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

Search for the sun and submissions, 15.2.-22.2.

A much needed update from Malaga, before I forget to record my training sessions. everybody knows at the age of internet that if you don´t proclaim everybody how hard you trained, it propably has less of an effect on your body also!

I left Finland in such a hurry that my cooked with love spelt porridge was left on the table as I ran out. Had a little army recollection sprinting with a rugsack on my back! eventually made the bus and from there on it was easy and nice. In a kinda leaving late because of some threats on airports, arriving so late that the last train is missed and arriving to a hotel that had cancelled our reservations. But all part of the fun I say!

Reptilians might have been the cause of our early hardships. If this doesn´t open up to you, Google reptilian conspiracy and find out that the powers to be are really lizardpeople... Seriously.

Sakke, enthusiastic as always. In front of our cheap hotel.

So anyway here we are training at Pablo Cabos gym, Costa del Sol Fight and Fitness with my companero Sakke, training and also a bit moving around in the city and the nearby areas. We came to Malaga on wednesday night, and started out by having had our hotel reservation cancelled. So nowhere to stay. Of course we fixed another place, a cheap hotel right in the center. And we have stayed there since.



The first day of training was very Spanish. Meaning that the timetables we had were wrong, but even with the mix-ups, everything ended up nicely and with lots of hugging and handshakes!
It was great to be at the Roger Gracie Academy of Malaga again, and to our surprise the teacher was a great Finnish grappler and fighter, Santeri Lilius! I will post more on that later, he has been great to us with his lovely girlfriend Emilia Tuukkanen.

A pic of Santeri and Emilia. Emilia is a brown belt now, i must add that or she´ll choke me!

Friday was full-on training and saturday a lighter day. After the saturdays training we ate and rested for a while, then carbed up and left to Fuengirola.

Carbohydrates

In Fuengirola we did some more carbing up. First watching Mikko Rasilas monologue play and then continuing to Bar Mask, a bar in Fuengirola owned by Mikko and his husband Markus. They also host show nights, spanish classes, dancing classes and theater courses, for Finns and for other nationalities also!

Mikko Rasila. A Finnish actor and a dancer.

From there we ventured to Nogales to show Sakke a bar called Codigo that is owned by a great couple, Ian and Christian. We also met a stuert from our flight there (the chances on meeting a stuert went up considerably when we arrived to gay area) and had a great night out. Woke up the next morning, all cash gone and a jacket lost. It was later found in Codigo Bar. So no harm done. I jsut lost my clothes in th gay district of Torremolinos, that happens to the most hetero of us doesn´t it?

No jacket any more, and didn´t have it until three days later. 

Sakke and our stuert.

Sunday was hugely active. I did a cardio workout going through a sandwich kiosk, local bakery, McDonalds and Taco Bell. I must make an honest statement, not being sponsored by anyone. Taco Bell that I tried for the first time in my life is the biggest piece of crap I´ve ever tasted! And McDonalds lured me with low prices, and managed to go lower than the bar I had set for them. And the bar was already lower than pro bodybuilders testosterone levels after 5 injection-free weeks.

The local shops were good, and I later heard that Taco Bell is regarded as the shittiest chain of fast food. I had no idea, we don´t have them in Finland... So I tasted the big world, and it tasted like something that would make real Latino cook cry. But you live and you learn. And after ingesting that shit they sold as Tacos, I´m happy to be living and learning still...

More on this weeks training when the week is finished, I´ll update here my training until the sundays binging.


15.2.
A combined squat and bench again, because I knew I wont probably get them done whilst training BJJ twice a day.

Felt really strong on squats, but having stood up working with teenagers in a nightclub all night, after the low bar squat I just started fading and rest of the workout was grinding. Alone in the gym and totally powerless, still got done what was on the paper. Nothing really weighed, it was mostly mental fatigue or low blood sugars.

