2024 - 02 - 26

What better way to end a GPP program than a grinding grimy 60-min endurance circuit! This was the last week of NonProphets’s Escape Velocity Program and it was the perfect capstone; heavy pumps, playful grappling, confronting intensity, and an endurance slog.

Summary:

Friday’s FYF was the most pointed session of the week. I was disappointed with my self. By the clock and barbell, my “score” wasn’t bad, but I felt like I was stuck in second gear — literally.
I don’t think I left anything on the table, but having rested 10 minutes or so, I could have repeated the effort. The difficult confrontation was again that I need more endurance / O2 mobilization work. The machine segments were just long enough that I couldn’t really put the pedal down without gassing out.
Saturday was a rejuvenating “play” session. Initially I wanted to drill the entire day, but threw in a couple (literally 2) hard rounds, and spent a lot of time exploring new movements, throwing things against the wall, and re-hashing / re-fining old ideas.
A full review of the Escape Velocity program will be coming out later this month.

Contents:

• Monday: Escape Velocity Session 33: Strength / Mobility
• Tuesday: Escape Velocity Session 34: Strength Endurance
• Wednesday: BJJ / NoGi - Closed Guard Passing
• Thursday: BJJ / NoGi - Wrestling Sprawls and Sit-Outs
• Friday: Escape Velocity Session 35: Capacity / FYF
• Saturday: BJJ / NoGI - Play, Drill, Leglocks, Wrestling
• Sunday: Escape Velocity Session 36: Endurance

2/26/24: Strength / Mobility , Level 2

Intention:

As noted in previous weeks, these types of sessions get their “level” from movement difficulty / complexity rather than “intensity” of engagement. With that said, they should be designed to explore and address deficiencies in movement rather than energy utilization.

Warm Up:

3 x 10 of each:
Scap Pull-Up
Hollow swing from bar
Hollow rock

3 x 3 of each (strict):
Chin-Up
Toes-to-bar
Wall walk

Work:

3 x 5 OHS (empty barbell)
3 x 30 sec soleus stretch
10 min deep squat
* every 20 seconds do one squat, add one rep each minute

3 x 30 sec strict pigeon pose (each side)

Notes:

What worked well and what allowed it:
For the first part of the “work” interval I substituted the suggested hip / shoulder CARs for similar movements that more specifically attacked my areas of need; I also tried to force perfect form in the pigeon poses rather than add load.

What didn’t work and why:
I kept the squats snatch width (narrow) and tried to emphasize keeping my back flat, which hurt

Plan for next time:
These sessions are good reminders of what needs work, and something I’ll carry over into my next programming block

2/27/24: Strength, Level 1

Intention:

The goal of this session was strength endurance. The movements weren’t complicated, though they did compound on top of each other. The intention, I believe, is to hammer the same muscle group with different movements and explore which elicit different struggles.

Warm Up:

3 sets of 20 each:
* as a complex - rest between sets, not movementsDB Standing Shoulder Press
DB Standing Bent Over Rows
DB Curls (both sides)

Work:

Part 1:
Cascade Ladder (10-1 by 1; 10-9-8…1): Seated DB Clean and Press
”Rest” 10 seconds between sets at bottom position (“farmer hold”)
When you fail to complete the ladder, start it over with a lighter weight.

Part 2:
DB Piston Press: 8-5-3-2
*lock 1 arm, do 8 reps, lock that arm, 8 reps on other side, lock that arm, 5 reps on first side, lock that arm, 5 reps on second side, etc.

Part 3:
2 rounds of:
Seated DB lateral raise x 30
Rest 30 seconds
Seated DB front raise x 30
Rest 30 seconds
Seated Bent-over Rear Delt Fly x 30

Results:

Warm Up:
1 set each with 2 x 20 / 15 / 10 lbs.

Work:
Part 1 - First set completed unbroken with 2 x 12.5 lbs. Second set with 2 x 22.5 lbs. completed through set of 6.
Part 2 - 2 x 22.5 lbs / 30 lbs / 40 lbs / 60 lbs.
Part 3 - First round completed with 2 x 7.5 lbs. Second round completed with 2 x 5 lbs.

Notes:

What worked well and what allowed it:
In Part 2, the initial pump from Part 1 had me scared very light, but the presses ended up feeling surprisingly good. 60 lbs. was pretty tough, but a good working load.

What didn’t work and why:
Grip was a major limiting factor in Part 1. I was scared light again by not wanting to start over, but I wanted to test the limit and still did decent with the initial ambitious load of 2 x 22.5 lbs. which got nixed before the first set.

Plan for next time:
You can never have too much grip strength.

2/28/24: Sport, Level 2

Intention:

Kyle’s class tonight focused on maintaining posture in and breaking the closed guard. The emphasis was on exploring the position and failing / finding what does and doesn’t work with varying degrees of resistance.

Warm Up:

Grip Fighting

Work:

• posture in the closed guard (top)
• grip fighting from top position (in closed guard)
• standing to break closed guard
• positional sparring from broken posture
• bad position sparring from side control (bottom person must get on top or submit top person to win)

Notes:

What worked well and what allowed it:
I had an aggressive series on top with Kyle, I chased his back, but didn’t get (leg) hooks in to secure the position, but I transitioned well to an armbar attempt and then to a kneebar, and still came up neutral. Tactically, this was a notable difference from simply “cutting and running” back to neutral and trying to get another takedown.

