Well, I made it this far - (New Blog Chapter)

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Kung Fu Training and Health
21

There are fights tonite in Dallas so they kinda kicked me out of the gym early today.
The fitness center ain’t really air conditioned and closes 2 hours early on fridays- preventing me from being able to wait till after the sun starts to set to workout.

I did 4 rounds of shadowboxing with gloves and 1 or 2 rounds of everything I had on the heavybag. Easily had twice as much as that still left in me; but hey, sometimes you have light days and other times you have hard days.

For my first 3 boxing workout week since i got out here, i’m a lil sore. Aches include: both shoulders, rear knee, rear elbow, and rear wrist. The light workout may have saved me from an injury.

Good chance I’ll still jog & do pushups later tonite after the sun goes down.

Diet wise, today’s a mediocre to bad type of day. Had to more car stuff today- registration this time, but only had to work a few hours and that helped.

Woke up late and missed breakfast, just had my Hot Rox and some blueberry pomegranite juice (not the super-syrupy Pom stuff tho). The car stuff took forever and afterwards we were close to a Red Brick pizza joint. I had 2 cheesy breadsticks and a small, personal pizza, topped with the Works & feta cheese.
Haven’t eaten anything since the mini pizza, just a gatorade and some more Hot Rox (which keeps the metabolism running - doesn’t curb appetite). I may shoot for some chicken with no type of breading or fry later tonite.

22

Tonite just didn’t happen.

Moving out here from maryland, i realized that my wardrobe’s a bit lacking for the weather out here. The good news is that Dic keys is based out of Fort Worth- so even walmart stacks mad D ickeys for cheap. Spent a bunch of money on a ton of clothes- most expensive article was a $19 pair of pants. I bought a lot. hehe

Went out to eat at this chinese place when we were out, hadn’t eaten anything except the mini pizza 10 hours earlier. Ate some dumplings and some beef noodle soup, finished up with a couple crab rangoon. Probly not healthy but i didn’t stuff myself. Got some nice leftovers for tomorrow.

Got home and was fighting to stay awake. Woulda been asleep hours ago but I had to watch the Spurs game and later surfed the net for some gloves. I want some bag gloves that are closer to fight gloves. I’ve been doing the “train heavy” thing for a long time. I think once my endurance comes back to normal, the benefits of that type of training will pretty much. I really wanna have my defense and stance properly tuned to the right size of gloves that I’ll be fighting with. Plus, smaller gloves will help with focus mitt training- my current gloves are bigger than the trainer’s mitts, which leads to some ugly rounds.

Body-wise, the soreness i was feeling during the mini-workout didn’t go away. My shoulders and legs are really bugging me. As lazy as it sounds, i think it’s smarter to continue to play it conservative. If I gotta have a day with mediocre diet and mediocre workout, I’ll take it if it means that my body stays on track and finally starts adapting.

23

Was thinking about my weight workout a lot the last couple days coz I’ve found myself looking at it a burden, instead of something I wanted to jump back into.

I went back to the original workout plan in Pearl’s book to see if i could get any ideas when 'lo and behold, turns out I had the workout down wrong. It was really a good thing coz the whole single set, 20 rep thing was getting more than a lil old. Fixed up my plan and was eager to get back in there today.

Skipped the sprinting as a “warm up”. I think it helped with the endurance. I’ll reincorporate it later I think but at the moment, I’m still trying to ease back into weights after a week off for being sick.

Dumbell swing - 30lb x 20 reps - real easy. 50 was a bit of a strain, wanted to tone it down a lil for my first day back.

Situps - 20 reps - was on the steepest angle the chair would go so it was real hard

Bend to Opposite foot- 30lbs x 40 reps each side - was tired by the end of the 2nd side, wrist was fatigued too

Barbell lunges - 115lbs, 115lbs, 135lbs x 10 reps each set (3) x each side - went back and looked up the form on these coz they’ve been giving me a lot of trouble. I’d been doing a lunge, with a kind of 1 legged squat for each rep. Turns out I just need to step out as far as possible and just keep the bag leg straight. Didn’t have any problems and it felt a lot better!

Bench Press - 135, 155, 175 x 10 reps each set (3) - second set was easier than first. 3rd set wasn’t bad, but i actually split it into 2 sets (so 4, not 3) coz I was really nervous about working out with 175. I get real scared when trying to do heavy weight on bench.

