Runners Log.

OK another day of running.. Felt a little better on this run was better with pacing myself not much to real say so here are the numbers.

Time: 36 minutes
Distance: 2.51 miles

Same time added a half mile.. happy about that. It's only my 2nd time running like this.. I am hoping to get some new sneakers here soon and that should hopefully make things easier then running in the 5 year old high tops..

Physical training..

OK well today was my first progress test and I have mixed feelings. I am happy with my push-ups. Ecstatic with my sit ups and mildly disappointed in my squats. Now I may not have gotten a good test there as yesterday I did a 2 mile run which is the first I have ran that far in over 3 years.. so my legs may have given out a bit early. But here are the results over a roughly 2 week period ( a bit longer I was taking an extra day of rest to allow for proper muscle recovery. plus I was sick for a few days in the middle. )

Base line test - Progress test #1

Push-ups - 25 - 36
Sit-ups - 40 - 250
Squats - 63 - 110

As you can see improvement in all areas I just expected higher results on my squats. I did better on push-ups then I expected. I was expecting about 30-32 so I am pleased there.

Runners Log

OK.. well Oddly for me I started running today using a treadmill in my gym at work. Now I am not a runner in way shape or form. but here is what I did today

Time: 36 minutes
Distance: 2.01 miles

Early I started to think I was in trouble as my calves started to burn but I was able to push through and make it the full time. I hope things go better next session will most likely be friday depending on how my workout tomorrow goes.

Physical training. More of it.

OK.. Well do to other circumstances I been having a hard time getting to BJJ class and such.. but I am using the time to focus in my physical training.. So hit the gym at work today and here are my results..

For push-ups my final set I hit 21 which is one more then the max. for a Total of 82.. I was actually kinda shocked to see I was doing that many push ups total.. Me and push -ups have always been enemies.

Sit ups I 140 on my last set for a daily total of 287.. Not surprised there.

Squats I did 75 for the final set, Got a leg cramp at the end might have been able to do a few more like maybe 5 at the most.. but still good. That was a daily total of 240 squats..

My program to date totals are as follows:

Push-ups - 468

Sit-ups - 1330

Squats - 1172


Over all I am feeling great and liking my results.. Wednesday is my first progress test..

Some things I have noticed... I do need to drink more water I have been getting cramps in my legs lately.. and I have noticed just taking an extra day of rest between workout days allows me to push myself a bit harder.. not sure how it is effecting the results of the program.. but we will see come the progress test.. I am doing it Wednesday in hopes I can make BJJ class on Thursday.. Not looking good.. but here is to hoping.

Physical Training: yup more of it...

OK.. so I am a day or two behind.. I had some weird bug over the last few days.. left work early on saturday just retunred to work today.. feeling much better over all so I hit the gym to continue the program.. and i got some good results.

For my push-up I consider this a sort of milestone. on the last set I had to do a minimum of 17 I for the first time overshot my push-up mark and hit 20 I know its not much.. but well I was able to do more for the first time then what is required, and these were proper form. A total of 74 push-ups today.

Sit-ups as usual I am excelling in and with a minimum amount of 42 required I hit my wifes favorite number 131. that was 259 sit-ups total in todays session.

Squats I am doing well, too. 49 was the required amount I hit 70 thats 212 total for the session.

This makes my program to date totals as follows:

Push-ups - 386

Sit-ups - 1043

Squats - 932

Over all I am pleased. Tomorrow night I got my BJJ class so I am looking foward to that.

Physical Training

Since I was starting a new week I made a couple of changes. So for my push-ups I decided to drop back to week two's schedule since I was struggling so much with it. So my goals were less. now since I am starting my 2nd week but according to my initial test I was supposed to start on week 3.. So I dropped back to week 2, but I went to the 3rd column instead of the 2nd. For Sit-ups and squats I went onto week 4.

For my push-ups I was happy even though I dropped down and my new min level for last set was 15 I was able to do them all in proper form... it was a bit hard but I completed it.. So over all I was pleased.

My sit ups on week 4 of the chart my min was 38.. I blew it away at 111... I do a progress test at the end of this week and I would not be surprised if I do not hit the 200 when I do it.. but we shall see.. remember those are non stop so who knows.

For my week 4 chart wise squats my min was 43 for the final set. I squatted my way to 65.. so again very pleased there.

This puts my program to date totals as follows.

Push-ups - 312

Sit-ups - 784

Squats - 720

My push-ups in comparison are looking kinda week but over all I am liking the program and I am feeling good.. I think if my elbow and shoulder were not sore from my BJJ training the night before I have have done a bit better on the push-ups.. but I hit goal which is why I am pleased.

BJJ Training

OK so last night was my first real night back in class in almost two weeks with my new work schedule. So here we go. We did both Gi and No-Gi. For Gi we re-worked some sweeps and such we had gone over in the past learned a couple of new open gaurd passes and also a defense to those passes.

