Training in The 'Peg

[WinterPalm]

Decided it was time to put up a log over here on KFM.
I've been doing one consistently since 1 Jan 2008...it has been a long time goal to have a journal and to keep it going for at least a whole year. I've been using a journal feature on another site but figured I'd put it over here as I've been here a long time and my focus is still Kung Fu in my training.

My goals for the year have been to compete thrice, perform 200 55pd snatches in under 10min, and open a San Da club in Winnipeg. I'd also like to get stronger, as always, but that seems to take a backseat to conditioning and martial training.
My best lifts are 315 deadlift and 225 squat. Not bad but nothing special.

So far I have fought Judo and San Shou. I took silver in both going 1-2 in Judo and 2-1 in San Shou. If things go well with work this summer I hope to fight San Shou in July or August if possible. I will more than likely fight Judo again but I need to get my technique up to par (my first tournament I had trained for maybe 10 classes in total...kung fu base sure helped though!).

I've been training for 8 years this May in everything from Savate to boxing to CLF, to wushu, to Judo to kung fu. I spent 6 years doing Black Tiger kung fu and continue to practice this daily. I've been doing Judo since Nov 2007 and have a great club with a couple of Olympians for coaches. Although I've always maintained kickboxing training and conditioning, I've recently had the pleasure of hooking up with a Coach/Sifu in the city who has fought quite a bit of San Shou and who let me come to his Kung Fu club and spar with him to prepare. I'm also hitting up LKFMDC's club in NY this April for an instructor seminar and will hopefully be getting our website and posters for the club going in May...plus forking over the dough for mats!

On to the training!

[WinterPalm]

21 March 2008
Weight: 175

Just came off a week off from training after fighting at the Tiger Balm Internationals in Vancouver. Now it's back to hard work!

Kung Fu/San Da training
Warmed up with footwork, agility exercises, and a variety of movements from Magnificent Mobility (a DVD I highly recommend!).
Iron Palm
Gung Lik Kuen (a power generating dynamic tension set)

Heavy Bag
5X3 min, 50 sec rest.
Worked different combos mixing in grabbing the bag for throws and using a lot of stop kicks. Really trying to work the flow from punching, kicking, to throwing and back again.

Then I did this awful Steve Maxwell Spartan 300 Bodyweight routine...I recommend it by man it made me sore!

You basically do 30 reps of each exercise coupling them together doing as many of each in the couplet back and forth till the couplet is done then do the next one.

Chin up/Push up (in this one you glide back and forth over the arm at the bottom)
Full Squat/V-Up
Bodyweight Horizontal Row/Hindu Push Up
Cossack/Alternating leg raise with elbow to knee touch
Jumping Lunge/Burpee

Time: 27:50 Not too shabby, I'll be doing the above routine every Friday and trying to beat that time.

[WinterPalm]

22 March 2008
Weight: 177.6

San Da

Went to a gym facility with a workout area. Usually I do Judo today but there's no class due to the holidays.

2X3min skipping.
Lots of joint rotations and Magnifcient Mobility movements...I am very sore from yesterday!

Then we did some footwork stuff.
Attack and Counter drills:
Defend the jab and pay attention to openings. The same with the sidekick. Then a basic Jab, legkick defend drill.
Then a hook drill where the one guy throws jab, cross, hook, or jab, right hook, and off the hook you perform a separation grab of head and leg...not sure of the name but whatever.

Then did some Thai Pads really working on mixing all the elements together using stop kicks and punches flowing into takedowns...really worked that one takedown as I need to broaden my San Da takedown repertoire.

That was it...just a short one today.

Another note is that although my cardio held up in the competition my muscular endurance, from all the takedowns and wrestling didn't hold up as well so I am looking to really expand my muscular endurance and my limit strength to a certain extent. No doubt I'll be pushing cars around the neigbourhood and sprinting up a huge hill soon enough!

[WinterPalm]

23 March 2008
Nothing today.
Forgot to weight myself. I'm still pretty sore from that Spartan thing.
Oh well, lots of hard training tomorrow!

[WinterPalm]

24 March 2008
Weight: 176.8 (Surprising considering the amount of cheesecake and chocolate crap I ate yesterday. But nonetheless...

San Da Solo Practice
Piles of joint mobility and loosening exercises
3X3min skipping with more movement stuff inbetween.

Went through a bunch of kicks and punches real slow building to fast and faster to work the whole body mechanics.
Da Kuen (Fighting Set about 5min long) X2
Shadowboxing 3X3min with 50 sec rest period.

Squats (Finally!)
135X5
185X3X3sets
135X5
Just working on the movement and the mechanics, getting good depth. Plus I'm not that strong in the squat.
Will do kettlebell later tonight.

[WinterPalm]

24 March 2008 cont.

Kettlebell

Warmed up with various swings, halos, snatches and presses with the 40 and 56 pound kettlebell.

Turkish Get Up: 2X4reps with the 56er.

Then a back and forth of:
Military Press: 50 X 3 reps
Swing: 105pdsX6
Did that for 4 sets.
Then ended with three times through a workout I found called "Heaven and Hell"...that one was pretty bad. Twice through, did some abs, then once through. I'd like to do the whole thing through 5 times but my forearms were screaming with lactic acid. It's this type of training that makes newaza not so painful!

[WinterPalm]

25 March 2008
Weight: 176.8

San Da

Warmed up with some mobility stuff and some agility/footwork drills.
3X3min shadowboxing with 1min rest.

