2024 - 03 - 25

This week could be categorized as “active recovery.” There was a lot of movement exploration in order to detach from outcome measures. Sometimes a mobility session doesn’t “feel hard” until the next day, and almost always finding a creative way to break a sweat beats sitting on the couch.

Summary:

I cheated and peaked ahead at a few days’ programming. After all, the goal of FFP is explicitly not to just blindly follow what someone else has programmed. That means if I know Friday is going to have a little extra FY in it, then Monday and Tuesday might be lighter.

Grappling this week continued to focus on leg lock breaking mechanics and also started transitioning to pins (which set up the breaks).

Starting the week with hypertrophy and mobility was interestingly difficult as I “felt pretty beat up” later in the week. However, exploring different ways to improve movement and keep blood flowing was a fun down shift from a competitive results-driven top end.

Content:

• Monday: Free Fall Program 009 - Strength Endurance / Hypertrophy
• Tuesday: Free Fall Program 006 - Mobility
• Wednesday: NoGi BJJ - Mount Escape to Leg Entry
• Thursday: NoGi BJJ - Outside Heel Hook Breaking Mechanics
• Friday: Free Fall Program 011 - Injury Mitigation
• Saturday: NoGi BJJ - Pinning for Leg Locks
• Sunday: Free Fall Program 012 - Style / Endurance

3/25/24: Strength Endurance (Hypertrophy), Level 1

Intention:

The focus here was on “stimulating muscles to grow”, or the feeling of “pump” and acidity. Typically this is achieved with moderate-high volume. With this structure in mind, I targeted movements that were uncomplicated, but important to my mobility development.

Warm Up:

10-20-30-20-10 (not for time):
Lunge
Push Up

Then,
Thoracic CARs x 3-2-1 each direction
Around the World x 3-2-1- each direction

Work:

EMOM/10, Front Squat x 1
* add weight each set

EMOM/10, Front Squat x 1
* add 1 rep / set

EMOM/10, Front Squat x 1
* 1 sec pause, add 1 sec / set

Results:

Warm: 10 lbs plate

Work 1: 135 - 275 lbs.
Work 2: 225 lbs. through set of 5, then 145 lbs.
Work 3: 120 lbs.

Notes:

What worked well and what allowed it:
If the goal was volume or time under tension, then this session surely met that. Not much of a warm up was needed, because of the accumulation nature of the session.

What didn’t work and why:
The loading was a bit off for this session. Initially, I had thought about using the same load for each EMOM. However, even if I started with a conservative +5-10 lbs this wouldn’t have worked out.

Plan for next time:
Taking smaller bites (e.g. 1-5) might have been a better idea, or setting out a specific tempo for straight sets (e.g. 3 x 8) would have also been a good idea. However, as I’ve noted before, the time limiting EMOMs keep the sessions efficient keep you from chasing numbers.

3/26/24: Strength (Mobility), Level

Intention:

“We define mobility as the crossing point between control and range of motion. We train mobility the same we would with other energy systems, it is a stress that you need time to recover from and adapt to.”

Work:

Overhead Squat (PVC): 5 x 10 reps
Cossack Squat: 5 x 10 reps
Cat-Cow (1 sec pauses): 5 x 10 reps
Banded Dislocate: 5 x 10 reps
Deep Squat: 20 x 1 min

*I did this as a circuit. The focus is the deep squats and you get a break every 1 min “rep” to change up the movement.

Notes:

What worked well and what allowed it:
For the record, this session was spread out throughout an entire day. Sometimes life happens and we have to adjust. So, this “session” was really an accumulation of micro-sessions to make up for a missed day on Tuesday.

What didn’t work and why:
The volume on the Cossacks was a bit high, because I was really feeling it in my high hamstring (under the butt cheek) for a couple days after.

Plan for next time:
The deep squat is great, but a paused / temp OHS would be even better to keep the mid/low back accountable.

3/27/24: Sport, Level 2

Intention:

Kyle’s class this week focused on some of the details of the ADCC ruleset (for sparring) and the technical part of class looked at mount escapes to single-leg-x position.

Warm Up:

Hip-catch game

Work:

1 hour instruction
0.5 hours bad position (mount) and takedowns

Notes:

What worked well and what allowed it:
Definitely knowing the ruleset and adapting tactics is an advantage. The devil can really be in the details as far as what’s “scored” and what positionally gets compromised in the process.

What didn’t work and why:
Sometimes it’s frustrating, but important to remember that “bad positions” are, well, bad. So, most “escapes” don’t work on the first attempt.

Plan for next time:
The next block I’ll look at in class is probably attacks from the back, specifically for myself I need / want to develop an arm-saddle (armbar attack from the back) series.

3/28/24: Sport, Level 1

Intention:

Today we took what we’ve been learning about heel hook breaking mechanics from “inside” positions and applied it to “outside” positions. We also added some details about creating rolls to create an even stronger break.

