AxelB's running, lifting and kicking log

Saturday

A moderate workout moving furniture around ready to paint the bedroom.

Sunday
Rest

Monday 19th November

Lunch time run 2.9 miles, 31 mins 147 BPM AVG HR, 10'47" min/mi AVG pace

10 minutes stretching.

Evening
BJJ - 1 hour

Warm-up followed by scissor sweep drill to mount. Much needed as I haven't pulled it off in sparring.
Followed with a drill to setup Ezekiel choke from low mount. A few extra pointers from my partner were useful.

Sparring from knees.

Pulled off the scissor sweep, and on another occasion I managed to setup Ezekiel from half guard which became mount via knee slice as I pulled it off (first time I've done that choke in sparring )

Tuesday
Morning 5 minutes Shadow boxing.

Lunch time-
Bench
20kgx5, 40kgx5, 50kgx5, 60kgx5, 70kgx5, 75kgx5, 80kgx3, 85kgx5

Curl 3x10 20kg
Pushup 3x10

3 minutes Shadow boxing.
Stretching
10 minutes

haven't been watching my weight much, but I have been eating more than normal, lots of craving for sweet foods.
I checked and my weight hasn't changed much averaging 85kg.

 

Wednesday

I found my lunchtime coincided today with the daytime BJJ session, so not to miss the opportunity I went instead of a planned run.

BJJ - 1 hour

I felt a few "niggles" getting ready, sore adductor (possibly over stretching), back and neck more sore than normal but thought I'd see how things went.

Usual warmup, side roll was worse than normal, some soreness or stiffness preventing me rolling properly.

Drilling arm sub attacks from side control, then extended this to catching the arm as it comes round the head to frame for escape.

Followed with some sparring, worked plenty of transitions, I kept the intensity down and it was more like a flow roll with my partners which I felt we both learned a lot on transitions from it.

 

Lunchtime is for eating you fool...!!!

Travess

 

Thursday

Back, Legs and feet felt sore/tight.
I rolled it out a bit with the trigger point, but generally I think being run down and my body is adapting to change in weather (asthma playing up after the school run).
Stayed inside and avoided a short run I planned.

Evening
BJJ - 90mins

I didn't realise they changed the time as the class after (beginners session) has finished.
Warm-up followed by Kara garuma variation. It's been a long time since I did this one, took a while to get to grips with it.
Ground work
Choke from side control; not sure the choke name
And a variation with setup from North South.

Sparring from side control, then 30 mins sparring from knees.
Ripped the skin under my toe at some point need to heal that up before Monday so I can run again!

 

Friday

Still feeling rough and my toe is sore. I planned a deload lift.

My time was limited so it ended up being a rushed deload, the whole session was about 10 minutes.

Squat
20kgx5, 40kgx5, 50kgx5

Deadlift
60kgx5, 80kgx5, 90kgx5

 

Saturday/Sunday
No workout planned - active rest/recovery
I even got an little sleep in Saturday morning which seemed to be just what I needed!

Monday 26th November

I had a run planned, but work up with chest complaints, fairly normal for my asthma in this weather. After extra asthma meds my body seemed to be back to normal by midday, not wanting to push it I cancelled my midday run.

Evening
BJJ 1 hour
I expected it may have been harder than normal if my asthma was a problem, but somehow this felt relatively easy (compared to normal).
Warmup followed by ground work drill escape from low mount.
Worked one drill, managed to trap my hand funny in the escape and it went *crunch*. Seemed okay after, if a little strained and I continued, but made sure to position my hand better.
Drilled a counter if they post with their leg on the escape.
Sparring from mount, then from side control.

Tuesday
I expected to wake up with a sore wrist, but no problems at all.

Felt a bit rough again in the morning, so double up my asthma meds (Doctors usual suggestion) and was fine by mid morning.
Bench workout changed to deload to make sure I don't over do it whilst asthma keeps playing up.

Bench
20kgx5, 40kgx5, 50kgx5, 60kgx5, 65kgx5, 70kgx3

curl 2x10 20kg

stretching 10 minutes
pushups in side splits 2x10, plus hold for 1 minute at the end.

5 minutes light shadow boxing. Working a bit of everything.

 

Wednesday

Felt a bit rough/cold/chest asthma symptoms all morning, and didn't ease up by midday so I cancelled the planned run.
Instead had 30 power nap - felt a bit better for it.

Thursday

Felt a bit better, but not great, cancelled planned bag work/short run and opted for power nap again midday instead.
After I felt a million times better, thought I best take it easy at BJJ.

evening
BJJ - 1 hour
Warmup - energy levels and general fitness seemed better than normal, tried not to get carried away, I thought, given that this week has been a bit rough.
kneeling Kata garuma. I was in a 3, and I believe the 2 heaviest guys in the class!
It was a good barometer for how my technique was, a few times my kneeling position was too far forward and ended up almost pinned to the floor before aborting.

