Leon's log

[Leon Robotham]

Originally Posted by Derek Simonds

I am in complete agreement. A couple of other thoughts as well.

We are both fairly big guys, my style as a blue belt was absolutely crushing. If I got a position I might not get a sub but by gawd you were going to play hell to get out. As I got towards the end of my blue and now into my road in purple I have started playing differently. I read an article by John Wills the other day and he had some thoughts on that as well. In it he talks about crushing and letting up a little when you know where people are going to escape to attack. I said well that is exactly what I have been looking for to sum up what I am trying to accomplish right now.

All of my instructors tell me that they think blue is the foundation. You have to learn all of the moves and learn them well. Purple they have all said is the heaviest belt because you now have to make those techniques part of your game. I am looking forward to the next 3 years to see what I can do with my game.

And just in the for what its worth column 208.5 X 3 after a month off really isn't gone soft...

Right from the get-go because my main instructor is a rooster he told me not to get into teh habit of trying to play a crushing guard game, and the other coach stopped me from playing a closed guard game because of leg strength. So far my game has been based off of open guard and when on top it's a light game. I'm now looking to work a lot on my closed guard and also settling into position, but I must admit I just like it when the roll flows because opportunities just seem to pop up everywhere.

After speaking to more experienced guys like yourself and my coaches I'm really going to be anal about all of the techniques that i'm learning. Drilling is my friend!

I guess 208.5x3 isn't too bad, I just expected to pull that with much better form. Before I went away I pulled 225 for a pretty sweet set of 5.

I picked up some bug over the weekend after a fancy dress. Could have been a bug, could have been food poisoning, either way I've lost 3.5kg, I'm thoroughly dehydrated and I'm not looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. Gonna resume lifting from Monday, take a step back again and just hit a couple of metcons before then.

When you say crushing and then letting up a little when they're going to attack.... Do you mean you will actually give them the room to attempt their technique, and then after luring them into that false sense of security you would begin your own attack?

[Leon Robotham]

AMRAP 20
Row 250
10 wall-ball
10 slam-ball
20lbs.

9 rounds. Pretty gassy.

[Derek Simonds]

Originally Posted by Leon Robotham

When you say crushing and then letting up a little when they're going to attack.... Do you mean you will actually give them the room to attempt their technique, and then after luring them into that false sense of security you would begin your own attack?

Perscatly! Good example is when you have knee on belly and they try hip out and push your knee off. That is the perfect time to get an armbar. By the way I lost in the gold medal match to a guy who did exactly that to me. I knew it was coming but couldn't find another way out and boom submission. From side control I will ease up enough that they start to move and then go for a kimura, armbar or choke. Play with it and you will start to see the moves coming from all over.

[Leon Robotham]

Originally Posted by Derek Simonds

Perscatly! Good example is when you have knee on belly and they try hip out and push your knee off. That is the perfect time to get an armbar. By the way I lost in the gold medal match to a guy who did exactly that to me. I knew it was coming but couldn't find another way out and boom submission. From side control I will ease up enough that they start to move and then go for a kimura, armbar or choke. Play with it and you will start to see the moves coming from all over.

I'm on it! I remember getting that a lot of time in the early days, but I was never able to keep my hips low enough.... I can stay down now and it works well. There's a slide show of me hitting it on our old blog (with hips high duh!)

Thanks mate.

[Leon Robotham]

Friday -

Max burpees in 1 minute. 30 reps. Then 3 x 10 big burpee.

Saturday -

"Laura V"
AMRAP 15
3 clean, 60
6 push up, hands off deck
9 box jump, 24 in

12 rounds.

BJJ.

One of the lads is fighting freakshow fletcher so today was nothing but heavy sparring with him. Intense!!

Sunday -

spend day laying flooring and painting, oh the joy!!

[Leon Robotham]

Monday -

really nothing too serious.

3x5 squat at 120kg, way too light.
5x5 press at 40kg, felt ok.

Nothing else. Will get a complex in of some sort after some oly lifting tonight, i'm basically just messing around and getting SOME work done, but not much!

