Chief Fox's training journal

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

I need to have some kind of journal going on to keep myself focused and motivated. I’m also depending on all of you to help with the motivation part.

Here’s some brief info on who I am:
Male. 36 years old. 5"11" 177lbs <– holiday weight, normal weight is about 172lbs. Married, full time job with 2 kids. 7 year old daughter, 3 year old son.

I’ve been in decent shape my whole life. I like to run, swim, go cycling, lift and of course practice kung fu.

I’ve been practicing kung fu for only 2 years and after every class I ask myself why didn’t I start 10 years ago. But hey, what can you do.

The styles that I practice are 7 star praying mantis, long fist, hung gar and tai chi. (just started tai chi about 2 months ago)

I really enjoy everything about my kung fu class, I try to go 3 times a week but most weeks it’s only twice and lately it’s been only once a week.

I’m not really belt or sash oriented. I look at kung fu as a life long pursuit and don’t really care about the color of my sash. I just want to be the best martial artist that I can be. But if you really want to know, I’m a blue sash. In my school this puts me about half way to black.

So here are my goals:

  1. go to kung fu class at least twice a week. Probably Thursday nights and Saturday mornings. Try to fit in a tuesday night class twice a month.
  2. I used to race triathlons and I want to start doing this again this comming summer with the ultimate goal of completing an IRONMAN triathlon when I’m 40 years old.
  3. Maintain a consistant workout schedule.
  4. I have a shoulder injury that I’ve been trying to recover from so I want to continue to recuperate my shoulder.
  5. Keep my workout schedule balanced to reduce or avoid injury.

I intend to have a basic fitness plan through February and then narrow it down starting March to be more triathlon focused.

Here’s the basic plan:
Monday: Swim 750 to 1000 yards
Tuesday: Run 4 miles at lunch (Kung Fu at night twice a month)
Wednesday: Practice forms and full body weight routine at lunch.
Thursday: Run 4 miles at lunch, Kung Fu at night.
Friday: Practice forms and full body weight routine at lunch.
Saturday: Tai Chi with Kung Fu class after.
Sunday: Rest.

I also do some workouts at home from time to time. The equipment I have at home is a wooden dummy, a heavy bag, parallettes and some power rings. I’ll probably end up working these into the routine on Monday nights and on sundays.

I’ll try to post all of my workout material here as well as some diet info. Everyone’s input is welcome. See ya!

2

Monday: 12/20/2004
Swim 750 yards at lunch. Felt pretty good in the pool. I’ve only been back at it for about three weeks. Shoulder feels ok while swimming. I have full range of motion and no pain while swimming. Need to focus on elongating my stroke and regulating my breathing a little better.

Tonight I’ll work the wooden dummy a bit at home.

Meals for today so far.
1 bowl of raisin bran crereal with 1% milk.
1/2 peanut buter sandwich on wheat bread.
20 oz. of Dr. Pepper.
32 oz. of water.
Salad with baked chicken on top and some italian dressing.
1 orange.
12 oz. Dr. Pepper.
about 4 chocolate chip cookies.

3

Tuesday: 12/21/2004
Over the past week my 7 year old daughter has had a stomach problem. She’s thrown up a few times and has just felt not right.

So guess what. Now I have it. I haven’t thrown up but I feel like I could at any moment. So no running for me today. I may still go to class tonight if I’m feeling better. We’ll see.

Diet so far today looks like nothing.

4

Wednesday 12/22/2004

Well I’ve got the stomach thing. I didn’t eat at all yesterday and last night I woke up at midnight and made a mad dash for the bathroom. I was sitting on the toilet off and on all night from midnight until 5:00am. So I called in sick to work today.

I feel like the worst part is over. Hopefully. I’ll try to get back to my routine tomorrow.

today so far I ate 1 egg on 1 piece of wheat bread.

5

Well, since you’re asking for motivation, here’s my two cents:

You’re taking on alot of fitness goals, which is fine, especially since you want to be a tri-athlete, but I’d like to see you practicing your kungfu more often (I’ll bet your Sifu/s would agree with me).

