BJJ competitor, powerlifting announcer, inspired University visitor, all in weeks work!

First time this working class man has ever stepped foot in a real University. Didn´t feel half bad...

And more getting on schedule with the blog.

Last time I recorded my training and side stuff until Saturday the 14th of March, a Saturday spent carbing up for BJJ team Nationals of  Finland.

The Sunday morning came as expected, sunny and fresh. Me, I was a bit groggy and bloated, the opposite of the morning. I didn´t put on a serenade either like the morning birds. And I think that was appreciated by Emma and Pommi whom we traveled to the competition venue. What happened next wasn´t that much appreciated...

I hadn´t checked out the brackets yesterday, so instead of the original ten o´clock, my bouts were due to start around 3pm.

Not happy for my cousin Pommi or anyone else for that matter... So decided to head off to a local pizzeria. They served half chickens with rice and that was just what the doctor ordered at 11AM! So with that and some whole sugar and salt drink I sustained my energy until 3PM. Cousins actually changed during that, the powerlifting one had to go for a goddaughters birthday party but another cousin Juha came in as a replacement!

GT Jiu-Jitsu heavyweight team with the shy-looking lady who deemed the whole sport as gay pyjama tussling. At least until she heard you can pick and throw people...

And it just happened what usually happens when you have to wait for half a day... I almost missed my bout and was called in by teammates. Then I had to find my ID, tie a belt etc in a hurry. I was also chosen as the number one to fight, so I was up with close to zero warm-up.

The bout itself went well. I was really calm and collected, did what I do when facing a smaller opponent and started slow, then yanked the guy down from his collars, and went for my "Hobo-choke". So named because it has no name apparently and Hobo sounds better than shitpants, which was also suggested as a name. Many deem it is not a move, but for some reason I have managed to do it to bigger guys than me, purple belts etc. I actually do know other techniques apart from yanking, laying and choking, but those seem to work the best. Yanking, heavy and chokealicious guy that I am!

I was calm when the choke was in, and contemplated even furthering my position etc. but decided to stay and tighten it little by little. It worked. Unfortunately our team didn´t go further than that so it was my only bout of the tournament.

Here is some video footage:

After the one bout I still had loads of energy. Surprising, seeming it took minute and 40 seconds, and I had carbed up for a day and a half! So I headed to the gym to spot some benches and work in a alittle squat session. After speed squats and one set of ten with 170 I was content to call it a day.

Next week flew past and on friday it was time to head for the UK again.

I arrived to Manchester, visited the Glyndwr University and then headed for a night of preparing stuff for sundays comp and some sleep. The Uni had a good feel to it, and a lecturer I met struck me really positively! I also participated as a test subject for a memory-related PhD. study. I hope my contribution doesn´t twist the results too much...

Saturday saw 7 hours of sitting in a car, setup being done and some uploading of info on the computers for the comp. Southwest was a stunning see for a Finn, truly beautiful, all the way from the nature to the buildings! And the folk I met at least were great, Steve and Sue Middleton foremost.

Working at the table with Sue 

Sunday was another BPU qualifier for the Nationals, second out of five. It was packed to the max and we saw even a bit oversized flight on the big boys, seeing a whopping 20 men in it. I loved the spirit once again, loved promoter Middletons sincere and humble attitude, Emmas speech for the lifters and some recognition to the non-flamboyant Mr. Middleton and the crowds cheers especially when  awards were given.

The crowd, pictured from the picture-takers favourite spot, head referees seat of the bench press.

Also a thank you for VyoMax Nutrition, this competition saw first time for this years qualifiers their presence in the form of supplement prizes, beakers handed out and a discount code for BPU members. Their contribution was well appreciated by the lifters also.

Sunday saw even more sitting in a car! 8 hours this time, and I dont need to point out that I wasn´t exactly primed for Mondays benching. It went well all things considered, 10 sets of full gear benching triples and the trimmings. Thanks for that belong to the great crew at Ralls Gym in Leeds!

Rest of the week I took pretty easy, getting ready for a comp tomorrow.

