A New Era (of blogging)

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Kung Fu Training and Health
1

This is the artist formerly known as bmore banga (or, as I like to say: TAFKABB)
Alright so I ain’t been so good on my old blog, but that don’t mean I ain’t been workin out.
On the contrary, I’ve been workin out like a maniac.

My first entry’s all backwards; bear with me.

Today I ran 6.5 miles in an hour (made 6 miles in 56 min- only 4 min off my goal).
Afterwards I was fit to be tied.
Tonite’s date night, so eating some chicken strips with my girl.

I was down to 216 after the workout; if you remember my last blog, I was around 246 in january.
Lately I’ve cleaned up my diet for the most part:
yogurt for breakfast;
a reasonable lunch around 11:
usually a chicken breast or two added to a lean cuisine, some home-made chicken dish, or home-cooked fish.
an afternoon meal some time between 2:30 and 3:30:
either a snickers marathon bar or a smaller version of the lunch meal.

Thursday night I was up at the Timonium school workin out with Akhilleus and Suntzu. Ate yogurt and some curry salmon.

Wednesday night was a rest day- was supposed to get my tires changed but the garage blew me off. I went home and took a nap; coz i was sluggish all day after tuesday. I could barely move after the nap and ended up having to eat some tortilla chips and chilli. lunch & snack were both salmon.

Tuesday was a killer day. Put in some good work on the elliptical before trying out my total body workout. Last Tuesday I did 8 exercises, 1 set apiece, 10 reps with medium weight. This time I did 7 of those 8 exercises, 2 sets apiece, 6 reps then 10 reps with heavy weight then medium weight- by the end I was totally burnt. Instead of going home I did almost 2 hours of BJJ. Nice guy showed up today- about my size (same weight but taller and more muscular). He had a lot more experience so he and the instructor took turns tying me up in pretzels. Had fun. We did like 45 min of rolling - 3 sets of 10 min on, 5 off (coz we were doing round-robin with the 3 people).

Monday was my normal day off.

Sunday I was down in Herndon at Khun Kao’s class- did some good work on the thai pads, and learned a lot.

Saturday I worked with Julio. I was getting my car fixed and was running late to Danny’s class before finding out he wasn’t gonna be there. Saturday evening with Julio was fun. San shou and thai are pretty different from each other; so I’m kinda developing 2 styles. Thai’s a bit more stationary, relying on power and counter striking. Sanshou’s more like slick boxing- lots of movement, darting in and out, fast combos and fast feet. Thai seems to have a bit more of a spelled out strategy, especially in dealing with other thai fighters. San shou seems to work well on guys expecting a thai strategy. in the end I’ll probably end up mixing them to some extent and relying on a hybrid; but for a while now, i switch between modes- Thai when I’m more stationary (and feel like I can counter whatever the opponent is throwing); san shou when I’m more mobile and trying not to get caught. He made me realize I need to work more on my flexibility.

Friday was a day off.

Thursday was the first workout with Julio in almost a year. He damm-near killed me: triple rounds, combos i wasn’t used to, waiting till after I’d already been working out HARD for 2 hours before he started working with me; he pulled out all the stops.
Ran 2.5 miles.

Wednesday I worked with Roger a bit; kinda just did the boxing thing with some running at the end. Ran 3 miles total.

Tuesday I played around with the full body workout: 8 exercises, 1 set, 10 reps, medium~heavy weight. Then I did my first BJJ class.

2

Saturday the schedule was sick but the body was weak.
Well, maybe that’s not fair; coz I did get 1 great workout and did as much as I could on the other.
The plan was to work out from 1 to 3 down in chantilly, va with danny and then drive up to bxf for saturday night open sparring/workout at 7.
The workout at danny’s place was pretty brutal, gym felt like thailand, sweat soaked through my shirt in like 45 min.
Did a couple 5 min rounds of play sparring with 2 of the guys down there, no padding whatsoever. Inadvertently turned my legs into hamburger- especially the left.
Picked up a lot of good skills and ideas as well.
Pretty good for barely being able to walk from my 7 mile run (the stiffness was bad saturday, but went away after some stretching).