Vertical Row - 65lbs, 95lbs, 95lbs x 10 reps each set (3) - I really like this exercise! the 95lb sets were hard as HECK but felt awesome. Think I like it coz it reminds me of a mini clean without the awkward squatting stuff.

Pullups - 140lb assist, 120lb, 100/120 x 10 reps each set (3) - failed on last set, had to crank the assist back up to 120.

Tricep Extension - Ez curl bar + 20, 40, 40 x 10 reps each set (3) - MUCH nicer with the EZ curl bar. Right elbow was clicking on 2nd set. Pretty do-able by the 3rd set.

Barbell curl - Ez curl bar + 40, 50, 50 x 10 reps each set (3) - last set slowed down a lot by the end and even failed last rep.

Pushups - on balance platform, on flat swissball, on floor x 10 reps each set (3) - was tired by the end of this. Maybe not quite as much of a grind as before, but wasn’t easy.

Diet wise the day’s been another “less than optimal”. Had 2 chicken sandwiches on wheat bread for lunch. had my creatine (w/glutamine) and protein shakes after my workout. Will probably eat again in another hour or 2. Think I need more protein for the day, hard to be strict on the weekends without just skipping meals.

I’ve got Alpha Male coming. Liked Tribex, thought Red Kat was worthless, but have high hopes. There’s a huge difference between me pushing 29 and me when i was pushing 19; don’t wanna go too deep into that, but I could use a lil help.

Broke down and ordered the Grant bag gloves I’ve been looking at for the past month. Yeah, I know 140 bux (after taxes n shipping) is ridiculous for bag gloves, ESPECIALLY after spending so much money on those 2 pairs of Reyes that didn’t turn out to be all that (got 50 back on one of 'em at least). But I have a lot of hope for this pair of gloves; i think they might be the best I’ve ever owned.

The smaller weight (12oz) is a departure from my old theory on “train heavy”. Lately, my mindset has been more of trying to use equipment as close to possible as actual fight equipment, so I don’t have to readjust so much once I step in the ring. Smaller gloves for pads n bag are also nice for a few more reasons:

  • not having as much cushioning between your fist and the contact surface has almost a plyometric benefit in the delivery of the shock, improves your power by strengthening your structure with the jaring of each hit- but still enough padding to protect your knuckles (unlike old-fashioned bag gloves).
  • distancing doesn’t get all messed up; it’s easy to fall short when you’re used to your gloves being an extra inch longer
  • smaller gloves means i can get better work in with my pad guy, big fluffy gloves can really make a pad session fall flat if the pad guy’s using small mitts.

Only a week and a half left till i head back to the kickboxing gym. Feel like i’ve made a lot of progress already, considering the illness i’ve battled.

24

Sunday was my off day. Was so sore i barely got out of bed. just went grocery shopping. Took the day off the diet & supplements too- 4 pieces of pizza for lunch with onion rings and tater tots, some bihon (rice noodles with beef & veggies) for dinner, ice cream sandwich for dessert.

Still sore this morning. Head’s been hurting too. hope i’m not getting sick again. definitely feel better when i get healthy foods & supplements.

25

WHEW!!!
Thermometer on the wall of the boxing gym said 90. That actually seemed lower than it felt. Felt like every breath I took was more like sucking on the exhaust pipe of an old 70s gas guzzler.

4 rounds of jump rope - feet were cramping up something fierce. Last round was the best strangely enough.

4 rounds of shadow - 2 in gloves, 2 with weights. first round was slow. felt tight. new guy pointed out that i need to keep my elbows in more. really tried to work on it. muscles were totally burning BEFORE using the hand weights. The hand weight rounds were such a struggle that my output was pretty sad. Did my best to hang in there.

5 rounds of heavybag - was really tearing into it. Moving to a different bag each round. Went: big boy (an 80 or 100 pounder, biggest there), the body snatcher (from ringside), the heavy canvas (again 80 or 100), the light leather (60 pounds maybe), and the light canvas (40 lb). By the last round my explosiveness was gone and my body was powering down without me.

1 round of double end - i don’t like their double ended bags, the bladders are always either flat or just insignificant. just can’t flow on this one. miss my old bxf double endeds.

1 round of maize bag - their maize bag is heavy, and it was working better as a double ended bag than the actual double ended- was punching it bare knuckle. it was fun to time an uppercut to nail it as it was swinging fast over my head from behind me.