14.3.
BJJ comp with one bout, 5 min. warm-up

Weights:
warm-up 8x3-10x20-130, beltless
6x3x150
2x3x170
10x170

Some abs

16.3.
Benching
Warm-ups till 5x125 raw
Loose training shirt 6x160, 5x180, 4x200, 3x220, 2x240, 0x260, fell back, then 260 that looked like a good lift, but it must be deemed as a no lift still, I felt the lockout was soft! Shit. But no panic, the shirt is way too big, put it on myself. Still the last few mm must be locked. Some judges might not see them but it is still a no lift...
Gay bench (feet in the air, raw) 3x10x10
Then 25x85
guillotine bench 3x20x60

17.3.
Morning boxing for 60 minutes

Lockouts 4x5x140
Bodybuilding for upper body

18.3.
Morning boxing for 60 minutes

Evening Hokutoruy sparring session with different lengths of high intensity sparring rounds

19.3.
Back workout, semi easy but got a decent pump and freshened the body after a flight

23.3.
Benching in Leeds
Warm-ups until 5x120 raw
Shirt on, 9x3x140-220, then doing a triple with 230 I hit the racks and bar was under on the second rep, had to reset and do the last rep

Gay bench a little, no power
Stretching and fooling around for chest

24-25.4.
Light workouts with technique work, mobility, rehab and some power moves. Especially liked a set done just for fun. I ran down the rack of dumbbells, and did one fast clean and jerk with a pair, all with no break, 8 sets of dumbbells starting from 18kg and ending with a pair of 40s. That kind of stuff is fun to do when deloading or loosening up for a comp as I was doing. On top of that core, tumbling and all that. About 75 min. each session.

I don´t want to always stop these updates with a cliffhanger, but now it is actually due. I am going to compete tomorrow in a competition with modified MMA-style rules with ground strikes etc. and a Jujutsu gi. I am competing against black belt holders of multitude of disciplines in the heavyweight class, and really excited going in as the powerlifting underdog!

I hope the next update will have pics with me medals around my neck!

Union Fight night and a week of training and preparation.

Juho "the Viking" Valamaa taking a breather, and Minna Pajulahti showing all ring girls around the world how it´s done! Photo by Niklas Kapanen

And again a bit late I am writing about what has been going on. 

The last two weeks have been full on. After returning from UK, I commenced training with full intensity and had an overall busy schedule. In that was also fitted a MMA night called the Union Fight Night in Tampere, Finland, couple of meetings and the final trainings leading up to the Finnish Team Nationals in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

First upon arrival I had to go home to a pleasant surprise. During my two weeks and a bit off the country, my friends Maria and Tiia alongside with my mother had cleaned my house a bit, brought in new mats on the floor and on top of that filled my fridge with berries of all sorts from my mother caches! That was a pleasant sight to come home to.

I didn't get to enjoy that peace for long, the following day took me to Tampere to announce. I traveled with Juho Valamaa, a Finnish up and coming future MMA star. Juho had a boxing bout, first of its kind in hes career. Bout was originally scheduled at 85kg, but the promoter had difficulties getting Juho victims, so at the end of the day he actually faced a man that was 103kg! I could have stepped in the ring also if they don`t mind the small weight difference. Actually, to be honest I had my mouthpiece in alongside my suit, just for the slight possibility of somebody cancelling. You have to be flexible you know! I have once stepped from an announcer to a replacement fighter in a small private boxing night, so it is not always that far fetched.

Juho and his opponent that was originally supposed to be under 90kg...

Janne Rantanen winning via armbar

The night was a success, I am happy for my friend Sampo Panttaja for that. He organized this the first time, and it went well. He is a superb coach, the man behind two of Finlands latest male UFC fighters! Also in attendance were the always lovely Bullfarm girls, lead by Minna Pajulahti. Bullfarms flagship lifters also watched keenly, because the main fighter of the night happened to be a MMA fighter of the Rantanen family, very known powerlifting brother trio which he is the fourth brother, excelling in combat sports. 

Night went well, and I did a good job, if none minds me saying that myself. Only after interviewing a fighter and opening the interview by saying: "So you have a strong muay thai background then?" and getting and answer: "No, only wrestling", one might think I hadn`t done my groundwork well enough! I did, but was fooled a bit by the corner after victory being rushed by cheering Muay Thai world champion. Could happen to everyone!

Sampo Pänttäjä the promoter, Minna Pajulahti IFBB Athlete and me striking poses

I showed some integrity and got straight back home, skipping the afterparty this time. On sunday I was training

already and was lucky not to be hung over. The deadlifts were as shitty as they were before, both sumo and conventional, and even cramped my back. Then I had to squat because I was lagging. I climbed up to a set of 10 with 140 with no belt. After that I got some flak from my cousin that he had a stronger squat than me. After getting fired up by a wager of a donut and a cup of coffee I proceeded to claim the victory of the bet by sqautting 20x140kg beltless and deep. Not a heroic effort, but with the lower body training I have been up to, and my issues with lower back, it was a decent set after deadlifting for over 10 working sets with a crappy, cramped up form!

So, I will just post my training up until the weekend, and write later about the Team comp:

8.3.

