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

I only run once a week or so for cardio these days, but I ran 15 miles a week for decades from age 17 when Cooper's original book Aerobics came out. I started mixing in other things like walking, rowing, rollerblading, and (fill in the blank) cardio machines in my mid 40's. Luckily for me, my knees only gave me trouble infrequently. I have talked about my broken ankles, toes, and other injuries from judo elsewhere here, but collectively they nudged me in a not so gentle manner to take up other things than running.

10-2-10

Weight: 221. Back feeling much better this morning.

Jujitsu: We got to pick partners this morning so I picked a blue belt who was about 6’1” and 250 lbs. I don’t often get to work out with someone bigger than me so I make a point of doing it when I have the chance. He was a strong guy and that’s good, because we both benefit from a getting an opportunity to see how well the techniques work when we have a little more of a real challenge when grabbed, when deflecting a strike, or doing a throw. Of course the flip side of this is to know when to not just try to muscle the technique, but to perform it correctly. If you just rely on strength and never get the technique down pat, you won’t make it work if someone stronger tries to put the hurt on you. I have had to struggle with my own tendency to revert to strength and I still have to be alert for my fall back to it for the last several years. The black belts will call you on it if they see you doing it, and it does nothing to help you advance in knowledge and rank.

I am beginning to really understand the premise behind “ju” or giving way from today’s practice. You don’t meet linear strength, like a push, a straight punch, or a front choke with more force of your own, you turn away from it (ju - giving way) in a circular step or deflection. This not only gets you out of line from the force directed at you, it usually causes a little and often a lot of forward off balance by the attacker. I’ve read that and had it dinned into my head since judo in college, but finally after all this time, I actually see what it really means and how to exploit it. No grief to the back despite 2 hours of abuse from falling and hammering away at each other, so a good start to the day.

I did some low intensity cardio later, and filled in with a time thick bar hold with 187 for 35 seconds. PR! I finished off with the usual stretches to keep the joints and skeletal frame happy and functioning.

10-3-10

Weight: 221

5 minute warm up on the bike.

Overhead Press: 125x3, 140x3, 160x7.

One Arm Dumbbell Row: 95x3, 105x3, 120x8.

Stretched and rolled. Total workout time was 47 minutes at an average of 60% of MHR. It’s interesting seeing how the different rep schemes on the 5/3/1 affect the heart rate. Lower reps seem (so far) to lower the cardio intensity, but I’ll spot check this from time to time to see if that continues to hold true.

A well rounded work out Mark, getting thrown around by a 250lb maitial artist and then doing some overhead presses
and dumbbell work ! There was a guy who ran a Jujitsu school up the street from me in the 70's named Frank Defelice from Gloucester NJ. He was pretty well known in the MA world back then. There are You-Tube Videos of him taking
kicks and punches to the throat and groin, ouch !

10-5-10

Weight: 221

Thank you johnreynolds, but I had 24 hours to recover between those sessions. Our style does those kind of strikes too, but obviously with some restraint or we’d be among the walking dead in short order.

I did a rowing GXP on a Concept 2 rowing machine for some variety today and was also urged on a little by some mysterious soreness in the arch of my right foot that afflicts me from time to time. I figured I’d deload my foot. The back is still good. I stretched and rolled my way out of the gym.

More crazed pre-teen energy in kid’s jujitsu class tonight that needed moderation. After a couple of warnings to quit goose assing around I handed out a long string of pushups, sit ups, and air squats to a couple of boys who just wouldn’t buckle down and focus. I hate doing this because it seems to be the absolute cliché of the abusive PE teacher, but if reason won’t work fatigue and soreness often do. It did last night and they wobbled off the mat with sore arms and legs.

The adult class had me making minor adjustments of hand and wrist movement for the purple belts who were, for some reason, getting their techniques mixed up. One of the new white belts came in with a gamy lower back. Easy for me to relate to, so I took it very easy with him and showed him some fine points of what head displacement does in terms of upsetting balance and weakening the whole body. He was fretting about getting things right and wondered at what point responses come naturally. The answer, just like Mr. Miyagi and the first Karate Kid movie in the 80’s “wax on wax off.” Practice and repetition until the desired skills get hardwired into muscle memory and you don’t have to think, you just do what you need to do.

