The 2024 Training Log- Part 1

Okay here we go. Let’s throw on some background music and see what comes out. I’ve gone with Dummy by Portishead.

And segwaying nicely into background. Let’s also see what sort of background I can lay down for you to understand the point of this log.

Very busy time last year. Lots of events to run, major stresses with my “day job” of running an academy. Blew my knee badly in February 2023. PCL tear initially misdiagnosed as ACL, and was hurting the PCL further by doing the ACL rehab. So it goes. Got back to the mat late summer but there’s definitely something missing since. I’ve lost a lot of spring in the lower body, and I’ve got low back issues which are probably linked to the knee. This sounds whiney but I’m sore a lot now. Started training for the Euros last October, developed what I thought was tendonitis in the elbow, turned out to be a tear in the ligament. Had to withdraw.

So 45 years old. 92kgs. Broke up with injury. What’s the rumpus?

I spent some time thinking over the Christmas break and I did some research and asked some people some questions and went for walks and pondered long and hard about the following questions-

Am I just too damn old now to get back into competitive shape?

And if I do, is the juice worth the squeeze? Will I just end up more sore or injured?

And what’s the point anyway? I’m in pretty good shape and can train away at what I’d term a low level.

And after consulting with some friends and some professionals, I’ve decided that I’d like to find out what’s possible.

I came up with a few things that I identified about myself-

First, I don’t do well in winter. Why? I do not know. But if I think about winter training, I don’t seem to do very well in terms of soreness and so on. I seem to be injured a lot, unmotivated, and generally down on my summer self.

My solution to this was to take the foot off the pedal completely in January and February. I still trained, just kept myself ticking over. But I more or less said that those months were a washout.

Second, I do not recover well. I’m always looking to do something else. I sleep okay, but not enough. I don’t put enough effort into recovery foods, hydration and so on. I don’t have a recovery protocol.

My solution to this was to go to bed earlier. What a genius. Hydration is still an issue. I need to carry a bottle I think, but I’m trying to think of a way of doing that that doesn’t make me look like a wanker with a water bottle with him everywhere. Food wise, I’m much improved pre and post training. I was eating too little during the day and eating my main meal post-training. Recovery wise, I’m getting to the sauna 3 times a week in the morning now, just for the damn heat.

I need to focus on my weak and injured areas.

I have a full gym setup in Kyuzo. It’s great and I love it. But when I go in, someone is always there to ask me questions, or I see something that annoys me and I have to fix it. So my lifting was unfocused and erratic. I had thought about getting a tee printed that said PISS OFF I’M TRAINING, but after some advice from my better half, I didn’t. So I did it by joining a commercial gym. I hate them to be honest, but I bang on the noise cancelling headphones and go for it, and it has the aforementioned sauna which is a huge bonus.

Okay, here’s what’s happened since January. Well first, I got sick and didn’t start until Late January. Then, in the middle of the programme, I got sick again, so in fact the 6 weeks below have been split by a flu for a good 2 weeks. But for the purposes of continuity, I won’t include that here.

I wrote myself a 6 week Pre-Season programme, I’m in week 4 this week.

Some points on this programme-

I’m going by “feeling” rather than percentages for the first time in my life for a programme. It’s great, actually. If I wasn’t at it, I just took the lifts down a notch, reducing reps or weight. You probably can’t do this if you’re not experienced and know your body.

I went very, very basic on lower body. I put emphasis on quality of movement, and isolation exercises for pure size. This is out of fashion at the moment, with people emphasising “functional movements”. I get it, but I’m not a physio and I don’t want to overthink in the weight room. I also think a lot of those Functional guys are doing performative bullshit exercises for the purposes of standing out in the crowd. No one wants to watch videos of lads repping out the basics.

This simplistic view of the lower body day was after observation of leg measurements side to side. I had a real size imbalance left to right leg, and left to right glute. “How do you compare your glutes?” you might ask. Just grab a handful man, or ask your partner to. We all have a bit of that, but I think since my PCL injury I haven’t addressed it enough.

I changed exercises week to week to keep myself interested, but kept the same format. When you see the programme below, you’ll note I give the options in the brackets.

I went nowhere near failure on any given day. I didn’t even test my maxes at the start. I can pretty much tell where I’m at with a 3 rep max anyway but I didn’t even go near that. It’s just not worth it anymore. I honestly think if I tested my maxes now, I’d be out for a few days with something or other, or my mat time would suffer. It’s just to taxing on the nervous system. To hell with it. I know just about where I’m at.

Instead, I took measurements old school style to assess size gains, and a photo for body composition. I won’t share these here. Mercifully for you. But estimates off what I’m lifting day to day would probably put me at around a 140kg squat and a 100kg bench for strength, and around 10 dead hang pull ups right now (in week 4).

Okay, here’s the deal on some of the notes in the programme-

*work up to 3 heavies means just to get to a good heavy weight that you think you’d probably get another rep out of, but not 2 reps. It means you’re getting some quality without stressing the CNS too much.
*I never went overhead with pressing because my shoulders would suffer, but you can if you’ve good shoulders.

