The Martial Artists' Training Log

[bushido_man96]

3/26/2021

Strength Training

Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 185x3, 205x1, 225x1, 245x5, 245x5, 245x5.

Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x2, 120x5, 120x5, 120x5.

Deadlifts: 135x5, 185x3, 205x1, 225x1, 260x6.

I got a leather punch in, and as kind of a point of pride, I had to punch a new hole in my weightlifting belt in order to get it to cinch up just right.

3/28/2021

MA Training

Weapons: I got my sticks in, so Kenneth and I did some single stick drills for about 15 minutes. I was getting him familiar with the different strikes at first, and then we did some flow drills.

[bushido_man96]

3/29/2021

Strength Training

Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 185x3, 205x1, 225x1, 250x5, 250x5, 250x5.

Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x2, 122.5x5, 122.5x5, 122.5x5.

Deadlifts: 135x5, 185x3, 205x1, 225x1, 270x5.

Squats felt good today. Only a few bad reps, but overall, felt good. Deadlifts were good; rep 4 floated away from me, but I got it back on rep 5.

MA Training

Weapons: I got about 10 minutes of stick work in with Kenneth before leaving for class. We worked on single stick flow drills, and I spent some time mirroring him to get the motions of the strikes down a bit better, keeping them more under control.

TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Black belt class. Warmed up with Do-Kangs 1-4, then went into three-steps while some recommended black belts brushed up on some forms prior to their testing. I made it through all 12, with them getting a bit rougher closer to the last ones. Just need more time with them. There is one of them that ends up kind of like an Aikido shio-nage, but we stop it at the shoulder and do a dislocation. I hate the technique, and I can never seem to get situated to the point of actually getting the lock like others do on me. It's really frustrating. And then, some of the last ones just don't seem to flow well, and I don't like much about how they work.

We finished with some Ho Sin Sul work. We went back to our kick defenses, catching mid-level round kicks and then doing a reap or twisting the leg for a takedown. During the course of our work, I brought up possibilities with getting to a mount, which progresses to ground fighting a bit. After the class, the instructor said he didn't want to get the cart before the horse on the ground fighting stuff, which I didn't think we did. We didn't work it with the rest of the class, I just kind of explored it. But, oh well. No big deal. In the end, I thought it was another good class. I stretched a little afterwards, and a little later on at home.

[bushido_man96]

3/31/2021

Strength Training

Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 185x3, 205x1, 225x1, 255x5, 255x5, 255x5.

Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x2, 125x5, 125x5, 125x5.

Deadlifts: 135x5, 185x3, 205x1, 225x1, 245x1, 280x5.

Another good session, but press was tough today. Not sure why, but it was tough. The squat session went well, and I think I only misgrooved one rep, on the third set. Deadlifts are feeling heavier, but I'm happy with it so far.

MA Training

TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:00 pm. T-shirt class. After some stretching, I went through my black belt forms; Kwang Gae, Poe Eun, Gae Baek, Se Jong, Yoo Sin, and Choong Jang. All went pretty well.

[sensei8]

Brian, I think it's time for you to enter the next CrossFit event. This is my way of saying....YOU ROCK in your consistent workouts!! Keep at it!!

[bushido_man96]

Thanks, Bob! But I think I'll skip the CrossFit events...a bit too much for me.

4/2/2021

Strength Training

Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 260x5, 260x5, 260x5.

Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x2, 127.5x5, 127.5x5, 127.5x5.

Deadlifts: 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 245x1, 290x5.

During squats, I tried to focus on coming up the whole time I was descending to the bottom. I think it helped. Press was tougher, and I went to breathing at the top with no stop at the bottom, and also wearing the belt. Deadlifts were hard. Maybe only 5 lb increases from here forward.

[bushido_man96]

4/5/2021

Strength Training

Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 265x5, 265x5, 265x5.

Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3, 115x1, 130x5, 130x5, 130x5.

Deadlifts: 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 245x1, 295x5.

Press is getting harder and harder to complete the sets. I've been re-reading Starting Strength, Basic Barbell Training, and as always, I pick up on a few more things than the last time I've read it through. This is probably my third time reading it. I've fixed some technique issues on the press start, and it makes much more sense in my mind now. However, I'm finding it necessary to switch to taking a quick breath at the top, and then get a rebound out of the bottom to keep the set going. It was a challenge to eek out rep 5 on the last two sets.

[bushido_man96]

4/7/2021

Strength Training

Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 270x5, 270x5, 270x5.

Press: 45x5x2, 85x5, 95x2, 115x1, 132.5x5, 132.5x5, 132.5x5.

Deadlifts: 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 245x1, 300x5.

Oh boy, where to start with today's session. I'll start with squats, since that where the session starts. Man, it was hard today. I could actually feel some soreness in my legs for the first time in a long time. The first two sets were just junk. Form felt ugly. Last set, although tough, felt the best form wise. But man, that last rep on each set was a grind. I've been having Kenneth try to coach me through them with a little motivation.

Presses. The technical fix seems to be working, but it's still just getting harder to complete the sets. I thought the last rep on set 3 was going to stall halfway up, but a little extra layback pushed it through (although I'm avoiding excessive layback as much as possible).

Deadlifts. Slow, grindy. I had good pulls, kept the bar close, and double knee hitches, but that last rep was an especially loooooooong pull.

