Finnegan's Wake

[XTrainer]

I'm not a regular in your log. Are you new to the grappling world?

 

[finnegan]

Fairly new. Never wrestled in HS or college. Messed around in a sub grappling club for about 6 months before beginning MMA classes two months ago. There weren't any BJJ guys in the sub grappling club, so I'm pretty green in that regard to proper technique.

 

[XTrainer]

Cool. Being a BJJ newb is great. They make rapid newb gains, just as newb lifters do. If you ever have questions about BJJ stuff, post 'em in my log. I'm always happy talk jiu-jitsu.

 

[finnegan]

Thanks Xtrainer. I'll ask if I think of anything.

Conditioning

The Magic 50:

Circuit repeated 5 times, no rest.

5 Dumbell Snatches (50 lbs) each arm
5 Dumbell Swings (50 lbs) each arm
10 Burpees

Time: 6:31

5 minute rest

Circuit 2

Circuit repeated 3 times, no rest between exercises, 1 minute rest between circuits

25 sledgehammer swings ( 16 lbs sledge) vs tire
5 sandbag shoulder and slam (150 lbs sandbag)
25 medicine ball slams (25 lbs medicine ball)
5 Turkish Getups (50 lbs dumbell)

Impressions:
50 lbs was, in retrospect, a little light for the Magic 50. It wore me out, but not as bad as I feared it would. I'll keep it at 50 for the swings, but I'll up it to around 65 for the snatches.
Circuit 2 was brutal though, especially after the Magic 50. Good stuff.

 

[finnegan]

MMA:
3 hours

Grappling:
15 minutes Shrimping, duck walking, and a move that I forgot the name of but it is basically being on all fours, bringing one leg under, then the other,etc.

Bag Work:
50 1's
50 2's
50 1-2's
100 elbows
50 1-2-left elbow
50 1-2-3-right elbows
50 1-1 ight lowkick
50l lead left lowkick-1-2's
50 lead left lowkick-1-2-right lowkick
Elbow blitz x 1:00 minute
Used a handwrap tied between two posts for head movement/ ducking drills. Duck-uppercut, duck-hook, duck-duck-body shot, etc.

Sparring:
3 five minute rounds.
Focused on cleaning up my technique, improving stance, and head movement. It paid off quite a bit. I got tagged a couple of times, but nothing solid on the chin or mouth. Did a lot of mid range work, as I suck here.
And Standard: the lead left lowkick-1-2 combo worked pretty well for me. I added a right lowkick at the end to good effect as well.
Sparred w/ the same guy as last time (who I found out has an upcoming MMA fight, so he'll be in our class for awhile.) He started checking the lead lowkicks, so I switched to back lowkicks. He did a lot better in the clinch as well, but still ate tons of hooks when I switched to dirty boxing.

Technical Sparring:
3 rounds, approx 5 minute rounds. Worked on keeping my elbows in and head movement. Worked with another guy whose only done Karate (open mats day). He is the same height as me and the same reach, so that was good. Went slow and worked on tightening up stance, defecting punches, and pulling each other into the clinch.

Rolling:
3 three minute rounds.
Nothing special here. Opponent put me in gaurd and clamped on for dear life. Only thing of note was a Judo hip toss that my old sub grappling instructor showed me. Worked a lot in opponents half gaurd, but as I said, nothing new.

Impressions:
Damn good day today. I'm pleased with my head movement and keeping my chin protected. The instructor noted a big improvement since last week in this and the tightness of my stance. I figured out a way to keep the headgear in place (I wore a dew rag, and had someone strap it on with the instructions "attempt to cut my head in half" when asked how tight I wanted it).
All in all, a really good day.

 

[finnegan]

gear purchased: MMA gloves

Impressions: I got hoodwinked. I was at Dick's Sporting Goods, and saw UFC label MMA gloves. I try them on, and they fit. Best part: only 30 bucks. I grab them, thinking that they are Ouno gloves. I get home, read the fine print, and they are actually Century's. Don't know when the UFC began licensing w/ Century, but they did.
For anyone interested, they also had a Century Grappling dummy for 120.00.

 

[Brando]

It'd be interesting to see some sparring video sometime, man. P.S. are the things in your warm-up whose name you forgot called "grasshoppers"?

 

[finnegan]

It'd be interesting to see some sparring video sometime, man. P.S. are the things in your warm-up whose name you forgot called "grasshoppers"?

That sounds about right.
I'm trying to track down someone who has a camera that records over 1 minute of footage. I want to see some sparring too to correct some mistakes. I may just have to buy a memory card for the person who does my lifting vids.

 

[BJJ in Chicago]

as of the last 'ultimate fighter' century is now licensed with the ufc. they used all century bags and gloves, etc. on the last season. They may actually be good gloves. i have a pair of century gloves that are total garbage though.

 

[finnegan]

Eh. We'll see. If nothing else, they'll get me used to rolling w/ gloves on.

