June 25

OK Quick update, the last 2 days have been hell.

Tuesday Danielle and I drove to Grand Falls to get some mats for Bushido. It was a great deal and good mats so I couldnt pass it up. Anyways…9 hrs driving meant NO training that day. Exhausthing wasnt the word. Not fun.

Lots Of Leg Room!!

We needed mats but it made for a long ride

Yesterday I got 1 workout in with Jason Hayward on boxing, it was awesome. hands felt great, then we had to reorganize all of bushido for the mats. So that was a brutal day also…

Today back to NORMAL and feeling good!

Training :
Did hand pads with Jason Hayward for an hour this afternoon. Felt great, good workout and hands felt real good. Relaxing and feeling faster with my hands.

3pm had a session with Phil Alcock at Core Health Spa, he had me hooked up for a tens type treatment on my back and hamstrings, felt awesome.

430-530 Wrestling & circuits at Bushido. Some wrestling for warm up, then some circuits. Mike Samson, Damien Hayes and Me.

Circuits were a mixture. Round 1 Pulls. 3 Min. each round 30 seconds.
Rope pulls with 2 plates
Alternating cleans with 30lb Kettle bell
Explosive med ball push high.

Next circuit Push
Plyo box jumps,
kettle ball alternating floor press doing bycle with legs
95lb bar cleans

We did a few more stations, with wrestling shots and pick ups, trx push ups, power cleans, heavy kettle bell pick ups etc. was a lot and i cant write it all down. I need a vid cam for clips.

Resting now, kickboxing tonight

June 22

I weighed myself this AM and was happy that I am down a few pounds. I weighed 187lb this AM. I was around 192 ish last monday. My weight has been fluctuating all week, but my goal for monday was 187, and I got it.

My new goal for next monday is 184lb. Its a lot, but i think I can do it. My goal for the fights is to hit 175/176. I figure i can take out 5lbs of water.

I felt really good when I woke up this morning. Wasnt sore (like usual lol), and had great overall energy.

Training :
9am Weights- Push
Fantastic Workout!
-Kettlebell dumbell presses on floor, raising arm to full extension and 1/2 bridge.
-Hammer strength press followed by box plyometric push ups
-Bench presses from the floor
-TRX Bench press and flyes

4pm MMA Circuits.
REALLY pleased with todays circuits.
Damien and I did 5-5 min rounds. Every 30 seconds alternating exercises.
6 stations
1. Medicine ball throws at wall
2. Plyometric box jumps
3. Boxing with light dumbells
4. Bar Cleans
5. Moutain climbers or knee on belly drill
6. Tire & Sledgehammer

I did one round with the weighted vest, damien did 3 rounds with the vest which is mental.

Sunday June 21

I always find Sunday a hard day to train.  Something about Sunday’s that always makes me want to relax.  However, this isn’t an option today so I need to get motivated and get some good training in.  One good thing about having a goal/deadline is that when you have a time constraint it make’s things that much more tangible.  If i didn’t know in my mind I had a fight (or whatever your goal is) I wouldn’t be training today.  It is great to have a set deadline for any goal.  Wether training, work, personal.  SET DEADLINES!!

Training: Had another good day training today.  Starting to feel better every day.  My cardio is improving for sure.  Sessions no longer feel like they are killing me.  I am pushing hard but it seems like I am getting used to it more which is perfect.

Jim, Damien & I  did hill sprints outside tonight.  We did 5 sets of 5 sprints to the top of bannerman park hill.  Sprint up, walk down, repeat 5 times.  Each time took us about 2-3 minutes in total. I did one set with the 20lb weight vest which really hit the hams.

Doesn’t sound like much but my lungs and legs were burning!  It was awesome.  We are going to try to hit the hill sprints twice a week Wed & Sunday.

After that I did 20 min on the elliptical with the 20lb weight vest.  Just to get some extra cardio in and burn some extra calories.  I have been checking my weight daily and although I am getting leaner the weight is slow going so i need to really bump things up.

Pics do this hill no justice. It was brutal!

June 20

Another beautiful day here. You could swear Newfoundland has become a tropical island lol.

