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

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Kung Fu Training and Health
61

I’m no health nutritionist, let alone a fighter in training, but I have to agree somewhat with Boulderdawg’s statement about pork chop’s diet. Much like you Pork Chop, I love eating too, but when I was in training in kickboxing class 4-5 times a week last year, diet played alot in my performance in the class. I was pretty strict with keeping a low fat, low sodium, and low sugar based diet with the exception of a 1 cheat day every week. I dunno, maybe it was a mental thing, but I noticed that if I was out for a week due to a business trip, work, vacation, or just being lazy, and my diet changed with foods that were not soo healthy, even in the slightest amount, boyyy did I pay for it when I got back to class!!

I remember reading a book by Benny Urquidez about training and fighting skills, and took the advise of having the cheat day once a week. It was a struggle in the beginning, just like the atkins program I got off of after being on it for a month and a half, but you do manage. Having the luxury of only treating yourself every 6 weeks is just downright asking for withdrawal, and by that pt, your body won’t react to it well.

Also, along with the other protein shakes and sports drinks, and green goodness that you have during the day, how much water are you taking in with them? Again, maybe its just me, but for some reason, I could never drink anything but water b4 a class, and to my benefit, during the day. Hydration wise, the more I drank, the better I was in class, but if I had something so much as a bottle of propel or vitamin water b4 class, it just made me thirstier and more fatigued. Again, this is only from my experience and I know everyone’s bodies are different and adjust differently to an intense workout, but I would figure it would help, especially training now in the really hot summer months, and in your case, with no AC in the gyms.

Anyways, just my .02. Its good to have a blog of your training and keep up the good work! :slight_smile:

62

thanks us0kch :slight_smile:

Like I said, I’m a work in progress, I’m nowhere near where I need to be- i just can’t cut it all out overnight.

I’ve been trying to eat more slow-cooked stews; which, nutritionally, should be about perfect- protein, lots of veggies, not too much bad stuff, not fried.

Even that “turkey chilli mac” isn’t so bad- has less than half the noodles in the recipe, but lots of ground turkey, a little bit of beans and tomatoes.

Those bolthouse farm drinks are basically a bunch of vegetables blended in with some fruit juices- suprised I’m catching any flack with those in my diet.

Admittedly, i’ve had a bad week or so with my birthday and not having enough time to cook. Chocolate chip cookies are a weakness that I’m going to have to purge. :smiley: I’m gonna work on it, still polishing off thai leftovers at the moment. Next week my slowcooker will be running nightly once more.

I drink about 2 gallons of water a day- 1 before working out, 1 after (need to with the creatine). I used to be very sodium reliant, in that I used to have to carry a salt shaker around on hot days to consume with my gallon of water to keep from getting dehydrated, getting dizzy, and passing out- plain water wasn’t cutting it. If I have a little sodium in my food I don’t care, all that cutting it out does for me is prevent water retention. I guess sodium’s also linked to high blood pressure too but only for folks who are already very sodium-sensitive.

I also had a problem with glycogen stores from working out. When your body runs out of glycogen it feels like you’re moving in slow motion, you feel weak and not at all explosive. One particular instance I was hitting the mitts and my arms basically just slowed down on me. I wasn’t sore, I wasn’t winded, I wasn’t overheated, i just felt like i was running on fumes. this is another reason i’m not dead-set against sugar (like from chocolate milk, creatine, or gatorade).

BTW- propel is some nasty stuff, water with electrolytes and aspartame; doesn’t even give you the benefits of gatorade, it’s made for people who sit all day and aren’t burning enough calories to warrant drinking gatorade.

In general I’m the opposite as far as food. If i eat “healthy” (tuna, chicken breasts, no sugars, no dairy, no grains) then I tend to feel weak, drained, or downright sick. I like the way I feel when I drink the Bolthouse farms stuff, I could do without any fried foods (no more chicken strips sob), and I’ve gotta do a better job of cooking for myself, but I’m working on it.

63

bingo. not only that, but with cheat days that far apart, you are more likely to gorge.

64

no, you’re definetely right, ya can’t just cut out everything overnight. in my cases where i have done it, i really did struggle because i felt there was no real way for me to “ween” off everything completely over a time frame. i guess the only thing that ran thru my head was knowing that certain foods provide fuel and other foods provide…well, sluggishness and fatigue! LOL alot of motivation came from the fact that in the next class room over from where my class trained was the women’s kickboxing class, and aside from the instructors, there was alot of eye candy! :smiley: now i know i’m not exactly in perfect shape, but i always strived to lead the pack, or at least keep up with the class w/o looking totally out of shape or embarrassing myself. :o not that i got any #'s or anything, but it was a good feeling knowing i held my own :wink: …or at least train harder until i did get some #'s!! :smiley:

i know i fall into the sodium-sensative group because my blood pressure’s somewhat high. having it run in your family is no help either, so carrying a salt-shaker around for me is out of the question, let alone for my meals. i’ve never experienced the glycogen stores problem, but it doesn’t sound like a good thing either to run on fumes. i’ve done the veggie and meat stews and soups too, and its definetely good thing! don’t feel bloated if i eat alil b4 class and don’t feel guilty if i eat alil more after, especially when the class ends past 9pm. yep, good stuff! :slight_smile:

