bushido_man96

10/11/2022 Strength Training Back to the gym! Leg Press: 45x10, 245x5, 245x5, 245x5. Deadlifts: 185x5, 205x3, 225x3, 275x2, 305x5, 330x2. Conditioning: rowing, 1 minute on, 1 minute off, for 13 minutes. I need to start doing something else for my legs, so I'm trying the leg press again. I still felt a little pain in the adductor tendon. We'll see what progressive overload does for it here. 10/13/2022 Strength Training Leg Press: 45x10, 255x5, 255x5, 255x5. RDLs: 45x5, 135x5, 155x5, 190x8, 190x8, 190x8. Barbell Rows: 140x8, 140x8, 140x8. RDLs felt really good on the lats today. Hopefully, that is the exercise that helps to fix the "floating bar" on my deadlifts.

10/6/2022 Spear Instructor Course: Day 4, 8:00 am - 4:00 pm. Today we started with a bit of classroom stuff, then got into the mat room to review our assigned teach-back drills with out partners, and go over any details before doing the teach backs for our certification. After lunch, we got into the teach backs, and everyone got through them really well, and we all certified as instructors. We had a pretty small group, with only 8 students. It was presented as a "battle buddy" course, and an agency could basically send two students for the price of one. Win-win all around, as now I've got someone else in the department that is certified in the same thing, and can offer some solid assistance when teaching to our other deputies and jailers. This course was quite a bit different than other courses I had done in the past. We focused a lot on pre-fight indicators, and watching videos, many of which I had seen already, and instead of watching with a focus on what the officer was doing (which is common for us to do, looking for things not to do), we focused on what the bad guys was doing. This allowed us to focus more on the indicators that lead up to the attack, and helps us in reverse engineering the drills, and build them off the ambush attack. Very interesting, and I found it very helpful, and I look forward to working more within my department, and building the skills of our new and experienced deputies and jailers.

I agree with this strategy, and I understand the concept is different in sport fighting than it is in self-defense. I'm not winning any trophies in class, though, so I've just picked it as a good time to focus on the concept of not backing up, or at the least, backing up less. If I do, I want to keep it to a few very focused steps, as opposed to withdrawing across the distance of the ring because I'm getting overwhelmed by someone's offense.

10/5/2022 Spear Instructor Course: 8:00 am to 4:30 pm. Day 3 of good ol' defensive tactics training. Had some class time today, going over power point on the various ideas and philosophies behind the system. Spent time in the mat room going over the drills again, doing teach backs of the drills to each other. Today, we picked out the drills that we will teach tomorrow for the certification. We also have a couple of Zoom calls tomorrow as a group, one of them being with Tony Blauer. TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. T-shirt Class. Did some stretching in the rack, then rolled out a standing bag to work on some kicks. Did some round kicks, some front and back leg side kicks, back leg front kicks, spin side kicks, and spin hook kicks. Did a slow and hopefully smooth walk-thru of Choong Jang, then finished class up with some rounds of sparring. I pretty much held to my goal of not giving up ground. In the process, I made myself take a flurry of punches from the CI. At one point, I told him "hit me!" I opt to not wear the chest protector, as it severely limits my movement. So, I encourage the people I spar to get in some contact. I'm going to have a nice bruise on my left calf tomorrow, as I caught an elbow when I tried to throw a spin side kick while jammed in pretty close (not giving ground...). Elbow snagged the muscle on the outside, and I can feel it frogging up my entire calf as I sit here and flex it tonight. Good stuff! As an aside, I got more beat up from one TKD class this week than I have in a full week of LEO defensive tactics training!

10/4/2022 Spear Instructor Course: Day 2 of training, 8:00 am - 4:30 pm. Another good day of training. We did a little bit in the classroom, looking at some videos and working backwards to show how to develop better responses to ambush attacks. Lots of time spent in the mat room doing teach-backs of the drills we did yesterday.

Thanks for putting things into perspective. I am probably harder on him sometimes than I need to be -- I just see how good he can be when he really tries at it. He has also expressed a desire to start learning Kobudo in addition to karate, so maybe that will help him a bit too. However, his mom laid down the law that he has to show us that he can keep up with his schoolwork without being nagged before he is allowed to add any more extracurricular activities. It's great that you are putting the onus on him to be more proactive in the things he needs to get done, so that he can earn the privilege to do more things that he wants to do. Excellent. I tend to do some backing up when sparring, mainly because the rule set limits what I can do with my hands. However, I am going to be more mindful going forward about giving up less ground, and trying to move more laterally.

