Hey, I figured while we got all of us here; why not each post our workouts- what we do & why- and everyone offer up some advice, tips, compliments, or opinions?
Anybody wanna go first?
I was thinking maybe we could make our own version of the “Street Fight continues” thread on the Kung Fu forum- that everyone contributes to, long term.
Whaddya think?
Just some thoughts from an ignoramus.
Cool
I don’t subscribe to the fact that size majorly hinders flexibility and performance, so I train heavy - Bench press, squats and military press. I do close grip bench presses because they really work my tris, and both barbell and dumbell curls, just to keep symmetry. I also do shrugs and lat pulldowns.
I do traditional training to increase my muscular endurance and overall stamina - plyometrics, various other bodyweight exercises, forms and stance training.
For striking power I work the bag.
for cardiovascular endurance, I jog, shadowbox and work my forms.
“You ain’t got enough calcium to have a bone to pick wit me,
like a Gracie, I’ll choke a ***** out wit his own gi” - Rass Kass
right now…
my work out consists of:
5 min sitting qigong
10 min standing qigong
14 min stances
30 min upper body [moving isometric]
30 min drills
10 min standing qigong
5 min sitting qigong
in 8 days i will be half way through the conditioning program [200 days total], and my work out will be the following for the last 100 days:
5 min sitting qigong
10 min standing qigong
28 min stances
33 min upper body [moving isometric]
30 - 40 min drills
10 min standing qigong
5 min sitting qigong
speaking of workouts…it’s time for me to go workout!!
5 minutes of stretching
25 push ups (I put my legs on a bench)
10 minutes cardiovascular machine
25 pushups (on the ground)
10 minutes cardiovascular machine
25 pushups (on the ground)
10 minutes cardiovascular machine
25 pushups (put my legs on the benc)
10 minutes trunk twists with poll
25 push ups (put my legs on the bench, focus on triceps here)
50-75 presses for my lower back (100 lb.)
25 push ups (same as last 25)
25 ab crunches (machine setting 100 lb.)
25 push ups (legs on bench, knuckles)
15 shoulder press (for shoulders and triceps)
15 bar pull down (100 lb.)
15 bar pull down (100 lb.) (I switch my arms around the second time.)
15 rowing (pull back on the bar, 100 lb.)
15 leg presses (200 lb.)
25 ab cruches (100 lb.)
Done
PHILBERT
PHILBERT, what are those 50-75 presses for your lower back? What kind of presses are those? I never heard of a press that works on your lower back…
Sevenstar
What kind of plyometrics do you do? I’m still real curious about these and only know a few exercises cuz i’m too poor to get a book. 
I like the rest of the workout, and I think similarly, but I think I wanna focus my workout around the deadlift, the squat, the clean and press, and maybe some bodyweight like pullups and dips.
Philbert
Wow! Do you do that all everday? Do you take a lot of rest between sets? Your endurance should be amazing. Is that one of those push up programs?
Just some thoughts from an ignoramus.
Kumkuat, it’s hard to explain. I sit on this little chair thing, and there is a bar on my upper back and I am sort of leaning forward. I then push this bar back towards the ground and it exercises my lower back and my gluteus maximas. hehe.
Lost_Disciple, about 5 days a week. And I just made it up the other day. I just started doing push ups. I use to do about 100 of and on during my workout, but decided to create my own program. My rest is between push ups. I do exercises that don’t use my arms, and once I begin the arm exercises (like the bar pull down) I stop pushups. Notice none of my exercises require my arms until I do the pull down bar, then no more push ups. Because then my arms start burning when I push up.
PHILBERT
I’m going to go ahead and take a shot.
This is the workout I’m planning once I finally get out of here and get a job.
This could change drastically depending on if and where I work, but I’ll assume Baltimore for now.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday
Morning- Tai Chi or other forms
After Work- Forms Practise
Evening- Class
Post class- More forms, jogging (around 30 min worth)
Thursday
Morning- Tai Chi or other forms
After Work- Weights
Squat 5 to 10 sets, heavy, not 'til failure
Dumbell/kettlebell Snatch
Bent Press
Dumbell/kettlebell Swing
Night time- forms & easy jog
Saturday
Morning- Tai Chi or forms
Afternoon- Wind sprints
Evening- Weights
Clean & Press (or military presses) 5 to 10 sets, heavy, not 'til failure
Pull ups- 10 sets
Dips- 10 sets
Night time- forms & easy jog
Sunday
Morning- Tai Chi or forms
Afternoon- basics, abs, & bag work
Evening- Weights
Deadlift 5 to 10 sets, heavy, not til failure
Dumbell/kettlebell Snatch
Bent Press
Dumbell/kettlebell Swing
Night time- forms & easy jog
I may alter up rest times on the dumbell/kettlebell lifts in order to create a more aerobic, calorie burning workout. The other power lifts (including pull ups & dips) I’ll wrest between 1 and 5 minutes between sets.
