athlete journals

Training slowed down a little bit last week. I missed two BJJ days and one strength and conditioning day. There was nothing that I could do to make these missed days up. Kids, work, injury, and other ... Continue Reading

These were my last few weeks of training before heading off to Copenhagen for the 2014 Worlds Masters Weightlifting Championships. Monday I found myself very sluggish during the warm up and cut back ... Continue Reading

A lot can happen in three years. That’s about how long champion powerlifter Charles Staley has been writing journals here at Breaking Muscle. In that time frame, Charles has taken two world titles and ... Continue Reading

Exhausted, sluggish, yet still breathing. I finally get to enjoy a rest day, after weeks and weeks of hard work. My previous twelve-week training cycle culminated in a 63lb gain across my three lifts, yet ... Continue Reading

Hey guys, guess what? This is entry number 52, which means I’ve been journaling for Breaking Muscle for a whole year! I remember when I got the email that said I was chosen to be a jiu jitsu ... Continue Reading

Your mental climate during workouts is one of the most significant factors (if not the most significant factor) that will determine the level of success you’ll experience. What follows are a few of my ... Continue Reading

Keeping my focus is something I have mentioned several times in previous athlete journals. It plays a huge part in your success or failure in competition. I am positive that many of my wins have come from ... Continue Reading

It’s the last week of hard training before the No Gi Pan Ams. I’m a little bit nervous and a lot excited. But most of all, I’m sore. This past week has definitely been a burner for me. We’ve been ... Continue Reading

Specificity is both necessary and problematic. Not enough and you don’t make progress. Too much and you’ll fall prey to stagnation and overuse injuries. Fortunately, there’s an easy solution. Let’s ... Continue Reading

Sunday My hand was still in bad shape, so Sunday was a repeat of Saturday. Monday The swelling was starting to come down and mobility was returning to my wrist. I spent a lot of time in massage, ... Continue Reading

As I watch older lifters struggle with orthopedic issues, I often wonder: If my sole or primary objective was to feel as good as possible at age eighty, would I still lift as hard as I do? That’s a ... Continue Reading

My Brazilian jiu jitsu and my strength and conditioning continue to progress nicely. This week I was a little pressed, which is typical, but I still had five good days of BJJ and got in all three of my ... Continue Reading

The past seven days seemed to fly by. It feels like just yesterday I wrote my journal entry for last week. I’m going to take this as a sign that I had a good week. Time flies when you’re having fun, ... Continue Reading

A few years ago, I was having dinner at my local Outback when I overheard the following in the booth behind me: “My trainer says that if you eat too much protein, it’ll turn to fat.” Did you ... Continue Reading

Now that the Boston Open is over, it is time to start focusing on Masters World Championships in November. After my performances competing in the New York Open and the Boston Open, my confidence is high ... Continue Reading

I’m finally back to normal! Or at least my health is. I don’t think I’ll ever consider my brain to be normal, but that’s for a different time. I’m also back in school now, but don’t expect too much ... Continue Reading

As I was pondering what to comment about my training journal entry this week, it suddenly struck me that the most remarkable thing about my workouts lately is that they’re not remarkable. And that’s ... Continue Reading

James Kearns started his athlete journal with us in January, 2014. Since then, he has competed in eight tournaments, battled staph infections and an injury, and won three gold medals. Things are getting ... Continue Reading

On Saturday I competed in the Boston Summer Open. What started out as an unbelievably disappointing day turned out to be one of the most satisfying and exciting tournaments I have ever competed in. ... Continue Reading

If you care about your lifting, it’s only natural to focus intently on the results of your efforts. There’s an intrinsic problem to this, however. Caring too much about the result of your effort can ... Continue Reading

I started preps for World Championships on August 3, 2014. I have a few concerns, the major one being I am working on fixing my left wrist. If that doesn’t come around it is going to be a hard two ... Continue Reading

I hurt my elbow and had to deal with a cold for two days, but I can’t say it was a bad week because of that. I was still able to get a lot of good training, and we even had Phil Migliarese as a guest ... Continue Reading