Nothing since Sunday the 15th. Today: - triggerpoint on shoulder & briefly on the calves - shoulder rehab exercises - warm-up for heavy bag work: 3 sets of 50 jumps with jump rope. Recently my calves usually give out before my breathing, but didn't have any calf fatigue/burn from 3 sets of 50. I was breathing pretty hard after the 2nd & 3rd sets though. I've been taking it easy on the jump rope on the 15th and today because my right ankle has had some odd discomfort occasionally when putting weight on it (most of the time it feels fine). No discomfort during jump-rope. - 30 minutes of mostly working on rear kicks (from both orthodox & southpaw). I did some kicks 'too close' to add some stress to my upper shin (hoping it will help maintain a little conditioning at least so when I get back to checking kicks from a partner, it will not be starting over from scratch). I did a tiny bit of throwing elbows at the aquabag & defensive shadow boxing (torso movements like lean back/slip/etc, and various blocks/checking kicks). 20 min steam, cool shower after. My shoulder was feeling pretty good Monday, but got worse again since then. I really should have done shoulder rehab exercises sometime before today, since last Sunday.
Fri 11/20: Rest Sat 11/21: Low energy mobility session about 30 minutes after waking up, 1 hour. Spent half of it rolling/triggerpoint/stretching, the other half doing light movements like swiss ball bridges, resistance band step-outs, band pull-apart, leg raises with static kb hold, halos. I had chugged down a cup of coffee beforehand but it didn't really kick in til halfway through. Feeling more energetic later, I did my shoulder rehab exercises, then 3 sets of 60 jumps with the jump-rope (~ 5 min), then cleaned my mats with a swiffer while I caught my breath (~5 min), then 40 minutes of heavy bag work. I mostly did kicks: rear kicks, switch kicks, front teeps, a few rear teeps, and rear kick fake into side kick (keeping the leg bent and rotating past where a block would be, then side kicking straight to the midsection from that chambered position, striking with heel & sometimes some of the outer edge of the foot). I did throw some elbows at the aqua bag: worked on uppercut elbow, rising elbow, spear elbow, slashing elbow (psoriasis is fairly under control at the moment, no issues with bleeding today), and regular elbow strikes. I also worked on knees for a bit. 20 minute steam, very cold shower after.
11/22, 11/23: nothing 11/24 Triggerpoint/rolling on shoulders, shoulder rehab exercises Should has been feeling a lot better, though still injured. I think the combination of doing the exercises a couple times a week + not throwing any punches at my heavy bags has helped. 2 sets of 40-50 jumps on the jump rope--felt hard today, caught my feet a lot, calves burning after the 2nd set. I had very poor sleep two nights ago (~3 hours total sleep), so that probably impacted it. 30 minutes on the heavy bags, mostly working rear kicks, some work on teeps, threw some elbows at the aquabag, 20 min steam, cool shower after.
12/10 ... I'm not so good at keeping up with exercise, still. My wife bought a treadmill/desk combo, which I used for the first time on the 8th. I walked maybe 1.5 miles. On the 9th my calves were quite sore, which surprised me. Today I walked a little over 2 miles (across two different ~25 min sessions). I want to start walking every day I can drag myself onto the treadmill. My willpower really needs some work--I know I always feel better when I'm exercising regularly, and I don't even find the actual exercise all that unpleasant most of the time (and actually enjoy it for most of the martial arts stuff), but thinking about doing exercise is, for some reason, hard. I feel lazy, I feel like I really don't want to/etc. Maybe I didn't get much sleep, or have eaten poorly, and just feel poorly. I know I'll feel better if I do it, but in the moment I just don't. And the more I give into that laziness, the stronger it gets. I'm going to try to keep to some goals going forward: - Walk minimum 7 miles per week. (Whether I wanna do two 3 mile days and one 1 mile day, or 1 mile each day, etc.) - Heavy bag/Muay Thai workouts for minimum 2 hours per week. I'll start tracking that on Monday. I figure putting the weekend at the end of it will be good, in case I fall behind, so I can catch up then. If the weekend is at the start I'm sure at some point I'd be lazy and say I'll do it later in the week, and then end up not doing it if busy with work/whatever.
