2024 - 07 - 15

5-weeks post-injury, things are finally starting to get back to normal; with BJJ taking up the majority of my training, improved range of motion, and ramping up the endurance grind.

Mobility is not a passive endeavor, it actively challenges the physiology like training any other energy system.

Summary:

I’m quite happy with the progress I’ve been able to make thus far. Every week I keep re-focusing my mobility training, both to incorporate my upper body, but also to specifically target the ranges of movement that are difficult for my knee.

With that I’m happy to sweat it out on my tried and true nemesis — The Echo Bike — the SOB never seems to get tired no matter how many watts I put through it!

I was able to actually roll-roll without babying myself, though of course I had to choose intensities, positions, and partners wisely. I put in a full 8 rounds on a balmy Saturday, and the only consequence was a minor limp for couple hours after due to fatigue.

Looking over my past 10 endurance session (both pre and post injury), my heart rate tends to kick up over the “session average” at around 7.5 minutes. I thought this was interesting in a number of ways:

1. I’ve talked about “capacity” in terms of where you have to shift to a “true Zone 2” pace (that you can hold for 60+ minutes) before and for me that’s usually around 30-40 minutes — making that an appropriate endurance training session.
2. Regarding the 7.5 minute range though, what is the average BJJ training round? Most gyms I’ve trained at run a 5:00 or 6:00 clock.
3. What’s my competition 5K pace? ~8-9 minutes / mile… to finish in under 30 minutes (see above).

To me this is really neat in terms of “pacing.” It changes I think of different ranges of “work capacity” in there are multiple paces / intervals. It makes a ton of sense that if I’ve rolled thousands of 5-minute rounds, then my general conditioning or work output can lats for intervals slightly longer than that.

I’d have to really dig back in my logs, but I think that is also very similar to what I found doing O2 Mobilization training — that my longest and best intervals were about 5-7 minutes (of a 17 or 18 cal / min pace). After that, my aerobic system couldn’t keep up.

Training Distribution:

Overview:

• 6-Month Goal (12/31/24): Compete as black belt in 2024.
• 8-Week Objective (8/12/24): Rehabilitate right knee.
• Weekly Intention: Daily rehab and moderate endurance work.

Program Management:

Assessment:

Reflection:

What worked well:

Rolling “regular rounds” was maybe a bit premature this week. However, I chose positions and partners carefully. In some ways this has forced me to revisit a lot of upper body attacks and movements that are not typically in my A-Game. I can still feel the fatigue set in after a few rounds, but Saturday featured a full 8 x 5 min rounds and nothing broke or was grossly swolen, though I was slightly limping for an hour or two after.

Where do I need to improve:

See “lessons learned - what do I need less of.” I’ve often made the suggestion to clients to not add more “habits” or “changes” until there’s a high degree (say 75-80%) compliance for a long enough time that basically don’t have to think about it. The “habits” have become “routine” and the routine a “lifestyle.” I need to make sure I’m removing the barriers and buttoning down on the things I’m saying are important to me.

Lessons learned:

• What do I need to do more of?

  • Relaxation. I was emphasizing to a fitness client this week how much work “recovery” actually is, and what most people descriptive as “active recovery” is usually either quite passive, or much too active and thus antithetical to recovering. By the same token “Netflix and chill” isn’t a great method either; since more screen time is quite stimulating to our CNS. I’m already pretty good about walking my dogs before bed, but getting more diligent about a screen curfew or perhaps a cold mask + breath work before bed might be a good idea.

• What do I need to do less of?

  • Fewer “habits.” Some of the things I was tracking above, are to-dos or chores. As I explained to a client recently, habits are “stackable” or “click” with each other. For example I scored very well on the things I do first thing in the morning, all in a row: get dressed / dry fire, walk the dogs, train the dogs, film study (with coffee!). That also seems to suggest that getting things done early is important versus putting them off where it seems likely they’ll get put off even further.
  • Also, if I’m going out to a bar or brewery, doing that earlier rather than later seems like a better option. I’ve said this before, but even if I’m not super hungover, I’m more groggy and brain-fogged and it just seems to create a cascade from staying up late, maybe making poor food choices, less sleep, worse sleep, and then bumbling around in the morning.

• What do I need to continue doing?

  • BJJ is slowly creeping back to the majority of my training, which was what I was re-focusing on prior to getting injured. As I’m essentially back to full training, but with minor movement limitations, I’m mostly limited only by intensity right now (e.g. full pace rounds / wrestling, heavy lifting, metabolic conditioning).

Injury / Illness / PR:

“Phase 3” (video below) is complete, where I feel good getting my heart rate up and can ride a bike and do a full squat (but not for very long) — though I still can’t sit back on my heels.

“Phase 4” will continue to get more specific in targeting range of motion as well as testing light strength training and seeing if I can run as well — since I started to get some minor tennis elbow flare ups from riding the bike a lot.

Session Details & Extras:

What I’m Studying:

Training Sessions:

Tuesday: 7/16/24 Endurance

Echo Bike: 214 cal / 25 min = 8.6 cal / min

Wednesday: 7/17/24 Endurance

Echo Bike: 209 cal / 25 min = 8.4 cal / min

Thursday: 7/18/24 Endurance

Echo Bike: 256 cal / 30 min = 8.5 cal / min

Saturday: 7/20/24 Sport

8 x 5 min grappling rounds (Open Mat)

Sunday: 7/21/24 Strength

EMOM / 10

8” Deficit Dead Lift x 1

135 lbs.

(Almost) Daily Mobility:

Rehab Phase 3: Same as Phase 2, but specifically targeting knee rotation and flexion.

• Phase 2 (previous): Injury specific (medial side) rehab exercises + resistance bands + upper body mobility; start low-impact endurance work.
• Phase 1.5 (previous): Generic knee rehab with added upper body mobility.
• Phase 1 (previous): Orthopedic generic knee rehab.