When i woke up this morning everything hurt. Joints were killing me, back was achy, i was pretty damn tired. Had a hot shower, did some stretching and it helped a lot. Once I got moving i wasn’t so bad. The joys of getting old I guess lol.

Training : Did 5-3 minute roads at Bushido with Damien. The rounds consisted of 1 min each stand up, wrestling & jiu jitsu. Each round we changed the order. IE Rd 1. 1 min kickboxing, 1 min wrestling, 1 min grappling. Rest 1 min, Round 2, 1 min grappling, 1 min wrestling, 1 min kickboxing.

It was a fantastic circuit. The wrestling is really exhausting and fatiguing. But we got through 5 rounds which was great!

After that we did some very light pushing movements in the gym. A lot of hammer strength stuff to give the joints a break.

Friday June 19

It is a beautiful hot day and I love training in the heat!!

This morning was a bit tiring as I had 3 personal training clients. I had enough time to get in a boxing session with Jason Hayward. We worked on focus mitt combinations and lots of bag work for conditioning. I learned a ton today just in one session with Jason.

Focus Pad Work With Jason Hayward

Pad work with Jason Hayward

Thur June 18

Training : I couldn’t make my AM weight session.  My lower back/SI was brutal.  So i rested it.  I had a 1 hr massage with Lesley Young today which really helped.

4-5 More circuits.  Upped it to 5 – 5 min rounds today. Lots of variety of exercises.  Kettlebells, bar work, kicking, plyo jumping, medicine ball throws.  I wish I had my camera today to get some video of the circuits are they were awesome.

815-945 Kickboxing class.  We worked a lot on inside fighting, closing the distance, working on defense & turtle defense.  I did about 8-10 rounds.  Cardio felt great and is really coming around.

My back was hurting a bit but after warming up I didn’t notice it much. My left bicep starting hurting towards the end, I had surgery on my bicep 3 years ago.  More on that later.

Nutrition & Supplements : I had another good day of eating clean and moderatly low carb.  Steak, chicken, salads, fish oil.

Supplements were BCAA, Myoplex, NO Xplode (I love this pre workout, doesnt drive the heart rate up but gives me fantastic workouts).

I added some cool training equipment to Bushido today for our training for MMA & also for use with my clients,  I had some Plyometric Boxes built today for Bushido and they are fantastic for adding into workouts for speed and power.

Plyometric Boxes

Rolling Thunder

Overall : I had a great day training.  Had 2 solid workouts, worked through an injury but I got my workouts in and that is all tha matters right now.  My cardio is improving and I feel much better overall.

What I learned today? : That even if your tired, sore, you can always get some sort of workout in.  Once you get moving the pain usually goes away.  Reasons not to train most times are just excuses not to train.

Wed June 17

Today has been great so far. I took the morning off from weight training knowing i had some hard workouts planned this afternoon i dont want to overdue it.

I have weights planned for Mon/Tue Thur/Fri. That’s enough.

Training :
Did 50 min of cardio with circuits. 6 – 4 minute rounds and some light training after. The rounds had 1 min break, 15 second intervals. tire & sledge, medicine ball tosses, footwork, punching, all kinds off stuff. i think I am going to get some training videos as todays circuit session was awesome!.

From 3-4 had a session with Phil Alcock at Core Health Spa. He is a great trainer, helping me focus on stretching, core work, stability, and a lot of things I dont like to train on my own.

We focused a LOT on TRX straps. These are fantastic and i HIGHLY reccomend them. We have added a a set to Bushido to use for our own training and for working with my clients. I expected just a lot of stretching but we got a good workout in also.  This took the good out of me.

I was suppose to have MMA class tonight, but I decided to take it easy and rest.  My back is real achy and I want to try to get 2 workouts in tmrw for sure.

Nutrition & Supplements :

Good food again all day.  Kept the carbs pretty low. Used normal supplements, BCAA’s, ZMA, Fish Oil, Protein powder etc.

Overall : Had a good day except for tweaking my back which put me out of commision for wed night training which really sucked.  Oh well, i know what exercises I should avoid and I was stupid so that’s what I get.