Squat, low bar: 30 min. warm-up
paused, no belt: 2x3x100, 2x130, 2x160
with belt: 5x2x180, light as hell
Front squat for flexibility, oly style, no belt: 5x3x50-130
Paused high bar squat, no belt, 3x5x130
Sumo deadlift, no belt: 3x10x130
Conventional, no belt: 2x12x110
Emmas deadlift: 2x10x90
Straight legged deads 2x10x70

16.2.
With youngsters in Kerava, going through Kalevala poetry and brainstorming a little

17.2.
Benching, with a new secret shirt ;)
Bench, raw: 5x2x150, first awkward, last sets felt like they should, light and fast
Bench, shirted: 4 or 5x3x200-230, no touch. Locked out the arm , shirt too big though. Felt pretty good still the shirt, first training.
Bench with a double pause:3x5x100
Overwide slow descent: 2x20x60
Flyes 1x20x14kg
Pushups 1x20

18.2. 
Flew off to Malaga

19.2.
Night session at RGA Malaga.
In Spanish style, the internet schedule was wrong, and no muay thai. We had to wait awhile for the submission wrestling class to start, so we hit the weights and did some sparring, so no harm done:

Lockouts from near the chest, 5x5x100-140
Tris with a band 2x20
Tris, pushup with handles 2x20
Bis with straight bar 2x20x30kg
Inverted rows on rings 5x10xBW
Chins+iso holds on rings, 3x3xBW
Rear delt raises 2x20x20kg
Side raises 2x20x10kg
Y-raises 2x20x5kg

Some stuff with bands

Little bit of heavy bag, then kickboxing sparring for 3x4min.

Then! Finally some male touching on the ground!
Sub wrestling 1h 40min. 5x8min. sparring. First one was with an incredibly fast and strong no-gi European championship medalist Jailo. He has been a great sparring partner here and we have faced off since in a good spirit.


20.2.
Morning:
BJJ 90 min. by Santeri, again 5-6 sparring matches. Duro!

Evening:
Kickboxing 60min. 5 rounds sparring
After that 45 min. of submission wrestling technique and sparring



21.2.
Morning sesion not very crowded. But had some rolling, good movement stuff done and little bit of sparring and technique.


That is it for now. Already had two more days of training, but I will cover them later on! G´night!

From Mayor´s to Malaga. Training 7.2-13.2.

Now it is the time for the weekly update that I promised. It is rather training oriented, albeit there is still things happening on other areas!

Hoping for sun

I am heading to Malaga in couple of days to train BJJ and kickboxing. 9 days of training, little bit of fun and hopefully sun await me and my friend Sakke. So that is exciting and getting ready to pack is always an inspiring feeling. 

Nice to meet the great people of Costa del Sol Fight and Fitness again!

After Malaga its straight off to London to help with arrangements and work as an announcer for British Powerlifting Unions qualifier for their Nationals. So London calling! After that other parts of the UK to check out possible venues for comps and to bench with a group of merited powerlifters. Not at all bad the two weeks ahead of me I would say.

And that is about it, now for the diary, sorry, training log part!

7.2.

Bodybuilding day of the CUBE-style training. It is the most fun of all of the tormentign training days of the program. And as a change of pace, arm work. Yeiii! With my cousin, Pommi. (hes actually called Ville, but Pommi is better. And cousins Kalle and Ville just sound stupid...)

Lockouts, height 6

9x5x60-160 Arm was snapping straight nicely after warming up.

Arnold press, no back support and really clean and contracting on top 4x12x21kg 

Inverted row 4x10

Triceps 1-arm with a rope 4x10x10kg

Biceps hammer curl 4x10x21kg

Delt raises, three ways 3x10+10+10x12kg

Pulldowns 4x15

Calves on a leg press 3x20-40

Overhead tris supersetted with standing extensions 3x10+10x30kg

Biceps triceps and delts one pump set of 30 reps each

So that was it, really nice dfeeling of working muscles with no wear and tear on joints. And an arm pump...

9.2.

Benching was to be served today, after a exhilarating day with the youth group. Poems from one of them especially. Naivistic but great and good use of wording.Enthusiasm and teenage tantrums, all the stuff that makes it worth it. And a future chance to get to study the poetry of the Finnish national saga, Kalevala with one of the groups boys.

Doesn´t sound like much to a foreigner, but the sagas are some seriously mind blowing stuff. 

Pride, Force-like power of singing and knowledge, situations so dire that black steeds must be summoned of sadness and sorrow, the Swan from the river of Death and many more that would put shame on modern fantasy. All composed of a very unique style of rhyming. 

Don´t take my word for it, Kalevala is the real shit according also to fantasy scenes original innovator Mr. Tolkien and hes R.R. companion George Martin, known for the Song of Fire and Ice.

