Chief Fox: Return of the Training Blog!

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Kung Fu Training and Health
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This morning I stepped on the scale and I weighed in at 185lbs. At 5’11’’ that’s not too bad but a better weight for me is about 172lbs. I’ll have to check my body fat this weekend.

Anyway, I come into work today and of course, checking out kungfumagazine.com is one of the first things I do. I see that Vash has started a new training blog so I figure, what the hey.

My goal is to loose 13lbs. bringing me down to a comfortable 172lbs.
I’m giving myself 6 weeks to do it. I’ll weigh myself once a week and will record my workouts daily. The first weigh-in will be this Saturday.

How will I do this you ask. Ahhhh, I will tell you.

First, my diet could use some adjusting.

I drink entirely too much Dr. Pepper. So much infact that I’m sure I’ve impacted the stock price of this tasty little product. I’ve started on the diet Dr. Pepper and it’s not too bad. The goal is to get off the soda all together and just drink water.

Another item in my diet that I have to change is, the breakfast burrito from Sonic. I love those things. I end up eating 1 a week and I can actually feel it adding fat to my body. The solution is to make my own burrito once a week with ingrediants that are better for me like egg whites, meatless breakfast patties and a low fat tortilla.

One more part of my diet that has to change is the amount of protein that I eat. I simply don’t eat enough. The easiest way for me to do this is by having a protein shake in the morning and by bringing some cottage cheese to work to eat as a snack with my carrots, apple and banana.

The next thing I have to do is get my exercise routine back in order. I’ve been stressed at work and have gone through some tough times deciding to leave my kung fu school. As a result, my work outs have suffered.

Here’s the plan:
Monday: Crossfit type workout consisting of rowing, box jumps and either push presses or sumo deadlift high pulls.
Tuesday: Easy 3 mile run at lunch. Practice kung fu forms and drills at night.
Wednesday: Crossfit type workout consisting of “Tabata something Else” 1 hour of kung fu with my daughter at night.
Thursday: Kung Fu forms drills and sparring with partners.
Friday: Crossfit type workout focus day. Items to focus on will be one of the following. Deadlifts, Squat Cleans, Over Head Squats, Push Presses, Clean and Jerk.
Saturday: Easy Trail run 4 to 5 miles.
Sunday: 2 hours of forms, drills and sparring.

So that’s it. Today is Tuesday so I plan on running at lunch.

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Wednesday 03/29/06

Yesterday at lunch I ran about 3.5 miles. I didn’t take a watch so I’m not sure how long it took. It was a beautiful day and I ran on the trail down by the college. The trail ges right past the track and I saw some gilrs working out. Aaaaaah, I love spring time.

This morning I did the Xfit workout called “Tabata something else”. Here is a description of this workout:

Complete 32 intervals of 20 seconds of work followed by ten seconds of rest where the first 8 intervals are pull-ups, the second 8 are push-ups, the third 8 intervals are sit-ups, and finally, the last 8 intervals are squats. There is no rest between exercises.

Post total reps from all 32 intervals to comments.

My total reps was 348. So this is my bench mark. We’ll see if there is any improvement next Wednesday.

Tonight I teach kung fu to my daughter. I’m teaching her a beginer long fist set called Linguan Chuan (spelling???). After we work on the form for a bit I show her some applications out of the form and then I have here hit the mitts and pads for a bit.

She’s really funny. She really wants to learn the staff form that I know so I told her that i would teach it to her if she showed me that she could learn a do this first form up to my standards. She’s doing pretty good so far.

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:eek: Holy CR@P! I’ve done pullup workouts before but never have my lats felt soooooo sore. I can literaly barely raise my arms. Today, I’m suposed to work on forms, drills and techniques but if my arms don’t start to feel better by the end of the day I may just take today as a rest day. I’ll have to see but again, HOLY CR@P! :eek:

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Thursday 3/31/06

Deadlift focus day

Warmed up with 1000 meters on the C2 rower.

Took it easy because my lats are better but still a bit fried.

3 reps @ 115lbs.
2 reps @ 135lbs.
2 reps @ 135lbs.
2 reps @ 165lbs.
1 rep @ 185lbs.
1 rep @ 185lbs.
1 rep @ 185lbs.
1 rep @ 185lbs.
1 rep @ 195lbs.

The idea of this work out is to work your way up to your one rep max. I know that I could have lifted more than 195lbs for my one rep max but this is a starting point. We’ll see how I do the next time this work out rolls around in about 5 weeks.

Today I took the day off from work and am going ice skating with my kids. I may also get my head shaved for charity if I don’t puss out.

Tomorrow I have plans to do a 4 to 5 mile trail run.

