A Mother of a Workout

Today's Crossfit workout was unbelievably hard. Only two people did the full workout without scaling it and I wasn't one of those people, but I was happy with how I did. It was the deadlifts that got me, I had to scale the weight back from 315 to 235 after about 5 reps at 315. First we worked our way up to our deadlift max. I easily hit a new personnel best of 345. I could have gone higher but I saw the workout ahead and decided to save my strength. Today's WOD 1000 Meter Row 10 deadlifts 315 10 Chest to Bar Pullups 10 deadlifts 315 10 Chest to Bar Pullups 50 Jump Rope Double Unders 50 Butterfly Situps 50 Jump Rope Double Unders 50 Butterfly Situps 30 Kettle Bell Swings 53Lbs 30 Lunges 30 Kettle Bell Swings 53Lbs 30 Lunges Finished in a little over 26 min Tonights plan Judo after work then sleep until Monday.

Recent Updates

I haven’t posted on this site in quite a while, partially because I am lazy, partially because I am busy but mostly because for some reason blogspot does not work well from where I work anymore. I will probably need to find a new posting site soon. In any event, here are some recent updates. April I competed in the NY Open and won my division. Truth be told I didn’t fight very well but it was nice to get my first tournament victory at Brown belt out of the way. I am starting to get more comfortable at Brown and look forward to more competitions. May May, as usual was a “take it easy” month for me. I always have a lot going on in May. We have my wife’s birthday, Mother’s Day, our usually Memorial Day BBQ and there is always one other thing that pops up. That means every weekend in the month is booked and at least one or two days during the week is spent getting ready for whatever is going on that weekend. So instead of stressing about getting my training in I use May as a rest and recover from the tuff training I did to get ready for the NY Open. I still train, I just take it easy and go when I can. Jun There is an In House tournament that is being hosted by JW on Jun 16th. I am happy to say we have a bunch of guys that are planning on competing. I believe we have 3 or 4 White belts, 2 or 3 Blue belts and 1 or 2 Brown belts that plan on going. I am a big believer in In House tournaments, especially for White and Blue belts. This In House will be especially good for a few reasons: 1) Very fairly priced, $30 for preregistered, $40 day of 2) Very high level of competition 3) Safe friendly atmosphere with fair judging I can guarantee that at every rank the competition will be better than any standard Grapplers Quest or NAGA, the tournament will be run much better, it will finish at a reasonable time and it will cost less than half as much. Jul – Aug My summertime focus will turn toward getting ready for the fall Judo season. I still haven’t competed as a Judo Black belt yet so I figure it is time to take the new belt for a test run. I have been competing against Black belts for quite a while so that is nothing new but I know competing AS a Black belt will have some added pressure. A big part of getting ready is going to be conditioning. My Judo skills are not yet high enough to win on technique alone. I need to win on technique and SUPERIOR conditioning. Conditioning Goals for the Summer Legs Legs Legs – It has become painfully obvious that my leg power, specifically my squatting power is ridiculously week. So this summer is project legs. I don’t plan on turning into a quadzilla as functionality is as important if not more important than raw power. However I do think powerful legs can be a huge advantage in grappling, especially Judo so I need to find the right balance between power and functionality. Goals for Sep Oct Nov Compete in at least 3 Judo tournaments

Age and Experience vs Youth and Exuberance

Today’s WOD was a killer.

100 meter sprint
10 burpees
10 Chin ups

10 Rounds!!!!

I checked the times of the other class I saw that all but 4 people scaled the WOD. Scaling this WOD meant jumping off a box into each chin up. The 4 guys that didn’t scale the WOD put up times in the low 20s. The coach told us our goal should be under 30 min. I knew under 20 was not in the cards, but I thought I could shoot for something in the mid 20 min range. Then I thought, “wait a min, only 4 guys did it without scaling and they put up incredible times so that means they were in incredible shape, maybe I should scale it too? Nah, F it! let’s see if I can do it without scaling.”

So there were 5 people in the class, me, a young skinny ripped guy, a girl, a new guy and another guy around my age. The ripped guy and I were the only ones planning on doing the WOD without scaling. Everyone else set up their boxes for the jump chin-ups right from the start.

