The Martial Artists' Training Log

[bushido_man96]

11/11/2025

Heavy Bag Workout:  1:15 min rounds, 1:10 rest.

4 rounds orthodox boxing.

4 rounds kicking.

Stretch in The Rack.  Choi Yong x2.  I need to take some time to work on the kicking segments.

 

Strength Training

Leg Press:  255x10, 255x10, 255x10.

Incline Bench Press:  45x5x2, 95x5x2, 105x5, 110x5.

Standing DB Press:  15x10, 25x10, 30x10.

[bushido_man96]

11/12/2025

Ten minutes of dry fire, focusing on trigger finger resent and it's movement, and making adjustments accordingly.

 

11/13/2025

Aikido:  8:45 - 9:45 am.  Another 6th kyu and I did demo on katatori sankyo omote and ura, and the forward and backward nage versions.  I got to shore up some issues I was having with the sankyo lock.  Then we worked munestki kotegashi, which is another of our testing requirements.  Slide/angle step forward, parry/block at the shoulder for the entry.

[bushido_man96]

11/14/2025

Heavy Bag Workout:  1:20/1:00.

3 rounds orthodox boxing.

3 rounds southpaw boxing.

3 rounds kicking focus on the tall skinny bag.

Stretch in The Rack.

I need to work on my reverse side kicks on the tall skinny bag (banana bag?).  I don't land the kick right, and it jams up my heel is a weird way.  Can't really explain what I'm doing, but no I need to fix it.  Maybe that's just not what that bag is for?  I also downloaded a boxing round timer app on my phone that lets me set the round time and rest time at whatever intervals I want.  Awesome addition. 

[bushido_man96]

11/15/2025

BJJ:  10:00 - 11:00 am.  Open mat.  Worked from mount position, with bottom player focusing on framing at the hips and trying not to let the arms get up above the top player's waist (which exposes them to isolation and submission and generally other sundry options).  Bottom player was also to focus on getting an elbow planted into the ground inside the top player's knee, along with getting slightly onto that side.  Top player was trying to isolate an arm.  I had a wrist pinned but gave it up because I felt like I couldn't do anything with it;  I let go and tried to scoop under the arm.  I can't do that!  Coach pointed me to a solution:  I should have "walked up" to a higher mount position.  While working this situational drill my arms got tired and really gassed out.  We also switched it up where top player worked on a back step to avoid half-guard and get to side control.  If we got caught in the half-guard, we worked on fighting out of that.

I was working with another short, stocky guy like myself and found myself quite off balance in the mount position, which made things even harder to deal with.  I couldn't get both knees to sit on the ground to straddle, so I always felt like I was teetering or tottering.

We had a guest coach from a few hours west of us come in that coaches at the other schools that we are now under the umbrella of.  He was really great at helping me out, and since we are affiliated, we'll probably have some more visits from him.

[DarthPenguin]

On 11/17/2025 at 4:28 PM, bushido_man96 said:

11/15/2025

BJJ:  10:00 - 11:00 am.  Open mat.  Worked from mount position, with bottom player focusing on framing at the hips and trying not to let the arms get up above the top player's waist (which exposes them to isolation and submission and generally other sundry options).  Bottom player was also to focus on getting an elbow planted into the ground inside the top player's knee, along with getting slightly onto that side.  Top player was trying to isolate an arm.  I had a wrist pinned but gave it up because I felt like I couldn't do anything with it;  I let go and tried to scoop under the arm.  I can't do that!  Coach pointed me to a solution:  I should have "walked up" to a higher mount position.  While working this situational drill my arms got tired and really gassed out.  We also switched it up where top player worked on a back step to avoid half-guard and get to side control.  If we got caught in the half-guard, we worked on fighting out of that.

I was working with another short, stocky guy like myself and found myself quite off balance in the mount position, which made things even harder to deal with.  I couldn't get both knees to sit on the ground to straddle, so I always felt like I was teetering or tottering.

We had a guest coach from a few hours west of us come in that coaches at the other schools that we are now under the umbrella of.  He was really great at helping me out, and since we are affiliated, we'll probably have some more visits from him.

you guys still training nogi? You might find that gi suits you more - i prefer it since you can take grips etc and slow things down a little: less reliant on athleticism than nogi (i find anyway).

One suggestion would be to work out one or two moves you would like to implement when in mount (or any position) and try to focus on getting them step by step. Can also see if there is a top level instructor with youtube instructionals etc that is similar build / size to yourself that you think you could copy. Then work on small wins. Using your example above: if you find you are good at pinning a wrist consistently then excellent, work on things from there. Maybe you could then move it up to an Americana etc. So next step is to get it in right place; get second arm in etc. So even if you don't get it on someone you leave training saying "i got my grips, got it in position and they freed their arm", better than last week when couldn't get the grips etc. Also gives you something specific to work on: you can say to your coach "i get them into this position but they escape, what am i doing wrong to leave them the space?" etc.

[bushido_man96]

Those are good points @DarthPenguin.  It's something I've been trying to do more of, just to stay positive.  The coach we had in last Saturday was really encouraging.  So far the bulk of what we do is no gi, which I'm ok with.  They do have a gi class at least once a month, and I'm sure if I requested it I could get them to do some gi work on these Saturday open mats.

11/29/2025

Heavy Bag/Forms Workout:  6 rounds, 1:20/1:00.  All on same standard heavy bag.

2 rounds orthodox boxing.

2 rounds southpaw boxing.

2 rounds kicking focus with some hand work.  Reverse side kicks were better on this bag.  I'm definitely feeling more fatigue using the new bag gloves that I got.  I've been wrapping my hands and the gloves are a bit heavier.

Floor drill:  worked on a kicking segment from Choi Yong to try to get my balance better on the repeat kicks.  I did the segment down the floor several times, trying to focus on the balance with the re-chamber.

Knife hand down block in back stance, #2 round kick setting down in front, #2 round kick/repeat side kick, land forward in front stance, reverse elbow strike.

 

Dry Fire Practice:  10 minutes, draw and fire 5 rounds.  Acquiring the dot and focusing on trigger control.