85,2 - skiing and yoga

Today I'll do a HIIT exercise. I'll do an interval training skiing cross country and after it I'll do an old man's yoga. I need to stretch and meditate more. For diet I'm trying to use smaller cups and plates to have smaller portions. BUT eat more often:-) 2 - 3 hours between meals. I'm following my plan on weight dropping, but I don't know if I'm getting more muscle. I'm getting stronger, but I think it's just that I'm getting better in technical aspect. (Learning technique - not so much growing muscle.)

My program for February   
It's two workouts per day. Three times Aikido, Three times BJJ, Three times Gym and then it's cardio or different video workouts. Total amount of workout is about 12 per week.

85,1 - squats

I did my cardio and next is my gym. I'm at 5x5 65kg parallel squats. It's still in the easy phase of the program, but loads go up 2,5 kg every week. My quest for collecting data from multiple devices to evaluate physical activity is stuck. I can't get a polar heart rate monitor to speak with Garmin communicator and Garmin is the only device that can be connected to Bodymedia armband. I had a software called MetPro where you could manually import different activities, but it does not work on Windows 7 (or Linus). So next step might be to try to find a semi intellect physical activity diary where you can import your own data. I'd like it to have some features like calculating physical activity levels or even epoc? One solution could be to get an omegawave monitor that

Trying to connect polar to BodyMedia

My experiment on armband at gym demonstrated that armband is not very sensitive on weight training and moves like core hoovers etc. It showed moderate intensity to my workout that I did almost max. To get bodyMedia to work correctly, I'd need a Garmin heard rate monitor, but I don't have one. (Got a Suunto and a Polar - so I'm not interested in getting a new one.)

So project is to find a "round about" and use polar for Bodymedia heart rate:-)

85,0 - Work is bad for me

My new armband bodymedia shows that I should stay out of work. It's too much sitting and calories don't burn. Today I'll hit the gym and I have a small cardio session inside my workout. First it's squat, but after that I'll burn some calories by doing a circuit.

(Aikido was about 3,6 mets.) Vigorous activity is 6 mets.

85,4 - aikido

Did my Les Mills in the morning and it's aikido in the evening. Kind of low intensity cardio fat burning day. Just had lunch and it made my hungry. Maybe I need a cup of coffee.

85,7 -mixfit

It's my mixed martial arts fitness day. I have a link to today's workout, but workout is written in Finnish and without any explanations.

For the weight lose. I need to eat less. I'm still keeping up with my goal, but a small adjustment is in place. (Or I need to move more.)
Image has a link to andi-darce and here is a darce.

86,2 skipping cardio

I'm not going skiing today. It's a recovery day:-)
Got a new armband. It tells the total calorie count for the day.
(Today it's not much, but we'll see..)

85,4 - squat

Today is a squat day and a feed day. After gym I can eat carbs to build muscle. I'm doing my squats as a first exercise in every gym workout - just not to forget or skip them. I'm still in the easy phase of the program and main concern is to get the depth of the squat fixed. I need a marker - something to "sit on" to fix the depth. Otherwhise I'll start cheating when loads get heavier.

Workout was good and I went for a steak after - lots of protein:-)
Tomorrow it's diet and cardio.  

86 - cardio and aikido

Today is a diet day - fat is burning. Some "clock choke variations".

86,2 - crosscountry

Today I'll be losing fat:-)

Maybe I did not do so well on losing fat, but I did a nice job on recovery. I did a slow 10 k crosscountry skiing for cardio. Tomorrow I'll run home from work. 5 - 6 k. And in the evening it's Aikido class. (Nothing heavy - just a small aerobic workout to burn some calories.)

85,7 - it's squat day:-)

Yesterdays aikido was a nice experience. Small warmup and then falling down for one hour.
"Onegai-shimasu" - Please help me in my practice
"Domo arigato gozaimashita" - Thank you very much

Today at 4 p.m. help is needed. I'll start my squat project. (I'm hoping that my starting weights are easy. I should increase them until I get to 100 kg. Yes I know it's not much to squat, but it's much more that I can do now. (And also it's demends on how deep is my squat. I'm aiming at parallel or deeper-)

First modified 5x5 workout is done. I did 4x5 with 60 kg and set with 3 reps with 62,5 kg and 8 reps with 60 kg. (I don't understand the load on the last set, but this was an easy workout so I did it with first load. Next Friday I'll do a 5x5 with 62,5 kg.)

