DarthPenguin

Well done Kenneth!

I just finished "in the shadow of kings" by Phillip Quantrill. Really enjoyed it. If you like fantasy novels his Echoes series is superb (this is a prequel series). Just started on one of the few Steve McHugh books i haven't read (the vampire one) - it has become quite obvious now though that the protagonist in his varying series is just the same character by a different name: Nate Garrett from the Hellequin books (which i enjoyed) is just Lucas Rurik (from the Riftborn books) is just Miles Watson. That is getting slightly old in this one so i will see how i go with it. Recently finished the 'wizardoms' books too which were an entertaining read

i don't as i lift in home gym and don't fancy tidying up the mess! If it becomes an issue in future i will see about changing: that set was an AMRP set and i had set a target of 15 reps so i was happy with the number anyway - if i think it is impacting performance in future though i might think about it. Tempted to start gradually adding some straight bar deadlifts back in too - i might commit heresy though and do them sumo as i think they would do me good: i used to rotate between sumo and conventional and i think sumo helped my hips a lot

Tuesday 23rd July Lifting Session trap bar deadlift 70kg x 5 85kg x 3 95kg x 1 105kg x 15 was pleased with this though my grip was beginning to slip a lot at the end! seated barbell overhead press 20kg x 5 30kg x 5 52.5kg x 5 47.5kg x 3 52.5kg x 3 Cable chest flyes (weight is per hand) 15kg x 16 15kg x 16 15kg x 16 Bulgarian split squat (superset with one hand cable row : reps are total of L + R) 8kg x 16 8kg x 16 8kg x 16 These felt ok though i am a lot better at these using my left leg than my right. Will improve over time though i'm sure One hand cable row (standing) (reps are total of L + R) 30kg x 24 30kg x 24 30kg x 24 Called session there as it was really hot (for here!) and i was wiped out!

Friday 19 July BJJ Session First Nogi session in years! Really good session. Was working on open guard passing. First worked beginning a knee slice then going for over under then pinching the lower stuffed leg between knees and going for a dogbar; then if they push in hard with their knee shield knee, ducking under it and knee bar using legs (can't think of best way to type out a description!). Final variant if they turn the other way, lots of pressure on leg, free leg, walk round to the side, stepleg over and figure four my legs under them and then either double kneebar or slide up to mount Was really good session and i liked the linkage of the techniques though i am awful at leg locks (i err very much on the side of caution and need to work on applying them a little harder as several times i had the lock fine but was being so gradual with the pressure it seemed like i didn't have it!)

Thursday 18th July Lifting Session Squat 20kg x 5 45kg x 5 55kg x 3 65kg x 1 70kg x 15 Bench press 20kg x 5 40kg x 5 65kg x 5 65kg x 1 82.5kg x 2 Fat Bar pendlay row no belt 50kg x 5 50kg x 5 50kg x 5 Face pull - cable 20kg x 15 20kg x 15 10kg x 15 Triceps rope pushdowns (superset with biceps cable curls) 25kg x 21 25kg x 21 25kg x 21 Biceps cable curls 25kg x 21 25kg x 21 25kg x 21

Wednesday 17 July Karate Session Pretty standard session tbh, just did our warmups, grading required kihon then our grading kata and some kumite. One of those 'just get it done sessions' really tbh

interesting! I am near the end of Season 1 currently so will see if i notice the same; if it is too jarring i will shift to the books!

Monday 15th July Lifting Session Seated overhead press 20kg x 5 30kg x 5 35kg x 3 40kg x 1 45kg x 15 Trap bar deadlift 70kg x 5 80kg x 5 102.5kg x 5 115kg x 3 130kg x 1 Triceps rope pushdown (superseet with biceps curls) 25kg x 20 25kg x 20 25kg x 20 Biceps cable curls 25kg x 20 25kg x 20 25kg x 20 Woodchoppers (reps = L + R) 10kg x 30 10kg x 30 10kg x 30

Saturday 13th July BJJ Session This class worked on several variations of the bow and arrow choke. Was good to get plenty of reps in. Also worked a rolling back take from side control though i can't work out why i wouldn't just go to mount from the setup! (likely biased by my preferring mount to back!). Was an interesting set up: from side control, swim your top arm over and use it to push opponents farm arm further up over their head and shift hips into reverse kesa. Then using my far arm reach over and pull opponents legs to my side, gripping the far leg. Take my nearest leg and perform what is basically a hip internal rotation to hook undr opponents knee and figure four my legs. Then post up on farm side hand with it near their legs and roll through under it. It worked surprisingly smoothly but not something i could see myself doing too often! Then did a few rounds of rolling

Sunday 7th July Lifting Session Bench Press 20kg x 5 40kg x 5 50kg x 5 55kg x 5 60kg x 10 60kg x 10 60kg x 12 Squat 20kg x 5 40kg x 5 65kg x 3 72.5kg x 3 82.5kg x 3 Chest Fly (weight is per hand) 15kg x 15 15kg x 15 15kg x 15 CAble Face Pulls 20kg x 15 20kg x 15 20kg x 15 Biceps cable curls (superset with Triceps rope pushdown) 20kg x 22 20kg x 22 20kg x 22 Triceps rope pushdowns 20kg x 22 20kg x 22 20kg x 22 Cable wood choppers (reps = L + R) 10kg x 22 10kg x 22 10kg x 22

Wednesday 3rd July Karate Session Warm ups as per usual Nothing particularly unusual this session, worked through Kihon, our Kata and a couple of rounds of Kumite. Hall was unusually warm (for here at least) so that seemed about right for the class!

