Saturday November 25 Weight training, 1 hour. My back is pretty much back to normal. I did the usual foam roller (legs), softball (shoulders), blue triggerpoint nipples (back & glutes). Started with 2 sets of 10 clams (on both sides, with blue band, working glutes) Then 2 rounds of: - TRX low rows (on heels), 10x - Palov press (80lbs on pulley cable, so maybe 40 or 50) with lateral steps (blue band around toes), 10 steps per side (8 per side 2nd round) - bird-dogs (8x per side, with burgundy cook band) Then we tried a few step-ups to see how my knee felt. My right knee felt fine, no discomfort at all. My left knee had some mild discomfort. We spent some time using the rumble roller on my lateral hamstrings & lateral quads, then tried the step-ups again on that left side. The discomfort was about the same. We then used a blue triggerpoint nipple on my medialis (right near the knee), which was quite tender. Afterwards we tried the step-ups again and the discomfort was basically gone (a very minor bit was left, I don't know if I'd even call it discomfort, maybe a warning of impending discomfort). Then 2 rounds of: - hollow pullups (thick black resistance band held by trainer, lying on back, legs 45 degrees in the air as extended as you can get them), 10x - single leg hip thrusters (8x/leg) Overall I felt pretty energetic for this workout. Some of the exercises made me breath hard for a bit, but after the workout I was feeling energetic still. So I did some shadowboxing & bagwork when I got home (about 20-30 minutes after workout). Video of that in my bagwork thread (after I watch them).
I forgot to mention, I tested my grip strength with my weight trainer (he has a grip strength measuring thing, I think its pneumatic), I got ~90-105lbs with my right hand, and ~80-90lbs with my left, over something like 12 tests. He says we should try again when I haven't worked on grip the day before.
Tuesday November 28 Muay Thai, 1 hour, all-ranks class I took 400mg ibuprofen prior to class, no headache at all, have felt good since the end of class. The warm-up was 3 (!) 3-minute rounds of jump-rope, with 10 push-ups after each round. The first round I did ok, caught the rope on my feet a good bit but did a reasonable amount of jumping (for me). The second round I had to stop a few times due to muscle fatigue building too high to keep going (calves). I did that once or twice in the first round, more often in the second. I had trouble getting much jumping going in the third round as I kept gassing or having my muscles burn out. Then we grabbed pads & gloves and did padwork, switching pad holder every 3 drills: The first set of 3 drills focused on long jabs/crosses/hooks, stepping into short ranged elbows. The second set of 3 drills had jabs/crosses/hooks with some body shots, and kicks (both rear & switch). The last drill ended with a switch kick + 2 rear kicks, which had me breathing really hard by the end of it. I was able to keep going, but my kicks lost most of their power or speed. (Could throw slow with some power, or somewhat faster with no power.) Then we did 5.5 minutes of ab exercises (30s per exercise, except for the 60s plank at the end). My conditioning continues to improve--a month ago I would not have been able to do as much of the jump-rope (not that I do it well now, I'm just a bit less awful), and wouldn't have recovered enough to do the drills without gassing (I would have run out of steam on drill 1 or 2, instead of #6). Also when holding pads, though my arm still starts to burn by the end, I am able to keep holding them at a good pace for my partner--a month ago I'd have had to slow my partner down as my arm would get too fatigued. I was mostly able to do the ab exercises.