I stuck with compound movements as an attempt to incorporate more muscles, burn more calories, and get as much power as possible. I’m still trying to decide on kettlebells or sticking with dumbells, or a kettlebell alternative, but that’ll depend on how much $$ I’m making. There’s a kettlebell alternative here:
http://www2.mailordercentral.com/ironmind/prodinfo.asp?number=1275&variation=&aitem=3&mitem=10
Much cheaper, and more convenient.
I’d like to incorporate overhead squats, lunges, barbell curls, cuban presses and tricep extensions; but don’t know where I’d put them. I figure class’ll have some ab work. I’ll probably be doing basics instead of forms until I learn some from my next school (planning to “empty my cup” again).
I think between these workouts I’ll drink an MRP or Protein shake to keep my energy levels up.
What do you guys think?
Not enough rest?
Too many workouts in a day?
Good selection of exercises?
How, what, when, where, and should I put some plyos in there?
I’ve been looking forward to this for a while now. Eventhough this looks kinda stiff, I’m sick of this sedentary life I got and want a program that keeps me active most of the day. I probably won’t do it all at once. I’ll go easy with each thing for a while, and gradually build up. I don’t want to be sore all the time- so my intensity level may be on the low side for each of these workouts. This workout is my ideal at the moment.
Anxious to hear any comments.
Just some thoughts from an ignoramus.
I’ll give my workout a shot:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
1-hour: below the waist weight lifting (legs, glutes) – this is done on my lunch hour
-5 min cardio warm up (stair stepper)
-leg curls (3 sets)
-leg extensions (3 sets)
-glute extensions (3 sets, that kick back thing)
-squat machine (3 sets)
-leg fly-in (3 sets)
-leg fly-out (3 sets)
-10 - 15 min of stretching along with stretching inbetween sets
At night - 45 min TKD (varies, but mainly cardio)
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
1 hour: above the waist (lunch hour)
-5 min cardio warm up (rower)
-20 min of abs (too many exercises to write here, includes hanging abs)
-back press (3 sets)
-ab press (3 sets)
-arm rowers pull thing (3 sets)
-semi pull ups (3 sets, will be real pull ups)
-lat pull (3 sets)
-that forearm pull (that’s like a lat pull, 3 sets)
-pushups on stands (3 sets each of regular and parallel)
-push forward (3 sets)
-forward, reverse, up butterfly (3 sets each)
-machine to push weights overhead (3 sets)
-near dips (no help, 3 sets, will be real dips)
-bicep curls (3 sets)
-10 - 15 min stretching
At night: 45 min kung fu, 1 mile jog, 45 min TKD (sometimes this TKD is just teaching, so there's no workout).
Sunday I totally rest.
Robin
Surrender yourself to nature and be all that you are.
3 sets of 8 on bench or DB press +1 warmup set
3 sets of 8 of DB flys or peck deck
3 sets of 8 military press
3 sets of 8 DB side raises
3 sets of 8 skull crushers
3 sets of 8-10 of triceps extensions (pull-downs)
20-30 minutes of cardio
3 of 8 of Lat pulldowns (alternate wide vs close grip every 2 weeks)
3 of 8 of DB rows
5 sets of 8-10 DB shrugs
3 of 8 of DB preacher curls
3 of 8 of hammer curls
20-30 minutes of cardio
Warmup - 10 minutes on stationary bike
5 sets of 15 squats
3 of 12 of quad extensions
3 of 12 hamstring curls
5 of 12 seated calf raises
I do each or try to do each with one or two days rest in between workouts. All exercises are done to maximum intensity with focus on increasing weights each time on all power lifts. I have temporarily withdrawn deadlifts from my program until I can think of a logical way to include them again. I think I may alternate one month squats and then one month of deadlifts. These two exercises work too much of your body to work at the same time properly, or even in the same week.
