DarthPenguin

Definitely agree here. Tbh there is no such thing as a 'best' martial art, though there might be a best one for an individual. They should try it and see what they think of the instructor and other students. Most decent schools offer a minimum of one free lesson, so worst case you try it and score something off your list. I'd always prefer to have tried the thing and decided for myself that it was crap! But tbh i have found before that anytime i had to 'convince' someone to try that they generally don't stick it out. Proper MA training is hard. You have to have a desire to do it yourself for the effort to be worth it.

Friday 10th June BJJ session - Lunchtime Nogi warm up Practiced techniques from sitting/butterfly guard. Take deep underhook then a shoulder crush grip. Pull opponent onto you for sweep to trapped side Practiced hipping out to an armbar when the opponent shifts weight to the non trapped side to prevent armbar Drilled technique king of the hill style. start with the shoulder crush grip and have to either sweep or submit. opponent has to try to pass to dominant position Then couple of rounds of rolling Was good session, fit in on lunchtime from work

Fingers crossed. Though i'm not sure how they would represent Morgoth since he is depicted as being so massive

It's at least tangentially tied to The Silmarillion, specifically the Akallabeth. We're pretty sure that they have access to the appendices from the Return of the King and maybe some notes. I'm given to think that they have the rights to some very specific passages in The Silmarillion, but only time will tell. That's good to know. I always enjoyed the Silmarillion. If this series does well i would love one that covered Feanor and the downfall of the Noldor. It could lend itself to a multi series epic

Thursday 9th June Lifting session I am currently doing a 2day per week 531 template with Bench and Deadlift on week 1 and Overhead press and Squat on week 2. i am doing a modified version of the BBB assistance when i use the opposite weeks exercises as the assistance (so i do press assistance with bench and squat with deadlift). Starting at 3x10 of each on the first week of the cycle, increasing by 1 set of 10 for the subsequent weeks. After 3 weeks i then add 2.5kg and repeat. I'm doing it this way so that every lift is performed once a week, either a heavy (531) lift or the lighter assistance one Lifts : Bench press: 20kg x 10 40kg x 5 50kg x 3 57.5kg x 5 65kg x 5 75kg x 6 final set felt heavier than usual but my shoulder was feeling fatigued before starting due to the karate night before so i was fine with this Barbell Row (no belt) 60kg x 8 60kg x 8 60kg x 8 60kg x 8 60kg x 8 Have lowered the weight massively here and doing all sets without weight belt. I always used to use a belt for bb rows but i want to try and build up the numbers without it now Seated Overhead press (no back support) 30kg x 10 30kg x 10 30kg x 10 I am doing my overhead press seated on a flat bench with no back support. Can't do them standing as the ceiling in the garage is too low for me to press standing inside Triceps rope pushdown / biceps cable curl superset 25kg x 7 25kg x 7 25kg x 7 25kg x 7 am adding these in as i think my arms are proportionately weaker. Got a cheap plate loaded lat/low pulley machine that i can use for these and face pulls etc KB hammer curl (two hand on one kb) 16kg x 10 16kg x 10 16kg x 10 16kg x 10 16kg x 10 This is a new exercise i had never tried before so i thought i would give it a shot and err on the side of caution. I liked it so will keep it in programme Straight leg raises lying on bench 4 sets of 12

Wednesday 8th June Karate session Warm up first Began with Kihon appropriate to grade. i am 8th Kyu currently and am grading again next week for 7th. After practicing Kihon we then moved to multiple rounds of grading kata. For myself this will be Heian Nidan Did one round of 5 step kumite with a 1st kyu to practice it in advance of grading then put gloves on and did a few rounds of free sparring with a second dan. After this the class did 5 rounds of kata of your choice. I chose my grading kata for all rounds to get in extra reps.

Tuesday 7th June BJJ Nogi session Worked some wrestling takedowns (I am a terrible wrestler) from armdrag to rear body lock Drilled takedown followed by drilling the stand up and break grip from the takedown. Followed this by adding in another takedown in response to opponent standing, taking them down into turtle Added in a rollover from turtle finished with rear naked choke Rounds of drilling technique to see if could turn over turtled opponent and then apply choke. king of the hill style. Winner stays on and attacks the choke Finished with a few rounds of rolling

As i mentioned on the training goals thread i thought it would be an idea to start posting a training log to increase my accountability, and it would also allow people more knowledgeable than myself to chime in if they felt like it! I found Bushido_mans log to be quite interesting and if more people started one then it might lead to some interesting discussions on training methods. Little background on myself and my log : I'm currently 42yrs old, 6'4" and about 105kg (about 230lbs approx). Due to a combination of work and two little kids running about i've been out of the gym too much over the last few years and now am weak as a kitten and out of practice martial arts wise! I've trained in a few martial arts over the years but my current focuses are BJJ and Shotokan. At Shotokan i have decided to regrade as i was away for so long and started again at White belt last October - I started back as i am going to classes with my son. The class is mainly adults but they are fine with him attending as long as i am there too. At BJJ i got my Blue belt in 2014 and have trained inconsistently since due to a lot of injuries, work and the appearance of the mini people. I'm currently looking to do one class session of karate a week plus some more in my own time and 2-3 bjj sessions a week depending on work. Training goals : I want to regrade to Shodan and then subsequently would like to see if i can manage to get to Nidan by the time i turn 50! I would like to get my BJJ purple by the time i turn 45 ideally and then see what happens. Lifting wise i want to recover my prior levels of strength from when i lifted a lot more frequently. I have always been much weaker at Push exercises due to my long limbs so would like to increase them too. Plan is to lift weights 2X per week following a modified version of the 531 programme. Goal is to hopefully match and exceed my prior lifetime PRs though a lot of them are a long way off! Target PRs from past Squat : 150kg x 5 Deadlift : 200kg x 5 Bench : 100kg x 1(much weaker presser) Overhead press : 60kg x 1 BB Row : 102.5kg x 3 (with weight belt) All lifting to be done in garage in home gym. I have a squat rack, trap bar, 7ft bar, swiss bar/football bar, EZ curl bar, 2 x olympic db handles, 180kg in plates and assorted KBs Apologies for the small book for the initial post but thought some background would help for context and encourage myself!

