Anaconda Man- James Marshs New Rountine

[jimmy23]

Ok, I decided to begin a new thread here for a new phase of training. I want to focus a LOT on the armpit cast, shoulder cast and head cast , after trying them out last night I want to really grind that motion until I am a crushing machine!!

My workouts will consisit of , once or twice a week, barrel lifts variations, and turkish get ups, two Scrapper worouts a week, and once or twice a week in gym training fighters. My shoulder injury is healing and I am able to do some free sparring, but lately Im doign an hour or so a night there holding thai pads and coaching, which believe it or not gives me a workout also

Below I am pasting Coach Sonnons advice for me to work to high rep casting, tomorrow night I will begin my new routine

"I am including a copy of a post from COach Sonnon, I am going to greatly modify my Clubbell training and see what result I get, I want anaconda like power in my upper body


Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2003 1:01 pm Post subject:

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James,
Considering your level of other activity, I'd suggest twice/week (3X/week MAX!) you could do a "Revolving" Taskmaster in which each rep you alternate Armpit Cast, next rep - Shoulder Cast, next rep - Head Cast, repeat. A Taskmaster is a Forward Parry Cast into Back Position followed by your Armpit/Shoulder/Head Cast returning to Back Position followed by a Reverse Parry Cast into Park or Dead Hang.

Start at 20 sets of 5 and ramp up to 5 sets of 20.

20 sets of 5
STEP#1 --> 18 sets of 6
STEP#2 --> 16 sets of 7
STEP#3 --> 15 sets of 8
STEP#4 --> 12 sets of 9
STEP#5 --> 10 sets of 10
STEP#6 --> 8 sets of 12 reps
STEP#7 --> 7 sets of 14 reps
STEP#8 --> 6 sets of 17 reps
STEP#9 --> 5 sets of 20 reps
Stop two reps before failure. Repeat a step until you can complete the step without stoppage. Export this to the Daily Training Logs and keep us apprised of your progress. Monitor that you do not see any performance detriment in your other training, and ramp down to 1X/week if you do. Ask any questions anytime, amigo.

[Doug Szolek]

James, sounds like you're in for some fun.

One thing that I want to chime in on is your Thai Pad holding workouts. I'm not sure if you've addressed this yet but if you haven't you'll most likely have to at some point down the road. That is, the impact trama that your body is enduring while holding the pads for so long. I remember it being discussed when you listed a shoulder injury while back but I'd like to encourage you to really examine each position in which you hold the pads for the various strikes and kicks, and look at where the impact trama is likely being absorbed (in you) in each of those positions and from each of the strikes that your catching.

Don't put too much faith in the cushion of the strike pads, they are only slowing the strike enough to protect your hands. As a result of the hand protection, the impact force necessarily imbeds at another joint(s) up your arm and/or through your body. For instance, if you were taking hooks to your bare palm held in font of your face, your hand would instantly fold under the blow and disperse the energy (with a heavy amount of stinging of which I can personally attest :shock: ). Obviously even if you did fold your hand away smoothly each time, you'd quickly train a overuse injury in the joints of your hands if you continued this to the volume that the pads allow.

Enter the Pads The trouble with the pads is that they can build a false sense of security and blind the user to trama being stored elsewhere in the anatomy because the hand is no long instanly folding under the attack to protect itself. I'm aware that you take your Pad Training/Coaching very seriously and that is refreshing to say the least :) ; but I recommend that you examine where the motion of the strike ends in you and then craft an intensive Warrior Wellness routine to specifically target those areas. This doesn't have to take too long. Just 10-15 minutes after a session of holding the strike Pads to release the internal bracing that the force of so many blows has inevitably imbeded in your anatomy.

As always let me know how this finds you and if you need any clarification on what was said. Here to help,

[Doug Szolek]

As a fun "P.S." you'll notice (if you haven't already) that the final point/joint in you that you find the force of a trainee's strike ending, is generally the your point/joint of power generation to throw that same strike.

Interestingly enough, it's commonly understood that the driving force for an effecient strike has to come from the ground upon which you stand (which is why fight scenes like the one at the end of The Matrix Revolutions involving Neo and Smith both flying always seem awkward). So you can use the above method of self analysis to determine if you're absorbing the blows as effeciently as possible and if you find that you're not (don't worry none of catch everything as efficiently as we can :wink: ) you'll be simultaneously exposing the hang-ups in the flow of your own strikes 8) .

[jimmy23]

excellent ideas Coach, and it gives a lot of room to expand that area of my training. I do feel beat up after a session, , especially after the knee drills :)

I made some adjuctments on how I psotion my shoulders , coincidentally (or not) I now hold them in the same positon as if Im striking, and am more "clean" (good form) on my counter strike (I "strike" into the oncoming blow with the pad). THis helped a lot, but your post made me aware of something else. I am going to make an effort to focus more on myleg and hip movement when I hold the pads now. At this point Ive been feeling the workout mainly in my abs and upper torso, much less so in my legs (just referrring to the muscular effect, impact is still felt in my forearms and legs when I brace the pads on my legs) , but Im going to focus more on proper alignment throughout my entire body. Thanks for the insight!!!!

