2024 - 01 - 01

Starting the New Year off right! As has been tradition, for the past couple years, I focus my grappling on wrestling and takedowns at the top of the year. Additionally, Week 2 of NonProphet’s Escape Velocity program brings FYF (F*ck You Friday) back into the rotation, which, as the name implies, necessitates revisiting discussions on recovery.

Summary:

This week’s grappling starts with digging in to a Bo Nickal instructional video, “Bo Knows Takedowns” as well as re-emphasizing thematic principals of hand control and hip mirroring.

Monday was my last guest training session in Peoria, and even after the 12-hour road trip back to Atlanta, I still went to the gym to make up for sitting all day. The session was hard, but refreshing.

I also got the chance to return to our police BJJ class, learn, teach, and explore some details we use in our defensive tactics curriculum as well.

The end of the week, especially after FYF, involved questioning how, when, and at the cost of what do you push yourself (endure), punish yourself (resist), and love yourself (recover).

Contents:

• Monday: Mixed BJJ Open Mat, Cross-Training
• Tuesday: Escape Velocity 04 (strength endurance)
• Wednesday: NoGi BJJ, guard passing / retention
• Thursday: NoGi BJJ, teaching class: wrestling / posture drills
• Friday: Escape Velocity 05 (FYF, capacity) and Police BJJ
• Saturday: NoGi BJJ open mat: drilling wrestling
• Sunday: Escape Velocity 06 (endurance, active recovery)

1/1/24: sport, level 1

Intention: play, experiment with closed / lapel guard and cross-collar chokes.

Warm Up:

5 min mobility

Work:

1 hour open mat, mixed Gi / NoGi BJJ

Result: Austin

Density = (6 x 6 min rounds) / 60 min

Total / Average Difficulty: 12 (2)

• White Belt (1), Blue Belt (2), Purple Belt (3), Brown Belt (4), Black Belt (5)

Notes:

What worked well, what allowed it:
Going 100% into underhooks / crossface, nothing shallow, top of the shoulder deep or not at all. Diaphragm / thoracic pressure and hip matching / dancing.

What didn’t work, why:
Lapel-sling armbar still needs to clear center line.

Plan for next time:
Work on traps for cross-collar chokes from bottom closed guard; gravity helps pressure / trap and set-up from mount.

1/2/24: strength, level 2

Intention: Strength Endurance - “The focus of these sessions is causing a specific reaction in the tissue, namely, an acidic one. We use hypertrophy for building lean mass and supportive musculature for aesthetic purposes as well as longevity. Note: you will not build mean mass without the work and also nutrition to support the endeavor. Regardless, hypertrophy work is an excellent way to get blood into tissue that needs to restore or needs supportive attention.”

Warm Up:

3 Rounds of:
3 per arm Turkish get-ups (TGU)
30 seconds mountain climbers
30 seconds plank
rest 1 min

Work:

For Time:
10-20-30-40-50
Air Bike Calories + Single-arm Alt. DB Hang Clean & Jerk
30-20-10
DB Single-leg-deadlift + burpee

Result: Austin

TGU: 25#, 35#, 35#
Work: 37:49

Support:

Breath work: 4 min, alternating nostril / min, 10-10

Notes:

What worked well, what allowed it:
The importance of developing rhythm and technical focus for the cleans became apparent early. Likewise, picking an appropriate breath rate and pace (RPM) for the bike segments was critical.

What didn’t work, why:
In this workout you definitely pay for sloppy technique and your shoulders will gas out far sooner than they should. For myself, I noticed my technique was better on my left side than my right (strong) side.

Plan for next time:
Continue breath work every session. A simple stretching protocol would be helpful too to make sure it gets done.

1/3/24: sport, level 1

Intention: guard passing / retention, grip fighting

Warm Up:

Mini-Game / Task-Oriented Rounds (video)

Work:

1.5 hour NoGi BJJ Class:
Knee cut pass with “headquarters” misdirection.
Personal focus on handfighting, flat back / thoracic pressure.

Support:

Breath:
4 x each nostril: 10-10 (in-out)
4 x each nostril: 6-6-6-6 (in-hold-out-hold)
4 x each nostril: 5-5-10-5 (in-hold-out-hold)

Notes:

What worked well and what allowed it:
Handfight everywhere. From seated guard, not allowing elbows to raise higher than knees.

What didn’t work and why:
Ironically, some defenses fell apart when I abandoned the grip fighting to clear other points of connection (hips, knees, etc.).

Plan for next time:
Continue to explore “lose hands” wrestling stance, hip mirroring, and hand fighting.

1/4/24: sport, level 1

Intention: Teach stand-up / wrestling posture and principles.

Warm Up:

Mini-Game / Task-Oriented Rounds (video)

Work:

Class Contents:

• Maintain side-control with hip mirroring.
• (From half-guard) Maintain “headquarters” position with hip mirroring.
• Hand-slap / down block game (kneeling opponent).
• Down-block game + shot reaction (standing opponent).
• Sprawls and hip mirroring.
• Drill takedowns
• Positional sparring (live takedowns).
• Positional sparring (first to score or submit from standing).

