Baillie's Practice

[Russell Baillie]

Well after about six months of injuries misfortune and mishap things are finally looking on the bright side! I have been easing into training this past week and finally today started off the way I mean to continue - smartly and efficiently getting the job done with minimal fuss and maximum enjoyment, exploration and discovery.

To fill you in - I have been doing some light sessions on and off during this past six months although nothing structured or planned or more importantly, for myself anyway, consistent! I have also been practicing my mma, judo, sambo and a lil muay Thai on and off for the past year.

This year I plan to become proficient at these arts as well as begging BJJ whilst continuing to explore the ROSS system!

From these initial six weeks of strength and conditioning training I wish to acquire a substantial level of strength and strength endurance, which hopefully will translate well onto the mats/ring! We can only see!

Upon Rising

Sun salution sequence repeated 10 times focusing on the movement creating the breath, eyes closed with zero sound!

Although this is not at all taxing on my body I find it is simply something, which dusts off the cobwebs of my restless nights! By having repeated the sequence five times I had found my groove and flowed effortlessly from, through and to positions. This took me a total of 15 minutes a nice steady controlled pace which was on purpose to begin with but happened naturally a small number of repeats into the short session.

Session 1 early am - strength

3 minutes, 3 rounds rope work, various sprints, footwork, crossovers, eyes closed and always focussing on the movement creating the breath- never forcing an inhale or an exhale

60 seconds abdominal fluttering between rounds.

Weights ( 3 sets 3 reps )

Deadlift 100 kg 130 kg 110 kg
Powerclean 60 kg
Pullup 16 kg
One hand kettlebell Dead snatch 32 kg

90 seconds rest between sets.

For all these weights are only moderately heavy I did not wish to injure myself on my first day back to real training! Instead I focussed on technique, proper application of tension and relaxation throughout the lifts and also on the instances in which I felt a slight muscular imbalance within certain points of my body whilst performing some of the lifts.

I noticed that whilst performing pullups I had tightness in my left trap/deltoid so I shall have to watch this carefully and implement a strategy to counter this.

My snatch was perfect and not taxing at all - I shall have to purchase a heavier Kettlebell or perhaps a dumbbell in the near future.


Felt taxed suffiently and was pleased with the session.

Evening session - MMA (2 hours)

We decided to take this session as if it was the first session- everything being perfected from scratch, movements performed slowly and controlled then becoming faster with emphasis still being on technically sound! Proper alignments etc were enforced!

We began with a basic warm up of some footwork drills and rotations of the joints etc Shadow boxing, grappling, striking. Very light and basically used to get the group slightly more comfortable in the freezing cold of the warehouse!

Main session

Break falls - from roll, from squatting, from squatting jump back

Pretty easy and nice and simple to get things moving. Next....

Squatting break fall back to a shin box with step through and screw out into another squat sequence being repeated with shin box switching from side to side!

Rear break fall into a defensive position / coming back to standing/ rolling out and upwards to standing again. Look at grappler’s toolbox for some ideas if I am not being too clear (which I am not)

Fighting stances

Proper structure and alignment
Weight distribution
Hand position incorporating wrist and shoulder

Footwork - forward side side, step through/round, shuffle and switches!

Penetration step for both a jab and the initial step of a takedown.

Tap drill - fighting stance with partners trying to tap each others jabbing shoulder and then shoulder and knee and knee only - done slowly allowing for proper processing of the incoming information and registration of the signals being given out by partner - then quicker and finally incorporating prior footwork.

Jabs - I have always had trouble with jabs - don’t know why but just have! These last few session it has been clicking and finally today they were for the most part technically sound - although I did notice and self correct that I was letting the jabbing arm retract in a semi circular pattern - opening myself up for just the split second too long! Focussed on the relaxation of the strike straight into a powerful contraction at the moment of impact trying to jab slightly down and through the pad/ opponent.

Defence - parry, checking the punch, covering head and body.

Takedowns

Penetration steps / lunge step from fighting stance/ grappling stance

Body lock hook grip with head on body
Breaking the balance to the rear
Takedown

Takedown with break fall

Passing the defensive legs of a downed opponent - side toss of legs transitioning to knee on stomach position with grind into full mount and control of upper limbs. Various level of resistance offered by partner. Exploration of where knee/shin on stomach will most affect breathing patterns and achieve desired response.

Escaping the mount - bridge and roll!

Russian strike (known to me as boustiganz (sp))

Overview of nine angles of attack.

Lovely little session - nice and simple back to basics everything clicking! Couldn't have asked for more! Didn't gass once although that being said I didn't do any sparring this evening!


Evening session 2

Same as upon rising!

Arching leg thread
Spinal rock
Spinal rock with toe touch
Scorpion
Elevated scorpion

All performed for 20 reps.