85,7 - aerobic in the morning and aikido in the evening

I did my Les Mill 30min kick start workout. Now I'll check aikido. I hope I can be open minded and think of it as an exercise. I can't think aikido as a combat sport or self defence. I just can't see aikidoka in a real fighting situation. BUT I don't have to! I have not been in a fight for 35 years - so it's not very relevant. I just want to learn something about it:-)

86,1 - aerobic day

It's a little cold out side and I have a flue so I might do my cardio inside today. Les Mills or rushfit -or P90X - P90X2... Legs are not so stiff as I expected, but I think I should do a full body workout. Tomorrow is my mixfit day and it has a lot of lower body work in the program.

bodybuilding at gym

Today is my gym day at faculty of sports sciences. One would think that there is enough knowledge to make my muscles grow. Today's goal is to work so hard that I can't walk out of the gym:-)

I did work quite hard. Legs were shaking, but not hurting. I think I could have done few squats. Maybe tomorrow or day after tomorrow will tell did I work hard enough.

inBody

Today is inBody measurement. Bodyfat is 18,5% and weight 85,8 kg. Fat is in my belly. Legs need more muscle, but upperbody and core is ok. Also it's my fat burning day and I'll do a Les Mills combat workout after work.

I'm starting to go back to the assumption that growing muscle needs to be painful - last reps need to feel hard and muscles need to feel burning. Muscles need to get those micro tears to be fixed - so just working in comfort zone is not enough. (My muscle has not grown - so I'm doing something wrong. And my fix is more weight, more reps and more pain.)  

86,7 - yesterday was body building

So I gained almost 1 kg over night. It's according my plan. Today I'll burn fat, but yesterday I tried to build muscle. Today I'll do 10 km cross country skiing, but slow tempo. Just to burn fat.

85,8 monster set:-)

Today is my body building day. I've been eating and did my gym program.Very good combination was to do chinup and dips back to back ( 3 set). And continue with bench press and bent over row back to back (3 set).

18.8 body fat

I'm not going to follow my body fat as the scale is unreliable. Weight is quite accurate and it was 86 kg. I'll get an inBody measurement very soon as a starting values and in the summer I'll get an other to see what happened. Today has been a diet day. I don't count calories, but I try to eat less and to more aerobic training.

In the morning I did a 30 minute Les Mills combat video and after noon is did 10 km cross country skiing. So it's 1,5 hours of aerobic. It should burn some fat... Tomorrow morning is fat burning - I'll run home from work. It's about 6 km and after that it's muscle building. I'll hit the gym - might be late 8 p.m. but we'll see.

Omron scale sucks

Scale jumps from 19,4 % of body fat to 16,7 % in 40 minutes. Good is that weight was about the same.Scale just cannot deliver it's promise on measuring fat and muscle. Well - it might be in the area, but 1,5 kg more muscle in 40 minutes writing a facebook note?

Today is my functional combat training day - I call it MixFit - comes from Mixed martial arts fitness.

Basic idea for the class is to combine different drills and warm up exercises from various martial arts. Class should be about 60 minutes, but it takes about 90 minutes.

Rouch outline is

• 10 minutes warmup ( technical drills )
• 10 minutes cardio ( often heavy bag and tabata)
• 10 minutes balance and mobility
• 10 minutes speed and plyo
• 10 minutes strength
• 10 minutes cool down

19,1 - BJJ free mat

Schedule for classes spring 2013

I'm not going to go to all of the classes and some exercises are not on the timetable.

Before bed I checked my bodyfat and it was 15,6%. In the morning it was 19,1%.

Today I'll check my closed guard defence and attacks at free mat session.
A very good session at our open mat. My ideas on closed guard did not work, but I was active and tried to attack. I have work my schedule to clear some time for BJJ in January. Otherwise it looks like next class is in February.  

diet and exercises to gain muscle and loose fat simultaneously

17,9 - crosscountry skiing

Number in front stands for body fat 17,9. It's not very reliable, but goal is to get it down to 11 - 12% in half a year.

