Jim vs. Kali, Back Squat

Last class today, and we did some flexible weapons work. I am not nearly as adept at neutralizing an attacker using a garbage bag as I’d like, but I feel like I could get better with practice. Afterwards, back squats:

145 x 4
155 x 4
165 x 4
175 x 4
185 x 4

Another unusual number of reps, so I just added 20lbs to the loads I used when I did a 5×6. Went pretty well, though I am looking forward to starting up another back squat linear progression in the new year.

Jim vs. Kali, Shoulder Press

Another solid class: more chambering practice, more interesting sinawali, plus practicing variations on the three-count sumbrada. Both involved work in which one parter had two sticks, and the other only one. Made things pretty interesting, that did.

Then I hit the shoulder press linear progression again:

105 x 5
105 x 5
105 x 5
105 x 5
105 x 5

Oddly enough, this felt easier than last week’s. Which is pretty cool, really.

Jim vs. Kali, Shoulder Press

Good class today: we practiced a more difficult sinawali, involving a new use of the umbrella block and switching back and forth between closed and open chambering. It was pretty challenging, and at the end of the class my partner and I felt like we might just about have gotten it.

Then, more shoulder press linear progression:

100 x 5
100 x 5
100 x 5
100 x 5
100 x 5

This is my fourth week, and it’s starting to feel tougher. Not sure how much of that is the weight, though, and how much is doing C&Js yesterday.

Jim vs. Kali, Shoulder Press

Kali does warm up the shoulders quite nicely.

95 x 5
95 x 5
95 x 5
95 x 5
95 x 5

And so the linear progression rolls on.

Jim vs. Kali, 400m Runs

Another good class, which felt like it was building on the disarms from last week. Today we worked on the “tying/untying” motion of trapping your opponents arm and getting out of their own traps. Fun stuff.

It was sunny and relatively warm afterwards, so I did three 400m runs.

1:32
1:40
1:57

The first one is two seconds shy of my PR, but the last one reflects the fact that the two-minute breaks I was giving myself did not notably address the incredibly painful stitches I started suffering during the second run. We’re talking Murph-level pain, if not worse.

Of course, the last time I did any running was Murph, and that was a month ago. I’ll need to be spending some time on the Barton track once the snows fall; I apparently start to lose my running chops damnably quickly.

Jim vs. Kali, Shoulder Press

Another day without tagging myself in the head! And this time we even did disarms.

Afterwards, more shoulder press linear progression.

90 x 5
90 x 5
90 x 5
90 x 5
90 x 5

Still definitely in the realm where I’m not feeling pushed by the load. That’ll change, I’m sure.

Jim vs. Kali, Randy

I am proud to say that I didn’t tag myself in the head in class today. No, the self injuries would wait until I got to the gym.

“Randy”
75lb power snatch x 75, for time

I did this one last summer, scaled way back. Today, I tried it as Rx’d, and it hurt. Finished in 15:43, which felt very slow. Of course, afterwards my legs and back were barely functional, and I’d lost a bunch of skin off the palms of my hands. So I can’t really claim that I took it easy.

And hey: it gives me a benchmark for next time.

Jim vs. Kali, Shoulder Press Linear Progression

Good class today, after missing three in a row. Did some freestyle work, which was new to me, and learned a disarm that was so cool it was totally worth tagging myself in the head with my own stick.

Also started a short, two-month project: a linear progression on the shoulder press. That means starting with a light weight.

85 x 5
85 x 5
85 x 5
85 x 5
85 x 5

Gonna add five pounds a week til Winter Break. We’ll see how it goes.

Jim vs. Kali, FGB Drills

Great class today: actually got the hang of the very long Sinawali we were working on, helped Guro Kevin demonstrate said pattern without humiliating myself overmuch, and had one of the kids I was partnered with tell another, “This guy know what he’s doing.”

To which I replied, “Which doesn’t happen often, so take advantage while you can.”

Afterwards, I stopped by Teagle to do some Fight Gone Bad drills. I didn’t do FGB5 this year, mainly because most of my fitness focus has been on the Summer of Murph and, until recently, the back squat linear progression. The workout strikes me as a potential future project along those lines, though: FGB4 showed me that I was capable of getting through a tough workout as Rx’d, and the next time I do it I want to excel. Jumping in unprepared seemed like a bad call, though.

Besides, I totally forgot when it was, let alone to start raising money for it.

So what I did today was tackle each of the components of a FGB round in turn, one minute each. Teagle’s set-up made it impossible for me to move immediately from one to the next, and they still don’t have 20lb medicine balls. But I pushed as hard as I could under the circumstances.

Push press: 20 reps
SDHP: 19 reps
Box jumps: 21 reps
Wall ball: 29 reps
Rowing: 16 calories

Not bad, but also not representative of a true FGB round. Still, if I can find a good way of doing the five exercises in a row, I’d definitely pick this one back up. Heck, maybe as next summer’s project.

Jim vs. Kali, The Snatch

Another fun kali class, with more disarms learned. Never got good enough at the first four to practice the one where you trap your opponent’s fingers between their stick and yours. Luckily for any opponents I may have, I’ve got a pretty good chance of doing that move to myself at any given time.

After that, it was back to Teagle for heavy singles on the snatch.

83 x 1
93 x 1
103 x 0
103 x 1
113 x 1 (power)
113 x 1

Struggled with balance issues on these. That failure on 103 was my balance being off (and my mind not being on what I was doing). I was able to easily power snatch 113 on the first attempt, but didn’t have the balance for a full snatch. Got it pretty smoothly on the second attempt, though, and it’s a new PR.