Followed this up with a few setups, and landing with arm around leg so that finishing position was topside ashi garama (first time I've worked this position )
submission setup was for knee slicer which I have worked on in MMA, but there was a lot more detail in the setup (MMA was - "do this, and drill it" rather than explanation of arm/grip how to execute).
Sparring from knees - 3x 5min rounds, started with one of the heavy guys.
Even though I didn't sub anyone (was subbed once by 2 partners, twice by one), I felt it was a good sparring session, I worked mostly on sweeps, transitions, escapes, passes and came away feeling I learnt a lot from it. The only item I felt I need to work on is my bridge escapes. When drilling I can get the bridge up with my legs in, but in sparring like a lot shallower bridge, and with my core feeling a bit sore after makes me conclude that I'm just turning rather than bridging. I will spend some solo time just drilling bridging to try and nail it in.


With a few mat scrapes on the top of my feet which weren't heeling so well I put some athletic tape around (which I read about) which helped a lot. I'll be using that more often when it reoccurs.
I'm still taping my right hand fingers as my grip gets a bit sore without, consciously working on not over gripping and trying to get better position, but it still happens.

Friday
wife is not well, and I have a bit of a cough, so no workout today, and it will be active rest all weekend.

 

Monday

After an active weekend I didn't feel 100% yet, so I avoided any workout in the day.

Evening
BJJ - 1 hour
Drilled knee on belly to arm bar.
I've done this drill before so it was good to have another focus on this.
Drilled maintaining knee on belly with no hands then back to the transition to arm bar.

Sparring starting from side control.
I managed to get to knee on belly with one person, but could not get the arm bar, unsurprisingly everyone had a tight defence for it
Next we sparring from mount.
Managed to escape from under and also work to maintain the top position.

When I got home I spent a few minutes just working on bridging back, and each side.

Tuesday

I had some things to pickup which I did by running.
1.15 miles 5 minutes rest and 1.35mi back (with slight detour)
Kept the pace down and HR about 155bpm.

After 2 hours rest I went into lifting.

Bench
20kgx5, 40x5, 50x5, 60x5, 75kg 4x5, 75kg x8

Bent row 20kg 2x10
Curl 20kg 2x10

Pushups 3x10
Stretching, including Pushups in side split (2x10).

I felt like I had plenty left in me that I didn't push it too far.
Traps and calfs have been feeling cramped up, so I will work on massaging them out.

 

Wednesday

BJJ 1 hour.

A good session on triangles from guard. I have never drilled these, so it was good to spend some time on them.

Followed by a few setups from guard, then sparring.

Thursday

Deadlifts.
Worked up to 85% 1rm
60kgx5, 80kgx5, 100kgx5, 110kgx5, 120x5, 130kgx4, 140kgx3, 160kgx1

 

Some seriously impressive lifts there Axel

Travess

 

Thanks, I wasn't counting on 4 hours sleep after (thanks to my son) so recovery wasn't great and felt on the achey side.

I plan to ease up next week and the week after will be low rep high weight again as long as rest goes better

 

Monday

I planned an easy run, but chest problems in the morning which set those side.

Afternoon I felt normal, so I was good to go for evening BJJ

BJJ - 1 hour

Worked on attacking the turtle position.
Getting the hand in under the arm, and turning round for back take.
Followed this up with a variation in sliding collar choke (with leg over the shoulder) this really increased the pressure on the choke!

Sparring starting from turtle, quite a hard one to crack.
Then sparring from back take with leg hooks in and under hooks.

A good session working positions I haven't worked with much..

Tuesday 11th December

A run planned (again) and lift but the cold was bad on my chest. The school run seems to impact my chest in the morning which normally calms down by the afternoon.

Avoiding any outdoor activities, so just a lift to start.

Bench
20kgx5, 40kgx5, 50kgx5, 60kgx5, 70kgx5, 80kg 3x5
I avoided AMRAP due to potential BJJ tomorrow.

Bent row
60kg 3x5
Curl
20kg 3x10

Pushups 3x10
Stretching 15 minutes

Later in the afternoon, I had a bit of time free, so added the cardio to make up for no running.

Double end bag work.
Escalated rounds with 30s rest.
Intensity low-medium ( he said to himself with tongue in cheek, was more like medium to high)

30s
1min
1min30s
2min
2min30s

Worked a bit of everything, including a good lung workout blowing up the bag which had gone very flat, and the only method to inflate was through a make shift pump with be parts from a pen.

It's been a while since I took proper measurements.

Weight 86kg, body fat ~15%

My efforts to not over do it with the treats around have worked.
I know that over Christmas my workout plan will be minimal, and eating plan will be maximal, so I anticipate some inflation but if I keep things steady now, then I know I won't have so much to deal with next year.
Most years I am in the 93-95kg range in January.

 

Slipped on the logging recently with work and other things keeping me busy.