After danny’s I drove up to bxf, stopping off at a viet place for lunch. Destroyed a large pho, even drank all the soup. by the time I got to bxf i wasn’t feeling too hot, unfortunately. I waited around till 7 for folks to show up, unfortunately they’d cancelled the open sparring so no boxers showed up and my kickboxing friends didn’t make it- plus they were gonna close at 8 instead of 10. At 7 I gave it the old college try to do a little bag work. 30 power kicks on my right leg went well, but as soon as I tried to kick with my left, the pain was crazy. Felt like both bones in my shin were about to break. I still made like 30 kicks, but my workout kinda ended there.

This morning (Sunday), I drove back down to virginia for a workout. My hamburger legs still hurting, but I drank a lot of milk the evening before, which seemed to help.
Had a bit of a hard time really turning it on. Shadow boxing was pretty lazy for at least the first round. Got a lil better after that. We went on to thai pad work which went pretty well as I did my best Ramon Dekker impersonation. Then we worked on the type of leg kicks that make the whole crowd go “ooohhh dyayumn!”; incidently they make fighter Roderick Melvin go “tryin to imitate me with that weak stuff?” (inside joke). The rest of the class was spent messing around on various exercises and implements. A little bit of a lazy day, but with how banged up I am I don’t know that I could’ve expected a lot more.

Afterward the workout I hit up chipotle coz I had this hyuge craving; yah I know it’s a ton of calories. I got home and passed out for like 5 or 6 hours. Feel surprisingly good at the moment; though I’m really glad monday’s my rest day. My wrist is still screwed up, my left leg (lower and upper) is a bruised mass of hamburger- with some pulled muscles in my hip to boot, and my right leg has a few bruises of it’s own.

I know my weight probably ain’t right, but I been workin hard and i’ll be eating better monday. I’m just hoping to heal up and make sure my body has what it needs to heal up.

3

ow… i can barely type…

tonite i modified the weight workout again, last week i was way too exhausted going into bjj practice, and having to take last wednesday off stunk too; so this week i tried something different.

my warmup today was less about the high setting and more about keeping the rpms up.

squat 135 x 20 - had to slow down a bit; but in general, not so hard, could probably go for 185

deadlift 225 x 20 - this hurt, but in that strange good way.

flat bench dumbell press 65s - went for 20, had to take a short break at 15, but still finished

seated row 130 x 20; kinda easy, though i could probably do a better job isolating any body english.

Afterwards i was tired, but not quite as bad as the week before.

Then I went and did almost 2 hours of bjj. omanomanoman. ouch.
I’m officially a member of the Magilla BJJ family. Hope any Yamasaki guys out there don’t hate me already (thought I heard somewhere there was beef).
Getting a tiny bit better, step by step. I enjoy getting beat though, coz it gives me something to work for; especially considering one of the guys is actually bigger than me (in addition to having tons of skill over me), which is really rare for me and training partners. Only bad thing is I look like an abused spouse - bruises everywhere.

My weight’s a lil off - diet could probably be better, though it might be a sodium/water retention thing.

4

D@mn dude, sounds like you’re doing great. And 30lbs of weight loss to boot. Nice Job.

5

Tankya :smiley:

Tonite’s workout was surprisingly good; i thought with how beat up i am that I’d be dragging it, but that wasn’t the case.

I started off with a run: 3 miles in 25:58 on a treadmill… yah I know it’s not a real 3 miles under 26 min, but that was the goal I was given and it wasn’t easy for me.

Had to take some rest time after that- took at least 5 min to get my wind back; though I think I could probably do better (could probably shave a minute off that at least). Took total like 30 min break, coz I called Suntzu.