20 knees to chest on the leg lift chair
20 scissors on the leg lift chair
10 decline situps with medicine ball on the messed up situp chair- better stick to the floor, this actually hurts to use.
20 side to side jumps over one of the heavybags on the floor.

At the end of that, i just didn’t have anything left. I was really hurting by the time I got home.

Diet wise I think i had a good day. 2 yogurts for breakfast, with my glucosamine drink & battery of supplements. Small container of diet soup for lunch. Big green drink w/spirulina in the afternoon - too much sugar, but couldn’t resist 4 servings of veggies. An apple late in the day. Got home from the gym and had 2 servings of chocolate milk (half a liter maybe?) and water. I’m a lil hungry but don’t feel like eating.

Alpha male came in the mail today. I’ll log how it goes.

This week the goal is to do some work out every day so that next week i can handle going to the kickboxing gym at least once, the fitness center at least once, and the boxing gym 3 times. Was still sore today, so i’m just gonna hope i can make it tomorrow. I’ll get some creatine & glutamine before bed maybe.

26

A Rant

I just need to have a little rant here.
I don’t know if anyone’ll read it or if anyone would even want to i just wanna get it outta my system.

I’m getting dragged into an internet argument between a guy I barely know and a guy I don’t know at all; maybe I drug myself into it, i dunno, doesn’t matter.

The thing is; I made a private statement with the caveat that in no way did I want to contribute to the argument that was being carried out in public- only that I thought the idea that seeing the argument resolved in the same public venue as Sifu Abel & ShaolinTiger00’s event would be interesting.

The next thing I know, not only is my name being dropped like a ton of bricks, but so is my friend’s- who’s got nothing to do with this, and since I’m stuck at work, there ain’t much I can do to distance myself from the statement. This little blog’s the closest thing I’ve got to being able to do that.

This whole thing’s stoopid

27

Apparently Alpha male and Hot Rox don’t mix well. Something about cAMP levels make it like taking a lot of high-blood pressure pills. Had some weird headaches and dizzyness yesterday. I was still sore from Saturday’s workout too. I’ve decided I kinda like having a day off between workouts too so I didn’t lift weights yesterday.

Diet went pretty good:

breakfast was yogurt and a blueberry muffin
snack was a balthouse farms protein shake (whey not soy)
lunch was some salmon
snack was an apple & a bannana
dinner was a couple chicken sandwiches (with even healthier chicken fillets)
and I had a cadbury caramel egg for a snack

felt a lil better after i ate last night, so not enough food mighta been a part of it, unfortunately the good feeling didn’t last and i just felt… uncomfortable.

I’ve decided to just take hot rox on the weekends, going 4-3 (alpha male, hot rox) or 5-2.

I went to bed early last night, around 9 or 10. My girl woke me up at 1 when she came to the room, but i got right back to sleep.

This morning I took a Hydroxycut Hardcore with my Alpha Male, thinking it wouldn’t mess with my cAMP levels (reading the label proved my thinking to be wrong).

I actually feel pretty good this morning; it was either the sleep, the Hydroxycut, or a combination of both. Forgot my gym clothes this morning & forgot my cooler at work last night; hate being forgetful. Gotta drop by the house on my way out to the gym. Gonna do my best to hit the weights tonite; don’t feel near as sore. If I pick up some water and gatorade from home after work, before the workout, I should be good. It gets real hot in the gym and a lot of my exhaustion after workouts might be heat exhaustion.

28

crud

alright my diet today was definitely respectible.

oatmeal & scrambled eggs (w/parsley) for breakfast
balthouse mocha whey protein shake for snack
went to barbeque for lunch but just had some turkey brisket, a small roll, and a small corn on the cob
afternoon snack was an apple and a banana
Just drank 2 servings of chocolate milk.
Might eat again later tonite.

went home after work, grabbed a gatorade and a cold water; almost got in an accident on the way home, was seeing red, thought i was going to kill the guy- guess it’s the Alpha Male.
went to the gym, it was 2 degrees hotter than last time.

jump rope- 5 rounds
shadow box- 5 rounds: first 2 with hand weights
heavybag- jumped on the big one and was ripping it, started to gas by end of round.
focus mitts- 1 round of hell with the owner
jumped back on the heavybag for 4 more rounds: 1 round heavy canvas, 1 round body snatcher, 1 round light canvas, 1 round green leather w/normal fill. I was almost passing out from the first round on.

Heat exhaustion is a nasty nasty thing.
My eyes kept rolling on me from the heat. Wanted to take off my shirt much earlier, but didn’t till the last round coz a lady was there.
Trainer told me not to overdo it, he saw me almost fall out doing mitts.