Although it is late I am still energised, my mind buzzing with ideas and thoughts! I enjoyed today’s practice and hope to have many more days like this! I shall be following my current strength and conditioning regime for the next 6 weeks then switching over to a new programme which I am currently working the kinks out of, on paper anyway ;) for the next six weeks after these initial weeks.

I need to up fluid intake as I underestimated this and would feel better if I was able to get in a lil more fresh vegetables, all in all diet is as sound as practice appears to be!

Kindest Regards
Coach Russell Baillie

www.coachbaillie.com

[Chuck Kechter]

Beautiful!

Chuck

[Russell Baillie]

************************************************** **
Thanks chuck - means alot and it's always nice to get feedback!
************************************************** **


Today was one of those funny old days in Scotland where the weather doesn't quite know where to place itself, unfortunately upon rising I was much the same! I crawled from the bed experiencing some mild DOMS in my quads - you know the mild type where you can’t quite squat down to the toilet and rising become quite the challenge also, lol! Ach well you can only complain and grumble or actually tough it up and get done what needs to be done!

My training partner arrived a half hour late claiming of alarms not sounding off or some other such excuse - I was not in the brightest of moods by this point and he was left to his own devices whilst I continued my warm up (detailed later). He later joined in on my session and was quiet for the duration - this means we were both content and training hard, for some reason we work our hardest whilst in close proximity to each other but not intruding on the others work - offering guidance and support when required and feedback more often than not when unrequested! What more could I ask for in a training partner - ahh yes...one who isn’t late every morning! ;)

Apart from the DOMS and slight grumpiness, I felt rested and raring to go!

Upon Rising
(After a brief battle with my quads)

Sun salution sequence repeated 10 times focusing on the movement creating the breath, eyes closed with zero sound!


This time I felt to be more in the moment of my movement by that I mean that everything felt smooth controlled and natural almost to the extent that I had forgotten that I was still performing the sequence at around repeat number 15 maybe 16 - can’t complain as I enjoyed it and this is not a major part of my daily activity!

Upon completing this section I decided it was probably best to incorporate some more DROM exercises. Performed 10 super slow repetitions of the following:

Lock down shoulder rotations (l+r)
Double elbow rotations
Wrist circles
Long arm screw
Multi Planor Bridge
Flat foot squat
Knee circles
Foot rolls

Ahhh that’s better I can move freely now!

Session one - 1 hr after rising - strength endurance

3 minutes 4 rounds of rope work with one minute of vibrations between rounds. Various sprints and footwork were once again incorporated into the mix!

One additional exploration was the positioning of the arms - I came to prefer keeping the elbows much closer to the sides, almost pinching them there and noting that the space between the elbows and forearms is damned well near parallel to the ground - significant recruitment of the biceps and forearms was almost immediately noted as was the unexpected and more than welcome benefit of an increased speed of movement (turnover of rope). My main reasoning for utilising the humble rope is to increase endurance, agility, strengthen the soft tissues and develop my concentration to a level where I can become lost in the movement!

After completing this I had quite a nice heat coursing around my body and was ready to begin my strength endurance onslaught!

Weights

Kettlebell swing 3 sets 25 reps (16/24/32 kg)
Kettlebell one hand snatch 3 sets 25 reps (16/32/16 kg)
Kettlebell one hand clean 2 sets 30 reps (24 kg)

* Rest periods 60 seconds, one hand movements left and right were performed back to back

Doesn't look like much? Was more than enough to get me going, believe me! I think my ego may have snuck up on me and got the better for a brief moment during this rather short yet rather intense workout - you see I almost keeled over when attempting to get my 25 reps l+r with the 32 kg bell I achieved 20/20 but felt that my form was rather shaky on the last 3-5 reps on each arm, immediately dropping back to the 16 kg so as to hopefully over do it being so fresh into training once again. I think in future sessions I will perform my first set with the 16 kg and the others with the 24 kg - attempting once again to utilise the 32 kg in this context after these initial six weeks are over, instead of rushing to get back to the level I was once at! The arm pump I experienced from the snatch's alone was significant ok it was mind blowing, although I don’t actually attribute this to the exercise itself but rather my over gripping and bracing throughout the whole movement on the vast majority of repetitions in this small section. The cleans went well and I am more than happy with these - perfect reps, technique absorption of impact, recoiling the Kbell and continuation from repetition to repetition - breathing was fine and the movement become very controlled- relaxed and almost laid back! My training partner noted that it seemed to him that for the most part he didn't expect me to be able to complete the sets as it seemed the weight was moving far too slowly to make the trip from A to B yet at the same time he was having trouble keeping tabs on reps as it was no sooner at A than it was back again - weird??? I must admit that the clean was a lift I have worked alot on in the past as was a long cycle clean and jerk, most likely residual efficiency, surfacing once again! (Very loose and powerful feeling)

That was it felt comfortably uncomfortable afterwards!