Got back to workout by around 7 or so.
3 min rounds:
3 rounds of jump rope
3 rounds of shadow with vest, 2 of em with hand weights- focusing on staying light on my feet and shoulder endurance.
3 rounds of shadow with just gloves- focused on speed and long combos
3 rounds of heavybag; blasting the living heck out of the monster bag.
3 rounds of double ended bag - focusing on quick combos, speed, and head movement.
2 rounds on slip bag - head movement all the way.
2 rounds of uppercut bag, throwing knees and uppers, last 30 seconds of each round continuous knees.
at least 3 rounds of light volley/response sparring. it was like counter drills but a little more free form. we just kept going and going, no breaks. roger’d quit pad work, so this guy n I kept ourselves busy

22 round workout wasn’t bad, tho it seemed longer. I was going pretty intense. The heavy bag rounds were excruciating with all my bruises and rug burns. I didn’t slough through the shadow rounds either.

Jumped on the scale before I left and I was down to 215.5; back up to 216 by the time I got home; but as long as I keep my eating straight the rest of the week, i’ll probably be able to hit 215 or 214. 2 pounds a week would put me on a very nice pace for the october/november time frame.

6

had blood comin outta funky areas today so i took the night off… will probly be taking some time off work to see the doc tomorrow. i need to trade in my body for a new one.

7

took 2.5 hours of sick leave this morning and went in late; tried to get a doctor’s appointment but couldn’t get in.

did manage to go to the gym tho.

30 min low~medium intensity cardio on the elliptical crosstrainer.

then i did 11 3 min rounds:
4 rounds of shadow
4 rounds of bag work
2 rounds of double end bag
1 round of uppercut bag

8

Long day, but a fun one.

Hit up Danny’s place for a thai workout.
Danny wasn’t there but my bros Brian and Ronald were there; those guys like to charge it real hard and did a good job keepin the workout goin.
Got in some boxing work, some thai pad work, some defense work and 3 good rounds of full sparring- definitely worth the drive down to virginia.

afterwards i dropped by bxf, where i did a ton of light shadow and double end ball work, 4~5 rounds of heavybag, and most importantly got some theory talk in: got some advice on different ways to throw my rear hand as well as some diet info.
Going to be working with a new personal trainer on tuesday.
My old one got fired a few weeks after i started with him.
This one seems to be a bit more open to the idea of accomodating my fighting schedule and giving me a diet that’s a lot more feasible than the vast amount of seafood in my original program.

A big reason i decided to go back to the personal trainer route was the strangeness of this past week and my stomach thing. I haven’t gotten back under 220 since my stomach issues started- I can’t really trust weight loss that reverses like that from one meal.

9

kay, so my sunday morning workout was cancelled this weekend; which leaves me with 2 options:

  1. go to my main gym (bxf) and do my own workout
  2. stay home and get some rest.

I opted to get some rest. This is the first total lounge day i’ve had in a while.
think the bedrest will do me some good.
food wise i’m not behavin but i’m going to be serious starting with the new guy on tuesday; meaning a total overhaul of ,u eating habits.
Sept 2 through 12 i’m outta town also, so honestly there’s only a certain amount i’m going to get done befoer i leave, but i wanna have my whole plan set before i leave. Hopefully i won’t take too many steps backward between now and the 12th.

10

Monday

Had to do some shopping so I stuck with my rest day.
Watched TUF and did 100 hindu squats and 100 pushups.
Wasn’t easy, but not a full workout i guess.

Tuesday

Was toasted after staying up late watching TUF.
Took a nap and woke up way too late: 8pm.
Got to the gym around 8:30 and found out that my BJJ teacher left shortly after 7 coz nobody showed up.
Did 30 minutes of medium-high paced cardio.