I got home and cooled off for at least a good 20~30 min.
I thought i could go back out to the gym, i was starting to feel a lil better.
Took a few steps outside my air conditioned apartment and started getting dizzy again.
I stood still, having an internal debate.
I really wanted to hit the gym, but something in my body was telling me “no”.
When I thought about it I didn’t think i could survive the workout, it’s a pretty long one compared to the 12~16 sets I used to do (lunges alone are 6 sets coz it’s 3 each leg).
I was also running out of time, last time i did the workout it took me an hour and a half.
I wussed out.

I know I’m a loser but I think i’m just going to do my best to get to the gym on Thursday. Might go Sunday too, coz my certification exam’s on saturday.

I’m still hurting pretty bad from the boxing workout, my body’s gonna take a while to cool down.

29

I was real mad about not being able to hit the gym yesterday so last night I went to bed around 9 something. I woke up this morning before 5 and hit the gym for an early workout. it was nice to be able to workout before the heat of the day really made it unbearable; but I noticed that they really don’t use much AC whatsoever, even in the fitness center, which kinda sux the longer a workout goes.

Did a nice, slow warm up on the elliptical for 10 minutes. Wasn’t trying any sprint sessions. Hopefully I’ll be able to build back up to those later.

Dumbell swings - 35lbs x 20 - kinda lost count and i think i mighta done 30

Decline situps - slight decline on the situp bench x 30

Bend to Opposite foot - 35lbs x 30 each leg - little bit of an endurance session

lunges - stepping lunges 115lbs x 10 each leg, static lunges 115lbs x 10 each leg, static deep lunges 45lbs x 10 each leg. My knees were bugging me and I was having balance problems I tried playing with different variations to keep from hurtin myself

bench - 155 x 10, 175 x 10, 175 x 5 - 155 x 5. The last rep on the second set was kinda bad, so i took a couple breaths and redid it. The last set, i was starting to get nervous with the weight and was getting tired, so i put it up, took off 20lbs as fast as i could and finished out the set. 155 - 165 - 175 might be better.

vertical row - 95 x 10, 95 x 10, 95 x 10. Wondering if maybe i should do high pulls instead of the row, eventho i do like the exercise. things slowed down a bit at various times. pretty heavy.

assisted pullups - 140lb assist x 10, 120lb assist x 10, 120lb assist x 10. First set was way too easy. Second sets were good- hard but not beyond me.

Tricep Extension - EZ curl + 30lbs x 10, +40lbs x 10, +40lbs x 10. First set too easy. The +40 went well, but slowed down by the end of last set.

Barbell Curl/Pushup superset - EZ curl + 50lbs x 10 / 10 pushups, +50lbs x 10 / 10 pushups, +50lbs x 10 / 10 pushups. The first superset I took too much break between curls and pushups. Second superset was better. Third maybe best, eventho the curls went slow.

Went home and had some creatine, 2 servings of chocolate milk, and most of a banana. My stomach was buggin me.

Kinda wanna work out tonite, not sure what I’ll do, may hit the boxing gym. We’ll see how I’m feeling after work.
I got to work around 8:15, i could’ve probably sped things up this morning and gotten here 30 to 45 min earlier, which is what I’m going to have to do if i ever want to make the 5pm kickboxing class.

30

Just had a setback. ARGH

I was feeling woozy today by the end of work- combination of not enough food and starting to get sleepy from waking up early this morning to go work out. I really couldn’t think straight, i think i left my lunch box in some halway or in the parking lot.

I got home and instead of helping me out with some food, my fiancee took my dog for a walk. I think it’s just the language barrier but she really doesn’t get it sometimes when i’m seriously asking her for help.

Feeling about to fall out i jumped on the computer and ordered a lot chicken strips from pizza hut. it was a bad idea, i just wasn’t thinking straight. had my little cheat meal and now I just feel lousy; first coz my stomach was giving me fits from the food and second coz i just plain feel guilty.

I just don’t understand the problem, i ate at least what i normally do at work. It was either the workout in the morning or the fact that i’m only taking alpha male and no hot rox.

at least i hit weights this morning.
gloves didn’t come either. :mad:

31

Light boxing workout yesterday:

2 rounds of heavybag going full out
2 rounds of shadowboxing, kinda relaxed
2 rounds of jump rope- this really gave me problems.

heat was getting to me, but a couple minutes after resting i felt better.