 

[Standard]

All the century gloves i have seen look like complete shit, but they may have some good ones. I really like the hayabusa gloves i got (after i worked them in).

MMA gloves are good for rolling and very light sparring but not too great for much else training wise.

 

[finnegan]

Catch Up/ Build Day:

Made a 75 lbs Grappling/ Ground n Pound bag. I took some of the filling out of a busted heavybag I had laying around, tapered it about 1/3 of the way down to waist thickness, Gorilla Taped it, and zip tied it closed
by the hanging rings w/ the old top as a plug. Works good. I may redo it and pack the top a little tighter, but other than that, I'm happy with it.
The other project was to put up my double ended bag. I opted to go with an anchor instead of a floor mount. I used 50 lbs of standard plates I had laying around. Works great, and I can move it out of the way. I love the thing already. First time I hit it I went "Oh Shit!" and just put my hands up for a block. I laughed a while, and thought that this is the grown up serious version of an inflatable bop bag.

Catch Up Circuit:

I basically did all the exercises I've been slacking off on in one huge circuit. No rest between exercises, 1 minute rest between circuits. It went like this:

Rounds 1,3,5:

CoC 2 Closes/ Attempts x 5
V Ups x 12
Neck Bridges x 10
CoC 2.5 Forced Closes w/ Negatives x 3
Plate Twists (45) x 10 each direction
Headstrap Resistance Band Crunches x 10
Towel Pullups x 5
Flags x 10
Good Morningx (95) x 10

Rounds 2, 4
V ups x 10
Neck Bridges x 10
Plate Twists x 10 each direction
Headstrap Resistance Band forward crunches x 10
Flags x 10
Good Mornings (95) x 10

Totals:
CoC 2 Closes/ Attempts: 15 each hand
CoC 2.5 Forced Closes/ Negs: 9 each hand
Towel Pullups: 15

Neck Bridges: 50
Forward Resistance Band Thing: 50

V Ups: 56
Plate Twists: 50 each direction
Flags: 50
Good Mornings: 50

Impressions:
Just as it says, this was a catch up workout for some neglected areas. I've been working grip, neck, and core; but not directly since last week. Being I didn't have anything on the schedule today, and I still had plenty of energy after the builds, I figured this was a good time to get this stuff in.

 

[Gavin LeFever]

what do you think about the towels? you're using 2 towels, right?

 

[finnegan]

No. One beach towel rolled up and draped over the bar to form two handles. I like them more than regular pullups or chins. I've never done them with added weight (don't have a strong enough towel) though.

 

[Zerocrew1984]

beach towels mean they dont really count....

 

[finnegan]

beach towels mean they dont really count....

I am reclaiming beach towels for manly purposes. How does this not count? Is it the association w/ tanning?

 

[finnegan]

Intervals:

Double End bag:
1's, 2's, 1-2's, 1-1-2's, 3's, slips everywhere, etc.

Three minute rounds x 3, 1 minute rest

Indoor Hill Climbers:
(basically, stair sprints on hands and feet so I was bounding up the stairs like an animal), jog down, repeat
5 minutes, no rest

Interval Circuit x 2:
1 minute Heavybag (1-2's, circling left) , 30 seconds rest
1 minute Heavybag (1-2-3's, circling right) 30 seconds rest
1 minute bodyweight dips, 30 seconds rest
1 minute burpees, 30 seconds rest.

Total time: 12 minutes

Impressions:
Tonight was supposed to be sprint night, but since that bastard Alan nearly locked out 225 on Push Press, I decided to do GPP/ Interval training instead to save my legs for lifting tomorrow.
The double end bag is tiring as hell. I wore 16 oz gloves and my headgear for it to simulate sparring conditions. I think the string is a bit too loose, as the bag is all over the place (at least 2 foot of movement in each direction). Oh well, it gave for a hell of a workout.
I really like the indoor hill climbers. They take the strain off the legs a little from normal stair sprints, but are just as difficult in a different way. I think I'll switch to these for awhile for indoor work.

 

[Gavin LeFever]

No. One beach towel rolled up and draped over the bar to form two handles. I like them more than regular pullups or chins. I've never done them with added weight (don't have a strong enough towel) though.

I use the little white gym towels I managed to lift from my old gym. I'm clepto about those things. So damn useful, muwahahaha.

I think one small towel for each hand might be better because you can change how wide you want it and your grips are independent. I might want to get bigger small towels soon so when I wad it up, it's even thicker which should be more challenging.

I'm considering saying fuck it to regular chins and just sticking with towels for wide and close grip. No more pull-up vs chins drama either.

 

[finnegan]

Agreed. I like them better than both chins and pulls as well, but I'm not entirely ready to give up the originals. Again, if I had srong enough towels, I might reconsider.

 

[Gavin LeFever]

only problem is you can't really do plyo clapping pull-ups with towels... unless you're just badass. i'm looking into getting a really thick rope and do it ross enamait style.


4 more sparring videos to up-load. ugh.