Geezer's Long March Toward the Elite Sneaking Up On the Finish Line

[Mark E. Hurling]

Check out Rip's Q&A for some more of my tribulations with this knee. It's titled Meniscus Tear. The dopes at the doc's office showed me how to put it on backwards! No wonder the brace felt off. I'll have a full report of the seminar.

[Oldster]

Wei

Bench Press: 225 x 5-5-5-5-4.

Curls: 110 x 5 x 5.

With your knee injury, you are going to become the King!

[Mark E. Hurling]

Weight: 245

5 minute warmup on the bike. Amazing how easy this is with the knee brace not on backwards. (Light Day)

Tricep Press: 90 x 3 x 12

Squat: 135 x 3 x 6.

Back Extension: 70 x 3 x 10.

GXP and I was outta there. Between the knee and work I had to forego jujitsu this week. You'd think with all the funding cuts being bruited about we'd go into hibernation. Not the case we've tripled down. I haven't seen this much stuff going on at work since Reagan was in office.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Weight: 248

5 minute warmup on the bike. (Heavy Day)

Standing Overhead Press: 150 x 5 x 3. This is a reset to get my valsalva technique back. So far so good, all 3 reps on one huge lungful.

Pull Ups: Bodyweight x 5 x 3.

Squats: Sets of 3 45-95-135-185-225. The knee is feeling good. I am sure I was good for 275 or more, but I'll work up to that more slowly once I get past the seminar and the next step of diagnosis with the ortho.

GXP and done. I'll be back later today for some foam rolling, stretching, and grip work.

[tertius]

Groovy.

[Oldster]

Groovy.

Very groovy!

[Mark E. Hurling]

Thanks guys. I need all the good wishes I can get.

[Oldster]

You get a lot more good wishes from me than I type.

I'm slow and lazy.

[Carlos Daniel]

Hope the knee is doing fine. Saw an opening spot at the seminar, hope it wasn't you dropping out because your fossilized knee started crumbling or something.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Nope Carlos, wasn't me. I saw that too and thought I might post something in Rip's Q&A, but thought it was too self centered and attention seeking. Like me dropping out was something everyone needed to be informed of. The knee is doing reasonably well. After that and some crazy-ass things at work the last week or so I had real doubts if this seminar was in the cards just now.

I went to jujitsu tonight intending to either watch from the sidelines or simply help teach. I worked with one of the newbie kids who started out well and got progressively more stiff and tense as the session progressed. I tried everything I could think of to get him to relax. It worked for a while and then he'd lock up again. I don't know if it was over thinking or self consciousness. He had a bad flinching problem when I was showing him the strikes. It made me wonder if he gets hit at home.

The adult session had me doing most of the things all the rest could, minus a few of the more knee intensive techniques. I got paired up with a really talented kid of 13 who I outweigh but over 120 lbs. He hates touching my sweaty head once I get warmed up, but he has great timing and some striking skills that will serve him well if he ever has to use them for real. We worked on some techniques that involved blocking a roundhouse to stepping in for an inner foot sweep or O-uchi Gari that takes you right down. I just had him work it so he took out my left leg so as to spare the right knee. Several other good techniques but one I have always liked and haven't seen taught in a while. The attacker comes in for a low tackle or leg takedown. You side step into him with a forearm to the side of the neck, grab his jaw and side of his head and crank him in a corkscrew down to the mat. The Gracies arranged the rules in MMA to make sure this was illegal. What a surprise.