Spent too much money last night going out on the town. They were charging me 3 bux for each diet coke i was drinking, which added up. I didn’t drink or smoke, which was cool, but i wasted too much time and money.

I didn’t finish enough studying for my certification test and didn’t get enough sleep last night. Long story short, I didn’t go. Again, an aggregious waste of money with nothing to show for it. I gotta make some changes.

Diet yesterday was pretty darn good if i do say so myself. Had 2 balthouse farms drinks- the green one and the whey one. Other than that I just had some chicken marsala with a lot of veggies- squash & mushrooms. The drinks had a lot of calories, but they also had a ton of vitamins, nutrients & a good amount of protein. If i drank those 2 every day i wouldn’t need any ZMA. I also feel a lot better when I get my full servings of veggies.

Today had leftovers from the chicken fiasco.

Gonna call my buddy Ian and see if he wants to do anything while he’s in town.

32

Saturday was useless.
Felt kinda guilty from the sheer waste of money.
Wasted too much on Friday night and wasted even more on saturday coz I didn’t go take my cert test.
Didn’t work out on Saturday either; slept almost all day.

Sunday was a bit better; went to the gym for a workout.

Dumbell Swings: 50lbs x 20

Decline Situps: slight decline x 30

Bends: 30lbs x 25 each leg

Lunges: 95lbs x 10 each leg, 115 x 10 each leg, 135 x 10 static each leg. Felt good and could walk afterwards. I think I usually pull muscles on this exercise and not actually work them out.

Bench: 155 x10, 165 x 10, 175 x 6 / 155 x 5 - the 175 felt much stronger this time and I probably could’ve finished the set with it or at least gotten half way; i just get real nervous when benching alone.

High Pull into Jerk: 95 x 10, 95 x 10, 95 x 10 - this was EXHAUSTING. By the last set, I was pretty much doing singles.

Wide grip Cable Pulldown: 100 x 10, 120 x 10, 140 x 8 - Some guy was using the assisted pullup machine, so i jumped on this one. The angle & the cables made it difficult- it was 2 cables, not 1. Felt a lot more like actual pullups than classic lat pulldowns.

Tricep extensions: EZ Curl + 50 x 10, +40 x 10, +40 x 10. First set was a lil scarey but do able.

Barbell curl/Pushup superset: EZ Curl +50 x10 / 10 Pushups, +40 x 10 / 10 Pushups, +40 x 10 / 10 pushups. Dropped weight to take it easier on my wrist.

Monday I mostly just relaxed. I went to the pool for about an hour. I did 3 laps (50m pool) of freestyle with my head out the water- this is more exhausting than normal freestyle and I think it’s why beginners find swimming so difficult. Lil bit sunburned coz I hate putting on lotion. My dad’s worn sunblock almost his entire adult life and still has had 3 separate skin cancer treatments spanning 10 years; the last one taking a chunk of his scalp. Either I’m gonna get it (probably) or I’m not.

[edit: forgot some stuff]
Diet this weekend was somewhere between “not so good” and “atrocious”. Saturday just had some more chicken tenders. Sunday had chinese buffet (focus on sushi rolls, kimchi, and pan fried dumplings) and later in the evening I had sashimi, sushi rolls, and some chocolate chip cookies. Monday i had a bit of Thai omelette (with beef and peas) and in the evening I cooked up fajita marinated chicken, which I used to make fajitas and quesadillas.

Still no Grant Gloves, which ticks me off.

Really looking forward to the Taiji Legacy Sanshou event, I am going to use it as motivation to stick to my routine & see where I’m at in July. There’s a good chance if my body cooperates (ie that I can move like I wanna) & the rules are accurate (ie 16 oz gloves) that i’ll be competing.

33

My gloves came yesterday :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

My workout felt like a marathon, but looking back on it, it’s actually pretty sad:

4 rounds jump rope
4 rounds shadow (2 with weights, 2 without)
4 rounds heavybag
2 rounds slip bag
20 medicine ball situps
20 medicine ball tosses
20 medicine ball twists
20 hanging knee lifts (5 were full leg lifts)
20 x 4 neck exercises (curling my head up forward, backward, and each side)
20 laying hyper extensions (we use to call em swimmers)
20 count of a plank
10 count forward bridge
10 count backward bridge

my shoulders were burnt from the 2nd round of jump rope on. I think it’s coz i’ve gained some muscle and my arms are actually heavier. Today I’ll do more bag work, and more footwork.

