Back at it in the 'Peg

[WinterPalm]

31 Sept 2008 (Also known as 1 Oct 2008...but has October already come!?)

BJJ
Rolled. That was it. Had an insane 20 min match with the blue belt before he submitted me from a beautiful throw...I'll find out the name soon.
However, later when rolling with him I managed to make him tap off of a choke so that made my day.
Then he sub'd me several times.

San Da
Skipping and pummeling.
Kick countering and working on getting into and defending the clinch. Good stuff.
Did 3X5min on the pads. Felt great.

Got offered a pro MMA fight for November but turned it down. I still want to compete amateur in San Shou and hopefully amateur MMA so this is not the time in my life for that kind of commitment...or death wish!

[WinterPalm]

2 Oct 2008

Sparring
Warmed up and then wrestled two rounds just for takedowns.

Then did 3X3min rounds of medium contact San Da (not full out but still so that each strike rings your bell or leaves a decent bruise). I really wanted to work on the clinch today and use my knees so our session played out differently than usual. I managed some pretty sweet kick catch sweeps and a nice hip toss from the clinch.
Also got taken down by a couple of single leg takedowns. Worked my right hand more than usual and landed some good jabs.
My sparring partner is getting better at throwing when we break the clinch so I started doing that as well and it seemed to work.

Then I jumped in on the no-gi grappling class. First was rotating on three guys in the center and trying to throw them. I managed a modified fireman's carry takedown on a 215 dude that has good judo skills. Felt great about that. Also got taken down many times.
Ended with mount and side-mount escapes and then 30 sec sparring sprints.

[WinterPalm]

3 Oct 2008
Pretty sore and tired...oh well.

BJJ
no-gi today. Just myself and a blue belt showed up. We went over a few things and then rolled. I've realized that I need to work on my armbar technique as everybody pretty much rolls out of it. That said, I almost had a Doerkson choke and a triangle choke on him...closest I've come to using a triangle in sparring.
He tapped me in some pretty interesting ways. Had some good long rolls about 45 straight with little water breaks.

No conditioning. I'm beat.

[WinterPalm]

4 Oct 2008
Made a dream catcher today...first time ever. Neat.

San Da
Warmed up with jogging and then lots of rolls and bear crawls.
Then we did two rounds of 30 sec shadow box, 30 sec pummel, we did 2min rounds with 30 sec rest. Just a warm up...essentially.
Then we worked on a couple of throws off of a deep underhook ala the wrestling coach I was training with. Guys seemed to like that. Then we worked on some counters and played around with that for a bit.
Then I sparred my rambunctious buddy for 4:30...supposed to be 5min but he gassed something fierce. Got to work on my hands more today, clinched with knees and worked the combos...trying to kick off of every hands exchange. Still medium contact but had some good exchanges and hits.

Then did several one minute rounds with 10 sec rest of different drills with different partners:
1.) One guy punches the other one defends and tries to shoot for a takedown.
2.) Grab a leg such as you would encounter off of a single leg, and try to take the guy down.
3.) 3min round robin on a guy trying to either shoot or clinch and take each other down. After someone goes down, next guy comes with one guy staying there the whole time.

Thai pads:
Did 4X3min of the Bas Rutten Thai boxing...fun.
Worked some kick combos on the suitcase pad: lead sidekick to rear leg kick. Then spin kick to lead leg kick.

Ended with some abs of agony.

Had a dude who is a BB in karate with us today. He has some good skill and has been doing BJJ and Judo for some time. He seemed to really like the class and hopefully he comes back.

A good session and a beautiful Winnipeg fall day...not many left.

[WinterPalm]

6 Oct 2008
No training yesterday.

Today:
BJJ
Worked on some guard passing and then taking the back off of a choke commenced and failed during knee on belly.
Rolled a lot. Tapped the blue belt to an armbar...then and before that got tapped many a time. Realized I wasn't defending the triangle with the right arm...which makes sense because everybody taps me to an armbar from the triangle.

Kettlebell
TGU
50X2
55X2
75X2X2sets...next time 3...maybe.

