Humour me please!

[AndrewS]

Hey Mat,

Your plan sounds good, but don’t get too caught up in using more weight. Try to put the biggest/most intense exercises first, balance pushing and pulling, horizontal and vertical, and try not to do more than 4-6 exercises per session. Some folks will argue that higher reps at the outset of training are a good way to condition your connective tissue. Stick with this plan for 6-8 weeks, after that you’ll probably need to start to change up your exercises and sets and reps depending on your goals.

Andrew

[Mr_Punch]

Been sick for over a week. Caught some kind of bug, and really wanted to train but didn’t want to stress my body out and get worse.

Gym today. Dunno what to do yet, my knee’s shot too.

Maybe start with something like light squats that will allow me to gently test the knee and see if it’s going to be ok. Certainly giving the lunges a miss today.

[Mr_Punch]

Went. Was good. I am puny. Oh well.

Shoulders/biceps (knee def still no go for now):

Some inverse thingy pulling a BB up to a bit above my nips, with a narrow grip and the elbows pointing up: 1 x 15 x 10, 1 x 15 x 12.5, 1 x 15 x15.

BB bicep curls 2 x 15 x 15, 1 x 10 x 20.

DB hammer curls 2 x 15 x 4, 1 x 15 x 5

Incline hammer curls 3 x 5 x 15.

Some thing like flies, where you lift the DBs directly out to the side, straight, to shoulder height: 3 x 15 x 5.

Some thing where you lift the DBs directly to a bit above shoulder height with a straight arm at the front… 3 x 15 x 5.

All of these exercises were difficult, and I was nearing failure on some. Today however, I feel nothing. No pain, no stiffness. So maybe I’ll go for something heavier next time.

[Mr_Punch]

Fri,

Stupidly hot and humid, nearly dead before I started.

Knee wasn’t good still, so did back.

Lat pulldowns 1x15x35, 1x15x37.5, 1x15x40

Another pulldown (arms ahead a little more than shoulder height, straight: pull down the handlebar thing to my waist) 1x12x12, 1x12x10, 1x12x7.5 (hurt: decreased weight cos I was losing form)

Low rows (same as lat pulldowns)

Obliques machine 3x15x30

Elliptical trainer 15 minutes intense.

No fu over the weekend (too much work, beer, and World Cup… though can’t believe I forsook my fu training to watch that useless shower England go out so ignominiously!).

Just did the forms and some chikung, the back exercises, some stance work and about 30 minutes lazy bagwork.

Yesterday:

Again, pretty much fatigued before I started because of the weather, but went to the gym and did chest and triceps.

Bench 1x12x25,1x12x27.5,1x12x30

Incline bench 1x12x25,1x12x20,1x12x15 (felt good after the bench so started at same weight but could barely do it, so had to reduce each time - hard)

Dumbells flies 3x12x5

Tricep exercises on the bench, lowering weight overhead (don’t know the name yet): 1x12x10,2x12x7.5 - hard

Triceps pushdowns on machine: 2x12x7.5,1x12x10.

Elliptical 10 mins warm-up, 15 mins warm-down, moderately intense.

Wanted to go again today, but had to work and do things at home till 2:30 this morning, so suffering from lack of sleep, so I’m going to play safe and give it a rest till Fri.

[Mr_Punch]

Yesterday (Sat)

Thought I’d progress to something a bit heavier, now my body seems to be getting better (back anyway, the occasional knee-pop is still going on: MRIs for both if they persist) and my recovery time seems very quick. Plus I want to get some idea of what I can actually do, what my limits are… and I don’t know any other way to find out my RM1 without lifting heavier things!

3-5 mins break between each set.

TB DLs: 5x50, 5x60, 5x60, 5x70, 3x75 (target weight for today - my BW… maybe the first time I’ve lifted anything that big - quite happy with that!)

The 75 I did want to only do 3, just so I’d done it… but I have to say it hurt. It didn’t hurt the things it’s not supposed to hurt (like the back or legs) but my left elbow really felt it. Bit sore in the lower back today. It’s a muscular soreness, not the disc, but I’ve still gotta watch my posture carefully especially for the next few days.

Squats (SM): 5x40, 5x50, 5x60, 3x70.