Diet was solid: chicken salad in a can, odwalla green goodness, 1 can 7 up, 1 big glass of chocolate milk, my creatine, and some diet soup.

Went to bed by 11 but couldn’t wake up at 5 this morning to lift, so i’m going to try to get it in tonite.

34

My diet soup was smelling bad so I didn’t even bother. Think I’m gonna have to throw out the other 2 containers of soup as well.

Around 4 I snuck out for some viet food: 2 fried spring rolls, 2 raw beef spring rolls, and a plate of grilled beef on rice. Too much carbs & probly bad fat, but I was getting dizzy again.

Otherwise I had a couple servings of odwalla green juice, a starkist albacore tuna pack, a chicken salad pack, and an RC cola. Had a tall glass of chocolate milk after boxing and another after lifting. Had some gatorade during lifting and some creatine an hour afterwards.

Boxing workout was suprisingly tough. My shoulders are burnt… like bad burnt, i may have to take time off if they don’t stop achin- not when I hit something, just keeping my hands up makes them burn more than i ever remember.

2 rounds of shadowboxing

8 rounds of heavybag (cant remember if i cut it short by one coz my shoulders were so bad i could barely keep up any sort of work rate).

4 rounds of mitt work - didn’t even rest for some of those rounds. still workin with the guy to make things flow coz i’m so backwards

3 sets of 10 jumps back&forth over the stair stepper block.

couple laps back&forth under the bob&weave rope

With my shoulders this burnt i really don’t know that i could do anymore. i hope they get better soon.

Went to the gym and I knew that upper body lifts were out of the question, so i stuck strictly to lower body:

standing crunch machine- 10 plates (150lb) x 30

seated calf machine- 100 x 10 each leg, 160 x 10 each leg, 220 x 10 each, 260 x 10 each, felt easier than actually doing calf raises leg by leg.

lunges - 95lbs x 10 stepping, 95 x 10 stepping back, 95 x 10 stationary- went for speed, kinda easy.

squats - 135lbs x 10 x 3 as low as i could go (almost azz to ground) - was pretty easy, was getting a lil tired, so slowed down a bit at different parts.

leg press - 1 45 each side x 10, 2 each side x 10, 3 each side x 10 - practically sprinted the last set, pretty easy

quad kickout leg extensions - 65 x 10, 80 x10, 95 x10 - pretty easy, but a bit sore

lying ham curl - 65 x 10, 80 x 10, 95 x 10- again, easy but sore

seated back extensions - 150 x 10, 180 x 10, 240 x 10, 300 x 10 - kinda like a deadlift with no arms. doing the whole stack was pretty easy, just had to struggle to keep my bootie down.

Gotta get to sleep as soon as i can and wake up so i can get out of work by 4 and hit up the kickboxing gym. Hope I’ve improved enough to hang in that class. Hope my shoulders stop buggin me.

35

Went back to the kickboxing gym today with some mixed results. I was happy to return and kind of explain my disappearing act.

Started with a somewhat shorter version of my good ole joggin warmup- with footwork drills and stuff.
We did a few rounds of jump rope and then it was on to the bags.
Did a lot of heavybag work.
Finished up with some 2 person technique work and some calisthenics.

2nd class started and I just shadowboxed while they jumped rope- they don’t take a lot of time for free form stuff, so the shadowboxing was a welcome addition.
After that, I tried to work this 2 person drill by myself on the heavybag.

Didn’t wrap my hands and had an awkward punch on the heavybag, kinda pulled something that runs along the bone from the left wrist to the base of the pinky. I don’t think it’s busted or a stress fracture, but it feels like shin splints. Didn’t swell up or anything.

As a result, my punches weren’t all that today. As before, some of the combos were awkward (especially when i was trying that 2 person stuff on the heavybag), so a lot of times i was working more on form than really bangin.

Eventually I kinda gave up on the heavybag and started to rest up. The second class continued with some calisthenics and then wrapped up.

Today I was in for a special treat. My timing on my comeback was perfect. They’re starting a sport-specific exercise class in the vein of Crossfit and Scrapper’s workouts. I signed up for 8 sessions of that- so I’ll do kickboxing and this workout every Tues and Thurs for the next month.

