bushido_man96

3/25/2026 Strength Training Squat: 45x5x2, 115x5, 135x3, 155x1, 170x5, 185x3, 200x1. Clean & Jerk: 95x2, 115x2, 130x2, 130x2, 130x2. I think I strained my back while squatting. Don't know why. It was hurting pretty bad at the end of the session.

3/23/2026 Strength Training Bench Press: 45x5x2, 95x5, 115x5, 135x3, 155x1, 175x5, 175x5, 175x5. Barbell Curls: 50x15, 50x15, 50x15. Triceps Push-downs: 60x15, 60x15, 60x15. Aikido: 6:15 - 7:15 pm. Weapons Class. Bokken focus, warmed up with basic strikes and thrusts, then moved into kumi tachi (paired work) 2 and 3. Finished with jo kata 1 review.

Agreed, we are pulling for you! Get well soon!

3/20/2026 Strength Training Deadlifts: 135x5, 185x3, 225x2, 245x3, 245x3. I felt like I probably could have pulled that first set for 5, but not knowing how much pressure would build up by rep 5 keeps me working the triples.

RIP Chuch Norris. You will be missed.

I think this is pretty cool. Seeing people with prior training and how that affects their current training is fun to see, and fun to learn feedback from. It sounds like your test prep is going really well. Keep up the good work!

3/19/2026 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: 6:45 - 8:15 pm. Two warmup rounds, then into the class focus, which was back control again. The twist this week was that we transitioned between back control and the front headlock position, where we worked on trying to get a D'Arcce or anaconda choke. If the bottom player could escape or re-guard, that was a win and switch roles. I felt better at the end of the session about available options from the front headlock position and figuring out when to cut my losses and transition back over to back control if need be. Free-rolled 2 rounds, 4 minutes each. I got an Americana on another white belt, and also got pointers on trying to do an arm triangle from being on top in half-guard. Then I rolled with coach and got tapped out 3x in that 4 minute span. The new guy that had wrestled was back in class, too, and it seems like he's going to be a permanent fixture going forward, which is great, as I'd love to see the student membership rise. He kind of seemed to figure things out, too, or at least came to the conclusion that it was ok to use lots of pressure like in wrestling. He seemed to be heavier and use his hips better, and he was more than a pain to drill with tonight. Being on bottom a lot tonight really thrashed my arms, too.

3/18/2026 Strength Training Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x5, 122.5x3, 122.5x3, 122.5x3, 122.5x3, 122.5x3. Just in and out today. In the future, I may consider upping weight after the last set for some push presses.

Thank you both for the kind words and support. I enjoy the other sports he does, but wrestling has a special place.

3/17/2026 Taekwondo: 5:45 - 6:30 pm. Traditional Class. I taught this class. Prior to class I reviewed Choong Jang hyung (our 4th dan form). Got the class through all the basics, and I even joined in on a few to get moving a little bit. Added spin outer crescent kicks to the back leg crescent kick basics. Forms and one-steps were done for high orange, low/high green, and 2nd and 3rd dans. Sparring: 6:30 - 7:00 pm. Taught, but also sparred. We did lots of short rounds with little rest, rotating the line each time for a new partner. We had 5 in the class total. I worked on my distancing. The 3rd dan finished off by sparring with multiple opponents (who were younger kids). He started 1v1, then after 30 seconds I had another join in, and the third joined in 30 seconds later.

That's great that you've found a great place to train. What prompted the move? You may have spoken of it, but I have forgotten if you did. ...scratch that. I just caught up on the previous posts. I'm sorry to hear that. Did you ever stop to ask what the deal was? I would assume they would inform you. I'm assuming the new club is the same style/organization?

3/16/2026 Strength Training Squats: 45x5x2, 95x5, 115x3, 135x1, 165x5, 180x3, 195x1. Clean & Jerk: 75x2, 95x2, 125x2, 125x2, 125x2.

Hopefully the find a way to heal that up, Bob. I'll be keeping you in my prayers. I have had an MRI before, and found out I was claustrophobic. Not a good time.