Very true. There is no substitute for time on the mat. Consistent training works wonders (the same in any martial art tbh)

yep, comic batman doesn't just learn them: he completely masters them all. Maybe he applies a time dilation effect: assuming the commonly held figure of 10,000hrs for mastery holds true then he somehow managed to cram 1.27m hours of learning into a couple of years!

what a very appropriate response, cant get any more true than that. Haha thanks!

Thanks, i appreciate the clarification. Since part of the reason for posting a log would be to hold myself accountable i'd likely post my own one, since then i would be faced with "last post on Date X" and that would be a good reminder to keep it active!

Yeah i think there is a massive difference between 'movie batman' who is "relatively" grounded in reality and 'comic batman' who is anything but!

Honestly if it's a brand you like and are comfortable with already then I would just go with that. Gis can vary so much between manufacturer, so if you've found something that you like then stick with it.Yeah that's why i was thinking about their karate gi's. But since i have only ever tried their BJJ ones i was curious if there was a difference in quality for their karate ones etc. Thanks for the input though

Thanks, that seems like a few votes for Shureido and KI so i think i'll check them both out. From a quick look at their sites their sizing options look like they might be a bit better anyway - i'm 193cm so the Isami ones might have been a little small. Thanks for the suggestions

Congrats

Nice to (electronically) meet you

Thanks for the suggestions! I have a couple of Isami BJJ gi's already that i have had for years so they came to mind straight away as a decent brand, but if there are others that are better (and sized better too) then i will take a look

Thats a fair point! I also agreed with your point above about the variety of topics you can easily access on a platform such as facebook. Strikes me as a little like the chicken and the egg scenario: the more posts / active posters then the more people will be interested in participating and the more frequently people will post. This will then lead to more people becoming active and posting more etc. I have noticed though that a lot more posts get views than replies. As a simple example i had posted a message in the gear section with a question i had on Isami gi's and it has been viewed 70+ times but not a single reply

Solid post!! As far as getting another trainer is concerned, I'll not be searching another trainer because I can't trust them at all. That makes a lot of sense. You no doubt have a mental database of plenty of exercises and you know exactly the problems you have so with a little more research you should be able to construct a good programme yourself!

Just read that - an excellent story (and i empathise with the sore hand). I can totally relate to the putting on a brave face and trying to display no injury. I remember several years ago doing one myself where i was breaking a couple of suspended pine board only held at the top (so a speed break) with a ridge hand strike. Performed the technique and broke them. Looked perfect, i had done it and broken them cleanly enough that the top halves of the boards were still in the holders hands. Downside was a i had actually completely messed up and rather than hitting with the normal surface my wrist bone was slightly in front of my hand and i broke them with that. So i'm standing there with people saying how fantastic the technique was etc etc while my wrist is gradually swelling up more and more and going nice and purple! Thankfully no break but was an excellent bruise! Breaking techniques can lead to some amusing stories!

Apologies for raising an old thread from the dead but i thought putting down some goals in black and white where other people can see them might be a good idea (am very tempted by the idea of a log like bushido_man's ) For me challenges are: short/medium/long term -Get my lifting numbers back up : took too long out of the gym and numbers have regressed pathetically. I want to see a gradual improvement on a monthly basis medium term -Earn my next belt at bjj. got multiple injuries and took a lot of time off the mats. Back consistently now and want my purple and onwards! Trying to use the fact that my new coach is a bb now and a former training partner as an incentive that it is indeed doable! -Re-earn my Shotokan Shodan. Have started back and working my way through the grades again. I want to earn every belt and be confident i have earned the bb again when i get it longer term -Progress through the dan grades at shotokan. I'm getting older but i would like to learn more and get more skilled. -Eventually earn my bjj bb (i said it was long term!)

From reading that there are a few immediate red flags that jump out, namely that you had disclosed an existing back injury and he had you perform several exercises that either directly work the back or involve it as a significant stabiliser I would have assumed that he would have had you perform some unweighted exercises that may stress your back first to ascertain what you could do. Working up to deadlifts etc would be the ideal but if you can't do it currently then you get the person to very very gradually work up to it! Personal trainers are a total bugbear of mine - there are far too many bogus ones with smart sounding certifications that are utterly useless running around. As a personal example i got an extremely bad arm injury a few years ago that necessitated 18mths off the mats (a complete dislocation of the elbow with other issues) and was told by physios and the medical people that i would never regain full range of motion. I read up on it and self rehabbed it - have full range now. To paraphrase you directly : you usually sign off with "proof is on the floor" in this instance, factoring in your pain, you should apply the same maxim. This trainer (regardless of how nice an individual and how credentialed they appear) caused you to finish a session injured and in pain. I'd 100% suggest finding a new one Best of luck with the routine though - sounds like you have the two most important parts nailed down already : commitment and willingness to work!

thats the first double episode in the books: what did people think of it? Myself i enjoyed it, couple of small gripes but i was pleasantly surprised

I remember this from when i was a kid but didn't know there was a film. I'll need to get my son to watch it and see what he thinks