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Fitness

Another Staph Infection Bites the Dust (Athlete Journal 21)

A staph infection derailed my training this week, but I managed to catch it early and keep up with my training schedule.

James Kearns

Written by James Kearns Last updated on May 28, 2014

This entire training week was almost completely derailed after I noticed some staph on my forehead on Sunday afternoon. Fortunately, I caught it early and got on some antibiotics that same day and the staph infection was cleared up in time for jiu jitsu class on Wednesday night.

Even though I had to sit out of class on Monday, I still got four good training sessions this week. I had my usual drilling session on Sunday, before I noticed the staph infection, then I attended my second no-gi class of the year. A bigger brown belt came down from another school and we had some pretty productive rolls. I always like training with a variety of competitors from different gyms to keep getting different looks. It will also force me to work on holes in my game that I may not have been aware of if continuously trained with the same people. I will try and add as much no-gi in as I can the rest of the year.

Saturday was a tough one. I got to travel up to York, Pennsylvania and roll at Daniel Beleza’s school. It’s always nice going up there because even on a Saturday when the weather is nice, there are still fifteen good guys to roll with. After a warm up and some drilling, we all took part in a sixty-minute roll-a-thon. It’s tough enough rolling for an hour, but when everyone there is good, you never have an easy roll to catch your breath. To go along with the long training time, it is one of the hottest places I have ever trained at. Even in the winter it must be ninety degrees in there. If you aren’t used to the heat, it can really take it’s toll on you, but training in the heat is good for preventing injuries and is great for conditioning.

After I was completely exhausted and beat to hell, I left York and drove two hours back down to Greencastle, Pennsylvania and trained some other athletes for a while. After their training, it was time for my workout. I wasn’t really sure if I would finish it or not, but thanks to some Red Bull and half a gallon of Gatorade, I completed the last training session of the week. I did take it a little light on the hang clean and push press and briefly thought about skipping Romanian deadlifts, but knowing how important hamstring strength is for injury prevention, I decided that skipping them would do more harm than good.

This week marked eight weeks out from the New York Summer Open and I began to work in some plyometrics and some more sport-specific exercises to my strength program. Once it gets four weeks away from competition, I will start to focus on my conditioning and continue my focus on sport-specific exercises.

Sunday – BJJ

BJJ: Competition Drilling

Monday- Weightlifting

  • Vertical Jump 3×5
  • Plyo Push-Up 3×5
  • Barbell Pop-Ups 3×5
  • Push Offs 3×5
  • Cleans 100 kg x3, 102.5 kg x3, 105 kg x3, 107.5 kg x3, 110 kg x3
  • Dumbbell Bench Press 105 lbs 2×4, 110 lbs 2×4
  • Overhead Dumbbell Extension 85 lbs 3×10
  • Core Work

Wednesday

AM Training – Weightlifting:

  • Barbell Squat 345 lbs x4, 350 lbs x4, 355 lbs x4, 360 lbs x4
  • Barbell Rows 185 3×10
  • Hammer Curls 45 3×10
  • Core Work

PM Training – BJJ

De La Riva Sweeps, Rolling

Thursday

No-Gi BJJ: Takedowns, Rolling

Saturday

AM Training – BJJ

Drills, Rolling, Rolling, and more Rolling

PM Training – Weightlifting

  • Vertical Jump 3×5
  • Plyo Push Up 3×5
  • Barbell Pop Ups 3×5
  • Push Offs 3×5
  • Hang Clean & Push Press 135 lbs x3, 145 lbs 2×3
  • Romanian Deadlift 280 lbs 4×4
  • Rope Pull Up 15, 12, 10
  • Barbell Shrug 265 lbs 3×10
  • Core Work

James Kearns is an active Brazilian jiu jitsu competitor and also trains and competes in Olympic weightlifting.Follow his journals here every week.

Photo courtesy of D-Kline Design Photography.

James Kearns

About James Kearns

James Kearns is a Brazilian jiu jitsu competitor and former United States Marine who began training martial arts in 2005. Starting in Taekwondo and boxing in his hometown of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, he would eventually begin training and competing in mixed martial arts. This is when James first started to train in no-gi jiu jitsu. Then, two and a half years ago, he reluctantly borrowed a gi and tried the Brazilian jiu jitsu class. James has trained in no other martial art since.

After successfully competing at the rank of blue belt for the last two years, earning six gold medals in IBJJF events and finishing the year with a gold medal in the Abu Dhabi Pro Trials adult division, James earned his purple belt in December 2013. Having set his goals high for 2014, he plans on competing six to eight times this year, including the IBJJF Masters World Championships.

Along with being an active BJJ competitor, James also trains and competes in Olympic weightlifting. Having a passion for the health and fitness industry, James is a certified personal trainer and the strength and conditioning coach at Tactical Combat Academy in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, where he focuses on individual and group program design for combat sport athletes. James is also a full time student, working on his B.S. in Sports Management.

Although training in Brazilian jiu jitsu and Olympic weightlifting, being a strength coach, and being in school keep James pretty busy, he still spends most of his time with his wife and four kids (who keep him even busier).

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