So true! It does feel good to have a little success. I know with BJJ you have to play the long game, and this makes it very difficult. I am very much a white belt all over again. My former TKD instructor and friend from the ATA got his black belt in BJJ a year or so ago, and so I spend a lot of time texting with him about my thoughts and feelings in class and such. He's been a great support, as he always has been over the years for me. 3/13/2026 Strength Training Bench Press: 45x5x2, 95x5, 115x3, 135x1, 170x5, 170x5, 170x5. Triceps Push-downs: 55x15, 55x15, 55x15. Barbell Curls: 45x15, 45x15, 45x15. Supersets for the ancillary lifts. As I go up in weight on the bench, I may consider dropping to sets of 3 to see how that affects how my head feels.

Congrats @Zaine! Very well deserved!

I like all the ideas of published articles, video interviews, and all that stuff. I do also like the idea of an interview of Patrick. I know you're more than willing to stand behind the curtain, but for this milestone, your reflections would be awesome.

Thank you Bob! Nogi for the most part. They do a gi class on the first Friday of the month. I missed it this month. 3/12/2026 Aikido: 8:45 - 9:45 am. Morning class. Loosening and aikitaisos, then technique work. Katatetori kaitenage omote: This felt pretty good. Stepping was smoother. Katatetori kaitenage soto: This is the more direct version, without the extra step in the beginning. This one felt good, too. Katatetori kaitenage ura: This one is getting better. I'm still trying to adjust the footwork. It didn't feel like I was muscling things around as much today. Yokomenuchi sokumen iriminage: After I stopped overthinking the footwork, this one smoothed out. I still have to focus on drawing the hand to the hip and giving a little twist for kazushi. During the first technique, the sensei and I had a little fun with looking at some transitions to some things that would be more practical for me to use at work. It was a little nerd out session, really, and it's always fun. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: 6:45 - 8:15 pm. Couple of 3-minute warmup rounds during which I got some pointers with getting past half-guard. Class focus was on back control again. We started out working with the top player trying to retain the position and isolate the head or an arm. Bottom player was trying to escape or re-guard. While on bottom I found the baseball bat grip on the arm and bringing over the head helped with the escape. I also found that when I would pressure back into the top player while on bottom and worked on getting my head to the floor, that helped with getting my back to the floor and getting out. When on top and getting pressured back, we progressed to letting a hook go and repositioning the hips back under the opponent to prevent escape, or releasing the hooks and going under the legs, then lifting and sitting back up and getting the chest-to-back connection re-established. We progressed to working to a RNC or armbar for finish. Funny point: in one of the drills, I had a baseball bat grip with my thumb around the wrist, and somehow this got me into a spot where I couldn't release the grip and my own thumb was blocking me; it was a thumb lock! It led to getting me armbarred. We finished with open rolling. Coach said I'm doing some good things movement-wise, I just got to keep at it. I rolled with a new guy who had wrestled in high school, but was a few years out of high school. While we were rolling he bellied out and I eventually worked a crossface into a RNC for the tap-out! It felt pretty good.