Thai Pads: Just a light one today, each round worked on either one or two punches and two different kicks.
3X3min with 50Sec breaks.

Clinch: Pummel for 50/50 clinch:
2X2min with 50sec rest. The guy I was training with is very, very strong and about 30-40 pounds heavier than me but has the gas tank of a tricycle. It's still fun using technique and leverage to move him around. Not so fun when he gets a good hold on me!

Abs
Did a 3min circuit mixing bodyweight and medicine ball stuff. Went through that twice.

Ended with a bunch of body conditioning.

[WinterPalm]

26 March 2008
Weight: 177.4

Judo

After a good warmup with a million rolls and breakfalls and pushups and abs, we carried partner on our backs for lunges, then carried them in the front for more lunges, then dragged them across the mat, then we carried them in a double leg type of grab across the map. Good strength training!

Worked on o soto gari, and ouchi gari, for 30 reps each doing uchi kome, and then we did ippon seoi nagi for 30 reps.
Then newaza. I applied a triangle (my first in sparring!), an armbar, and a choke against another beginner that was very, very strong. Went up against a green belt that is also a high school wreslting coach, I managed to break his guard, get to half, then almost into side control but he turtled, I worked for a choke, he told me to roll with it and I pulled him but then he was in my guard. I avoided his choke attempts and struggled to get out but eventually I tapped.
Then I went against a brown belt and managed to fight to a draw after 5 minutes, which was pretty sweet as this guy almost always pins me.

Did some defense standup. Basically 3, 1min fights where you rotate people and the guy on the mat stays and can only defend. My attacks were worthless but my defense was great until the coach's son came and destroyed me.
After doing this for awhile we ended with 1, 5min round of randori. I was against a brown who always throws me and I've thrown once. In those 5 min I managed to throw him 3 times! I was stoked.
Ended with jogging, pushups, burpees, situps, etc. and then a good stretch.

The moral of the story: hard cardio vascular conditioning really, really pays off!
Do your burpees, sprints, and kettlebell circuits kiddies!

[WinterPalm]

27 March 2008
Weight: 178.4

No training.

Pressed some kettlbells a bit.

[WinterPalm]

28 March 2008
Weight: 176.4

San Da/Kung Fu

Warmed up with some footwork...fast feet = good.:)

Iron Palm
Gung Lik Kuen

Heavybag
5X3min with 50 seconds rest.
Really worked on footwork and putting combinations together as relaxed as possible but also as hard as possible. Mixed in the feet pretty good as well dealing with the different ranges.

Spartan 300 workout
22:30 min! Took 5 minutes off this workout this time around!
Here's the ten exercises you do in pairs:

Chin up/Pushup with hover side to side at bottom
Squat/V-Up
Bodyweight Horizontal row/Hindu Pushup (first half)
Cossack or drop stance/Elbow to knee leg raise twist
Jumping Lunge/Burpee

My goals are to do the following versions of these exercises:

Wide Pull Up and then Towel pullups or rope climbs/ Ring Pushups and then Ring dips
1-Leg Squat (That's 30 each leg!)/Keep the v-up maybe just do it much stricter
1-Arm Body weight Row/Full Hindu pushup
Cossack holding 55pd stone lock/Hanging Knees to elbows
Keep the Jumping Lunge/Burpee with an explosive pushup

Once I'm comfortable with this workout, my chinups are still the slowest portion, then I'll start doing these advanced versions.

[WinterPalm]

I've also added doing 2X5 military presses per arm everyday with 50 pd kettlebell to work up to my 56er. I'll be doing this 3 days a week, then one day of higher volume like 5 sets, and then after two days of rest I'll do 2 sets with the 56er.

[Satori Science]

My Sifu always told me "in gung fu there is no magic, only hard work"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-xQ4MmCohg

good show brother

[WinterPalm]

29 March 2008
Weight: 179 (Thanks to a big bag of Mini Eggs and a large pepperoni and beef pizza I ate to myself at midnight last night!)

Judo team was off fighting and I want at least a month if not two of solid practices before I fight again.

Kettlebell
Press 2X5, 55pd

Snatch
5L,5R, rest 15 sec...repeat until 100.
Swing (above head for maximum hip extension) 10, rest 15sec, repeat to 100.

A bit of footwork and shadowboxing.

[WinterPalm]

28 March 2008
Weight: 178

San Da

My toe is sliced up because of being stupid so no skipping rope. Did some mobility and footwork crap.

Then did a whole whack of two man drills focusing on counter attacking blending takedowns, kicks, and punches.

Then: 4X3 on the Thai pads. Working two kicks and two punches per round for form and maximal power.
Ended with a bunch of sidekicks, spinkicks, and roundhouse kicks to the belly pad with a thai pad wedged between the body. Doing this actually disperses some of the impact!

[WinterPalm]

31 March 2008
Weight: 177

Ok, so apparently I've added or lost days or something, my ability to keep track of the calendar is gone. That said:

Afternoon training at the university:
1X3min skipping. Toe still messed up and I forgot my shoes and every time that **** rope hits my toes, it hurts.
Did a couple of rounds of footwork and agility practice.

Da Kune 2X Felt good. Stances solid and flowing from one posture to the next. My cardio is also great for this one these days which is awesome!

Shadowboxing
5X3min with 50 sec rests.
Nothing too big. Just working on a couple of things and paying attention to what I instinctively do and then trying to make it better.

Squats:
1X3 @135
2X3 @185
3X2 @205
Good workout! The squats are feeling great and I'm finding my groove baby!

