2024 - 01 - 22

I’m about half way through NP’s Escape Velocity program. The general structure of my training is, at most, one “hard” session per week, about two “medium” sessions, and four mild / technical sessions. It’s been a really nice flow to put forth a lot of effort and work on something every day, but in a way that doesn’t leave you in a hole “trying hard”, but turning in lackluster results.

Summary:

This week’s grappling continues to focus on wrestling, specifically hand fighting and collar ties (and additionally snap downs) with commentary from Brandon Reed on Gordon Ryan’s wrestling.

The big lessons this week came from Friday’s FYF session. Typically “FYF” refers to “fuck you Friday”, but I wondered if it also means “find your failure?” That is, do you have the constitution to cross the finish line even after you know you’ve lost or been beat?

Additionally, the puddle I left on the public gym’s floor, along with my shirtless grunting drew some onlooking attention. I may have lost to the clock, but I’m pretty sure I was working harder than anyone else in that room. You see the world different when you have an accurate image of yourself.

Also, apparently the load I chose was ambitious. I chose a 70 lb KB while most in the Space Program comments chose a 45 or 55 lb KB. It’s been interesting as well to observe which sessions get the most comments and engagement and which get avoided.

Contents:

• Monday: Escape Velocity 15 - Mobility
• Tuesday: Escape Velocity 16 - Strength Endurance
• Wednesday: NoGi BJJ - Shin Trap Open Guard Passing (video)
• Thursday: NoGi BJJ - Collar Ties and Snap Downs
• Friday: Escape Velocity 17 - Capacity / FYF
• Saturday: NoGi BJJ - Collar Ties and Hand Fight
• Sunday:

1/22/24: Strength, Level 1

Intention:

“Each section should be done as a straight set as to build up how much you can contract and control the CAR. Rest should be required. These are working sets and should be treated as top-end lifts. “

Warm Up:

3 x 10 of each (at bodyweight):
Alternating Kicks
Skipping
Dynamic Lunge + Twist
Bear Crawl Forward
Bear Crawl Backward
Lunge + Kick + Single-Leg-Deadlift

Work:

3 x 10 Spine CARs (like cat-cow-stretch)
3 x 5 Hip CARs (each side)
3 x 10 Jefferson squats (on box)
3 x 10 Alternating Sciatic Nerve Floss

3 x 30 sec Thoracic Spine CAR (standing)

3 x 5 Loaded Spine Car (on belt squat machine)

Results:

Thoracic Spine CARs (standing, bodyweight)

Loaded Spine Car (on belt squat machine, 90 lbs)

Notes:

What worked well and what allowed it:
The squat machine stretch felt great! I wasn’t able to control each vertebrae properly, but the active resistance was a good stretch.

What didn’t work and why:
My spine is weak. The standing CARs were cut to 30 seconds each instead of the prescribed 90 seconds, and unloaded.

Plan for next time:
These sessions are a great way to challenge movement (mobility) and still make use of a full training hour in a way that’s more creative and engaging that “static stretching” while also not additionally taxing the musculature or aerobic system.

1/23/24: Strength, Level 2

Intention:

“The movements are designed to fatigue similar muscle groups differently, so choosing the load you pick will impact how this session goes. For each piece, the goal is to use the same weight for each movement, and if you’re feeling froggy, use the same weight for parts 1 and 2. “

Warm Up:

3 sets of:
3 Shoulder CARs (each side)
150 ft. Dual KB Front Rack Carry
10 Reverse Walking Lunges (each side, unweighted)

Work:

Part 1:
10-1 (10, 9, 8… 1)
KB Gorilla Rows
KB Box Step Ups (20”, each leg)

Part 2:
10-1 (10, 9, 8… 1)
KB Floor Press
Renegade Rows (each arm)

Part 3:
10-1 (10, 9, 8… 1)
Hanging Leg Raise
Sit Up

Finisher:
5 min running clock
Dead hang from a pull-up bar
*every time you break, complete 5x push-ups
*the clock doesn’t stop, the goal is to accumulate as much hang time as possible.

Results:

warm = 1 set carry at 12 Kg KB, 2 at 16 Kg KB

parts 1 & 2 = 2 x 12 Kg KB
Hang = 70 +50 +30 +40 (quick jump = fail)

Notes:

What worked well and what allowed it:
Maintaining a controlled breath cadence (Gear 3 for me) seemed important here to keep chugging along for the long sets (step ups and renegade rows).

What didn’t work and why:
Mentally this was a tough session. I wasn’t feeling it and wanted to cash out and chalk the session up to life stress many times. So, taking advantage of the session not being “for time” I reminded myself to close my eyes, take a breath, and keep going.

Plan for next time:
This session frames timed sessions nicely (see Friday’s FYF) where biases can be shown. If I error conservatively on the load, then I can still finish; but if I overestimate my ability, I may fail and learn more.