What didn’t work and why:
I still lost the position with Kyle because he didn’t allow the (leg) hooks, so my attempt at the back take was a little premature.

Plan for next time:
Buddha and I got into an interesting scramble from closed guard where I was close to attempting a toe-hold, but he was keeping my hips secure and playing cautious as well. I want to explore this scenario more during Open Mat.

2/29/24:

Intention:

Today’s class focused on counter or defensive wrestling. I wanted class to explore defensive measures for “not allowing” takedowns or conceding bad positions.

Warm Up:

6 minutes grip fighting
6 minutes connect-2
6 minutes shoot and lift

Work:

Various degrees of sprawling (with and without hands) and sit-outs with and without cut-backs.

Notes:

What worked well and what allowed it:
Overall people seem to be doing really well with “warming up with last class” to emphasize grip fighting and setting up takedowns.

What didn’t work and why:
A few people got confused which way to turn for sit-outs and “taking the head” vs. securing the hips. This is a coaching error on my part, but also illustrates the emphasis on “needing the ‘right response’” in order to practice certain counter measures.

Plan for next time:
I, myself, want to get a few more wrestling scrambles in. I told the class that I had predicted, after last ADCC that “scrambles would become positions” and that has held true.

3/1/24: Capacity, Level 3

Intention:

This was an interesting session to (almost) wrap the program on. On one hand, you could make the F in FYF mild and let yourself off the hook with a light load. On the other hand you might really give yourself a flogging or f***ing if hubris takes over.

Warm Up:

AirBike 1.5 miles
11x Push Up
11x Strict Press (overhead)
11x Front Row
11x Bent Over Row
11x Curl (strict)
Repeat 2 more times

Work:

Same as warm up, but push the pace on the machine and increase the barbell load.

Result:

Warm Up:
45 lbs., 27:57, mostly Gear 2 (breath)

Work:
65 lbs., 18:11

Notes:

What worked well and what allowed it:
My initial intuition of ~1/3 body weight was a reasonable load for this session. The pressing movements weren’t too difficult, but the isolated curls were a struggle.

What didn’t work and why:
This was really frustrating to feel that I was literally stuck in second gear. As much as I wanted to turn up the pace in during the machine work, I didn’t want to gas out, so I was relegated to a little over Zone 2.

Plan for next time:
This one hurt, mostly my pride. My time and load were comparable to others, but I felt disappointed that with a 5-10 minute rest I could have repeated the effort, but that wasn’t the session structure. I simply couldn’t pack enough in to the 20 minute interval and had to fall back to Zone 2 maintenance which was a major time sink.

3/2/24: Sport, Level 1

Intention:

The goal of this session was to have fun. I didn’t count density or focus, though of course I wanted to continue to drill wrestling and begin going over my leglock material again. I asked questions of lower belts when they had an effective maneuver, I threw in a couple hard rounds, and mostly played around with new ideas — which isn’t the same as beating up white belts, just running your “normal / A” game.

Warm Up:

5 min Grip Fighting

5 min Conenct-2 Drill

Work:

2-hour open mat

Notes:

What worked and what allowed it:
I feel like my ground and standing games are clicking well together. The dual threat of wrestling and leglocks is dangerous to anyone. Being able to play and flow this session, not without focus, but with emphasis on “dancing”, or playing like lion cubs was not only tons of fun, but educational.

What didn’t work and why:
Hubris got me in a nasty toe-hold / heel hook with a visiting purple belt and I probably should have tapped. I was able to escape and resolve the round, but then asked what kind of opportunity my partner saw.

Plan for next time:
Never stop exploring. Never stop learning. Never stop playing.

3/3/24: Endurance, Level 1

Intention:

“We will often use the first round or two as the warmup before settling into pacing for longer sessions like this that don’t have any loading. However, touch on any areas you deem necessary for your warmup before embarking on the journey below.“ Try to pick a pace you can keep between movements and for the entire session.

Warm Up:

Walk 1.25 miles to the gym.
Play with movements and weights to use for session.

Work:

For Time:
10-20-30-40-50-40-30-20-10 calories / reps on each:
Run (treadmill)
Bike (Assault Bike)
Ball-Over-Shoulder (30 lbs.)
*the set of 50-50-50 is only done once at the peak

Walk 1.25 miles home.

Result:

1:07:31

Notes:

What worked well and what allowed it:
Overall I kept a pretty consistent pace. The treadmill was a nice check point because the pace stayed the same and gave a measuring stick for my relative fatigue. The ball-over-shoulder was also a nice substitute rowing (hing + pull). It felt good to have some confidence and pick the pace up a little in the last 2-3 rounds as well.

What didn’t work and why:
The hardest round was the second set of 40. I considered using a KB swing or standing clean, clean + press, snatch, etc. but those seemed to compound too significantly with time and / or load. The ball-overs allowed for an easy movement that could be made linearly more difficult by increasing pace.

Plan or next time:
I kept my breath in the Gear 2 range up to the end of the first set of 40, then shifted to Gear 3/4 for the set of 50. It was an important lesson to embrace the transition and not commit too much to one pattern. For example, if the session was only half finished and I was already in top gear, I wouldn’t make it if I stayed there. So, I had to accept a slower pace to try and recovery (second set of 40). However, if I had stayed there I would have had the opposite problem, selling myself a bit short in the later rounds.