guard and when i turtled up was attacking to the back but managed to avoid being submitted or pinned which is good! Managed to pull off a few submissions on a couple of the blue belts which is always good too!

Wednesday 1 May Karate Session Warm ups We went straight into kumite drills. Working gyaku tsuki from static positions then moving, hitting opponent in stomach. Not full power to stomach but controlled contact. Worked quite a few rounds of this then some jiyu kumite. Moved onto kata after this and worked through all katas from kihon kata to bassai dai Really good class - enjoyed it a lot

Tuesday 30th April Lifting Session Trap Bar Deadlift 70kg x 5 80kg x 5 92.5kg x 5 107.5kg x 5 120kg x 11 Incline Barbell Bench Press (superset with pulldown) 45kg x 12 45kg x 12 45kg x 12 Straight arm pulldown with rope 45kg x 10 45kg x 10 45kg x 10 Cable Reverse Curl (superset with triceps pushdowns) 20kg x 10 20kg x 10 20kg x 10 Triceps straightbar pushdown 50kg x 10 50kg x 10 50kg x 10 KB snatch (reps = L+R) 16kg x 20 16kg x 20 16kg x 20

Thats good! Hopefully it stays that way!

I thought that the A's leaving could increase attendance as a farewell this season, but the fans are so fed up with ownership that attendance might drop even further. I don't blame them, ownership ruined that team. I wouldn't spend a penny on them either. I am a full believer in being a bandwagon fan, no reason to give my time and money to some millionaires and billionaires who are not providing a decent product. I root for the same teams, but I don't put time or money into them when they stink year after year, Yeah, I can easily see why the A's decided to move to a Triple A venue next season. I doubt that the A's will be able to fill that venue either. The A's don't sell out at the Triple A venue here in Las Vegas, The Aviators, whenever they play here. Btw, the A's already lose a lot whenever they're here in Las Vegas during the few games they play here during the MLB pre-season. I'd imagine the new stadium would sell tickets just based on interest in seeing it, and because many Vegas residents are transplants who will go to see their team, the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, ect. From what I hear at Raiders games about half the fans are cheering for the visitors. I would expect that to be the case when the A's arrive. Voters in Kansas City recently voted down a proposal to stick taxpayers with money for a new Royals stadium, so maybe the trend of taxpayer funded stadiums will start to die out. What happened in Minnesota was that taxpayers did not want to pay for a new stadium, but the Vikings owner threatened to move the team to Los Angles (this was back in 2010 when LA did not have a team) and the governor supported keeping the team and the taxpayers got stuck paying hundreds of millions of dollars for the new stadium. Now that the Royals stadium funding was voted down, I'd expect the team either to threaten to move or to shake down the elected officials and find a way to stick the taxpayers with paying for at least part of the new stadium. That is how it often happens. Only a handful of NFL stadiums are funded exclusively with private money. I am not sure what it is for baseball, I doubt it is much different. As someone in the UK i always find the taxpayer funded stadiums in the USA staggering for the spiritual home of capitalism. The large football (soccer) teams over here all have to pay for their stadiums themselves and the government wouldn't dare part fund one of them. The English club tottenham built a £1bn stadium (i think it was that!) and it was all self funded, so it isn't as if they are building bargain basement stadiums. Much as i am not a Jerry Jones fan i always had respect for the fact that he financed the new Cowboys stadium himself. I don't see how billionaires, running multi billion dollar companies are entitled to state aid for their stadia, but maybe thats just me!

I haven't read that for years! You have just reminded me that i don't remember the story at all now and it would be worth a reread!

Personally i really enjoyed the show. I wouldn't be averse to them making a new season but i am sure i read online that the show runners were very firm that it is a mini-series and once it is done then thats it done

That sounds awesome! Lots of great training to be had and then a seminar to top it off!

He does a good job of it - plus the UFC used him as a route into the Irish market (both in Ireland and those of Irish extraction in the US) which made them tonnes of money. Personally i can't stand him. Totally abhorrent attitude. I remember an interview he gave years ago about why he got into martial arts in the first place (he was a plumber i think at the time) and his answer was "it gave me confidence when i hit on mens girlfriends that i could beat them up in a fight!". I have always found it amusing that he has never defended a belt he has won, from Cage Warriors all the way to the UFC. Other than Khabib he has also very carefully cherry picked his fights which is why i am surprised he has agreed to Chandler. Chad Mendes caused him a lot of problems years ago with his wrestling and i think Chandler's is better. It's his gas tank that is the issue but maybe fighting at 170lbs, and not having to massively cut weight, will help him deal with that. I had a feeling that they were building up to feeding McGregor to Khamzat to build him into an ever bigger star but his train seems to have stalled out a little due to the visa issues etc

Friday 26 April Lifting Session Seated Overhead press 20kg x 5 25kg x 5 30kg x 3 40kg x 5 47.5kg x 3 52.5kg x 8 Barbell Zercher quat superset with dips 57.5kg x 5 57.5kg x 5 57.5kg x 5 Am enjoying these. Feeling them nicely in upper back band assisted dips (with 20kg band) 4 reps 4 reps 4 reps Single arm preacher cable curl (reps are total L+R) superset with triceps pushdowns 25kg x 20 25kg x 20 25kg x 20 these are beginning to get a lot tougher now, will take a while to move past 25kg per hand i think, which is good! Triceps straight bar pushdown 50kg x 10 50kg x 10 50kg x 10 KB Snatch (reps are tptal L + R) 16kg x 16 16kg x 16 16kg x 16 These felt good. Not done for too long but weather is nice enough i could step out and do them (the ceiling isn't quite high enough for me to snatch a KB in my home gym)

