Training Log: Entry 56

Boxing/Muay Thai class:

Warm up

Drills:
Jab w/defense of outside parry/counter
Jab-Jab-Cross-Cross-Left Hook-Left Hook-Right Hook-Right Hook w/defense of outside parries and blocking where appropriate
Jab-Cross w/defense outside parries+Jab-cross counter
Jab-Cross w/defense outside parries+Jab-cross-low left hook-high right hook counter

Timing Sparring for a few rounds.  Kick work.  Banged up my shins.  Knee is killing me.

During class: worked on snapping punches back and keeping hands up.

After class sparring: Boxing rules

Pros: Great cardio, Strong straight punches, good hits off of the clinch, good jaw, using bodyblows and combos

Cons: I go too soft, still drop hands, will flurry instead of combo, lack of power in hook

Training Log: Entry 55

After a week off of martial arts and heavy lifting because of my shoulder, I'm back in business.  Went to my grappling class tonight.  Was basically a takedown lab.  My wrestling background helped me excell.  I got paired up with a great training partner.  He has the size, weight, strength, and experience on me (He's at least 210, pure muscle, and has a wrestling and Judo background).  I was amazed I could hold my own against him.  We performed a drill where one person went for the takedown and the other defended for 3 minutes, and I stopped him from scoring on me for a good amount.  The clinch breaks I learned from "Savage Strikes" were an asset.  When it was my turn to score the takedowns, I lost a contact lense -_-'  Meant I didn't get to go for long. 

Cardio is insane.  I can go for days.  I'm in the greatest phsyical shape I've ever been in for a damn long time.  Can't wait for the throwdown.

Training Log: Entry 54

I don't know if I feel fit to include this as training, but it's worth mentioning.  The sparring match with the ROTC guy was a sad dissapointment.  Much as I had suspected, the guy was a point sparrer.  It was light to no contact, striking area was belt up, and below the knee.  No contact to face, light contact to rest of everything else.  I had a spectator...I felt embarassed.  The guy was sucking wind after 25 seconds into the first round.  I fought for 3 rounds without even breaking a sweat.  I still tooled the guy even using his own rules, although I think it's because he felt that the strikes that didn't actually hit me still "counted".  I've been laughing either since.  He said he did "Karate", but when I asked him what style, he was at a loss. 

Don't get me wrong though, I still give the guy props for sparring me.  He's still a helluva lot braver than the other people on my damn campus.

I worked on snapping my punches back while punching, and for the first time in like ever, managed to work kicks and punches in a combination (rather than having a punch and a kick game, I had both working).  I also focused on staying light on my feet.  Kinda sad I had enough time to look at myself in the mirror though -_-'

Training Log: Entry 53

Took an Aikido class offered at my campus.  It's a logical system, but a bit too slow paced for me, and requires an amount of relaxation and calm that I don't think I could possess during a fight. 

Instructor made an example of me as "the big guy".  I hate that crap.  I actually tend to offer very little resistance in these types of situations beacuse I fear hurting my training partners.

I may continue taking the Aikido.  It's free: can't beat that.  I wanna spar the instructor sometime.

Sparring tomorrow.  Got my gloves today.  Black.  Favorite color.  Can't find my mouthguards, so I might need to use my "in case of emergency" spare. 

Training Log: Entry 52

Shoulder near 100%.  Did my BWE for chest/triceps/shoulder today, and only had to skip one exercise due to strain.  Will hopefully still be able to spar on Sat.

Development of minor shin splint on left leg.  Byproduct of running 3 days in a row for prolonged periods of time on pavement with bad form.  Been a while since I've had consecutive training injuries.  Reminds me of high school.  Actually a "good" sign, in that at least I know I'm pushing myself harder than before.  Also developing minor burns on palms from push-ups on carpet.  I used to have callouses, but I stopped doing Push-ups for too long.

Training Log: Entry 51

Shoulder feels better, but taking today off of grappling just to be sure.  No point in rushing in when I just barely recovered.  Last thing I need is more shoulder problems.

Leg day today.  Calfs are looking huge.  I'm enjoying my results.  One day, I'll hopefully have legs like Cro-Cop.