So, I feel I'm at a crossroads. I feel like I have more to give in the linear progression, but everything is so grindy now than it was the last time I went through. I'm also 30 lbs lighter than I was when I was squatting 325 for a set of 5, so I should take that into consideration. I'm also walking a fine line of trying to get as much protein as I can into my system without pushing myself to the limits of my Meniere's. I've got some new protein powder that has a bit lower sodium content per serving, so I may be able to up my protein some more without any repercussions. Time will tell. I'm not sure if I should keep grinding, or start thinking about a Wednesday light day and making the move to HLM programming.

MA Training

TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. T-shirt class. I did some kicking on the bags, some basic stuff, and then some fancier stuff off the bag (jump 360 crescents). As I mentioned elsewhere, I also spent quite a bit of time assisting a brown belt with his spin crescent kicks. I love the challenges of teaching.

After class and lifting today, I felt....old, I guess? Body was sore, especially my legs, which haven't been sore in some time. Knees also sore. Back aching. We also had a weird weather day. Yesterday was sunny and 70, and today we had a cold snap with a freak rain/snow mix, and it never got over 37 degrees today. Perhaps my body was responding to that, too. It just didn't feel like a good day. But, I got through it, so there's something to that.

[bushido_man96]

4/8/2021

TKD Testing: 6:00 - 7:45 pm. Another small testing, but with two students, and adult and a child, testing for 1st degree. We had a couple of green belts testing, an orange belt, and a white belt who is taking to the art like a duck to water. Although small, and still finding things to work on, the testing was a good testing.

4/9/2021

Strength Training

Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 245x1, 275x5, 275x5, 275x5.

Press: 45x5x2, 85x5, 95x3, 115x1, 135x5, 135x5, 135x4, 135x1.

Deadlifts: 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 245x1, 305x5.

Squats seemed to feel a little better today, as far as form went. Set three felt pretty good, although the grind is still there.

Presses, on the other hand, were hard. Rep 5 on sets 1 and 2 were touch and go, but go them up. Set 3, rep 5 died halfway up. It could very well be that I lost track of my time, and didn't rest enough between sets, but I'm not sure. I'll pay better attention to that at the next session, but I expect this to start happening more and more as the weight gets heavier. I'm getting to the point where the goal will be to hit 15 total reps, regardless of how many sets it takes to hit that volume. I may consider switching to sets of 3, but if I can grind out just the first set to 5, I think that's good for me to try to do.

Deadlifts were a religious experience at 305. Slow, grinding pulls, from first to last. But, it seems I was able to keep my back set, as I didn't feel that I was losing any tightness on the way up. I count that as a win. I'm considering removing deads from Wednesday, and doing barbell rows then. We shall see.

[bushido_man96]

4/12/2021

Strength Training

Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 245x1, 280x5, 280x5, 280x5.

Press: 45x5x2, 85x5, 95x3, 115x1, 137.5x4, 137.5x4, 137.5x3, 137.5x3, 137.5x1.

Deadlifts: 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 245x1, 310x5.

Squats felt really good. I mean, really solid.

Press...I knew this day was coming, where sets of 5 were just going to be too much. Each set was to failure, except the last one, which was the single I needed to get 15 total reps in. I tried to get 5 on the first two, but it would only go about 1/4 the way up. Same with rep 4 on sets three and four.

Deadlift was a long, slow pull, all 5 reps.

4/14/2021

Strength Training

Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 245x1, 285x5, 285x5, 285x5.

Press: 45x5x2, 85x5, 100x3, 115x1, 140x3, 140x3, 140x3, 140x3, 140x3.

Barbell Rows: 75x6, 115x5, 135x8, 145x8, 145x8, 145x8.

Press is sets of 3 now. I tried for rep 4 on the first set, but it didn't want to budge. 5 sets of 3 it is for now.

With as heavy as the deadlifts are now for me, I've decided to move to a Wednesday light day for my pulling work. My knees don't like power cleans, and I have a hell of a time racking it properly (I think due to arm proportions, or flexibility), so I'm doing barbell rows now in the middle of the week.

Work and kid's sporting events have prevented me from making any TKD classes this week, which is a bummer.

[DWx]

Finally everything has started opening back up here so I got to go back to the gym and to Taekwon-Do. So I can start posting here again

13/04/21

1st day at the gym. Very busy and I do didn't want to go crazy so did 20 mins on the bike followed by a small arm circuit on the resistance machines. My cardio sucks right now.

14/04/21

Taught kids class and then the advanced grades. We can do sparring and pad work for the first time in 12 months though only under 18s can be back in class right now. Joined in with some of the padwork and to demonstrate. Flexibility also sucks too

15/04/21

Managed to snag a squat rack during my session at the gym so back to lifting. Last lifted at Christmas so dropped a little off my numbers to start. Overall felt pretty good strength-wise.

Squat

10x20kg, 10x40kg, 5x60kg, 5 sets of 5x75kg

OHP

10x20kg, 10x20kg, 5 sets of 5x30kg

Deadlift

5x40kg, 5x50kg, 5x60kg, 5x70kg, 5 sets of 5x80kg, rounded off the session with 3x90kg just to see where I am strength-wise.

Would have liked to have done some cardio too but can only book into the gym for an hour.