Lesson Learned Today : Know the differece between good pain and bad pain.  Good pain you can work through, bad pain you can’t.  Be smart in the gym.

Tuesday June 16

Feel pretty good so far today. Was a bit tired when i got up but nothing that some strong perked coffee couldn’t fix.

Training :

Did weights at 845 am with Jim this morning. Workout consisted of
-Jumping chin ups. 5 sets (3 sets with 40lb weighted vest). 5 reps per set. fast up, 5 second negative.
-Horizontal Pull Ups 3 sets of 5 reps with weighted vest, 2 sets just bodyweight. Same temp 5-0-X
-Finished with a cable pull/row circuit with hammer curls. 3 exercises in a row. 12 reps each, no rest, 3 sets.

My goal with weights is to just maintain some strength and get the extra workouts in. Soon will be making the weight workouts a bit faster paced as i need to drop weight and improve cardio.

9-1030 Kickboxing class.  Worked a lot on kicking, bag work, inside fighting.  Was a great class.

10-11 30 Min eleptical.  Need to burn some extra calories and get the metabolism going.  Not doing it for cardio, doing it more just to burn calories.

Nutrition & Supplements :

Overall was another good day of clean eating.  Kept the carbs pretty low.  Good protein, lots of salads and protein shakes.  I can go into more detail on my diet plans but saving that for later in case i find it hard to drop weight then ill start changing stuff around.

Overall Day :

I got a pic taken this AM.  Pics don’t lie. If you ever want to see “If” your in shape, take a pic and have a good look at it!

This pic has taught me that i need 10lbs of fat off my waist ASAP.  I am 190 and need to get in fat loss mode big time now.

With this blog I plan on adding some video clips of training.  Weights, MMA, Drills, just to show what is involved.  It is a lot different than what I am used to with bodybuilding & powerlifting training.

Just getting ready to hit the sack now.  1230 and hoping to get some sleep.  I find it a lot harder to sleep now that I am training a lot. You would think it would be the opposite effect.

What I learned today? : That i need to get lean…fast..like yesterday fast…

June 15 – Day 1

Monday June 15, 2009
I had a great day training today.  It feels nice having a goal, having something to motivate me, make me get to the gym, no, even better, make me WANT to get to the gym! It has been a long time since i have focused on my own training. I am usually working a lot and helping others get their goals.  It is nice to have some goals for myself.

Training:

Weights 845-945 am.

Push day. Did some standing bar shoulder press. Single arm bar push press. Bench press with DBs 5 reps, explosive push with slow negative followed by 20 rep medicine ball tosses. Then did some single arm DB bench presses (great for core stability).

415-5pm Kickboxing sparring. 3 min rounds. Did around 6 rounds with some breaks in between. I realized during this that my cardio is in rough shape and I need to work on this big time. By the end of the sparing I had some nice welts on my forehead from blocking jabs with my head (note this is the wrong way to block a jab lol)
815-945 Jiu Jitsu class. A lot of technical. Some rolling at the end of class had a good sweat going.

I felt like crap before going to Jiu Jitsu, but now that I am home I feel a lot better and got my 2nd wind it seems. Body aches but feel a lot better.

Nutrition & Supplements :

Clean food all day. Carb & proteins post workout, rest of the day tried to keep carbs low. Not too concerned about cutting stuff yet. Want to see how my body goes with clean food. If my weight doesn’t come down by Monday Ill start cutting carbs a bit. Need to increase steady state cardio to 4-5 1 hr sessions a week just for fat burning.

Supplements. Using myoplex and myofusion. Getting 3-4 shakes a day. Taking BCAA’s after every training session. Used Jacked from USP labs pre workout tonight, great for concentration. Animal Pak multi vitamin and lots of Nutrasea fish oil. ZMA before bed with ½ glass red wine. Also taking Piracetam to help with focus and concentration.

That’s it for today…bed soon. Weights 845 am. Going to make the weight sessions a bit faster paced to get the cardio and fat loss better. Not concerned about being big or strong at all now. My weakness is cardio.

1230am.. bedtime…weights in the AM

Lesson learned today – My cardio really needs work!