Although I was resting up for 3-5 mins between each set of DLs, I still felt a bit fried when I went to do my squats (good, but fried), and there’s no squat rack at my gym, plus my trainer wasn’t there to spot me, so I went for the Smith machine for safety.

Was quite prepared to fail completely at these cos my knee had still been giving me problems, and had also intended to go for BW. Felt good until 60. Thought I’d try 70 anyway… wasn’t bad.

Knee hurts again today though.

Lat pull-downs: 5x40, 5x50, 5x60, 3x70.

Again, wanted to hit BW (just as a reference) but wouldn’t have made it. Couldn’t lock out my left arm on the last rep of the 70 set, but didn’t feel bad.

Also wanted to hit low rows but felt I’d taxed my body enough for one day. Started and finished with 15 mins on the elliptical and a lot of stretching.

All in all, an interesting fact-finding mission. Feel a bit sore today, but not bad at all… we’ll see if I can move tomorrow!

Next gym Tue. Next fu today.

[Mr_Punch]

BTW, in case anyone’s wondering, am now Mr Punch in case my ultra-conservative bosses in my new job follow me onto the boards! Most of them can’t understand any English, but better safe than sorry!

Quick question: on the days I can’t train but am still stiff/sore, should I still be upping my protein intake?

On a normal day with no sups I eat about a gram of protein for a gram of BW (75 kgs 75-125gs). On training days, in the morning and when I’ve finished (usually about 7 at night) I usually have a protein shake with two eggs which puts up intake by at least 75 gs a day. On the day after training I usually do the same. Is that a good idea?

Should I give my body more of a rest from the high-protein stuff?

or

Should I keep the protein intake high more days a week even when I’m not training to facilitate absorption and get my body used to it?

[Mr_Punch]

Yesterday (Sunday)

Some fu.

Good session going over basics carefully for a bro we’re teaching chum kiu to… but absolutely nothing resembling a live exercise

Stepping drills, inc huen bo, knife stepping and variations… but just the stepping, no interaction (perishingly humid and hot!).

Sil lum tao.

Chum kiu up to the end of the first bit, with a couple of applications, a lot of fine tuning, and comparing the splitting the bridge motions with aikido’s ten-chi nage (very nice - but still not live).

Was very stiff, but not in pain.

[Mr_Punch]

Yesterday (Mon)

Abortive attempt at going over chum kiu with the same (ever injured) student. Worked a couple of lap sao drills out of it, and then a lot of backward and forward stepping punches concentrating on keeping a broken rhythm and range, then the same with jab, jab-straight, jab-jab-straight and various other boxing combos with and without evasion.

30 mins full speed cycling.

SLT, CK etc as usual… well as quite often.

[Mr_Punch]

Today (Tue).

Gym, trying to work on my puny chest!

20 mins elliptical.

Bench (free barbell): 10x30, 6x40 (was trying for 8, couldn’t do it), 5x40 (after five mins went back, being bullish… failed at the 6th), 5x50 (assisted by my trainer). Dang, that was hard.

Incline bench with DBs crossing over at the top (weight figure for single DB): 12x9, 12x8, 12x7.

Pec machine (same as decline bench?): 15x17.5, 12x22.5, 10x25.

More elliptical.

Bit of improvement on the bench.

Not sure if these workouts are in line with my goals, and not sure if my trainer really knows what she’s talking about sometimes! :eek:

For example;

Training for strength only is it a good idea to do say 10-12 reps of a lighter weight to warm up to 3-5 of a heavier weight, or is it a better idea to start with 5 of each weight and progress up?

And should I lift lighter after I’ve failed on heavier?

Anybody still reading wanna help out a bit please?!

And I still don’t know about the protein question…:o

[AndrewS]

Hey Mat,

Reasonable protein intake is 1-2g/kg/day- it sounds like you’re within those parameters. People will argue you should have a serving of high bioavailability protein (whey or casein or both) within 1hr post workout.

Warmups- they shouldn’t burn you out. So, if you’re squatting working up to a 5rm at 100kg, you might go bwx10-20, barx10, 40kgx5, 60kgx5, 80kgx5, 95kgx1, 100kgx5 (the single just below your work weight is helpful to prep you for what is to come, 5 reps would impair your recovery).