Today’s physical exercise is cross country skiing after work. I'm feeling some pressure to do more golf and bjj technical exercises but growing muscle has been my main concern and it's taking all my mental capacity - and I'm afraid is not enough.

Aerobic combat

I did the kick off video of Les Mills combat series in the morning. I'm not used to bouncing so much and aerobic is not my favorite exercises, but it was a good starter for the day. I did not realize that I was so stiff so the warmup was good.

I'll do a functional gym exercise after work to build so muscle - or slow down the process of loosing muscle as I try to get my weight down.

I did some "monster set" during my functional gym. Monster set is just a name I saw in web today. It means do antagonist and protagonist muscles back to back. My set was to alternate chin up and dips. Arms feel bumped!

More fat - 18,1 %

Ok - first morning was not a complete success. I lost 0,5 kg weight but gained bodyfat from 17,5 to 18,1%

Maybe I need to drink more water...

Today I'll run home from work and do 4 - 5 sprints 40 sek to stimulate muscle growth. Jog from work to home is about 5,7 km..

Starting my challenge to turn 6 kg fat to 3kg muscle

I'm 87,5 kg with fat%17. It's about 15kg of fat.

Goal 1st of June is 84 kg with fat% 11. This means dropping 6 kg of fat, but getting 3 kg of muscle at the same time. So challenge is to turn 6 kg fat to 3 kg of muscle.

I checked in to an aikido basics class. Nothing to do with the challenge, but might be fun...

It's time to get started again

I've been looking to do things in a new way. It's not working.
I'm getting stronger, but fatter and that's not quite what I am looking for.

I need to lose 5kg and 2 appartments from spain:-)

Next summer is my big season in golf. I'm playing as a senoir for the first time. My goal when I started gold about 7 years ago was to compete as a senior. So this is it.

Drilling Gracie

I'm doing a Gracie garage session today at 2 pm. It's slow roll and repeating earlier lessons. One step forward, too. More workouts and more drills... I'll be back

Crazy Monkey is from South Africa. Gracie for South America:-)

Working - but not pushing

I've been quite tired, but not really working very hard. Done some home workouts and some bjj rolling and few times walked home from work - 6 km. So it's not total lose, but still not quite the intensity that would make a difference.

I might be getting old...

I did a good workout in the gym - so it's a step forward

Day that just have to breath throu

Today is a day that demands all the positive thinking that I have. I hope I'm wrong, but... it's only sitting in a bus and sitting in meetings and sitting in a bus for 14 hours...

1.stripe

I went to the gym today and did my regular workout.
I also gave my self my first stripe to my xo-belt:-)

Next stripe is if I'll complete my URST... ultimate red stripe test, which is under development.

I toke a picture of my belt over my karate passport ( No 56). Number is small because I'm not so young anymore

Virtual rolling - GJJ

I had planned to go to gym, but I was a computer support person for my family all morning and evening is theater with neighbors. So I watch a lesson on Gracie University and developed a small itch to practice.

Run in the snow

I ran from work to home - well all most. We got our first snow today and it was slippery. My home workout is still under development. Tomorrow should be a traditional gym day. If I'll get a lift to the gym. I don't like to ride my Kawa when there is snow on the road.

Red Stripe for my xo-belt

Ok - first I'll award me a red stripe for my xo-belt. Xo-belt is my training belt that I started to use maybe 5 years a go. ( I have a 4 dan, and 1 kyu, and 9 kub and so on:-) So to sum it up, I make me a gray belt with an idea that I'd use it.

Well - it did not happen, but...

My xo-belt can be my personal martial arts belt. And after 4 years, I deserve my first stripe. And next comes when I complete my URST Ultimate Red Stripe Test. First I'll have to adjust my goals or work to find how much I can practise during a week/ or during a day. Two hours feels much, if training is intensive. (If it's golf, it'd be easy...)