[Leon Robotham]

Pretty poor training week due to workload.

Tuesday 2nd.
5x3 Powerclean 90kg.

Wednesday 3rd
BJJ - We spent the session taking the back from turtle position. I didn't take any notes afterwards but from memory.... 1st technique was to secure a harness and then jump knee through and rolling back to secure the first hook. The second technique you made your way round to north-south and your opponent tried to secure a leg for the takedown, but you step over and wrap the arm with your legs reach over your opponents back and get an underhook with forearm control. From there you can armbar or roll to crucifix

Thursday 4th.

traffic was crazy so got to the gym pretty late pulled a few deads up to 220. felt heavy. Food intake has been good but clearly still dragging after being ill.

Friday 5th.
Press 3x5 52.5k.

Saturday 6th.

BJJ - very quiet day on the mats for some reason. Lots of guard retention isolation rounds, very light and very slow pace. Then flow rolling, no staying in a position for any more than 3s. We were just told to get on with it today, no talking just rolling keep it light and keep it technical. My guard retention is getting a lot better, but my conditioning needs work...

Monday 8th
Squat 3x5
125-145-165

Press 3x5 55kg

Did some kettlebell work.

Will update the rest tomorrow.

[Leon Robotham]

Tuesday

Pull-ups 4x2. feels awesome to actually be able to pull myself over the bar again.

messed about with some RDLs, nothing heavy just a stretch out really.

Wednesday
BJJ - comeptition sparring, starting from standing and rolling as you would in a comp.

I'm quite suprised at how well i faired here, won 3 by points and then got smashed off my mate who is also a blue, belt but has 4 years no-gi experience. Need to work on my gas and also on guard retention as Ryan was passing quite easily. It could be because i was gassed but im putting it down to simply needing to work on it more.

Thursday

Had a stressful day at work and just wanted to get under some weight.

Snatch

Triples at 40-42.5-45-47.5-50-52.5-55-57.5
Doubles at 60-62.5-65-67.5-70-72.5-75.77.5
Singles at 80-82.5-85-87.5-90-92.5

No misses and a pretty fast turn-over. This was a short session before class, literally just load and lift. Pretty sweaty afterwards.

After class 3x5 Press 57.5.

Friday

Nothing other than some pull-ups.

5x4.

Saturday

Press 3x5 60kg. Feels good to be able to press, I still have shoulder pain, but it's a lot less of a hinderance than before.

BJJ competition Sparring

i had a really good session on the mat this time, although I was the bigger guy on the mat my judo and wrestling skills arent the greatest, plus I didn't want to go too heavy with regards to takedowns and throws. I managed to pull guard offensively in all 4 matches by getting a foot in the hip and pulling my opponent down before working to set up the armbar, that sequence was enough to create sweep openings and I worked to top position in 3 out of 4 of the matches and to the back in one. I managed to sub Keiron (a long time training partner) with a cross choke from Knee on Belly ( I was looking for Dereks farside armbar here) but the cross choke was on a plate. Did some flow rolling afterwards.

Sunday

Stiff as a board after jits.

On the minute for 10 minutes
20 Russian swings, 16kg

Then

5 2HSwings
5 swings l/r
5 cleans l/r
5 snatches l/r

x1 rest x2 rest x3. done.

[Leon Robotham]

Squat 3-3-3
135-155-175

Press 5-5-5
61k (will progress 1-2.5-3.5-5-6-7.5-8.5)

3x10
GM 60k
BE

3x5 dips. Erring on the side of caution until i'm confident my shoulders won't explode.

Tabata Row 938 ( 100 and odd meters short of PB).

KB Circuit from yesterday 2 times through unbroken immediately after the row. 16k bell.

[Leon Robotham]

Power Snatch Doubles
10 Mins 65k
Power Clean Doubles
10 Mins 80k

3x
10 BB Row 80k
5 Pull-up
10 BE

2 Mins LCCJ 2x25k
Lost count but

5x
5 2HSwings
5 swings l/r
5 cleans l/r
5 snatches l/r
16k