Did some glute band walks, glute bridges and some balance work on the wobble board to warm up (definitely feel balance improving, can squat fully on board now)
A. Split Squats (w chains) 4 x 8/8; 2min rest 50kg + 30kg chains
B1. GHR 4 x 6; 1min rest
B2. Bulgarian Split Squats 3 x 8/8 (left leg only); 1min rest 10kg dbs
C1. Knee Raises 3 x 10
C2. Ab wheel rollouts 3 x 10 (on knees)
C3. Plate Russian Twist 3 x 10/10 15kg
C4. KB Side Bends 3 x 10/10 28kg kb trained on my own, Friday night, EVERYTHING felt tough!! A was a serious grind, felt dizzy after the 3rd set! Abs spasmed after second set of Russian Twists too, not sure why everything felt so difficult, happy to have gotten that one done!
Working on the takedowns from Tuesdays session, about 20mins of arm drag takedowns then from there we did 5 7min rounds of rolling. The knee felt ok and fitness is improving but what can I expect after 4 months off??
I rolled with James and got myself into an omoplata position and I forgot the roll Norbi showed me - must look back over this! Rolled with Marko and he pretty much shut me down in side control - need to look back over the lapel escape Norbi showed me ALSO not fucking concede position so early!! Rolled with Ariel, I was happy with the ability to get to single leg x, I fucked up against Marko, as I used the single leg X to footlock position to come up on top I gave my back and ended up in a scramble where I ended up on bottom - as I come up, DO NOT let go of his leg I was attacking, that way he cant go to my back.
* An observation of my self talk - when in trouble against Marko was I was thinking not to register for Madrid, mind wandered totally. When I was against Darragh on Tuesday I was just thinking of the immediate tasks to improve my position. Should be looking to go to half and then deep half etc.
I was happy the left knee held up to the 5 7min rounds, it felt a bit clunky in deep flexion but no pain. It was a little 'hot' afterwards but not really painful in anyway - shoulders and elbows feel sore already though!!!
Wed 28th
No training at all - not much of anything really -should have put at least 30mins aside of stretching or yoga. Just by writing this I am hoping to make myself more accountable.
Tentatively writing this, the knee held up so far :)
We did some take down drills (badly needed for me!) Lots of arm drags
Arm drag to trip / single leg
Arm drag to ko uchi gari takedown
'No gi' arm drag when opponent posts on your shoulder (do the wax off Mr. Miagi and then the above takedowns)
I did 4 rounds and bar catching my big toe, my left knee felt ok. I rolled with Arbo, got some nice RDLR sweeps. Rolled with Jesse, got an arm drag takedown and toe hold and breadcutter choke. Rolled with Lyndsey and got an arm drag take down. Rolled with Darragh and got crushed - he went for the safada and I caught a guillotine grip - I stayed too tall and pulled guard - I should have sprawled back and then went for the guillotine (have more confidence!!) I was trying active posting when trying to pass but over committed and he got under me and it was all down hill from there. Happy the knee held up and enjoyed it.
Monday, 26 October 2015
Mon 26th Oct
I had planned a session but then some members came into the gym early so I just ended up playing around a bit...
A. Handstand hold practice
B. Pushup Ladder 10-1
C1. Standing Press 3 x 10 30kg
C2. Muscle Snatch 3 x 5 30kg
A video posted by David McConkey (@davidmcconkeybjj) on
A. Banded RDL 4 x 6 80/90/110/120
B1. Walking Lunge 3 x 10/10 20kg db's
B2. Chins 3 x 10
C1. Barbell Row 3 x 10
C2. Glute Ham Raises 3 x 6
D. Curls x 20,20,10 empty bar Fri 23rd Oct
A. Bench -> build up to heavy 5 reps 70,80,85,90kg
B. Close Grip Bench 3 x 10 50kg + chains, 50kg + chains, 50kg
C1. EZ Bar Curls + chains 3 x 12
C2. DB Shrugs 45kg dbs
C3. Bandpushdowns x 3 sets 25,25,50
Friday, 23 October 2015
Thu 22nd Oct
(another tentative comeback!!)
East Coast - am, technique and drills
Pummelling drills - 30sec easy / 30sec fight
Leg pummelling drills
Then mount drills 1 min on top / 1 min on bottom, - felt good here, was able to sweep and hold position.