Evening kettlebell workout:
Military Press
4X3 @53pds
Supersetted with
4X3 pullups with an additional 20 pounds added on.

Then:
Cleans 1X8 with 53 and 55.
Clean and push-press: 3X3 with both kettlebells
Clean 1X8 with both again.
Swings 2X6 with both bells.

Good workout and not as taxing as the high rep stuff!

[SevenStar]

got a link 2 the heaven and hell workout?

[David Jamieson]

I have found that using a couple of the cross fit training ideas is good too. (sorry for stealing your stuff cross fit)

kb's - swings (from horse to overhead x50)
box jumps x100 (2 ft off the ground - this is a plyometric exercise)
wall ball (you wuill come to hate this one, but it is hella good)
rowing


and then add all the other stuff.

sorry for the mini jack. :p

[WinterPalm]

got a link 2 the heaven and hell workout?

Just type it in youtube. It's basically:
1 kettlebell, I use a 40pder
5 Swings
5 Highpulls
5 Snatches
5 Clean and Press
5 Circular Cleans
5 Reverse Lunges
Then pass the bell from hand to hand around your back for about 5-10 reps. Then repeat on the other arm.
Sounds easy but try 3-4 times through each arm without putting the bell down. Good for the cardio and insane for the forearm lactic acid.

[WinterPalm]

I have found that using a couple of the cross fit training ideas is good too. (sorry for stealing your stuff cross fit)

kb's - swings (from horse to overhead x50)
box jumps x100 (2 ft off the ground - this is a plyometric exercise)
wall ball (you wuill come to hate this one, but it is hella good)
rowing


and then add all the other stuff.

sorry for the mini jack. :p

Yeah, they've got some great training ideas. My focus has always been related to theirs but after fighting I realize I need to up my raw strength...aside from some technical tweaking necessary!
I did 100 55 pd kettlebell swings overhead the other day, that was awesome. I actually prefer the overhead variation.

[WinterPalm]

1 April 2008
Weight: 177

San Da

Warmed up with lots of calesthetics and footwork, bear crawls, joint mobility, etc.
Did some kicking and punching drills to loosen up mixing in some footwork.
Shadowboxing
3X3min 50 sec rest. Each round a different person took turns randomly calling out exercises like 10 tuck jumps, 10 pushups, 10 squats, etc. It was pretty good.

Fight Drills: lots of mixing up punches, kicks, and takedowns. Working reflexes in all sorts of positions.

Thai Pads
2X3 min
We did two kicks and two punches and did as many of the 4hit combo as possible giving each shot 100%...no holding back. It was pretty tiring and the short amount of rounds was due to the pad guy being destroyed from the body kicks.

Then 6min abs...and lots, and lots of iron body impact drills.

[WinterPalm]

2 April 2008
Weight: 176.6

Judo
Lots of good stuff. So tiring!:(
Managed to work some throws on some upper belts...got thrown like nobody's business like usual!
I'm going to start training with the top student a half hour earlier on Saturdays for extra newaza...can't wait!

[WinterPalm]

3 April 2008
Weight: 175

Nothing.

[WinterPalm]

4 April 2008
Weight: 178.8

Kung Fu/San Da

Warmed up with footwork and head movement drills and some mobility stuff.

Iron Palm.
Gung Lik Kuen.

Heavy bag
6X3min, 50 sec rest.

Spartan 300 Workout
Time: 21:05 Pretty good time even though I was pretty tired.

[WinterPalm]

5 April 2008
Weight: Didn't check it.

Judo
Too many bizarre partner strength exercises to remember. Then lots of ground and standing with some crazy running and throwing and rolling drills. I was pretty sore.

[WinterPalm]

6 April 2008
Weight: 179

Looks like my weight is climbing a bit.
Did a lot of walking today. I'm still sore from training. That's a good thing. I'm aiming for 5 sets of 2 reps with 205 tomorrow. If that feels good I might add some sets.

[jackmcmanus21]

Winter....your workouts look very solid. I've been wanting to get into KBs for a while but unfortunately I can't find any around here. Do you recommend them over free weights?

[WinterPalm]

7 April 2008
Weight: 177

Kung Fu/San Da
Skipping
3X3min...lots of joint mobility stuff inbetween. I swear, this is the fountain of youth...of course I'm still young but for all the abuse I put my body through, Magnificient Mobility is gold.
Da Kune 2x felt ok...not great, but not bad either...all the techniques came together but i felt a bit sluggish.

Shadowboxing:
5X3min, 50Sec breaks. This was good. Working on lateral movement, head movement, and different counters.

Sqwats:
135X3
185X2
205X2X5 Sets. Not bad...but my destroyed hip from last Wednesday's Judo was not liking it. Oh well.

Kettlebell tonight.

jackmcmanus21,
Kettlebells are great! For fat loss and for conditioning. My cardio has never been better since adding kettlebells in.
Are they better than free weights? They are a kind of free weight...but are used for different purposes. If you could get a weight set or a set of kettlebells I'd say weights if you want max strength, and kettlebells if you want more cardio based and one armed stuff.
A good idea is to mix the two with sandbags, sprints, gymnastic rings...basically everythinng!

Where do you live?

[WinterPalm]

7 April 2008 cont.

Kettlebell

Warmed up with all sorts of basic swings, snatches, did some halos with both the 40 and the 55.
Then did:
Pistols with 20 pound added weight for counter balance
4X1 Just working singles and trying to keep the leg in a solid groove.
Military Press 55er
4X2 or 1 depending on how it went. The presses weren't actually all that bad for the left which is usually lagging behind.

