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

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Kung Fu Training and Health
41

Well, I survived it: my first 4-day-straight workout week in a while.

Yesterday I woke up late, had to work a lil late. Still made it to the second kickboxing class for an hour and then an hour of “extreme fitness”.
I like sledgehammer work.
Turkish getups are a pain in the hiney.
even 1-armed 1-pood kettlebell swings are getting way too easy.

Not quite as sore today and feel pretty good except for maybe my rear shoulders.

Diet yesterday:
1 serving yogurt. 2 Tyson chicken fillets in Buffalo sauce with whole wheat hoagie rolls, 1 can soda, 3/4 a bottle of bolthouse farms green, 1 bottle of their whey drink, chocolate milk, and creatine.

Tonite’s the boxing match in downtown that i got a ticket for.
I think i’m gonna need to find a way to sneak in some bag time to get my kicks back. I’d definitely prefer it if the kickboxing classes were more open.

42

Friday was kind of a rest day. The fights were good. Got out and went to the afterparty, where I had one diet coke and spent a good hour or 2 dancing.
Diet was meh. I knew I needed protein, so i wasn’t so strict.
Breakfast was eggs, biscuits, gravy, and a strip of bacon.
midmorning snack was some bolthouse farms green stuff.
lunch was a chopped beef sandwich.
afternoon snack was a sliced brisket sandwich.

Saturday I woke up a lil late.
Tried to make it to the boxing gym so i could do some sledgehammer work.
i got down there at around 11:30, wasn’t supposed to close till 12, only wanted a good 10-15 min on the sledgehammer but it wasn’t meant to be, the place was closed.
Instead, I went shopping for some stuff and went to the pool where I spent an hour doing jogging laps back and forth across the pool. Good workout, really burned my legs. Did a few sets of poolside dips too.
Today’s cheat day- lunch was a gyro, with baklava and a soda. afternoon snack was a stromboli (kind of a meatlover’s pizza crossed with a burrito). Dinner was some pita and hummus.
Didn’t get to weights today, will hit that tomorrow.

43

Seeing as how Friday and Saturday weren’t really rest days, I decided to listen to my body on Sunday when I was feeling drained instead of anxious to work out. Part of it was again the sleep issue & getting to bed too late. i’m in a marathon here, not a sprint, so the goal is to keep making improvement week to week and not try to blow my wad any given week.

food wise on sunday i think i had an omelette (egg, ground turkey, onion, & tomatoe), some cookies, and a bomb pop (small one from the grocery store, not big one like the old days). I don’t remember eating anything else.

pulled something in my neck today and it’s buggin me.

44

Monday

food- yogurt for breakfast, green goodness bolthouse farms (drank all day), turkey chilli mac for lunch, whey drink for afternoon snack, chocolate milk & creatine post workout, tyson’s chicken tenderloin a couple hours before bed.

workout was
3 and a half rounds on jump rope
5 rounds shadow boxing (only wore the grant gloves)
5 rounds of heavybag (did the big tour of the gym)
30 sledgehammer swings on the tire- was fadin pretty bad by this point.
30 medicine ball situps
20 medicine ball self passes
20 knees to chest on the roman chair thing where you support yourself on your elboes
20 neck curls each direction- front, back, each side

did 30 pushups straight back at home before bed.

weight was down in the mid 240s (with clothes and shoes) so that was a nice change from the 255 i saw before.

traps are aching could really use a massage.

45

Gonna pull a sevenstar here and post a bunch of days today. heheh

Tuesday

kinda killed it today. did the 6 o clock class, the 7 oclock with the conditioning coach, and finished up with about 2 rounds on the heavybag. Class was a little bit of pad work and some skills drills. Conditioning was upper body “heck”. I was pretty burnt in time for the heavybag.

Went grocery shopping afterwards and was DYIN’. Thought i was gonna fall out a few times. Shopped for a good 30~45 min so it was like a cardio session.