Väinämöinen, the greatest hero of Kalevala. On occasion also a greedy and self-centered bastard. Here facing off the Louhi, god-witch of the North shaped into a giant bird to carry her army against those who stole her greatest treasure.

But benching, that´s also the stuff of dreams! And I had the opportunity to lift today with the best female bencher ever in her respective category, Emma James. We did an hour long session on the bench and then some assistance.

Greetings to Mayor´s Gym for letting us train there. Needed a place in the center of Helsinki with a no-nonsense attitude and great equipment, and that was Mayor´s! 

Bench, narrow grip speed: 8x3x130

Bench with Catapult: 5x160, 2x5x190 good lockout, hand straightened all the way

Double pause bench: 4x8x90

Incline Dumbell press:10x30

Cable flyes: 1x20

Pullover: 2x12x40

Pec machine: 3x10+one drop set. 

Pecs were fried with real workout on the bench and a good set of assistance, inspired little by Emmas more bodybuilding style approach to assistance that fit my training now.

Quote of Emma: "You have to support the rest of your body with some assistance work. If you don´t, then youre just a fucking idiot." 

That was it, All that was needed to feel like a real bodybuilder was rice and chicken, protein shakes and some cardio. Physique competing might actually be for me after all.

Bikini Fitness 2016

.

10.2.

90 minute kickboxing workout. Consisted of all business. Light sparring for warm-up, 400 bodyweight movements and then an hour of training on basic punches, blocks and meat and potatoes stuff. Topped off with 4 2 minute sparring rounds and a finisher on pads plus some stretching. 

If I´d do this more often, I´d actually be a able to land a decent shot!

Shins were a bit hurting afterwards.

11.2.

Legs stiff as hell, but squats was the warm-up of the day before boxing!

20 minute warm-up

Squats with and without belt, low bar 3x10x130

Front squats, oly style, no belt: 3x8x90

Pause squats, high bar, no belt: 3x12x90

Then boxing 4 rounds of mitts and three rounds of sparring.

12.2.

Whole body stiff as an iron bar, but had to do deadlifts before massage, so no complaining and to the gym!

Sumos did not feel good. Stiff and fucked up so mostly with straight legs. Luckily the weights so small it does not hurt the body. Still making it a priority to dial technique and flexibility in.

Sumo deadlifts, belt: 5x2x180, 

Conventional deads, no belt: 3x5x140

Emmas partials 3x12x80

Straight leg deads: 2x12x60

Pull-ups: 3x5xBW

Inverted row: 3x10-15xBW

Pulldown: behind neck: 4x15-20x60

Rear delts: 4x20x14kg

75 min. massage, back, calves and hamstrings

13.2.

Last session of this weekly cycle, the bodybuilding day again:

This time the triceps took their time, but at the end they did fire properly and lockouts felt good

Lockouts, height 5: 8x5-10x60-160, always hold the weight extended and squeeze tris

Arnold press seated, no back support: 3x10x21-27

Triceps extension, leaning back almost, superstrict: 3x10x40kg

Dumbbell laterals 2x20x14kg

Triceps, 1-hand rope extension, Dr. Abbas style:4x10x10kg

1-hand hammer curls: 4x10x21kg

Triceps overhead+standing extension superset: 2x10+10x30kg

Calves on a leg press: 4x10-20x270kg

Biceps with dumbbells: 2x20x14kg

Me and my cousin shaking hands after the bodybuilding and accessory day of our training week

That was one weeks worth of training, Next week will be cut in half on training here in Finland and training for combat side of things on Spanish soil! Maybe some bar action also on Costa del Sol, who knows.

Adios amigos!

Going global! Introduction of the warrior poet

Global Blogging Committee

Contemplation of an international blog has been on my mind for too long now not to act on it. To have my training written down somewhere, to hone my English and just overall force me to record my doings better and be able to track down and have a laugh at them later on!

Venturing out to the world

So, who am I? That is a question propably relevant to a possible reader of the blog. And also a question hard to squeeze in a nutshell, but I will give it a shot! I will try to avoid most of the existential pondering and interdimensional possibilities of our perception and focus on sports, arts and what most of us perceive as the real world. I do not promise to avoid it altogether, but I will give that a shot also.