Warm Up:

Foot-pummel drill from 50/50

Work:

1.5 hours active drilling (total)
~0.5 hours movement for myself

Notes:

What worked well and what allowed it:
Magically, in a class full of (mostly) white belts, no one’s knee magically exploded. For the 1,000th time, heelhooks are note more dangerous than any other submission.

What didn’t work and why:
A few people struggled with finishing from the back-side, but this will likely get cleaned up when we emphasize pinning — because to pin our opponent naturally mitigates the “unraveling” that compliments their escape.

Plan for next time:
Now that breaking has been thoroughly covered, we can and continue to work backwards towards pinning in the coming weeks, but first an overview of late-stage escapes will allow us some positional sparring this coming week.

3/29/24: Injury Mitigation (), Level

Intention:

“Seek out a session with movements you can’t do, due to injury or lack of skill. Doctor the session so you can still perform it with the intended sensations and energy system, but so that your issue doesn’t set you back.”

Warm Up:

5 min AirBike (easy)

5 Rounds of:
1,000 Watts on AirBike, right into
Chin up x 5 (1 sec pause at top)
Rest until 3:3 nose breathing

Work:

1 min step up (tall)
15 sec dead hang (chin-up grip)
Repeat 3x
Rest 2 min

3 rounds total

Support:

Reverse Grip Bent-Over Row (band): 3 x 10
Assisted (block / box) forward fold: 3 x 30 sec

Results:

Warm: 49 cal, 1078 max watts
Work: 26” box

Notes:

What worked well and what allowed it:
For the step ups the goal was to pick a height that would challenge movement without requiring swinging, bouncing, climbing etc. and still allow you to pump a pace higher than Zone 2 (so probably > 20 reps / min). You don’t want it so tall your back rounds and it becomes a climb.

What didn’t work and why:
I wanted to try and address some mobility here, but that was kind of difficult with also wanting an intense interval structure. Mostly this focused on re/pre-hab for my elbows, getting a lot of external rotation in. Though with my hamstrings, also wanted to tackle them without stressing the low back — since that should have been addressed with an adequate height in the step up.

Plan for next time:
Overall I wanted this session to “feel hard” but not impair recovery, it also needed to fit a recoverability (or interval) structure. Getting some early sprints in was nice, and you could definitely let off the gas on the intervals or let the movement challenge (if you hit the sweet spot) keep you honest and temper the pace a bit.

3/30/24: Sport, Level 1

Intention:

For this session, I was still feeling a little beat up, so the goal was to aim for lighter rounds, focusing still on leg lock breaking mechanics, but also pinning positions (entanglements).

Work:

1.5 hour Open Mat

Results:

8 x 6 min rounds
Density: 53% ((8*6)/90)
Focus: 75% (6/8 rounds)

Notes:

What worked well and what allowed it:
Emphasis on pinning definitely afforded more time to set up a devastating break rather than just cowboy-flying into positions.

What didn’t work and why:
Overall these rounds were more on the “active drilling” side of things, the next step will be to see what falls apart pinning-wise when the pace picks up.

Plan for next time:
This week’s Thursday class will continue to look at breaking mechanics with some late stage defenses.

3/31/24: Style (Endurance), Level 1

Intention:

“Many times as coaches or athletes, we find ourselves associating styles of training with training signals, EMOM equals strength, AMRAP equals capacity, and Chipper equals strength endurance, but style is fluid and should be treated as such… Seek out a session, and change the style, keep the same movements and intended energy system, doctor the way it’s played.”

Warm Up:

Walk 1 mile, experiment with breath pattern

Experiment with loads / movements for “work”

Work:

Tank pull (neutral) x 30m
Forward Step (over tank) x 30
Tank push (neutral) x 30m
Lateral Step (over tank) x 30
KB Suitcase Carry x 30m / 30m
Backwards Step (over KB) x 30

Repeat for 40 min
Goal = Zone 2 HR

Support:

Walk 1 mile, experiment with breath pattern

Result:

20 Kg KB
Time: 30 min
Avg. HR: 94

Notes:

What worked well and what allowed it:
It felt good to break a sweat and not have to take a passive rest day, also, exploring some new movements (backward and lateral steps) was a fun way to detach from a given outcome since I knew I couldn’t train hard today and if I pushed it I’d suffer consequences later in the week.

What didn’t work and why:
While the movements were stimulating, they were a bit too complicated. The loading was about right, since I didn’t feel any acidic “pump” build up, however, the time / rep was a bit long because of the complicated movements. That meant that HR stayed relatively low. 30 min in I had a decent sweat going here, but knew I missed the mark on HR so I cut the session there.

Plan for next time:
Similar to Friday’s session, shortening the range on the lateral and backwards steps may have allowed the pace to increase and HR to hit the target range I wanted.