DarthPenguin

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!

Couple of things i have always found that helped : Diet Wise I am very much 'all in' or 'all out' i find i can relatively easily say no sugar etc. and stick to it, the issue comes when i try to allow myself the odd bit etc. Some others need the odd bit to keep themselves sane. Try to work out which one you are quickly and follow the relevant approach Exercise wise For me i always find that trying to set clear goals/targets helps: eg i want to try to lift x amount by time y etc and then work out a plan to get there. For sticking to it one thing i always found that helped was the penalty of being hit in the pocket! I used to find a friend who also trained (though the training part isn't essential) and we would agree upon some targets/goals to be met in X mths time. If they weren't met you owe the other person £50 or something (has to be enough that you would notice it but not enough to leave you in penury!). That incentive always worked wonders on days when you couldn't be bothered! We always factored in some additional qualifications: eg if demonstrably ill etc it would adjust the target but it was at the sole discretion of the person owed the money to decide if the progress was sufficient! Am sure you will smash it though! 16lbs already is a good achievement!

Are you finding that the rowing is working well for you?

Monday 17 June 2024 Lifting session Bench press 20kg x 5 40kg x 5 52.5kg x 10 52.5kg x 10 52.5kg x 10 52.5kg x 10 52.5kg x 12 Squat 20kg x 5 40kg x 5 60kg x 5 67.5kg x 5 77.5kg x 5 Cable Flyes (weight is per hand) 15kg x 10 15kg x 10 15kg x 10 Cable Face Pulls 20kg x 15 20kg x 15 20kg x 15 Cable biceps curl (superset with triceps pushdowns) 20kg x 20 20kg x 20 20kg x 20 Triceps rope pushdowns 20kg x 20 20kg x 20 20kg x 20 Cable Wood Choppers (reps are total of L + R) 10kg x 20 10kg x 20 10kg x 20 Am enjoying new programme. Have noticed that the number i can 'rep out' at lower weights is lower than the number i should theoretically be able to do due to my max weight. Think this will help by building some volume (and hopefully muscle). Curious to see outcome at end _

Thanks

that must have been scary! Glad to hear it looks like they got to the bottom of it though and it is something that can be dealt with!

I got a Hirota one that i was extremely pleased with. I do Shotokan at a club in Scotland and most people who have been training for a while either use a Hirota or Shureido one with a couple of people using the better models from Kamae (think they are pretty much UK only really)

Thanks

Yeah it's a shame for Chandler, though to be fair to McGregor it's the first time he has ever pulled out of a fight so need to give him the benefit of the doubt. This is also yet another example of Poatan stepping into the breach and gradually becoming the biggest star in the UFC! They may even give him his HW belt shot soon if he keeps stepping up like this!

Grading sat and passed Now need to work on the shodan grading. They are only held every 3mths (unless special events are on) and the locations vary so current target is the end of March one in Scotland as it is the easiest one for me to get to. That gives me 3mths more than the 6mths requirement. The way our grading syllabus works the gradings for all the brown belt grades have pretty much the same requirements. Only differences for the shodan one will be (other than the required standard being higher) that i have one new combination to learn (which we have been drilling in class anyway already) and it is proper jiyu kumite which i do most weeks too! Got a really useful bit of feedback from a 6th dan who was at the grading watching too (our examiner is an 8th dan) on my hikite hand that i couldn't pick up even from a mirror. He noticed that i could have that hand slightly further back but it is consistent on every technique from both sides and exactly the same spot. Worked out that when i look in the mirror it looks exactly right but the slight perspective difference due to angled hips on blocks etc makes it look slightly further back than it is. Should be a straightforward fix though

Wednesday 12 June Karate Session Final exercise session until Saturday! Worked through a dry run of the grading and also did every possible kata i could be asked to perform: will be Bassai Dai and one of the Heian katas. Couple of minor points that were useful too pre grading. Was also a classic case of good news / bad news: during the session i was really pleased with a couple of kicks that were at a much more respectable height for yoko geri than i often get to then suddenly felt a tweak in my hip and was in quite a bit of pain for the next 20min with massively restricted kicking etc. Thankfully it seemed to sort itself and felt ok again by the end of the session and this morning. Will take that warning on board though and be very very conservative with my kick height at least until after grading. Was an interesting feeling though, almost like scar tissue breaking up, so i wonder if i have managed to regain some of my prior motion range without realising it!

Update for this week : taking it quite easy session wise this week as i have my several times postponed 1st kyu grading on Saturday and i don't want to pick up an injury lifting or at judo and have to cancel it again (my CI will probably murder me if thats the case!!). Limiting myself to Monday's BJJ, Wednesday Karate this week prior to Saturday to err on the side of caution!

Monday 10th June BJJ session This session was all on maintaining mount. We worked a lot of games for this too, with goals of separating an arm etc. Was really useful as it showed up i have a massive hole when it comes to separating someones arms if they just ball right up. I usually try to take advantage of them opening up or go for the neck but am pretty shocking it seems at prying an arm free myself! Really useful as it has given me something to work on that i think will give a lot of benefit going forwards

Saturday 8th June BJJ Session Session was focused a lot on getting grips from the back and maintaining back control. Practiced this via a variety of 'games'. Once done this we had a few rounds of rolling at the end which went well. Managed to land several Ezekiels which i always like and also managed to pull off a Flower sweep which i was wanting to start adding back in, though weirdly i managed it to my 'off side'. Was also pleased with my guard passing which seems to be improving slowly All in all session went well

I do hope it goes ahead. If it doesn't due to McGregor pulling out etc. then i really hope that the UFC sort Chandler out - he has given up a lot of time in his career now to chasing the McGregor fight