No Gi we went over some chokes they learned earlier in the week which were new to me so I enjoyed learning them.

We also went over a lot of basics.. and drills.. Like the shrimping drill and mat movement drills as well as basic rolling and falling drills. My instructor is a firm believer in making sure you have the basics down.

We also did some rolling. As usual I was rolling with the top student in the class and did OK. against him I think my biggest win on a personal level was after we were all done I was not winded and still feeling ready to go again. Which we would have but since were at a new location our instructor was playing with the lights... Off they went and none of could figure out how to get them back on... And YES we tried flipping the switch in the other direction.

As for how I am feeling I am a bit sore as I got caught in a solid arm bar and tried to work my way out of it but proceeded to sink it deeper and was forced to tap... But over all I feel great.

Physical Training Cont.

OK to keep this short I do not have a lot of time at the moment...

On my push-ups I dropped back to day one as I have been having trouble with them. On my last set once again a 17 max I was able to do 11 reg with the last 6 girly style.. yea I said and admit it.

Sit up... Simply put I kicked ass today. my last set I had to do a min of 30... I managed to squeeze out a guy wrenching 100!!!! That's actually 202 today.. mind you with breaks.. the goal is to do 200 with out stopping..

On my squats it was brutal.. I did 55 though so I was happy about that as well

over all I am disappointed in my push-ups.. But not terribly.. its something I never excelled in... now not to make excuses I did not get as much sleep as normal. My daughter started school today so I was up at 7 instead of my normal 10.. but that is just an excuse and i still did my routine.

so that makes my program totals to date...

Push-ups - 249

Sit-ups - 565

Squats - 534

I think after this point my sit-ups are going to start pulling away

Fedor and the UFC. My thoughts.

First let me start by saying I am a huge Fedor Emelianenko fan. He is most like the most dominant fighter to date in the history of MMA regardless of Weight class. "The Last Emperor" as he is known is was born September 28, 1976 (let it be known I was born almost exactly 1 year later Sept, 19th 1977) he weighs in approximately 233 pounds and fights as a Heavyweight. His current official record is 30-1* with 1 no contest. The asterisk next to his name is to denote his one loss came in a tournament where he was hit with an illegal elbow and cut. The bleeding was unable to be controlled and therefore he could not continue so the one who hit him was given the win so he could advance. if not for the tournament format the fight would have been declared a no contest as it was very obvious the elbow was not intentional. Almost all MMA rankings have him listed as the #1 heavyweight fighter in the world and many have him as the #1 pound for pound fighter in the world his record and stats can be viewed here. Now that you know who this is about let me go into the topic on hand.

Now it is widely accepted and I even agree that at the moment the Ultimate Fighting Championship or UFC is the current top dog in the MMA world. In almost every weight class they boast at least 5 of the top 10 fighters and in some weight classes even more. The one weight class that seems to be in the biggest contention is the Heavyweight division. And The UFC has some great young and veteran fighters. It is also widely felt that the HW division in MMA in general for the most part is the most talent shallow division.

Back in the Heyday of Pride Fighting Championship Fedor reigned supreme while Randy Couture was pretty much the ruler of the UFC. Just about everyone who was an MMA fan at the time wanted to know who would win. Captain America or the Russian Machine. Sadly in Randy's Prime this match never happened. Now though Pride is long gone. Fedor is currently under contract with M-1 Global who is owned in part by Vadim Finklestein who just also happens to be Fedor's manager (keep this in the back of your mind. As you read this.)

Now several times in the past Dana White the president of the UFC has tried to sign Fedor for instance after the demise of Pride. In the past negotiations have always seemed to break down as neither side seemed willing to make concessions to other. Past negotiations I blame on both parties at the table.

Now let me state some feelings here. Personally I do not think Fedor has any say over what contract he signs as I truly believe his manager/fighter contract with Vadim has him practically a slave. And his only way out would be to defect from Russia which as most MMA fans know is a point of personal pride with Fedor as he loves his country. And keep in mind Russian contract law is most likely very different then US contract law where most athletes can get out of a contract if they feel their management is not acting in their best interests.

Back to the point... as I said, past negotiations have always broken down with both sides Fedor's management and Dana calling each other names and such. The last time this happened Fedor ended up signing with, if you guessed M-1 Global, you would be correct. The contract was for 6 fights, So far Fedor has had 3. 2 of which were under Affliction where he defeated, excuse me, destroyed two former UFC HW champs. After 2 shows. Affliction is back to just clothing and Fedor needs to find a new place to fight.

