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

[Mark E. Hurling]

Weight: 247

Jujitsu this morning and 48F! in SoCal at sea level by the beach no less. Bracing. We worked on a bunch of sweep and leg hook techniques that were like old home week for me since they were familiar friends from my salad days in judo. But the entries were from defenses and blocks of punches instead of the sleeve and lapel lockup so well known by judokas. The first was from the attacker throwing a right roundhouse punch with the defender making a step in outer block and a right side hip check to knock them back and off balance. Then the defender steps in with the right foot to hook the heel and ankle while shoving the attacker backward and down with a forearm to the upper sternum. Pretty much what judo calls ko-ouchi gari. We then did a variant from a straight punch by the attacker. This was dealt with by a two hand left stepping deflection block with the defender ending up to the attacker's right side and slightly to their rear. Then the defender sweeps in with a left foot behind the heel of the attacker with an elliptical counter-clockwise pull to the rear and down. Crash! AKA ko-soto gari in judo. Since I got teamed with the OCD green belt this got into a lot detailed analytical loops until one of the black belts cut him short brusquely. Lucky me.

We worked a technique that I really find near impossible to do well and so won't describe it, but it did lead to something else that may be useful in future teaching. I mentioned taking some kids aside a few weeks ago to get their hand positioning correct on a ground escape. So I took them to a wall to better explain what walking the hands down the body meant. They got it right away after demonstrating it on the wall. The green belt was having some similar problems with the final hammerlock portion of the series of steps. The attacker ends up proned out with their arm jammed up behind them. I kept telling him to pull my arm across my back and pull my wrist up toward my head. So I stood up and leaned against a wall facing it. I said to pull up on my wrist and "bing" the light came on for him. I think the use of the word up or down when the technique's orientation is a horizontal one on the ground may cause cognitive stuttering with some people. I need to be alert for this in the future.

We finished off with a defense against a front bear hug starting with thumbs in the eyes and transitioning to a key neck turn to a head and neck lock. One hand is on the chin with the other on the forehead twisting the head and neck. It immobilizes and weakens the attacker very effectively. Then the hand on the chin comes up to smack the back of the hand on the forehead while the cervical and upper thoracic vertebrae are pretzeled. Even done moderately, it sends a shock wave through the brain and down the spinal cord to the rest of the CNS. A little more force makes you see a white light for a little while. Done at full power it would at the very least break the neck and probably kill you.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Weight: 246.5

Back to lifting after a two week layoff. Good to be facing the prospect of challenging myself under the iron again.

5 minute warmup on the bike.

Standing Overhead Press: 135 x 5 x 3. I'm into full disclosure today. I have been doing seated overhead presses and decided to go completely old school. Why? Because I wanted to protect my back and I always had the image of some damn rooskie laying back so far in the press that it looked like an incline press. But two things changed my mind. The excerpts from the latest edition of Starting Strength and the upcoming seminar I signed up for in March. Time to leave old shit behind. But all went well. The slight layback and the lockup of the rest of the body from hips to sternum made this a cake walk. I had always tried in the past for a very upright military press but this worked pretty well. Especially with some attention to details like breath control. Inhale on the eccentric and exhale on the concentric. I forget that during striking drills in jujitsu too.

Pull-Ups: Bodyweight x 5 x 3.

Squats: 275 x 3. My lower back was a little unhappy with the aftermath of jujitsu yesterday. I was pretty uncertain about the standing presses but that was fine. The squats? I nearly bagged on them even though this was hardly a challenging set. I incorporated the drop into the hole you talked about Sully and it was a little scary because I have always been slow and deliberate about this to make sure I didn't get into trouble. So I worked my way up to 275 and stepped back and got halfway down when my L5 and my right knee sounded out with a double tap of resetting skeletal structure. Freaked me the fuck out and I re-racked. I even took off one of the 25 lb. plates and stopped halfway to the plate tree. So I took inventory and decided to not let myself surrender (just yet) to my fears and weaknesses and accept less from myself. So I put the plate back and got back under. Did it.

Then a GXP, foam roller and stretching.

It was another great brisk morning in SoCal at 45F. I just get so amused by the Kalifornians who got so unsettled by the winds this week and were all bundled up at the Starbucks I go to for my caffeine kick in the ass for the gym. Leather jackets and mufflers even, while I got in line in my hiking shorts and OSU t-shirt. I keep telling them just come to Chicago for one winter, we'll teach you how to drive 80 mph on black ice on the Dan Ryan Expressway.