Supersetted some pullups and military press
4X4 pullups, first two sets with 20 extra, last two with 25 pds extra weight
4X4 Press, 50 pds for all

Double kettlebell clean and press immediately followed by double swing 55 each:
4X5 reps of each, rest 1:30.

Ended with
3X15 swings with the 55 and holding onto my judo gi. Also tried some one handed judo gi swings with the 55 but that was pure agony. I recommend it!!

[WinterPalm]

8 April 2008
Weight: 177

San Da
Lots of jogging, joint mobility stretching, all around fitness stuff. We've got an awesome warmup that works the whole body and prepares it for the training.

3X3min Bas Rutten Thai boxing on the pads
2X3 kicking drill for maximum power.
Assortment of partner drills working on flowing from takedowns to strikes to kicks.
Lots of iron body.
Nothing too big today, next week we're going to get back into sparring.

[WinterPalm]

9 April 2008
Weight: 178

Judo
Death by sprints and burpees. Holy god!
Lots of randori so that was awesome as usual. Didn't feel too good today but I had some fun fights on the ground.

[WinterPalm]

9 April 2008
Weight: Forgot.

Nothing. Sore as all hell. Feeling burned out too. Can't wait for school to be out!

[WinterPalm]

11 April 2008
Weight: 178

Kung Fu/San Da

Footwork warm up.
Iron Palm.
Gung Lik Kuen.
Heavy Bag: 6X3min, 50 sec rest. Really brought it here working alternating rounds for all out power and all out speed in flurries. It was fun!

Conditioning: Skipped the Spartan 300 and did 3 rounds of the following:
20 Foot Rope climb
10 Divebomber pushups
10 clean and squat thrust with 55pd steel lock. That's ten aside.

Not too bad but good for the muscular endurance.

[WinterPalm]

12 April 2008
Weight: I don't remember!

Bas Rutten boxing: 5X3min, wore 14oz gloves

Swings with 55pd kettlebell: 300
Did ten left, rest 15secs, did 10 right, rest 15 secs. ON and on and on and on.

[WinterPalm]

13 April 2008
Weight: 178

No training. Went for a nice walk.

[WinterPalm]

14 April 2008
Weight: 179

No training. Took an extra day off. Way too much mf'ing homework.

[WinterPalm]

15 April 2008
Weight: 178.6

San Da

Our trademark warm up.

3X3 shadowboxing with calesthetics worked into it. 50 sec rest.

3X3min sparring. Worked on many of the things I've been training since competing. Felt good.

Cardio circuit: 10:35
Abs: 6min

Bas Rutten 3X3 min thai boxing. Awesomeness!

2X5min kicking drill. Basically one guy wears the pads and belly protector, calls a kick, I kick him then circle away, then the next guy does a kick called out by the padman. And on and on and on.

Ended with body conditioning.

[WinterPalm]

22 April 2008
Weight: 178

Did a weekend seminar in New York with LKFMDC...pure awesomeness!

Back to training today.

Worked basics on the pads, lots of calesthetics (I cannot spell this ****ing word!), some good ab stuff. Then we worked a ton of fighting drills and clinch stuff to set up the takedown off the 50/50 clinch.

Just negotiated once a week training on Saturday through a huge MMA facility in the city that offers muay Thai and BJJ...now they have a San Da class as well! I'm very excited for this.

[WinterPalm]

23 April 2008
Weight: Forgot...

No training today. My schedule is changing and will be thus:

Monday
Noon-hour BJJ
Evening: Forms, Iron body, kettlebell (heavy military press)

Tuesday
Noon-hour BJJ
Weights (strength emphasis) Deadlifts, weighted chins
Evening: San Da Class (clinch for position and technique, striking emphasis)

Wed
No training

Thursday
Noon-hour BJJ
45 Min Heavy bag (hand emphasis)
Circuit training 10-15min: here I'll do the Spartan 300 or the Crossfit 300 or a workout I designed called San Da Gone Awful

Friday
Iron Palm, Forms, Heavybag (leg emphasis)

Saturday
San Da Class (clinch fighting for throws, sparring emphasis)
I might do a Sambo/Judo/BJJ mixed class for 1.5 hrs before San Da on Saturdays but not immediately.

I've got 2 days of Kung Fu training, 3 days utilizing weights for strength and conditioning, 2 San Da classes, 2 Heavybag workouts, and 3 BJJ workouts.

Time breakdown
BJJ 3 Hrs
San Da Classes: 4.5 Hrs
Heavy Bag 1:15 Hrs
Strength and Conditioning: 1:15 Hrs
Kung Fu: 2 Hrs
Total: 12 Hrs per week.

[WinterPalm]

24 April 2008
Weight: 178

No training today. Worked a different shift and took it easy...

[WinterPalm]

25 April 2008
Weight: 178

Kung Fu/San Da

Warmed up with footwork drills.
Iron Palm.
Gung Lik Kuen.
HeavyBag: 6X3min rounds with 1min break.
Jab, Right Roundkick
Cross, Left Round kick
Lead Side, Right round, teep, rear thrust, left round
Side, Cross-hook
Spin, jab-cross
Everything mixed in.

Since training for two months for the Tiger Balms I've neglected my knees...that stops tomorrow!