Wednesday

Julio missed today coz he’s been inundated with jobs (he’s an electrician).
I met with the personal trainer, who’s dietary recommendations i’ve been following this week, and he gave me a run down of the new weight lifting schedule I’m bout to start.
Jogged almost 3 miles in 30 minutes at a 2.5 incline.
Then it was on to my workout:

4 rounds of jump rope
8 rounds of shadow: 2 rounds w/vest and gloves, 2 rounds w/vest & weights, 2 rounds w/vest & no gloves/weights, 2 rounds no vest.
4 rounds of heavybag: 2 big bag, 2 normal banana bag - shins still pretty sore
2 rounds of double ended speedbag
2 rounds of knees and punches on uppercut bag.
(coulda sworn it was 22 rounds and not 20, but o well).

Jumped in the sauna after the workout to help ease achin muscles.
Got out and was like 217- so apparently my stomach issues haven’t totally killed my aspirations at dropping under 200. This diet feels a bit more healthy, not goin crazy from hunger, just gotta figure out how not to go hogwilde on the weekends.

11

wow… killer day

woke up early this morning to hit the gym and do the new weight workout.
I did the weight workout which was 9 exercises of chest and back and some shoulders, no arm isolation, and finished up with some cardio.

went to work and had a decent day at work.

after work i went to the gym.
Julio’s swamped with work and won’t be around for a long time.
did 30 min of cardio.

rounds were 3 min.
first i sparred this pro boxer: 2 rounds no headgear, 1 round with headgear. he didn’t wanna hit me in the head without headgear so he kinda took it easy on me and just went to the body. The last round he unloaded on me a bit. He landed some hard shots- he hits hard and has got soem serious counterpunching skills. I think I made a good showing of myself, regardless- probably in part due to the fact that he’d already sparred 8 to 10 rounds by that point. I wasn’t tryin to go to war, just wanted to work on some stuff. Can’t wait to work with him more.

3 rounds jump rope
3 rounds shadow
3 rounds big bag
3 rounds regular banana bag
2 rounds double end bag
2 rounds uppercut bag

Afterwards my weight was down to 214 - a new low, so i’m stoked.

12

Took the day off from the gym; i’m pretty banged up, though I don’t have a headache like i thought i would after taking some hard shots.
Did well on the diet, but cheated at dinner with some pizza.
gonna be a busy weekend.

13

Just checking in.
Decided to take the whole week off.
My wrist feels like it’s gotten worse.
My diet ain’t been great; but i haven’t totally given up.
Leaving tomorrow morning for Houston & Vegas.
I’ll be back Sep 8th.

14

back from vacation today.
was having an okay day given that i’m coming off a 2 week layoff and have a cold.
Worked out 2.5~3 hours this afternoon doing thai. My wind was off

this evening i went to bxf and did another hour, hour and a half.
sparred 6 rounds; things were going great till the end.
I was sparring a couple smaller guys and doing my best to take it easy.
One of 'em, a kid, decided to start overwhelming me with bombs- he’d counter me and then try to light me up.
i made the mistake of throwing a little pressure his way.
apparently that was too much and i came off like an *******.
i stopped punching for like 30 seconds.
i even dropped my hands the last minute of the round so i could work on slipping shots.
just frustrating.

bought some new bag gloves today at least- with handwraps they’re nice.

15

went to the trouble of setting the wake time on my alarm clock but i was stoopid and forgot to actually turn it so it would go off.
as a result, i got to class a good 45 min late.
still managed to get in a good hour and a half workout.
spent more time breakin in my new bag gloves- it really works my left hand clenching the fist, coz the pocket’s not broken in yet; it was achin bad.
Watched a couple guys testing and picked up some good info.