This certainly counts! Comics and Manga are reading! It's how a lot of people get into reading (it's how my daughter did). It's exactly how i am encouraging my sons reading too! He gets to read Manga (nothing bad, he is trying One Piece and Naruto) and has the incentive that if he gets good enough then he can watch the anime shows since they are only subtitled (no dub versions available of them on UK crunchyroll) That's awesome! My kid got started with My Hero Academia and some others. She still prefers Manga and Comics as her main mode of reading, but she reads a lot of traditional books as well now as they catch her fancy.Tried him with My Hero Academia as i like it (i prefer the Anime though) but he wasn't really into it. Myself i'm currently watching through the Seven Deadly Sins Anime and enjoying it a lot

Training sounds like it is going well - sounds like an unusual Aikido class too with a lot of strikes etc. Haven't heard of many like that!

This certainly counts! Comics and Manga are reading! It's how a lot of people get into reading (it's how my daughter did). It's exactly how i am encouraging my sons reading too! He gets to read Manga (nothing bad, he is trying One Piece and Naruto) and has the incentive that if he gets good enough then he can watch the anime shows since they are only subtitled (no dub versions available of them on UK crunchyroll)

Congratulations

Tuesday 2 July Lifting session Trap bar deadlift 75kg x 5 85kg x 5 95kg x 10 95kg x 10 95kg x 12 Seated overhead press 20kg x 5 30kg x 5 40kg x 3 45kg x 3 50kg x 3 Chest fly (weight is per hand) 15kg x 12 15kg x 12 15kg x 12 Bulgarian split squat (reps are total of l + r) 8kg x 10 8kg x 10 8kg x 10 i need to add these in more. Balance is awful on one side! one hand cable row (reps are total of l + r) 30kg x 22 30kg x 22 30kg x 22 overhead cable rope triceps extension (superset) 20kg x 25 20kg x 25 biceps cable curls 20kg x 25 20kg x 25 cut the arm work short as needed to finish quickly to take my son to his athletics class so changed to 2 x 25 reps sets instead of planned 3 x 21

Friday 28th June Lifting session Squat 20kg x 5 40kg x 5 50kg x 5 60kg x 5 65kg x 10 65kg x 10 65kg x 12 Bench press 20kg x 5 40kg x 5 60kg x 3 70kg x 3 77.5kg x 3 Pendlay row fat bar no belt 40kg x 9 40kg x 9 40kg x 9 Face pulls (superset with the rows) 20kg x 11 20kg x 11 20kg x 11 Triceps rope pushdowns (superset with biceps curls) 20kg x 21 20kg x 21 20kg x 21 Biceps cable curls 20kg x 21 20kg x 21 20kg x 21

Saturday 29th June BJJ session This session was all based on open guard retention and then some attacks from there. Worked multiple drills at retaining an open guard. Then drilled some sweeps of your choice from guard of your choice (i worked on de la riva) Finished with some rolling

Wednesday 26th June Karate Session Warms ups as per usual Then we spent a lot of time working drills using shuto uke as a block and then countering. Working footwork and the contact Then ran through all katas and did some kumite

Tuesday 25th June Lifting Session Seated overhead press 20kg x 5 30kg x 5 35kg x 5 35kg x 5 40kg x 10 40kg x 10 40kg x 14 Trap bar deadlift 70kg x 5 80kg x 5 96kg x 3 110kg x 3 122.5kg x 3 Triceps rope pushdown (superset with biceps curls) 45kg x 8 45kg x 8 45kg x 8 Biceps cable curls 45kg x 8 45kg x 8 45kg x 8 Dki erg 1.02km in 2min 25sec Woodchopper (reps = total of l + r) 10kg x 22 10kg x 22 10kg x 22

Ouch, that doesn't sound good about the lack of control at the Aikido class! Isn't the Sensei aware of it? Have a feeling it must be pretty bad for you to be unwilling to put up with it (anyone who can sustain the Uechi Ryu toe conditioning can handle a little pain!)

Yeah for me i don't remember my first testing cycle / grading really as it was in 1985 but what i do remember is the first time i failed lol. I remember sitting my 4th kyu in shotokan when i was 6 i think and being failed by a very stern looking Japanese sensei. In those days there were a lot more people at karate events (from my distant memory anyway) and i remember being out on my own in the middle of a large sports centre performing kata in front of the examiners table with people watching from the sports centre windows etc (no closed curtains in those days). First one that i failed and probably the only one i actually remember a decent amount from when i was a lot younger! I take a totally different perspective now: if your instructor is letting you grade then it is because they believe you are already that grade and you are just getting someone else to watch and give you permission to change your belt/change where you stand in the line at the beginning of class. So just go there and perform as you usually do and you should be fine. If you don't pass, and you performed exactly the same as always, then the failure is on your instructor not on you: you should never have been allowed to sit it!

Congratulations

Excellent, another 10lbs, well done!