My name is Kalle Eemeli Ylitalo, born 31 years ago as a love child of a traveling man and a beauty. I have a tendency to wander about, but most of my time I spend in my home country of Finland. Main focus of my blog will be my training which covers a multitude of areas from martial arts to powerlifting. Main focus shifting a little, but on a whole year scale it is still full gear benching.
I will also be covering other areas that are on my field of interest and occupation.
Namely acting, poetry, youth work and random babbling on all fields from nutrition to the state of mankind.

I have lead a peaceless life filled with professions and positions both pleasant and unpleasant. Currently I go by under the moniker of freelancer, which can in times mean an actor, other times an announcer or an mc, and occasionally just a good-for-nothing poetry writing sky painting unemployed dreamer who dislikes everything but sports and arts.

Sometimes you wake up with a stranger...

As a sportsman I have in recent years accomplished to win some and lose some bouts in martial arts. Ranging from hokutoryu jujutsu to brazilian jujitsu and submission wrestling. Nothing major, but still half a dozen medals from national championships and international tournaments.

My main achievements are in powerlifting area, namely in full gear bench pressing. I have two WPC World championship bronze medals and a GPC gold medal from

Bronze from 2012

2014 Worlds. I also have the whole colour arrangement from our Finnish National championships, the golden one being from 2012. This year was a comeback after torn leg in May at the BJJ Finnish Opens and strarted with silver in Nationals and later a gold medal in the GPC Worlds.
All federations aside, personally I value most the fact of over 300kg competition sanctioned bench press at three different weight classes (-140, -125 and -110).

I am also regarded by many as the best powerlifting announcer in the world. Not a modest statement, but one that I embrace if it is thrown at me. Finns are also known for their modesty, but sadly I am not. From sarcasm I am, and not using smileys in my blog even at gunpoint. So that be said, use your caution while reading.

I work at arranging comps, announcing in different sporting and celebration events, youth projects, theater and random acting and bouncing jobs. As you can figure out from the lines of work, I am not a billionaire. But traveling a lot, meeting incredible people on a constant basis and getting better as human being and as a sportsman. So I would describe that I am living a life thats shaped to fit me.



What future holds? It can not be told. Not that I do not want to, but I just do not know. I have ideas, inspiration and projects enough to share. But what becomes of them, that is of course up to me, but still undeciden and uncertain. Powerlifting will be brought onwards, men will be battered, women will be dazzled and iron and mind will succumb to my will, that is all I can say with some degree of certainty.
Pretty  grandly put, yet still not telling much?Yes it is, but if I could beforehand say all I will and have done, there would not be a point in reading my blog would there now?

My life is filled now with traveling, training, friends, godchildren and my family of parents and two siblings. You will also get to know through anecdotes in this blog a bunch of my cousins (mainly traveling cousin, powerlifting cousin, cousin with kids and a crazy cousin), and a few friends whom I refer with nicknames of fitting multitude, or just in a sense of dull boringness and complete disregard to their personal opinions by their real names.

Last time in Malaga

That being out of the way, I will now delve into whats going on right now!
I am leaving on 19th to train BJJ and kickboxing in Malaga, followed by an announcing and arranging gig in the UK. I am training couple of people in the weight room and currently training for a hokutoryu jujutsu competition myself. Same time I am doing weights with a modified CUBE-inspired training plan, toned down in weights to give time for recovery.

Most of you propably dont know what hokutoryu jujutsu is, so I will give a brief explanation. With the gi on (the dress gown used in martial arts) you do almost MMA-type bout of 2x2min. Everything is allowed except hitting to the head with fists. That is to avoid excess cuts and such, as the hands are bare. Kicking to the head is allowed, but not on the ground. Bodyshots with legs and fists are allowed on the ground, so are all submissions and ninja trickery.



Heres a video of my friend at last years bout. My video is not so spectacular because of the lack of high kicks and the fact I got thrown around and lost by points to a multiple judo heavyweight champion of Finland. So obviously I am not sharing that, fragile ego that I have. (not so hard to find on Youtube if you really want to see me humiliated).


Video of Sakke "Baseball" Vihervirta dishing out damage:

Thats what I am training for now, keeping benching still in mind.