Circuit same as last time but 4th set with a heavier kettlebell.
Clean and Press (Push press after first two sets) a5L/5R
Snatch
Row
Hindu Pushup

Then a 5min Tabata swings with the 75er...good god that was painful.

However, while rolling today, a guy said he was completely gassed after we went at it and I got tapped out, however I felt great and sparred another hour...now just to get better technique!

[WinterPalm]

7 Oct 2008
BJJ
Easy technique class. Rolled with the blue belt. Went 15 with no taps but spent a good amount of time with the bugger on my back.

8 Oct 2008
BJJ
Technique work. Good escapes from sidecontrol and some choke options. Some ueses of half-guard to set up chokes.

San Da
Warmed up with skipping and pummeling.
Worked on defending flurries and worked on chasing down runners ending with a leg kick.
Worked leg catches and leg catch off of thigh kick.
Worked Thai clinch technique and drilled it off of hook punches.
Sparred 4 2min rounds just standing with no throwing. Just wanted to get in a couple of light rounds working on specific techniques. Focused on footwork and trying to get my right straight tighter and in there. Worked stop kicks of various sorts as well.
Then we did 3X3:30min on the heavy bags. Not enough guys of Thai pads so we hit the bags instead...sometimes we do both but today just the heavy bags.

Ended with 4 rounds of a tabata circuit of the following:
Bodyweight row
Pushup
Squat thrust with 20pd medicine ball.
Total: 7:30...20 sec on, 10 sec rest, switch stations during the rest break.

All together another great workout.

[WinterPalm]

9 Oct 2008
BJJ No Gi
No sparring for San Da on these days anymore. I'm going to start trying to get some pad rounds Friday afternoons so I have at least 3 days a week of just striking practice. As it stands I'm rolling 5-6 days a week...but that's comp prep.

Today we did a bit of a nice warmup and then into rolling.
Had some good long matches...tapped to some weird stuff. Tapped a guy to a weirdly positioned armbar.
Made up a new Steve Maxwell inspired rolling exercise. I've been watching and really admiring Andre Galvao's exercise routine and going to keep trying it out.

10 Oct 2008
BJJ No Gi again.

Warmed up good and proper with some mobility and rolling around doing weird movement stuff...really enjoying the rolling flowing stuff.
Then worked side control escapes for awhile and onto sparring.
Almost got a couple of things on the blue belt...felt like a good roll. Then got steamrolled by a huge 210 guy who has next to no gas but is strong, very strong, and will not give up top position. I had his back for awhile but couldn't do anything with it. Fun but frustrating.

Kettlebell coming up shortly...

[WinterPalm]

Haven't updated this sucked in awhile. I've been training but friggin busy with school.
I've been training 4 days per week. BJJ Mon, Wed, and Fri...San Da Wed and Sat with the occasional Friday pad session and doing strength work Mon and Fri night. Our gym just hired a new Muay Thai coach so I'll be training with her Wed night for some torture!

I've started doing some EDT training for strength, here's what I'm doing:

Monday
Clean and Jerk w/75pd Kettlebell 15min PR Zone:
This past Monday, I guess the 3rd of Nov, I got 33 per arm or 66 total.
Snatch 'n Squat w/55pd Kettlebell 10min PR Zone: 30 per arm and also 1 per arm with the 75er...can't quite snatch it comfortably yet...don't want to bugger me shoulder. So 62 reps.

Friday (Today)
Military Press and Bent Row 15min PR Zone:
MP w/55er: 15 reps per arm or 30 total. BR w/75er: 30 per arm or 60 total.
Single Leg Squat and Swing 10min PR Zone:
SLS: 24 reps per leg or 48 total. Swing w/75er: 40 per arm or 80 total.

First time for all of these and I expect to be bettering these times each workout up to some point or another...I suppose a goal would be helpful!

[WinterPalm]

10 Nov 2008
Warmed up with 75pd TGUs.
Clean and Jerk w/75pd Kettlebell 15min PR Zone: 37 per arm or 74 total. 6 reps PR or 3rep PR per arm.
Decided to scrap the Snatch and Squat as it just doesn't tax the legs enough. Decided on 110pd sandbag squats. Basically what I do is shoulder it, do a specific amount of reps, put it down, shoulder to the other side and do the same amount of reps.

