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

  1. #511
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    Finally! Another long awaited visit to the tatami. For the only time I have seen, everyone was over 50 and the lowest rank was a green belt. So we had a chance to do some things that don't get shown to the lower ranks. We lead off with a series of deflection drills. In this series the hands are kept up and the elbows are in near proximity to the upper torso. The forearms act like windshield wipers rotating around the axis of the elbows. It allows you to respond very quickly to incoming linear strikes, shoves, and grabs. You simply use the same hand to out block or cross block whichever hand is coming toward you.

    From there we moved on to dynamic choking techniques as entries and counterattacks. One was really devastating and like many of our techniques deceptively simple and straightforward. A linear attack (straight punch, grab, or shove) is launched and you deflect with the right hand while side stepping and bring the left open hand up to the attacker's lower rear neck in a forceful palm slap, knocking their head and upper body forward and down. As this is going on, the right hand comes back off the deflection and under and up to the front of the neck leading with the thumb into the trachea. Very thoroughly unpleasant. Another technique leads off the same way but the left hand delivers a palm heel strike to the lower back that collapses and spins the attacker around in front of you. From there you step back to draw them further off balance to the rear in a naked strangle supported by the other hand. Out in about 5 seconds.

    John, the retired LAPD 7th degree in our art and a black belt in several others showed up today and I asked him if he knew about Michael Connelly. He hadn't so I told him about Connelly's new book Reversal where he talks about SIS, John's old unit where left as a Lieutenant. He laughed and said no one really knows much about that. He has been approached by Hollywood types who wanted some inside info for a screenplay and John won't play because he couldn't be sure the real deal would be told. SIS has a higher kill rate than SWAT in LA. John is one bad SOB, and can kill you with or without weapons more ways than I can imagine. Speaking of which, Avi the Israeli green belt was there today too, returned from one of his "trips." I've been thinking about asking him if he wants a trip to Northern CA to "visit" an anti-semitic contributor to Ends and Pieces section here. Both Avi and John are a little older than me and exemplify that age means little when you are determined to not let it be.

    At work yesterday, I had occasion to have to climb 10 flights of stairs to the roof over one of the high bays. Maybe 100+ feet. I was smoked by flight 7 and it shook me. I don't do the extensive cardio but I didn't think this would get to me like it did. So later today after jujitsu my OCD would not be denied. I did another fitness test and happily tested at 38 VO2 max, still in the excellent category for the 60+ crowd. Not bad after a week off, but I think I may try some longer cardio in addition to the the GXP's I have using as the mainstays for the last year or so.

  2. #512
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    Stairs can brutal, somehow. Doing staircase sprints even more so.

    Regarding the blocking technique you're describing... I assume the elbow is also coming down and in, as the forearm is coming up? This is much, much more powerful than rotating the forearm up around the axis defined by the upper arm and elbow. Much faster, and easier to transition into a hold, lock or throw, as I recall (with a pivot or step, naturally).

  3. #513
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    The Pequod be now several days out of port and I, Ahab, sit in my cabin sharpening my harpoon with a fine whetstone as I contemplate pursuit of the white whale, and his number it be 225. The omens this morning were foul as I went to the gym where I did scry a Crossfit Redondo on Pacific Coast Highway only 4 blocks away from me berth. Surely the apocalypse is near.

    5 minute warmup on the bike. (Heavy Day) I have reorganized my session templates to include more pulling to keep the delts happier as I proceed. We'll see how it goes. Also I back cycled or reset most poundages to better recover for the next steady march ahead.

    Overhead Press: 170 x 5 x 3. This felt heavy and is surely a sign that this reset was a good idea.

    Hammer High Row: 320 x 5 x 3. I kept this where I left off at and will add 5 lbs. next week. It would be nice to put 4 big plates on each movement arm (all they can hold) for my ego.

    Bench Press: 185 x 5 x 3. I could feel the demon in the right delt letting me know he wasn't quite done with me but I'm going to proceed conservatively with this in 5 lb. increments. This will also allow me to surge ahead on the overhead press to 225. So far the delts feel OK.

    Sumo Deadlift: 315 x 3. Not quite the walk in the park I thought it would be after a 365 single, but not too bad. Best of all the back feels OK.

    I wore a heart rate monitor to get a sample of the cardio value of the lifting and averaged a heart rate of 120 bpm, or 75% of MHR for a 60+ geezer. Pretty amazing when you consider how little respect lifting gets for adding to this dimension of fitness. I followed on with a GXP for insurance. If the delt holds up I'll be adding heavy bag striking and kicking intervals. As I was working away the geezer bros were primating away like the noisy rock apes they are. Finished off with the foam roller and stretching.

