This is a log of my journey to Shotokan Karate Shodan and beyond.
Good workout again. I had a little trouble with the lat pulldowns for some reason. The weight stack goes up in 20 pound increments after 150 pounds so moving to 170 was tough. The bench presses felt light again but I am trying to move up in weight steady and slow.
Barbell Row – 155 x 4, 155 x 4, 115 x 8, 95 x 12
Bench press – 180 x 4, 180 x 4, 150 x 8, 120 x 12
Lat pulldown – 170 x 4, 170 x 4, 120 x 12 (Reverse Grip)
Dumbbell Press – 45 x 4, 45 x 4, 30 x 12
Side Crunch – 2 x 10
Very hard workout. I used a lot of weight for my deadlifts. I have never been particularly good at deadlifts but I felt really strong today. The Bulgarian split squats were hard since I have never done them before and the bench that at the for hyperextensions is not the best size for someone like me with short legs.
Deadlift – 230 x 4, 230 x 4, 230 x 4, 160 x 12
Rack Deadlift – 315 x 335 x 6, 335 x 11
Bulgarian Split Squat – 2 x 10 x 35
Hyperextension – 2 x 10
I only took one class on Friday night because my legs are still very sore from my weight workouts.
We spent the entire class working on sparring drills. We started taking our partner across the gym while shifting. The idea was to keep up with each other and to make sure that we stayed at the proper distance apart. Then we did the same thing but with punches. One person would shift backward at a steady speed and the other would attack with punches. Next was much like that previous drill but we were able to use kicks. That made it a bit different because we had to adjust the distance now that we were kicking.
After many drills and what seemed like a lot of pushups were go to do some free sparring. Then we finished up with some self defense drills using a knife hand block and strike. We would block a punch with one hand, switch and grab the punching hand and strike to the neck with the knife hand. It was challenging to get the coordination right but near the end, I was able to do it.
The only downside to Friday class is that my feet get torn up on the dirty wood floor in the gym that we train in. Hopefully the park district will get their act together and start taking better care of the place.