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Fitness

Athlete Journal: James Kearns, Entry 4 – 1/29/2014

For the first time in a few weeks, I had a solid training week with no injuries, illness, or schedule conflicts. I increased the intensity this week to prepare for my upcoming BJJ meet.

James Kearns

Written by James Kearns Last updated on January 29, 2014

EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to the athlete journal of James Kearns. James is an active Brazilian jiu jitsu competitor and also trains and competes in Olympic weightlifting.Follow his journals here every week.

Athlete Journal Entry 4 – 1/29/2014

For the first time in a while, I had a good training week that was free from conflicting schedules, illness, or injury. This past week I was actually expecting to be pressed for time due to my winter break for school ending, but I had no time issues and training went great. I even got to do an AM/PM day on Monday, which I enjoy doing because it gives me an extra rest day during the week.

For Brazilian jiu jitsu, I turned my training intensity up, which is what I usually do when I am two weeks out from competition. I always train at a high intensity, but right before competition I really turn it up, so thanks so much to my training partners who tolerate me during this time. Many competitors will then turn it back down during the week of competition and not roll hard so they can just go over game plans, but I will continue to go hard this week as well. I feel like when I’m training at a high intensity, I need to keep that same pace going all the way to tournament time. If I were to slow down and take it easy a few days before the tournament, then that’s how I would compete – slow and easy.

I’m looking forward to my first BJJ tournament of the year on Saturday at NAGA Philadelphia. This is going to be a busy competition year, so it’s time to get started. Fortunately, we had some big classes this week. When I say big, I’m talking about both the amount of people in the class and the size of the people in the class. This is great timing for me, because anyone who weighs over 200lbs knows how difficult it is to find bigger guys to train with. Since I am a heavier competitor, a lot of times I will have to travel to find multiple guys to roll with who weigh as much as I do, but it’s important to get used to moving that weight around. That way when you are on the mat during competition and your opponent gets top position you don’t think, “Dang, this guy is heavy,” and start to panic.

Weightlifting also went great this week. My snatch is really starting to come around, my mechanics are feeling good, and the bar is moving fast. I will keep on focusing on snatch mechanics for the next two weeks, which is basically just me being able to concentrate and focus on my cues right before the lift. Then I will start adding some heavier weight to the bar to work on power. As always, my barbell complexes (which I love) were the best part of my weightlifting week. I did forget to add weight to my second set of barbell complex #1, but that is not a big deal.

Sunday

BJJ: Competition drilling.

Monday (AM)

Weightlifting:

  • Power Jerk 90kg 4×3
  • Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squats 60 lbs 5×6
  • Dumbbell Incline Press 80 lbs 4×8
  • Deadlift 145kg 3×6

Monday (PM)

BJJ: Drills, lapel chokes from side control, rolling, core work

Wednesday

BJJ: Drills, sweeps from half butterfly, rolling, core work

Thursday

Weightlifting:

  • Overhead Squat 65kg x4, 67.5kg x4, 70kg x4, 72.5 x4
  • Hang Squat Snatch 60kg x3, 65kg x3, 70kg x2, 72.5kg x2, 75kg x1

Saturday

Weightlifting:

Barbell Complex #1

  • Power Clean
  • Push Press
  • Lunge 82.5 kg 2×3

Barbell Complex #2

  • Power Clean
  • Front Squat
  • Romanian Deadlift 102.5kg 1×3, 105kg 1×3, 107.5 kg 1×3
  • Oblique Plyo Push-Ups 3×5
  • Core Work
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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