Isopure zero-carb whey powder
Labrada Lean Body low carb meal replacement shake
Glutamine powder
Flax seed oil
GNC ultra mega gold multi-vitamin
xenadrine (half dose usually)
ZMA (on training days only, and still skeptical about it’s effectiveness)
Meal replacement is usually taken in the morning if I don’t have time for breakfast…I’ll add a teaspoon of glutamine, a tablespoon of flax seed oil, 4-8 egg whites and sometimes I will add natural yogurt to the mix. I make the shake with half water and half milk. Flax seed oil is a good source of omega fatty acids which are good fats. On a low carb diet fat is your friend as long as most if it isn’t saturated. Xenadrine I use more for a boost before a workout than anything else. Isopure contains glutamine so I don’t need to use as much of it. Glutamine is an essential amino acid which can become depleted if you are working out and on a cutting diet. Multivitamin is very important as your body is taxed more when working out and therefore needs more nutrients to supply your body with in growth of muscle tissue. Also you may cut calories which may also decrease vitamin intake. ZMA, well sleeping is sometimes difficult for me and ZMA is supposed to promote deeper ROM sleep, I have noticed that I actually dream a lot more with ZMA or at least I remember dreaming, and feel slightly more rested when taking it. Also, supposedly aids in recovery but I can’t really measure that. Well that’s it for my routine. All that typing and even if I do all the above it means pretty much squat without proper diet.
my new workout: 3x a week to start getting endurance back up to fight regularly. (everything has a 45 second pause between.)
5 min. qigong
5 minutes stretch
5 minute on the jump rope
2 minutes side to side left leg forward
2 minutes side to side right leg forward
2 min. mountain climbers
40 situps
40 pushups (20 normal 10 handstand flip into "bridge and do 10 more upside down)
stretch
2 min. focus mitts punch only
2 min. air sheild kicks only
4 min. thai pads/heavy bag punch/kick
(2 rounds. gutting out the last round hard and fast)
40 situps
40 puchups
Big stretch
I’ll be adding and changing stuff as the intensity level increases, but it is a good start
" The reason that sportsmen such as boxers, and wrestlers have a higher success rate in self-defense situations over other martial artists is because they will fight in the same manner as they train." -Bruce Lee
Robin
Just a few things I noticed. This is constructive criticism, and I’m not trying to bash.
Leg workout looks pretty good.
Upper Body Workout
Overall it seems like you work the same body parts 3 times a week, which also can cause overtraining.
Just some ideas. I’d like to see other people commenting on each other’s workouts and what they think abou it. Personally I could use this, because I want to make sure I don’t miss anything. Hope it helps.
Just some thoughts from an ignoramus.
ElPietro
Push, Pull, legs- nice split
16~18 sets in each one seems like a decent range, because u seem to get a decent amount of rest.
15 reps on squats is scarey. I guess you’re going for muscle endurance and not strength? You might be risking overtraining or injury with this; not a definite, just something to watch out for- but it looks like you’re aware of the dangers of overtraining.
One way to re-incorporate deadlifts would be to just have Push and Pull days. Throw the Squats in on the Push, the deadlifts in on the pull. Throw Hamstring curls in on the pull day, calf extensions & quat extensions on push day. In that case you’d probably have to reduce the number of sets on some of your other exercises to make room. If you reduce the number of reps on your squat, don’t do too many reps on your deadlift, and don’t go to failure on either; you could still see some significant strength gains doing both in a week.
How is that Labrada stuff?
Still haven’t found a good flax seed supplement i like yet.
You look like you know at least as much, or more, about supplementation as I do. I agree with you that sometimes it’s hard to find out if a particular supplement does what they advertise (reducing recovery time).
I’d like to see people givin some advice or thoughts on everyone’s training. I think we could all benefit from other viewpoints.
Just some thoughts from an ignoramus.
ShaolinTiger
I really like your training, it looks like it’s consistent with some of the stuff I saw in the Complete Idiot’s Guide to Kickboxing- Guy Mezger’s Workouts. It’s also got traditional training with the qigong. Totally cool.
Just some thoughts from an ignoramus.
I think robin’s workout will serve her well. she can work the same parts three days a week - judging by the workout, I’d say that she’s not trying to gain size - it’s just general strengthening, in which case machine squats are fine for her.