Evening session - Free play/ technique + heavy bag

I believe that my weekly practice should include an element of play so I schedule two sessions per week to incorporate this.

Played with the following for 15- 20 reps each

Standing split>handstand>collapse +roll through> pistol (repeat opposite side)

Forward roll > explosive pushup> reverse squat thrust> backwards roll> squat thrust > explosive pushup

Travelling leg threads

Squat> spinal rock > screwing handstand > squat etc

There were a few others but these escape me at present! I particularly liked the first and last chains! Very interesting and I shall be playing with these more often in the coming weeks!

5 rounds of 5 minutes on heavy bag with fairtex mma glove.

Mainly focussing on jab cross and jab cross hook both left and right side leading, switching sides every ten reps. My work on stance and weight distribution continued as did covering the body keeping the arms up- after a couple of minutes things were clicking and my left cross is becoming just as powerful & quick as my right :) can’t argue with that now can I?!

60-second rest periods with vibrations performed for the duration of 60 seconds!

3 rounds of 10 minutes shadow boxing and slow shadow boxing focussing once again on proper stance and footwork whilst keeping the hands up and covering well - incorporating some bobbing a weaving - duck unders, switching stance - defensive work, offensive work etc making a point of visualising that whilst weaving and moving I was immediately countering or attacking on the weave - for example whilst ducking under opponents left hook, I was stepping through whilst delivering a right hook to the body etc..

More than enough for one evening I think!

Can't wait for tomorrows fun - GPP and brief weighted GPP... ohh the fun, then my first time at BJJ late in the evening :)

Changes from yesterday was an increase in water intake and I cut out my one cup of coffee added an additional large salad and felt superb!

Kindest Regards
Coach Russell Baillie

www.coachbaillie.com

[Russell Baillie]

Good evening fellow members of the tribe:

A day to remember! I woke up with zero DOMs in my legs, arms, shoulders, traps, neck etc etc GREAT ... think again they had accumulated in my spinal erectors, not to worry my morning session soon took care of that!

Upon Rising

As I woke up early today I figured to hell with it - let’s play!

Prime your bio energy
&
Body Flow

I felt great after this session and I came up with a kinetic chain which I used successfully this evening in my BJJ practice, once I have it completely refined I shall most definitely be sharing it with the tribe!


Session 1 - Light GPP and Weighted GPP

Maxwell's maxercist 3 sets 2 minutes 45 seconds rest between reps - focussed on staying as relaxed as possible throughout- rather than what my past tendencies, which would have been grip the bar - squeeze - pressure- pressure - PRESSURE! And other related taboo’s such as (lets hold our breath till we are blue, no make that a nice shade of purple, under the strain! So much better this way - wouldn’t you agree tribe?

Rest about 10 minutes to take car to empty stretch of road in wasteland!

Car pushing - 15 minutes total (resting as required - no more than 30 seconds)

Training partner who was late as usual - steered for me whilst I pushed pretty simple? Yeah right, that would have been boring! The stretch of road is on a slight slope so pushing uphill was more strenuous than what I had imagined it to be! My first rest was after 7 minutes my second after 9 and then I had another at minute 12 - puffing and panting with quite a sweet sweat going - was as happy as Larry!

I switched position whilst still moving every 10 steps except whilst pushing with my back against the car in which case it was fifty steps.

Pushing patterns
Arms Straight
Arms bent at 90 degree's
Screwing out press + step through (fell in love with this one - although speed was greatly affected)
Hand close (8-12 inches apart)
Hands wide (car width)
Back against car

Had a great time and covered just over a mile in the 15 minutes. I wish to decrease this mile time by five minutes and be able to perform it consistently with only using one of the above for the entire distance (for each method of pushing) I shall see how long this takes me to accomplish. I felt great with this little change of pace although I was thinking of incorporating some sledgehammer work but when I get my Clubbells and the bruiser there will be no need for incorporating the sledge! One more thing to note - I attempted to use the same distance of stepping as I would for a penetration step, back position also being replicated!

Rested for 5 minutes

1 hard paced five minute running push of the car on completely level ground! Picked up some speed and just carried it through until my legs and lungs couldn't take it any more!

This type of session is definatly being kept in my weekly practice - until I become bored with it!

Felt shaky and irritable all morning until I managed to get a large salad and tuna fish lunch into myself, mmm delicious!

Evening session - 9 pm - BJJ 1.5 hours

Showed up to class early, as I wanted to work on some scorpions, spinal rock, arching leg thread and neck rolls - got in around 15 minutes of practice and was more in tune with myself for the class ahead!

A brief introduction to all the guys for my benefit and.