And with all that most of you did not bother to read, heres whats been going on during the last week:

30.1
I left for Savonlinna in eastern Finland with Pommi (the powerlifting cousin) and Petteri Hosio, the multiple World Champion in bench and in powerlifting. Pommi was going to lift at the Savonlinna Record Breakers, Petteri to judge and I went along in the role of an announcer.
It was a nice 5 hour trip and I actually dropped off before Savonlinna to discuss and train with Ano Turtiainen, a man known for all powerlifting people! Did light squatting and light upper body and a minimum of 34 sets of smack talking. Also few sets of serious talk about the future of Finnish powerlifting.
Took a bus to Savonlinna and slept like a baby in Casino Hotel after visiting local health food joint, Viiskulman Grilli.


31.1.
A great day of competing where Andy Cusick won the overall in Record Breakers and Finnish Matti Lehto made a comeback with almost a 1100 total! It was again a privilege to announce and to be part of comps of eastern Finland. Only thing sad is that Savonlinnas superstar Kalle Räsänen bombed out on the bench, but that happens to the best of us.

Also a great day of making a fool out of yourself, which I tried my hardest with starting up the afterparty with vodka. Did not manage to get a black eye or a charge on anything, so we can call it a decent night still.



1.2.
Woke up with my cousin in the Hotel and we had a bit more quiet drive back home. Only thing that could be described as exercise is being scared to death by the driving of hung over Petteri!


2.2.
A morning stretch and a brisk walk again my only exercise. Went over to Kerava, near Finnish capitol. Working on a youth project covering arts and sports there. We had a great day with music and designing a mobile computer game. Very innovative game designing with my groups boys, their imagination and knowledge on history made an impression.


3.2.
Finally back to the land of the living! Moral hangover coupled with Finnish melancholy has been conquered, and now I was on doing all kinds of grown up chores from cleaning to putting things at their places in my new apartment. Sounds boring, but it was refreshing to carry a washing machine in winding and steep stairs, shouting out to the world at the same time.
Liberated some space downstairs and liberated me from couple of demons. Win-win.
Also went benching:
Narrow grip bench 5x9-15x80-120
Bench with benchdaddy, one ply 4x4x130-170, trying to figure out problems with locking my right arm...
Double pause bench 2x12x70
Lockouts with squeeze and hold to straighten the arm 3x5x130-160

Benching sucked and arm didnt work properly, so I decided to punish myself with a BJJ session still
90 min. of BJJ. Turtle and guard positions as a theme, lots of sparring from positions.


4.2.
Morning rolling on the mat and and some heavy bag kicking and mobility work
In the gym to coach a talented just beginning young chap
Own squat session:
Low bar squat, speed: 8x3x140 felt good
Front squat, beltless and slow descent, Oly grip: 5x5x60-100
Pause squats, breathing air out in the hole: 2x8x100
A small stretch and a sauna at night, coupled with lots of chicken!


5.2.
Morning: 45 minutes of exercise for the brain and body. Mobility, bodyweight training and stretching while watching a documentary on British warrior pricess Boudica. That was a vengeance story if I have ever heard one. Get crossed badly, get your daughters raped and land stolen. Avenge with the death of 80 000 Romans, mutilate the captured and degrade their graves and burn temples. Not exactly the nowadays civilized way of interacting, but I for one would rather extract vengeance that way rather than a lawsuit.

Barbaric payback

Boring payback

Noon: Warm-up and 10x2min. Kickboxing sparring, felt a bit better, trying to get the rust out before hitting the training camp in Spain. It will be 9 days, 14 training sessions, BJJ and kickboxing half and half. So I should get the rust out to get something out of it.

Evening: 1 hour massage

Trying to relieve my right shoulder and get it in its rightful place. That is the rehab project now. It will enable steadier bench, better lockout and keep me pain-free. On top of massage that I have all-around, I do stretching and rehab moves for the shoulder, and a specialized triceps training to address problems with my twice-torn tricep.


6.2.
Great fresh morning, the same view as in the picture but top that today with sunlight. That is what I see every morning, not bad, huh?

Topped the morning with tea, abs, stretching and an documentary on frigging huns! Inspiring stuff for todays training to come.

Weights:
Back squat 5x2x170
Front squat 6x3x60-120, no belt
Pause squat, no belt 2x5x120
Sumo pull 3x10x120
Conventional pull 3x12x100
Partial pull for upper back: 3x10-20x60-100
Straight leg deads 2x20x60
Ab wheel 2x12










So theres my first update. I will be trying to update about once a week to keep up with my training and cover other areas as I deem fit!
Keep strong and keep thinking!

-Kalle Eemeli Ylitalo