With today being the first class, it was an assessment class- testing our limits on various exercises. We’ll chart our progress from beginning to end. The guy teaching it knows a lot of stuff, so I had fun kickin it with him; he gave me some advice on my lifting program too. The workout was pretty exhausting though- going to failure on almost every exercise. Finished up with Tabatas and had to lay down for a while- but at least I wasn’t sick this time, like before- no vomiting.

It was a personal victory to make it through this class without getting heat exhaustion (dizziness, vomiting, fatigue, weakness, confusion, and a crampy achey feeling).

That’s the good.

The bad was that the scale in the gym showed me at 255, which is even higher than before. In fact, I think i was 245 when I first worked out there, I hit 250 at the boxing gym and now this scale. My arms feel big as heck right now, i don’t think they’ve ever been this big, and i think it’s part of the reason for my shoulder problems. In other words, I’m trying to look at the positive aspects of possibly having put on a significant amount of muscle.

The advice the trainer gave me on my workout program was to take out the arm isolation movements and maybe take out the jerk from the hanging clean + jerk (to save my shoulders). He didn’t think my old program was a bad idea (deadlift, squat, dip, pullup) he also liked the “bend to opposite foot” lift that I’ve been doing. I think I’m going to stick with what I’ve been doing for another week or two. Want to make the 8 weeks the program recommends before switching things up. The only nice thing about keeping the arm isolation is that bigger arms at least make me look more proportional & more muscle will burn more fat.

The new program I’m considering at the end of the 8 weeks looks something like:

dumbell swing (or snatch), weighted crunches, deadlift (heavy), squat (bootie to ground w/reasonable weight), bend to opposite foot, lunge, hanging clean + press, assisted pullup, dip, seated row, bench.

That could be 33 sets if I’m not careful, so i may have to go only a set or 2 on some of the exercises or decrease the number of reps.

I could just cut it into 2 workouts: the lunge with everything before it, variation on the first 2 exercises with everything after the lunge.

Diet today was solid again. Glass of orange juice, half a bottle of the green superfood from odwalla. Lunch was a rather large bowl of leftover fajita chicken w/ salsa and cheddar cheese. Snacked on a couple of granola bars. Chocolate milk (4 servings) after all that working out and some creatine.

I guess if my body wants to blow up, it’s gonna blow up. I really like the program I’ve been on and what I’ve been working up to. Not gonna freak out, starve myself, overtrain, and add a ton of cardio like I would normally do at this point. At least if I feed myself I may eventually become proportionally strong enough for my size. Leary of overtraining by adding the 2 new workout days, but I’m gonna take my time with it and go easy if i gotta.

36

My legs were hurt from wednesday, doing all that stuff on thursday didn’t help out any. Friday I took off coz i could barely walk. Today I am still hurting real bad. I’m not even sure i’ll be good for Sunday.

Friday had a good diet- just some chicken tenders, lots of veggies, a roast beef wrap, and some chicken fillets for dinner.

Saturday’s my cheat day- donuts for breakfast, german food for dinner.

37

what a weird day
only got 3 or 4 hours of sleep last nite coz i slept most of sunday afternoon- hate it when that happens.
at least last night i went grocery shopping and got a bunch of food to cook; even cooked 2 dishes.
the first dish was a veggie beef stew; the second was turkey parmesan.
brought a huge thermos of the stew and a couple turkey parmesan patties with a couple whole wheat hogie rolls.
the stew ended up being way too much; less soup and a single sandwich, with less cheese would’ve been ideal.
all-in-all not so bad.
yogurt for breakfast, chocolate milk post workout.

by the end of the day i was getting a bit lethargic.
i didn’t wanna go to the gym coz of the lack of sleep.
i ended up going anyway.
this week is power week in the gym.

I started off with jump rope. It was really giving me fits, so about 1 min or 30 seconds into it i switched off for some shadow w/weights.

did shadow with weights for another 3 rounds. my footwork was actually a lot better and more light & explosive here, which makes no sense considering how much trouble jumprope was giving me.

I jumped on the heavybag for a good 4 rounds of throwing absolutely everything i had with just about every shot.

I finished up with 3 sorry rounds of jump rope- i just couldn’t keep the rope going, don’t know if it was the heat or what, just kept getting dizzy.