I understand your feelings. Once I fall out of regular exercise routine, it gets really hard to start! But when I get back in to it, it gets really enjoyable. I guess getting back into the routine with gyms closed isn't that easy. I like your plan! Good luck with sticking to it Since your wife bought a treadmill and you both are going to use it to walk some distance, why not grab your wife and go for a walk outside sometime? It won't be as monotone and is a nice activity to do together I, for one, really enjoy going on walks be it with my partner, my parents or whoever
Yeah, we do go for walks outside sometimes, but it is hard to get our schedules to sync up on a lotta days. This treadmill comes with a desk, so we can use it while working or reading, which I like due to the time efficiency.
12/13 Hiked for ~90 minutes in hilly terrain. I was quite sore in my legs/ankles for the next few days. 20 minute steam. 12/18 Short walk (10 min @ 2mph), a little jump rope, and then 30 minutes of heavy bag work (teeps & roundhouse kicks mostly, some elbows & knees). 20 minute steam.
I've done exercise here or there: walking, heavy bag, some light strength training. But it has been sporadic and very low volume. I think I'm going to try building up my discipline more slowly, but steadily. I will start with: Walking at least 10 minutes on the treadmill every day, starting today.
1/9: I did walk 10 min on the treadmill 1/10: 20 min on the treadmill, 30 minutes on the heavy bags 1/11: 10 min on treadmill (I won't track treadmill time forever, but for the first few weeks I do plan to.)
1/12 - 1/15: 10 min walk on treadmill each day (20 min one day forget which one) 1/16: 1 hour strength training 1/17: ~1.15 hour hike, steep terrain 1/18: 10 min treadmill I've been fasting today for the first time in a while--I got caught up in researching some computer stuff (building a new rig for the first time in over a decade) and just sort of zoned out for 10 hours reading stuff/watching videos/etc. Came out of it realizing I wasn't really hungry and it was already 7 pm or so, so figured I'd try to fast through the night too and just eat tomorrow.
1/19, 1/20: 10 min treadmill 1/21: jump rope warmup, 30 mins heavy bag 1/22: 10 min treadmill 1/23: active recovery 1 hour (upper back got messed up a bit after 1/21, its almost all the way better on 1/24) 1/24: jump rope warmup, 40 min heavy bag
I was pretty inactive for a few months. I recently got vaccinated and have resumed BJJ training. I did a few home workouts the week before but not nearly enough to get into shape--I gas out pretty early in the warm-up and have to take breaks during the live rolling at the end of class. I plan to resume Muay Thai classes after my work office opens back up--it is close to work, but kind of far from my house. (I expect it to open back up before the end of the year.) I wouldn't be able to handle the training load right now anyway of training both. At home I continue to do a little Muay Thai with my heavy bags. This week in BJJ we worked on defense (going for reversals) from bottom mount. Both self defense/MMA scenarios (opponent is striking the head) and pure grappling scenarios.