Wednesday 24 April Karate Session Warms ups as per usual Kihon Worked on grading required kihon, seemed to go smoothly Kata Worked every kata from Kihon Kata to Bassai Dai. Couple of minor points to work on (emphasising change of eye location at one point etc) but none of them were recurring ones which is good! Kumite Lots of kumite. Worked several rounds of jiyu ippon kumite and then jiyu kumite. Went smoothly i think though the CI is wanting us to all go in a LOT harder : i landed a couple of blows to one of the Black belts that were 'tocuh contact' which is the usual requirement and was forcefully told to hit them with a lot more power! Slightly unusual for a shotokan class i think but i enjoyed it!

Tuesday 23 April Lifting Session Everything feeling normal again so back to full session Squat 20kg x 5 40kg x 5 60kg x 3 722.5kg x 5 80kg x 3 90kg x 5 was pleased with these as depth was as low as i can physically manage. Have added some mirrors to wall in home gym that i can see when i squat to make sure i don't underdo depth! Band assisted pull up (20kg band) 3 reps 3 reps 3 reps Cable chest flyes (weight is per hand) 15kg x 15 15kg x 15 15kg x 15 Cable pull through 25kg x 10 30kg x 10 35kg x 10 thought i would add these in for more posterior chain work. I liked them so will keep them in though need to work out appropriate weight to use! Single arm reverse triceps pushdown (reps = L + R) 15kg x 22 15kg x 22 15kg x 22 KB Turkish get up 8kg x 2 (per side) 8kg x 2 (per side) also added these in as not done for a long time. Not as smooth as i would have liked but will try to add them in

Saturday 20 April Lifting Session Didn't want to do anything involving tailbone stress as feeling mostly better and didn't want to chance it Bench press 20kg x 5 40kg x 5 50kg x 3 60kg x 5 70kg x 3 77.5kg x 6 These felt food. Decided that as main lift done i would call it there just to be ultra safe

Tuesday 16 April Lifting Session Trap Bar Deadlift 70kg x 7 80kg x 3 90kg x 3 102.5kg x 5 117.5kg x 3 130kg x 5 Incline Barbell Bench 42.5kg x 12 42.5kg x 12 42.5kg x 12 Straight arm rope pulldown 40kg x 12 40kg x 12 40kg x 12 Stopped there as was feeling a little funny in my tailbone region post deadlifts. Looked it up and it is more of a stretching issue. Inj a sign of overreaction i have ordered myself a sturdy looking folding roman chair to work on my lower back strength just in case!

Monday 15 April Lifting Session Pushed for time here so just got main lift in plus one accessory Seated overhead press 20kg x 5 25kg x 5 30kg x 5 37.5kg x 3 45kg x 3 50kg x 7 Triceps overhead extension (did as a drop set to get most in i could to short time) 45kg x 8 40kg x 6 35kg x 6 30kg x 6 25kg x 8 20kg x 8 15kg x 8 10kg x 16

Which is why it is important to train failure of technique in drills. I know that this is something that Noah (Wastelander) preaches, and it is something that I have incorporated into my training. What happens when X technique does not work as intended? You move on to Y. What happens with Y fails? You move to Z and so forth. Karate, and martial arts in general, is not static. It is important to understand the dynamic nature of a confrontation and train for that.As a related point it is why i think people need to make techniques work for THEM. How i will perform technique X based on my frame size and other physical attributes is different to person Y. I think grappling arts usually teach this pretty well e.g. someone will show me a standard Seio-Nage but then mention that in reality as i'm 6'4 i won't often use this in randori unless against someone of similar stature (i think i recall you saying you were 6'6 Montana so am sure you can relate). Is related to why i think pad work is so important to work on punching a quantifiable target and build muscle memory. If i work lots of Jodan punches, then there is really only one person in my karate class that i get anywhere close to having that angle of attack on. For me it is a lot more useful to work on kick defences to torso/upper shoulder region than to my face as most of my classmates are quite open that they can't easily kick me in the face with power (obviously plenty of people could but i don't train with them every week!). etc.

Can i petition for a role as your disciple? For a small cut of the monies received i can attempt to open the eyes of more potential acolytes! (or convince some gullible people to pay us both money - you can choose the definition you prefer!) Yes, my young WORM! You may kiss my feet and I will give you tiny morsels of knowledge that will feed your starving soul! That'll be $250, please... Thats fine, can we agree that it is $250 per new petitioner and i can charge 'incidental' admin costs for every new acolyte i get to sign up no need for you to dig into the size of the admin costs. Any rumours that they are $750 per person are totally false i assure you!

Happy birthday, hope you enjoy your day (and get lots of good loot!)

If you want some older fights to look up : look up Shogun vs Dan Henderson. They had a previous one that was absolutely amazing