Diet was just okay. Had a big breakfast with eggs, biscuits, gravy, & hashbrowns for breakfast. the rest of the day i didn’t eat so much, did have all my healthy drinks- creatine, chocolate milk, bolthouse farms, etc. Think I had a small bowl of beef salad in the evening.

Wednesday

Had to be up 2 hours earlier than usual for a meeting today. Between the jolt to my sleep schedule and the endless meeting that had no interest to me, i was passing out by mid afternoon. I ended up leaving an hour later than i wanted to so instead of going to the boxing gym and going to spar; i ended up barely making the drive home and passing out. Slept from about 6 to 11, woke up for a lil bit and went back to bed.

Didn’t eat anything in the evening. During the day i had oatmeal for breakfast, eggs with some sausage bits midmorning, and chilli mac for late lunch.

Thursday

Okay eggs for breakfast is beginning to be a bad habit. Had to get gas and didn’t have anything cooked so I did some mini-mart shoppin.

1 sausage egg biscuit for breakfast, 1 more for midmorning snack, 1 turkey sandwich on a wheat hogie as a late lunch, and a bolthouse farms green. In between workouts I had a bolthouse farms whey shake. After workout I had a banana, my chocolate milk, and creatine.

Workout wise, Thursday was a killer. Started off with a strong 45 min on the heavybag. Chilled for a lil while, had half my whey shake, and then did the 6 o clock pad work & skills work. After that I finished my shake and did the 7 o clock conditioning class. Nearly fell out in the conditioning class at the beginning but stuck it through. After my workout was finished, i wasn’t nearly as drained as i have been lately after workouts. I felt pretty good.

46

Friday

I went to both gyms on friday.

at the boxin gym:

3 rounds jump rope - been having a lot of problems with jump rope lately
3 rounds of shadow w/ gloves
3 rounds of heavybag
1 round of bobbing/weaving

at the kickboxing gym:
Think I just did the 6 o clock class.
Was burnt, making a lot of mistakes.

food- don’t remember eating anything crazy during the day. Had a nice steak after my workouts, with spinach, and a lil bit of mashed potatoes.

Saturday

Took it real easy. Round or 2 on the speed bag (i usually hate speed bag) and 15 or 20 minutes on the exercise bike (with the arms that move too).

Ate a bunch of chicken strips. Had some ice cream in the evening watching the boxing match.

Sunday

rest day.
had 1 piece of lasagna, some chocolate chip cookies, and 2 beers- I was having my birthday party a day “early”, hung out at a strip club and wasted too much money again. If i was any better lookin I’d probably be out of this relationship.

Monday

Went to bed late sunday and it was my birthday so i called out from work. I didn’t go to the gym, just took it easy & played video games. Had some thai food for lunch and a couple chocolate chip cookies in the evening. Went to bed a lil late but didn’t wake up till 2pm so I don’t feel too bad today (Tuesday).

47

An Observation

I think your program is way over ambitious. You’re all the time talking about how bad you feel.

However the worst part is your diet. If you continue to eat a lot of junk food you are will not accomplish much.

Here’s a short sweet list of what you should eat:
Fruits
Veggies
Boiled or baked lean meats
Reasonable amounts of bread and pasta

What you should never eat:

Sugar
Fried foods
Milk Products

48

My program’s barely half of what I used to do.

I appreciate the input, my diet’s been extra bad for the past week, I gotta get back on track; slowly making improvements.

49

his training isn’t over ambitious, IMO. He’s a fighter and knows how to train like one. As for the diet, I wouldn’t say NEVER eat those things - eveything is fine in moderation.

50

So far what I’ve read about his training methods involve strenght training and not a whole lot of conditioning. Where’s the roadwork? A fighter should be putting in 5-10 miles a day.

Also a fighter would set a goal weight. For example, I’m not training for a fight but I am in training. I have a goal weight of 148 and have plans to reach that in about 3 months.