The question you’re asking about reps and weight is basically about volume. For strength, Prilepin’s tables are useful for this sort of thing (see around page 7-9 of this blog), for mass, not so useful. If I miss a weight, I may do a set at a lighter weight to up the volume at a desired intensity range- i.e. if I miss an RM1 attempt at 400lbs, with an old RM1 of 380, I might do a backoff set at of 2-3 reps at 340-350, just to get a groove. There’s no magic answer for when/how to do this that I know of, just some rough guidelines and time under the bar. Now, for hypertrophy- what you’re talking about are called drop sets and, yes, do them.

Andrew

P.S. Try not to work to failure when going heavy too often, it burns you out. It’s one thing to rep out with 60% RM1 as a hypertrophy thing, but missing singles or triples can leave me toasted for days.

P.P.S. Try not to do trap bar deads and squats on the same day, or back squats and full deads- these are too demanding for most people to combine.

[Mr_Punch]

Thanks Andrew, a goldmine as usual, thanks for your time.

Having trouble with Prilepin’s table, so might have to have a look at that again later at leisure.

[Mr_Punch]

The weekend was a bit of a washout… no partners and rain. Did forms, and more forms, and worked the bag from the forms and some boxing and kickboxing combos. Productive but not productive enough. Need more live training.

The good news is: got five weeks of summer holiday starting next week! Gym and fu everyday, supplemented by going back to train with my shooto teacher for a bit and maybe even the crazy koryu guy if he’s got any seminars…

[Mr_Punch]

The week was a washout too, too busy with work, pouring down with rain at 27-9 degrees and unbearable humidity. Looking for an indoor place to train: fed-up with this. Can just fit two people on my balcony for some chun, but wouldn’t like to throw a roundhouse out there!

Anyway, weekend (Sun), everybody was in a hurry, but got an hour and a half of chum kiu with some apps. I wanted to do some sparring/live drills but everybody was too **** busy.

Yesterday (Mon) gym

10 mins on elliptical then immediately…

5km run. Wanted to do it in 20 mins but still well out of shape I guess: only made it in about 24.

Try again tomorrow. After the 20 min 5, I want to get back to less than 35 min for 10 like I used to. So, I’ll run the 20 min 5 until it’s comfortable then see how long it takes me to do 10 so I know what I’m aiming for.

Lat pull-downs on machine: 10x20kg, 5x50, 5x60, 5x62.5, 5x65, 1x67.5, 3x70, 10x30. My target was 75 (my bodyweight - when I’m comfortable with that I’m going to see how I can take pull-ups), didn’t look like I was going to make it so went for 70, and a back-down set of 10x30 (the 10x20 warm-up set was far too easy). Think I’ll start from higher than 50 and work my up from higher weight start next time. Rested about 2-3 mins between all of the sets, except the last two big ones.

Lat rows on machine: 10x30, 5x60, 5x65, 1x70, 3x75, 15x30.

Straight-arm pulldowns on machine. 10x7.5, 5x10, 5x12.5, 1x15, 3x17.5.

10 mins elliptical, then straight into 2.5km in 10 mins.

Wanted to go swimming afterwards but turns out the waterproof band-aid I bought to cover my tattoo was useless. :rolleyes:

[Mr_Punch]

Tue-Wed, minimal core work and stretching. Half an hour boring bagwork. Too hot and humid and no enthusiasm.

Thu, still no enthusiasm but had to meet old training partner (who hopefully will be joining me regularly again).

Good session though extremely hot and humid, after dark and mosquito hell.

Systema drill: punch/push for different effects, and receiver tries to send something back on whatever natural axis to connect with centreline asap from whatever angle the puncher is coming…)

5 mins, eyes closed, no stance, one strike return.

5 mins, eyes closed, no stance then finding stance on contact.

5 mins, eyes closed, two arms sent out (one strike, one tan/bong/wu/man etc), finding stance.

5 mins of opening of SLT with partner pushing, pulling, palming (usually we do sweeps, kicks, knees in back to short takedown etc too but too hot sweaty and my friend was in an expensive suit!). SLT geezer tries to stay relaxed, focused on SLT esp keeping posture down, and not tensing up hand positions except for to feed back on contact. Of course if the strike is too strong he should flow with it and regain posture as soon as possible. Punching partner should come from all angles.

Dan chi sao. Very difficult with the sweat!

