The Martial Artists' Training Log

[bushido_man96]

2/20/2026

Strength Training

Deadlift:  135x5, 165x3, 185x2, 225x2.

RDLs:  135x5, 135x5, 135x5.

I have to be really careful with the deadlifts.  That lift fills me up with a lot of pressure, and I don't want to send my head reeling.  This lift will be a touchy one, and I'll really have to play with the set/rep scheme to see what I can get the most benefit out of.  I may play with a rack pull to see if the shorter ROM is better for my head.

 

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu:  6:45 - 7:45 pm.  Started with several warmup rounds.  The way things started out, I thought we were just going to be rolling for the night.  But we spent the rest of class working on leg entanglements with the top player standing and the bottom player seated.  We started simple with the first game having the top player try to pass to the side of the legs and the bottom player trying to stop it.  The drills progressed to the bottom player trying to destabilize the top player and the top player defending it and trying to get one leg inside.  That progressed to the bottom player starting with hooks at the ankles and working to destabilize and get one leg wrapped from inside the top player's leg around the outside and get the heel into their hip, and destabilize from there.  Top player worked to get one leg inside and defend.

My arms were sore from yesterday and they soon died off in class.  I struggled to create the proper distance and angles to get the leg wrap.  I got it a few times, but I struggled most of the night with it. 

[bushido_man96]

2/22/2026

Strength Training

Bench Press:  45x5x2, 95x5, 115x3, 135x5, 145x3, 155x5.  I need wrist wraps for this lift.  My left wrist especially hurts on lift-off.  Once it's out of the rack, it seems to be ok.  I ordered a new pair as my oldest son has inherited my old pair.  I'll play with my tolerance with the rep/set scheme as I move forward the next few weeks.

[bushido_man96]

2/24/2026

Strength Training

Squat:  45x5x2, 95x5, 115x3, 135x1, 155x5, 170x3, 185x1.  Left knee was really sore.

 

Taekwondo:  5:45 - 6:30 pm.  Traditional Class.  Taught.  Prior to class I tried to do a little bag work in an attempt to warm up my left knee.  It did not work.  It was hurting pretty bad, and really limited my mobility.

Basics:  got through these, albeit it took a big chunk of the class.  Lots of students today, too; 13 total.  It's also the first week after testing, so we're hitting a lot of new material.

Forms:  We had white belt, high orange, low and high green, and a low brown belt that I had do low blue belt form.  Finished with two 2nd dans doing Gae Baek.

Sparring:  6:30 - 7:00 pm.  Started the sparring session off with 10 minutes of one-steps.  Then we got into some rounds of sparring.  The rounds were short and quick with little rest between.

Round 1:  Regular sparring.

Round 2:  Any kicking had to be front leg kicking.

Round 3:  Closed stance only.  No techniques could be thrown if stances were open.

Round 4:  Open stance only.

Round 5:  Each pair of sparring partners were confined to a puzzle mat square (same square).  At least the front foot had to be in the square.  They could switch stances, but a foot had to be in the square really quick.  

[bushido_man96]

2/26/2026

Aikido Video Review:  Good habit to get into while eating breakfast.  I reviewed video for katatetori sankyo omote and ura.  I like to call them ikkyo/sankyo, as we get to the ikkyo position first and then transition to sankyo.

 

Strength Training

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

Clean & Jerk:  65x2, 85x2, 95x2, 115x2, 115x2, 115x2.

 

Aikido:  3:30 - 4:30 pm.  Club Class held at the campus.  Very laid back class, as no other instructors were available.  The club president ran the class, and after some loosening drills and aikitaisos, we did weapons work with the jo.  Paired warmups with hi-4 and low-4 combined, then lots of review of jo kata 1.

 

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu:  6:45 - 8:00 pm.  Four warmup rounds to start.  I think they were 4 minute rounds.  The instructional portion of the class was spent working on isolating an arm in side control, elevating the shoulder off the mat and getting the bottom person on their side.  We worked to a Kimura mounted with them on their side.  We did quite a bit of work on this transition.  We finished with a few rounds of free rolling, working on going from standing and posting on the hips of the seated bottom player to control the knee and then pressure in to pass to camping position, then to side control.  This helped secure the leg so I didn't have to fight the knee shield so much.  I did get a stretch in.

[bushido_man96]

2/28/2026

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu:  10:00 - 11:00 am.  Open Mat.  Lots of 4 minute rounds, and there were just three of us, so round robin it was.  Prior to class, coach showed me a video by Bernardo Faria of the technical breakdown of the over/under pass, then he showed me a dynamic application in a video of from a high-level competition.  It helps to see both, because when things get dynamic, it rarely looks textbook.

I had one early round where I spent most of the time on top.  By hook or by crook, I managed.  Then, I rolled some more, and that didn't happen again...  Towards the end of class, coach let me work just offense so I got to move through advancing positions to submission.  Stretched between rounds.

[bushido_man96]

3/2/2026

Strength Training

Deadlifts:  135x5, 165x3, 185x3, 235x3, 235x3.