Sandbag Squat w/110pd Sandbag 10min PR Zone: 36 reps total or 18 per side.


For a finisher I recently made a mace bell. Basically just took an 8pd sledge hammer and put some olympic plates down the shaft until it weighted 25.5 pds.
Did about 35 swings each direction...monstrous. I am still sore 2 days later but I can feel this will greatly increase my strength at odd angles and it really blasts the forearms and the wrists.
Good stuff!

11 Nov 2008
Got in some good hard wrestling for takedown and then some San Da sparring. Managed to shoot a double leg on a guy I've always been afraid to...usually expect to get kicked in the face but I managed to pull it off. Noticed some things that need to be tightened up and am going to make drills for those tonight.

[WinterPalm]

18th August 2009
Haven't been updating this sucker in some time.
Still training hard.
Won gold at the Tiger Balm International San Shou competition. Put in some serious time to pull that off. Had three matches. Conditioning held up...but was a bit tentative: really wanted to work being relaxed and not blowing my wad but everyone said I was way too relaxed. I'll need a healthy balance for the next time I fight...somewhere in between my first and second year.
Going to fight amateur MMA in November...was supposed to be Sept but I've been working crazy with roofing and painting and don't have enough time or energy to get in competition shape...that said, I'm still training six days a week.

Schedule:
BJJ Mon and Wed in Gi and Friday no-gi.
San Da: Tues, Thurs, and Saturday sparring and bag work.

Been working a lot of technique since I got back from competing in March. Not too much strength and conditioning stuff...though I'm not in terrible shape, just not where I was. However, all the physical work I'm doing has made my back and grip stronger so that's a plus!

Right now I'm just preparing for a grappling tourney in Oct and then the MMA in November.

Today weighed 181.1 upon waking up. 12 pounds over so not that big a deal...been eating too much crap and drinking too much beer for my own liking. What can you do? At least I've got a decent tan going.

Yesterday I worked out so here's the workout:
Bag workout
Warmed up with 33sec intervals of various skipping, footwork, and agility exercises: speed and movement are something I'm stressing right now over power or anything else.
Did 4 rounds of boxing on the Thai bag working on straight punching, then power punching, then mixing it up. Really working my movement and fakes, then moving away after hitting.
Did 2 rounds of punch and kick combos.

Then BJJ class: worked guard passes and sweeps from guard: neither of which I'm good at! Basically I can throw from standing and land in a scarf hold position and work from there...that's about it. Need to get better dealing with people in my guard as I'm too reliant on half-guard.
Sparred for maybe 7 rounds 4min rounds. Pretty tired. Need to spend a lot more time on the mat but I was sick last week so that probably explains something: plus I'm comparing myself to purple and blue belt guys whom make up the majority of who I role with.

[WinterPalm]

18 August 2009
San Da

Warmed up with skipping and calesthetics...nothing too serious.

Went into drilling some counter attacks and ways to punish stand still type of guys.
Did a random kick drill ala NYSanDa.

Then 3 4min rounds on the pads. Felt pretty good today...lots of movement and constantly countering when the pad man throws anything my way.
Then did 2min alternating for ten min of thai clinch spar and kneeing the heavybag....will be definitely be doing more or this.
Ended with 5min of abs.

[WinterPalm]

19 August 2009
BJJ
Played a good game of soccer for the warmup. Then worked endless reps of armbars, triangles, and omoplatas from guard. Then a flow drill using all three.
Then sparring.
Caught a judo guy in an arm triangle.
Managed to pass the guard of a very strong blue belt...my guard passing is getting better! Despite him tapping me many a time, this made my day.
Got a compliment from the purple teaching the class that my pressure from the top was very good and it seemed I weighed a lot more.
Good practice.

[Pork Chop]

awesome news about tiger balm international.


gotta love the Thai-Clinch-Sparring Next-Day-Whiplash®