You’re studying FOUR SEPERATE MARTIAL ARTS and only training two or three times a week?!? I’d wager that your progress in any of the four is poor at best, and I’m not talking about belt ranks. Are you just putting the martial arts on the back-burner for awhile, or is this a long term plan? If you want to be the best martial artist you can be, whcih is one of your stated goals, you need to spend more time training.

6

Gotta agree with jack. Cut down to at least 2 at a time and youll see a lot more progress. Make one of the 2 tai chi. It would work well with any of the other 3.

7

Originally posted by Samurai Jack
You’re taking on alot of fitness goals, …

You’re right. I’ve never been one to settle with one thing. This is my problem and probably the source of my almost continuous stream of over use injuries.

Well the holidays are as good a time as any to do some soul searching. Looks like I’ve got some re-evaluating to do. I’m sure it will be tai chi and praying mantis but if I want to do triathlons that will probably consume most of my time come this spring time. I’ll have to think about what I really want.

Thanks for the input Samurai Jack and Meat Shake.

Thursday: 12/23/2004
My stomach is STILL gurgling and I don’t remember my last solid poop. The rest of my body is feeling good today. I may do a light workout after work if I can get through this today, or even better, if this can get through me today.

8

Ouch. I got that stomach thing too a couple weeks ago. I was throwin and goin for two days straight. It was like my insides turned to liquid and were firing out of every available orifice. Yum.

9

Originally posted by Ford Prefect
Ouch. I got that stomach thing too a couple weeks ago. I was throwin and goin for two days straight. It was like my insides turned to liquid and were firing out of every available orifice. Yum.

That’s an ugly picture you just painted. Accurate, but ugly. LOL

10

Saturday: 12/25/2004 Merry Christmas!

Ran 3 miles today on the streets around my neighborhood.

Diet was the typical Christmas day stuff your self.

My stomach virus is all but gone. I’m feeling much better.

11

Monday: 12/27/2004

Practiced forms for about 45 minutes.

Deadlift and squats with shoulder rotator cuff exercises.

DL: 6x135, 6x195, 3x225
SQ: 12x135, 8x195

Notes:
I’ve been reading “The Sword Polisher’s Record” and have been doing a lot of thikning about the way I’ve been approaching my training. I’m all over the place. I’m not focused at all. I’ve always thought that my life long goal was to compete in triathlons but now I’m not so sure that is true. I know that I enjoy running and lifting but I really love doing kung fu.

So I guess what I’m saying is, I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I thought that I had a plan for this up comming year but now plan has changed. I’ll have to come up with a new plan. I’m intrigued by premiere’s periodization plan maybe I’ll try something like that. I’ve got some more thinking to do.

12

Well I’m trying to figure out what my training plan will be and I’ve come up with several elements that it must include.

  1. Internal or Chi development

  2. Strength development

  3. Flexibility development

  4. Endurance development

  5. Skill development

  6. Internal development will come from tai chi and forms practice while using controlled breathing.

  7. Strength development will come from weight training, body weight exercises and controlled forms practice with light weights.

  8. Flexibility will come from tai chi, forms and following Thomas Kurz’s stretching scientifically techniques.

  9. Endurance will come from running, heavy bag work, forms and sparring.

  10. Skill development will come from forms practice, drills in class and sparring.

A lot of this stuff will combined together but the final mix is still up in the air.

Any suggestions?

13

Originally posted by Chief Fox

I’ve been reading “The Sword Polisher’s Record” and have been doing a lot of thikning about the way I’ve been approaching my training. I’m all over the place. I’m not focused at all. I’ve always thought that my life long goal was to compete in triathlons but now I’m not so sure that is true. I know that I enjoy running and lifting but I really love doing kung fu.

you’re cramming four different MA into 2 days per week - it’s no wonder you’re not focused. If you are stuck with only two days, I would drop to either one or two styles.