10-6-10

Weight: 220 (finally some movement in the right direction!) The back was still doing good but I had slept bad last night and was among the walking dead later in the morning. It did not keep me out of the gym, tempting though it was. Deadlifts make me nervous, and I refuse to let them defeat me.

5 minute warm up on the bike.

Sumo Deadlift: 215x3, 245x3, 275x5. I went in intending to do only the required 3 reps on the last set, just to be safe and not over tax my lower structures and tweak myself. My form must be getting grooved in right because the first reps felt good, so I did 2 more and might have had 1 – 2 more. I left those in the tank and was grateful for what I did accomplish. The wide flared out stance helps me set my back better. It actually felt like I was doing trap bar deadlifts. My lats felt a little sore through the day which almost never, ever happens to me, so the deads must have hit them even more than pull ups and rows.

Claw Grip: 140x5 PR! I’m really surprised and pleased over this ongoing progress with grip training.
I hit the foam roller with the usual snap, crackle, and pop; then finished off stretching.

I regained steam later in the day and went to jujitsu, even though I was thinking I might have to blow it off from the bad sleep. There must be something in the air this week because I had to give out more pushups to a chronic recidivist. He wouldn’t quit talking during warm-ups so he got extra pushups. “How many more?” “When I tell you to stop.” He acted the fool at lineup too when we bow off the mat at the end. That one will bear close watching.

There’s a big 17 year old white belt in the adult class who skateboards. He looks big and ungainly, but his balance is really good and his technique is better than some of the blue belts who have been at this for over a year. Good kid too, he listens and although he doesn’t always get it right he makes a great effort to do well. I spent some time explaining to him about how to move. Too many people do this stuff thinking it’s mainly about strong arms and fast hands, but it starts with good foot movement and leg drive. Over 70% of our muscle mass and strength reside below our chest and shoulders. A turn or a step adds a lot to any wrist, hand, or arm movement. It’s similar to the old lifting saw, “the power ends when the arm bends.” Good session tonight.

Weight: 220

I did 15 minutes on the Lifefitness GXP with handles today. All the rollers seemed to have vanished at the gym so I stretched and used the one I keep at home just in case things like this happen.

After review of my upcoming events calendar, I discovered that I'll be on vacation in Illinois during the weeks I currently have programmed for max single PR's. So, I'm moving up the PR attempts by a week because trying to get in a quality session of lifting where I'm going will be dicey at best. When I get back I'm dropping the deload weeks from my lifting. Review of Wendler's book actually recommended no deload for the A and B template I am using, so I'll just see if I can cut it without them. This will put me on a 6 week cycle and I plan to take a week off for some added recovery every 12 weeks if it looks like I need it.

I've been married 33 years to the same great woman as of today. Fortunately for me, she has put up with my compulsions to lift and do other dumb stuff.

6-9-10

Weight: 220

No jujitsu today, another black belts only class, wher they get to learn the mystic powers of the orient and clouding men's minds (only the Shadow knows heh, heh, heh). Seriously though, they learn some of the internal arts in those sessions that the rest of us only get to see in reflection during some of the other sessions. Stuff like pain blocking and the unbendable arm.

I did a 40 minute walk. Earlier this week at a routine medication follow-up appointment for blood pressure and cholesterol meds, the doc noted the blood pressure heating up again. This seems to be a morning problem and not an afternoon one. Curious, he'll probably adjust my dosage. The blood work was fine.

10-10-10

Weight: 221

Lifting:

5 minute warm up on the bike.

Bench Press: 180x5, 200x3, 225x1, 240x1. I went for 265 and bombed halfway up. The 240 took too much of the edge off me for the 265. Sure enough, when I reviewed Wendler's book his recommendation was to do the 225 but not the 240 ramp up. Like I've said, I'm not only getting the hang of 5/3/1 but the whole black art of going for singles. This is the first time I've tried it on anything other than a wild hair during a given workout. Next time for sure!

Pull Ups: -50x5, -30x3, -10x1, +30x1 PR! Very satisfying after the error in judgement on the Bench Press.

Rolled and stretched after to get everything in something like proper alignment again.

