Becoming an Athlete

Today's agenda is close-range striking. We'll befocusing on elbows, clinching, and blocking. On thursday we'll progress to knees, low-line blocks, and sweeps from the clinch 1. Blocking set: 5 mins Basic blocks that I learned in Kajukenbo Emphasis will be on “Centerline theory” and modified “Immovable elbow” 2. Block and counter: 5 mins Warm-up drill to practice 1-beat and 2 beat block & counters Emphasis on straight punching technique 3. Elbow strikes on heavy bag: 6 x 3min / 30sec Techniques include: 1. Round elbow: lead and rear 2. Rising elbows 3. Downward elbows We’ll be doing round –robin style to work on partner elbow drills including clinch. 1 round heavybag, 2 rounds partner drills; 6 rounds total 4. Conditioning circuit: 9 x 3min / 1min Rnd 1: Heavy bag full fighting i. Focus on work output and correctness of form. Forget about power for now ii. Apply any tools you are particularly fond of, but also try to work in wha...

I stared week2 one day early; Sunday instead of Monday Clean: 145 x 5, 5, 5 (deload for my lower back) Incline bench press: 155 x 10, 10 Dips: bw x 6, 5 Chin-ups: bw x 4, 4, 3 Bent row: 105 x 10, 10 Prone raise: 15 x 10 Lateral raise: 15 x 10 Shrug: 125 x 13 Incline db curls: 20s x 12, 12, 9 Squat: 185 x 12; 135 x 20

This is the last workout in the rep range. On Monday I switch to sets of 10 for a week. Clean: 155 x 5, 4, 5 Incline bench press: 150 x 12, 12 Dips: bw x 4, 4 Chin-up: bw x 4, 4, 3 Bent row: 105 x 12, 12 Prone Raise: 12s x 12 Lateral Raise: 12s x 15 Shrug*: 115 x 12 Incline DB Curls: 20s x 14, 12, 9 Squat: 135 x 30, 30 * Shrugs: MUCH better feel, tighter contraction, and better range of movement with reduced weight. I'll stick with 115 for Monday, then move to 135 by Friday.

We have a new member of our fighting group. So we took it slower and lighter. Just a lot of rounds focused on basics and some heavy bag work. It was a nice change of pace.

Same as sessions for this phase, but slightly heavier. Clean: 145 x 5, 5, 5 Incline bench press: 145 x 12, 12 Dips: bw x 4 (shoulder pain) Chin-ups: bw x 2, 4, 4 Bent row*: 95 x 12, 12 Prone raise: 12s x 12 Lateral raise: 12s x 12 Shrug**: 135 x 13 Incline dumbbell curls: 20s x 14, 12, 9 Squat: 115 x 30, 30 *Bent row: Much better feel, and stricter form with lighter weight. I could feel more contraction than with 115. **Shrug: 13 reps was easy but I didn't feel I was fully working my traps. I will lower the weight on Friday

Banged up and bruised on purpose!!!! Man, my training partner and I really turned up the masochism for today's workout: Partner drills: 3 x 2min / 30sec rest (jab/cross/hook -> catch/catch/slip) Body conditioning, punches only: 3 x 2min / 30sec rest Any combination of punches with no gloves to your partner's body. We took lots of good shots to the stomach, floating ribs, and chest. OUCH!!! 1 round on, 1 round off. 6 rounds total Heavy bag kicking, alternating rounds: 2 x 2min / 30sec rest One person kicked while the other stretched. That's a total of 2 rounds stretching and 2 rounds heavy bag Body conditioning, legs only: total of about 10 minutes We alternated with all manner of kicks, from both right and left lead. My thighs are HURT! I took a lot of hard shins to my thigh. I wonder how this will affect my squatting tomorrow? :) We discovered that one of the most painful kicks is a hard shin on the lats, right around the arm pit. if you do it hard enough, your opponent...

Great start using light weights and keeping the rest intervals to a minimum! Clean: 135 x 5, 5, 5 Incline bench press: 140 x 12, 12 Dips: bodyweight x 2 (shoulder pain, so I stopped) Chin-ups: bodyweight x 5, 4, 4 Bent row: 115 x 12, 5 (lower weight on Wednesday) Prone raise: 12s x 15 Lateral raise: 12s x 15 Barbell shrug: 135 x 12 Incline dumbbell curls: 20s x 14, 10, 9 (stick with this weight) Back squat: 95 x 30, 30

Well folks, I've been inconsistent since about May, so it is high time to get back after it. I've done a few small workouts, but I spent my slacking time to think about what I've done to get off track and recall the times I've done best.So I'm back to a very simple, retro approach that has been the halmark of strong, fit guys for about 100 years: · whole body training sessions · three times a week · slow and gradual increases in weight, provided I hit my rep targets I’ll also be doing light running coupled with my MMA training once or twice a week The table below shows my very basic Phase1 plan. This is straight out of the HST* playbook. One workout repeated three times a week. Stay at the same rep target for one week, then lower the rep target by 2 each subsequent week. I’ll be lifting on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with MMA training as I can on Tuesday and Thursday, and running wherever it fits. I can manage this for 3 weeks.

We checked out a really cool park in West Austin. St. Edward's Park provided us about 4-5 miles of hilly hiking, but we had to loop around a couple times because the trail is only about 2 miles.

Monday is the start of my 12 week plan focusing on general fitness and hypertrophy. I'm keeping it real simple as I've had so many weeks off the wagon. I have done this workout twice now, with some ommisions from what I'll do staring on Monday, 21 JUN. Practice session #2. 1. Clean: 125 x 5, 5, 5 2. Incline bench press: 140 x 12, 12 3. Dips: 3, 1 4. Chin-up: 5, 5, 3 5. Bent row: 115 x 10, 10 6. Prone dumbbell raise: 12s x 15 7. Lateral dumbbell raise: 12s x 15 8. Incline dumbbell curls: 20s x 15, 10, 7 9. Back squat: 95 x 30

Thanks to a wonderful facebook virus, my coputer has been down till pretty much just right now. I have done a few workouts, boxing and weights, but will get started anew on Monday. It's great to be back online. Who knew?

It isn't Mardi Gras , but it's Tuesday and I fee fat after a workout. I hadn't done anything since my last pot. Things got busy planning our wedding reception party, then we were on vacation of week. Celebrating is great, but I need to learn to limit myself even when the alcohol and food are 'free'. Also, I need to get back into the groove of waking up at 6:00. A week at the Gulf of Mexico an lounging round eroded any self discipline I've gained. Anyway, today' workout.................. Mostly a skill based workout today, but it still showed my deconditioning . We didn't have much time between my work calls to get things done. All rounds were 2min work / 30sec rest Catch / cover partner drills: 2 rounds Catch / Slip partner drill: 3 rounds heavy bag working off inside slip: 4 rounds