    As for your question tertius, while we have the kind of technique you describe this was different. In this the elbow is held close to or anchored on the rib cage or torso while the forearm does the work. The back of the hand contacts the inside of the attacker's wrist on the back hand version and the palm contacts the outside of the attacker's in the cross version. Most of what we do presumes that the attack comes on suddenly and close in without time to react. There's also no step in this drill, but surprisingly it is very fast although not as powerful as the method you describe. The attacker ends up a step and a half off balance forward and to the side, wide open for a counter strike from a hand or knee. By the way, did that description of breakfalls prove helpful?

  4. #514
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    Hmm. Interesting. Is the moment of contact fairly late in the attack, then? That would make sense. My experience has been that small amounts of intercepting force go a long way at the very beginning (as in trapping) or very end of a punch or kick, but you need to be either pretty strong or very good at being soft everywhere else.

    And the how to fall document would be very useful if I went out and actually tried it. Heh.

  5. #515
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    Good point and you reminded me that the timing and point of contact at the attacker's wrist is critical. The wrist is at the far end of the linear lever arm on attack and so more susceptible to taking the attack off line and unbalancing the attacker slightly to the side. I intended to mention that in the first place and for some reason (old age induced bad memory) I forgot. Thanks for the follow on to draw me out on this tertius. The Socratic method works again.

  6. #516
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    5 minute warmup on the bike. (Medium Day)

    Overhead Press: 160 x 5 x 5. (super setted with)

    One Arm Dumbbell Rows: 120 x 5 x 5.

    Bench Press: 165 x 5 x 5.

    Claw Grip: 147 x 2 x 5 PR! Good to get this moving up again.

    Foam roller and stretching. The right delt felt dodgy benching but not bad enough to stop me. I'm finding that it gets unpleasant right as the bar comes down on the torso at the bottom end of the movement. A little less unpleasant if I try holding the bar on top of the sternum just above the nipple line and without letting the bar compress the ribcage. Curious phenomenon, I'm not sure how or why this seems to alleviate the discomfort. I'm a little sore as I type this in the delts, so time to go to the freezer down the hall and retrieve one of the cold packs I keep at work for just this purpose.

  7. #517
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark E. Hurling View Post
    Claw Grip: 147 x 2 x 5 PR! Good to get this moving up again.
    Congrats on this PR!! Unfortunately the only thing I know that's called "claw grip" is a way to hold a mouse, so surely you weren't moving around a 147lb mouse, right? :-) Care to explain?

  8. #518
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    Heh, this comes up from time to time.

    http://ironmind-store.com/Claw-Curl1...ductinfo/1378/

    I wish I figure out how the heck to copy the image and paste it in here so as to spare you having to follow the link for brevity's sake, but this is the best I can do. I keep forgetting it's not called a Claw Grip. The reason I do it, to anticipate this possible question that may arise next, is as an adjunct to my jujitsu training. I don't compete, I'm not sure anyone in our dojo does, and so we got no MMA rules to abide by. Our style involves very close quarter attacks, mostly stand up and we like low ridge hand strikes to the groin like kempo has. I figured if the strike didn't have an immediate effect, just grabbing and crushing a couple of important things just might be the ticket. It hurts like hell anywhere there is loose skin on the body like the side of the torso, inside the thighs which are right next door to where the boys live, and inside the upper arms. The experience sensation of such a grab on those other areas feels like being touched with a cattle prod. It is a momentarily highly distracting technique that may or may not disable the attcker, but certainly focuses his attention elsewhere for a while, allowing you to do something even worse as a follow up. It really takes a lot of the steam out of ground advocates when you let them get you in their guard and then delicately grab the cloth in the crotch of their gi and you look at them meaningfully and say, "Now you see my point?"

  9. #519
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    Cool Mark, thanks for the clarification congrats again on your PR! Your description of how you take advantage of this was painful to imagine!

    A friend of mine has a similar piece of equipment (might be the same thing but memory fails me a little) but he uses them for chinups-- he said it has something to do with strongman training. I suppose the effect is similar.

  10. #520
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    Ironmind has another similar product called Eagle Loops. The Claw Curl's finger ends are sewn together. The Eagle Loops are just that loops, you can stick as much or as little of your fingers through them as you want. I looked at both and made a frankly arbitrary decision on the Claw. I think it was from seeing too many Inspector Clouseau movies.

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