Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Emerald City Judo: Intro

For our anniversary the Mrs. bought me a Gi. A good, heavy-weight, competition Gi. Since that time I've worn it but a handful of times. Mostly because I'd stopped playing Judo. I had begun lifting, and set Judo aside to focus on my lifting. I was under the impression that I could lift, and lose weight, and be healthy. I couldn't effectively lift, and play judo with any hope of recovering and avoiding injury.

So, the Gi hung in the closet. Every time I opened the closet it was there, pressed, hung, waiting.

Today, I took the Gi out of the closet, and decided to get back on the mat. Frankly, I'm 315lbs, my cardio for the past year has been almost non-existent. I'm strong, stronger then I've been in years, but after ten minutes on the mat I realized I was badly dehydrated and feeling ill. So, I took a few minutes, got my breathing under control, and got back to it.

Class ran for just under two hours. With two young students, and a number of black belts. With more black belts, then colored belts, it was an interesting class. We opened with between ten and fifteen minutes of warm-up. Jogging, sprints, high-knees, the usual. I sat out for the mat crawls, and shrimping to catch my breath.

We began by practicing an arm bar from mount, focusing on technique. One point I did find interesting is that  keeping the knee that's on the mat tight to the opponents body, and leaning slightly forward, made it much easier to swing the other leg over, to finish the arm bar.

Class then moved into techniques on the ground. We worked a turn-over escape from guard. You'd sit up, take a cross the body over-hook, then bridge. Alternating sides. The objective is to trap the arm, and roll the opponent onto his back.

We then moved into escapes from being mounted. The first, was a turn over. You bridge, bringing the opponent forward. They post, to keep their balance. You trap and arm, by cupping the tricep with both hands. Then, you'd pull the arm to your opposite ear. Opponent's right arm, to your right ear. You trap the shoulder, and the same-side leg, bridge, and roll into mount.

The second escape from mount involved shrimping. You start, by bucking the opponent forward. Your second bridge, you shrimp onto your side, gaining space. With your lower leg, you press their leg away. Then, using your hand, you pass their knee over yours, and shrimp the opposite way, taking half-guard, and working onto the back.

We then moved to breaking the turtle. The first was a turn-over into a pin. Head-to head, keeping pressure on the back, you work the right hand, under the arm, to take the near side lapel. You want to keep the thumb outside of the opponents Gi. This means that your right thumb will be pressed into their chest, and you'll have a fistful of their near-side lapel. You then cup the other arm, with your left hand at the tricep, push into the opponent, wait for them to push back, then you pull with the left hand, at the tricep, and roll into the hole on that side. Using the right hand, which is full of Gi, you roll them over, and come to your stomach.

Alternately, you can use the same movement, as a choke. Instead of taking the lapel in the right hand, come across the face, then come back until you can catch the lapel. Slide the thumb in, grab the tricep with the left hand, and roll through. Your left hand should come through to grab your own lapel, slide the right hand, under the opponents chin, and rev the motorbike for the choke.

The two hours flew by. I found the class to be easy-going, and friendly. The black belts teaching ranged in size from around 130lbs, to near my size, which was a welcome change. I'll definitely be back.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Stronglifts: Week 16

Day 1: B
Squat: 195lbs.
Press: 115lbs.
Deadlift: 225lbs.

Day 2: A
Squat: 200lbs.
Bench: 170lbs.
Upright Row: 115lbs.

Day 3: B
Squat: 205lbs.
Press: 115lbs.
Deadlift: 235lbs.

The Mrs. is out of town through the 25th. This gives me a chance to get in nine workouts, three per week, with minimal interruption. I intend to do just that.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Bachelorhood Day 1

The Mrs. is in Japan for the next three weeks. In order to stave off boredom, and depression I've decided I'm going to do the following:

1) Exercise. I'm going to keep lifting, three times a week, and if I can manage it, I might go swimming a few times as well.
2) Cleaning. I'm going to clean, and organize, the entire apartment. With the end objective of the Mrs. returning to a spotless house.
3) Cooking. While I'm no great cook, I need to eat. I also need to eat actual food. In that vein, I shall cook dinner, as often as possible, and pack my lunched daily.

Let's see how it goes.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Stronglifts: Week 15 Reboot

It's been a long time since I've been in the gym, specifically 12 days. I'd like to say I had an excuse, but truthfully, there is no excuse. I got lazy. I gave up. I was upset with the Pro Club, and let that frustration keep me out of the gym.

I have nobody to blame but myself.

I'm dropping my squat weight, again, to 185. I have, evidently, not been hitting parallel. So, I'm going in with the idea that I'm going to lift correctly. In order to guarantee that I can focus on form I'm basically restarting. Truthfully, it hurts. It upsets me, and I'm sure in the coming weeks it's going to be incredibly hard for me to get in the gym, and lift. Yet, this is something I feel I really need to do in order to progress.

Let's just hope it works.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Stronglifts: Week 15

Day 1: A
Squat: 235lbs.
Bench: 160lbs.
Upright Row: 110lbs.

Day 2: B
Squat: 185lbs.
Press: 110lbs.
Deadlift: 295lbs.

Day 3: A
Squat: 190lbs.
Bench: 165lbs.
Upright Row: 115lbs.


I started this week late, which seems to be the norm. I've had trouble keeping to a three workouts a week schedule. Between house hunting, work, and other issues creeping in I find it harder, and harder, to devote the time I need to lift, and stay sane.

Day 1 this week felt fantastic. De-loading on the upright row was the best decision I could have made. It felt fantastic. Squat feels good, bench continues to feel good, I'm looking forward to lifting. However, I've grown disenfranchised with the gym I'm at, and am looking forward to the first of the year when I can switch.

Contracts suck.

Monday, July 2, 2012

Stronglifts: Week 14

Day 1: B
Squat: 280lbs.
Press: 125lbs.
Deadlift: 275lbs.

Day 2: A
Squat: 225lbs.
Bench: 155lbs.
Upright Row: 140lbs.


Day 3: B
Squat: 230lbs.
Press: 110lbs.
Deadlift: 285lbs.

I had hoped that my squat weight would keep going up. I was pushing myself towards a goal, with nothing in mind except the weight. That's one of the dangers of lifting without a coach, or partner. You don't have anyone to keep you on the straight and narrow. I was lifting, but I'd lost sight of why. I had gone back to ignoring my body, ignoring the pain in my knees and back from poor form. I had stopped lifting for health, and enjoyment, and started lifting for weight. I should have de-loaded a few weeks back, across the board. My squat, form was falling apart, I was at my limit for bench press, and my overhead press hadn't been good since day one.

It's was hard for me to admit that I was pushing too hard, too fast. That I had drifted from my stated goals into something less healthy. I dropped my weights on squat and bench last night, and while my form for squat was still shaky it was easier to control the weight, and make sure I was lifting properly. Bench was a similar experience, the weight seemed incredibly light, even with only a 40lb difference.

I did not de-load my upright row, and I should have. I'll drop that weight next week as well. At present, the only lift I don't feel a need to lower is my deadlift. We'll see how that feels on Saturday.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Stronglifts: Week 13

Day 1: A
Squat: 265lbs.
Bench: 190lbs.
Upright Row: 130lbs.

 Day 2: B
Squat: 270lbs.
Press: 120lbs.
Deadlift: 265lbs.

 Day 3: A
Squat: 275lbs.
Bench: 190lbs.
Upright Row: 135lbs.