Afterwards I was totally exhausted. The weird thing is that i don’t feel heat sick, so i think i may be adjusting. I mean, the gym was a good 95 degrees according to the thermometer on the wall- the hottest i’ve ever been in there- but i still don’t have the ill feeling of heat sickness, like i sprained something inside and can’t think straight.

if i have any energy i wanna take a walk before bed

38

Fell asleep almost as soon as i wrote that. Slept a LOT last night, from like 9pm to 6:30 this morning. My wrist is real sore from the power work yesterday, messed up one hook, tried to fix form & punch again but still wasn’t fixed. Threw like 4 hooks in a row with the same nagging pain. by the end of the round i was throwing them better, but today i’m payin the price.

39

wrist is buggin me at weird times.

went to the kickboxing gym today.
only hit the second class, the padwork one.
wrist wasn’t too bad on jabs.
at the beginning of the workout the heat was almost unbearable.
felt like i was gassing bad and gassing early, but looking at the other people in the class, i wasn’t doing too bad i think.

after doing that for an hour, took a few minute rest.
then it was on to extreme fitness.
Again, these workouts are a little like Ross’ stuff from Rossboxing, a lil like Scrappers stuff, and a little like Crossfit.
The differences are that it’s nicely toned down to account for people’s abilities; with lots of room to kick yer own azz.
Didn’t realize it but the conditioning guy’s the conditioning guy for Lion’s Den texas.
Managed to puke once towards the end, but it was from the shock of the last exercise in the last circuit, not from heat exhaustion, thankfully.

After class kickboxin coach started telling me about amateur bouts starting back up. told him bout my taiji legacy idea and he thought i should wait. I think he wanted me to wait coz he didn’t think my takedowns were there; coz i got the impression that he wanted me to do the thai amateur events. gonna jet by there tomorrow night after boxing for some sparring @ around 8. I can’t move normal yet- don’t feel my footwork’s there, don’t feel my kicks are there and don’t feel my combos are there- but i’m gonna go anyway and just try not to screw up.

diet today-
yogurt for breakfast, chillimac for midmorning snack (i was hungry), spent the rest of the day sipping on the bolthouse farms stuff, had a granola bar late in the afternoon. Think i"m gonna get my postworkout stuff before bed- yeah, i know it’s late but i didn’t feel like ingesting anything.

40

ow

ow

ow

ow

ow

Okay yesterday I woke up earlier than i thought, even with the neighbors playin the bass loud at like 2am.
I was somewhat zombified at work, not totally falling asleep at my chair, and not as bad as i’ve been other days, but i definitely wasn’t feeling 100%.

After work i strolled on over to the boxin gym. Thermometer on the wall said 97F, a new personal record. If I survive through August, Thailand’s gonna be no big thang.

3 rounds of jump rope - still giving me problems, at least this time by the 2nd or 3rd round i could jump for over a minute without flubbin up.

3 rounds of shadow boxing - 2 with weights, 1 round bare handed.

6 rounds of heavy bag - took a tour of all the bags in the gym.

1 round of focus mitts - really feels like the coach is trying to burn me in a single round. I did much better this time than last time. Still have a problem dropping quick enough on my bobs.

1 round on the maize bag - focused on improving my bobbing.

20 medicine ball situps
20 medicine ball twists

Found out that we got a huge tire and a sledge hammer in the gym and that Daniel Zarzamora had come in and killed it for like an hour straight on that tire; at the age of 38.

Stopped by the gas station for some gatorade and chocolate milk.

By the time i got to the kickboxing gym my whole body was stiffening up again.
the 5 sets of 5 negatives that we did on tuesday really tore my back & shoulders up. I ended up just watching the coach rotate out with 2 other guys in MMA sparring. I liked how controlled those guys were- actually working with one another instead of trying to kill each other.

Afterwards i was chatting with an old friend till a lil after midnite. Couldn’t get to sleep. At around 1 I got real anxious and my heart started racing for no reason. I was feeling nauseous. I think I was really hungry and that it hit real quick with no hunger pains. No tightness in the chest so it wasn’t a heart thing i don’t think; just a fast heart beat.

Diet yesterday was 2 servings of yogurt, chocolate whey drink (bolthouse) for midmorning snack, chilli mac for lunch, and left over turkey shnitzel w/2 slices of dark bread for late afternoon snack. After working out i just had the chocolate milk, gatorade, and creatine.

Woke up late again this morning, which might mess with my plans to hit the gym. Couldn’t stop watching the Zarqawi footage, can’t believe we finally got him, guy was a bigger threat than obl imho.

I’m real sore today. Tonite might be hard. Back, shoulders, chest, obliques, forearms, biceps, hair, eyelashes, fingernails, shoes, jeans, shirt… ow