LSJC drill: rolling slowly and carefully like chi sao, partner drops a hand, goes for a hook, slackens his position, and you let your strike throw forwards and find the gap.

Rolling: chi sao changes, huen, pressure on fuk, non-centreline strikes etc.

Pad work: stepping punches, backwards and forwards, concentrating on one-twos, and getting power into the backward stepping punches to shock the centre rather than just push through the pad. Tiring in the heat.

Chi sao, very slow. Too hot for many things to work at all: lops were next to impossible in the sweaty conditions (made me wonder about HK where half the year is this bad! - which techs they modified…!). Worked a few things like trying to roll straight into clinch range to get elbows and short fist pummeling in, but again too slippy to work clinches themselves effectively. Gave up on inside and concentrated on escaping to the outside.

[Mr_Punch]

Fri, played around at home to see what was possible with my new one dumbell and its 20kg…

ended up doing small weights (all the below figures are with a 1.75 kg db bar) in a kind of all-over body routine:

Walking lunges, 12 each side no weights, 12es x 7.5, 12es x 10, lunges, 12es x 11.75.

Floor press: 10 x 2.5 each hand, 10 x 5eh x 2. Too easy!

Crossover Flies: ditto. Harder.

Skullcrushers: 10 x 5, 10 x 7.5, 10 x 10.

Bicep curls: 10 x 5, 10 x 7.5, 10 x 10 (Hard… last few assisted with other hand)

Hammer curls: 5 x 10 (assisted at end)

20 mins very light bagwork (boxing) for positioning, footwork and speed.

[Mr_Punch]

Yesterday, more home DB play.

45 mins very fast cycling (on road so dubious health benefits, but not too busy traffic and big hills)… straight into warm-up, then;

Hammer curls (Fri I felt my bicep routine was very bad, and much as I’m not particularly interested in biceps I thought I’d better work on them as my tris seem much stronger - and no stiffness so went for Hammer Curls) - prefer these to normal bicep curls cos it feels like its working my forearms more too: 10 x 5, 10 x 7.5, 10 x 10 (still hella hard - assisted but only with a couple at the end)

Forearm curls and reverse forearm curls: 10 x 5, 10 x 7.5, 10 x 10 each.

Shrugs: 15 x 5eh x 3.

Front shoulder raises 10 x 2.5, 10 x 5 x2

Side shoulder raises ditto: very hard on last few at 5, probably because I’m gripping the plates because I only have one DB bar!

Rear shoulder raises… these are evil anyway and I’m not convinced they’re good for the rotator cuffs so I dont do them often. Previous PB a measly 2kgs for 5: 10 x 1.25, 8 x 2.5, 3 x 5. Much better than before which suggests that my shoulders have got much stronger using exercises which are potentially less damaging to the RCs so might give them a miss altogether from now.

Notes: def need another DB bar to make home workouts more ordered and useful. Next payday, and maybe a trap bar or w-bar too! Also going to look into medicine balls.

Found kettlebells in a shop in Shinjuku but the cheapest (4 kgs) was 5000 yen and the biggest (12kgs) was 8500! No ****ing way! CoC grips were 4000 each (maybe twice the price of those in the States, and a third extra inc shipping…?). Maybe look into club exercises with a DB with plates on just one end…?

Still gotta look into some more home exercises now my body’s getting fitter and my back’s better… windmills and side presses for eg.

Warmed up and cooled down with 25 mins light-heavy intensity bagwork. Starting with pyramid chain punching (I hate chain punching so I don’t often do it and was using it as a warm-up…!) to sets of ten. Then turning one-twos WC stylee, then turning one-two-elbows (downwards and side) WC stylee, one-one-twos WC stylee with the third one being the biggy. Then boxing jabs (single) for position, more boxing jabs for speed and broken rhythm, double jabs, jab-straight, jab-jab-straight, jab-hook, jjh, j-j-h-backstepping s, jjsh, jjelbow (hook trajectory), jje (down), j/jj-hh/ee/eh etc. Happy with power, happy with speed, happy with stamina, happy with rhythm (none!), need some work on actual position but generally a good bag sesh.

[Mr_Punch]

Today (Sunday), training partner probs so nearly couldn’t meet and couple of injuries, plus fatigue thru lack of sleep in this weather, potential dehydration etc meant a rather cut-short training session but quite good.