Gloves should be in on Friday.  On Saturday, I'll have a chance to spar an old ROTC buddy of mine.  He's a karateka of some variety.  I have concerns he might be from a McDojo, but I'll see.  Gives me a chance to test out my new gloves.  I wouldn't wanna hit him with 4oz.

Feb 5th WA throwdown is coming up.  More vids for the collection.

Hopefully will be able to spar more ROTC people.  We got a few guys who do MA, but none are too thrilled about going a few rounds with me.  Kinda sucks to look like I look: no one ever wants to play.

Training Log: Entry 50

Shoulder still hurts.  Might me joint/ligament damage.  Hopefully just a pulled muscle.  Received it weight lifting (bench press).  Need to take today off of training.

Though am not a bodybuilder, I have noticed a change in my physique as of recently.  Seem to have better definition, and my chest is getting larger.  Result of the new musclar endurance program and new focus on cardio, along with cleaning up my diet a little bit.

Ordered 16oz boxing gloves yesterday.  Should be a valuable asset in my trainnig.

Training Log: Entry 49

Went to a second sub grappling class.

Warm-up

Single leg takedown from jab-slip (comes easy to me)

Guard passing/guard defense work

Guard passing rolling: I could hold my own for a little.  I got some advice (have my guard higher when he's attempting to use the elbow pass) during the rolling that helped.  I made decent use of strength against someone bigger than me (gasp!  Finally, people that might pose a challenge in regards to strength)

Free rolling for the rest of the hour.

Peronal notes: Getting positional dominance is actually coming along pretty naturally for me.  My flaw is my lack of submission knowledge.  Still only really know the armbar from mount and kimura.  I somewhat know the armbar from guard, and I know what a triangle looks like (I actually tried for both).  Still, i think once I know what I"m doing, it'll come along nicely.  I held my own against one of the assistant instructors, and Jeff actually gives advice to the guys I'm rolling aginst, rather than to me, which lets me think that I might be posing some sort of opposition.  Still gassing: result of wrestling training.  Still resisting too much: need to relax more.

Need to remember not to clip nails right before grappling.  Tore up cuticles.

Pulled my right deltoid.  Hopefully will heal by tomorrow, otherwise I'll miss my striking training.

Training Log: Entry 48

I have started training in submission grappling.  Essentially Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu with elements of Dumog, Sambo, and other grappling arts.  My wrestling background helps.  Here is a review of my first lesson.

Warm up: Circling the mat, shoulder/back rolls

Work on getting takedown during standup:
  Jab-cross-double bodyhook
  Jab-cross-double bodyhook-double leg takedown-side control
  Jab-cross-double bodyhook-double leg takedown-side control allowing both partners to throw strikes
  Jab-cross-double bodyhook-double leg takedown-side control allowing both partners to throw strikes-top man goes for mount

From mount:
Figure four
Armbar-worked on planting foot against body, stepping over with other leg, sitting my weight down, falling back, and raising hips.  Simple sub.

From mounted:
Oompa: trap both supporting arm and leg, and hip bump on that side
Elbow defense: elbows press against leg to lower mount, then shove the chest while bumping

From there, we did some calistencs, and then some free rolling
I one my first roll with an armbar from mount.  It was against the annoying training partner from my Muay Thai class, so I was happy.

I was then pitted up against one of the more experienced guys.  I put up a decent fight, but lost to an armbar once I lost mount and was put into guard.

Cardio held up well, but I want more.  Also, I'm using muscle when I grapple, but I'd prefer to be technical.  Forearms and fingers were exhausted.  So far, I like what i'm learning.  Hopefully I'll get more from guard and mounted (my weak areas).

Training Log: Entry 47

Went to my boxing/MT class today.  Here is the lesson:

Warm up with shadowboxing

Work standard four with a partner (low left roundhouse-right cross-left hook-right rounhouse)

Work on hook defense (shift body away from hook to take power away from blow)

Double hook defense (one hook from each side, shifting defense)

Double high hook, double low hook, double mid roundhouse, double low roundhouse defense (all involve shifting away barring low roundhouses which were low roundhouses)

Counter work for shifting defense (if shift to the left, left hook-right cross-left hook.  if shift to the right, right cross-left hook-right cross.  for leg check, always the latter)

There was another drill, but I can't remember it...