Round 1
Right out of the gate Team Ripped Guy took off like a bat out of hell into the sprint, Team Hot Chick also started strong but not a full on sprint, Team Other Guy and Team New Guy held the middle of the pack and Team Old Guy (me) slowly took up the rear. I was the last one to finish the sprint and the last to finish the burpees.

Round 3
Team Ripped guy was still going strong, Team Hot Chick was starting to struggle with the chin-ups, Team Other Guy was holding his own but falling back, Team New Guy was doing his best and Team Old Guy was trudging along at an even pace but already starting to suck some wind.

Round 5
Team Ripped Guy is starting to rest between exercises and showing signs of struggle with the chin-ups, Team Hot Chick is mentally forcing herself through each chin-up one at a time, Team Other Guy has slowed his pace dramatically but was still going, Team New guy was still doing his best and Team Old Guy was getting the feeling of wanting to throw-up. Time was somewhere in the 13 min range.

Round 7
Team Ripped Guy was no longer able to do the chin-ups without scaling them. When I saw him scaling it gave me a huge boost of energy and the motivation to keep going.

Round 8
Team Old Guy pulls neck and neck with Team Ripped Guy who is still scaling the chin-ups.

Round 10
Team Ripped Guy finished in 22:50 but scaled rounds 7-10. Team Old Guy finished with a time of 24:03 (technically still in the low 20s) and was the only person in the class that didn’t scale the WOD!

Score one for Team Old Guy! Now rest and recover before BJJ tonight.

2/21/12 WOD

Today's crossfit WOD was pretty good, not ridiculously hard but very challenging. What made it post worthy is I did it "unborken" WOD. Normally I pace myself, slow and steady through the working taking rests at appropriate times so I can keep up a good pace. Today I decide to go balls out, no rest between sets, exercises or rounds. I also decided NOT to pace myself, I just hit the workout at a sprinters pace and ignored my mind screaming at me to slow down. It felt good to really open up.

wod

3 Rounds of

5 Pullups
10 Hand release pushups
15 2 handed overhead kettle bell swings
20 Burpees
25 Double unders

Surprisingly it was the burpees that killed me.

Old Man

I went out to JWs last night for some good hard training and as usually I was not disappointed. I did all three classes kettle bells, no gi and gi. Doing all three classes back to back is a tuff challenge physically but an even tuffer challenge mentally. By the time I left I was completely drained but it felt great.

It's nice to know I still have enough gas in the tank for a long haul training session.

WOD

Posting on this site have been few and far between, but today's CrossFit workout was posting worthy.

21 Deadlifts (225 lbs)
21 Hand Stand Pushups
25 Overhead Power Snatches (75lbs)

15 Deadlifts (225 lbs)
15 Hand Stand Pushups
25 Overhead Power Snatches (75lbs)

9 Deadlifts (225 lbs)
9 Hand Stand Pushups
25 Overhead Power Snatches (75lbs)

Puke (optional)

Lots of Changes

There have been lots of changes over the last couple of months and I have kept very very busy. I will probably move to a once a month update on this site so here is my update for this month. For more frequent random thoughts check out my posts at www.osagame.net/blog

Updates
Judo promotion to Black Belt - Check
BJJ promotion to Brown Belt - Check

Next on the list

Judo - Focus on grip fighting and footsweeps
BJJ - Focus on no gi bottom game
Fitness - Crossfit 3 - 5 times per week

Burnt Lung

I made it out to crossfit yesterday for the first time on a Wed. It seems the current weekly routine is strength and conditioning on Mon with the emphasis on strength, strength and conditioning on Wed with the emphasis on conditioning and strength on Fridays with little emphasis on conditioning.

Yesterday’s workout was called the “Burnt Lung” and as soon as a saw the name of the workout I knew I was in trouble.

Usual warm-up

WOD
20 wallballs
5 Burpees
400 meter run

10 ROUNDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*Wall balls – Explode out of a deep squat position with a 20 lb medicine ball and throw the ball up in the air to a line on a wall that is about 15 – 20 feet high.

