Dan John: 40 years of Insight
Awesome article. Cannot be summarized.
And Mr. John has laid me down a challenge. For real this time. Half bodyweight in each hand, 400 meters.
I think I get it now. Mr. John gave me the farmer’s walk challenge because I didn’t understand the inclusion of loaded carries in his fundamental “5 human movements”. But what do humans do? We bend over, we compress and extend, we bring things to us, we push things away, we walk. So to train those, we: hinge, squat, pull, push, and walk with heavy things.
I almost want to include jumping (which would entail Olympic lifts), throwing, and running, but those are just explosive versions of the original 5.
Art de Vany: Evolutionary Fitness
Art de Vany, via Robb Wolf’s recommendation that this is the method with the best ROI for being strong without devoting much training time:
I do sets that I call 1/5s or “one, fives” because that describes how I do them. I do one repetition, and then put the weight down for 5 seconds. Then I do another rep and put the weight down another 5 seconds. Then another, and so on for a sequence of about 4 to 8 repetitions. That’s it, then move on to the next exercise. What you have done is to achieve between 4 and 8 high quality repetitions without building lactate. The 5-second pause between reps is enough to regenerate the muscle phosphates if you are in reasonable shape. Up to 10 seconds pause is appropriate until you have acquired the ability to recover quickly. You can use reasonably heavy weight without the risk that goes with doing multiple repetitions with heavy weights.
He does squats, deadlifts, and bench with 8 reps of “1/5s”, then 6 reps of power cleans similarly, then jumping for height, plus a bunch of stuff I’m not a fan of.
Dan John: 40 years of Insight
Awesome article. Cannot be summarized.
And Mr. John has laid me down a challenge. For real this time. Half bodyweight in each hand, 400 meters.
Bonus training!
Drilled today with the Colombian:
- Uchikomi in sets of 10 for me, 20 for him, in an attempt to match our respective staminas. Seoinage, ouchigari, osotogari, and uchimata. Total maybe 100 or 150, including left side. We started throwing every four or five near the end.
- For osoto, step left and jerk right simultaneously, then power through with the right hip and shoulder as the right elbow extends.
- Osoto when they put that leg back: drive like hell with the power arm, jack them up and make contact. Chase their backward step as they cement into it.
- For seoinage, pull first and pull hard. Make them come to you. Feet square and shoulder width.
- Speed uchikomi for each throw above. Two sets for me, several for him.
- Grip-and-go for ten throws in a row, first with any throw I like, then with just osoto and tai-otoshi.
- Snap-down work for the direction-reversing ouchigari
- Play uke for another ten minutes to get him tired while he works variations on tai-otoshi.
Then we grabbed another partner, put on sparring gear, and kickboxed like idiots for half an hour. My karate-teep and tappity-tap fake-front-kick-to-roundhouse are doing fine. I should move my head and cut angles more. My jab isn’t total shit when I remember the Dempsey step. I can’t catch kicks worth a damn, but throwing is indeed easier when people are worried about punches.
Ring training overload
In preparation for incoming gymnastics rings, I am getting my desired Feats of Strength together. This list is not as minimalist as it will be.
- ring pushups (with archers) plus non-ring dips; when 3x15 non-ring dips, progress to ring dips
- flies / bridges
- inverted rows / vertical rows
- front lever / back lever
- skin the cat
- single leg squat (holding rings for support) - my ankle flexibility in a side lunge halts at just below parallel, so I’ll be working on that as preparation
- jackknives
- pseudo-planche pushups
I need to figure out dependencies and overlap among these. More importantly, I need to find a sturdy place to set a goal down.
Second Nature Fitness: Principles of Progress Vol. 1: Sleep
I had a chemistry teacher in high school who would let kids sleep through class, then wake them by dropping an info packet about sleep debt on them at the end of class and assigning it as homework. Needless to say, I never did well in chemistry, but I know a hell of a lot about good sleeping habits now.
The rest is great too, but this is gold.
I’m going to be giving myself a cookie (metaphorically) for every 15 minute block prior to midnight that I spend sleeping. Sleep might be one of my weakest areas in my training schedule.
The hunger a work-week of hard training will produce is astonishing. The sensation of “hunger” metastasizes into something unrecognizable as such. Rather I experience a scratching behind the belly button, a wet burning behind the sternum or the liver. It’s only rational conjecture that tells me that this means I must feed.
I feel kinship with the Allosaurus figurine by the window of this sublet. I’ll eat olive oil with greens. I’ll diligently down my hard-boiled eggs. But every time my thoughts wander by the neighborhood of red meat, the scratching becomes a rumble, the wet burning a spreading ache.