Need to find somewhere with showers, or indoors so we can work on takedowns, maybe some groundwork, and kick without getting covered in sh!t! Not to mention the d@mn humidity and mozzies…!

Anyway, took our partner thru the rest of chum kiu. We took him through it quicker than would be ideal… usually I would get a student to learn a bit of the form, drill relevant apps and energies with set drills, and try and get him to work it into chi sao and sparring or live two-step sparring… but this guy’s a false starter with quite a bit of experience but slack and often injured so he needs to get something new to kick him up the arse!

So today we did the last section which was interesting cos it meant that I learned a (mostly) new version too, from my senior training partner with a rather different lineage. We then drilled some bits from set shots (wanted to repeat with some random stuff but we had to call it a day); wrong bong to lop strike, wrong bong to kap jarn (?), lan sao to disrupt balance under the attacking arm and simultaneous strike. Practiced them with straight chun punch, straight boxing right and jab (boxing strikes working a bit - tho not enough - on continuing the attack anyway when the arm does not stay out).

Need to do more live stuff, even if it’s just unset san sao and work on withdrawing the arm etc, but quite good 2+ hour session: good groundwork for one student and for us to work on something more realistic next time.

[Mr_Punch]

Been away with work, active but not training.

Sun: 1.5 hrs training with partners.

LSJC rolling/changeovers.

Pulling and pushing in chi sao to maintain structure.

San sao with (mostly gan sao defence against) boxing jab-straight-hook/straight-hook.

Need to teach my partners how to hook properly before this becomes a useful exercise! Also need to work more on jamming footwork.

Last night (Mon): a little short of 2 hrs training.

Went over chum kiu with student again.

LSJC and changeovers again.

Pushing and pulling again (good basic exercise for balance, on/off energy - like setting up for the double leg, getting into clinch position, and the old receive what comes, escort what goes).

Too dark for safe san sao (in the park) so did slow careful chi sao, working esp on the jum-punch from the end of chum kiu, and a very brief look at the six basic chi sao exercises.

[Mr_Punch]

Still can’t go to the gym cos they’re on holiday. Yes, here in Japan, not only do some gyms have one day off a week, but they also have holidays. :rolleyes:

So,

new warm-up:

10 push-ups
10 lunges,
10 lunges with 10 kgs,
10 squats,
10 squats with 20 kgs,
10 ab crunches from the back routine,
10 planks from same.

3x10 squats superset with 3x5x5 sec bird-dogs (from back routine)

3x8 push-ups (3-1-1, and that 3 hurts) superset with 3x15 sec side planks

3x15 crunches superset with 3x15 x2.5 kg inverse rows

3x8 hip extensions superset with 3x15 sec planks

That was a programme a friend gave to me. I added the lunges and the weighted squats to the warm-up, and since it already had the back-routine I do I thought I’d give it a go. Nothing was a problem except surprisingly the bird-dogs immediately after the squats and going slowly down with the push-ups which I found alarmingly hard.

Generally it was too easy to make a good work out, so I might use it as a warm-up if I use it at all.

Then went on to:

floor press: 1x15x2.5dbs, 1x12x3.75dbs, 1x10x5dbs
flies: same.
inverse tri curls: 1x10x2.5dbs, 1x10x4dbs, 1x5x5dbs
horizontal inverse tri curls: same.

Then 30 secs of 90% intensity bagwork, 1 min of 40%, repeated 6 times.

It’s a hot day.

Fu tonight.

Need more weights, a second db, a bench and a bar!

[Mr_Punch]

Wed night.

Fu.

Usual warm-ups… LSJC drill, pushing around,

lan sao and lan sao into elbow, counters: side-stepping, taking the knee etc.

Thu DBs at home:

Same warm-up but with 3x10x20 DLs instead of weighted squats.

Bicep curls can’t remember the weight…, finished with 1x5x10 which hurt, and hammer curls finishing with 1x3x10 which hurt a lot.

Skullcrushers (started a policy of continuing with the same muscle group from the previous day if there’s not much soreness) finishing 3x8x10.

Forearm curls and reverse forearms curls finishing 3x8x10.

Yesterday had a rest except for buying and walking home with another 20 kgs of plates and a new DB bar.