Back from the state tournament. On day one we found out just how tough a tournament this was going to be (which it always is). The number one seed was a great big grown man...looked like he had a mortgage. He won the 6A high school state championship...in the heavyweight division...and he showed here to wrestle 215. Also in the bracket was the 3-2-1A state champ at 215. Kenneth had wrestled him once this year. He was a senior, but a more normal sized individual; I could see Kenneth growing into something like that in two years. Kid was a great kid, too. First match up, Kenneth was undersized compared to this kid. He was big; not as big as the 1 seed, but big and quick and strong. Kenneth ran with this kid all three periods, but lost 15-4. He did a great job hanging with this opponent, and the kid couldn't pin him. And as long as you don't get pinned, anything can happen. First round loss sent him to backside. In his second match up, he was again facing another opponent taller than him. He's been seeing this theme over the past two years, though, and I tell him he has to slay giants. I've seen him develop his mental approach to the point that this doesn't bother him anymore. He just expects to be smaller than the others, so he doesn't care. The first period was spent on their feet jockeying for position and ended scoreless. Kenneth chose bottom to start the second period. He did a Peterson roll to get the reversal, kept pressure on, and the opponent based his legs out. Kenneth set a suicide cradle and won with a pin to advance. Third match up was against a previous opponent. This kid lives is a senior who lives in the same town as us but goes to the public school. We've known him for years from our affiliation with the wrestling club before this new one he's in started up. Good kid, too. Kenneth was 0-2 against him this year, counting a week ago as his only loss in districts. First period did not go well; Kenneth was holding him off for most of the period but got taken down and turned at the end of the period. It looked like he going to get pinned, but he held on just long enough to get saved by the bell. He was down 11-1 to end the first period. I can't remember who had choice, but neutral was chosen. Then wrestling happened. The opponent started running at Kenneth, and Kenneth was able to use the momentum to throw him over straight to his back! After a few counts of nearfall, it was a pin. That win allowed him to make it to day 2. After the match the opponent came over and was chatting with Kenneth, and was just such a good sport about the whole thing. Day 2, first match up. I'm always super nervous for this match. Win and move on, lose and go home. We had watched the opponent, and he had a very good and very technical headlock he threw. He wasn't a great big kid, right around Kenneth's size, but definitely older. They tied up and the opponent got to double underhooks really quick. He cinched Kenneth up and tried to step in and take him over, but Kenneth countered with his own throw and took to his back for 3 points. He didn't have something quite locked in, because the opponent was able to squirm out of the nearfall. Kenneth said later he lost an arm and that was the kicker. Kenneth tried to bring his back to the mat, but he bellied out and they got to front headlock position. Kenneth defended a takedown counter and they went out of bounds. They reset and the opponent worked an escaped For period 2, Kenneth had choice and chose neutral. He tried to work to double underhooks but couldn't get them set. They jockeyed a bit more, but the headlock came, hard and fast, and that was it. A tough loss that ended the tournament for him. I was encouraged, though; he did wrestle with this opponent very well. Kenneth had a teammate that was in the finals, so we stuck around because Kenneth wanted to support him and help coach him. I got to see the finals matches for the 215 bracket. The 3-2-1A state champ won the championship against the 6A heavyweight champ in impressive fashion. He controlled his opponent throughout, fighting for a couple of very tough single-leg takedowns. It was a great match. The first opponent Kenneth lost to ended up placing 3rd, and the second opponent he lost to ended up placing 6th. I think there are some positives to take away from that. I was super proud of him. He fought his rear-end off, and didn't give up, and he never lets himself think he can't win a match anymore. The good news is going forward is that a freestyle/Greco club will be meeting for a few hours on Sunday afternoons, and he's looking to continue at least with practices, which is great. Spring wrestling makes winter champions. The freestyle/Greco state tournament is held at the same place as folkstyle, too, in May. Who knows? Maybe we'll come back and give that a go.

3/11/2026 Strength Training Clean & Press: 65x1, 75x3, 85x3, 90x3, 95x3, 100x3, 105x3. Clean & Jerk: 110x2, 115x2, 120x2, 125x2, 130x2. Deadlifts: 155x3, 205x2, 240x3, 240x3. I enjoyed getting more cleaning and more overhead work in. However, I do believe my knees will ache tomorrow. I want to use cleans as warmups for deadlifts, but I'll cut back the total reps next time. I think I'll preload the vitamin I as well.

3/10/2026 Taekwondo: 5:45 - 6:30 pm. Traditional Class, I taught. Which was probably a good thing, because my knees were really achy tonight. Got through most of basics, while still helping some of the lower ranks with a few things here and there without slowing the rest of class down too much. We had white, low/high orange, high green, and low brown belt forms and one-steps. Sparring: 6:30 - 7:00 pm. Started off with several rounds of sparring. One of the things I noticed and talked about was using good footwork when retreating. I have several students that are pretty aggressive moving forward, but when they feel jammed up and want to make space, they basically walk backwards. I talked about the speed advantage of someone moving forward while someone else is moving backward. After several rounds of sparring I had the students pair up in a closed stance and close enough together they could lock hands to help balance each other. I had them work on repeat kicking drills, with their partner helping them balance while providing a target for them. First I had them do repeat round kicks, 2 at a time, middle/high, middle/middle, or high/middle, depending on their ability. They did that back and forth for a bit, and then I switched them up to front kick/round kick, focusing on the pivot and hip switch to go from the front kick to the round kick. After the class time was spent, I gathered the twin high green belts and worked a floor drill with them to help them get down the circle block/#2 front kick/reverse punch section of Won Hyo. They've been struggling with putting the block together, so I broke down the block into a few segments and them had them gradually smooth it out. Hopefully it helps them out. If not, I'll try something different.