Thursday November 30 I'm going to try intermittent fasting; I haven't really been losing weight (though I have lost some fat & gained muscle) as my diet is pretty poor, especially later at night at home. I'm ~285-290 lbs right now. I started today, I'm doing 16 hour fasts and eating during 8 hour windows. The window does allow me to always eat both before and after Muay Thai. I may have to stretch the window by a few hours on Saturdays to eat before weight training... I'll probably try without eating prior to it though and see how that goes--I can eat right after it. Muay Thai, 70 min, all-ranks class. I took 400mg ibuprofen before class, and that is the last one--next week I'll try without it, and see how my head does. The warm-up was three 3-minute rounds of jump-rope, with 10 push-ups after each round. I thought the last time was a fluke, but maybe with the temperature getting colder the Kru wants us to warm up longer. I did a little better today than I did on Tuesday, I think. The first round was great (for me)--I still caught the rope on my feet a bit, but a lot of solid jumping. I felt more relaxed than usual, and my legs didn't really fatigue & my breath was fine. The second round was a bit harder, I had to stop a reasonable bit. And the third round I did pretty poorly, with a lot of stopping for breath or my calves giving out. Then we grabbed pads & gloves and a partner, doing 6 drills (switching pads every 3). My partner held pads first, and I found the first 3 drills really hit me hard. They involved punching combos with multiple knees/kicks (one knee or switch knee, one or more kicks at the end; the last one had a switch kick then 2 rear kicks). I was still somewhat tired for the next set of drills, the first of which which involved jabbing, then going into long guard against aggression from the pad holder, followed by various strikes (starting with lead body hook, lead hook, adding more to that in later drills with elbows/punches/kicks). I was fairly exhausted by the end. Then we did 6 minutes of ab exercises: 10 exercises for 30 seconds each, then plank for 1 minute. My abs are still sore from Tuesday, and were cramping a bit during some exercises, but I did manage to do some of them the correct way, and most of the others with poor form. I also couldn't hold the plank and dropped several times.
Saturday December 2 The intermittent fasting has been going well. Friday morning/early afternoon was ok, though I was a bit low energy from around 10:30 to 12 (I eat 1:30 pm - 9:30 pm, as that gives me time to eat both before & after Muay Thai). Not too bad though. I was mildly hungry this morning (a bit more so than on Friday morning), but I had ~18 oz of black tea, which helped. I did weight training without having eaten first; it seemed fine. I had some applesauce packets with me in case I needed it, but didn't end up using it. Weight training, 1 hour 2 sets of clams, 15/side, blue resistance band. 3 rounds of: - TRX low row (12, heels only, rest of foot is off ground) - palov press & hold with lateral steps (8 steps per side, I think 80lbs on the cable) - bird-dogs (8x/side, burgundy cook band) 2 rounds of: - single arm overhead kettlebell press (18kg, then 20kg), 5x/side. My right shoulder is a bit tweaked (this happens often, I think I injure it mildly when holding pads sometimes), this bothered it very slightly when I use proper form (moving my arm backwards as it lifts; the external rotation was slightly uncomfortable). So we skipped a 3rd round of this to let my shoulder rest. - single leg hip thrusters (6x/side) - hollow pullups (thick black band), 8x
Monday December 4 Ugh. My willpower lost its battle today. I was going to to go Muay Thai, but didn't. This may be related to having ice cream & french fries for dinner last night... I haven't been too bad today, but not feeling great either. The fasting was a bit harder this morning, again, likely due to the horrible dinner last night. Not sure why, just really didn't feel like doing anything else today... left work an hour early too. Anyway, despite having what I call a 'nope' day, I did manage to finally do my grip training. I need to pick days to do it on consistently so I keep up with it--haven't done any since 2 Fridays ago. I warmed up with a 52lb gripper (10 crush grip reps), then did all my various finger exercises (I am not training those for progress right now, but just as part of the warmup)--hook grip (fingertips), individual fingers or combos (fingertips), tripod grip, 2 different thumb press grips, trigger grip. 10 reps each. Then another 10 reps of crush grip on the 52 lb one. Work sets were 7 reps on the CoC Trainer (100lb), then 5 reps. Could close it at the start of the 7 reps with both hands, but neither at the end of the 7. Left hand started giving out earlier than the right (right closed maybe 3 or 4, left closed only the first rep).
Saturday December 8th I haven't been exercising this week, I need to work on my discipline a little bit. Weight training, 1 hour Usual triggerpoint & rolling beforehand. Quads somewhat tender as usual, calves a bit tender (softball), right shoulder pretty tender (blue triggerpoint dimple & softball). My right shoulder is still a bit tweaked. We started with a single-arm sideways lat pull-down to warm up a bit (12x on right, 9x on left, 2 sets, 60lb on the pulley cable (so maybe 30 or 35 lb?). Then we did 2 sets of clams (15/side) with the blue resistance band. 2 rounds of: - step ups with cook band pulling on stepping leg above the knee. (First round without the band; had minor knee discomfort on right knee.) - bird dogs (8/side) - single arm lat pull-down from tall kneeling, elbow going wide. (160lb on pulley cable, so maybe 80-100lb). 12/side - very light weight (20 or 40lb on the pulley), row keeping arm at shoulder height, back to 90 degree bend in elbow, then externally rotate so your hand is up towards the ceiling. 15/side We did some extra triggerpoint in the middle, on the right shoulder area. I should do some shadow & bagwork tomorrow, and my grip training too. I won't make class on Monday due to a work event.
