Hey all,

Background:
I am a very physically active person. I've never really had a problem working out, as long as it was a fun activity. Though I haven't lifted in years, I've kept myself in decent shape through rock climbing, running, flag football, ultimate Frisbee, biking, etc.

I have been doing martial arts (BJJ and Muay Thai) for the past few months. I've enjoyed it alot, and I've learned alot as well. I typically go 3-5 times a week, with a mix of both.

Rock climbing- I have been climbing for probably 1.5 years. There aren't any spots in Nebraska to climb outdoors, unfortunately. That said, I can sport climb outdoors (trad leading I'm awful at setting the pieces). Most of my climbing is done indoors, where we have a gym near my house. Before martial arts (MA), I climbed probably 5x a week...now it's down to 2-3x.

Diet: I've always had a fairly bad diet. It's probably better than some other poker players (which isn't saying much), but it is still less than ideal.

I eat fairly clean during the week, but on the weekend it just goes to hell. I allow myself 4 times eating out a week.

I do eat breakfast every morning, I do eat my allotted amount of fruits and veggies each day (typically)...my problem right now is portion sizing. I love eating until I'm super stuffed. sometimes I like eating IHOP on late night binges. Either way, I need to control my sizing and also NOT EAT WHEN I'M NOT HUNGRY!

I am currently about 5'9/185. I'd like to get back down to 175-180 where I was in the summer, but whatever.

Why I am making this log: I need motivation. Today I skipped my morning BJJ class out of laziness. Lately, this has been a problem. I'll muster stupid excuses to myself on why I'm not going to class. This has to stop- with the weather getting colder, I can't simply just make an excuse to go run or bike instead of do my class.

I'm hoping this log will keep me accountable as well as provide me with some knowledge (wrt workouts).

Goals:
-MA 4x a week
-Cardio 1-2x a week (my Muay Thai class is pretty much all cardio, so this one isn't as necessary).
-Rock climbing 2-3x a week.
-EAT CLEAN! I'm going to keep my 4x a week eating out, maybe I can eventually cut it down. I did not eat frozen food for 3 years but I'm starting to eat more and more these days.

Anyways, I don't plan on working out this saturday. Once CFB ends I probably will start climbing on saturdays/sundays. But my general schedule is to do MA 4-5x a week during the weekday, along with 1-2 times climbing.

One of my questions I have is how often should you let your body rest? I've been pretty bad with this in the past, and at times, I sometimes do workout for 7-10 days straight. I know that sometimes I should just give my body a break.

In any event, here is a picture of myself in the summer, where I was probably 180ish. I'd like to lose about 5-7 pounds to get back close to this-



/end gayness

Thanks for reading. I will start each post in this fashion:

Workout:

What I learned:

Diet today:

Notes:

Sup dude, long time no talk.

FAQ + lift some barbells!

ETA: I realize this may not seem to mesh with your goals, I really mean to reorganize your schedule to include 2-3 sessions of barbell work per week (something modified from SS in the FAQ, most likely).

Re: overtraining, I don't think the intensity of any one thing you're doing will lead to overtraining as long as you're eating and sleeping well, but idk too much about overtraining.

Two of my favorite activities. Subscribed.

re: the rest issue, I think you should rest when you feel like resting. 7-10 days straight of martial arts and rock climbing does not seem excessive to me if you are not doing heavy compound lifts. I mean when I was in HS we wrestled 6 days a week every week for 4 months. If you are eating well (a luxury I did not have), recovery should take care of itself.

I'd say you should probably just skip a workout if you lack motivation. It's not like you're a couch potato that has no energy to do anything, lack of motivation is likely your body telling you to rest. Winter time may have something to do with it too. And diet - you'll probably find yourself more energetic if you cut out the IHOP.

not if he wants to be good

12.5.10-

Workout: Rock climbing for 3.5 hours

What I learned: Today was a kindve meh day. I didn't clean up on a 5.10b that I've been working on the last week. I have the crux nailed but the top is pretty crimpy (small holds) and it's tough.

I also had a tough time on this 5.10 at the top, a climb that I've gotten clean in the past (clean = no falls).

That said, the workout was good. My hands are pretty tired and fingers are sore.

Diet today:

I actually forgot to eat lunch. I woke up later than usual and then ate a quick breakfast (fruit) and then climbed for a while. I just ate a small helping of noodles though and I'll probably eat a sandwich later.

Notes:

I really dropped the ****ing ball yesterday with regards to eating. For dinner I ate Arbys, a chicken/bacon/swiss+ arby Q + combo, ate it in about 5 minutes, realized I was still hungry. Decided to go to tbell and get 6 tacos, felt nice after that. 5 hours later I drove home and sonic was on the way, got a toaster + steak and egg burrito combo. FML...

Background: I used to love binge eating and I would stuff myself daily. It's something that I struggle with alot.

