Viral marketing.

Work has been pretty insane because of a virus outbreak which is why I haven't been writing much. Please forgive me.

quick recap:
Friday training was a small group so we did 90 sec each station 15 sec transition 4 rounds:
medicine ball throws at 12 lb ball
turkish get-ups at 44
"battling ropes" I hate this name, but it seems to be the industry convention.

then 4 trips prowler+90 low handles.

saturday was a pretty light day at class. My back has been tweaked since I slept on the couch to avoid keeping the wife awake when I had a cough. So I sparred with 2 people and called it good.

that afternoon was Military day week 1.
Mil. press:
5 at 110
5 at 125
7 at 145

superset:
1 a rows:
8/8 at 85

dips:
12, 15,15 at bw (these were a little low due to the morning training)

chins:
set of 5

That Night was UFC 98.
I was surprised Frankie Edgar was able to handle Sean Sherk. Sherk is in trouble.
Glad to see Krzysztof Soszynski do well in his fight. His blog from TUF 7 was well written and Krzystof is a genuine and likable guy.
Pat Berry may be one of the best American kickboxers ever.. but you have to have a ground game if you're going to fight MMA.
Brock Larson is a damn good fighter, but he comes off as a jerk and I think that hurts his marketability.
Chael Sonnen is a tough guy and a good fighter. I think questioning someone's submission defense into question when he's only been submitted by: Paulo Filho, Demian Maia, Jeremy Horn, Renato Sobral and Forrest Griffin (6 years ago) is a bit short sighted.
Drew McFedries is fun to watch.
Xavier Foupa-Pokam needs to pay less attention to his dancing.
I like Matt Hughes and I totally called that fight, but his win is problematic for the UFC. He's not good enough to fight the top level guys at his weight, but he's too much of a draw to fight on the undercard. It'll be interesting to see how Joe Silva handles this.
I love watching Rashad Evans get KOed.
Lyoto Machida is an interesting puzzle. He's the man at 205 (and has been for a while). I think if Rashad doesn't fall in love with his striking he has the best chance of putting Machida in deep water.. but I don't know if that's enough. I don't know of a current 205 fighter that has the goods to beat him in a 5 round fight.

Sunday we went climbing and ran some errands then had sushi with some friends.

Monday I went to day class and rolled a bit.
Tuesday was deadlift day week 1:
5 at 280
5 at 320
9 at 365 (I had a couple more in me, but cut it short to protect my back)

step-ups at bw
3x 10/10

Last night I went to class, warmed up. Worked on a sweep for a standing opponent, and a crazy triangle, and then sat out sparring.
The back feels better. Couple more days of protecting it and I should be golden.
Mahalo.

Birds.

It's my deload week, and last night working on little sleep, and still fighting a cold I was pondering if I should go to class, or just do some light bw stuff and call it good..
I looked on the t.v. guide and made my decison:
Cards: 2
Cubs: 1

This morning was the last de-load workout:
bench:
5 at 95
5 at 115
5 at 135

there was a great article and vid over at t-nation on the bench. I used this workout to refine a few things in my technique. If you bench, be sure you at least watch the video.

superset:
5 pull-ups
20 push-ups
5 pull-ups
20 push-ups
5 pull-ups

mini band pull-aparts.
several sets.

done and done.
I'm going to do some light conditioning tonight and that should end the de-load.
next phase of 5/3/1 starts next week.
working max:
Mil press: 165
dead: 425
bench: 230
squat: 275 (just working on mobility and stability with these.. again)
still pretty light, but getting there.
I'll do one more phase after this one and then retest.
Mahalo.

Constipated cats, torn callouses.. and god knows what else.

Yesterday after work I headed straight to the gym at work and did some light conditioning. I've been under the weather and it's a deload week so I did:
kb snatches at 44:
10/10/10/10 x2

man makers at 2x35lbs:
10 x2

kb swings at 44:
10/10/10/10.

I put the bell down and felt a sickening feeling in my hand. A callous tore almost completely off. I was bleeding pretty significantly.. so I called it a day. See grainy cel phone photo below:










I went home and had some tasty pork chops, and as I started to get ready for bed. Tenzing the cat (who had been a pain in the rear all night) started to make a lot of noise, and then vomit about 50% of his body weight... three times. I went to pick him up to check on him and he mewed pretty pathetically. I won't get too far into the gory details, but he eventually passed a hair ball (southbound on a northbound cat) and that seemed to get him unstuck. By the time I was convinced he was ok, and was not going to need a trip to the (very expensive) emergancy vet it was about midnight.. seems that the powers that be have decided I am not allowed to sleep this week. Oh well. I'm just glad my little buddy is (I hope) ok.
Mahalo.

Not sick.. just looking like sh!t.

I am fighting a cold. The cough that kept me up Sunday night had me, as my boss so eloquently put it "looking like shit." I decided to keep my germs to myself last night and skip class. I made some tacos and took an accidental nap on the couch instead.
Today I am feeling a bit better. I got some quality sleep last night which helped.
I lifted this morning:
deadlifts:
5 at 185
5 at 225
5 at 275
insanely light.

single leg squats:
40 each leg

this afternoon will be some light kettlebell work just to get a sweat going and call it a day.
Mahalo.

Big D..

Deload week officially started on Friday.
Friday fun:
2 rounds:
3 minutes per exercise
Sandbag clean to step-up
whip smash to rope pull
shovel lift*

All of these are new exercises. I like the first two and will use them again. The shovel lift places too much emphasis on the lower back. Dealing with rowers and jiu-jitsu fighters this is a problem. Not nearly as much oblique, hip extensor, and rectus abdominus recruitment as I'd thought.. they go in the scrap pile.