Monday December 11 Grip training: Warm-up: 10x crush grip (X-heavy prohands) 10x tripod grip (heavy prohands) 10x hook grip (heavy prohands) individual finger/multi-finger (light prohands) 10x trigger grip (heavy prohands) 10x thumb press (heavy prohands) 10x power pinch (heavy prohands) 10x crush grip (x-heavy prohands) Work sets: 7 CoC trainer reps (did better at closing it this time for each rep, I may not have quite fully closed it on the last few though) 7 CoC trainer reps 2 squeeze & hold 5 sec reps on the CoC #0.5 (maybe 70-80% closed). I also did shadow boxing & bag work (posted in my bagwork progression thread).
I also did 2 sets of 12 finger extensions with a rubber-band like thing for my prior grip training post. I still need to figure out when I'm going to do that regularly. Maybe Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday. I'll give that a shot. I had a migraine Weds, so no class. So this is my first class in over 2 weeks. Friday December 15 My back held up fine--its still not back to normal, but doing a lot better. I got massage work on the problematic area & surrounding muscles during the week (~15 minutes, twice). Muay Thai, ~80 minutes, beginners class The warm-up was three 3-minute rounds of jump-rope, with 10 push-ups after each round. I caught my feet a lot. Much more in 2nd & 3rd round than in the 1st. Then we paired up with pads & gloves. We worked punching drills for 3 or 4 drills, then swapped pads. Jabs, crosses, hooks, body hooks, and there was one drill that had an uppercut. Next we did another 4 drills, adding switch & rear kicks, elbows, and a post & block (long guard?) followed up with an immediate elbow. I did get a bit gassed and my partner had me rest for ~5-10 seconds a few times during drills, maybe 4 or 5 times total throughout class. I think 2 weeks between classes with only one bagwork/jump-rope session is not great for conditioning. I'm glad I went back now instead of waiting for Monday and letting conditioning slip back further.
Saturday December 16 Weight training, 1 hour I had something like 30 almonds around 2.5 hours before I normally start eating (still doing intermittent daily fasting). This was about an hour before the workout. I'm getting BCAA supplements though and will try just having those right before the workout. Did the usual triggerpoint/foam rolling/etc. My back is still feeling pretty good, not quite all the way better but Muay Thai yesterday didn't make it stiffen up much, so it is almost there. Both of my shoulders are still a bit tweaked (in different spots on each), I went at them with a softball for maybe 5 minutes. 15x clams on each side (blue band) 2 rounds of: - tall kneeling single-arm lat pulldown. 160lb on the cable (so maybe 80-100 lb?), 10x/side - step-ups, 12x/leg. Didn't use a cook band for keeping my knee steady, and it was fine without it. No pain at all, and I feel like my form was better than usual too. I think the glute work we've been doing has really helped me with a higher level of body control here, especially on the descent. - bird-dogs, burgundy cook band, 8x/side Then: - single arm side-lat pulldown (arm out to the side), maybe 30lb on the cable. He wanted me to focus on keeping my shoulder packed/retracted the whole time and really engaging the lats. - 3.75lb/hand reverse flies, 10x, keeping shoulders as far from ears as possible (pulled down the whole time). - palov hold on a cable while doing lateral steps with blue resistance band, 6x/side. This crushed me for some reason, I had been ok before this exercise. After doing my right side (always harder than the left), I got moderately nauseous and didn't feel very good. I took a break before doing 6 on the other side, and then stopped. (We would probably have done 1 more round of these 3 exercises, but I didn't want to push it.)