As far as eating what you want…That’s fine. Have a beer/Ice cream/Pizza maybe every six weeks but understand you won’t be getting another for 6 more weeks.

51

Well I know my diet can be borderline atrocious, but I love food. I could live like a spartan, but that would only make my food fixations worse later on down the road (putting my health in greater risk too). I’ve done it before- dropping 60 pounds in 6 months on a diet of granola, mixed nuts, & dried fruits. It really messed me up bad, and afterwards I was heavier than when I started.

I’m doing my best to cook for myself and not go crazy. I realize I can do a lot better and the past week has probably been my worst in a while. But if I gotta cut out everything I love to eat, then my quality of life will tank regardless of whatever benefits I get.

Yeah, I do hate looking like a pork chop; but I don’t think cutting out everything is the solution- maybe in the short run, but not long term. If you look at old time boxers, many of them were suprisingly defined & buff off of a diet of steak, milk, eggs, and potatoes. Heck, the Great Gama drank 2 gallons of thick cream & ate 3 chickens a day - that dude coulda been a bodybuilder.

Trying to find a happy medium of food i love, with lots of veggies & vitamins, that I won’t get tired of, and that will help my performance. I still got a lot of work to do.

I am trying to pace myself on my workouts best as I can. I should really be doing a lot more. My body’s not cooperating as i try to get back into the swing of things. I took monday off coz of how sore I’ve been lately. Work, the change in climate (from maryland to texas), and my sleeping habits have all contributed to my general cruddy feeling. I’ve also had a hard time just relaxing lately- the training being my only hobby.

I’m workin on it. :cool:

52

I don’t jog coz I have major structural problems with my legs and feet. I’ve been doing a lot of sprint work- was doing it at the fitness center before but am now doing a lot in my conditioning class Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Must be nice to have a body that reliable. I don’t. I’ve done too much super-strict yo-yo dieting in the past to be able to drop the weight I need to leave the heavyweight division. At this point I’d rather just focus on performance.

Wow a cheat day once every six weeks? By week 3 I’d probably kill myself or drop the idea entirely.

53

Just to document it- that 5 to 10 miles a day thing is complete cr@p.

Plenty of old school boxers didn’t run more than 3 or 4 miles a day.

Running super long distance might make sense for someone who needs to be able to fight for an hour, like a boxer going 12 to 15 rounds.

Most of those guys who did and do run that far also didn’t/don’t have jobs.
If I had 10~11 extra hours every day to train, I might be more favorable towards spending an hour jogging. Though, if I did it in the old school style of running in combat boots, I wouldn’t be able to walk come fight time- especially with the condition of my legs.

Sprint work is much better for the fights I’m looking at: ie the 3 to 5 round range.
High intensity sprint work is also something that’s hard to do on a daily basis without overtraining.

My current program of 2 high intensity conditioning days and 1 easy day on the weekend was prescribed to me by my conditioning coach- who happens to be one of the conditioning coaches for Lion’s Den Texas.

Love how you say I’m overambitious for my program, but then prescribe something that would absolutely destroy me by day 3. For a guy with structural problems in his legs, any jog over a mile is high intensity and always will be- which defies the point of doing a low intensity jog for an hour.

54

5-10 miles a day? Running that much may make a person a better distance runner, but prolly not a better fighter training for a specific athletic result. No offence, but unless you are a fight trainer, or are training/have trained for a fight, maybe you should save your advice. Sounds to me like Pork Chop knows what he’s doing in that regard.

As for the diet thing, food should be eaten based upon need, not just defining the 5 food groups. Although 148 may be your optimal weight, I would be weak at that weight per my body type. I’m at my best at 180. Pork chop seems to have a different body type than both of us, so his diet may need to be different than both of us. A nutritionist would prolly have a better idea on what he should or shouldn’t eat. Of course there are books on the subject as well.