[WinterPalm]

26 April 2008
Weight: 176.8

SanDa

First day in the new gym...love it!
Did a Judo-type warmup with lots of rolls and breakfalls on the giant grappling area.
Then worked on 50/50 clinch with tons of pummeling and worked on one take-down...then did some kick-catch takedowns.
Sparring. I sparred each of two guys twice each. One guy is fast and tons of movement but lacks power...the other guy is slower but has crazy power if he just channels it right. Worked a lot on countering with the leg kick, the jab, and then clinching. Got seoi nagi in boxing gloves on one guy!

Thai Pads
Did 3 rounds of 3min with 30sec rest as the timer only gives that much rest. It was very good. Then did 3 rounds on the heavy bags working leg kicks, body kicks, and speed punching.

Finished with a circuit of 1min each of the following:
Leg kicks
Squats
1-2s
Pushups
Skip knees
Bear crawl.

[WinterPalm]

27 April 2008
177

No training. Worked.

[WinterPalm]

28 April 2008
Weight: 177.4

BJJ
First class in the new club.

Learned some rubber guard stuff, some knee on belly stuff, and some take the back stuff. Didn't do any sparring but just watched and talked. It was good and I'm looking forward to training there.

Finished with Steve Maxwell's Spartan 300 Kettlebell workout with a 40 pound kettlebell. Finished in 19:30! Not sure if that's good or what...but I think after a few more times I'm going to up it to 45 pds by taping a weight to the bottom!

[WinterPalm]

29 April 2008
Weight: 175.4

Noon hour BJJ
Worked on a couple of moves from taking the back. Then a counter and a bit of a collar choke clinic.
The sparred with a couple folks.
First match I got taken down as the other guy knew I did Judo and went for the shoot while I was thinking we'd clinch up first...what you know...Kept him in guard, eventually he passed I wound up mounted but the time ran up as I was defending against his submissions.
2nd match with a female blue belt. Here I was able to use my strength and aggressive judo newaza style and neutralize her. Held her in side control a lot but didn't do anything with it. She was a scrappy mother!
Then I went with the instructor and got all sorts of tuned up. It was neat to see his flow in movements, that's exactly what I'd like to get out of this stuff.
I'm going to leave the heavy lifting for now and concentrate on heavier kettlebell snatches and swings as well as bodyweight stuff.

Evening: San Da

Went through our 10 min warmup including light jogging, joint mobility stuff, lots of lunges, and some bear crawls.
2X3min shadowboxing, one round hands, one round legs
4X3min Pads. Finally started working the elbows and knees back in.
Then a finished I made up.
About 20 feet bear crawl, then one guy calls out say 10 burpees, or pushups, or jumping squats, or tuck jumps, then immediately return to where you started via bear crawl and repeat. We did this for 3X2min rounds. Next time we'll do 3min rounds.
Did the P90X ab workout. It was ok but the dude is as annoying as all hell.
Then drills working on clinching off attacks and counter attacking. Did this for about 45-1hr.
A good day it 'twas.

[WinterPalm]

30 April 2008
Weight: 175.4

Nada.

[WinterPalm]

1 May 2008
Weight :177.2

BJJ
Worked a flying armbar and some escapes from this. Then an armbar from guard when a dude is trying to stand up. Fun stuff.
Then rolled for a bit with the instructor and he showed me a ton of stuff to start incorporating.

Conditioning...biked home and then did 5 rounds of
20 Clean and Jerk 56pd kettlebell
20 Hindu Pushups
20 1-Leg Deck Squats
Took about 28 minutes and was tiring as all hell but good for overall systemic fatigue.

[WinterPalm]

2 May 2008
Weight: 177

No training.
Showed up but coach was organizing some stuff for a fight night on Saturday. I may look into one of these for August. That said, I'm going to increase my pad rounds to 4 min starting next week and then 5 min for the following month or so. MMA rounds are waaaaay longer! Going to really start working the wrestling on Saturday's as well.

[WinterPalm]

3 May 2008
Weight: 176

SanDa
Began with some clinching and tossed in a new throw for the guys. Then we did about 4 rounds of 2min just clinch sparring. Nothing too big, just really working the defense. Also did a series of several minutes working the double leg and the sprawl.

Sparring
I did about 4 rounds with the guys. One round played ***** and circled endlessly while throwing the odd shot. The other guy didn't like that.
Had some good techniques, my legs are going strong but I need to pick up the hands. Double leg is going well as well. Seems to be the only throw I actively use and succeed at in sparring.

Then did 3X3min of pads and a finisher involving bear crawls and lots of jumps and pushups. It was awesome.

[WinterPalm]

Cinco de mayo
Weight: 178.2 Chunked out on a pile of cheesecake and pork something or another last night.

BJJ
Apparently Monday is no-gi...which I prefer. Worked on passing the guard and some leg circling stuff...more and more this stuff reminds me of good kung fu!
Then rolled with the instructor for about 20min straight. Thank god for my cardio...the other guy was interchanging with me but was tired and sore so I got all the fun. The instructor could easily tune me but was giving me enough resistance and also guiding me along and then every now and then he would choke me or arm bar me or whatever me to submission.
Good fun.

Kettlebell right afterward when I got home
TGU: 3X3 with 56pder.

Then a circuit of
5 Clean and Jerk each arm
5 Snatch each arm
5 High Pull each arm
5 Swings each arm
5 times through for time with the 56pder. Took about 12-13 min. My heart was going hard!

[WinterPalm]

Cinco de mayo cont.