Next years workout program- URST

The Ultimate Red Stripe Test 2013
(modification of UBBT by Tom Callos)

• Weekly Journalling in Blog / Vlog Write about GJJ research and do research at least 5 hours per week 

• 100 Gym workout sessions 
• 100 Martial Arts classes 
• 1000 Rounds of Sparring or heavy bag 3-minute (minimum) rounds.
• 1000 Rounds of Kata 
• 1000 15-minute home workouts 
• 1000 Kilometers Walk, Swim, Run, Bike, or Paddle 
• One Reality-Based Self-Defense Course (GJJ) 
• Daily Meditation / Yoga/ Qi-gong

What would this add up to in a week?
2 times at gym ( 1 - 1,5 hours = 3 hours)
2 times at class ( 1,5 hours = 3 hours)
1 hours heavy bag/ sparring
1/2 hour Kata
5 hours of home workouts
20 kilometers running/skiing/biking (3,5 hours per week)
And some stretching and Qigong

16 hours of training per week... that's after work and doing my phd research and babysitting my granddaughter.

I have to think about this - maybe a reality check...

Not crossfit - 15 min doses

I'm going back to 15 min doses of action. Crossfit sounds good, but it's difficult to do. It takes too much time to convert WOD's to suitable workouts. I'll do my own system with 15 min doses of basic workouts and extra will be gym, bjj and running/ biking etc.

Why not RNC

Crossfit - WOD?

15 min slices of workout during a day is one approach. Has not worked yet, but I'm not totally giving up. An other way might be to do WOD's from crossfit site. Or use WOD's a bases for planning a daily workout.

82,4 - 15 minutes workout slots

Just an idea I've worked on. What if I cater my workout in 15 minute portions? 15 minutes of strength, 15 minutes of stretching, 15 min heavy bag ... and so on? When I have time, I can have a portion - I just have to have a fixed amount during a week?

Maybe I'll work on this more:)

Princible of prgress

Exercising is simple. You workout to get tiered and recover to get stronger. What you do is what you get. If you lift heavy weights, you get stronger and if you lift light weights, but more reps, you get more endurance. If you run, you'll be a better runner.

This is so easy!

In theory - yes, but in reality, you also have to do the work and also the RECOVERY. The balance of work - recovery is where it gets fuzzy and combination of multiple abilities makes even more demanding.

Maybe one good rules is to work on what is your NO SO GOOD ability? (Unless you are an active sportsman, then you have to develop your strong points?)

82,6 - Garage at work

I've promised to introduce BJJ to co-workers for 10 sessions. We'll do Gracie Universities lessons - if it goes well from 1 to 10. It's exciting to see how it goes. Today is the first day with all the students. I had a test roll with one student last Friday.

Golf during work

Today I get to play golf with my co-workers and tee up at noon. I like this kind of working days:-)

Heavy bag and something else

I'll be late for the open mat so I need to do something at home. Maybe a video workout from P90x or insanity? I'll do some heavy bag.

Eat Thai and work Brazilian

I'm going to BJJ class, but first we'll have lunch. I need to do a new timetable for my gym workouts. My training partner is away for 5 weeks. I've been doing gym workouts on Mondays and Thursdays. Let's see if I can get my self to the gym with out a partner.

83,0 - golf

Yesterday was the first time I did a Gracie university video with a friend how did not know any BJJ. It was an interesting experiment. I'll continue it. (My own unofficial GJJ garage:-) Today I'll hit the little white ball and enjoy nice Autumn weather.

83,2 - stretching and ukemis

I'll do a light stretching and an ukemi session straight after work - 1 pm and then get my granddaughter from kindergarten.

Fresh start?

What if I started from beginning
- to develop my physical abilities - aerobic/anaerobic - strength - flexibility
- to learn about BJJ

Golf season is closing - just one or two weeks left

It's time to start fresh again...

egg cracker

82,8 - golf (but it's cold out thre)

Yesterday was a gym day and today it's golf. It's very much Autumn (+ 5 C at the moment).

Stapling by Jason

82,5 - bjj

Today I'll go to BJJ class. I'll try to attack, but also to take it easy.

82,9 - getting fat, but playing golf

I did my gym workout yesterday and today I'm STRONG - or just stiff from my shoulders.