16

started my diet today, did rather well i think.
it’s my old diet the one that saw me lose a ton of weight in 2003, i’m doing it for 2 months to get under 200 as per my doctor’s recommendations- my cholesterol is kinda high.

went to go workout.
i was absolutely DREADING going to bjj today.
i been kinda sick lately and just wasn’t feeling it- wanted to do some light~medium cardio and play around with some kickboxing stuff.
did 20 min of cardio at a medium~intense pace.
did 3, 3 min rounds of jump rope.
did 4 or 5, 2 min rounds of shadowboxing.
bjj teacher was pretty understanding and he proposed us doing some standup stuff.
we did a round of continuous punching on the bag.
later we did 50 continuous roundkicks each leg
then we did a round or so of double ended bag
we finished up with 25 alternating knees supersetted with 15 each side on the uppercut bag.
after that i did a round of standup sparring with one of his guys, a 190 pounder.

i told him i was gonna go light, but it was kinda outta my hands.
they included takedowns and the guy’s tactic was to use boxing, slide in with a knee, and go for a tackle.
I didn’t adjust to it all that well.
I got taken down quite a bit, went for a single to disastrous effects, caught my face on the rope as he tried to slam me, and he finished up the round with a full out football style shoulder hit. I think I may have caught him with a couple okay punches.
I went from patty cake to sloppy brawling.
If we ever spar again I’m going straight punch-kick combos, stiff side kicks and nasty flying knees.
I had a hard time stepping it up with my kicks, coulda sidekicked him in the face and couldn’t pull the trigger. My combos went out the window. It’s like, once I realized we weren’t “playing”, I wasn’t sure what to do next- wish I’d just gone into it with the right mentality.
Whole experience was a little frustrating, but I’ll do better next time.
At least it’s somebody of decent size to play with.

17

Feeling like azzz again after work today so i jumped in the sauna for a good 30 min or so once I got to the gym.
Then, I did 20 min of cardio: jogging for 2 miles.
The rounds were 3 min.
3 rounds of jump rope
6 rounds of shadow boxing: 2 with vest, 2 with vest and weights, 2 with no vest no weights
2 rounds of focus mitts
3 rounds of big bag
3 rounds of double ended bag

Then I sparred this light guy. Did okay in the first round. Second round I kinda gassed. I was trying my best to go light, he was dropping bombs. He couldn’t hurt me, but it was annoying as heck. Especially with him flipping out anytime I landed. The stupid gloves made it worse- couldn’t combo up or throw inside shots. Split my lip open a lil, less blood than a bloody nose. Couldn’t catch my wind and my legs turned to lead. Real frustrating. Guess it’s a learning experience. But hey, at least I got a partner to work kicks with.

18

couldn’t get outta bed this morning.
took the day off from work and the gym.
guess i overdid it yesterday.

19

Friday i hit the gym. Did 20 min of pretty high intensity cardio. Then I worked with my personal trainer to go over my leg workout. after that, it was another 10 min or so of cardio. then I helped train this guy from my gym who wants to do kickboxing. Worked out for almost 4 hours total. Was down to 212.5

Saturday i went to dannys around 1. I was stuck in traffic so i didn’t get down there till 1:30. Worked from 1:30 to 3:30. sparred a bit. I think my form and my explosiveness are off. Something ain’t been clicking all week, even with all the sparring.
In the evening i went up to bxf and hung out for like 5 hours.
After tuesday’s sparring session with the mma guy i was real reluctant to jump in there with the other guys from magilla’s; especially since i was a bit banged up from the afternoon workout.
On one hand I felt bad about cheesin out, but on the other hand it was a nice opportunity to kinda spend more time around those guys and feel more comfortable with the situation.

20

Woke up early sunday and made it down to virginia for thai class.
pretty good class with 2 good circuits.
first circuit was pad and bag work, got me sweating pretty good.
second circuit was all plyometrics- 2 laps around had me dyin.

might have a fight comin up.

around 7 i went back up to the gym and got some running in.
I ran 5 days this week.
I usually run somewhere between 2 and 3 miles a session.
Anymore than 3 miles (sometimes even 3 miles even) and I’m sore- usually joints, tendonitis, or pulled muscles.
Any less than 2 miles and it’s just a warmup.
I may need to get more high intensity sprint work in, but i’m planning to do that as a “warm up” for mornings I lift.
More jumping rope and calisthenics couldn’t hurt either.

got 8 weeks to prepare, give or take, so I’ll be ramping up my program.