The Martial Artists' Training Log

[bushido_man96]

2-9-07:

Legs today!!

Power clean: 135x6, 155x6, 165x4...this last set was tough.

Squat: 275x8, 295x6, 315x4

These next exercises I did in a circuit:

Leg extension: 100x10x3

Leg curls: 145x10x3

Hip adduction: 100x10x3

Hip abduction: 100x10x3

Decline abs: 15x3

Side raises: 30x10x3...these hurt real bad from the flying side kicks on Wednesday!!

Hanging knee raises: 10x3

Calf raises: 143x10x3

[baronbvp]

Just came back from Muay Thai class, but the instructor wasn't there. Only four of us showed up, so we all just trained together for over an hour.

15 minute warmup including running, shadow boxing, and lots of stretching. Focused on my hips - ouch! I suck. When sitting with the soles of my feet together, my legs are at 45 degree angles off the floor. No chance of touching my knees to the floor. Man. It will get better, but I have a long way to go.

We took turns punching the standup floor heavy bag for a minute each to get started. I also practiced your gouge, Bushido Man, on how to practice my low round kick. If I turn my hips correctly, I can only kick about a foot or two off the floor. When I kick higher, instead of contacting with the shin bone at the 12 o'clock position on my leg, I hit with the inside 1 o'clock (left leg) or 11 o'clock position. Ineffective! However, I realized as usual that form is more important than anything else, so I will focus on correct technique. Right now, I can kick the top off of a daisy perhaps, or maybe kick off a sprinkler head. It hurts to roll my hips like that, but I focus on pivoting my support foot and rolling my hips and keeping my kicking leg stiff as I swing toward the target, contacting with the knife edge of my lower shin bone after the apex of the circle. My teep kick is good, though. I can also do a spinning back kick, but I need to improve my coordination.

After the minute each on the heavy bag, we paired up and did jab practice against a partner for two minutes each, switching stances after the first minute. Your partner calls out randomly how many jabs to throw (from 1-3) against their glove. It's fast. We followed that immediately by low kicks to our partner's thigh for a minute each side, each stance. That shin bone hurts when used correctly! Great for toughening up the thighs and practicing contact for the attacker. Bruises, schmoozes.

We then sparred light contact against a partner for 2 minutes each, switching stances after one minute. Glad I had my cup and mouthguard. I connected fairly often as did he. Among other things, I took a good punch to the face. Got a great round kick to his body about four feet up - yay! Immediately took a punch to the body, then punched him in the chin, then we clinched and kneed each other followed by some hooks to the body. Connected with my first uppercut. I like this!

We then did pyramid against the heavy bag: 1 minute, 1.5 minute, 2 minutes, etc. We started with one minute of full contact aggressive attacks with almost constant assault. Cycle in the next guy. Next turn, we did 30 seconds of punches and elbows, followed by 30 seconds of kicks and knees, followed by 30 seconds of full combinations. I did some back elbows and backfists that these guys hadn't seen - thank you, shorin ryu.

After this drill, I was whupped. The other three guys were all 17-19, so this 45 year old stopped after an hour and 15 minutes. Snow is forecast to come Tuesday, so I hope we have class on Wednesday. In the meantime, I will look into buying a standup heavy bag for my home gym to practice my kicks. Thanks, Bushido Man.

VR, Baron

[Symphony-x]

9 feb [might aswell make 1]

power work with medicine balls.

throwing them back and forth, throwing them above ur head, squats with them, movements holding them for punching. raw power work out: throwing them by flicking your arm, not allowed bending etc.

just loads stuff. but damn im sore today

[Ace2021]

Nice, I love medicine balls. Can provide a lot of versatile workouts, a must-have.

02-10-07:

Been trying to improve my endurance with a lot of cardio lately.

Today was nothing special, strength training and some abdominal

Skipping 2minsx3

Pushups - 20x5

Burpees - 70

Pullups - 8x3

Abdominal leg raises - 5x5

[baronbvp]

Lighter workout today following training yesterday:

5 min warmup on elliptical

Superset machine bench and lat pulldowns: 70x12, 90x10, 110x8, 50x10

Clean and jerk 45x15

Curling bar 50x10

Dumbbell curls 30x15 ea side

Triceps pushdown 50x10

Decline situps: 50, then 25 w/25 lb dumbbell

Close grip machine bench 80x12

Leg press 100x10

Calf raise 100x20

Glute kickbacks 30x20x2 ea side

Floor ab work with 5 lb ankle weights ea side

S-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g!!

[bushido_man96]

I will look into buying a standup heavy bag for my home gym to practice my kicks. Thanks, Bushido Man.

Hey, you're welcome. I hoped you could understand all that mumbo-jumbo I threw at you! It so much easier to show it than type it, sometimes!

power work with medicine balls.

throwing them back and forth, throwing them above ur head, squats with them, movements holding them for punching. raw power work out: throwing them by flicking your arm, not allowed bending etc.

just loads stuff. but damn im sore today

I like this medicine ball work. I would like to do more of it, but I don't have a steady partner, or a wall I can throw one against.

2-12-07:

Chest and triceps today.

Chest:

Bench press: 145x10, 185x6, 204x4

Incline barbell bench press: 115x8, 125x6, 135x4....these frustrate me. I bench more than the guy I work out with, but he can kill me on the Incline bench. What's up with that?

Cable crossovers: 50x10, 60x6, 70x4.....the last set was not good form. I will drop the weight next week.

Triceps:

Triceps pulldown: 80x10, 90x8, 105x6

Skullcrackers: 70x8, 80x6, 85x4

Dips: 2 sets of 5.

Abs:

Decline abs: 3x10x10 lbs. plate

Side raises: 3x20x25 lbs.

Hanging knee raises: 3x10

No Combat Hapkido work this afternoon, and class was canceled for tonight. This is probably a good thing, as I have come down with that crud that is going around. Hopefully, I'll get back to MA classes on Wednesday.

[baronbvp]

I bench more than the guy I work out with, but he can kill me on the Incline bench. What's up with that?

Bench angles work different muscles. Your buddy probably has a stronger upper chest and maybe shoulders, whereas you likely have stronger lower chest and maybe triceps.

How do you compare on the decline?

[bushido_man96]

I bench more than the guy I work out with, but he can kill me on the Incline bench. What's up with that?

Bench angles work different muscles. Your buddy probably has a stronger upper chest and maybe shoulders, whereas you likely have stronger lower chest and maybe triceps.

How do you compare on the decline?

I don't do the decline, really. I did see a guy in the gym the other day doing 225 lb. reps on the decline. I thought to myself, "what a friggin' animal."

[baronbvp]

I don't do the decline, really.

Try it, Bushido Man. I find I can dec bench lift quite a bit more than my flat bench. Works great for rounding out the lower edge of your pecs. Plus, it feels like you're Da Man when you crank out those last couple of reps.

[baronbvp]

Well, my MT class was canceled again for snow. I was planning to lift, but after shoveling all the ice-packed snow off my driveway, I think I will call that a qual. I even hurt my left wrist a bit digging into a big ice chunk with the shovel. Maybe it's just as well I don't have class tonight.