Every WOD has one exercise that I think of as the “make or break” exercise of the WOD. That exercise has the biggest impact on the overall time to complete the WOD. In this WOD there was no doubt about what the make or break exercise was going to be, obviously managing the run was going to be the key. The person with the fastest time would be the person how could get through each round without walking. Run to fast and you’ll burn out forcing yourself to walk so you can catch your breath, run too slow and you might as well be walking. My strategy for this WOD was managing the run at a slow pace that allowed my legs to actively recover during the run.

So we start the WOD and right out of the gate everyone else takes off into the wallballs, rips through the burpees and sprints out the door into the run. I was the last to finish the wallballs, last to finish the burpees , walked from my burpee station to the door for the run and began my long slow jog solidly bringing up the rear in 10th. I kept up my pace and by round 3 I was in 3rd. During the run of round 4 I noticed the guy ahead of me slowing down a little so I lengthened my stride ever so slightly to close the distance. About mid way through the run on round 5 I pasted the guy ahead of me and took command of 2nd place. Now the only guy ahead of me was a little guy who was clearly a very strong running. He had a tougher time with the wall balls then me but he tore around the track. At the end of round 7 he was about 50 paces ahead of me on the run. When we finished the run on round 8 he stopped for a quick sip of water. I closed the distance by NOT walking from the door of the gym to my wallball station but instead I ran that short distance while he was taking his drink. This short extra bit of energy was enough to bring us neck and neck. I could tell he was not looking forward to the wall balls on round 9 so I gave him a little shout of encouragement that kicked him back into gear. Not the best strategy for winning the crossfit Olympics but who gives a shit. We got through the wallballs at about the same time but he ripped through the burpees then took off for the run at a sprinting pace. I could not keep up, going into the run on round 10 he was about half a lap ahead of me but I was still really really happy to come in 2nd out of 10 in our class. I finished the workout in 39 min which put me fairly high on the leader board for the day but nowhere near the top. Someone in the morning class finished the WOD in 29:45. I can’t even imagine getting through that WOD at that pace.

After I class I was desperately in need to massive amounts of calories so I skipped the tuna lunch I had planned and decided to eat fried chicken allow with a box of fries. Lately I have been doing research on the benefits of eating fast food after a super intense workout. It turns out the benefit is the feel of wanting to throw up for the rest of the afternoon…..perhaps not my best meal choice.

Fast forward to Thr morning. My entire body is sore, I am hobbling around like a 98 year old man that got run over by a truck. How will I get through BJJ and Judo tonight? I suspect I will be playing a lot of fetal position guard.

11/8 - 202

I made it through class last night but I was in a complete fog the entire time. By the time Judo randori rolled around I was completed drained both mentally and physically. Mondays are really the only days where I will have crossfit, BJJ and Judo all on the same day. while it would be easy to skip one of these activites I dont get to any of them often enough to warrant skipping a class so I need to figure out how to suck it up and make through all 3 classes.

I had some really good training in both BJJ and Judo. In BJJ I had some very technical sets with Lex who is moving up EXTREMLY quickly. In Judo I had a chance to work some of the throws I will need to demonstrate during my Shodan exam and I got to practice my drop Koshi Guruma. I do this technique a little bit differently then how I have seen it shown in the past. I have been experimenting with a few different grips and styles and I think I have finally settled on one I can use in no gi. The next time I get up to JWs I will put it to the test.

Weight – I am slowly making my way down to 200 from around 210. I want to drop a few more pounds before the holidays because I figure I will gain at least 5 pounds during the holidays and there are some tournaments near the beginning of the year I want to compete in. I figure 205 will be a lot easier to turn into 198 then 215 so this is a bit of a preemptive strike.

11/7/11

Todays Crossfit workout

Usual warmup

for todays workout the recommended mens weight was 95 pounds for the over head squats and 53 lbs for the kettbell swings. I scaled the overhead squats down to 75 pounds

wod
21 OHS
21 pullups
21 Kettle bell swings
30 Double unders

15 OHS
15 pullups
15 Kettle bell swings
30 Double unders

9 OHS
9 pullups
9 Kettle bell swings
30 Double unders

I completed it in a respectable 15:45. The gym is starting to get pretty crowded and there are lots of new faces but only a few old faces. I wonder how many can stick with these workouts over the long haul, or perhaps I should say how many other will be able to stick with these workouts over the long haul.