RDLs:  140x5, 140x5, 140x5.

The deadlifts build up the pressure in my head pretty fast.  I may end up doing a lot of singles pretty soon.  I'll continue to monitor.  So far, things haven't gotten so bad that I have bad residual effects post workout.

 

Aikido:  6:15 - 7:15 pm.  Weapons Class.  Jo work.  The senseis' had a family emergency, so the blue belt ran the class.  It went well, although he was a bit curfluffeled by the impromptu teaching.  Warmup with hi-4, low-4, hi-8, and hi-10 on my own.  I tried to pick up speed and flow more.  I went through jo kata 1 on my own a few times; I'm missing something at the end, and need to review the video.  The rest of class was spent on kumi jo 1 and 2, doing both sides and switching the attacker and defender roles.

My knees were hurting a bit from the deadlift session prior to class.

[bushido_man96]

3/4/2026

Strength Training

Bench Press:  45x5x2, 95x5, 115x5, 135x5, 150x5, 165x5.

LTEs:  35x10, 35x10, 35x10.

I felt the residuals of the bench press in my head briefly after the set.  I got the wrist wraps, and they helped a lot with holding the weight.  Doing the LTEs, with my head off the end of the bench, caused a bit of a headache during the set, and getting up needed to be done more slowly.

[bushido_man96]

3/5/2026

Aikido:  8:45 - 9:45 am.  Morning class.  Some loosening and aikitaisos, then we spent time focusing on kaitenage throws:

Katatetori kaitenage omote:  Draw and kazushi with irimi step (back fist strike to face), then raise arm while slightly pulling on it to retain tension and kazushi (initially I was not doing this; this little detail helped out), step through with inside leg then do the front stance pivot and step forward with the same leg (now the outside leg; this caused me some confusion early on as well); finish by doing a big arm circle while squatting to bring the arm around to the kaitenage throw position.

Katatetori kaitenage soto:  This one is more direct; irimi step and strike, then make the big circle without taking a step.

Katatetori kaitenage ura:  This one starts with a tenkan, then moves like the omote variation.  I have to step closer to uke or I end up disconnected and pulling uke around a lot.  It ends up feeling like a lot of work, a lot of muscling, and I know it shouldn't.  I also need to focus on not leaning over when I step; keep shoulders above the hips.  I need to think about everything I do when I move like a TKD straight punch, be it lunge or reverse.  If I start keeping that mental picture, it should help clean up a lot of techniques.

 

Aikido:  3:15 - 4:30 pm.  Club class held on campus.  Two aikido classes in one day is good stuff!  Loosening and aikitaisos, along with some internals work.  The focus was on extending up through the head.  Then we did some ukemi, and I worked on panda rolling, which was going better.  Then technique work.

Katatekosatori kokyunage:  I struggle with kokyunage, and I kept trying to do iriminage.

After that, we kind of went more free-form.  We worked on using our body to help direct uke and break their blance from a wrist grab.  We did lots of reps here, and the grabs came from either same side or cross side.  We finished up playing with a mae geri defense/takedown that finished with a leg entanglement/calf slicer.

 

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu:  6:45 - 8:30 pm.  Three warmup rounds, 4 minutes each.  We had some different people in class tonight, which was nice (until it wasn't).  I'm pretty sure the blue belt is letting me work more, especially with the early warmup rounds.  There was a white belt there that I was actually able to do things with, advancing positions and getting closer to submissions.  There was also a wrestler there.

The class focus was on back control.  We started with breaking down from what I refer to as "referee's position" (from wrestling parlance; only difference is in BJJ we can start with locked hands).  The goal was to break them down onto their hips and try to hold them in that position as long as possible.  Bottom player won by escaping and/or re-guarding.  The game advanced to working from back control with double underhooks and a hook in with the bottom player already on their hip.  Top player was to get to a seatbelt grip and try to maintain the position.  I couldn't do crap from here with the wrestler.  We finished working on rear naked choke technique as the submission from that position.  We got both hooks in, or we went from kneeling with chest-to-back pressure.  Finished with free rolling:

I went with the white belt first.  I was able to stay on top, advance position, and was starting to work for an Americana submission when time ran out.  It was encouraging.

Next was with the wrestler.  Holy cow.  He just killed me.  Lots of good pressure, strong, athletic, could scramble.  Somewhere during that match I smoked my right knee somehow, and it was really burning for a time.  It got to feeling better after class.  This match was not encouraging.

Last I went with the blue belt.  I felt like I had a good match with him, until eventually I fell into bottom side control, which always sucks.  My knee was burning pretty good, and it cut this match a little short.

[bushido_man96]

3/6/2026

Strength Training

Squats:  45x5x2, 95x5, 115x3, 135x1, 160x5, 170x3, 190x2.

Clean & Jerk:  45x5 (clean only), 65x2, 85x2, 95x2, 120x2, 120x2, 120x2.

[bushido_man96]

3/9/2026

Strength Training

Press:  45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3, 120x3, 120x3, 120x3, 120x3, 120x3.

Triceps Push-downs:  50x15, 50x15, 50x15.