Congrats!

For us, it's mainly just Jack-o'-Lanterns.

This is interesting, but I do think it could be a boon to the series. I thought the same thing. I would like to think we're dealing with reasonable adults here, but apparently that just won't do for this series. I've gotten to the point where I just accept it, and be entertained.

I never used to have problems kicking, either. Then I turned 40....

I took a look at the rowing numbers and it likely depends on if you are pushing the weight or erring on the side of caution and trying to get some lighter volume in. What i mean by that is that your deadlift numbers are currently a little higher than mine but in a similar ballpark i think overall and for rows i am doing 65kg (approx 143lbs) for sets of 10 with the focus being on lighter volume - if i try to max out i can hit a double at about 100kg. Reason for mentioning this is i have never felt my lats or upper back are a limiting factor in my deadlift at all and it is the only thing i can see as a major difference potentially. Looking again it might well be a mid back thing - your lat pulldown numbers seem a lot higher than the rows and they don't use as much upper/mid back. Just throwing out some ideas so apologies if it is overly interfering!!! No worries, DP. I just started implementing rows back into my routine, and whenever I add an exercise, I start rather conservatively and then linearly progress it each workout. Since rows are an ancillary exercise, I plan on keeping the reps at about 8, and doing 3 or 4 sets, depending on what I think I need. I'll never attempt to "max out" on it. But, I'll keep gradually adding weight to the bar each workout with it. I've been doing lat pull-downs for quite some time, but mainly because I can't really do a chin-up. A while back, I could do maybe 2 chins with a neutral grip, but my shoulder has been so ripped up I haven't messed with it in some time. But that's probably why those numbers are higher. 9/29/2022 Strength Training RDLs: 45x5, 135x5, 155x5, 185x8, 185x8, 185x8. Barbell Rows: 135x8, 135x8, 135x8. Conditioning: 20 minutes of rowing. First 10 minutes I did 1:30 on, 30 off; switched it to 1:00 on, 1:00 off for the last 10 minutes. 9/30/2022 Strength Training Snatch Grip Deadlifts: 105x5, 145x5, 195x3, 215x5, 215x5. 10/3/2022 Defensive Tactics Training: Today was the first day of training at a Spear Instructor's Course. It's being held locally, which is a great bonus. We spent the day going over the startle-flinch response, and getting into various drills to progress through it's various levels, and honing and training this natural response. It was a very interesting day of training, and am looking forward to the rest of the week. 8 hours of training.

I found this quite informative! I think I will pick a few and try to get some work in on them when I can find a partner. My kids may become my partners....

aurik, it can be tough with the kids sometimes. At the end of the day, remember that they are indeed just kids, and they will have those lapses. Praise the great performances, and be encouraging with the other ones. As they get older, if they really love it, you'll see the focus increase. Thanks for sharing the videos on the drills. I like the circular blocking and moving off-line. I don't like the backing up so much. We have 3-step sparring we do where we back up, as well, and I really don't like it. I don't like encouraging backing up to my students, and I don't teach it in my defensive tactics courses if it can be helped. But, I do like the other tactics involved there.

No, all good, DarthPenguin! I use a five-step deadlift setup that keeps the hips high at the start of the lift, so hips aren't an issue. Not sure on the other upper back muscles, really. I do some rowing, and have posted the weight from my sessions above. I've been gradually increasing the weight on my rows. I think it's just something I'm going to have to keep attention to when I deadlift. 9/28/2022 TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. T-shirt Class. Did some work on the heavy bag, and on the speed bag, along with a little stretching. Finished with some sparring. It went ok. I got tagged a few times, which is alright. Just need to clean up some footwork and defense. I catch myself rooting and committing to the block, when I should be blocking and counter-kicking either at the same time, or right after blocking.

That's great! Can you tell us more about your experience?

Man, that sucks! Glad you're feeling better!

