The Martial Artists' Training Log

[DarthPenguin]

11/14/2022

Strength Training

Warmup: 2 minutes on the rowing machine.

Safety Squats: 60x5x2, 100x5, 140x3, 180x1, 200x5, 200x5, 200x5.

Snatch Grip Deadlifts: 165x3, 215x2, 240x5, 240x5.

I find I'm spending time squatting really trying to figure out where it doesn't pull on my adductor. For the most part, I'm getting it right. Snatch deads felt really good today; they stayed locked in and tight to the shins. I think the first thing to give out will be grip strength. I'll have to look at working with straps as I approach the 300 lb mark for the lift.

Are you training the snatch lifts as a main lift or an assistance lift? If the latter then maybe worth increasing the reps before the weight and seeing if that helps with the grip strength too? It was always the limiting factor i found with the lift.

Maybe add in some timed holds with the higher weight? Start with a rack pull height and hold it, or hold the final rep for time?

[bushido_man96]

I guess you'd call it an assistance exercise, but it's true purpose here is to serve as the medium day pulling exercise. It has to get heavy to be useful, but the nature of it's longer ROM, it can't get as heavy as the deadlift. So the longer pull forces lighter weights, and the lighter weight necessitates doing 2 sets. The goal of the lift, like the deadlift, is to keep adding weight and keep getting stronger. In order to that, even with deadlift, there comes a time when it may become necessary to augment the grip in order to keep driving up the numbers. When that time comes, I'll start using straps. Right now I make sure to chalk up for my last warmup set and the work sets, and that seems to do the trick for now.

My basic approach is that all the supplemental pulling exercises need to be contributing to driving the weight up on the deadlift. If they aren't doing that, then there is no reason for me to do them, and it's time to switch to something else. I was using power cleans as one of my lighter pulling day exercises, until the pain in my shoulder just became unbearable. I need to get it fixed, get the rehab over, and get back to pressing and cleaning.

11/18/2022

Strength Training

Warmup: 2 minutes on the rower.

Safety Squats: 60x5x2, 100x5, 140x3, 180x1, 205x5, 205x5, 205x5.

Deadlifts: 225x3, 295x2, 330x5.

Stretch: quads, lower back, hams, glutes.

I didn't feel any pulling on the adductor while squatting today, so that's good. I may be figuring out how keep my knees in the proper position to avoid this. The key is to stay focused as the weight goes up.

The deadlifts felt really good today. I've really tried to focus on driving the floor away with my feet, and squeezing my chest up. The bar stayed on the shins today, and the bar path felt good.

This week saw my work schedule get jumbled around again, so I only got two days in to lift. But, it seems that for now, missing the light day doesn't have any adverse effects.

[bushido_man96]

11/23/2022

Defensive Tactics Training: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm. I taught defensive tactics to our department's personnel today. I had four 2-hour sessions, and the focus was on the recent SPEAR training that me and one of our jail deputies went to recently. We've got some pretty green individuals in our department, and quite a few of them that have never really been in confrontations of any kind before (which is a good thing).

My boss is very much about getting this kind of training out to our guys/gals, and he's basically given me the green light to hold monthly training. That's my goal right now, is to start having training as often as possible, and basically make each session a building block for the next. It was a good time today, and I got through the sessions without any injuries, which is a huge bonus.

[bushido_man96]

11/28/2022

Holiday week, and we had all kinds of stuff going on, so it was a messed up week for training. But, now we're back...

Strength Training

Safety Squats: 60x5x2, 100x5, 140x3, 180x1, 205x5, 205x5, 205x5.

Deadlifts: 225x3, 295x2, 335x5.

Stretch: back, quads, hams, glutes.

A good workout today. Kept the squats at last week's work weight. Felt good, and not experiencing any soreness. Deadlifts I went ahead and upped the work set 5 lbs. Pulled well.

[DarthPenguin]

Sounds like a good session. How are you finding squatting every session? I used to do it and it is a tiring session but works well with limited time. Myself i used to use back squats as the heavy lift to push and front squats on the other days as my quads have always been proportionately weaker than my hamstrings.

Do you find that the safety squat bar makes a big difference? I've never tried one before, but my brother in law has one and i think he likes it too. Saw video a while ago of someone doing bulgarian split squats with one as it made it easier to load.

Hope the holiday week was good

[bushido_man96]

Sounds like a good session. How are you finding squatting every session? I used to do it and it is a tiring session but works well with limited time. Myself i used to use back squats as the heavy lift to push and front squats on the other days as my quads have always been proportionately weaker than my hamstrings.

Do you find that the safety squat bar makes a big difference? I've never tried one before, but my brother in law has one and i think he likes it too. Saw video a while ago of someone doing bulgarian split squats with one as it made it easier to load.

Hope the holiday week was good

I used squat three days a week regularly, and I like it. Keeps the movement pattern fresh, and works the whole body. It's absolutely the best lift for skeletal loading. As it gets heavier, I'll end up making Wednesday a light day to aid recovery. If and when I get my arm fixed up so I can start pressing again, I'll probably get back to a 4-day split, with just two squat sessions a week.

I don't particularly care for the safety squat bar, but I like it better than not squatting. I can't really hit a low bar squat position with it, so I tend to be a bit more upright, and it hits the quads more than my hamstrings. There is a product out there called a Marrs Bar that I'd like to try, which is very similar, but the way it's built, the bar rides lower, into that low bar position, but still taking the stress off the shoulders. At any rate, I'll continue to use it until I get my arm fixed and rehabbed, and then can get back to my regular routine.

11/29/2022

Rowing Machine: 15 minutes, resting 4 times throughout.

11/30/2022

Strength Training

Safety Squats: 60x5x2, 100x5, 140x3, 180x1, 210x5, 210x5, 210x5.

RDLs: 45x5, 100x5, 140x3, 185x2, 205x8, 205x8, 205x8.

Barbell Rows: 155x8, 155x8, 155x8.

Stretch: back, quads, hams, glutes.

I hadn't had a light day session in a few weeks, due to scheduling and whatnot. The rows felt like they suffered the most.

[bushido_man96]

12/6/2022

Strength Training

Safety Squats: 60x5x2, 100x5, 140x3, 180x1, 215x5, 215x5, 215x5.

Deadlifts: 235x3, 305x2, 340x5.

Deadlifts felt good, but...not? Only one rep really pulled away from my shins, but I pretty much corrected it on the following rep. The set was a grind, but other than grinding, there didn't seem to be a lot of difference in rep 1 and rep 5.

12/7/2022

TASER Training: 3 hours of Taser recertification at work today. After some classroom time, everyone went through a few scenarios. It went well.

[Zaine]

10k bike ride this morning. Finished in 28:47, which I'm very happy with. My wife and I recently got bikes and it has been a great way to exercise for us. It's fun to go so fast with the lesser amount of impact.

[Zaine]

30 minutes of kata training. I'm doing Seieunchin for a tournament on Saturday.

[bushido_man96]

30 minutes of kata training. I'm doing Seieunchin for a tournament on Saturday.

I hope your tournament went well! Please update us!

12/8/2022

Strength Training

Safety Squats: 60x5x2, 110x5, 165x3, 200x1.

And then I had to stop. Health issues are really starting to cause my problems. My head wasn't feeling quite right (Meniere's disease acting up) and as I was doing my warmup sets, I had to stop and rest after each set. The Valsalva maneuver was causing me to get lightheaded, and at one point, the room started spinning. I just couldn't continue, and it's so frustrating.