I have no idea how I am going to get through BJJ and Judo tonight. My legs are dead.

My new friend from Bulgaria

Despite an overwhelming workload, a sick baby and life in general doing its best to keep me out of the gym I have gotten some really good training in lately. Let's recap:

Thr 10-20-11

Thursday’s Judo practice was a killer. My intention going in was to skip randori and focus on practicing the throws I will need to demonstrate for my Shodan test (I will be testing for my Judo Black Belt soon). When it came time to randori Ray wanted to do a kind of round robin sparring where everyone faces everyone one after another. I rounded out the group nicely so I took the hint and joined the randori group. The plan was 6 3 minute rounds. Well do to a SNFU with the timer and a time keeper that wasn’t paying close attention each round turned into an unknown time (felt like around 5 – 6 min per round). So 18 min of randori turned into around 30 to 40 min of randori. At first I was a little annoyed by the SNFU but in the end the training was just what I needed. Part of the Shodan test is nonstop rounds of randori against fresh partners every few min, so this was good preparation for that part of the test.

10-22-11

My first attempt at a how made Bulgarian bag. There are plenty of do it yourself videos on youtube if you are interested in making one. There were 2 pieces of advice I stuck to while making my first bag.

1) Don’t fill the bag with sand, it will be too heavy use wood pellets instead
2) Give yourself generous handles

When I got done making filing and taping I picked up the bag and thought “this feels really light”. So I took it inside and put it on the scale….15 lbs CRAP too light. Ok, no problem I will use this one to get used to the exercises then make a heavier one later. I identified 4 swings I liked and attempted to do 100 reps per swing. Let me just say, holly crap that thing will WEAR YOU OUT. I am up to 50 reps per swing and climbing. Ultimately this bag was too light and I made another one last Sat but I can certainly get a hell of a conditioning workout with this thing. Bag number two is 30 pounds and probably still an intermediate stop. My goal is to work myself up to a 50 lbs bag. According to http://www.suples.com/bulgarian-training-bags/ I should be using a 37 lbs bag so the second bag is in the ball park.

10-26-11

No gi team training at JWs. The guys at JWs are all getting ready for no gi worlds so the training there was really intense. I rarely get a chance to work my no gi game so when I do I really try to make the best of it. I was really happy with how I did, both from the feet and on the ground. Off the feet I hit a few cross ankle picks, a few o’uchi garis, one snap down to front headlock takedown and one “almost” koshi guruma. I may give no gi a try in competition next year. The last time I competed in no gi was when I was a White belt so I am definitely overdue.

Crossfit

Won’t go into the details but I have been going and getting better and better.

10-29-11

Weekend workout – I decided on a new routine of 8 min rounds. So far I like it.

1 min jump rope
1 min Bulgarian bag swings in large circles
1 min continuous curls from a Sumo Squat position
1 min Bulgarian bag swings in an arching motion from one foot to the other
1 min Push press jumping jacks
1 min ultra wide grip bent over rows
1 min of sandbag squat, clean and presses
1 min sledge hammer swings (swinging like a baseball bat)

Rest
Repeat

Work and Killer Workouts

Work has been absolutely killing me lately. Pretty much every day for the past two weeks has been 12 - 14 hour days. On Mon I knew i had a ton of work to do and I knew I probably would get to the Osagame like I planned so I forced myself to get away from my desk and go to crossfit at lunch. As usual I was not disappointed.

Warm up
400 meter run
50 double unders
20 cow grazers
30 scorpions
10 box jumps
10 Over Head Squats (OHS)
10 Pullups

The workout was actually a double crossfit workout. This was a first for me...

Workout #1
3 Rounds of in under 9 min
5 OHS
10 Pullups
15 Box Jumps (30 inch box)

I got it done just under the wire in 8:57.

3 min rest

Workout #2
21 Thrusters (squat clean press)
21 Pullups
15 Thrusters
15 Pullups
9 Thrusters
9 Pullups

my time 4:12

Optional - passout on the sidewalk in front of the building.

This was Monday's workout, today is Friday and I am still feeling the box jumps in my quads.

