DarthPenguin

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!)

Have watched it up to last weeks episode and really enjoying it so far - they have done a great job with it i think. The cast have been excellent - i particularly like Yabushige!

Definitely, i really enjoyed it plus i think it will help my bjj massively. Not jsut from the obvious addition of throws but the different mentality on the ground. I can often fall into the trap of being too reactive on the ground and not forcing the pace. Judo guys are totally not like that - i commented to the instructor that their class newaza pace was more like our competition / competition class pace! That can't do anything but help me longer term i think

Thursday 11 April Judo session First judo session in years! Have wanted to get along and learn it properly but has been really difficult to get the kids to co-operate and sleep themselves! They are fine with it now so i should be able to make it once a week, which while not ideal is still a lot better than nothing. Really good class. Did warm ups then firstly worked on footwork going down the mat and sweeping partner. did this for 2 different footsweeps and then for osoto gari footwork. then practiced some uchi-komi for a forward throw of our choice. I don't know enough so i did the seio-nage i know which is apparently moroto seio nage. Got good feedback on that though then did some drills of 'normal' seio nage so they showed me how to grip properly for it and then we practiced throwing against resistance with another person standing behind and holding uke's belt Then practiced steps into seio nage with opponent stepping forwards. Went onto some newaza and got shown a turnover which was nice using a kimura grip. Did a few rounds of newaza sparring Finished with several rounds of tachwiaza. Had one very helpful black belt show me some useful pointers on footwork and kuzushi for osoto gari to get it to work (plus he showed me why you shouldn't spam it by demonstrating some counters!). Had a few other rounds and got reliably thrown (as expected) but was pleased as i (luckily) managed to pull off a tai-otoshi on someone - likely due to the surprise as they didn't know i knew it! Excellent class and looking forward to next week already

Wednesday 10 April Karate Session Was a small class today so lots of detailed focus on kata (was just me, the CI, other 3rd dan instructor and another black belt) Warm up then went straight into kata. Did every one from kihon kata until Bassai Dai. Lots of good pointers for tiny things that would otherwise not easily be noticed (eg at one spot in bassai dai my left foot was slightly slanted when should be straight so there was a small gap of about 0.5" between my big toes etc. The sort of thing a grading examiner sees but which is hard for the class instructor to spot with many people around

Tuesday 9 April Lifting Session Squat 20kg x 5 40kg x 5 67.5kg x 3 77.5kg x 3 85kg x 8 Assisted band pull up (band is 20kg) superset with cable flyes 3 reps 3 reps 3 reps 3 reps Cable flyes (weight is per hand) 15kg x 15 15kg x 15 15kg x 15 15kg x 15 Band assisted dips (20kg band) superset with heavy barbell curls using oly bar 3 reps 3 reps 3 reps Bicep curls 40kg x 3 40kg x 3 40kg x 3 Single arm reverse triceps pushdown (reps are total L+R) 15kg x 20 15kg x 20 15kg x 20 Kettlebell swings 28kg x 10 28kg x 10 28kg x 10

Saturday 6 April Lifting Session had to cur this one very short due to family commitments, but managed to do planned main llift Bench Press 20kg x 5 40kg x 5 57.5kg x 3 65kg x 3 72.5kg x 8

The dude is loony tunes. A talented player but not a team first guy, and he eats up a big chuck of the salary cap. Vikings fans are saying right now "see, we told ya so!" Yeah it seems an odd one though his production did drop off quite a bit during the year. Maybe they think he is no longer a No.1 receiver going forwards and won't tolerate his attitude any more. One i am still disappointed by is not going in for Henry. I genuinely think he would have made the difference and pushed the team over the edge. Here's hoping the Bills manage to take advantage of the QB heavy nature of this draft to nab an excellent WR near the end of the first round Someone told me that Diggs and Josh Allen were not getting along, not sure if that is accurate. Wouldn't surprise me! If thats the case then they have acted decisively to stop any issues

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!