Grip training (prohands & CoC): Crush 10x xx-hvy Hook 10x heavy Finger play, 30x total, various finger combos, light Tripod 11x heavy Trigger 10x x-heavy Thumb press, 10x heavy (2 buttons) power pinch, 10x heavy crush, 10x xx-heavy coc trainer 7x, 2 sets, fully closed or very close on all reps. coc #0.5, 3x, not completely closed (may have closed on first rep, not positive). Got pretty close to closed on right hand on all reps, left hand had trouble on the last rep (maybe 1/2"-1" gap). finger extension, 12x, 2 sets, white band
Tuesday Dec 18 Muay Thai, 1 hour, beginners class The warm-up was 4 minutes of jump-rope followed by 4 minutes of shadow boxing. We put on pads, shinguards, and gloves to drill counter attacks & blocking. Drills involved: Jab, check a kick to opposite side from pad holder, lead hook, rear kick Cross, check a kick to opposite side from pad holder, cross, switch kick (We built up to those full sequences over a couple drills) Then we drilled similarly, but with checking inside or outside low kicks (different leg motion for the check) and throwing low kicks instead of body kicks. We finished class with jumping low kicks (lifting lead leg up to checking position, meeting elbow, then jumping off rear leg & chopping down while landing on front foot) against heavy bags. This was actually a somewhat challenging class cardio-wise as there were kicks being thrown in most of the drills, both for the pad-holder and the non-pad-holder. I had to slow down a good bit towards the middle & end.
Grip training. Date 12/19 Crush 10 xx-hvy Hook 10x x-hvy Finger play, 10x each finger, 10x (total) various finger combos, light tripod 10x hvy trigger 10x xx-hvy thumb press 10x heavy (2 buttons) power pinch 10x heavy crush 10x xx-heavy coc trainer 10x, 1 set, left couldn't close at end coc #0.5 5x, couldn't close fully finger extension 15x, 2 sets, white band
Wednesday Dec 20 I haven't posted about the intermittent fasting recently--it's going well. I'm less hungry & zoned-out feeling in the morning, I'm actually being productive now in the morning. I've lost about 7 lbs since starting (from ~289 to ~282). My shoulders are still both a bit injured, though the right one is almost better I think. The left one doesn't seem to really be improving very much... I will try doing triggerpoint on it daily if I can remember. If its still bothering me after the holidays I guess I'll get it checked out by a doctor. I'm not super concerned though because it is still a relatively minor injury, from the feel of it. I may be irritating it more in Muay Thai (though I haven't felt it bothering me during class). My back is still not back to normal, but 90% of the way there I'd say. Muay Thai, 1 hour, beginners class The warm-up was 3 minutes of jump-rope. We grabbed pads & gloves and paired off. We drilled striking combos (jabs, crosses, rear kicks, switch knees), checking & countering pad holder kicks during the striking combos, and then did some more cardio-intensive drilling. We stayed bouncing on our toes the whole drill, and would spring in and jab, then spring back. We repeated that drill but with a rear kick instead of jab, which was supposed to be a fast kick. (2 minutes on this kicking drill, instead of the normal 3.) I was bad at this--it is really hard for me to bounce my weight for 3 minutes, and I got really sloppy after about 30 seconds. I was not able to throw a particularly fast kick, nor with much (sometimes zero) power.
The instructor can throw both fast & hard (not as hard as his slower kick, but still quite hard). I mostly meant that I was on the edge of gassing and couldn't spare the energy to put any power in my kicks, though with the spring kick thing I also had co-ordination issues.
Thursday Dec 21 No grip training today--I sliced my palm open earlier and its deep enough I think it will rip it back open if I do any grip work. I expect it to be better for grip training on Sunday though.
Thurs Dec 28 I've had a very lazy holiday with no exercise in a while. I did a little bit of moving around today. Grip training: Date 12/28 Crush 10 xx-hvy Hook 10x x-hvy Finger play 10x each finger, 10x (total) various finger combos, light tripod 10x hvy trigger 10x xx-hvy thumb press 10x heavy (2 buttons) power pinch 10x heavy crush 10x xx-heavy coc trainer 7x, 5x (couldn't close last rep with left hand), 3x coc #0.5 2x, couldn't fully close left hand on 2nd rep finger extension 12x white, 10x green Jump rope: 3 minutes, though I caught my feet a ton more than usual, so maybe more like 30s-1min of actual jumping. 2 5-minute rounds of shadow boxing (no video) focusing on leg checks & moving around. Maybe I'll get some movement in again tomorrow.
