AxelB's running, lifting and kicking log

Monday 1 hour BJJ
Hip bump sweep and kimura from closed guard.
Evening 20 minutes lifting
Barbell Shoulder press
Barbell curl
Squats
Pushups

Tuesday
Run 2.2 miles

Wednesday 90mins BJJ
Omoplata setup
3 defense to omoplata, roll out, roll in, knee on belly.

6 rounds of sparring.
My coach was promoted to 3rd degree black belt by Roger Gracie last week, I had the privilege of getting a round with my coach.
HR monitor had my HR hitting 190bpm in that round. No surprise!


Thursday 20 mins lift
Press, curl, squats.

 

Wow, that must have been intense!

 

I can't ever remember a time where I had to sit a round out, but after this roll I did. Took me the round to get myself composed again.

Saturday BJJ was a grading day. The usual 90 mins session with open mat at the end, but the place was rammed!
Instead of the normal format, we started with a 10 pairs flow roll for 5 minutes, they swapped and next pair until everyone had a round, then specific sparring from closed guard, then back control.

A lot of new blue belts promoted today.
I was one of 3 to get purple belt.
2 new brown belts in the house.
Was a great day. At the end I got a few rounds in open mat to break in the new belt.

 

Wow, congratulations on your promotion!

 

Well training continues 2-3 times a week.

Weight routine fluctuates, most weeks I can get 4-5 lifts a week. The total volume is low, but for the last 8 weeks this seems to have increased my strength significantly without having to deal with soreness several times a week. I have been keeping mostly a full body routine, but I'll alternate the weight and sets per lift. E.g. one day increase press type lift, need day, pull type lifts, third day leg based workout.

Running twice a week, 20-30 minutes.
Walking every day for 2+miles.
Bench has been hard to get out as the gym is still a mess from kitchen renovation.

Sunday evening: 30-45 minutes lifting
Overhead press,
Bent over row,
Curls,
Squats
Pushups
10 minutes yoga

Monday: 1 hour BJJ lunchtime
Evening lift: overhead press,
Deadlift
Curl
Pushups
10 mins yoga

Tuesday lunch: 20-30 minutes run, usual 2-3 miles

Evening: lifting:
Dumbbell overhead press
Curl
Lunges
Pushups
Yoga

Wednesday evening: BJJ 90mins
Lifting, either first thing, or in the evening
Military press,
Bent row,
Curl,
Pushups,
Squats,
Yoga

Thursday: longer run, 30+ minutes
Evening: press, curl, lunges, pushups, yoga. (Light all over).

Friday: if I am not training Saturday I'll run Friday, otherwise the is usually a recovery day.

Saturday: class used to be 90mins and 30mins open mat, but changed to 1 hour gi, 1 hour no gi.

Evening:
Pushups,sit-ups, squats.

Thinking of changing up the lift to go back to TGU, but floorspace is still an issue.

Wednesday 21st, had BJJ 90mins planned, but road work "September" had other plans.
70mins to do a 20min drive. I was fuming, but still made it.
So I guess fate made me into the "warmup skipping purple belt" that is often joked about.
I still did a warm-up to get started.

Worked on escape from classic scarf hold position.

Got to spar with our coach, some amazing pressure, and got me with a cross collar choke with one hand

He said he just needed the first hand deep enough, but I am sure years of training and other details add up to this.

I should not be surprised though, he did train under Roger Gracie, that mount cross collar choke attack is legendary.

 

Well the last few weeks have been a mixture of events.

Wife got COVID really bad, a few days later I had it also. I have vaccination regular as a severe asthmatic, so this passed within 4 days without major symptoms.
During this time we had to isolate from our children.
My daughter was a star, at 15 cooking and cleaning for her and our 10 year old.

The biggest challenge was my daughter had a taekwondo black belt grading, we wanted to make sure she did not get it.

Both children had no symptoms and tested negative every day.
Mother in law was able to take our daughter to her grading.

After an intense 3 hour grading she passed. We were all over the moon, but this was bitter sweet as we could only talk on the phone or through closed doors.

She did amazing, we are so proud of her, and a few days later when symptom passed and tests were negative we were able to see her and express how proud well were in person.

This is a significant milestone in my life, my father graded black belt under Mitsusuke Harada, who brought Karate to England.

I received black belt nearly 20 years ago, and now my daughter, who trained very hard and consistently passed to black belt has been the next generation to go through this martial arts milestone.

 

Glad you recovered from COVID

And to a proud dad, CONGRATULATIONS to your daughter

 

That is awesome, Congrats to your daughter! You're a family of black belts!

Also I am glad you recovered from Covid.

 

November was a reasonable training month until the last week, son was very ill and I was also run down. After a week off a steady ease back to training.

December inevitably becomes minimal training month with various family plans. No weekend training : had some wonderful family days out instead.

I managed once a week at BJJ, 2 days light lifting and 2 days a week on the treadmill for 20 minutes.

It's mostly maintenance, and despite expecting just to maintain I made some mental breakthroughs in a few things:

Side control escapes, a few little bits and I'm getting escape sequences finished.
Arm bars, I hit this way more from guard, mount, side control, choi bar.

Passing was not going so well as I focused a lot on closed guard , but recently managed to get the passing going again.

Got an extra stripe on the purple belt, very unexpected as I felt like I only just got the purple belt, then I realised it was half a year ago

Quite a lot of new brown belt promotions in our gym, the place has gone from strength to strength. All well deserved, rolling with any of them is not surprising they got promoted.

Time for a Christmas break, unlikely I will get any BJJ in before next year, but there are 3 gyms within 20 minutes of me with open mats, so there are many options!

 

Back to it on 2nd Jan!
1 hour BJJ. Closed guard over hook/wrap.

Triangle and omoplata. I've been working on this setup for the last few months, so it was good to drill and get some pointers.

3rd Jan. Wednesday. 20min run on the treadmill.

Evening 20 minutes lifting and 20 minutes stretching.

Thursday 20 minutes lifting 20 minutes stretching.

Friday nothing planned, just the usual daily walk with the dog.

Saturday 90 mins BJJ.X guard pass.

Monday 1 hour BJJ closed guard standing break/pass

Tuesday 1 hour BJJ X guard setup from closed and 2 sweeps.

Whilst rolling had some great pointers from the coach on shotgun arm bar setup from side control I've been working on.
I didn't manage to use it on anyone else.

A few days without training at I am travelling, back to it on Monday.