DarthPenguin

Tuesday 24th January Lifting Session Seated Overhead Press 20kg x 5 25kg x 5 32.5kg x 5 35kg x 5 40kg x 5 32.5kg x 5 32.5kg x 5 32.5kg x 5 32.5kg x 5 32.5kg x 5 KB Swings 20kg x 10 20kg x 10 20kg x 10 20kg x 10 20kg x 10 KB Gorilla Rows 24kg x 14 24kg x 14 24kg x 14 24kg x 14 24kg x 14 Cable Biceps ciurls 20kg x 13 20kg x 13 20kg x 13 KB Side Bends 20kg x 22 20kg x 22 20kg x 22 Time : 33min Total poundage : 5085kg Density ; 154.1 kg/min

to be fair they are older PR's, not lifting close to that at the moment but i will get back there (other than the BB row and bench which were last year). interesting tip on the pressing volume- i can't make use of it at the moment but will file it away for future! Am looking to get an extension built to my house and my other half is fine with my adding a garage extension with a high ceiling to use as a gym. Having that at home will mean i can more easily add in some sets of presses and pull ups more often - currently i lift in my mothers garage as her house is nearby but that isn't as easy as it being downstairs!

Saturday 21 January Lifting Session Trap bar deadlift 70kg x 5 80kg x 5 92.5kg x 5 105kg x 5 120kg x 5 92.5kg x 5 92.5kg x 5 92.5kg x 5 92.5kg x 5 92.5kg x 5 E-Z Bar curls 20kg x 13 20kg x 13 20kg x 13 20kg x 13 20kg x 13 Triceps pushdowns with straight bar 20kg x 13 20kg x 13 20kg x 13 20kg x 13 20kg x 13 Single arm standing kb press (total reps = L+R) 16kg x 18 16kg x 18 16kg x 18 16kg x 18 Was pleased with this one as i totally could not be bothered to go and lift! The deadlift volume is accumulating but feels good. Is going to be a tough workout once the majority of sets are above 100kg but it will do me good. I used to do high rep deadlifts and it always worked well for me Total time : 41min Total poundage lifted : 8402kg density: 204.9kg/min

Thats an impressive press! Looks like it is trending the right way My presses have always been by far my weakest lift. my lifetime PRs were 200kg x 5 DL (not too bad as was a little more than 2 x bw); 150kg x 5 squat, 100kg bench, 102.5kg x 3 BB row and 60kg press! Have never been able to get above this! If i could ever get to an 80kg press i would be ecstatic! People are generally built to pull or push and i'm definitely built to pull!

Thursday 19 January Lifting session my partner was ill so i needed to stay around the house to pick up mini people from nursery etc so didn't go into office. This meant i missed lunchtime bjj as i need to be in the office to get to it! Did a lifting session instead. Bench press 20kg x 5 40kg x 5 50kg x 5 57.5kg x 5 62.5kg x 5 50kg x 5 50kg x 5 50kg x 5 50kg x 5 50kg x 5 gorilla row (total reps here = L + R) 24kg x 12 24kg x 12 24kg x 12 24kg x 12 24kg x 12 24kg x 12 24kg x 12 24kg x 12 24kg x 12 24kg x 12 was short on time to squeeze a session in with the other half being ill and my right knee was feeling a little cranky so i thought it would just superset gorilla rows with the main lift. Can never get too much rowing!! Grippers T x 12 T x 12 T x 12 time : 31min total poundage : 5280kg density : 170.3 kg/min

Wednesday 18th January Karate session The other 3rd dan instructor taught class tonight as the CI had something come up. Both are 3rd dan so not a massive difference in experience and is always good to get a different perspective! Warm ups similar to usual though slightly more stretching (which is good!) Kihon Performed usual grading kihon, though more reps up and down as not many people at class. Got a couple of useful pointers that are slightly different to usual instructor but very helpful Kata Worked through from Kihon kata up to Heian Godan in sequence. Went through Heian Godan slowly with instructor working on details and then ran through it in my own time multiple times post that. Got good feedback (which is always good!) and a couple of minor things to work on - my back foot in back stance sometimes points slightly back (rather than 90 degrees it is about 105 degrees) spent a lot of time on kata tonight so class was finished with no kumite portion. Good class though and very useful points made

solid weights there! Sounds like the heels cue is helping too. I find sometimes that on a heavy deadlift, the ones that feel the smoothest/lightest it almost feels like my toes are about to lift up off the ground. Good weights on the press too! Have you set targets / goals for them or do you just plan to keep progressing them as much as you can?

