The Martial Artists' Training Log

[bushido_man96]

11/14/2023

Strength Training

Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 155x5, 185x5, 195x3, 205x1.

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

Jerk: 95x2, 115x2, 135x2, 135x2, 135x2.

Lat Pull-downs: 100x10, 100x10, 100x10.

Took a 5/3/1 approach to the squat sets, adding weight as the reps went down. I may continue that approach to see where it gets me.

Unfortunately, there was no morning Aikido class this week.

[DarthPenguin]

Sounds like you are really enjoying the Aikido - do you see yourself sticking with it longer term?

[bushido_man96]

Sounds like you are really enjoying the Aikido - do you see yourself sticking with it longer term?

Depending on the scheduling available, I'll stick with it as long as I can. I'm not sure how much advancement I'll get, but we'll see what happens. I am enjoying it.

11/22/2023

Strength Training

Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 160x5, 190x5, 200x3, 210x1.

Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x3, 100x5, 100x5, 100x5.

Jerk: 100x2, 125x2, 140x2, 140x2, 140x2.

Lat Pull-downs: 110x10, 110x10, 110x10.

[bushido_man96]

11/27/2023

Aikido Class: 8:30 - 9:30 am. Finally, back to class! After stretching and warmup, we worked on first testing review material: kokyo nage, kote gashi, ikkyo, and nikkyo.

[bushido_man96]

11/28/2023

Strength Training

Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 165x5, 195x5, 205x3, 215x1.

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

Jerk: 105x2, 125x2, 145x1, 145x2, 145x2.

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

Jerk was ugly today. Couldn't recover on rep 2 of the first set, and the recovery on the third set was quite ugly. I may have to drop down and increase the number of sets, or just do it on a separate day from press.

12/1/2023

Strength Training

Lat Pull-downs: 125x10, 125x10, 125x10.

Triceps Push-downs: 50x12, 50x12, 50x12.

Pec Flies: 60x12, 60x12, 60x12.

My head was not feeling good today, but I didn't want to not do anything, so instead of compounds, I did some isolation work. It goes against my beliefs in the weight room, but I've got to find ways to keep getting work in and not skip workouts.

[DarthPenguin]

Sometimes you just need to do what you can do - even if just isolation exercises it will still have some benefit!

I have to remind myself of the same thing often!

[bushido_man96]

12/4/2023

Aikido: 8:30 - 9:30 pm. Today's class was a little different, we worked on some exercises to focus on being centered in the core. Our sensei talked to us about his interest in trying to figure out what ki really is, and some of the people and places he's sought out to find some really good training, and he was trying to pass it along to us in class today. It wasn't a bunch of mystical stuff, but more along the lines of centering the body and focusing on that, through posture and structure, and things like that.

[bushido_man96]

12/7/2023

Defensive Tactics Training: 8:00 am - 12:00 pm, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm. Training for the department today. We did some early review on SPEAR, getting some new hires caught up to speed (and general review for the others), and my partner spent the second half of each session working on some restraint chair procedures. I love teaching the guys and gals in our department.

12/11/2023

Aikido Class: 8:30 - 9:30 am. After the stretching, wrist stretching, and aiki-taiso warmups, we did some forward breakfalls, forward roll, and backward breakfalls/rolls (I did a little of both there). I've been focusing on trying to get my rolls to feel better. I feel some impacts at times, and know I'm doing some things wrong. For the technical portion of the class, we did sankyo-nage. This was a strange throw to me; I felt like I was putting the footwork together ok, and the entry wasn't too bad, but on the finish I felt very disconnected. When I was uke, and getting thrown into my forward rolls, I had problems staying connected there, too, and the rolls felt chunky at times. I really tried to focus on rolling well. More time and practice.

We had a different instructor this morning; a blue belt. I thought she did a good job explaining and breaking down everything. I kind of got frustrated when she would ask me to attack her; we were attacking with a step forward to a same-side wrist grab. Well, I'd go to step and grab where she started at, and as I came in she would step back and thus pull the hand back. She commented that she needed me to "really try to attack her," but it what was frustrating to me was that I was making an effort to grab her hand, she just kept moving it. I guess I'm supposed to anticipate the move, and thus step myself in deeper, or adjust and "re-attack" to get to that hand. At the end of class we did a very basic stepping in to attack/grab, and she stated I did a much better job of trying actually attack her. I anticipated her stepping back, so I stepped much deeper. The whole matter did kind of frustrate me, though. It seemed kind of counter-intuitive.

[bushido_man96]

I was sick all last week, and didn't do any activities after that Monday morning Aikido class. Feeling much better now, and getting back to it.

12/18/2023

Aikido Class: 8:30 - 9:30 am. Weapons work today. We did some jo warmup exercises, and then did these with a partner. One was called "hi" and one was called "low," due to the level of attacks. They can also be paired together. We finished class with some bokken. We did some tai-sabaki exercises, and finished with bokken kata 2.

Towards the end of the month, the club is holding it's winter camp, and they will be offering multiple sessions for a week, with a morning session each day. I am going to try to make as many of those morning sessions as I can.

[bushido_man96]

12/19/2023

Strength Training

Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 205x2.

Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x5, 85x5, 85x5.

Lat Pull-downs: 110x10, 110x10, 110x10.

Bench Press: 45x5x2, 55x5, 95x5, 95x5, 95x5.

I was able to bench without shoulder pain, albeit this is really light weight. I'm going to see how far I can drive it before any pain sets it. Hopefully, gradual progression will prevent that.

Range Training: 6:00 pm. Night shoot, pistol (and backup), rifle, and shotgun.