Saturday was class then open mat. I had good rolls with Neil and Paul. I pooped out pretty fast, but felt like I was moving pretty well. I still have problems converting "back control" to back mount. I'm going to have to look at that.

Sunday: Solid hour and a half climbing with the wife. Lots of fun.
Then straight to the gym. Military Day: deload week.
Military press:
10 at 45
5 at 65
5 at 85
5 at 105

rows and dips superset:
10/10 rows at 65
10 dips at bw
x3

face pulls
done.

all in all a great weekend.
I had a bit of a cough that kept me up last night, which is bothersome.. I'll have to watch that.
Mahalo.

Pop.

Just talked to my dad. He's pretty up-beat about the operation. I am trying to stay positive. I know a couple of the older guys at the boathouse who have had the same cancer as my dad. They're just fine. Doesn't really stop me from worrying. Doesn't stop me from feeling sick about missed opportunities to be a better son. He's in good hands, both at Barnes, and with my step-mom who has been a nurse longer than I've been alive.
Just have to hope for the best.
Mahalo.

Fuh-geddabowdit.

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I have had a rough couple days on the mats this week. I can tell that this heavy "week" of lifting has left me pretty ragged and over trained. My Dad goes into surgery tomorrow to remove the tumor, work is pushing my limits (in a good way), blah blah blah those are really just excuses. I've been sloppy, and people have gotten better.. time to get even better. I am going to rest tonight, stretch and foam roll, and come back in the next couple of days ready to go.

Quote from this FLZINE article.

Mahalo.

Fix it.

Fixing my Sh!tty squat:
worked up to:
5 at 210
3 at 235
1 at 265
all on the box.

then dropped the weight, widened my stance and did about eleventeen sets of "touch and go" squats just to groove the movement.

then Good mornings:
3x 10 at 135
as always very strict.

Mr. Fix-it:



also appropriate: 6 small things you can do when you lack discipline (or when you don't want to do something.. like SQUAT)

W.

Watched the movie W. this weekend. Interesting movie, well acted I think it's too soon for this type of movie to come out, but it is an interesting and amusing character study. I recommend it.

Training friday:
4 rounds
push the prowler loaded with 140 lbs 50m.
Carry 70 lb sandbag back
rack carry 2 kbs down
push the prowler back.

1:2 (work:rest)
this was a brutal anaerobic workout. Doesn't seem like much work, but it fricken killed everyone.

Saturday:
BJJ 3 choke transition from back mount.
then 3 sparring sessions.
First rolled with Seth. He hit a sweet arm-bar on me, very slick. I missed a transition from arm-bar to triangle, but ended up getting an arm triangle.
then rolled with Neil. Felt in control the whole roll. I got a top mount triangle, and should have taken more chances with it. I should have rolled to my back for the traditional triangle finish instead of just pulling his head to muscle the finish. Next time.
Finally rolled with Paul. Movement movement movement. There was just no escape. It was a good roll, but I pooped out very shortly into it.

That afternoon lifting:
Bench:
5 at 170
3 at 195
7 at 215
Felt good about this this puts my "work" for my final sets at:
week 1: 266
week 2: 266
week 3: 265
Nice and consistent. I have squat day left to do this week then a deload from lifting, then a new cycle.. more on that later.

Chins 25 total reps

push ups 50 reps in 2 sets. (almost to 50 in 1 set, difficult after benching)

bent rows max reps at 135:
19 PR!
I'm going to push this up 10 lbs next cycle.

Sunday was a rest day.

Liftin at work.. and workin..

Busy day at work, so this will be short.
Deadlift day in the gym:
5 at 315
3 at 355
7 at 395

deadlifts week by week:
week 1: 461
week 2: 487
week 3: 487
seems pretty consistent to me.
Hopefully I'll be able to push this up as time goes on.

RDLs:
3 x 8 at 225 very strict

Single Leg Squats:
3 x 8/8 at bw.

Mahalo.

Stealing.

Last night some low-life bashed in the driver's side window of the wife's car and stole her purse. We've canceled damn near everything, shuffled all of our finances around, and basically put our lives on hold because of someone else's laziness. It sucks. It makes me angry, that I have to deal with all this, track credit scores, and wonder if they've decided to break into my house too because this person values his comfort over my own.
What a jerk.

yesterday's training:
military press:
10 at 45
5 at 120
3 at 140
6 at 155 pretty significant PR.

The 5/3/1 program gives a formula for calculating pr's:
weight x reps x .0333 + weight= calculated max.

This formulation (while not 100% accurate) gives a quantifiable measurement of progress (or lack there of).

my military max sets have shaken out like this:
week1: 173
week2: 174
week3: 186

from there:
superset 1a db row 3x 12/12 at 80
dips 12, 15, 20 at bw

face pulls:
2x20 at 90

chins:
5
good progress so far.
Mahalo.

Doing my part for the economy..

Friday was a brutal one: 21, 15, 9
thrusters at 115 or clean and press at 135
atomic push-up (push-up with feet suspended on the trx, and KTE)
pull-up or trx low row
painful.

The wife kicked butt at the Windemere cup races this weekend, and that had me running late for class. We worked the americana, then I had 2 tough sparring sessions with 2 guys significantly bigger than me. Good rolls both.

From there was squat day on the 5/3/1 again I am only doing the "prescribed reps" on squat day because I need to fix my movement pattern in the squat rather than actually working on my strength.
3 reps each:
195
220
250

good mornings:
very strict 3x10 at 135.

This morning about 90 minutes of bouldering at the climbing gym.
The wife went and I think is hooked. Here's hoping.
From there we went to REI and an outdoor gear clearing house here in Seattle, and dropped a couple of bennies (got great deals on a lot of stuff, but still.. got a lot of stuff). We're just doing our bit to keep the economy rolling.
Mahalo.