Its possible intermediate fasting will suit you as it allows for some big meals in the eating phase, so you will feel "stuffed" at least 1/3 of the day :P

12-6-10

Workout: 1.5 hours of BJJ

What I learned: we worked in an open guard today, with our legs hooked. We did various sweeps and worked on different passes. We also warmed up with standard subs from guard.

Diet today: decent for the most part. grilled chicken for lunch, grilled chicken sandwich (the leftover) for dinner. Felt hungry after that so I made 3 eggs and bacon.

I'm fine with it if I don't eat anymore tonight. I still snack a tiny bit (just little tidbit pieces of chocolate during the day) and need to cut that down.

Notes: tomorrow I'll get some pictures up (if I remember) of my rock wall (so you guys can get an idea of what it looks like). Probably can't do that for my MA though.

Tomorrow I plan on doing MA in the morning (BJJ sparring). I need to really do this...I've done it once in the past and I got tooled pretty good. It's insanely tiring and I need to build my cardio up. I'm not too worried about getting destroyed; everybody does at one time I think. I just need to get better.

So yeah, BJJ in the morning, rock climbing at night.

12-7-10

Workout: 1 hour BJJ sparring. Rolling non stop with 30 second breaks for the most part. 1/2 the class we worked on passing from different positions in groups of 3. First closed guard, second half guard, third side control. The next half we rolled for 5 minutes/switched to another person/5 minutes/etc.

Today's hour was super brutal. I was dying. That said, I was happy I went.

What I learned: I worked alot on my passing technique and learned alot with regards to hip involvement/bridging/creating space (when in someone's side control). I also got my first submission today in rolling (I got his back and then choked him out), so I'm happy about that. In previous rolling classes, I only rolled with people who had multiple stripes or a different belt...so I got raped.

Diet today: Kindve all over the place. Had a light breakfast before BJJ. Lunch: small sandwhich/chips. 1 hour later I had leftover breakfast (eggs, sausage, omelete, a pancake).

I just ate dinner- I went out to eat at this great gyro/philly place. It's far away and I was in the area, so I made an exception to my diet and went there today. So a philly + fries. As long as I don't eat anymore later tonight, I'll be fine.

Notes: I'm not sure if many readers (if there are any here) know much about BJJ (or rock climbing).

some of the terminology I've used-

closed guard:



half guard:



side control:



didn't rock climb today, was too busy. probably will try to go tomorrow.

12-8-10

Workout: 1 hour of BJJ/1 hour climbing. Did BJJ skills class though today, not sparring.

What I learned: in BJJ we worked in omoplata. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB-NePIiguQ#t=3m0s

It was pretty fun. Getting the movement down is still tough, but I'm learning.

Climbing was very light. Worked on one new climb, having a hard time nailing the crux. No pictures yet, I'll hopefully get some soon though.

Diet today: For lunch I ate some veggies/little bit of chicken/noodles. All in all, fairly healthy. For dinner, I ate 4 eggs, 6 pieces of bacon and a croissant. Probably not the healthiest dinner, but it beats the alternative of what I was thinking of (a frozen pizza).

Notes: I think tomorrow I'm going to do a semi easy day and just climb for a few hours. I'm planning on not doing any exercise on saturday and try to give my body a slight rest.

12-9-10

Workout: 40 minutes of cardio. Mix of biking, running on treadmill, elliptical.

What I learned: Nothing. I was a bitch and very lazy, didn't want to go climb today.

Diet today: Good for lunch and dinner. Ate smaller portion of noodles, had a steak/rice/corn/gravy for dinner.

I just ate McDs though...ate two mcribs (before they are gone). I think I should start focusing on eating dinner at later times, something like 9-10pm. I stay up fairly late, so if I eat at like...6:30, I'm usually hungry by midnight.

Notes: I will probably go to BJJ tomorrow morning unless I sleep in. In which case I'll go running outdoors. It's supposed to be nice out tomorrow so I'm looking forward to it.

Have you ever done any (eta: real) strength training? Wouldn't strength training help immensely in a fighting discipline?

I haven't done any strength training. I used to lift during HS and early college but not since. I've thought about mixing in some lifting stuff into my workout. To be honest, I really just don't enjoy lifting. I get bored with it, meh.

I'd like to think I'm okay strength wise. Climbing and MA helps alot with this. I'll occasionally go in and lift a little bit to see how much I can bench/squat/curl/etc but only maybe 2x a year.

And to answer your question, yeah, strength training would probably help in all disciplines to a certain extent. Rock climbing, eh...alot of those muscles are hard to work out (fingers, grip, forearms, etc).

Martial arts it would help for sure. But if I'm going to dedicate X amount of hours to workout each week, I'd rather just be doing the martial art instead of using some of those hours to lift. Technique > strength once you get past a certain level.

If you want to crush ppl guard passing, get good at this. Bullfighter pass.

It's a move that I teach all the time in my classes. It's super easy to do and hard to stop which makes it pretty great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yidnr6vwDXM

Thanks. I'll practice this next time I'm sparring.