Support:

Breath work:
10x each nostril: 10-10 (in-out)
3x each nostril: 6-6-6 (in-hold-out)
3x each nostril: 6-6-6-6 (in-hold-out-hold)

Notes:

What worked well and what allowed it:
Low defense, comfortable stance, handfighting and patient set ups, contrast between snap-downs and shots.

What didn’t work and why:
Occasionally, I flinched high on feints.

Plan for next time:
Drill more hand slapping / reactions to build instinct to block down, not out to stop shots.

1/5/24: capacity, level 3

Intention: Fuck You Friday (FYF) - “This style of session was originated by Mark Twight, who originally used the session as a way to teach recovery practices because on Sunday you should wake up and think “fuck you Friday.” These have now become iconic sessions and many gyms around the world use or participate in an “FYF” of their own. These sessions are complex, usually involving tricky rep/set schemes and or multiple time-domains. They are intended for experienced players. THIS IS YOUR WARNING!”

Warm Up:

3 Rounds of:
30 seconds airbike (accumulating pace)
20 reverse lunges at bodyweight
100ft. front rack carry

Work:

For Time:

3 - 30 by 3s (i.e. 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 etc.)
Bike Calories
Lunge with Front Rack KBs

Every 3 minutes, body over box (48”)
1x at 3 min,
2x at 6 min,
3x at 9 min,
4x at 12 min, etc.

Results:

Warm Up:
75, 80, 84 RPM
2 x 35# kettlebell carry

Work:
2 x 35# KB, 34:52
Total Output: 158 bike cals, 158 lunges, 55 BOBs

Support:

1 hour, police defensive tactics / grappling / ground control

Breath:
10x each nostril 10-10 (in-out)
3x each nostril 6-6-6-6 (in-hold-out-hold)
3x each nostril 6-6-12-6 (in-hold-out-hold)

Notes:

What worked well and what allowed it:
On the bike segments I was able to control my breathing and pace fairly well — not gassing out too fast, nor dropping all the way down to a Zone 2 pace.

What didn’t work and why:
The accumulation adds up fast on this one. As prescribed the BOBs were supposed to happen every 2 minutes. I did this as prescribed for the first 10 minutes (5 intervals), then had to extend the interval to 3 minutes for the following 6 minutes (2 intervals), and lastly extended to 4 minutes for the last few so that I could actually finish the workout rather than just get stuck doing endless BOBs.

Plan for next time:
I could have been a bit more recovered prior to this session, so it might be a good idea to do some of the ESC (Escape Velocity) sessions out of order if I’m needing a slower day because one hit particularly hard.

1/6/24: sport, level 1

Intention: Light rolling, focus on drilling wrestling set ups to prepare for Thursday’s class material.

Warm Up:

5 minutes mobility
Re-watch video instruction

Work:

1.5 hour open mat:
1 hour open rolling - focus on hand control and hip mirroring
0.5 hour specifically drilling wrestling / set-ups

Notes:

What worked well and what allowed it:
The circle-and-pull set ups work well, but need to be run more than once to build a rhythm and get opponent reacting / anticipating. The cross step also closes the distance quick in an unexpected way.

What didn’t work, and why:
My front-headlock series needs a little more practice to make sure opponent is broken down to shoulder, not just elbow.

Plan for next time:
Make time after Wednesday’s class to drill these techniques some more and prepare for the class I’m teaching.

1/7/24: endurance, level 2

Intention: Endurance - “At the end of a session intentioned to increase my endurance, I usually ask myself if I could double the effort. If the answer is no, you have probably gone a little harder than you should have. But this is a learning process and we have all had to figure this out the hard way.”

Warm Up:

Alternating EMOM: 12 min

1. 30 sec step up + 30 sec box jump (20”)
2. burpee

Work:

100-90-80-70-60
Ball Over Shoulder (30#)
*400m run after every set

Results:

Warm Up: 8 step ups / 30 sec, 6 box jumps / 30 sec, 6 burpees / min.
Work: 1:00:45

Support:

5 min shoulder and ankle mobility with light band.

Notes:

What worked well and what allowed it:
My watch said I only clocked an average heart rate of 118 BPM, which is dead on Zone 1 for me, not the desired Zone 2 for this session. However, the warm up didn’t inspire confidence, but the work helped flush some soreness from my legs after Friday’s FY session.

What didn’t work and why:
This session was supposed to follow a descending pattern all the way down to 10 reps. However, the planned session time was ~1 hour and the goal to pick a pace that would suit that time frame. This was a good reminder to tune in to my body and what it is capable of on a given day given recent stress, work, and recovery (need).

Plan for next time:
This was a good session to remind myself that arbitrary standards and programs are useless and it’s far more valuable to assess my current state before beginning a given training session. I could have carried this all the way through as prescribed; and maybe be only able to turn in a partial effort tomorrow and even less after that. Live to train another day.