Later that day I did 25 minutes of what was planned to be low intensity cardio. I interspersed a timed thick bar hold with 190 lbs. for 30 seconds, PR! This was some more self indulgence for missing the Bench Press to give myself an ego boost. I'm paying for it this morning too, I can barely grip with my right hand. I also did some cable twisting wood chops with rope handles. This helps in developing strength, power, and speed in twisting side deflections of straight punches for jujitsu. It also gets some of the side abdominals activated that I think may be helping stabilize my lower back some more. The pulse rate bumps up to around 130 bpm for this and the timed holds, so the two acted like intervals woven in around the much easier cardio.

10-12-10

Weight: 222

I did an all too typical 15 minute GXP on the Lifefitness GXP with handles again today. I overslept a little so I didn’t feel like being creative with my cardio. Hit the rollers and stretched and hustled in to work a bit later than usual.

10-13-10

Weight: 220

I had trouble getting to sleep last night so I slept in this morning to try to save my energy for jujitsu tonight. I had a bad case of brain gallop take over my head, so I stared at the black ceiling much of the night. God! I hate when that happens. I’ll hit the weights hard tomorrow in penance.

Jujitsu tonight had some better behaved kids for the most part. The LAPD Explorers are proving to be an interesting leavening in the adult class. Them boys was charged up for some reason or other last night. One kid who looked 19 but said he was 13 was busy doing the boxers hop and bounce while I was demonstrating some techniques for him. I suggested he relax a little, because the bouncing was a bad balance move. He asked why, so I took a stealthy side step toward him and swept his foot as he was on the upward arc of his bouncing. As I helped him up off the mat from his fall, I explained that feet solidly on the ground prevent what just happened. He got the idea, then he asked about learning a double leg takedown. After showing him what can happen when you lead with your head and expose your neck to strikes or chokes and your ears to open hand ear drum ruptures, he began to understand that there are better ways to get someone on the ground. Seems like a good kid, he’s just young and watches too much UFC and thinks it is for real fighting while forgetting it is a sport with rules.

10-14-10

Weight: 221

Another bad night of sleep last night. Coming down from the time on the mat cut my rack time short, and what sleep I did get was sporadic. I couldn’t muster the energy for lifting, so I’m going to do it tomorrow morning. I did a GXP during my lunch hour. Thank God this hasn’t happened much lately, but last year it was all too common. This seems to one of those weeks when I either fail in the juggling act between activity, rest, and recovery or just a random roll of the dice gives me snake eyes.

Weight: 222 (#%$!)

Lifting:

5 minute warm up on the bike.

Hip Belt Squats: 170x5, 195x3, 215x1, 255x1 PR! I discovered this morning that it's really hard to get up off the bench for the big single. I realized that I was starting from a bottom position at slightly below parallel so wonder it was tough. So I piled a thick bumper plate on the bench for about 4" more height and problem solved. I could have done a good 10 lbs. more than this but I'll save those grandiose ambitions for the next end of cycle with a PR attempt.

Power Clean: 135x5, 145x3, 165x1. Nothing to brag about here.

Pinch Grip: 137 lbs. for 37 seconds. PR!

10-16-10

Weight: 220

My quads are sore today from the PR yesterday and for some reason my right shoulder feels like the old dislocation is acting up. We worked on gun disarms today. The kid I was teamed up with kept hesitating with stops and starts like he was under a strobe light. I kept after him to commit to the technique and keep following through. You have to when a weapon is on you because a big part of the approach is to freeze the target into immobility or compliance. You move, react, and execute in a continuous flow of movement or you end up hurt or dead. We finished up with some striking drills taught by a 7th degree in Mushin ryu and a 8th degree in Okinawa Te. Good stuff for getting the finer points of the vertical fist strike and palm heel strike down pat. My low back went into spasm as I was putting on my shoes for no accountable reason. Damn.

EZ cardio later with foam roller and stretching.

10-17-10

Weight: 220

Lifting

5 minute warm up on the bike. More attempts for 1 RM PR's today.

Overhead Press: 130x5, 150x3, 165x1, 195x1 PR! The 195 went up without too much strain, so instead of trying a second rep like last time when I did a PR in this, I went for 197. Bombed out on it about 4 inches up. More live and learn in the brave new world of PR's. Apparently if I get closer within 90% to my max I don't have anything better left. Good to know.

One Arm Dumbbell Row: 100x5, 115x3, 125x1, 155x1 PR! This was really hard.

Foam roller and stretching.

EZ cardio later with timed hold for the thick bar 195 lbs. for 32 seconds PR! A good day.