Whew haven't posted here in a while. I've been doing BJJ regularly. I have been trying to get in 1 fundamentals class, 1 no-gi class (also covers wrestling techniques), and 1 general striking class each week. I've also gotten a double end bag for my home gym and a speed bag platform I haven't set up yet. I've started lifting a bit more seriously than I was before--I'm going to focus on deadlift/squats/pulling (rows/etc). I strained a couple muscles this past Tuesday--rotator cuff muscling someone away while sparring in the no-gi class (me & my partner both standing at the time, I pushed him away when we were tied up close, used too much shoulder), and lateral hamstring or something like that during the no-gi warm-up (partner holding leg up like on a secured single-leg pinned to their side, hamstring stretch, turn to face the mat & hip flexor stretch, I strained it when turning back upright from the hip flexor stretch). I did the rest of the class and didn't notice it again at the time (though I could tell I had strained something when it happened). I went to the fundamentals class Wednesday and we did a bunch of double leg takedowns, didn't notice any issues with the leg then either. The rotator cuff was only a mild strain... we did do Americana from mount as well in that fundamentals class, I had my partner not do it on the side with the rotator cuff strain, no issues. Then I threw my back out Thursday just bending over to get something off the floor. I hadn't noticed the leg until then--after straining my back the leg has been quite bothersome, I think the back muscle was compensating and keeping me from noticing it, and then when the back muscle went out the strained leg muscle didn't have that back muscle helping it out anymore, so now I notice both of them quite a bit. I've strained this back muscle before, its mostly bothersome when transitioning from sitting to standing, or when sitting in certain positions/moving in certain ways (like sitting up with good posture/etc). Once I get standing though and give it a few seconds I can generally walk ok, but the leg has been really bothersome with standing in place or walking. That was yesterday, today they are both still not great but a lot better. I can stand a bit more easily and for a bit longer before the leg gets too uncomfortable. The rotator cuff is pretty much better today, as far as I can tell. I was a bit bummed as I missed striking on Thursday (the day I strained my back), and was going to go to the open mat today but instead I'm sitting around healing. I should have given the leg some attention with triggerpoint/foam rolling/stretching, as well as checking on muscles that would be compensating for the strain (i.e., taking care of the back before I strained it). I basically just ignored it since I didn't notice any discomfort except right when I first strained it, up until the back muscle went out. I would normally lift weights tomorrow, but I won't given the muscle strains, I'll do gentle stretching & mobility instead. I have plans to hike (only for 60-90 min) with a friend on Sunday, hopefully the back & leg will be ok for that. I will probably be able to do something like a 30 min walk and not go on any really steep trails, and take it slow. I'll have to see how its feeling.
Good to see you logging again I hope your muscles get better soon! It really is a good idea to give your muscles some time to heal. I also pulled my hamstring more than a couple of years ago, probably tore it, though, didn't stop the class (which I should have), and it is still giving me trouble occassionaly till today. I can say that a lot of walking can also strain the hamstring. Or will force you to walk as if with stiff leg. So be careful. If it is only pulled, then it may not do much harm, but still.
Probably not logging regularly again, but I may post occasional summaries. The back healed up in around 4-5 days (which is typical for me when I throw it out), but it apparently took my psoas with it, which is what I was noticing going on in my leg. (The original leg strain a couple days before I threw my back out was relatively mild.) It took around 2.5 weeks before I could stand up/walk/etc without relatively strong pain; I couldn't even just stand upright for very long without pain. It was ~4-5 weeks before I could walk/go up stairs/etc pain free. I got a speed bag & a double end bag for my home gym area--I've been working on those a little bit but there was a long gap due to the injuries. I'm easing back into jiu jitsu classes--my conditioning was pretty bad (I basically just sat for ~6 weeks to heal up, very minimal physical activity). I have been avoiding going to class two days in a row--my body seems to be taking a while to recover between classes now. I expect that will improve as I become more active again.
Just jotting down some thoughts: I want to go to at least: - 1 gi BJJ class/week And ideally also: - no-gi BJJ class - striking class - an additional gi class or open mat for more drilling time Outside of going to classes I want to do (per week): 30 min accuracy/technique muscle memory/evasion work. This would be on the speed bag & double end bag. Sample things I work on here are: - Tensing the forearm/fist as I strike, loosening between strikes (this also trains forearm/grip endurance, when hitting the speed bag with fast rhythm). - Falling step with punch on speed bag. (E.g., alternating left punch, left block, right punch, right block; fist tenses on all contact, falling step with punches.) - Hand fighting work on speed bag. (I like Ramsey Dewey's speed bag videos on youtube for picking up exercises for this) - Double end bag head movement & footwork (simple straight punches from very close to the bag, evade the rebound). - Double end bag accuracy: chaining straight & hook/uppercut strikes while the bag is moving. 30 min power/technique work. This is on my heavier bags. Working on striking powerfully with good technique, conditioning shins/hands, etc. Both single strike power/technique, and working on improving power/technique off combinations especially hand strikes leading into kick/knee combos. Also walk at least half a mile on days where I don't get any other exercise. (I'll increase that distance over time and/or include it on days where I do other exercise.)