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Saturday 4/1/06

Today I did my trail run. It was awesome to be out there. My wind isn’t what it used to be but my legs felt strong and it was just a great run.

So I stepped on the scale again today and my weight is down to 184.5. I lost lost a whole half pound! Not something to get real excited about but at least I’m moving in the right direction.

Tomorrow I plan to work on forms, drills and applications for a couple of hours. I also may add in some rowing.

I ended up not getting my head shaved. I didn’t understand the how the whole thing worked so I didn’t get anyone to sponsor me. Oh well, there’s always next year.

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Monday 4/03/06

3 rounds of 500 meter row, 20 box jumps and 20 65lb. push press. Total time was 14:21.9.

This is a great work out. Next time I’ll do it with my weight vest.

Haven’t done much form/drill practice over the past few days. I’ll get some in at lunch today if it’s nice outside.

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Tuesday 4/4/06

It is soooooo nice outside right now. I ran down on the trail trough town by the college. I love spring time.

Anyway, I ran for 41 minutes and 16 seconds. I’m not sure of the distance but it’s probably between 4 and 4.5 miles. A great day to run.

Tonight I go to my friends house to work forms and drills.

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Tuesday night 4/4/06

Warmed up with some forms, then worked application drills and then sparred a few rounds. Total workout time was 2 solid hours. A great workout. I love those mantis applications.

Tomorrow I do the Xfit Tabata something else workout. Pullups, pushups, situps and squats. This workout destroyed me last week. Lets see what happens this week.

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Wednesday 04/5/06

This morning I did the X fit tabata something else work out. The work out went pretty well except I suck at pullups, so I did jumping negatives. Also my pushups aren’t very good so I did them from my knees. I know that I’ll get better at both of these exercises.

Total score was 359. That’s 11 up from 348 last week. I tried to pace myself a bit more this time. The real test will be later on tonight and tomorrow to see if I can raise my arms.

Tomorrow I work forms and drills on my own.

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On Thursday of last week my lats, shoulders and triceps were totally fried. So much so, that I couldn’t even rasie my arms. It hurt to just sit at my desk. Well I did the same workout yesterday and while I am a bit sore, it’s nothing like it was last week. The human body is a pretty amazing thing.

Today i work on forms and drills on my own. Tomorrow I have a squat clean focus day planned.

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Friday 04/07/2006

This morning I warmed up rowing 500 meters and then I did squat cleans.

5 reps @ 65lbs. warm up.

3 reps @ 95lbs.
2 reps @ 105lbs.
2 reps @ 115lbs.
2 reps @ 125lbs.
1 rep @ 135lbs.
1 rep @ 135lbs.
1 rep @ 145lbs.
1 rep @ 145lbs.
1 rep @ 165lbs. This was hard.

Tonight is pizza night with the family.

Tomorrow I do a 4 to 5 mile trail run. Really looking forward to it.

Sunday I go to my sifu’s house for kung fu. His classes are so awesome, I’m really looking forward to that.

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Sunday 4/9/06

Yesterday I did a 5 mile trail run. Great day, great run. My right foot was a bit sore after the run. I iced it for about 30 minutes and it felt fine. It’s a bit sore today but not too bad. My body is still getting used to the pounding of running.

Today I go to my sifu’s house to train. It should be awesome. It always is.

Oh, I weighed myself yesterday and I weighed in at 182.5lbs. So I’ve lost 2.5lbs. I’ve only got 10.5lbs to go until I reach my goal weight.

Tomorrow morning I do a Xfit-esque workout consisting of rowing, box jumps and sumo deadlift high pulls. I usually do 3 rounds but I may up it to 4. We’ll see.

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Tuesday 4/11/06

I was kinda beat up from kung fu on Sunday and my right foot was a bit sore from running on saturday so I took yesterday off. I needed it.

Today I did my Xfit workout.

4 rounds of:
500 meter row
20 box jumps (20 inch box)
20 push press 65lbs.

Total time was 19:24

This was the first time that I did 4 rounds of these exercises. The eventual goal will be to get to 5 rounds. After that I’ll go back to 3 rounds and add an exercise, then work my way up to 5 again.

Not sure, but tonight I may go to my friends house to work drills and applications.

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Wednesday 4/12/06
Today I ran about 4 miles at lunch in 36:52. It was an awesome day out there.

Tonight I’m going to work some drills and forms on my own.

Tomorrow I’ll do the Tabata Something Else work out from Xfit in the am.

These workouts have been working for me. I’ve been feeling pretty good lately. Just gotta keep going.

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Thursday 4/13/2006

Today i did the Xfit work out “Tabata Something Else”. Total score was 376. This is an improvement over last time but I made a discovery. I SUCK AT PULLUPS AND PUSHUPS!