Yeah it was a great card. For me, i enjoyed the BMF fight a lot - surprised at how it turned out but also surprised that after he got his nose broken Gathje kept ducking down into that back kick to the mid section! You would have thought he would have learnt! Pereira's KO will become iconic i think - will be one of those things that people just won't forget. Then he called out Aspinall for 3wks from now! Doubt that will happen but you never know. He has a large enough frame but i think he would just be too small at the moment if he tried to move up to HW: would need to do a Jon Jones style transformation

The dude is loony tunes. A talented player but not a team first guy, and he eats up a big chuck of the salary cap. Vikings fans are saying right now "see, we told ya so!" Yeah it seems an odd one though his production did drop off quite a bit during the year. Maybe they think he is no longer a No.1 receiver going forwards and won't tolerate his attitude any more. One i am still disappointed by is not going in for Henry. I genuinely think he would have made the difference and pushed the team over the edge. Here's hoping the Bills manage to take advantage of the QB heavy nature of this draft to nab an excellent WR near the end of the first round

cheers - you too! Am looking forward to seeing Bo Nickal's fight: the inevitable collision between him and Chimaev down the line will be interesting! Plus i want to see Poatan keep his belt, and eventually try to move up to HW - he has the frame and i think his power will translate too

Tuesday 2nd April Lifting Session Trap Bar Deadlift 70kg x 5 80kg x 5 95kg x 3 110kg x 3 125kg x 10 Incline Barbell bench press (tri-set with seated machine one hand row and wide grip straight arm pulldowns) 42.5kg x 10 42.5kg x 10 42.5kg x 10 Seated machine row one hand (Reps = total of L+R 50kg x 22 50kg x 22 50kg x 22 Straight arm wide grip pulldown 40kg x 11 40kg x 11 40kg x 11 Triceps rope pushdowns 45kg x 8 40kg x 4 35kg x 4 30kg x 4 25kg x 8 Had to finish quickly so did something i never usually do and did a dropset here!

Saturday 30 March BJJ Session Session covered how to escape from a straight footlock. Firstly we drilled applying the footlock to a grounded opponent from a standing guard pass position. Key details to tighten it up for me were to make sure i put the locking foot on the floor, under me and to post my head onto the floor (not taking my bodyweight) and look up and away when applying the lock. Comes on a lot lot tighter. Then drilled a sequence for escape from the position: clear the foot on hip, stuff it under us, come up to combat base and then either a pass smashing the legs together or a quick step round to knee on belly on other side, depending on the opponents knee frame

Thursday 28 March Lifting Session Squat 20kg x 5 40kg x 5 62.5kg x 5 72.5kg x 5 80kg x 10 Pull up using band for accomodating resistance (20kg) superset with cable flyes 3 reps 3 reps 3 reps Cable flyes 15kg x 12 15kg x 12 15kg x 12 Dips using 20kg band for accommodating resistance superset with heavy barbell curls 3 reps 3 reps 3 reps Biceps barbell curl 40kg x 2 40kg x 3 40kg x 3

Tuesday 26th March Lifting Session Seated Barbell overhead press 20kg x 5 25kg x 5 35kg x 5 40kg x 5 47.5kg x 10 Zercher squat (superset with dips and one hand cable row for a tri set) 55kg x 5 55kg x 5 55kg x 5 Dips (with 20kg band as accomodating resistance) 3 reps 3 reps 3 reps One hand cable row (Reps = L + R) 35kg x 24 35kg x 24 35kg x 24 Triceps pushdown straight bar (superset with biceps curls) 50kg x 8 50kg x 8 50kg x 8 Single arm preacher cable curl (reps = L+R) 25kg x 18 25kg x 18 25kg x 18

Yep i will be watching it. Is a really good card, though i do think the main event is more of a co-main for a big event like this

Congratulations! You have dedicated a huge amount of time and effort to this site - it definitely wouldn't be the same without you!