Sunday Dec 31 Friday night I went to bed at around 2 am. I didn't set an alarm, thinking I'd surely wake up in time to get to my 12:30 weight training session. I didn't count on how much sleep I'd need to catch up from the prior night--I got maybe 3 hours the prior night (trouble sleeping). When I woke up it was 12:20, and it would take about 20 minutes to be ready to leave, at which point I'd get there 30-40 minutes late. So I missed that. Today I did grip training & a bit of moving around: 10 push-ups 3 minutes jump-rope. I jumped for most of it, with only a little catching of the rope in my feet, but it hit me pretty hard breath-wise. 10 push-ups 2 minutes rest 5 minutes shadow boxing (no video today) 1 min rest 5 minutes shadow boxing grip training: Crush 10 xx-hvy Hook 10x heavy Finger play 10x each finger, 10x (total) various finger combos, light tripod 10x hvy trigger 10x xx-hvy thumb press 10x heavy (2 buttons) power pinch 10x heavy crush 10x xx-heavy coc trainer 7x, 5x, 3x. Too light for my right hand (fully closed, little to no muscle burn), still maybe too heavy for left (couldn't close all the way on some, high muscle burn) coc #0.5 5x (right fully closed, still not much muscle burn. Struggled with the left, didn't close all the way on any reps I think.) finger extension 12x white,12x white, 10x green I'm going to keep to what my left hand can handle, til it catches up with the right. Anyway, after grip training: 3 minutes jump-rope. I caught the rope in my feet a lot more than I did the first round, but this round still felt reasonably good. Still hit my breathing pretty hard. 2 minutes rest 5 minutes shadow boxing 1 minute rest 5 minutes shadow boxing
Wednesday Jan 3 My left shoulder is still messed up. I said I was gonna get it checked out after the holidays if it was, but I haven't got it checked out. I think its the same external rotation issue I rehabbed last year sometime. It hasn't been bothering me outside of me messing with it to see if its still hurt: - If I stretch my right arm across my body with my left arm, then try to lower my right hand, the right shoulder feels injured/pulled. Other arm does this without any pain or issue, huge difference. - If I pull my right elbow into my ribs hard, and rotate my arm from fingertips pointing forward to fingertips pointing to my side, I also get pain in the shoulder. I don't notice it in Muay Thai, and it hasn't been a problem with any of my normal activities, so I'm being lazy and not getting it checked out. I'm going to do the external-rotation exercise that I did last time when rehabbing it for a few weeks and see how it feels. EDIT: Oh that isn't actually true. I just went to read Dan93's log and his mention of his injury during weight training jogged my memory--I do notice it a little in some weight lifting, such as overhead kettlebell press. Muay Thai, ~50 minutes (left early), beginners class Today was hard--I definitely didn't do enough exercise over the holiday. The warm-up was 3 minutes jump rope and then shadow boxing for a while. We got gloves & shinguards on and got a partner. We started with attacker/defender drills, going 1 for 1: - jab cross switch kick (defender parries punches & checks the kick), cross hook rear kick (same on defense) - we then added a counter kick from the defender, same side as the check (with a gallop) - replaced counter kick with a teep from the checking leg (not dropping between check & teep). This was a bit tricky, but not too bad teeping with my right leg. My left leg was a struggle. - added a leg or head kick from the opposite side after the teep - back to the first drill, but after the check a long knee. And during the check bridge/post with the other arm in preparation for the cross-body shoulder grab & long knee. Then we took off gloves & wraps and did some clinch work. First just basic entry, then swimming 50/50 with partner for the head, then a round where we tried to swim to a dominant position (starting from 50/50). After that I had to sit down, and ended up leaving early. My head was hurting pretty good, though it felt better after maybe 40 minutes. The class continued to work on clinch stuff, which I am sad to have missed, as I haven't done much clinch work. I think I pushed too hard and also wasn't breathing properly during that last drill. I tend not to breathe properly when grappling. I also have trouble staying relaxed. Both things I should work on, but I don't have much chance to work on it these days. Maybe when I get back into BJJ in the future. Or next time we work on clinch at Muay Thai.