Conditioning can be gained through skill/ring work as well. In fact that should be a huge component to conditioning. Planning to train so that you peak is really more important than just stating “do this or that”. “Peaking” requires that you be ambitious and smart.

55

!!!

Ralphie, some great info!
You reminded me that I really gotta look into hiring a nutritionalist, was talking about it before i moved out here then forgot.
You’re on the money as far as “peaking”; Ali’s early trainer (Bundini Brown) said something like: “getting a fighter ready for a fight is like getting ready to make love to a beautiful woman- you just keep teasing them on and don’t let 'em cum.” In other words, work 'em hard in the gym but make sure they’re primed for the ring. It’s a tough lesson that a lot of people (myself included) learn the hard way.

Thanks!!!

56

wrong. fighting is largely - about 85 -% - anaerobic. His focus should be there. wind sprints will serve him better than running 5 - 10 miles per day. three miles 3 - 4 days a week is more than sufficient. When training to fight, your training needs to be specific.

Also a fighter would set a goal weight. For example, I’m not training for a fight but I am in training. I have a goal weight of 148 and have plans to reach that in about 3 months.

yes and no. you NEED a goal weight when you have to make weight. chop and I compete heavy weight. the weight we compete at is really nothing more than what works best for us. For me personally, it’s about 220. Now, if I drop a class, then I have to worry about a goal weight, cuz I would have to be less than 215.

As far as eating what you want…That’s fine. Have a beer/Ice cream/Pizza maybe every six weeks but understand you won’t be getting another for 6 more weeks.

I would say once every six weeks is extreme. Like I said, all in moderation.

57

I almost forgot…

tha pm box is clear now.

58

I really wasn’t suggesting that Pork run 5-10 miles a day. I know he can’t do that.

I’m just speaking for myself. If I was training for a fight I would do a run in the morning and a run in the evening. That’s just me.

I really don’t know the quality of competition that he would be facing but to go into the ring out of shape against good competition (unless he’s about 6’6" or taller fighting at 250 is not recommended) he is asking to get hurt. Of course that’s just my opinion…nothing personal involved.

59

I’ve heard I shouldn’t fight at heavyweight my whole career, which is why i haven’t fought again. The fact of the matter is that in hard sparring sessions I hold my own against guys 6’4 to 6’6- even the quick ones. I’m sick of this wrestler mentality of “lose as much weight as possible, feel as crappy as possible come fight time, and fight in the lowest division possible”. Coz if you think I’m whining about how bad I feel now, you should see me on a diet. haha

Tuesday

craziest stuff happened yesterday when i was leaving work. Coworker flagged me down as i was walking to my car, asking help with his flat tire. I took him to get a can of fix-a-flat and dropped him back off. On my way to the gym, a lil late now, another person flagged me down askin for help as well, this time a girl- she and her friends looked like meth addicts. They needed gas so i took one of 'em to get a gas can and some gas. By the time I finished helpin them out it was about 7:30pm. I went on to the gym just to tell the story. Missed my workout. I went home early, ate a lil thai food and went to bed by 9-somethin.

60

5 - 10 miles really isn’t what you’re looking for to train for a fight. Like I said before, your training needs to be specific. wind sprints will serve a much better purpose, combined with shorter, yet faster paced 3 mile runs. To not be able to run 5 miles hardly indicates someone is out of shape. Frank shamrock doesn’t run at all, from what I hear, but does use an elliptical stepper.

As for the height and weight thing - you learn to cope. look at Tyson. He was the small man among giants. I’m in the same boat. I’m 5’10 and fight around 220 in both judo and muay thai. I’m usually the shortest guy, but that has it’s advantages and disadvantages. I also have a long reach for my height though - most of the guys I know that are 6’2 - 6’3 have about the same reach that I do. Consequently, I can work my jab from the same range that they can.

Since you are giving your opinion though, out of curiosity, is it based on prior experiences? Do you fight also?