Thaipad work (3 minute rounds)
  Standard four
  Modified standard four (left roundhouse-right cross-left hook-standing right knee-right roundhouse)
  Modified standard four (left roundhouse-right cross-left hook-right cross elbow-grab+knee-shove-right rounhouse)

Finish

Personal Notes: My training partner was awful.  I've dealt with this guy before.  He has no form, an IQ equal to his shoe size, and no desire whatsoever to get better.  He is completely undynamic, and does the drills statically so that I gain nothing from the exercise, whereas I try to keep things alive.  What's worse, he sweats gallons, and on cement floors, it made things slippery.

Focused on keeping my hands up.  My right cross has become really sharp as a result of shadowboxing.  It used to be a sloppy overhand right, but now it could f-in' drive nails.  I am doing better keeping at keeping my hand on my face when I perform my roundhouse.  The attack itself is kinda sloppy though, although I chalk that up to how my partner was holding the pads.

Training Log: Entry 46

Roads were too icy for any type of roadwork.  Couldn't even walk to the damn gym without risk of injury.  Stayed inside and did my leg/ab day bodyweight routine.  If problem persists tomorrow, I'll jump rope for cardio.

Little update: My knuckles no longer bleed or get cut during bareknuckle training.  Possibly result of both conditioned knuckles and hitting directly rather than dragging.  Either way, I feel accomplished.

Training Log: Entry 45

Completed full week of new routine.  Hopefully the DOMS will not be a consisstant problem.  I also need to schedule my time a bit better, because doing my tricep stuff today ruled out boxing, and Thurs is the day of my boxing class.

On a related note, I'm seriously considering attending the grappling class, mainly beacuse I recognize the holes in my game, and because I want to compete in the SoCal Pankration league (www.socalpankration.com) over the summer.  Due to the rule set (no strikes to the head mainly), striking will not be as big an asset as grappling.

Training Log: Entry 44

Leg day.  Nothing has changed as of previous update due to the fact that working out my legs has been a recent development.  I am doing 5 sets instead of 4.  My legs were still sore from my bodyweight workout (goddamn), but are now finally healed.

Training Log: Entry 43

Was able to hit the bag today.  Triceps are only minorly sore.  Added in 2 rounds of rope skipping at the start of the program.  Good for warmup and footwork.

Lifted today.  Day 2 of routine. 

Upright rows: 5 sets of 1-5 reps
Lat pulldown: 5 sets of 1-5 reps
Cable deadlift: 35 reps (not allowed to deadlift in my gym, and the cable machine only goes up to 250)

Smith machine front shurgs: 5 sets of 1-5 reps
Dumbbell shrugs: 5 sets of 1-5 reps
Declined dumbbell shrugs: 5 sets of 1-5 reps

Standing E-Z bar curl: 5 sets of 1-5 reps
Declined hammer curl: 5 sets of 1-5 reps
Preacher curl station: 5 sets of 1-5 reps

I have lost weight.  It's fluctuating.  I'll post when it stablizes.

Cardio has actually stuck.  I'm impressed.  Will not slack though.  Need to keep it up.  It used to be my strong point.

 

Saw vids of me sparring in September.  Was a total eye opener.  I've changed so much as a fighter in such a short time.  My kickgame was non-existant, I had no idea what I was doing on the ground, and I moved as though I was in slow motion.  However, at that time, I actually had alright punching combinations (even though I left my arms out), but I feel that is more because I was fighting people around my height/reach rather than a lack of experience.  It is difficult for me to stay in punch range against taller opponenets.  Especially against those that run away.

Training Log: Entry 42

Am still way sore from the first days' bodyweight workout, and with travel time from my flight, I didn't get to do much in way of working out.  Only did some bench before I called it a night.  As it stands though, it looks like my routine is going to be something to the extent of:

Bench press: 1-5 reps, 10 sets
Dumbbell press: 1-5 reps, 5 sets

Dumbbell shoudler press: 1-5 reps, 5 sets
Front Laterial raise: 1-5 reps, 5 sets

French Press: 1-5 reps, 5 sets
Weighted dips: 1-5 reps, 5 sets
Machine skull crushers: 1-5 reps, 5 sets

Training Log: Entry 41

Tricpes were too sore to shadowbox (had no power and bad form, and
would rather no enforce those habits).  These workouts are kicking
my ass.