Sounds great. Do you have some opening thoughts? Taking a stab at this : 1) unannounced attack the smaller guy is getting hurt tbh. I remember a quote from the boxer David Haye when he moved up from Cruiserweight to Heavyweight and he said that any male above 200lb can hit with enough force to ko someone purely due to their mass. Someone 230lb coming up behind someone much smaller and with a unnoticed attack is going to badly hurt the recipient 2) 'Where they can see them coming is a bit harder as it also depends on the style etc. If it is someone who has trained in a style heavy on contact etc then they will likely win as they will probably piece up the opponent and hurt the bigger guy. Something where they are not used to contact may be different i think. Less likely that they will hit hard enough to hold off the larger opponent and when they are grabbed they will be in a lot more trouble What if they were wearing plot armor? All jokes aside, getting hit unexpectedly is a bit like 'riding the lightening.' There's a sudden flash of light, Israel Adesanya crosses your mind, and the rest is up to God. Good point - even more so if the plot armour is Batman's !

that part is exactly what they miss out when it is drilled as 'self defence'. The person who is attacking typically just holds you in a bear hug and squeezes you, they don't do what they would really do and use it for a takedown (i think it's a 'mat return' but my knowledge of wrestling terms is almost as bad as my actual wrestling!). A Bas Rutten style 'heel to the balls' would be more effective! (i have just remembered how much i loved the old Bas Rutten self defense vids - i'm going to go round the house shouting ' looky, looky' now!)

Well done to him - for getting a win at state and for also showing good bottle! Even from afar i am aware that US state wrestling comps are a really good standard so you must be very proud. It is interesting seeing your kids compete: my son was in a judo comp on Sunday too (he is 7 so it was all other 7/8 year olds). Had 4 fights and drew every one lol (though he advance on judges decisions due to aggression etc. I said to him after that in every bout he had his opponent properly loaded into a very deep o-goshi but just didn't bend his knees enough to get the throw - a good learning moment though. He had asked me to video all his fights and actually watched them back and pointed out things he was noticing he could improve himself! Hopefully a good sign Anyway enough of a tangent, well done again to Kenneth! At this rate he might even get a uni scholarship and save you a tonne of money!!

That bear hug escape sounds very similar to one i was shown before as a 'Gracie Self Defense' move in my old bjj school (if that helps looking it up online). Personally i wasn't a huge fan of it as it really only seemed to work reliably when i was a lot bigger or when you know the opponent is just in practice. I have seen a couple of variants of it: one where you base out wide and then straighten one leg and try to take them over it in a throw (pretty like a tai-otoshi), but tbh i doubted this would ever work. Other variant, you step one leg behind the opponent, grab round their waist and lift them, either dropping them on their side or back in an ura-nage type motion. Again i didn't think it was terribly practical as i doubt you could easily step behind the opponent in reality (plus it needed a fair amount of strength in reality to pull off)

Saturday 23 March BJJ Session Good session. Initially went over the Torreando pass then worked on retaining guard when being passed using that: going towards the overall philosophy of get something in the way! Then worked some open guard, transitioning between some guards while opponent was working to pass. Did some positional sparring too : top person working to pass, bottom to retain guard or if possible sweep. Did several rounds which were good

Thursday 21 March Lifting Session Bench press 20kg x 5 40kg x 5 52.5kg x 5 60kg x 5 70kg x 10 Band Assisted wide grip pull ups (used 20kg band) 3 reps 3 reps 3 reps Was please with these as i am crap at pull ups and did every rep from full hang. Want to get these up! Zercher squat (superset with the pull ups) 50kg x 6 50kg x 6 50kg x 6 50kg x 6 These feel good. Think i can start to go up in weight now: was taking a while to get used to the form first Single arm cable preacher curl (reps = l+R) 25kg x 16 25kg x 16 25kg x 16 pleased with these too as 25kg per arm for reps is more than i would have thought i could do a while ago! Triceps rope pushdown (superset with the above) 45kg x 10 45kg x 10 45kg x 10

Wednesday 20 March Karate session First session back post not being able to grade due to my foot. Was a good session. Lots of kata emphasis. Also began to work on the kihon that will be required when i go for my shodan grading (which will be after i pass the next one!) Ran through all the katas from kihon kata to Bassai Dai (inclusive) several times.