Brains Forget, Notes Remember
judo and CMA - no-trip, no-hip tai otoshi and other high-skill te waza (including other stuff like the corner throw perhaps?) seem more similar to taiji than shuai jiao. the no-trip no-hip development strikes us as probably related to the presence of sleeves. shuai jiao and greco throws are specific about situations and entries and setups while lumping the eventual throw into a pile, whereas judo turns that on its head (pun not intended) and is very specific about the finishing technique but allows for many varied and mostly un-named setups or situations to find it from
bjj - tripod sweep: sweep the heel instead of hooking the knee. cross sleeve grip is the best. posture in guard: pinch the shoulder blades together as if deadlifting.
belly to the wall handstands rule when you know how to fall. initiate practice asap
hindu pushups / vinyasa: feet shoulder width, squeeze the shoulder blades at the top, get hips to the ground
rings. whoa. maintaining stability is the hard.
pigeon - get hips to the ground, muscle runs thru the pelvis and we feel it in the butt, shin should be “horizontal” but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
half-swastika stretch: get both hips (sit bones) on the floor. stretch in the hard direction.
upward dog for stretching hip flexors, the bane of my posture
imbalance in trunk/weak abs - pilates situp
deadlift: squeeze the shoulderblades together without creating hyperlordosis. chest out and up, shoulders back, but nipples stay down. natural stance, narrower than I think, feet under knees under hips. start in the rack instead of floor. hump at the top and lock it out like a deadlift.
squat: keep the whole trunk tight as in a proper standing position…and squat. bands rule. don’t keep the bar quite so low on the shoulders. hump at the top. don’t cat/cow.
Training log 6-29-2011
Two no-gi techniques with Enrique today.
- From the butterfly guard, suppose we are slacking and our opponent gets us flat on our back and starts an over-under pass: stacking our left leg with an underhook and trapping over right leg between theirs.
- Push on the overhook shoulder to make space and time. Get on your side facing that way.
- ASAP, get an over-the-shoulder armpit hook with the left hand. This is used in the next part, and also blocks their head from pushing your hip or leg. Other hand posts behind us like a technical stand. Left foot posts on the ground.
- Pull hard on the armpit hook as you bridge into them with a turning motion. Force their head to the floor.
- Get on your right knee (foot still between theirs, and trapping their arm) and establish the harness/seatbelt.
- Roll to get the hooks. RNC. Boom shakka lakka!
- If, during 3, they expose their neck, guillotine. They’ll try to pass, which means you’d better have the elbow over the shoulder. If you do, they choke. If you don’t, they pass. Choose Your Own Adventure (TM).
No-gi rolling feels good. Half-guard passing is still a mystery.
Judo notes 6-23-2011
Kouchigari (“kouchibarai” version): step back in a little arc. Stepping back big maintains balance but fails to make contact, ergo the throw only works on compliant partners. Keep feet under shoulders. Little arc.
Judo notes 6-21-2011
Tai-otoshi. Drill it. Try it.
Ouchigari straight - Inoue ouchigari to the corner - European ouchigari (back grip, haul forward, they hip block, back grip goes heel to the floor, ouchigari). Get hips in as deep as the shoulders.
Yamashita turnover - Lever turnover/choke - Koshijime.
No matter how you cut it, playing round after round without break is just a different beast. I need to start hacking the two-rounds-then-rest model at my dojo if I’m to get in shape.
Plyometrics
I need a source on plyometrics that I can trust. (I’m considering adding one or two plyo exercises to my morning sprints.) I’ve been browsing YouTube, and I don’t mind getting a feel for Randy Couture’s plyo circuit, but I’m looking for the Rippetoe of plyos, for Coach Sommer transformed from gymnastics to plyos.
Alternatively, this might be a terrible idea and counterproductive to my training, which would be good to know as well.
Whatcha got, tumblr?
Over most supreme overlord Google tells us that…
- Bill Starr (in a SS.com article) says that if plyos are for power, do the Olympic lifts instead
- Rippetoe and his forum say to get strong first, don’t get injured while doing plyos, and do the O-lifts if you’re training for power
- Rip’s article says don’t you dare replace strength training with plyometrics
- the CrossFit board says O-lifts are superior for power and speed
- and Ido Portal says that sport-specific training is superior for speed.
I have not yet come across a plyo guru, nor a cogent description of why plyometrics would be better than A) sport-specific speed/coordination drills or B) strength training.