3 Day Programme For Broke Up Grapplerman-

Day 1- Upper Body Strength

1. Heavy bilateral push- work up to 3 heavies. (Bench press, incline bench.)
2. Single Arm Push- 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps. (Dumbbell Press, Incline Dumbbell Press, Dumbbell Floor Press, Alternate Press.)
3. Heavy Row- 3 sets of 5 to 8 reps. (Unsupported row, Pendlay Row, Chest Supported Row)
4. Back Work- 3 sets of 10-12. I actually only used the cable T-Bar row for this. I just find quality is best here for my back.
5. 45 degree back raises. 3 sets of 10, usually weighted.
6. Weighted Sit Ups- 3 sets of 10 to 12.

Day 2- Lower Body Strength

1. Moderately Heavy Bilateral- 5 sets of 5. (Back Squat, Deadlift, Leg Press, RDL depending on how training went the night before)
2. Single leg Assistance work, 3 sets of 8-12. (I went contra to 1), so if I did Squat, I’d do Single Leg RDLs, if I had Deadlifted, I’d do Split Squats or Step ups)
3. Machine Quad Extensions- 5 sets of 10
4. Lying Hamstring curl- 5 sets of 10
5. Wobble Board Plank- 3 sets of 60 seconds
6. Roll Outs- 3 sets of 10

The goal here, and I can’t emphasise this enough, is to have little to no soreness in the low body the next day. Nothing has effected my grappling so badly as a heavy leg day. It can set you back a week on the mat.

Day 3- Upper Body/Recovery

1. Stepper or Stationary Bike- 15 minutes at ~120-130BPM
2. Upper Body Push or Pull 5 sets of 8-10. (Depending on the day, I’ll do Incline Dumbbell Press, Decline Bench, or Neutral Grip Chins)
3. Single Arm Row 3 sets of 12
4. Arnold Press 3 sets of 15 (my only time overhead, but with low weight and strict form)
5. Delt work- 3 sets (Face Pulls, Reverse flyes, or Seated Power Cleans)
6. Bicep Curls- 3 sets of 12-15 (EZ Curl, Concentration Curl, Spider Curl, Precher Curl)
7. Tricep work- 3 sets of 10-12 (Skull crusher, Cable Pushdown, “Throw ins”

In some circles, if you showed them Day 3 in particular there’d be some scoffing about how unspecific it is to grappling. But I am over all that. I’ve seen a thousand programmes and I’ve tried a hundred ways. My job in the gym is to keep myself uninjured, so I don’t mess around.

Also, there’s a lot of skinny “experts” telling people how to lift these days. Never would have happened in the 90s let me tell you, where you just watched the biggest unit in the weight room and copied him until you plucked up the courage to ask him what he was doing.

None of the sessions above go beyond 45 minutes, also. I get in, get it done, and get out.

So far, so good.

2 weeks to go and aside from some tightness (easily relieved by good stretching and foam rolling) I feel strong and robust. I definitely feel a little reduction in my general mobility on the mat, but I’m about 3kgs heavier than when I started. I expect this will reduce when I drop Day 3 and replace it with a conditioning day in week 8.

On the mat, I feel more injury resistant, but this can be placebo in action. As I said above, I’ve dropped any goal of training well or improving for now. The goal in these weeks is to develop an injury resistant physique to have the platform to train properly.

My low back/hip issues are persisting, but were noticeably better after a squat day than a deadlift day. To be expected perhaps, but my thinking is that the hip just got loosened after the squat day rather than any extra tightness from deadlifting. After all, they didn’t get worse after Deadlift day, just stayed the same.

In terms of body composition, my clothes are fuller, but I don’t expect to add too much muscle. I am possibly a little leaner, but I’m not too bothered about that right now.

I’ll be a little more Jiu Jitsu focused in next week’s post, just in case you’re thinking this is all too weightsy for your taste.

Final Thoughts

What is it about Men in the Gym and their freaky relationship with Cable Crossover Flyes? Lads love it. They grab them handles and grimace their way through sets. Every fucker in this new gym is at it. I had to do a few sets last week to see what the fuss is about. It’s a bang average exercise for hitting the chest, but you know what? You feel like Wolverine while you’re doing it. Might wear jeans and a vest next week and do some.

Best warm up in a Commercial Gym? The plate clean up. Walk in, and pick up every plate and dumbbell left on the ground by lazy bastards who think it’s someone else’s job to clean up after them. You’ll be warm in no time.

A guy once said to me “If you want to make a young man less depressed, put an inch on his arms”. I’m beyond that stage but putting on a tee shirt the other day I was reminded of when I first started lifting weights as a 15 year old kid. A girl I hung around with squeezed my arm one day and said “nice biceps” and I am telling you, I needed that confidence boost around that time. I’ve never forgotten it. Simpler times.

Until next time.