It's golf day today and I'm hitting it looong with a new driver. (It's new to me. I'm just borrowing it from my neighbor.)

Sunday golf and blue ideas

Autumn is the time to start again - to bounce back what ever was left behind during summer break. For motivational texts check BJJ Canvas.
If you don't know what motivates you, you can take my motivational questionnaire. It does not give an answer, but there are good questions that can help.

I just signed in for a lecture at Harvard and MIT joint virtual university
Isn't that something. I could do anything I want to - and I'll go and play golf:-)

It's a sunny day so why not.

Flow roll - with bumps:-)

Today at open mat I'll try some "flow roll", but it might be more like stop motion animation. It's just one step in the process of getting better.

After open mat, I'll visit a birthday part (7 years). I might get some flow roll there too.

82,1 - recovery

Today is a well needed recovery day. Yesterday was golf and Wednesday was a long day at the office.

I do like Fridays!

82 - golf and pull ups?

I'll play golf straight after work. Yesterday was my first pull ups day in gym workout and I need to work on it. I did 5-4-3-2 letting shoulders relax after each rep. I am feeling strong a.c.a stiff today.

AND my fellow bjj rollers - watch out for my armlock:-)
I'll attack you with this combination -  it's so easy - click on the pull up image.

81,7 - 50/60 "life is life" BJJ patch-project

Did the second part of my split full body gym program today. It was better than I expected:-)

Just to remember to assign a patch project to students. To design a BJJ patch "Matti Nykänen"
who one famous quote is possibility is  50 - 60.

In Bjj 50/50

82,2 - BJJ

Yesterday I planned to go to open mat, but played golf instead. Today there is a strong possibility that I'll go to BJJ class - or babysit my granddaughter.  

Gym and pull ups

Today is the first day of ...rest of my life?...new gym workout. We'll modify it on the first session, but it's good to do something new. Related to the gym is pull ups. I'm not good at it at all. We used to do 30 pull ups in 3 sets ( 12 - 10 - 8) but at the moment 7 is hard for me. So I'm planning to do an extra exercises - do daily 10 pull ups passing from kitchen to living room. I have a pull up bar there. So I'll do ones each time I pass my pull up bar. - Just an idea. I'll know how it works in one or two months.

81,9 - new blog

I decided not to write about motor learning on the same blog as fitness. Fitness is a diary of my personal training and it should not be mixed with new hobby - research of motor learning. My interest in motor learning is not new, but the idea of having it as a hobby - not as a serious attempt to be a real researcher. My new blog is at http://xophd.blogspot.fi

81,6 - heavy bag, bill, paul and other workouts

Looks like Thursday gym will be on Friday, but today I'll do a little development on my heavy bag workout - add a little kettle bell, dumbbell and pull ups to it.

Bill superfoot kicking routine and Paul's warm up routine are included:) 

New workout for gym

It's time to plan a new workout for gym. I need to work on my legs - still and maybe more on core too. I need to grow muscle on legs, but core could be endurance. Next gym is on Thursday but I have a rough plan for the workout all ready.

Monday - Legs, Back Strength
Exercise	Sets	Reps
Front squats	4	10,8,6,4
Single Leg Squat	4	10,8,6,4
Stiff leg	4	10,8,6,4
Calf Raises	4	10
Pull Ups	4	10,8,6,4
Lat Pull Down	4	10,8,6,4
Plank series	2	60sec (diagonal + side)
One Arm Dumbbell Row	4	10

Thursday - Chest, Shoulders & Triceps
Exercise	Sets	Reps
Abs Bench Press	3 4	10 10,8,6,4
Incline Dumbbell Press	4	10
Upright Rows	4	10
Shrugs	4	10
Dips	4	10,8,6,4

”Undulating diagonal woodchop”   4         10

Hyperextensions

4

10

81,6 - gym

Sunday was an interesting golf tournament - you get to play mulligans halve your hcp. I've been lazy reading research article so no interesting quotes. Maybe I'll have time to read during day.

82,3 - did not talk to my self

Played a round of golf today, but it was not as good as yesterday. Maybe I just did not talk to my self:-)