Wednesday

1 hour BJJ
Drilled knee on belly, then focused on escape from under knee on belly.
1st escape, covering collar with one hand, other hand over knee and shrimp out.
2nd escape is follow up if the first didn't work, push knee into guard, swap hands and scoop the supporting leg, then roll into side control.

Good sparring session, 1 new white belt clearly had previous experience as I was tapped a couple times. I laughed after chatting with him as he had bjj experience and time in the army, which explained why he didn't fatigue when I expected him to

Thursday, I was in London, so no training.

Friday

I had a trampoline party with the kids in the afternoon, so I kept the lifts on the easier side to prevent injury when jumping around.

Deadlifts
20kgx5, 60kgx5, 80kgx5, 90kgx5, 100kg 3x5
Squats
20kgx5, 40kg 3x5

20 minutes stretching

Weekend
Active rest/recovery, I was in London, then further travels on Sunday.
Trips to London as an asthmatic always results in problems, from pollution and the cold.

Monday
No training planned as I was taking my daughter to a party.
Just as well as my chest was inevitably bad from various trips to London.

Tuesday
BJJ 1 hour.

Drill focused on transition from side control to high mount. Trapping arms up and making space to mount.
Finished few rounds of sparring, then the usually warm down.

Wednesday 19th

Bench press
Nothing major, and slightly less than planned.
20kgx5, 40kgx5, 50kgx5, 60kgx5, 70kg 2x5, 70kgx6

Pushups 3x6

Stretching 20 minutes.

Thursday

BJJ 1 hour 15min

A similar drill to Tuesday, but with more shoulder pressure into the kneck from side control, after getting the near side arm up. I was drilling with a big guy, so the pressure was pretty nasty! Much like a neck crank. I had to put my gum guard in as my teeth kept grinding as the pressure applied.

Following this, the knee came onto belly, then after moving the far arm, into high mount.
A follow up drill was applying the choke/crank.

Nasty!

That's all I can say about that!

A few rounds of sparring before finishing up.
My last session of the year, and a good end to the year.

 

Friday 21st

Santa Deadlifts!

Probably the last of the year, so I pushed the weight up, but I didn't want to break myself, so I set cap at 175kg.

60kgx5, 80kgx5, 100kgx5, 120kgx3, 130kgx3, 140kgx2,
150kgx1 felt heavy, but grip was going
added straps
160kg heavy but straight forward
Added belt on loose
167.5kg heavy but not a struggle
Belt on properly
175kgx1 a bit wobbly toward the top, but no form problems or strain.

Felt I could go up another 10kg, but that's enough for now

5 minute light Shadow boxing

15 minutes stretching.

Followed by lots of food!

I might bench after Christmas, but that's about it for my proper workouts.

Neck feels a bit sore from yesterday's cranks, so a good time to rest up for a week.

 

Saturday - Wednesday
Active recovery.
No workout, but I've barely had a chance to sit still.

I got a new Valour BJJ gi and a neck harness to factor in some neck strength training.
I'm checking up some exercises, and I'll add them as accessory work when I get back to it.

 

Thursday-Friday

Keeping active but no workouts.
For the last 2 weeks my resting HR has been low to mid 60bpm, which is a lot higher than my usual low to mid 50bpm.
Caffeine intake has been 1-2 cups of tea a day, some days none.
Generally feeling tired, achey all over and chest is a little sore.

Saturday

Thought I would attempt something, and frustrated at how rough I've been feeling.

Bench
20kgx10, 40kgx8, 50kgx6, 60kgx6, 70kg 2x5

Pushups 2x8
Squats 3x10

It felt easy enough, wasn't sore the next day.

Sunday/Monday

Back to work and mostly resting.
resting HR still hasn't gone below 60bpm
An extra 7lbs of weight may be contributing to that.


Further logging continues after this short intermission...

 

Sounds like a rough couple of weeks mate - Carry on taking it easy, the training isn't going anywhere.

Travess

 

Tuesday

Felt pretty good and certainly happy to get back to training today

BJJ - 1 hour

Takedown drills:
Uchi Mata/o uchi gari- partner steps back, move to ankle pick.

Very different drill combo to what I've done in judo or MMA.

Ground drill:
Side control to mount.
Similar to a drill we did before Christmas.
Close side peel the elbow up, and wedge the hip under to pull the arm up. End in a reverse scarf hold

Pull the far leg across and hook over leg, transition to high mount.

A few 5 minute rounds of sparring.
I tried to focus on guard play and passing guard, or maintaining guard.

A thoroughly great session and broke in my new Valor Gi in.
Well, more like everyone else broke it in

 

It's great to hear that you're feeling better.

 

Wednesday

Neck/shoulder felt a stiff/sore from training, also my son was up about 2 hours in the night "I don't want to go to sleep" then he got up at 5am, so felt very tired.
A rest day was be planned and needed.