In the evening I did:
5X3min shadowboxing
First round hands, 2nd feet, the rest were mixing it up. I like the idea of doing a lot of this to refine all your skills. Been finding myself pulling some techniques out of sets I don't normally practice. Some more stuff to drill in sparring: solutions to different problems I encounter.
Iron Rings: been at least two months for this, I think. It felt great. This one's a gem!

Didn't break any rings.:D

Saw Ironman. Freaking awesome. Some friends started calling me iron man after sparring one time...

[WinterPalm]

6 May 2008
Weight: 176.4

BJJ
Learned some guard passing defense/offense. Learned an armbar from half-guard and then rolled with another white belt, slightly smaller but pretty squeamish and strong. Almost had him a couple times in a collar choke but he held on and gassed about halfway through.
Thank god for kettlebells and crossfit. My cardio is not an issue.

San Da

Warmed up with some jogging, joint mobility, we did some hurdle jumping and some bear crawl obstacle course stuff.
Shadowboxing2X3min with hands one round and legs the next.

Sparred just hands with one guy for 2X3min rounds...really worked on my defense and not backing, circling away. That felt great to put more faith in my skills and really try new things.

Bas Rutten Thai Boxing on the pads: 3X3Min rounds. Fun stuff.

Iron body conditioning and some abs.
Then our bear crawl death workout (tm).

Then drills for countering off kicks and hooking punches.
Finished with some 50/50 clinch stuff and worked on defenses to some throws.

[WinterPalm]

7 May 2008
Weight: 176

Nada.

Did about 45 min of yoga, mobility, and stretching stuff. Felt pretty awesome. I'm actually seeing a bit of an increase in my hamstring flexibility this past while.
Used to be really into yoga, probably the first physical thing I got into after my wasted teenage years, I'm probably going to be a lot more of it for corrective postural stuff and general mobility.

[WinterPalm]

8 May 2008
Weight: 175

BJJ
Learned anaconda choke and another variation of a choke when the dude is in the turtle position. Also did the same choke from guard and moving with some crazy flipping, rolling stuff.
Sparred with a little guy who got the same **** choke on me again. Then went with the teacher for quite some time. Apparently I'm the only person with a gas tank so I get the joy of him messing with me at the end of class.

Kettlebell
TGU 3X3 with 56er
Then 3 rounds of:
5 CnJ each arm
5 Snatch
5 High Pull
5 Swing
Time: 6:30
Was going to do 5 but my left shoulder is kind of sore and weird feeling.
Finished with 50 double handed above the head swings.

I'm thinking next Kettlebell workout is going to be 5 CnJ each hand followed by 10 over the head double handed swings...for 10 sets!:eek:

[WinterPalm]

9 May 2008
Weight: Missed the scale this morning. Probably 176 though.:D

BJJ
Just me today. Worked on some counters to standup with take-downs.
Then rolled with the instructor for about 30-40 min. That was fun!

San Da
Immediately after I held the pads for one of my guys for 5X3min rounds
Then I did 4X4min rounds.
Good times!
Sweated out all those burritos from last night!

[WinterPalm]

10 May 2008
Weight: 177.2

San Da

Started out with some pummeling for position, worked a go behind simple drop takedown that my guy with a messed up back can do. He liked it a lot.
Then we did some leg catch techniques and takedowns.
Sparred for three rounds. Nothing too big, just working on some variations of things and mixing up the footwork/attack angles.

2X3min skipping
2X3min shadowboxing
1X4min heavybag
Abs: a bunch of leg raises and other stuff.

Gung Lik Kuen
Seeing as it was just the two of us today, we decided to do this form. I've been trying to figure out where to fit it into my schedule as I love this form and its benefits...today was a good day!

[WinterPalm]

11 May 2008
Weight: 176

Nothing today.
Stood around at work bored out of my skull...so nothing new.

[WinterPalm]

17 May 2008
Weight: 175.2

Weird week.
Trained Monday but then pulled a muscle in my chest. Didn't train after that.
Binged on alcohol for the rest of the week.:)

Trained San Da today though!

Worked on some double leg stuff and then a single leg variation as a defense against the jab.
Then a ton of pummeling and holding the guy against the wall stuff.
3X3min on the pads. I'm going to be doing 4min rounds but today was an off day to say the least!:cool:

[WinterPalm]

19 May 2008
Weight: 177.2

No BJJ today as it is apparently a holiday for an old queen of England that somehow applies to us...it's a free day off though!:)

Went to the gym because I needed to put some work in after last week's binge and last night's donuts and ice cream.

Skipping rope
2X3min
Shadowboxing
3X3min
Heavybag
4X4min

Maxwell Spartan 300 Workout: Time: 37:20.
I did chinups instead of pullups and only Hindu pushups, not divebombers, other than that, it was the advanced version of the workout. I'm happy with the time. Once I cut some time off, I'll start doing the full divebomber pushups and then pullups instead of chinups...although I like chinups as they work the biceps in a good way.

So Monday and Thursday will stay as my strength and conditioning days. Monday will be this for now, and Thursday will be a mix of sandbag and kettlebell stuff.
We shall see how things go.

[WinterPalm]

20 May 2008
Weight: 176.2

BJJ
Worked some takedown and headlock defense stuff.

Then rolled with a giant very strong blue belt and had fun getting tuned up. However, I almost got a gogoplata or whatever the hell it is when you have the guy in guard and pull your shin across his face and choke him.
Then rolled with the instructor and had fun getting tuned up.
Then rolled with a white belt who got his blue belt after tuning me up. It was a good fight, I had every single takedown, about four or five, and almost had a choke and the plata thingy...but he armbarred and choked me every single time. Good fun and hopefully I see him around more as we had some good matches.

