DarthPenguin

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

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