20204 Training Log Part 20

On the headphones today: L.A. Woman- The Doors

Monday

Flat out doing nothing today. Still carrying a finger injury. No amount of tape was going to make it usable. In any case, most of my heavyweight training partners were off on Monday anyway so I didn’t miss much. In a rare scenario, I did nothing on a Monday. I have a thing where I always train on a Monday, no matter what it is. So I found myself itchy and twitchy all day.

Tuesday

Strength Work.

1. Single arm dumbbell press- w/u to 5@37.5kg
2. Dumbbell bench row 5×12
3. Max out pec deck 2xmax
4. Face pulls 3×15
5. Core circuit A) weighted incline crunch B) 60s Plank
6. Cable kickbacks 3×15

The dumbbell press you do half off the bench. Picked it up of R.Kelly a while back (not that one). Your core, glute, mid back and right down to your calf are all firing as you lift. Great exercise.

Wednesday

Had to train. Just had to. So on went the tape on the finger and I made a conscious effort to not grip with the hand. I only had two featherweights to work with so I started on bottom and focused on lively guard retention. Despite the size difference, it made for a great session. Their speed and movement is totally different to what I experience in my weight class, so it was a tough evening.

Thursday

Conditioning time. Jesus I hate this session.

1. 10 minutes bike- Hill climbs. Cruise at approx 130bpm, then hill climb every minute max intensity 170bpm approx.
2. Block 1 15 minutes of A) Floor Press x5 B) Single Arm Row x5,5 C) Goblet Squat x8
3. Bike 5 minutes active recovery
4. Block 2, 15 minutes of A) Bulgarian squat 8,8 B) Staggered push up x10 C) Single Cable Row x8,8
5. 10 minutes bike- Hill climbs. Cruise at approx 130bpm, then hill climb every 90s max intensity 170bpm approx.

Very tough today. I felt every minute and every rep.

Saturday

11 rounds in the Gi. I picked out some fellow members of the salad dodgers club and went at it looking for intensity. Got it in 5 maybe 6 rounds. So pretty good. I always think that if 30% of my rounds in a session are decent, then it’s a good day. 50% is fairly good. 70% is excellent, and 100% is incredible.

Training Thoughts of the Week

When you’re injured, you do what you can. One of the failings people have is chucking everything out once they pick up a knock. All in, or all out. You do what you can, sub-optimally, but enough to keep you going so that once you heal, you’re not starting from scratch.

Speaking of which, this week and last week have been the best weeks I’ve had with my back. Perhaps all that traction hanging upside-down and all of the mobility work I’ve been doing are finally bearing fruit. That said, I’m tight as I sit here.

Non-Training Thoughts of the Week

I was talking with a mate who has a similar job to me, and we were comparing notes about life and business. Anyway, we discussed the quirks of our job and one of them is that people say and discuss things to you that are well out of your bailiwick. Like you’ll be talking to someone about training and they’ll bring up their parent’s divorce or ask your advice on how to save for a house deposit.

That’s not an exaggeration. There’s something about being a coach, a teacher, a trainer, a physio or anything else that promotes a sort of transference. Because you’re a trusted authority on one thing, people ascribe expertise in other areas to you, and become very trusting of you with other things. There’s been a few occasions over the years where I’ve had to say “Wait, should you really be telling me this?”

I’ve met loads of martial arts coaches over the years who would be better described as cult leaders, and it must be because of this phenomenon. It’s alluring, that someone thinks of you as knowledgeable. So I make sure that people understand that I have a degree of expertise in one very narrow part of life, and in the rest, I’m essentially functional.

That’s all for the week.

See you on the mat,

Barry