San Da tonight.

[WinterPalm]

20 May 2008 cont.

San Da

I am sore as hell from the Spartan 300 yesterday. That's what you get for taking too much time off!

4X4min rounds on the pads. Worked a ton of kicks from the padman and the hitter would defend, catch, and counter hard with punches. Often we'll do this but with throws.
Then a bunch of striking drills and then some iron body. A laid back day was today.

[WinterPalm]

21 May 2008
Weight: 176.2

Nothing today.

Stretching, yoga, joint mobility. Relaxing and resting.

[WinterPalm]

22 May 2008
Weight: Missed it again.

BJJ
Good one today. Did a ton of drilling the armbar from guard, and defense against the flying armbar. Then rolled with a bluebelt who is a huge monster. He showed me some stuff and I gave him all I've got which, admittedly, is not much! But I think I'm going to get crazy strong from rolling with all these strong sobs.
Then rolled with the instructor and tapped to those gogoplata things a bunch of times.

[WinterPalm]

23 May 2008
Weight: Forgot again!

BJJ

Good times today. Rolled with a guy who just fought MMA last weekend. Managed to score a beautiful seoi nagi into side control and then almost had a kimura but lost it in half-guard. I was happy with that!
Then rolled with the instructor and tapped a lot.

Afterwards did 4X4 min on the pads working a lot of kick catching and countering.

[WinterPalm]

27 May 2008
Weight: I don't know.

Things are sketchy lately with working tons and tons.

Trained today San Da. I will be doing this three times a week and that's it.
New job is wheelbarrow and shovel...good times!:D

[WinterPalm]

8 June 2008
Weight: Usually around 175

Working so much lately...it sucks.

Some updates:
Have a guy in the club now that I've trained with for years and has finally somewhat settled into regular training...this is awesome as he is a monster and loves, absolutely loves to fight and his personal style fits san shou perfectly.

The owner of the MMA gym we train out of is now hosting an open sparring night once a week so we'll be able to mix it up MMA, boxing, san shou, kickboxing or whatever.

My throwing and clinch fighting, takedowns, have gotten way better than ever! I'm really happy about my progress in this area but now I'm thinking I need to work on hand combos ending with kicks and more flurries.

I'll try to update this as things come along and anything significant.

Oh yeah, my strength is getting better from wheelbarrowing, shoveling, and swinging a sledge hammer all day long! Good times!

[WinterPalm]

10 June 2008
Weight: 179.4 after a 2.5hr class wearing underwear (blue) shorts, and a t-shirt that is red. You can guess the shorts colour.

San Da

Warmed up with usual jogging and footwork stuff then lots of mobility and squat stuff just generally loosening and warming up the whole body..about 10min.
Shadowboxing 3X3min with various exercises called out as we went along. First round hands, 2nd kicks, third was both.

Bas Rutten Thai Boxing 7X3min...first 4 on the pads, then last 3 done shadowboxing but not kicking just punching while another guy hit the pads.
Worked a slew of one to one basic techniques and clinch/throw tactics...ended with a couple rounds of pummeling.

Finished the workout with lots of abs and iron body.

A good one tonight!

Just found out the gym we train out of is going to start having an open sparring night Thursdays so I should get to mix it up MMA and Thai to round out my San Da sparring sessions.

[WinterPalm]

13 June 2008
Weight: I do not know.

Sparring

MMA
Went 4X3min rounds with another instructor at the gym. It was pretty fun. He is friggin strong and that made for me defending primarily on the ground although I did reverse him and get side control numerous times. The stand up was pretty light with the little gloves but we threw some decent kicks.
The moral of the story: cardio and explosiveness play dividends when you're not as strong as the other guy and the other guy has better ground skill. He's taken silver in gi and no gi for beginners I think...he's primarily a boxer.

Did 2X3min with a beginner but it was not really worth anyone's time. He needs to work a lot and I was told to hit him as I was punching his head from all angles but pulling my shots. I gave him one ok leg kick for which 20min later he had a huge red welt...oh well, you gotta learn somewhere.

SanDa (no takedowns)
3X3min this was with one of my regular training partners and he doesn't hit the ground due to a back so we clinch for position and striking. I've been working a lot on his structure and defense, stringing punches together, and working body shots hard. He's doing very well. He also pulled out some new tricks and scored several good leg kicks on me. I landed a beautiful liver shot.:D

I look forward to this next week.

It also turns out that their kickboxing instructor is probably leaving so I might try to get a full position on their staff instructing San Da. Winnipeg may have its first San Da MMA gym before long.

[WinterPalm]

14 June 2008

Solo Practice.

2X3min skipping
3X3min shadowboxing (hands, feet, both)
1X3min joint mobility
4X3min heavybag
1X3min double-end bag
100 Leg kicks on the stationary leg kick station

[WinterPalm]

19 June 2008
Weight: 182 right before sparring night started...I was clothed and probably had some food in me etc. Still, it's good to have a bit more weight on me after all the cutting and dieting.

I trained last Saturday but I forget really what happened.
Skipped training on Tuesday, was too tired from dealing with wankers at work.

Sparring:
Got some good rounds in. Managed to do well against another MMA fighter, got dominant position many times and defended everything but it was still a draw. Had fun with a BJJ brown with little to no stand-up...the ground was pretty close as well. I also scored a nice takedown into side-control on him.
Had some fun rounds with the boxing coach...worked my knee strikes in the clinch and landed some good punches and sidekicks.
However, I take inside lead leg roundhouses way too often! Have to work on this.