Weights: all kinds of warm-ups and medicine man tricks, but still deadlifting felt as shitty as it did on the last wednesday when I first tried it. I just gave up on technique and decided to do the numbers dialed in, because they were so moderate you can pull them with arms alone if need be.

Deadlifts:

Sumo: 11x2-5x60-170, 5x2x190

Conventional, no belt: 5x100, 5x130, 3x5x150

Squat, low bar, no belt: 2x10x20, 2x5x60, 2x3x100, 2x140, 10x140, 20x140 

Lunge with barbell, 3x5 per leg

Abs on pullodown machine: 3x10

Power wheel: 3x10

Emmas partials:3x10x100

9.3. Walk, about 4km

10.3.

Morning mobility stuff and stand-up wrestling

Evening weights:

Bench: 

raw, narrow grip 6x2-10x60-135, 5x2x155

Loose shirt on: 5x2-3x200-240

Double pause bench: 3x6x100

Overwide to the throat 20x60

11.3. 

Weights:

Lockouts:8x5x60-170

Bodybuilding for upper body

Evening: Hokutoruy jujutsu ground work training, 1 hour session, really intense, bouts and fast starts ranging from 10 second to 2 min.

12.3. A circuit of5 movements, 4 circuits in a row, 45 min. of mobility work

13.3. Carbing up with warm donuts and ice cream!

On sunday I had the comp, but I will talk that more later on!

Powerlifting spirit, black belt chokeout and pork pies. A week in England

Bench press crew in Leeds

Arriving to the United Kingdom one could presume to be welcomed with a warm breeze, smell of tea and a line of courteous people waiting in an orderly fashion in fast moving lines.
One would be wrong.

It was cold, damp and rainy when I arrived, just the weather my neighbour in the next seat at the plane had talked me about. For 2 hours at least, straight. English weather, she said, made her move from the country 10 years ago. And saying that took 2 hours. Not short on words, but also dished some good advice on gin so it´s all jolly good!

On top of that, the automatic systems of the passport control were broken. The line was about 2500 people deep, and I informed myride who was waiting to pick me up that she would have to wait. Her advice was to light somebody on fire...
I declined the offered route of action, but instead of that found another way around the situation. A lady came to fetch people with non-EU passports to another line, a shorter one. I did not hesitate but jumped in with the team, muttering something that could have vaguely been Russian or Mongolian mutter.

When she had escorted us non-Eu residents to the line, I promptly did a maneuver to enter the line I was supposed to be in, only about 1000 people further. Selfish? Yes. had no right to do it? Yes. Fun and productive for maintaining mental health? Yes!

That one out of the way, a night in Gatwick hotel, and the following day a drive to Welvyn Garden City to set up 1RM Gym for BPU qualifier number one this year. When all was said and done, traveling etc. had taken enough out that I did not have energy to go out to eat with the crew.

I was still sickly at this point, grey I was told was my skin colour, which made me a minority with no support group! I managed to cope still, and was rather OK to announce at the competition next day. And what a positive competition it was!

1RM Gym, before being transformed to a competition venue

The spirit in the 1RM gym was great! Steve Plunkett and Anthony Gee really did lend a hand on arranging the comp, and everyone involved did it for the love of the sport. Competitors were offered great stage to make their debutes, comebacks or lifts of any kind. Organizing was fine example of work and Paula and Dan whom I shared the table with were right on top of their jobs. Reallu pleased.
I would like to make a further notice of the speech Emma James (head of the BPU, biggest single ply female bencher and holder of degrees so complicated for a Finn I can´t help but think she has made some of them up herself) gave.

Topic was something abstract called "Elite".
In sports circles, at least those that have rigid measurable system, it is easy to set up a system which shows how much you must lift, how far you must throw etc. to be called Master of the Sport, Elite or whatever. But in UK, I hear that Elite in powerlifting does not call for a specific number or years of lifting. It is abstract mention somehow earned or given to yourself, that should apparently separate you from the rest of the lifters.
English has a good vocabulary to state my take on the subject. Words like "bollocks", "hogwash", "shite" or the sentence "inadequately defined state, that if self appointed must be deemed meaningless in any context" all express my opinion on that.

Ms. President said in her speech that workload, passion, willingness and effort are what makes the lifter precious. And therefore everyone with those qualities who gets on the platform is "Elite". Well put, and sums up the thing pretty well in my opinion, regardless of the banner or idea that anyone lifts.