[jimmy23]

no workout last night, after work went and saw some friends box

tonight, I did sets of one armpit cast, one shoulder cast, one head cast and counted that as one rep. I did 3 reps, then switched arms and did three with the other arm, nd took a 30 second rest before beginnign again.

I did a total of six sets of 3 reps with each arm, failure was rapidly closing in , especially for my left arm, and I figured taht was enough for my first workout.

I then did 2 sets of 22 whack a moles, but tonight I did them nice and slow and focsued on feeling the motion .

that was all I did this evening

[jimmy23]

Tonight was mitt night , got a great workout in and took a beating, flet better after some ROM drills

[jimmy23]

I did 5 sets of 5 each arm of the three way cast drill

I felt strong at first, but then it became harder, after my third set I felt true pain (good pain) , even as I felt myself getting more into the groove of the exercise

I finished with 2 sets of 22 whack a moles. I could push harder on this exercise, but Im not for now, and will focus my efforts on mastering the cast

[jimmy23]

did 1 set of 4 turkish get ups with 50 pound dumbell

1 set 12 full body defense with 2 20 pound dumbells

3 sets of 7 barrel lift and squat, 80 pound punching bag

1 set of 10 lunges, with 2 twenty pound dumbells held at shoulders

2 sets each arm one armed farmers walk 70 pound dumbell

[jimmy23]

*curses Coach Sonnon*

8 sets of 5 three way cast each arm 15# clubbell 30- 60 seconds rest between sets (right arm, left arm, rest, repeat)


This drill is taking me into deeper waters, that is for sure. My forearms held up very good at first, but around set 5 they began to scream, by the end of set 8 I felt the exercise so deep it felt as if my bones were on fire.
I think Coach Sonnon is a bit of a sadist....

I assume from the program Coach gave me he meant for me to do 20 sets of 5 for each arm as the first step in this journey, if I am correct I am in for quite a test . Byt the time I reach my goal I can onlyimagine the gains I will have made in gripping ability .


2 sets of 24 whack a moles,

I did a more dynamic version of these today than I have been doing, I made an effort to really cast the clubell over my shoulder and to explode up out of the flat footed squat. While there was some difficulty, it was a fun way to wrap up my days training.

Ona side note, one of the fighters I have spent a lot of time with on the thai pads , doing my specialized clinch breaking and striking drills, won his second MMA fight Friday evening, using exactly the skills we have been drilling so hard. HE gave me credit for his win , which isnt accurate (I didnt fight nor put in the training time, he did that himself) but it was nice to see results :)

[jimmy23]

odd workout tonight

had a terrible day at work , a really bad day. Came home with a bad attitude and aching feet. Put on some angry music and began to move the clubell

I did 13 sets of 5 reps each arm three way cast.

Amazing improvement over one workout . I felt tired around set 6, then I became , I dont know the word, mad maybe, determined maybe, and I just began to blast out sets. My forearms, this time, got no more tired than my shoulders and upper back did. After set 13 I knew it was time to quit, i almost lost control of the clubell .

I finished the workout with 2 sets of 24 whack a moles.

Angry music good - try the new Ditstillers "Coral Fang" :twisted:

[jimmy23]

thanks bill ill check that out

tonight

2 sets of 4 turkish getups, 50 pound dumbell

3 sets of 8 barrel lifts and squat, 80 pound bag

2 sets of twelve dumbell lunges with 2 20# dumbells.

2 sets one armed farmer walks, 70 pound dumbell

nice, cold workout, lots of fun :)

[jimmy23]

1st workout in a bit, had a mild case of the flu this week

16 sets of 5 3 way cast

making good progress here, its taking me time to adjust to the volume of the program. Im close to making the first goal though (5 sets of 20)

2 sets of 24 whack a moles

[jimmy23]

2 sets of 4 Turkish get ups with 50# dumbell

3 sets of 8 barrel lift and sqaut with 80# bag

2 sets of 12 lunges with high 20# dumbells

1 set one arm farmer walk, 100# dumbell

Surprisingly, my bout of flu doesnt seem to ahve reduced my abilites by much, but that also may ahve to do with he increased recovery time Im giving myself . TOnight I got what I wanted short intense workout.

My breath control has improved a LOT , epsecially on the barrel lift and squat. One reason I chose this exercise was because it IS a problem area- I tend to hold my breath while stabilizing my core, and to do it mire than is neccesary. I ahve recently begun to work through this issue, and tonight it made a noticeable difference in how quickly I recovered from each set.

Good stuff :)