Have not been mentioning that I have been doing cardio during this new
season of lifting as well.  I tend to my cardio day on my chest
day, bag and half cardio on my back day, and only bag work on my leg
day (legs would be too sore to do any other sort of cardio). 
During my rest day, I intend to do a bag/half cardio session in the
afternoon and a session of footwork and shadowboxing in the evening.

Edit: Goddamn this bodyweight stuff is tougher than I thought.  I
used to think I was in shape until I did this crap.  Here's how
leg and ab day worked out (once again taken from
www.trainforstrength.com)

SHOOTFIGHTER/BOOTSTRAPPERS*: 4 SETS OF 25.
*25 Shootfighter Squats followed immediately by 25 Bootstrappers. This is one set.

10 Lunges

HIGH KNEE JUMPS: 10
Place your hands behind your head and keep your feet shoulder width
apart. Bend your knees slightly and drive your knees to your chest. Try
to jump again as soon as the balls of your feet hit the ground.

4 sets of 25 flutterkicks

SIT AND TUCKS: 15 in each direction, front and then each cheek.

CRUNCHES: 30 in each direction.

SITTING FLUTTER KICKS:  4 sets of 10.

ATOMIC SITUPS: 10
Lie flat on your back with your arms and legs extended. Bring your
hands and feet up at the same time and try to touch them together over
the middle of your body. It's pretty comical to watch these in the
video too.

Those shootfighters/bootstrappers killed me.  My legs feel like jello, and my abs are like a brick.  I love this.

Training Log: Entry 40

Goddamn I'm sore.  Triceps are killing me, and my left shin is
dying (byproduct of not being able to condition it.  Right shin
still seems to be working well though).

Tested a new BWE in regards to chin-up/pull ups called
"laddering".  Initally, this is done with a partner, where one guy
does a pull-up, the other guy does one, first guy does two, second guy
does two, etc etc.  It can be accomplished solo (which I have
done) if you just estimate the time in between pull-ups. 
Apparently it's what the Spetznas (sp?  Russian Special Forces)
used to get the mandatory 18 deadhang pull-ups with a 10kg bulletproof
vest on.  Suffice to say, Russian Special Force I am not.  I
did feel some strain in my triceps, which at this point I'm going to
blame for my poor performance, but in reality, this is my weak point
that I hope to remmedy.

Program as of today went
Pull-ups
  Ladder up to 5 for 3 sets
Chin-up
    Ladder up to 3 for 3 sets
Commando Chin-ups
    Ladder up to 2 for 3 sets per side (total of six sets)

And at that point, I was done.  Man did I feel bad.  The
20-30 second rest time in between sets is so damn new to me.  I'm
loving this though.

Training Log: Entry 39

I've started on day 5 of my new program (being that today is
Thursday).  To let you know what I have so far, here ya go. 
As a reference, I got most of my ideas from www.trainforstrength.com

Push-up Pyramids to 15 (means going from 1 to 15 back down to 1)
Reps 1-5 are Triceps
Push-ups, Reps 6-10 are Regular Grip Push-ups, and Reps
11-15 are Dive Bomber Push-ups.

GRAPPLING UNLIMITED PUSHUPS: 2 sets of 50 (originally 1 set of 100)

Lie down flat on your stomach
and place your hands right next to your chest while making
sure your elbows are tucked in tightly behind you. Raise
your entire body a few inches off the ground for your starting
point and then raise it another 6 inches for the mid-point.
The only thing touching the ground is your feet and hands.

DIPS:
4 sets of 8-10

Note: The pyramid looked like a joke at first, but by the time I was
donw with it, I was so thankful I could complete it.  I thought
it'd be a bad start to my new routine to not even be able to complete
my first exercise.

I was unable to do a full 100 reps in one set of the grappling
push-ups, thus I broke it up into 2 sets.  I hope to rectify that
soon.

I want to add one more exercise before the dips, because once I was
done with those, the workout was over...I couldn't move my arms.

So far, I am VERY happy with this workout.  Dips have become a new
favorite of mine.  I'm thinking I want to work more towards 15-30
reps though, to keep this as a muscular endurance exercise, but we'll
see.

I also want to add in a little bit more shoulder/chest work.  I'm
thinking of that the new exercise to add in will be Dands or Hindu
Push-ups until failure.

