The Martial Artists' Training Log

[bushido_man96]

After a long week of being sick with both flares from Meniere's and Crohn's, it felt good to finally get back to the gym.

7/25/2022

Strength Training

Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x2, 225x5.

Press: 45x5x2, 65x3, 95x2, 105x5, 105x5, 105x5.

Lat Pull-downs: 120x10, 130x10, 140x10.

Hack Squats: 45x7, 45x7, 45x7.

Seated Dumbbell Press: 30x10, 30x10, 30x10.

Squats didn't get heavy, but they were ripping my legs up from being off for a week. Will be a touch sore this week. Going to be adding in more focused back work going forward, too. Hack squats are for hitting the quads more directly. With the way I back squat, I get a lot of work on the posterior chain, which is very important, and it allows me to squat without stressing my knees out. The hack squat felt good on the knees, and I'll be adding weight as I get a better feel for the movement.

MA Training

TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:00 pm. Usually black belt class, but no one really showed up. There was an interschool tournament out of town this weekend, and several of the students had gone to that. It sounds like the school represented itself pretty well. I spent about 20 minutes going through basics, just moving, getting a sweat and the heart rate up, and just doing martial arts moves in general. Nothing high impact. Had a nice sit on the stretching machine prior to class.

[bushido_man96]

7/26/2022

Strength Training

Deadlifts: 135x5, 185x5, 225x3, 275x1, 315x5.

Barbell Rows: 95x8, 105x8, 105x8.

Last two reps of the deadlift were floating away from my shins again. Set felt very heavy and slow. It's hell trying to recover. Adding in the barbell rows to get some more direct work on the lats.

[bushido_man96]

7/28/2022

Strength Training

Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x5, 225x5, 225x5.

Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 95x3, 110x5, 110x5, 110x5.

Lat Pull-downs: 140x10, 140x10, 140x10.

Hack Squats: 65x8, 65x8, 65x8.

Didn't wear a belt for the squats, and really noticed it, too. Lots of fatigue. Triceps got very sore pressing, too.

[DarthPenguin]

Excellent log still!

Out of curiosity for the hack squats are you doing them on a machine or with a barbell?

For the barbell rows am also curious : are you doing them 45degree style or pendlay style? I've been playing about with these over the last few months and it made me realise how much a belt helps - as a frame of reference i can do 225lb x 3 with a belt in a 45degree row but am currently using 137.5lb without one while i work back up in weight. Pendlay rows are good too but as i am tall them feel like a lot of stress on the lower back (probably crap form on my part!)

Hope you don't mind the questions - i was just curious

[bushido_man96]

Excellent log still!

Out of curiosity for the hack squats are you doing them on a machine or with a barbell?

For the barbell rows am also curious : are you doing them 45degree style or pendlay style? I've been playing about with these over the last few months and it made me realise how much a belt helps - as a frame of reference i can do 225lb x 3 with a belt in a 45degree row but am currently using 137.5lb without one while i work back up in weight. Pendlay rows are good too but as i am tall them feel like a lot of stress on the lower back (probably crap form on my part!)

Hope you don't mind the questions - i was just curious

I never mind questions!

I'm using a machine for hack squats. So far, so good, but if they start troubling my knees, I'll have to think of something else.

Right now I'm doing rows from the floor, like Pendlay rows. You should feel them in the lats, and not the lower back. Make sure to set your lower back in extension, take a breath and hold it, then pull the bar off the floor and try to slam it into your belly. Doing sets of 8 right now, and don't think I want to go much lower than that.

7/29/2022

Strength Training

Romanian Deadlifts: 45x8, 95x8, 135x8, 155x8, 155x8, 155x8.

Bench Press: 45x5x2, 95x5, 115x5, 135x5, 185x5, 205x3.

Barbell Rows: 110x8, 110x8, 110x8.

Lying Triceps Extensions: 50x12, 50x12, 50x12.

Feeling out the RDL. Got a good stretch in the hamstrings.

[bushido_man96]

8/1/2022

Strength Training

Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x1, 255x5, 255x5, 255x5.

Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 95x2, 115x5, 115x5, 115x5.

Lat Pull-downs: 145x10, 145x10, 145x10.

Hack Squats: 75x8, 75x8, 75x8.

Squats felt much stronger today. Still getting soreness in the left shoulder pressing. Lat pulls were done with a narrower grip, and I like the feel from it. Hacks still going ok, just not much weight on it yet.

TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Black belt class. Warmed up with Do-Kangs 1 and 2, and then went into Hoo Sin Sul. From our fighting stance, did defenses against jabs, haymakers, and crosses.

Against the jabs, I really focused on parry and side step so that I was on the outside of the arm with good targets to attack and few of my own targets exposed. Did some parrying, and some parry/pass or brush/trap/strike sequences, but tried not to force it. Similar responses to the cross/rear straight punches.

For the haymakers, I did more of a covering motion with my elbows (think "answer the phone"), and then worked counters from there. I don't like how that keeps me on the inside, though, and worked on some things to get outside. We finished with some work against "tackles," which I didn't prefer and I didn't think was all that productive, and then with bear hugs from behind.

8/2/2022

Strength Training

Deadlifts: 135x5, 185x5, 225x3, 275x1, 315x5, 275x5.

Barbell Rows: 115x8, 115x8, 115x8.

Standing Dumbbell Press: 35x10, 35x10, 35x10.

Didn't up the weight with deadlifts, but did a backoff set.

[bushido_man96]

8/4/2022

Strength Training

Hack Squats: 95x8, 95x8, 95x15.

Seated Dumbbell Press: 35x12, 35x12, 35x12.

Lat Pull-downs: 150x10, 150x10, 150x10.

Still having issues with Meniere's, so I'm reluctant right now to do anything that requires balance. Last set of hacks was an AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible).

8/8/2022

Strength Training

Leg Press: 245x10, 335x10, 425x5, 425x5, 425x5.

Hack Squats: 95x8, 95x8, 95x15 (AMRAP).

Seated Dumbbell Press: 35x15, 35x15, 35x15.

Lat Pull-downs: 150x10, 150x10, 150x10.

[bushido_man96]

8/9/2022

Strength Training

Bench Press: 45x5x2, 95x5, 115x5, 135x5.

Barbell Rows: 117.5x8, 117.5x8, 117.5x8.

Lots of pain in the shoulder again.

8/10/2022

Range Day: 5 hours of duty pistol, back-up pistol, rifle, and shotgun qualifications. Also spent some classroom time on annual use-of-force and less-lethal. Also qualified on bean bag rounds. I shot better with my back-up pistol than I did with my duty pistol, but the first go was a cold shoot, which might have had something to do with it.

8/11/2022

TKD Testing: 6:00 - 7:30 pm. Sat at the judging table for another school testing. It was a good testing, and we're starting to get some upper ranks back in the room. We had one adult testing, too, which was nice to see. We had one test for 2nd dan, and he had a really good testing.

[bushido_man96]

8/12/2022

Strength Training

Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x5, 235x5, 245x5.

Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x3, 95x5, 105x5, 115x5.

Deadlifts: 135x5, 185x3, 225x1, 275x5.

Seated Dumbbell Press: 40x12, 40x12, 40x12.

Lat Pull-downs: 152.5x10, 152.5x10, 152.5x10.

My head was feeling much better today. No dizziness or lightheadedness. Hopefully this keeps up.

[bushido_man96]

8/15/2022

Strength Training

Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x1, 245x5, 255x5, 260x5.

Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x5, 105x3, 115x5, 115x5, 115x5.

Lat Pull-downs: 155x10, 155x10, 155x10.

Still having pain in the right shoulder.

TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Black Belt Class. Had a light stretch early, then we went into some colored-belt forms; low and high orange, low and high green, and low and high blue forms. It was a good run through. My balance was tested in a few spots, but overall, it went well. We had a fresh 2nd dan decided black belt learning Gae Baek, so I went over that at count several times, which was a good workout and refresher. It's my favorite form. We finished going through the first 6 three-steps.

Still having shoulder pain.