1/24/24: Sport, Level 2

Intention:

Today we continued to focus on open / sit-up guard passing and implementing techniques from this video:

Warm Up:

~0.5 hour drilling and discussion

Work:

~0.5 hours positional / bad position sparring:
2 x 2 min - no-contact open guard (first to score or submit)
2 x 2 min - half-guard (first to score or submit)
2 x 2 min - standing (first to score or submit)
4 x 2 min - back mount (escape or submit)

Notes:

What worked well and what allowed it:
Overall, maintaining heavy collar ties on my partners stifled a lot of their offense — may my legs “feel far away.”

What didn’t work and why:
A couple times I got too greedy and underestimated a couple young wrestlers who didn’t stay grounded for long in half-guard, and were quick with the counters on my takedown attempts.

Plan for next time:
Explore Brandon Reed’s breakdown of Gordon Ryan’s wrestling: never settle, always heavy, hips high.

1/25/24: Sport, Level 1

Intention:

Brandon Reed, a three time national champion, posted a video in Instagram briefly recapping his training at New Wave JJ and he noted several key points of Gordon Ryan’s wrestling that I wanted the team to focus on in this session.
*Note that these Thursday sessions are typically technique focused for me, so the difficulty / complexity rating is generally low. However, for actual participants in the class it’s generally Level 2, with occasional Level 1 if the subject is really dense, or a rare Level 3.

Warm Up:

Drilling last week’s technique: head-post and collar-tie setup

Work:

Drilling components from the below videos.

My training included teaching class, about 15 min of drilling and 15 min of live takedowns.

Notes:

1/26/24: Capacity, Level 3

Intention:

These short, hard sessions, are not to be underestimated. The “work” segment may only be 30 minutes, but you may be laying in a puddle for 20 minutes after that. With that said, knowing your pace early will be crucial, and this sort of “recoverability” session will be very applicable to grappling and combat sports.

Warm Up:

6-minute Air Bike: increasing pace each minute

Then, 3 rounds of:
60ft Dual KB overhead carry
60ft Dual KB front rack carry
60ft Dual KB farmer’s carry
rest 1 min
*don’t set KBs down between carries, keep wrists locked

Work:

10 rounds of:
2 minutes work / 2 minutes rest
Kettle Bell Complex:

• Deadlift
• Swing
• Goblet Squat
• Headcutter
• *each round add one rep to each movement

Air Bike for calories - in the remaining 2-minutes

Final Score = total calories

Results:

Warm Up: 64 cal, 2 x 12Kg KBs

Work:
32Kg KB, 101 cals
26:30 - took entire 2 min for lifts on 9th set
30:30 - finished the 10th set

Notes:

What worked well and what allowed it:
I finished, and it was hard. Other shit becomes less important after you have an accurate measure of yourself — such as after a test, regardless if you passed or failed.

What didn’t work and why:
Volume corrects. My lower back is weak, and I know this. This means that overhead lifts are challenged by being too far forward when my scapula doesn’t retract. I almost dropped the last rep on my head, but I got it done, this was just at the edge of my “limit.”

Plan for next time:
Alas, the familiar cycle of anticipation, fear, and avoidance. While session style (endurance, strength, capacity) can be programmed and predicted, the intensity cannot.

1/27/24: Sport, Level 2

Intention

Emphasize collar ties and hand fighting; block partner’s lead leg, follow hands for low defensive stance, or high collar tie set ups.

Warm Up:

Drill / Discussion - 3 x 5 min rounds

Work:

Wrestling Focused Rounds - 6 x 5 min
Open Rounds - 2 x 5 min

Results:

1:45 open mat

Support:

5 min alternate nostril breathing
1 min each side at 5-5 cadence
remaining 10-10 cadence

Notes:

What worked well and what allowed it:
In order to address oscillating between a defensive (low) stance and offensive (high / head hunting) stance, always addressing (1) partner’s lead leg and (2) their hands, allows me to shut down or re-direct their offense while keeping me safer on my own attacks.

What didn’t work and why:
Occasionally I’d still give up an underhook and have to counter or defend some throws. Typically this came from being a little to greedy and swooping with the collar ties. However, the lower body attacks were well defended.

Plan for next time:
The front-quarter-nelson worked very well with this series and the concept of weighing on your opponent. I need to finish the “Bo Know Takedowns” instructional for more of this.

1/28/24: Rest

Notes:

What worked well and what allowed it:
A long, mild endurance session was on the docket for today. I had a bro-date in the early afternoon that went pleasantly long. It was rainy and I had some house chores to catch up on. A hot bath and chillin’ with the dogs was time well wasted.

What didn’t work and why:
Having two hard-ish day in a row really compounded. My neck was killing me from two weeks of collar tie focused wrestling. Overall I’ve been able to manage session intensity in this program pretty well, though it seems “passive rest days” are about as in/frequent as “all-in Level 3” days (slightly less actually).

Plan for next time:
What we want to avoid is training in the middle ground too much, where we feel like we’re working hard (perceived effort) but actually only turning in fractional results of what we’re capable of. Think of recovery as the savings account you accumulate before paying for your training rather than buying on credit and having to catch up later.