Back to basics - some pointers...
Low Mount - low posture, counter balance weight w/ free hand, big toes touching (keep feet under opponent)
High Mount - high posture, feet glued on opponents hips
* If feet end up under opponent in high mount -> go back to low mount
Thursday, 22 October 2015
Wed 21st Oct
band walks, banded glute bridges, hip mobs (barbell step overs)
A1. VMO Squats 3 x 12
A2. Glute Ham Raises 3 x 6
B1. Chins 4 x 8 (pullups x 3, parallel grip x 1, chins x 1)
B2. Prone Flys 4 x 8 6kg
C. Shoulder Shocker
D. Plate Russian Twist 2 x 10/10 15kg
*did the first set of squats with 10kg db but me knee was clunking at bottom position (turning my left foot out more helped stop this) got a bit tender so I just did bodyweight for second two sets. Later in the evening my knee felt a bit sore - at the back of knee, like a few months ago - maybe knock these squats on the head for a bit
Tue 20th
Was meant to do some bjj today but with some of the A&E symptoms coming back I decided to give it a miss - sleep is not great and I will really have to address this going forward and helping with recovery.
Tuesday, 20 October 2015
Mon 19th Oct
I did about 30minutes of stretching in the AM to loosen out after all the sitting in the car all weekend (driving to Ballina with Jason to see the girls at the Push Pull Championships)
Then I did 3 x 10 bodyweight variation of cyclist squats - heels together and on a plate, knees out to the side. At first the left knee felt a it clunky in deep flexion but no real pain or discomfort. As I warmed up there was less of this going on, I will incorporate these into my training for a bit and see how it goes. ** Also in the evening I started to get some symptoms of what had me in A&E earlier in the year, so I may give BJJ a miss tomorrow and just look to rest for a day or two. Sun 18th Oct
A. Chain Barbell Split Squats 4 x 8/8 48kg + chains
B1. DB Seated Press 3 x 10 20kg
B2. Barbell Curls 3 x 10 30, 32.5, 32.5kg
C1. DB Lat Raise 3 x 10 10,8,8kg
C2. Skull Crushers 3 x 10 30kg + bar
C1. Band Pushdowns 3 x 20
C2. Hammer Curls 3 x 10 17.5, 15, 15kg
Fun workout - arms and shoulders were SMOKED afterwards
Fri 16th
Went to Alex and he reckons I can do one light BJJ session next week and all going well, 2 the following and try to build back up again! Also he measured both legs and the left is now 1/8th smaller than the right, so were getting there.
PM -
A. Bench 10 -> 1 70kg
* in between each set do 10 barbell rows 50kg
fun workout , serious chest doms afterwards!
Monday, 12 October 2015
Oct 12th
Early morning session after client... * walked to and from work (10k total) knee felt fine
Did some yoga poses to get started 1min each - deep squat (feeling less pressure on my back, posture still sucks) / Standing splits/ Forward Fold / Hip Flexor stretches (back knee off floor, cant get elbow to touch hte ground, did last week!)
A. Barbell Split Squats 4 x 8each leg 40,45,50,50kg *did a couple of extra reps on left side
B1. Glute Ham Raise 3 x 6 (felt these after the GHRs on Saturday)
B2. DB Lat Raise 3 x 10 8kg
C. DB Calf Raise 2 x 12/12 12.5kg
D1. Plate Russian Twist 2 x 10/10 15kg
D2. Plank 2 x 30sec Very low intensity session, arm is still recovering from the tattoo. Left knee is feeling better under load - felt better (less sore, more stable) doing some trampoline work and wobble board stuff too
band glute walks and band glute bridges to start
A. RDL 4 x 6; 2min rest (80,100,100,100kg)
B. Walking Lunge 4 x 10 each leg; 2min rest 20kg dbs
(did 3 sets of 10 Bulgarian split squats on left leg w 10kg)
C. Glute Ham Raise 3 x 10
The above is a pic of my legs - the left around the time of the comp in July / Aug. I was horrified when I stopped to look at my leg one day and see how small the left leg had become. I have just been doing single leg work since, peterson steps initially and then Bulgarian split squats, walking lunges with a few extra sets / reps on the left leg. I can still feel the left glute not firing as well as the right.