“You ain’t got enough calcium to have a bone to pick wit me,
like a Gracie, I’ll choke a ***** out wit his own gi” - Rass Kass
32 days to become the ultimate warrior
I have a test coming up, and some of my friends/sihings tested last friday, so they gave me a heads up - which may not be a heads up, as sifu usually changes each test. My last test I had to spar everyone in the class for two minute rounds - TWICE, then grapple them all TWICE. This test, if it’s like theirs, will be mainly calisthenics. They had to do
140 iron buffalos(dive bomber/hindu pushups)
70 pushups
40 monkeyjacks(similar to frog jumps)
forms - over and over and over
shifting
self defense drills
technique drills - over and over and over
there was other stuff too - the test was three hours long, but this was the harder stuff.
I want this to be a breeze, so I am going to go over and beyond this. On my bodyweight exercise days, I intend to do this:
100 pushups
180 iron buffalos
stance training - as long as I can hold them
forms - 5 - 10 times each
technique drills - 3 times each
hindu squats - 100 reps
monkey jacks - 60 reps
shifting - 20 - 30 mins
hopefully, this will get me ready. This may be kind of intensive on my legs though, so I am going to go easier on my squats in the meantime.
“You ain’t got enough calcium to have a bone to pick wit me,
like a Gracie, I’ll choke a ***** out wit his own gi” - Rass Kass
Sevenstar
You’re probly right about Robin’s workout, my main concern was that lifting weights 6 times a week sounds like a lot.
Your program looks insane. hehe
Good luck with it!
Just some thoughts from an ignoramus.
Lost Disciple,
you got it. I recently picked up Guy’s book and noticed how similar my old workout was to his (read lightweight to heavyweight training chapters) since I haven’t been working out regularly in quite a while, I though I’d take the basic workout and tweak it a little. next week I’ll add more things, (throw in Hindu squats, change pushups to triangles or bomb divers, add an extra round on the pads/round of throws. etc.. just keep extending and expanding… its working so far.
I’ll always mix my traditional background in whenever I feel it is appropriate.
almost forgot weight lifting 2x a week.
" The reason that sportsmen such as boxers, and wrestlers have a higher success rate in self-defense situations over other martial artists is because they will fight in the same manner as they train." -Bruce Lee
Lost Disciple thanks for the reply on my training. Legs can be trained differently from most bodyparts from what I can tell. I’ve found it quite common among bodybuilders to go up to 20 reps in a set. (Yeah it is scary) These are guidelines and not necessarily written in stone for me. Depending on whether I’m going for strength or mass I’ll adjust the reps and weight. For endurance I’d just hop on a stationary bike or treadmill.
As far as deadlifts go I’ve been thinking of adding them to my pull day, but I prefer stiff-legged deadlifts, which also give a good burn to the hamstrings. Between squats and deadlifts I’d be sore all week if I had them both. Unless I went light on one or the other…but that isn’t an option for me. 
Anyway I’ll experiment with it and see how it goes.
The labrada lean body meal replacement is absolutely awesome. If you are looking for a meal replacement shake you HAVE to try it out. In the 20 box it comes in a tropical blend…4 different flavours…all of them taste really good. When I mix it it’s like drinking a smoothie that you’d pay for. Flax tastes like crap and will always taste like crap. Just throw a tablespoon into your shake, I usually have two shakes a day and add flax to both.
Lost_D,
Thanks for the critique. I appreciate all the ideas I can get.
I don’t go to failure, or even tired, but to the point where it’s tough (where you make that face :mad: ). I switch off, so I have 24 hours before I train a muscle group. I thought that would be enough. I know there is the advice to wait 48 hours. Is that the more common rule of thumb, now?
I am looking, now, to really cut and tone. I originally started to help heal injuries. Now, I’m beginning to see results, abs getting cut and so on. I kind of like that and I’d like to work on that and see what I can do. Is it then better to wait 48 hours?
I use the squat machine (which is lying down) because I have a problem getting my knee in proper alignment. But, I’m doing better. I intend to progress to regular squats. Suggestions: smith machine or free weights? Remember, I workout alone, so having a spotter isn’t really an option.
I have noticed that in doing abs, when I added weights to myself, the muscles got more cut. I still like hanging abs and the abs on the incline bench. Those are just plain fun. What does a kettle ball look like? We have medicine balls at the gym, is that close?
I’m not overly concerned about overtraining my upper body. It doesn’t really get a workout any other time other than the gym. And I’m so focused on being able to do pullups, I guess I might be going a little overboard. I’ll take a look at my workout again and try to come up with a better schedule.
Thanks for all your help, guys.
Robin
Surrender yourself to nature and be all that you are.