Well to give credit to Dana White, He seems this time to have listened to the fans and came to Fedors management with an incredible deal, a supposedly 6 fight contract making over a million, some reports say up t 5 million per fight deal which would make him the highest paid fighter in MMA history. A point of contention on the past has been Fedor's participation in Sambo matches in his home country which is really Fedor's true passion, Dana gave in. Dana said Fedor could hang banners about M-1 Global and even wear shorts in the ring that said M-1 on them, let the record show that when Affliction announced it was going to promote MMA events fighters were banned from wearing Affliction clothing or posting Affliction on their ringside banners, re-aired shows had Affliction apparel fuzzed out, So this was a big thing for Dana to give. Every concession that was for Fedor the fighter Dana appears to have made.

Except, you know there had to be one of these things seemed to perfect...

Except to co-promote events which is what Vadim states as the main reason they did not sign the contract. Now some say this was ludicrous for Dana not to agree to co-promote. Why would the UFC not agree to this? well in the early days when MMA was all but outlawed in most states and Dana and the owners were trying to grow, none of the other smaller promotions of the time would help them fight to get the laws and such changed, Because of the efforts of the UFC and Dana White MMA is legal in most states and more are signing on. It cost the UFC a lot of money which they have more then since made back but have made it easier for the promotions that would not help them to survive, most failed to survive anyway. Dana does not feel like helping another promotion succeed because of all his and the UFC's efforts. I partly agree.

In the Fedor issue I feel the UFC went over and above what it should have done to try and sign this superstar even at the risk of upsetting their own current stable of fighters who most of which together would not be getting what Fedor was offered, but as I said Dana tried to create the fights fans have been begging to see. I also feel this gives some credibility to the past rants of Dana white referring to Fedor’s management team as "crazy Russians".

I also feel the UFC does not need Fedor, nor does Fedor need the UFC. The UFC is now a large stable company believed by many fans to be the major leagues of MMA, argument for a future entry. And Fedor has 30 wins having beat every challenger put in front of him including a rematch to his one "loss"

So where does this leave Fedor, I mean obviously the UFC is going to continue as they already have 4 or 5 shows scheduled and the next season of The Ultimate Fighter taping featuring Kimbo Slice, again future posts. Fedor is going to the next largest promotion in the US, Strikeforce. There he has only 3 obvious challengers the most dangerous of whom would be Allister Overeem, who I predict Fedor beating in the first round and becoming the Strikeforce HW champion to add to his Pride title and the WAMMA title, yet another future topic. It is supposedly a 3 fight contract which will end to coincide with the end of his M-1 contract. Does this mean we have to wait 3 more Fedor fights before we have a chance to see Fedor in the UFC?

The answer to that is I do not know. Personally I feel as long as Vadim is his manager Fedor will not get into the UFC. And if I am right about his contract with Vadim this may never happen because I do not believe Fedor would ever leave his home country. So for me... I look forward to the next UFC event this weekend along with the WEC event(its free so that’s the one I will watch) and to Fedor's next fight whenever that is.

Physical Training (cont.)

OK, Yesterday I did day two of the program I am doing. so I will get right into the numbers and my observations.

OK on my push-ups the last set, which is my max with a min goal, the min goal went up a little to 17. I really struggled this time and was able to do 10 with correct form and had to do my last 7 the girly way to hit the min of 17. for pushups I will be redoing this week as I am not ready to move on.

My sit ups the new min goal was 28 and I maxed out at 75 I am really pleased with this so far.

Squats more good newsMax this day was up to 34 and I maxed out at 60 that was 10 more then day 1's max so even doing more reps my max is still going up...

Totals to date (this is including inital test, all reps and max final set)

Push-ups - 177
Sit-ups - 363
Squats - 357

So far I am pretty pleased. A bit sore. but feeling good over all.

Shout outs

this is just some simple shout out to some of the site I like to frequent...

RGDA TN

BJJ Board

MMA Forum

MMA Playground

Physical Training

OK as part of my training as over the next two months I am going to have a hard time making my actual classes do to a new work schedule I am going to take this time to work on the physical condition of my body. Where I work we have a full health club and I am starting on the One Hundred Push-ups program and its 2 sister programs Two Hundred Sit-ups & Two Hundred Squats. I will be attending my BJJ classes on Thursday evenings and Friday mornings before work.

Last night was day one of the aforementioned programs. Now for details of the programs I suggest you check them out as here i will just be telling about the results of the final sets as they are based your max you can do after the first several sets. So for the final set you are trying to push yourself to your max after you have already worked the muscle groups hard.

My inital tests to get my baseline and see where in the program I start I did a few nights ago my base lines were:
Push-ups - 25
Sit-ups - 40
Squats - 63

So here are my results after the first night..

Push-ups- final set min required was 17. I was able to do 17. To be honest the last 3 or 4 I had to go down onto my knees.

Sit-ups - final set min required was 25. I over indexed and hit 76

Squats - final set min required was 27. I maxed out at 50. Since I have a bad knee I may have been able to do a few more but I did not want to take a chance on it going out on me.

So to date on the program here are the total numbers for each exercise

Push-ups total - 97
Sit-ups total - 197
Squat total - 194

Well that's where I stand on that so far.