So I plan to work on these two exercises at other times during the week so I can increase my strength and endurance with both. I’ll be looking over the Xfit website and discussion board for ideas on how to do this.

Tomorrow is Olympic lift focus day. The lift I’ll be doing is the over head squat. I don’t have a squat rack so I’ll have to clean or snatch the weight into place before I can squat it. This will probably make my numbers lower but will still be good practice. I may build my own squat stands once I get my tax refund.

Oh, it’s super nice out there today so I’ll probably go to the park to work on drills and forms at lunch. I love spring time.

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Friday 04/14/06

Today I had my olympic lift focus day. The lift for today was the over head squat. Now I don’t have a squat rack so I had to power snatch the weight into position before the squat. I also don’t have bumber plates so I didn’t push too hard. With that in mind, here’s what I did.

First I warmed up with 500 meters of rowing.

Then I practiced with the bar a few times.

Then:
3 reps @ 65lbs.
2 reps @ 75lbs.
2 reps @ 85lbs.
2 reps @ 85lbs.
1 rep @ 95lbs.
1 rep @ 95lbs.
1 rep @ 95lbs.
1 rep @ 105lbs.
1 rep @ 105lbs. Wasn’t too bad. I’d be happy to work up to 135lbs. here.

I tried to focus on keeping my shoulders back and keeping the bar centered over my feet while doing the squat.

I finished up with another 500 meters on the rower. I pushed as hard as I could and completed it in 1:49.

This afternoon I’ll practice my forms some more in the park searching for the elusive FLOW.

Tomorrow I do a 5 mile trail run and then I may get together with a friend to drill some applications.

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Last week I took a few days off because of multiple body aches and just plain being tired.

My right foot has been sore from the running. It’s feeling much beter today though.

Saturday morning I actually got out on my road bike for a little bit. We have this unbelievable hill right by my house. I did 3 repeats on the hill and then cruized through the park a bit on my way home. The whoe ride took about 40 minutes. That hill is a killer.

Sunday morning I went for a Mountain Bike ride. I just took a little spin on some of the trails by my house. It’s been a while. It was fun. This ride also lasted about 40 min.

Sunday afternoon I went over to my sifu’s house and worked out in his kitchen. We reviewed some forms, drilled some open hand applications and some open hand vs. knife applications. Then he started us on a new mantis form. It was an awesome workout as usual. Today I am a little beat up.

This morning I got on the rower for 20 minutes and rowed about 4,349 meters. I’m really enjoying the rowing workouts. First, I like them because there is no impact on my body. This is good. Another reason I like them is the rowing workout is a full body workout.

Tonight I may do the Crossfit workout of the day. Today the workout is front squats. OR I may just do some skills training.

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Tuesday: I worked out over at a friends house. Ran through some forms, did some open hand vs. knife applications then worked a bit of Chin Na apps as well.

Wednesday: Thought I would try something different. As I’ve said before, I SUCK AT PUSH UPS. Some of this is due to the shoulder problem that I’ve had. So yesterday my goal was to do 100 hundred push ups. I just did easy sets of 10 through out the entire day. And I’m actually sore today but they were easy to do. I’ll try again tomorrow. The goal is to slowy work up to less sets of more push ups like 9 sets of 12, 8 sets of 13, 7 sets of 15 and so on. We’ll see how it goes. I hope this slow approach will work with my shoulder.

Today I did my rowing, box jumps and push press workout.
4 rounds of 500 meter row, 20 reps of 20 inch box jump, 20 reps of 65lb. push press. I completed this workout in 18:25. Last week I did this same workout in 19:24. So that’s an improvement of almost a full minute. I’ll stay with this same workout for the next couple of weeks and then I think I’ll add a new exercise to the mix. Not sure what though.

Tonight I’ll work some drills on the dummy

Tomoorw I have a olympic lift focus day planned.

Saturday I’m doing Tai Chi with a friend. We’re going to focus on the Yang 24 form and push hands.

19

Well I’ve been feeling kinda sick lately. My ears kinda hurt and I have a minor sore throat. The rest of my body feels fine. But I’ve been taking it easy. I don’t want this to escalate into a full blown cold. I’m trying to stay away from anything really strenuous.

Lately I’ve been learning the Yang 24 tai chi set. It’s helping me with my body flow.

This morning I did a light dip and pullup workout. I’ve decided that I’m going to start doing the crossfit workout on a regular basis. I really enjoy the diversity in the workouts and to be honest, some of them really scare the sh!t out of me. So I’m thinking, that’s exactly what I need right now. I’ll probably cut the workouts in half for the time being in order to ramp up slowly.

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I got ‘never gymless’ in the mail today - I’m gonna check it out after I leave the gym.