The Martial Artists' Training Log

[bushido_man96]

9/9/2025

Aikido:  6:15 - 7:45 pm.  Head was feeling funny today, so I didn't know how class was going to go.  I only took a few falls; lots of taking techniques to a stretch point.  We did aikitaisos, then technqiue.

Yokomenuchi sokumen iriminage (5th kyu):  I'm making improvements on this, flowing better.  I worked on not standing up tall when entering with arm across chin.  Also worked on drawing the other arm back (hikite) and getting it twisted to break balance.  The finish is the aikitaiso sayu undo/sayu choyaku undo; key at the end is not a drop but a thrust/downward thrust across the shoulders.  Then we did a variation on it using a pass-through block/intercept (I likened it to a block/pass/pin minus the pin), then to the iriminage or gokyo.

We also hit lots of tangents on different approaches and applications.

[bushido_man96]

9/11/2025

Aikido:  9:00 - 10:00 am.  Aikitaisos, then worked on kaitenage for our rank.  There are 4 variations for the test, and we did 2 of them.  I need to draw the "cut" parallel w/uke's initial direction.  We talked about atemi - I need to think about my striking principles more w/my techniques.  If I'm in a good striking posture technically, then the technique is probably going well.

Taekwondo:  5:45 - 6:30 pm.  Traditional Class.  Basics, then real brief stretch.  Choi Yong, then low orange and blue belt one-steps.  Head wasn't feeling great.

6:30 - 7:00 pm.  Sparring.  I ran drills in this class to start.  From closed stance, assigned attacker did a front leg round kick to the body and the defender would block with the rear arm.  I've been seeing low ranks doing too much "fencing" while sparring, trying to block all the kicks with the lead hand while the back hand/arm does nothing.  The attacker could do a #1 round kick or a #3 round kick for distance.  After some rounds of that I had the attackers do a higher or head level front leg round kick so the defender could start using the upper hand on the cross block to defend the high kick.  The cross block is a double block with the rear hand staying low and the lead hand going high to cover for the possibility of the kick going to the body or the head, or a double kick.  We did several rounds of this drill and had the defenders add a counter punch after blocking.

BJJ:  7:00 - 8:15 pm.  Three rounds of warmup rolling, then into class focus.  The focus this month is on side control (ugh, my favorite...).  We played games where the bottom person tried to re-guard and the top player tried to maintain position.  We then progressed the drills to the top player trying to isolate the far arm, head and far arm, or near arm.  Then we progressed to trying to get the bottom person up on their side.

While drilling and trying to maintain the top position, I found that by getting off my knees and onto my toes (like I used to yell at the boys to do when wreslting) I could circle and maintain the top position better and for longer.  I didn't free roll tonight as my head was bothering me too much and I didn't want to set anything off.

[bushido_man96]

9/12/2025

Strength Training

Squats:  45x5x2, 95x5, 135x5, 185x5, 195x3, 205x1.

Press:  45x5x2, 65x5, 75x5, 80x3, 85x3, 90x3, 95x2.

Barbell Curls:  45x10, 45x10, 45x10.

Triceps Push-downs:  50x15, 50x15, 50x15.

[DarthPenguin]

On 9/15/2025 at 2:28 AM, bushido_man96 said:

9/5/2025

Trying to get back to some form of strength training.

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

Press:  45x5x2, 65x5, 75x5, 75x5, 75x5.

I'm going to play with the rep range and try a 5/3/1 approach.  I want that last set to be somewhat heavy, but doing heavy 5's makes pressure build up in my head.

Glad to see you getting back into it

Also, if you want another option have you looked into Tactical Barbell? I relatively recently switched to following one of those routines as i have kept getting injured / ill etc this year and i wondered if it might work better. Is a similar idea to 531 et al of using sub maximal sets to increase strength, with them usually being a lower rep range. What made it interesting to me was it also has a conditioning protocol that can be integrated and it has a lot of stuff based on incorporating it into routines for people who already do martial arts / a very physical 'tactical' job etc

Replying here has also reminded me how remiss i have been in updating my own log!

[bushido_man96]

On 9/22/2025 at 5:44 AM, DarthPenguin said:

Glad to see you getting back into it

Also, if you want another option have you looked into Tactical Barbell? I relatively recently switched to following one of those routines as i have kept getting injured / ill etc this year and i wondered if it might work better. Is a similar idea to 531 et al of using sub maximal sets to increase strength, with them usually being a lower rep range. What made it interesting to me was it also has a conditioning protocol that can be integrated and it has a lot of stuff based on incorporating it into routines for people who already do martial arts / a very physical 'tactical' job etc

I have not heard of that, but after the few times back to the gym and the results afterwards, I'm starting to wonder if strength training is something I will be able to continue to do.  It seems my head does not tolerate it well.

9/16/2025

Taekwondo:  5:45 - 6:30 pm.  Traditional Class.  I taught this class.  It was a big class, too!  It was exciting to see.  We had 16 total, including me teaching.  We had two fresh-out-of-orientation white belts, so I stuck to the normal basics protocol.  However, one of the new white belts was actually a red belt in the Karate school we have here in town.  The school closed, and the instructor recommended our school for her to go to.  She's catching on pretty quick.  There are some technique adjustments for her to make, but those will fill in pretty quickly.  I'm sure she'll skip some ranks as she tests.  For forms, we had white, low and high orange, low and high green, high blue, 2nd dan and 3rd dan.  One-steps for same colored belts.  I had the white belts work with black belts to get some good reps in.

Sparring:  6:30 - 7:00 pm.  I joined in for this one.  Several rounds with colored belts, working on various things.  My legs were heavy and dead on me.  Last round was with the 3rd dan.  I'm trying to spar taller than I am, sliding while kicking to close distance and the like, cover ground more, etc.

Nice stretch after.  Wrist hurt, knee hurt, back hurt.