In House at NJMA

We took a few guys to an In House tournament at NJMA this weekend. First off, thanks to Marco at NJMA for extending the invitation to his In House tournament. I train at NJMA every once in a while, they have top notch instruction and a very friendly atmosphere. If you live in Jersey anywhere near Cherry Hill you should check them out.

On to the tournament! I was really happy with how everyone did. It was the first competition for a lot of our guys and they came through. They showed good technique, good strategy and used a lot of the stuff we have been working so diligently on. The work we do from the feet clearly showed and was a strong advantage for our club. We only gave up 1 takedown all day and those were the only points scored against us. We had 1 Ko Uchi Gari a couple of Kosto Gari's and a few forced guard pulls that put our opponents into bad situations from the start. We sent 4 guys and went 6 and 1 on the day.

Of course there are a few things to work on but I was really proud of how everyone fought. It really makes me feel good to see my guys using the stuff I show them. Teaching has really shown me a whole new aspect of the game.

To see some of the matches check out Lex's video here lexfridman.com/blogs/training. Some of the commentary is a little painful but it is worth watching just to see what a fool I look like on video.

Side note - I had myself convinced that I added 5 - 8 pounds of muscle doing crossfit lately. Lex's video now has me convinced I have 10 pounds of FAT to lose. Thanks Lex.

10/14/2011

Friday's crossfit workout was anther kill

warm up

400 meter run
50 double unders
20 cow grazers
30 scrpions
10 burpees
10 kettle bell swings
15 pullups
10 ring dips
20 hang cleans
2 muscle ups (which I cant do yet)
build power cleans

Work out
So the workout included muscle ups. To do a muscle up you jump up to a pair of rings and host yourself up over the rings with your elbows locked out. I cant do them yet but I did a little youtube research this weekend on the technique and I think I might be able to get some next week. Anyway, in place of muscle up we were allow to do ring dips with a scale of 3 ring dips to every muscle up we were supposed to do. The workout is below and my chest is still a little sore.

5 power cleans (cleans from the floor)
15 ring dips

4 power cleans
12 ring dips

3 power cleans
9 ring dips

2 power cleans
6 ring dips

1 power clean
3 ring dips

75 double unders

I was proud of my time, second on the leader board at 10:04 but really want those muscle ups.

Why Why Why

Why did I waste so much time learning BJJ and Judo. All those hours doing reps, the tournaments, the heart aches and the injuries. It all seems like such a waste when I could have spent that time learning THE FINGER LOCK KO! Now that I know this underground secret I will be unstoppable. I can't wait to use this at Worlds, those fools won't know what hit em. Check it out for yourself.

THE FINGER LOCK KO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I__Yrhkb3qE&feature=related

Climbing the Leader Board

I had another really good time on my crossift workout today.

I dont remember the warmup but it was pretty standard. I am starting to really get the hang of the double unders and I put up a pretty decent time.

Workout

Round Double Unders GTO Wall Ball Throws
1 30 15 15
2 30 12 12
3 30 9 9
4 30 6 6
5 30 3 3

Terms
Double unders - Twice around with the jump rope on each jump.

GTO - Weighted bar starting from the ground on each rep and pick it up to a locked out position overhead. The pickup can be anyway you like.

Wall Ball Throws - From a deep squat explode upward and throw the medicine ball over a line marked on the wall. I think our line is about 20 feet up but I am not a good judge of height.

I really like these workouts but I have noticed they leave me pretty worn out for the fundementals/bjj/judo marathon I normal do on Mon nights.

Working out like a Man

Up until Fri when I did my Crossfit workouts I was "scaling the workout". In each workout the trainer gives a recommended weight for men and a recommended weight for women. Being the "macho man" that I am I couldn't uses the girls recommended weight but I wasn't able to uses the recommended men's weight either. At least not without gassing out before the workout was over. So my solution was to use something in between. Well Friday's workout was one that I felt pretty comfortable with so I took a stab at the men's weight and I was quite happy with the results. In case I didnt mention it before, for those of you unfamiliar with crossfit. All of these workouts are for time, you go all out with no rest until you are done with the entire workout. No rest between rounds, sets or exercises.