Something that I consider more elite than a RAW 1000kg total

There were also lifters on the platform that would be considered Masters of the Sport or "Elite" even by numerical means only. 400 kilo single ply squat from Artur Schrczazc, 850+ raw total at 110kg from a new BPU committee member David Jenkinson and and a female 56kg class 360 raw total from also part of the committee Emmy Louise.
Worth mentioning would be a whole load of other people, but no idea for name listing as I previously agreed that they are all worth mentioning. And then there is also that I don´t remember the names so well.... Sorry, all were great and Hassan Zaid especially had gone a long way since we chatted at Worlds in Riga (?) for the first time.



The day was finally over with Dan Evans giving out awards in a way that made many feel special, and after that we headed for Birmingham. Not to have too little traveling, the following day took us to Manchester, then Leeds and back to Manchester again!

In Leeds, I enjoyed a bench session at Ralls Gym, with a crew of great lifters and none other than the mister 1000lb deadlift, Andy Bolton himself! They had a rigid, solid system of lifting that made it an enjoyable session, and I saw some light at the end of the tunnel also benchwise.

Sparring with the champ

The following days were filled with some sleep, visiting the Vyomax headquarters and bodybuilding infused bench press training at the Olympic Gym in Manchester. Tuesday though, things took a turn for the more challenging!



I was lead to Gracie Barra Manchester to attend the advanced class of BJJ. And advanced it was, at least as far as teachers are concerned! Lucio Sergio, a world and European champion black belt, was in charge of the class. It was one of the most enjoyable classes I have attended. Very welcoming, training very factual and down to earth, and as an icing to the cake, three rounds of sparring with a black belt, two of them with Lucio himself!
A humbling experience of course, but in the most positive way. I did my best which I didn´t regard that little, all things considered. But this time I was no match to even being choked out. I managed to outpower or outlast couple of different submissions and do some clumsy attempts to pass his guard, but eventually he made me tap from chokes three times. Very unique for me. Last time I remember that happening was with Euros champ JP Pietilainen, another black belt and a heavyweight on top of that.

The team at Gracie Barra Manchester

Here is my training blog updates on the week in England:
2.3.
Bench with Emma, Andy and the crew in Leeds
Narrow grip bench: Warm-ups till 110x5, then 8x3x130, speed and groove began to find its place, and the last ones were really good, speed bench at its best
Bench with Metal Catapult 3x5x130, 170, 200, 200 was hard, but good grinding
Double-stop bench 3x8x100
Incline machine 4x10-20
Incline bench: 3x15x60
Pullover with dumbbell 2x20x26kg
Push-ups with feet on a bench: 2x15

Andy and the bench at Ralls Gym

3.3.
Weights:
Lockouts: pretty crap and ended with 2x5x150 because shoulder didnt stay in bench but tended to come up
Then 12 sets of tris, different dips first and then extensions with supersetting and even drop sets, followed by 4x20 of Dr. Abbas 1-handed extensions for rehab
Still to top it off, 12 sets of bis and 3 sets of 1-hand concentration curls with  superset approach
Very bodybuilderish, very much fun!
1 hour break and on to the Gracie Barra BJJ session. 75min. session, some position sparring and 3x5 actual sparring

The kind owner of the gym and a black belt himself, Mark Elliott, me and El Professot Lucio Sergio. 

4.3.
Shoulders.
Push press to open up the shoulders, 5x5x50-90
Behind the neck press to stretch, 4x10x40
Arnold press seated 5x8-12x20-30
Triple drop side laterals: 3x10+10+10 with 20,15,10kg dumbbells
Side laterals behind back: 3x20 per hand
Rear delts on a machine: 4x12-20
Abbas tris: 3x15 just to engage the tri

5.3.
Back:
Deadlifts, sumo. Went awfully wrong, a single with 190 was enough to let it go and try another day. Tried conventional, but after 2 sets with 140 gone painfully, decided to wait till Sunday and try again.
Ring pull-ups with a stop, 6x3, coupled with 6 sets of "core" excercises
Barbell rows: 2x10 overhand, 2x10 underhand, 80kg
Chest-supported row: 4x12
Pulldowns: 4x10-20, 1 quadruple drop set to top it off
OK session after all, and a good upper back pump. Back was not sore even after deadlifting 190 with arms only, that is a positive.



Friday came a bit too quickly for my taste after all. I had an enjoyable time on my stay, and not least because of my company and all the great persons I had the opportunity to meet.
But no time to mourn as I am going there soon again, 22nd of March is time for the South West Qualifiers in Devon and I will be working there!

https://www.facebook.com/events/582501305214111/

Malaga, week 2

The sub wrestling crew. In the middle professor Aron Adamko

Back home and updating little by little

I am finally home again, got in on the 6th but have not had the time to relax and sit down until now. And from here its off to Helsinki again tomorrow morning.
I will make a few posts now during the coming week, catching up on whats been going on.

