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Weight: 250.5
Jujitsu was not surprisingly lightly attended today. The lowest rank there was a green belt so we could concentrate on more advanced things. Master Bellman wore his red belt today, which is kind of unusual, but a real sight to see. He told us how the Friday night class had a collegiate graeco-roman wrestler show up who wanted to see some stuff. The guy had also learned some BJJ from the Machado's. He learned a good deal about how rules make a huge difference in technique and effectiveness of same.
So we started doing some counters to typical upper body grapples and approaches that graeco-roman types do. Mostly they consisted of dropping the elbows while holding them in close to the body. It wreaks havoc with taking a hold by the attacker. Even dropping just one elbow does it, and raising the other bent arm while hooking the other arm of the attacker destroys their balance. He then demonstrated how stepping back even if grabbed creates a huge moment arm between the attacker's center line and their extended upper body. Of course he didn't call it that, but the move cements the attacker's feet to the ground and makes it impossible for them to get enough strength mustered to try to lift the defender. All the strain goes right to the L4 and L5 with the lower back being the weak link. In terms we learned from Rip anyway.
Then he showed us how a front grip of the shirt or body by the attacker is strongest when they are allowed to maintain the arm at a 90 degree angle with an aligned wrist. The way to break that down is to step back and bring your own arm over theirs at the elbow. This results in the 90 degree angle opening up and growing weak. The linear strength is rendered moot by the circular pulling movement of the arms and back up mass of the body hauling them along.
We digressed into other kinds of counters like head displacements against an attacker's attempt at throws. One very dramatic example was when we reached around behind the back of the neck and hook gripped the sternomastoid muscle of the neck and pulled elliptically backward. I always thought it was effective because of the leverage and the grip, but today when it was done to me I noticed it was like hitting the "easy button" that made my left side collapse backward on itself. We then went to an open palm friction grip to the top and side of the head to pull elliptically backward. It worked wonderfully well on a shoulder throw counter like seoinage. They collapse like a sequoia. Then, and I swear to God I didn't suggest this, he demonstrated this same counter technique on an attempted kata guruma. Everyone who got their head pulled back fell like a piano from the 5th story and they were laughing because it just didn't seem possible to make the fall so easy to do and so impossible to stop.
Another discovery was the angle of strike. We used a blocking counter on an attempted entry by putting an elbow strike in the chest of the attacker. The emphasis was on a 45 degree downward angle. The green belt I was working with who is my size and about the same strength didn't get the angle of strike right. It was more parallel to the ground and while it kind of slowed me it didn't stop me. I corrected his angle and it felt like I was getting a broad axe hammered into my upper chest and ribcage. I asked about this and the explanation was that the downward angle tends to spread the ribs rather than compressing them like a spring. Good stuff today.
✓ Member
Weight: 250.5
5 minutes warmup on the bike. (Week 4, max single attempt)
Squat: Sets of 3, 135-185-225. Singles, 275-315-325 PR! I've never gotten this low with this much weight before. I'm going to repeat it just to be sure it was good. Squats for me never had me question whether my legs could do it. It was always whether my back would. But this was rock solid in both.
Rolling Dumbbells: 5 sets of 12, 30.
Hammer Curls: 5 sets of 12, 30.
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Wow, Mark! Not just the 325 PR, but also 5x12 with 30's in the rolling dumbells!
NICE!
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Outstanding squat, Mark! 325! Why wouldn't you think it's good?Originally Posted by Mark E. Hurling
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Thanks. I think 35's are the next order of business.
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My concentration got wobbly. So I want to make certain I earned this.
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Or 4x15's......
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I guess I should clarify. I was moving up to 35's for 5 sets of 12. Should go swimmingly.
✓ Member
Weight: 252
5 minutes warmup on the bike. (Week 4, max single attempt)
Standing Overhead Press: 45-5, 75-5, 100-3, 125-3, 140-1, 155-1, 170-Nope, 170 again-and again nope. I should have learned from my failed run at 405 earlier this year about too many warmup sets. Too many again, and too heavy. Next time. I also may have decide whether I want either get the bigger max single in the bench over the press. Or alternate max attempts in the overhead press and the bench week to week like I do with squats and deadlifts.
Barbell Rows: 95-5, 135-5, 185-3, 225-1, 275-1 PR!, 280-PR!, 285-1PR! This looks more impressive than it may in fact be. I've never tried for max singles before in these.
Pinch Grip: 145 for 30 seconds.
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Outstanding, Mark! They look impressive to me.
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