DarthPenguin, those are good cues, and ones that I focus on. Funnily enough, even at times where I try to lean back, it will still float away at times. You are right in that contracting the lats is the key. For some reason, as it gets heavier, it becomes a problem. I will continue to focus on those cues, as they are good reminders! 9/26/2022 Strength Training Deadlifts: 135x5, 185x5, 225x3, 275x1, 315x5, 365x1. I'm on a strict diet of pulling from the floor right now, to try to ease the pain in my left shoulder. These sets went pretty well, and for the most part, kept the bar on my shins. Had a little float on rep 4, but otherwise, went well. Decided to pull a heavy single, too. It's been a while since I've pulled 365, and it was heavy. TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Black Belt Class. I really did not feel good for this class, not physically, anyway. Moving was tough, and my body just hurt. I worked very slowly through Do-Kangs 1-3, then did 3 very slow and focused run-throughs of my form, Choong Jang. Afterwards, we discussed the women's self-defense course curriculum. With any luck, we'll be having a class coming up in October. 9/27/2022 Conditioning: Did some conditioning on the rowing machine. 1:30 on, 30 seconds rest, and went for 20 minutes. I'd thought about upping the rest time, or dropping the set back to 1:00 minute, but kept through it. The pain in my left shoulder wasn't as great today, so I think the more limited work with weights will be helpful. Going to have to get it fixed, though.

9/20/2022 Range Training: 3 hours of range in the morning. Lots of work with the duty pistol/malfunction clearing and backup pistol. Also qualified with my old .40 cal for off-duty purposes. On a side note, I think my left arm is done. It was difficult just holding the pistol up in the threat ready position, and anything overhead is very painful. 9/21/2022 TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. T-shirt Class. Little stretching in the Rack, then some kicking on the bags, and some speedbag work. Punching the standing bag was not pleasant for my left shoulder. Sparred several rounds with the last 20 minutes of class. It went pretty well. I did manage to kick someone's knee with my heel, and that still hurts a bit a day later.

Well, darn. It was worth a shot.

Congrats to Zach!

9/16/2022 Strength Training Snatch Grip Deadlifts: 95x5, 105x5, 145x3, 190x1, 210x5, 210x5. Lat Pull-downs: 175x8, 175x8, 175x8, 175x8. Triceps Push-downs: 80x12, 80x12, 80x12. Barbell Rows: 130x8, 130x8, 130x8. I really felt the grip getting worked on the snatch deads. Really hoping it helps with more lat engagement. 9/19/2022 Strength Training Deadlifts: 135x5, 185x5, 225x3, 275x1, 310x5, 310x1, 207.5x5, 207.5x5. Lat Pull-downs: 177.5x8, 177.5x8, 177.5x8, 177.5x8. Triceps Push-downs: 82.5x12, 82.5x12, 82.5x12. On that last rep of the deadlift work set, the dang bar floated away from my shins again. My buddy suggested that I really focus on getting everything really tight before pulling, like just squeezing everything in the body together. I pulled another single, with no belt, and did that squeezing. It seemed to work, and really felt the lats afterwards. I did the two backoff sets without the belt, and concentrated on the squeeze, too. TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Black Belt Class. Just me and the CI, so we kind of spent the time informally, going over the women's self-defense curriculum. He's trying to set up for another seminar in October. Prior to this stuff, I decided to go "up the scale" with the new set of rebreakable boards he got. I just held the board in one hand, and did a punch speed break with the other. There are three "levels" of boards. I got through all of them with my right hand, and all but the last one with my left hand. After a couple of shots, my knuckle broke open, so stopped it there.

Makes sense on the pressing. Another option, if you're willing to consider it, is to move outside and do clean and press. You wouldn't have to do a full Olympic clean; power clean would be fine. But the old fashioned clean-&-press is a fine exercise. But if you don't know how to power clean, you have to do that first. And I'll answer before you ask...you don't need bumper plates to do cleans. Congrats on passing your grading!

Five episodes in. Did my share of eye-rolling, as at times the "rivalry" is feeling forced. But, overall enjoying it, and the season has hit an interesting point now.

9/14/2022 TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. T-shirt Class. Stretched, and did Choong Jang. I coached the kids through some sparring drills, and then we spent the last half of the class sparring several rounds. We've got a new gal in our class, moved to town to go to college, and came to us from a WTF school. She moves pretty well sparring, but she will not punch. She commented about how much punching we do, which I found rather complimentary.

This is just a suggestion, but I don't think adding sumo deadlifts will be worth your time. Conventional deadlifts are going to build more strength in more areas. The sumo deadlift is an interesting beast. The only reason it really came into being is because powerlifters discovered a way to circumvent the rules and artificially shorten the range of motion of the deadlift by standing really really wide, creating artificially shorter legs. 600 lbs is a lot easier to move 10 inches than it is to move 2 feet. Squats, at least low bar squats, and the deadlifts, should strengthen your hips significantly. At any rate, I don't think sumo adds anything beneficial to your strength training outside of the conventional deadlift. I was also wondering about your overhead press. Is there any reason why you do seated over standing?