Friday's workout

Warm up
400 meter run
50 Double Unders
20 Cow Grazers
20 Scorpions
20 Leg Swings
20 Shoulder rotations
15 pushups
20 Kettle Bell Swings

3 sets
15 Push presses build more weight for each set
5 Kettlebell swings
200 meter sprint 70%

Workout
5 Rounds
10 Push Press 115 pounds
200 meter sprint
10 Kettle Bell Swings 53 pounds

I was quite pleased with my time 9:50

9/27/11 Competition

We have a few guys planning to compete at an In House tournament in a few weeks. So last night I deviated from the normal routine. We spent a lot of time on sprawling and catching then passing someone when they jump closed guard. Once the sprawling drills we done we moved on to jumping guard. Jumping guard from a player safety perspective in my opinion deserves a little more attention than most people give it. We covered how to catch a larger person by using your hips. I also really emphasized the importance of not allowing yourself to be knocked over backwards or to one of your back corners as it can result in a bad knee injury. Once I was satisfied everyone could safely catch their opponent we moved on to passing right off the jump. Basic stuff but stuff they were likely to see at the In House. I also covered a few things from the mount. How to get there, how to hold it and 1 submission. Overall I think the guys that are going can do well but most importantly they can all compete safely.

Judo - for some reason everyone was really "off" during kata practice last night. Not sure what it was, the only why I can really describe it is to say it felt like there was a lot of bad energy in the room. Anyway I bring it up because rather than sticking with the usual routine AQ recognized what was going on and switched things up a little.

I am going to try to keep an eye out for this in my classes going forward. It isn't enough to just pay attention to how people are rolling I need to also pay attention to who is mentally "with it" and who isn't.

On a blogging side note there has been some internet politics floating around on various blogs lately. Glad to see stupid politics are still alive and kicking. Imagine the anarchy if we were all rowing in the same direction at the same time.

Are you Game?

Today’s crossfit workout was certain not tailor made for the heavy weight division….and that is why I like it. I am really trying to up my conditioning as I truly believe it can be a major advantage in the heavy weight masters division. Of course I want perfect technique but if everyone is fighting at the right level then the technique of my opponent should be at about the same as mine. Technique being equal conditioning will often be the difference in the outcome of the match. My goal is to having the conditioning of a 185 pounder. When today’s workout really tested me. With limited shoulder flexibility and limited ankle flexibility over head squats are a killer. When we do them we really go very deep into the squat. Pretty much heals to butt.

Warm Up
400 meter run
50 Double Unders
20 cow grazers
20 scorpians
20 air squats
10 Toes to Bar (pullup position, swing your legs up until your toes touch the bar)
15 Hang Squats
20 Over Head Squats

Work Out
5 Rounds
400 meter run
15 Over Head Squats - 95 pounds for men 65 pounds for women

For extra fun at the end : Over Head weighted lungs across the room, 5 times.

Like I said, not exactly a workout for heavy weights but it sure will test your gameness.

9/21/11 - 208

Another good turnout for last night's BJJ class. I really like the routine I have gotten the class into.

Warm up - 15 min
Takedowns - 15 min
Instruction - 30 min
Live Training 25 - 30 min
Sneak in a few min at the end for a quick stretch if possible.

Last night I added sprawling drills to the warm up in place of the armbar omaplata drill. I will probably stick with the sprawling for a few more weeks.

I also added a third piece to the takedown portion of class that went much better than I expected. We are now practicing 3 takedowns. The first is the takedown shown the previous month. I do a quick review and then have them practice 5 throws per person. Second is the takedown we are working on this month, again a short review then 5 more reps per person. Third is a takedown of their choice. So far so good. Last month's takedown was a cross ankle pick off the high collar grip, this months takedown is the drop O Uchi Gari, otherwise known as O Uchi Gake.

We continued working on guard passing fundamentals. Last night I covered the details of the knee across pass and how to do it with and without controling the sleeve. Once they got the pass I showed a setup for the Americana off the pass. We finished up by combining the takedown (O Uchi Gake) with the knee across pass directly into our Americana setup and finish.

I continue to be impressed by the progress everyone is making. Next week I will move on to passing the butterfly guard.

Side Note: There is an In House Tournament at NJMA in New Jersy on Oct 15th. NJMA is a safe friendly envirnoment and a perfect opportunity for anyone looking to knock off the ring rust or even try out a tournament for the first time.