I personally find that internal reflection / thought on techniques is exceptionally important. I try to think through what i have done / been doing both pre and post training sessions and evaluate it. Am also a strong believer in visualisation. Empirically, i mentioned in my log that i identified i wasn't gripping actively enough as bjj and have started to rectify it. I came to this realisation on a train when i reached up and grabbed the luggage rack above me while sitting down to explain a point to my son - made me realise the difference between active and passive gripping. For a martial artists development i personally feel that the ability to internally reflect on your technique is massively important and is a point along the path to improving your skills (meaning that as you improve you become capable of doing it)

Yeah not passing on that a student had passed when they didn't is also pretty sketchy. I can think of several issues with that tbh. If the student is an active competitor and there are below black belt competitions then someone could get hurt by an individual that shouldn't ever be there. It also shows a lack of respect for the GM and the testing panel in my view. I would have expected the CI to be formally censured for that personally. Seems straightforward to me tbh, if the CI was concerned about the attitude you either just don't let them grade (and tell them why) or have a stern talking to with them about their attitude. Attitude issues can lead to serious consequences and need actioned. Of course these things are often easier said than done. From personal experience i recall when i was training in a striking style in the past ,and had started to grapple alongside it at a separate club, that i was told by my instructor (who was also the deputy GM) that the GM was planning to ban me for cross training at my upcoming dan grading. He was going to let me pay the £100+ fee etc and then call me to the front and ban me. Needless to say i withdrew from it (though i continued to train with the deputy GM for a while longer as i really rated him). Left quite soon afterwards though. What was particularly galling was i had openly said i am looking to do this as you don't cover this skillset and was told it was fine!

Yeah i agree too. If not, and assuming that people could improve indefinitely then Lennox Lewis would still be world heavyweight champ and GSP would still be UFC WW champ (he still trains like a machine!). If there was no ceiling or limit then in most sports that have a masters division they would be viewed as the real champ!

Additionally, surely (assuming the grading is assessed by an independent individual with appropriate standards) never failing a grading is a good thing? That shows that the candidate was always presented when ready and performed well. That is a good thing in my book! Lots of students failing a lot is a bad thing in my book - shouldn't be putting lots of people forward for things that they aren't ready for.

Congratulations!

To me it raises serious red flags about the integrity of this individuals testing criteria. In essence he is saying that passing a grading can be determined by criteria outwith the individual being tested's martial performance. It's not a massive leap therefore to say that someone could PASS without performing suitably either.

I have always found two things that work : Set out a target/plan of what you want to get to lifting wise and then chart performance against it. I have a spreadsheet that calculates nominal 1rm etc for every lift in every session and then i chart it so i can see trends which is positive. Best motivator i used to find though involved a partner. You both agree some lifting goals/targets and a timescale to achieve them. You then set penalties for failing and they need to be moderately steep but not insane (eg i used to set a lifting target and if it wasn't met i owed my partner £50 etc). Set some parameters as to what is an acceptable fail - eg if injured then can't be held to same timescale and i found that this works brilliantly. Best one i found for PR setting needs a lifting partner that you really really know well and trust. You have THEM set the weight on the bar for you and not tell you! First time i tried that was years ago when i was less weak! I was DL about 120kg at the time for reps and my partner racked a bar. I did my set and he pointed out he had put 160kg on it - he thought i could do it and he was right. Ended up getting a decent amount more than that which i never would have got to myself.

Monday 16th January BJJ Session This was another open guard focused session, mainly focused on de la riva. Started out with a couple of drills on hip escaping. First one was focusing on coming all the way through with the lower leg, keeping it off the ground and coming through enough that shoulders and head are tilter slightly downwards. Second drill was similar but the bottom leg stayed on the ground, linked to elbow, with a slight internal rotation of hips to the lower foot it pointing up (so it could push on a hip etc) Then moved to some drills for moving side to side in de la riva and entering it from open guard with foot on hips. Similar drills to Thursday session. Started practicing tripod sweep from de la riva with details being to pull with the hand grabbing heel and with the gripping hand (sleeve or collar) and push with foot on hip. Works best when opponent is shifting their weight backwards ti take a stronger base. Started to drill then working different sweeps from de la riva based on the direction opponent moved their weight. Instructor ran through the principles of how the sweeps work, based on creating a level using the leg with the trapped foot being the pivoting point. Worked some positional sparring from this position. Initial drill being person on bottom had to keep feet on opponent, person on top had to strip them. Progressed to 'standard' drill of opponent trying to pass, person on bottom sweeping. Only a win when person has clear dominant top position. At one point i escaped to turtle when on bottom and were told to keep fighting from there. Successfully came up into a double leg from there and passed guard using a smash pass variant which i was pleased with. Did leave my head out too much so had to fight out of a guillotine on way round so that is something to work on. Few rounds rolling which went well - managed to pull off an armbar that i spotted by going for it quicker than usual so i was pleased with that. Managed several guard passes too which is always good! Main thing that went well was i had a semi epiphany on Sunday that i was being too passive in my grips. I have extremely long arms so i realised i had been taking a collar grip and just letting my opponent posture up and being content to hold their collar. This is obviously a bit silly and doing nothing so i went into the session actively planning to grip harder and pull my opponent down. Worked really well and managed several sweeps simply from my opponent being so imbalanced from standing by my pulling them down and forwards. Will need to work on this being my standard gripping and not slip back into bad habits! Takeaways : positives : - more active gripping is the way forward (obvious i know but doesn't hurt to remind myself) - was happy with my double under passes negatives / things to work on - work on a stronger grip with my non collar hand - conditioning work is always needed : try to add in more - need to improve flexibility (this is something i had already identified for karate anyway!) - work on core strength more as it will help with certain techniques Overall though was pleased!