3/9/2026 Strength Training Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3, 120x3, 120x3, 120x3, 120x3, 120x3. Triceps Push-downs: 50x15, 50x15, 50x15.

3/6/2026 Strength Training Squats: 45x5x2, 95x5, 115x3, 135x1, 160x5, 170x3, 190x2. Clean & Jerk: 45x5 (clean only), 65x2, 85x2, 95x2, 120x2, 120x2, 120x2.

Who you going to get? The Ravens backing out of the Crosby deal is kind of crazy. Then they turned around and signed Hendrickson, and keeping their first round draft picks along the way. It will be interesting to see what this does for Crosby's market now. Pacheco signed with the Lions. It will be interesting to see how that works out. It could be that KC underutilized him. Chiefs also lost LB Chenal to the Commanders.

3/5/2026 Aikido: 8:45 - 9:45 am. Morning class. Some loosening and aikitaisos, then we spent time focusing on kaitenage throws: Katatetori kaitenage omote: Draw and kazushi with irimi step (back fist strike to face), then raise arm while slightly pulling on it to retain tension and kazushi (initially I was not doing this; this little detail helped out), step through with inside leg then do the front stance pivot and step forward with the same leg (now the outside leg; this caused me some confusion early on as well); finish by doing a big arm circle while squatting to bring the arm around to the kaitenage throw position. Katatetori kaitenage soto: This one is more direct; irimi step and strike, then make the big circle without taking a step. Katatetori kaitenage ura: This one starts with a tenkan, then moves like the omote variation. I have to step closer to uke or I end up disconnected and pulling uke around a lot. It ends up feeling like a lot of work, a lot of muscling, and I know it shouldn't. I also need to focus on not leaning over when I step; keep shoulders above the hips. I need to think about everything I do when I move like a TKD straight punch, be it lunge or reverse. If I start keeping that mental picture, it should help clean up a lot of techniques. Aikido: 3:15 - 4:30 pm. Club class held on campus. Two aikido classes in one day is good stuff! Loosening and aikitaisos, along with some internals work. The focus was on extending up through the head. Then we did some ukemi, and I worked on panda rolling, which was going better. Then technique work. Katatekosatori kokyunage: I struggle with kokyunage, and I kept trying to do iriminage. After that, we kind of went more free-form. We worked on using our body to help direct uke and break their blance from a wrist grab. We did lots of reps here, and the grabs came from either same side or cross side. We finished up playing with a mae geri defense/takedown that finished with a leg entanglement/calf slicer. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: 6:45 - 8:30 pm. Three warmup rounds, 4 minutes each. We had some different people in class tonight, which was nice (until it wasn't). I'm pretty sure the blue belt is letting me work more, especially with the early warmup rounds. There was a white belt there that I was actually able to do things with, advancing positions and getting closer to submissions. There was also a wrestler there. The class focus was on back control. We started with breaking down from what I refer to as "referee's position" (from wrestling parlance; only difference is in BJJ we can start with locked hands). The goal was to break them down onto their hips and try to hold them in that position as long as possible. Bottom player won by escaping and/or re-guarding. The game advanced to working from back control with double underhooks and a hook in with the bottom player already on their hip. Top player was to get to a seatbelt grip and try to maintain the position. I couldn't do crap from here with the wrestler. We finished working on rear naked choke technique as the submission from that position. We got both hooks in, or we went from kneeling with chest-to-back pressure. Finished with free rolling: I went with the white belt first. I was able to stay on top, advance position, and was starting to work for an Americana submission when time ran out. It was encouraging. Next was with the wrestler. Holy cow. He just killed me. Lots of good pressure, strong, athletic, could scramble. Somewhere during that match I smoked my right knee somehow, and it was really burning for a time. It got to feeling better after class. This match was not encouraging. Last I went with the blue belt. I felt like I had a good match with him, until eventually I fell into bottom side control, which always sucks. My knee was burning pretty good, and it cut this match a little short.

Kenneth wrestled in the kids wrestling district 4 championships this week, went 3-1 and got 2nd place, qualifying for the state tournament. The loss was to another local kid at the public school that he lost to earlier in the season. But, he said he knew what he did wrong and thinks he can fix that issue. I'm excited going into the state tournament; we'll see what kind of competition we run into. It's going to be a tough one this year, because the age group is high school.