The Martial Artists' Training Log

[bushido_man96]

Hitting PRs can be quite enjoyable.

[DarthPenguin]

1/14

MA Training

500/1000 kata completed! Half way through!

30 minute bike ride - 10k

I've been lazy about doing weight stuff, and I need to get back into the habit of it. I don't find it as personally fun as cardio and MA work. I need to find a way to find joy in lifting. Maybe I can find a podcast I can listen to while lifting to associate enjoyment with it.

I have always found two things that work :

Set out a target/plan of what you want to get to lifting wise and then chart performance against it. I have a spreadsheet that calculates nominal 1rm etc for every lift in every session and then i chart it so i can see trends which is positive.

Best motivator i used to find though involved a partner. You both agree some lifting goals/targets and a timescale to achieve them. You then set penalties for failing and they need to be moderately steep but not insane (eg i used to set a lifting target and if it wasn't met i owed my partner £50 etc). Set some parameters as to what is an acceptable fail - eg if injured then can't be held to same timescale and i found that this works brilliantly.

Best one i found for PR setting needs a lifting partner that you really really know well and trust. You have THEM set the weight on the bar for you and not tell you! First time i tried that was years ago when i was less weak! I was DL about 120kg at the time for reps and my partner racked a bar. I did my set and he pointed out he had put 160kg on it - he thought i could do it and he was right. Ended up getting a decent amount more than that which i never would have got to myself.

[bushido_man96]

1/16/2023

Strength Training

Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 235x5, 235x5, 235x5.

Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x4, 115x5, 115x5, 115x5.

Triceps Push-downs: 65x13, 65x13, 65x13, 65x13.

Decent session. Got back to the limited ROM triceps push-downs.

TKD Class: Traditional Class: 5:30 - 6:30 pm. No one showed for this class, so I used it as my own training time. Sat in the sauna for about 10 minutes before class, and did Choong Jang 3 times throughout the class time. I took a middle section of the form, which has some tricky stance work in it, along with a round kick done on the ground from one knee, and did quite a few reps of that section. Also spent some time in The Rack.

Black Belt Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Warmed up with Do-Kangs 1, 3, and 6 (two reps of 6; still learning it). Had 5 rounds of sparring afterwards; two with kids I tried to help out, 1 with a big kid who is taller than me now, and 2 rounds with the adult black belts there. It was my first time sparring in 2 months. It didn't go badly.

Choong Jang hyung count: 25

Total hyung count: 51

[Zaine]

MA Training:

633 Kata completed!

[bushido_man96]

1/18/2023

Strength Training

Deadlifts: 135x5, 185x5, 255x3, 325x1, 350x5.

Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 95x3, 117.5x5, 117.5x5, 117.5x5.

Deadlifts were feeling pretty good...and then after finishing my work set, I got my buddy that works at the gym to come count the weight; I misloaded my work set. It was supposed to be 360...curses! But, I was able to keep the weight from floating away by getting back into my heels to start each rep. Last rep was the worst of them.

My shoulders were feeling really good today; not really any lingering pain from class or lifting on Monday. I did a couple of test pulls on the lat pull-down machine, and I will be adding that back into the routine next week.

Didn't make class tonight. The weather was starting to get nasty.

[DarthPenguin]

solid weights there! Sounds like the heels cue is helping too. I find sometimes that on a heavy deadlift, the ones that feel the smoothest/lightest it almost feels like my toes are about to lift up off the ground.

Good weights on the press too! Have you set targets / goals for them or do you just plan to keep progressing them as much as you can?

[Zaine]

MA Training:

666 Kata completed!

30 minute bike ride: 10k

[bushido_man96]

Good weights on the press too! Have you set targets / goals for them or do you just plan to keep progressing them as much as you can?

Thank you! Before things went south on me, I was close to pressing 200 lbs for singles. That's where I want to get back to. I'd like to have a 225 lb press, and work it up from there.

[DarthPenguin]

Thats an impressive press! Looks like it is trending the right way

My presses have always been by far my weakest lift.

my lifetime PRs were 200kg x 5 DL (not too bad as was a little more than 2 x bw); 150kg x 5 squat, 100kg bench, 102.5kg x 3 BB row and 60kg press! Have never been able to get above this! If i could ever get to an 80kg press i would be ecstatic! People are generally built to pull or push and i'm definitely built to pull!

[Zaine]

MA Training

700 kata complete. 10% finished!

This has been going a lot smoother than I anticipated.