Saturday 14th January Lifting Session Slight amendment to ordering of sessions here. I had ended up with the 'heavy' sessions (squat/deadlift) shifting to be midweek due to xmas workout schedules. This doesn't work well with the midweek martial arts training so adjusted. Decided to do the squat session today instead and superset with some shoulder work skipping the shoulder press session allocated for this week. Squat 20kg x 5 40kg x 5 62.5kg x 5 72.5kg x 5 82.5kg x 5 62.5kg x 5 62.5kg x 5 62.5kg x 5 62.5kg x 5 62.5kg x 5 single arm kb press (reps are total L + R) 16kg x 10 16kg x 10 16kg x 10 16kg x 10 16kg x 10 16kg x 10 16kg x 10 16kg x 10 16kg x 10 16kg x 10 Weighted hold 2 x 24kg kb x 1min Thought i would start adding these back in for grip strength and overall structural strength. my 24kg kb's have a fat grip so they are good for this i think. Will try to work up to more time and more sets gradually

Thanks! Plan is to try to fit in a couple of lunchtime sessions a week and see how it goes

Seems quite like the BJJ method of promotion to me which i have always liked (though it does rely a lot on instructor integrity and the importance of lineage)

The deadlift one sounds odd since you seem to be following all of the accepted queues. Only one i haven't heard you mention is the "wedge" one for setup, and pulling back rather than up (though am sure you do both of them already). Only other thing i could think of would be has your foot position in relation to the bar changed at all? Maybe your ankle dorsiflexion has improved and even though your shins are still touching the bar at the start your feet are slightly further away leading to some drift? Only other option i can think of is if you know of a good personal trainer/coach that you would trust, book in a session and get them to look at it and comment. Might even be worth trying one of the online coaching specialists and seeing if they would critique from video? Otherwise good luck. Numbers are still looking good though in spite of the drifting!

Thursday 12th January BJJ Session Trains were sorted so was able to make it to my first lunchtime session of 2023!! Session was focused on de la riva guard which is something i have wanted to practice more for a long time as i often end up in that position in open guard anyway and haven't drilled it much Started by drilling moving from open guard with feet on hips to standing opponent into de la riva Next drill was working on unbalancing the opponent using the de la riva grips/hooks Next drill was working on keeping some kind of open guard on opponent while they attempted to strip grips. was a useful drill Then worked on the balloon sweep from de la riva. Details being to get opponents weight forward and onto your hips. transition the sleeve grip to the opposite sleeve (the non de la riva hook side) and can do from there but is easier if you take collar grip on the same side. Worked left and right sides. Manage ok on both sides but on my left side is better, sweep is more powerful and more overhead, on right side it goes slightly more to the side, though both sweep over. Moved onto some rolling next. Was pleased with it and came out with some things to work on : positives : - pulled off several sweeps including the balloon from de la riva and also the reverse scissor sweep a couple of times - managed to pass guard smoothly a few times and keep top control decently negatives : - need to work on my grappling conditioning A LOT - found that the power in my sweeps etc was dropping massively - need to work on finishing some sweeps better, though this was linked to the conditioning. near the end of the session i landed several sweeps and lacked the energy to push through and finish it so we ended up in a scramble, when earlier i was coming up into side control or mount - need to brush up on my submissions from side control! Was scratching my head trying to think of submissions to go for! - need to go for submissions faster when identified. Had a good armbar opportunity that i lost by being overly laborious with getting into position to finish it. by time i was ready to sit back he was gripping tight and i had to try to finish another way. On the whole though was pleased. Was a good session and some clear things for me to work on going forwards. Will try to do the lunchtime sessions on a Monday and Thursday going forwards (work and transport dependent)