We began with only what I can call light rolling - almost to the extent that it was, as bill said in another post "fighting empty jackets" - slow, controlled, position, posture, feedback! This is actually my preferred method to begin rolling even when transitioning onto hard sparring so I was delighted that this is a typical warm up for these guys!

15 minutes off this and we then moved onto guard work:

We practiced three guard escapes two from closed guard one from spider guard - I do not know the names of the escapes but it was stressed that we relax, keep good posture and position and lead with the breath. This gave me a chance to practice these guard escapes with 6 new partners both right and left side - always doing 1 more rep on the left as I did on the right as I’m adamant I’m going to become an ambidextrous fighter :) I struggled with one of the escapes as it was completely new to me but once I realised where the leverages were coming from and how to position my hips I was set to go - one thing I like to learn by is with experience, for me I learn a technique or principle much better with the initial explanation and then with a demonstration and finally with it being applied very slowly to myself!

We worked each escape for close to 10 minutes

Guard drill where partner ( a ) has to keep partner ( b ) in guard and partner ( b ) has to escape swapping after every three successful escapes! Partners were changed after 2 repeat each.

15 minutes of this and we then moved onto sparring.

With a wide variety of people of different body types, moods, attitudes, tensions and fears I had a Ball! I think this will be good for me in that I will not be accustomed to these individuals as I am my current training partners in sambo and mma as I have trained for over a year with that small group I know what makes them tick - for example if you brush the face/ neck of one training partner he automatically loosens his guard, something of which I have not been able to figure out!

I ended up alternating between gi and no gi - Fantastic stuff! Although I think for the next 20 lessons or so I am going to stick to using the gi!

I sparred with 8 people - all fairly highly ranked in this or in other martial arts and was tapped 3 times in total in a total time of 30 minutes, not bad for my first time there, well I think so anyway.

My first two submissions was when my training partner suddenly switched arms on me whilst feinting to arm bar the right he swivelled and took the left - my own fault for getting caught up in competition instead of relaxing and going with what presented itself at that given moment.
The third submission was due to him passing guard getting the mount, securing position and cranking on my neck - I personally hold a lot of fear and tension in the neck due to past injuries and accidents and for that nanosecond in which I panicked I was submitted - err! But a learning experience in and of itself!

I submitted four opponents for a total of five subs - one by key lock, one by reverse key lock, rolling knee bar, rear naked choke and toe hold that I used the principles from arthrokinetics to get as a counter to a rear naked choke being applied to myself - worked a trick err I mean treat! Other than that I was mainly concentrating on keeping superior position or at least attempting to and working on escapes and counter attacks, pins and hold downs etc - Just having good old fashioned fun!

Needless to say I enjoyed my session and I will definitely be back for more on Saturday after judo, this art will enhance my ground game greatly and I can only hope to use it as a medium in which to further explore the ROSS system and principles!

Kindest Regards
Coach Russell Baillie

www.coachbaillie.com

[Scott Sonnon]

Keep up the good work, Russell.

You had a good thing going there Russell, where's it all gone?

Come on shape up :)

[Russell Baillie]

No excuses.... Thanks for the kick in the pants.

Let's see?

Goals for the next 3 months.

Rein in my eating habits and break this destructive cycle that i'm currently caught in. Take care of my issues in regards to anger.

Hit 50 / 50 left then right with clean > squat > pushpress with 56 lb kettlebell.

Get back to 20/20 with 72 lb kettlebell on one arm snatch.

Hack off about 14 - 20 lbs of excess adipose tissue that i have gained.

Explore my freedom to move!

Stop threatening to use clubbells and actually use them!

Past few months training... To be honest just playing, three or four times a week i'd go out back and play for a little while, sling my kettlebells about and come back in and tuck into some greasy, carb laiden, deep fried nosh! My diet is the first thing that needs to be wiped clean and to do so i'll go back to how i have eaten before... super clean ... super simple.

This starts tomorrow, i'm off to crunch numbers and get a checklist printed up.

Take care.
Russell Baillie

[Pattimeow]

Past few months training... To be honest just playing, three or four times a week i'd go out back and play for a little while, sling my kbs about and come back in and tuck into some greasy, carb laiden, deep fried nosh! My diet is the first thing that needs to be wiped clean and to do so i'll go back to how i have eaten before... super clean ... super simple.
This starts tomorrow,


Hey Russell,
Why not start eating right today? :wink:
I've done that before, saying "I will start this tomorrow", because I wanted to start with a clean slate or a new day, or fit in that last "goody" food item, or whatever (You know, like diets always start on Monday's or the beginning of the month, or heaven forbid the new year, LOL!).

Now I do what I can do, today. It works a lot better. I just wanted to pop in and encourage you if I may. 8)

Warmly, Patti

[Russell Baillie]

familly obligations my friend.

Thank you anyway.

Regards
Russell