Hangover cure....

After the last installment, I continued to train in Malaga, focusing solely on BJJ. There was a severe flu going about and our instructor Santeri among others fell ill. I was also a bit taken by it and had a light feverish symptoms. And no, it was NOT a hangover. Hangover was sunday and maybe, just maybe mondays morning session. But after that it was something else.


I also fetched my jacket, it had been discovered by patrons in the Codigo bar. So no harm done, got my jacket back and had a great week of training at Costa del sol Fight and Fitness. Nice, solid training, couple of good dinners with Sakke but mostly just recovering. It was hard for rather unaccustomed bod to handle the load of training twice a day on instructed classes.


Sometimes the daily lunch menu took us some second guessing, and sometimes it just did´t satisfy as well as other times...

Sakke not content with Chinese restaurants 4.95 euro menu...

Close-up of the main dish, three chicken pieces smaller than a lemon slice

Some of us chose more carefully!

I can share though, my ways of physically recovering utilized here. I did not feel soreness and bruises also healed quickly with my protocol so pretty happy with it.
Normal day of eating was like this:

Morning: vitamin D, multivitamin, 8 raw eggs, little air dried ham, water, finnish herb tablet, glucosamin and green tea

Lunch: A lunch menu at a Spanish local place, fruit juice

At night a good serving of food ranging from restaurant meals to chicken rolls, non healthy but always high in protein

On top of those meals I had two drinks, half before and half after training. They contained the actual secret to recovery: Rapid recovery mineral drops, 10g of BCAA, 10g of creatine, 75g whey protein and 85g of whole crane sugar.

Before bedtime and before training 3 BCAA capsules.


That burst of energy and nutrients kept me going and really helped with recovery. No joint ache really, and muscles healed faster than ever. The combination of good fats, varying foods and periworkout stuffing of sugar, nutrients and protein did make a difference. Coupled with light after workout stretching I had no problems hitting about 300 minutes of sparring in a week and total 12 hours of training BJJ, plus some weights. Never been so big on supplements, but those I use are pretty well proven to work. Will incorporate that peri-workout plan to my training henceforth!

Saturday hydration, not to be overlooked on training camps

I like Spain a lot, and Spanish I deem pretty harmless and easygoing, and I will definetely be going back! My friend Sakke did like it also, but the flu and hard training depleted his energy a little, but I hope I can lure him in on a training camp with me some day. Maybe next August when Roger Gracie himself is holding a seminar!

I have been studying theater on a course, training weights and BJJ and made a lot of acquintances here and there, so coming back is easy. But as always, I need a context to do that in, just holiday won´t cut it with my attention span.

OK, admit it. Who of my hometown Paimios Action Sport Centers trainees has made this tag I encountered in Malaga?

So, then on to training:

23.2.
Morning: BJJ 90 min.

Weights:
3x10x120 narrow grip bench, 3x20 side laterals
Evening BJJ 90 min.

24.2.
Morning BJJ 90min.

Evening sub wrestling 100min.
 A huge wrestlemania-like bout of sparring with Jailo, with smashing takedowns, continuous pushing and propably more calories spent than on average week of training back home!

23.2.
Morning: BJJ 100min

Sakke with the man himself, Pablo Cabo

Evening: BJJ 70min

Treatment, a traditional bonesmithing from Aron Adamko. Osteopathylike treatment that did help me out and made me feel better. Lots of "crunch" sounds from all over the body...

24.2.
Morning session cut out because felt so ill. Managed to go to evening training, fueled by mysterious ephedrine containing Spanish flu medication...

Evening: Submission wrestling 90min.

Messing about with Andrew Forson, blue belt European champion

Weights:
5x10-20 hammer curls
3x10 arnold press
2x20 side laterals
3x10x rear laterals
3x10 triceps extensions
Band work



25.2.
Last workout with the great crew of Roger Gracie Spain! Last sparring with Aron and Andrew and others.

Morning: 90min. BJJ

Weights:
Inverted rows 5x10xBW
Bench 5x10x60-100
10 sets of upper body moves and some abs

After training I said goodbye once again to my friends In Malaga and  went to a local pub to eat a great and delicious Menu del Dia. From there the backpack man headed on towards the Malaga airport, knocking out elderly left and right with my oversized rugsack. Next stop and the next update is United Kingdom and its cities from Leeds to Manchester. Encountering worlds greatest deadlifter and a man who finally was able to choke me out multiple times at Gracie Barra Manchester!

Farewell for now to my home gym in Spain