2024 - 08 - 05

I would categorize my last 6-week training block as “general fitness” meaning the focus was on movement, aerobic endurance, and rehabilitation. While technically I’m not moving into a “specific fitness” block, in terns of capacity training, it’s time to strengthen the movements I’ve rehabilitated.

Summary:

Now that I have some general fitness capabilities back (i.e. ranges of movement) I want to put myself through the programming methodologies I learned with my CCC program.

I’ve already started doing that with a few clients and generally speaking that looks like: a 3 to 6 month goal broken down into general, specific, and competition “blocks.” Each “block” consists of a volume, intensity, and stabilization “phase.”

Within each phase I like to make sure there’s an “intention” to every week which should be addressing micro-adjustments and specific limiting factors. Even more granular, but in the same vein, there should be a daily objective or some habits (generally geared towards sleep, nutrition, and stress/mood) that build towards our goal.

After some re-review of other materials I wanted to simplify my training journal some. For example, I don’t want to get buried in repetitive or distracting data, but I do want to monitor training volume, intensity, whether or not I’m stretching my comfort zone, and if I’m generally more/less stressed, and getting more/less sleep.

I also want to make sure I’m using that information constructively (e.g. making a plan for next week) rather than just busying myself collecting and crunching numbers.

9.75 hours total

Overview:

• 6-Month Goal (12/31/24): Compete as black belt in 2024.
• 8-Week Block (9/8/24): Specific Fitness
• Phase: Volume (week 1 of 3)
• Intention: Increase global training volume (6.13 hours / annual avg.)

Assessment:

Moving averages are a useful tool in the financial world, but I’ve also talked about them before regarding measuring acute vs. chronic states (of stress and sleep in this case).

You can see that in general I’m getting about the same amount of sleep in the last week (on average) as I was over the past month (on average). That’s useful because sleep is our primary recovery method, so it becomes a control when other variables change.

For example, we see that my stress has gone up a little over the past week (average) compared to the last month (average). That’s a pretty clear indicator of a change in training stimulus.

Intervention:

Above, I mentioned that my annual average training hours is about 6 in 2024, but that’s partly skewed by my injury and how my record keeping has changed throughout the year.

I know that I when I’ve been in “hard” training blocks before, I typically cap at about 9-10 hours of training / week.

Here you can see that I dropped tracking multiple “habits” in favor of some specific ones; seeking discomfort and an objective related to the week’s intention.

I didn’t have an objective for every day because I made this change midway through the week. I wanted to have some numbers to look at, but in general the “discomfort seeking” should be related to sport training.

Reflection:

Limiting Factors / Where to Improve:

• Choose your hard: While I’m building my fitness volume, I’m going to have to chose my “development” days wisely. Since the objective of this training block is to develop strength, rather than “specific fitness” or “comp prep”, sparring might have to take a temporary backseat.

Injury / Illness / PRs:

• Right Knee: I have about 95% ROM back in my right knee and there is still some persistent swelling. However, I’ve started to lift and roll without a brace, though the numbers are light and I’m refraining from leglocks and wrestling (*ugh*) for the time being.

Action Plan:

• Make habits / objectives goal specific. Walking the dogs more, dry fire practice, and evening walks are all great, but they don’t have much to do with BJJ.
• “Lessons learned” or “what did / didn’t work well” is just mental masturbation unless you take action on those insights.
• Tracking “technical, tactical, and fitness” abilities is vague and generally unhelpful. The score is relative to…what? Your best? Your best this year? The best in the world? This is what our various training blocks and intentions should be addressing for us if we’ve paid attention along the way.
• Action: Training journal has been simplified. Keep what is useful. Don’t waste time duplicating things that aren’t. Focus on your intention.

Training Sessions:

Monday:

**Warm:**Zone 2 x 10 min
4 x 10 Step Up

**Work:**Back Squat
5 x 10 Tempo (2-1-0)

Support:
2 x 10 Front Squat

**Results:**80 cal
BW x 24”
185#
95#

Tuesday:

**Warm:**Zone 2 x 10 min
5 x 10 Piston Press

Work:
Strict Press
5 x 10 Tempo (2-1-0)

Support:
2 x 10 Ring Dip

Results:
83 cal
40#
75#
BW

Thursday:

Warm:
Zone 2 x 10 min
4 x 10 RDL

**Work:**EMOM / 10
-5” Deficit Dead Lift x 1

Support:
5-4-3-2-1
Pull Up (chest-to-bar)

**Results:**80 cal
80#
275#
BW

Sunday:

My current mobility routine is largely based on this. There a few substitute movements that I like better to target the same joints, and a couple things I’m still working on with my knee; but this is a great all around reference.

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