14

Originally posted by SevenStar
you’re cramming four different MA into 2 days per week - it’s no wonder you’re not focused. If you are stuck with only two days, I would drop to either one or two styles.

Yeah I know, you’re the third person who has told me this. In the future I intend to focus more on Tai Chi and Seven Star Praying Mantis.

Thanks for the input.:slight_smile:

15

out of curiousity, why do you want to wait four years before entering another triathlon?

16

Originally posted by SevenStar
out of curiousity, why do you want to wait four years before entering another triathlon?

That would be 4 years to enter an IRONMAN triathlon.

Ironman triathlon = 2.4 miles swim, 112 mile bike ride, 26.2 mile run.

To complete something like this takes up a huge amount of training time. I’ve done half ironmans in the past and the time comitment for those was a lot. Also, for a lot of the IRONMAN length triathlons, you have to qualify at another event first. So I would have to be at the top of my age group. Finishing is one thing, finishing in the top of your age group is totally different. So I’m giving myself 4 years to get there.

There are other types of triathlons. Sprint distance, Olympic distance, and Half Iron length. I’m giving myself two years of doing these lengths so I can hopefully get competitive in my age group and then hopefully be able to qualify for an IRONMAN by the time I’m 40.

17

Tuesday: 12/28/2004
I went to my kung fu class on tuesday night. Easy warm up with some dynamic stretching and some punching drills. Then we did some line drills and I discovered that my sweeps are improving. Then we did three rounds of open hand sparring and 2 rounds of staff sparring. I’m terrible at staff sparring. Then we worked on forms for about 30 minutes. For the past 6 weeks I’ve been working on a crane form. I has two moves in the form that I really need to practice. One is a flying kick where you land on your side on the ground. I’m trying to learn how to do this with the proper technique and not hurt myself. The second move I need to practice is sorta like a twisting kip up. While lying on your back you spin your legs up and around in a windmill motion so your legs are up in the air and you are rolling up on your shoulders. You then roll off your shoulders and push off with your hands so you land standing up. I’ve only successfully done it twice. So I need to practice both these moves.

Notes:
I felt good sparring but I need to mix up my attacks more. At one point I was sparring this guy and I had two clear shots to his face that he wasn’t able to block. I should have followed these up with a low kick, sweep or throw. Always learning.

Wednesday: 12/29/2004
Today I practiced my forms at the Y and then did some rotator cuff exercises. I’m a little sore from last nights class.

Notes:
My shoulder is feeling much much better. I’m going to continue to take it slow all though I am tempted to just jump right into a hard workout.

I’m still thinking about what my overall plan for the year will be. I’m pretty much sold on the fact that I won’t be triathlon training. I’m still not sure though. Triathlons are a lot of fun.

Tonight I’ll work on my wooden dummy a bit and then do some pullups and pushups.

Diet today and over the holidays has been terrible. I need to get back on track starting tonight. Maybe some grilled chicken, rice and green beans.

18

Thursday: 12/30/2004
Ran about 3 miles on a new trail today. I’m not sure of the exact mileage, I’ll have to take my GPS watch next time I run it. Just took it nice and easy. There was a lot of ice. My right hip flexor is sore for some reason. I really stretched it out pretty good after the run. I’ll have to start stretching it every day.

I have class tonight. If my hip feels ok, I’ll go. Not sure yet.

19

Friday: 12/31/2004
Didn’t go to class last night. My wife wasn’t feeling so hot and my daughter had a friend over.

Today I went to the local climbing gym with my daughter. We were there for about 4 hours. I mostly belayed while she climbed but I did do some bouldering. So my workout today ends up being a bunch of pullups and grip work. it was fun. First time that she and I went together. It’s amazing how fearless kids are.

Tomorrow I plan to run 10k in a local race.

20

Sunday: 01/02/2005
I didn’t run the 10k yesterday. I got up late and was a slug all day.

Today I got up early and ran 3 miles. I just took it easy. My right hip flexor has been sore during runs lately. Today it wasn’t so bad.

Tomorrow is swimming day.