[WinterPalm]

21 June 2008
Weight: 176.6

San Da

Started with 6 rounds of 3min with 30 sec rest of:
Skipping
Body pummeling
Skipping
Neck Pummeling
Skipping
Mixed Pummeling

Then did seoi nage, hip toss, and a shuai jiao toss 10 each side just working on the entry and basic lift for explosiveness.
2X3min of basic round and straight kick catches with corresponding takedown.
1X3min of attack and defend against any punches and then a shoot...then switch after each takedown/attempt.
1X3min wrestling for throws from clinch

All the drills were and are always done with boxing gloves

Then 6 Rounds of
Shadowboxing and heavbag
Hands
Legs
Both
Basically do one round of shadow with hands, then a round of the heavy bag with hands... then move on to kicks, etc.
3X3min on the Thai pads. I usually do 4min rounds but felt like cutting the rest to 30 seconds and doing only 3min rounds...plus I was starting to get tired...especially after working 13 hours of concrete yesterday!

Finished with a hard chi gung set.

Go

[WinterPalm]

26 June 2008
Weight: Dunno

I'm finally back to my regular training. Going to hopefully start integrating the form work back in as well as I miss that stuff too much to give it up!
San Da is going great, have had some excellent workouts recently. Went back to BJJ today and learned some stuff but promptly got submitted a million times...oh well, it felt great to be back at it!
I'm thinking I need to retool my whole ground game and start really forgetting all the wrestling and Judo based stuff and focus on rolling and maneuvering rather than holding specific positions too much. We shall see how things go.

[WinterPalm]

26 June 2008 cont.
Weight: 178 (After 1.5 hrs of skipping, heavybag, shadowboxing, and sparring)

Sparring

Did 2 rounds of MMA style. Went fine. Worked on some new leg blocks with counters. Often referred to as Lion's techniques. These seemed to do be good...especially off the inside leg kick which I get hit with a lot! Got taken down by the brown belt again, this time after a struggle and I managed to keep top position with him in guard...defended a slew of subs he threw my way and then disengaged.
Another guy, had some fun, he's longer and so worked the kicks more with him and tried for some San Da style leg sweeps off kick catches...good fun!

Then 2 rounds of just boxing with the tall guy. This was OK. I rely on my kicks and takedowns, clinch, so just hands was weird. I landed my left hook and left chop choy (hailing Satori Science!:D) at will and also a lot of body shots. He kept stopping after each body shot and said I'm the only one who goes for the body that much. What can I say, I love body shots!:cool:

Things to work on: striking in the clinch, maybe trying for subs or positions on the ground (although against another guy with maybe half a year or more BJJ experience than me, I kept side control and went for an Americana and then a gullitoine to no avail.) I also really need to work my combos with throws and takedowns at the tail end.
Kicking was good though!

For boxing I felt ok but just wasn't used to the format...but it was fun.

[WinterPalm]

27 June 2008

BJJ
Just worked some takedowns into armbars and lots of explosive back and forth takedowns into submissions. Had to leave early so no rolling.

[WinterPalm]

28 June 2008
Weight: dunno. Probably about 180 though...

San Da
Warmup 2X
Skipping
Pummeling body/head

Worked rounds of punches with random pushkicks thrown in and kickcatching with takedowns. Then did any kick with a takedown.
Drilled hip tosses and drag-down (for lack of a better term) off of punches. Added a couple of sweeps from clinching off the hook.

Shadowboxing 3X3min...lots of bodyweight stuff thrown in.

Thai Pads
Bas Rutten Thai Rounds: 4X3min
Abs: leg raises and leg thrusts: 20 each, 2X
Conditioning: 10 reps, 3 sets
Squats, JJs, Sprawls, Burpees.

Good freaking times...very soaked.

Had a walk-in that is going to start training next week. Club is slowly blossoming as we have three new members coming in for their first classes next week. Good stuff.

[WinterPalm]

31 June 2008
Weight: XXX

BJJ

Had fun today and did a ton more of takedowns and armbars from the takedown. Then rolled for about 25min straight with three people including the instructor. I managed to get some good position and attempt some stuff I've never tried before...aside from the instructor, I did not tap to the other two guys.

[WinterPalm]

2 July 2008

San Da
4min Skip
4min Shadowboxing
4min Skip
4min Shadowboxing

4X4min heavybag

Spartan 300
I'm doing 3X6reps for awhile, and then I'll go to 8 and then 10. Once I'm at 10, then I'll start keeping track.
I also did the Spartan 300 Monday night but forgot to log it in.

[WinterPalm]

3 July 2008

BJJ

Good class. Worked on Kimura and some other stuff. Good rolling and some fun.


Sparring

Did 4 rounds of San Da. Worked one round as a berserker to get one of the guys used to aggression...he didn't like it much but I think he got the point.
Rolled with one guy and managed to put everything to use against a guy with just a little less skill. Didn't tap him out but hit every good position and got to at least attempt all my submissions.
A couple of guys were doing MMA and I was going to jump in with them but they were working on their own thing.

[WinterPalm]

4 July 2008

BJJ
A long class today. Learned a whole bunch of stuff and figured out that I need to work way more on sweeps and escapes against stronger, better skilled opponents. Flipped through a PDF of the Rubber Guard by Eddie Bravo and am going to try some new things from half guard next time.