Training Log: Entry 38

Training program is under process of totally being revamped from the beggining of this log.  Changes are as follows:

Am finally able to do several leg exercises that were unavailable due
to stress fracture on left ankle.  As a result, I am currently
training my kicks and able to do weighted leg exercises.

Having received video tape of my sparring "performance" has revealed to
me that I have been doing too much aimless bag training without aid of
a training partner with focus pads.  My punches do not snap back,
and instead are more of a slow push rather than a quick "pop".  As
such, my major focus whenever I do any sort of boxing training is to
pop my hands back as fast as possible when punching.  This results
in a less "satisfying" feeling, but I know I'll appreciate the results.

Punching speed is "faster than a speeding building".  As such, I
have encorperated more shadowboxing into my program, so that I can
develop punching speed independent of heavybag (which seems to
encourage bad habits).

Hands drop, once again a byproduct of having to train by myself. 
It's become a major focus when hitting the heavy bag.  I will
attempt to record my training for my own benefit.

Amazingly, kick game has not deteriorated in spite of it's lack of
training, but my hands are still dropping majorly with this.  Once
again, another focus.

Have gone from 5 minute rounds to 3 minute rounds on the bag.  I
decided that the increased stamina was not worth the decreased
techincal skills that comes with "slugging" on the bag once I'm
winded.  I'd rather practice with "perfect" form for 3 minutes
than less than perfect form for 5 minutes.  I'll get my stamina
from my cardio.

And speaking of which, I'm actually impressed with how well my cardio
has been doing during my matches.  The 2-3 weeks of HIIT
beforehand was definitely a help, but even when I had been slacking I
still managed to do alright for myself when it came to some 3 minute
rounds of sparring.  I don't want to give up though.  If
anything, I NEED more cardio, mainly because the techical skills are
still very poor, thus conditioning is going to need to be my advantage
until that improves.  With my new class schedule, I should be able
to get some cardio in during the morning.

I desperately need to attend my martial arts classes.  School got
complicated, but there's really no excuse beyond this.  Hopefully
I can work some rides out.  Not only am I missing instruction, but
I'm gathering a huge amount of ring rust from sparring only every 3
months or so.

Amazingly, after 2+ years out of wrestling, I still hold onto some of
the instincts.  I managed a cross-face cradel in one of my
sparring matches over break.  I'm still muscling everything
though.  I honestly fear the day I encounter a stronger
fighter. 

I'm going to be doing my best to make sure said day never happens
though.  I am restructing my lifting entirely.  As of this
point, I don't have the specifics, but the general split will be
Day 1: Chest/Triceps/Shoulders-weights
Day 2: Back/Traps/Biceps-weights
Day 3: Legs/Abs-weights
Day 4: Rest
Day 5: Chest/Triceps/Shoulders-bodyweight exercises (BWEs)
Day 6: Back/Traps/Biceps-BWEs
Day 7: Legs/Abs-BWEs

Said program should give me a good balance of both muscular strength
and endurance without bodybuilding.  I'm actually very excited
about this program, and will post the results of whether or not it
"works".  I still have time to figure out how exactly I'm going to
play it out.

Need to work my abs.  A lot.  Extremely weak area. 
There's just so many schools of thought out there though.  I'm
contemplating BWEing them everyday except my lifting day, but I
honestly don't know the best method to go about it.  I need strong
abs for those body shots.

For those of you who have been reading, this a summary of how I've
changed in the past few months since said journal has been
started.  I might make a habit of doing a sesmester evaluation.

Training Log: Entry 37

Once again changed my bagwork.  Hoping it'll fix the holes in my
game.  Decided to go by 3 minute rounds rather than 5 minute
because the fatigue of the latter encouraged me to have lazy
hands.  Bad habbits.

Rounds 1-2: Shadowboxing.  Focus on snapping punches back right away rather than leaving them out (big problem)
Round 3: Shadowboxing.  Learned a drill to grab the earlobes with both hands to keep hands at face.  Using this.
Rounds 4-6: Bare-knuckle heavybag.  Focus on keeping hands up and snapping punches back.
Rounds 7-10: Grappling gloves boxing.   Work on punching power, yet making sure to snap punches back.
Round 11:  Muay Thai aresnal.  Atm, my knees are burned, so
all I can really do is polish my roundhouses.  Getting a better
pivot (as lacking in the videos).