[Oldster]

Time to keep an eye on the old fella. Big things are gonna be happenin' here.

[tertius]

Weight: 246.5

Back to lifting after a two week layoff. Good to be facing the prospect of challenging myself under the iron again.

5 minute warmup on the bike.

Standing Overhead Press: 135 x 5 x 3. I'm into full disclosure today. I have been doing seated overhead presses and decided to go completely old school. Why? Because I wanted to protect my back and I always had the image of some damn rooskie laying back so far in the press that it looked like an incline press. But two things changed my mind. The excerpts from the latest edition of Starting Strength and the upcoming seminar I signed up for in March. Time to leave old shit behind. But all went well. The slight layback and the lockup of the rest of the body from hips to sternum made this a cake walk. I had always tried in the past for a very upright military press but this worked pretty well. Especially with some attention to details like breath control. Inhale on the eccentric and exhale on the concentric. I forget that during striking drills in jujitsu too.

Pull-Ups: Bodyweight x 5 x 3.

Squats: 275 x 3. My lower back was a little unhappy with the aftermath of jujitsu yesterday. I was pretty uncertain about the standing presses but that was fine. The squats? I nearly bagged on them even though this was hardly a challenging set. I incorporated the drop into the hole you talked about Sully and it was a little scary because I have always been slow and deliberate about this to make sure I didn't get into trouble. So I worked my way up to 275 and stepped back and got halfway down when my L5 and my right knee sounded out with a double tap of resetting skeletal structure. Freaked me the fuck out and I re-racked. I even took off one of the 25 lb. plates and stopped halfway to the plate tree. So I took inventory and decided to not let myself surrender (just yet) to my fears and weaknesses and accept less from myself. So I put the plate back and got back under. Did it.

Then a GXP, foam roller and stretching.

It was another great brisk morning in SoCal at 45F. I just get so amused by the Kalifornians who got so unsettled by the winds this week and were all bundled up at the Starbucks I go to for my caffeine kick in the ass for the gym. Leather jackets and mufflers even, while I got in line in my hiking shorts and OSU t-shirt. I keep telling them just come to Chicago for one winter, we'll teach you how to drive 80 mph on black ice on the Dan Ryan Expressway.

Breathing presses? Heresy!

Glad you got back under the bar. I'm hoping I can get my shit together well enough this coming week to be able to get back into the gym by the end of it.

And yes, a dry 45 degree day is barely jacket weather on the Lake. I've especially found this to be true now that I've gained about 30 pounds since last winter.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Breathing presses? Heresy!

Glad you got back under the bar. I'm hoping I can get my shit together well enough this coming week to be able to get back into the gym by the end of it.

And yes, a dry 45 degree day is barely jacket weather on the Lake. I've especially found this to be true now that I've gained about 30 pounds since last winter.

Hey! You'll get there in your own time. As for the winters, there's an old saw about how if you make it through the first two winters in the Midwest after you're born, you live practically forever after that. Then it's hard as hell to die or to be killed.

[tertius]

Hey! You'll get there in your own time. As for the winters, there's an old saw about how if you make it through the first two winters in the Midwest after you're born, you live practically forever after that. Then it's hard as hell to die or to be killed.

Eh, Chicago winters haven't got anything on the Dakotas. But I'll take it!

[Mark E. Hurling]

Weight: 249

5 minute warmup on the bike (Medium Day)

Bench Press: 185 x 5 x 5.

Curls: 60 x 5 x 5.

Claw Grip: 195 x 2 x 5.

Foam roller and stretching.

[Jamie J. Skibicki]

Hey Hurling, I'm back from the dead/moving. How are things?

[Mark E. Hurling]

Hey! Wondered where you'd gotten to. Where'd you move? As for me, I'm getting nibbled to death by ducks at work these last few months. Not only did I pick up a doubling of responsibilities, some new government requirements and government oversight types have nearly doubled my original job. So I'm very busy and getting tired fast.

BUT, I'm going the SS Seminar in Costa Mesa in March, so life on that front is good. Good to hear from you again.

[Jamie J. Skibicki]

I moved to the Denver area, about 10 minutes south of the city. Not a bad place. Pay increase was pretty substantial; I'm working for a division of Halliburton and the O&G industry pays well.