On the left pic I did not have much range (couldn't sit on my heels and especially not without pain). On the right I have full knee flexion and extension. It feels a little swollen / stiff at times after stretching but no sharp pain that I was getting initially. I am still not training BJJ yet.
Supplementation - I have increased BCAA intake and sipping 2 litres of water + Peptopro throughout the day and also taking GLC2000.
Wed 7th Oct
Fresh ink, so less training again this week. Sleep has been terrible, so it is no bad thing.
I did some trampoline work initially as per Alex's recommendation. The knee didn't feel great doing it - almost like landing bone on bone (almost reminded me of some of the sensations I experienced after the mcl reconstruction)
A1. RDL 4 x 8 100, 90,90,90
A2. DB Bench 4 x 12 27.5kg
B1. DB Walking Lunge 4 x 10/10 20kg dbs
B2. Chins 4 x 8
A video posted by David McConkey (@davidmcconkeybjj) on
Wed 30th Sep
I have been doing more hypertrophy style work during the injury and it has given my joints a chance to heal somewhat, I'm enjoying not being completely beaten up after training too. It brings back something Dan John said about the importance of hypertrophy for the 'older' athlete. This training plus the lack of conditioning through rolling has seen my weight hit an all time high of 85kg. Did has not been perfect by any means lately but the fact I did no resistance training for the first half of 2015 I would be certain that not ALL of the weight gain is fat! I am still undecided if I will make the permanent move to medium heavy when I return to competitions - I think a contributing factor to being injured has been under eating so I may well look to put on some size and stay up there, I am probably feeling better for it now truth being told....
Some German Body Composition style training (fun!)...
A1. DB Shoulder Press 3 x 10 20kgs
A2. Barbell Curls 3 x 10 32.5kgs
B1. Prone Incline Flyes 3 x 10 6kgs
B2. Skull Crushers 3 x 10 28, 30.5, 33kg
C1. DB Lat Raise 3 x 10 10,10, 8kg
C2. Hammer Curls 3 x 10 17.5kgs
D1. Band Pushdowns 3 x max (45, 25, 20)
D2. KB Shrugs 3 x 10 32kgs
So here we are again. I consciously chose not to update this blog and on the recommendation of a sports psychologist last year, return to writing as that apparently encourages better memory retention, unfortunately handwritten diaries don't have search functions...
I may stick to written format for my BJJ training, but for tracking S&C sessions and injuries, this has proven most beneficial over time.
The main reason for this is that I have torn my left medial meniscus. I am guessing it happened around the time of the KLEOS NO GI competition on the 12th of July 2015. I am 3 months down the road and still no BJJ. I have competed a lot this year but missed a lot of competitions now, and as it stands it looks like I will have no more before 2016.
Also a lot has changed in my personal life. I am single 6 months and living with my parents again. That has taken a huge amount of adjusting and affected my training somewhat - most definitely my already fragile mindset around competitions. I am hoping that when things settle and my injury heals, I will be back competing in a fresh state of mind and from a point of just wanting to showcase my ability and not putting undue pressure on myself in an attempt to prove myself to people that don't matter.
Of course the other big change is that I am now training with East Coast Jiu Jitsu. This was a challenging move at first that felt strange but that was also at a time that my life was going on autopilot. As things have settled I have really been feeling the benefits of the move, to be surrounded by people that are as fanatical about BJJ as myself and to be in a competitive but supportive environment has been a huge change. It has also re-enforced the sayings that 'you are the average of the people that you surround yourself with' and the tired (but true) memes of 'surround yourself with lions if you want to be a lion' etc. - I can feel the benefits already and it has really prompted me to be extremely protective of who I let into my circle going forward and even to look for a similarly strong and productive environment in other endeavours - such as work and trying to learn from those that are where I want to be.
I have been looking at what I can do to control as much of my 'controllables' as well as possible so I am now working with Mike at Unorthodox Nutrition to help with my diet and recovery. I have also subscribed to Yogaforbjj to try and address a serious weakness of mine with regards to flexibility and along with addressing my mindset, this will hopefully help with my recovery.
It has been a period of forced growth and I am hoping this will reflect in my jiu jitsu and training when I am healed.
I read the following bullet points in The Chimp Paradox and although at first glance they may seem defeatist or pessimistic, it is actually somewhat liberating and noting that how we feel is under our control and tempered by our expectations.