Wednesday 11th January Karate Session Warm ups Usual warm ups done Kihon All the usual kihon techniques though we have been doing them slightly differently recently. Rather than doing 3 x Age-Uke etc we have been chaining together the grade required kihons as a sequence and doing that multiple times : eg age-uke, gyaku-zuki, gedan barai, soto-uke, empi-uchi, uraken, gyaku-zuki etc. I've been quite liking that tbh got some useful points on ushiro geri that i was able to implement quite quickly. Was told i am still doing it more like a prior style i trained in, where you rotate most of the way round then do the kick (so more like a spinning side kick) and should have my rear facing the target more when kicking kata several run throughs of grading kata, seemed to go smoothly, am now working on rhythm mainly Kumite Multiple rounds of required grading kumite for next grade. Then added in some jiyu ippon kumite which will be required at future grades. combinations / kihon At end of class we worked on some more combinations that will be required for future gradings then got called out in pairs to perform them in front of class as if at a grading. Was useful practice

Was just wondering : are you mainly restricting the lifting workouts to 2-3 lifts per day or is there stuff you are not recording? Was just curious as if the former maybe a couple more lighter accessory exercises might help with some of the stability things etc? I know that they can help for me quite a bit - indeed you had pointed out to me that i wasn't doing enough single leg work really ages ago and i have been trying to add some in and it seems to help regardless, they are solid sessions. Is a good solid block of training

Tuesday 10th January Took a couple of days off due to the ankle issue i mentioned in another post but it was fine now so back to it. Also, my other half has realised it is easier for her to put both the kids to bed together rather than us doing one each and staggering it! She said she would prefer me to exercise at that time which suits me fine as it might let me get back to judo also in next few months Lifting Session Trap Bar Deadlift 70kg x 5 75kg x 5 85kg x 5 97.5kg x 5 110kg x 5 85kg x 5 85kg x 5 85kg x 5 85kg x 5 85kg x 5 Tried to do these more as a touch and go which felt a little harder. Usually i do a quick reset after every rep so felt good to do a little differently. E-Z Bar curl 20kg x 12 20kg x 12 20kg x 12 20kg x 12 20kg x 12 These are light and easy but that is the point. am using them for some gentle volume. once i have done a few run throughs of this krypteia template i will likely add in a heavier exercise to accompany the deadlifts but erring on the side of caution for now Triceps straight bar pushdowns 20kg x 12 20kg x 12 20kg x 12 20kg x 12 20kg x 12 Standing one arm kb press (reps are total reps L + R) 16kg x 16 16kg x 16 16kg x 16 16kg x 16 Grippers T x 11 T x 11 T x 11 Total poundage lifted : 7736.5lg time : 44min density : 175.83kg/min

Art, how we do art, is our art. But, does it demonstrate our enlightenment, or does the act of creating art enlighten us further? Perhaps both can be true? And the second sentence seems pretty straightforward: creating art liberates us. It helps us grow, and become more free in the process. Free from restraint, free from all the rules at times, I guess? Personally i would probably say a little of both. Creating art (in this context performing martial arts) can lead to enlightenment in the sense of "ah wait a minute i could do X now or ahhh i can see why we do Y now" equally it could lead to demonstrating it by other people seeing that you have picked up X or learned how to make Y useful. I'm picturing one of those 'lightbulb moments' that people have intermittently. Also, i should say that i have never read the book! Maybe i should!

Definitely. I had a former instructor (he was a police officer who worked in some shady areas here), who taught some interesting stuff too for self defence. He used to teach a lot of improvised weapons stuff - some of which was quite interesting and would never have thought of (eg the 'correct' way to hold an ash tray if hitting someone with it so it breaks into their face rather than your hand). He had a view that when it came down to it it is much better to be in a police station having defenced yourself too roughly than in a hospital bed recovering from a stab wound! Personally i think it is a lot more nuanced than that but i didn't disagree with the base sentiment of self defence being about defending yourself first. He did have some odd things that were required as part of the training, which if i am honest were quite effective but won't go into detail here! He was also totally mental so i stopped training with him after a few years! your point above is also one reason why i am not a fan of generic 'self defence' courses either. People practice a few techniques in a controlled environment for one or a few weeks and then believe that they can safely defend themselves. Takes a lot longer than that to build the muscle memory and that is ignoring the mental aspects of the situation