65

Some Fun stuff

Some fun videos put on the net by Suntzu…

The dude in the black shirt in this clip is one of the hardest punchers I’ve ever sparred…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekE-EFAcrac

Guy in the Red, White, & Blue’s a guy I used to train with

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT0DQTSKRbg

Me helping Suntzu train (pretty sure this post eye-injury with me extra outta shape, I look more bald than ever haha)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AybvwApnRc

66

I never thought of improving your diet as withdrawal.

In the manner I hear food talked about here it’s a way of life…I like the old saying “eat to live not live to eat”. There’s an addiction to food just like there is to alcohol and tobacco. The only difference is we can’t go cold turkey on food…but we can learn to eat right.

I also know if someone is not ready to change their diet then there is no power on earth that will convince them otherwise.

So I’m done here and it’s almost dinner time…Tonight some boiled chicken, bread, some raw cauiflower, radishes and a slice or two of bell pepper.

67

sounds like the stew i been eating

68

when you cut cold turkey for an extended period of time, like you were talking about, you could go into a state of mental withdrawal where you are craving the food you aren’t supposed to be eating. When you get your hands on it, you may gorge. I know several people who have done this when trying to completely eliminate sugar from their diet.

You didn’t answer the other question though - do you fight?

69

Finally was able to go back to the gym yesterday and I tried to eat the WHOLE thing.

From 5:30 to 6:30 I was at the boxing gym
3 rounds of jump rope
3 rounds of shadow - 1 w/ handweights, 1 w/handweights & vest, 1 w/vest
3 rounds of heavybag - 2 w/vest
1 round of bobbing & weaving under the rope with the vest on.

Tired me out pretty well eventho the volume looks pretty light. the 94 degree heat kinda doubles the workload.

after that i dropped by the house to get a different shirt & some gatorade, then it was off to the kickboxin gym.

after some shadowboxing we worked on some ground stuff for a bit.
I was real nervous and shellshocked by doin ground stuff again, i really hate it.
then it was on to sparring.

lost my contact in the first or second minute, and thanks to that i lost the use of my right leg as well - legs aren’t used to catching round kicks anymore.

I have no footwork, my kicks are awkward, I couldn’t string punches together, couldn’t close distance, kept dropping my right, and basically all around sukt but at least i kinda held my own. first session in 4 months, haven’t really sparred regularly for almost 10 months. I remember now why i hate my ringside ultimate training gloves- too big, too bulky, pocket is all “floppy” - twisted my wrist catching a kick.

Ate oatmeal for breakfast yesterday, leftover thai food for lunch, 1/2 a bottle of green goodness for snack, an apple pre workout, 2 mini bottles of gatorade during workout, and chocolate milk post workout.

I’d just like to point out that a lot of my workout days are 3 hours long, so even if i’m eating badly; how bad do you have to eat to wipe out a 2400 calorie deficit (conservative estimate)?

70

heck yeah. it’s like that here, plus 100% humidity.

I remember now why i hate my ringside ultimate training gloves- too big, too bulky, pocket is all “floppy” - twisted my wrist catching a kick.

windy makes some badass gloves.

I’d just like to point out that a lot of my workout days are 3 hours long, so even if i’m eating badly; how bad do you have to eat to wipe out a 2400 calorie deficit (conservative estimate)?

yeah, that’s true. the powerlifting guys I’ve been training with just eat. they know they take in at least 4,000 calories a day, but they try to keep it lean (they aren’t super strict) but they train 3 hours a day, 4 days a week. They have a lower body fat % than most people I know that are lighter than them, and much lower than anyone else who is their weight.

71

If my folks don’t get me the Grant sparring gloves for my birthday then I’ll probably order the Windy ones, i just need somethin different. My twins 14s are pretty nice but a lot of people look at 14ounce (as opposed to 16) as an aggressive move.

I’m hurtin today, my wrist hurts to type, my leg feels like crampy-hamburger, walking is heck. I’ve only had this much pain from a leg kick once- and that was a stomping front heel kick to my thigh while i was throwing a round house. Combination of lack of conditioning and not seeing it coming I guess.

My saving grace in the whole thing was my clinch work. I was able to tie up and go for the knees every time. It actually frustrated the other guys to the point that they started fighting dirty- one guy straight pushed me down while i was throwin a light knee, the other chest bumped me sideways and started punching me in the back of the head. Unfortunately I think I got an incidental clash of heads from one clinch coz i got a bump on my head that stings a lil.

Think I did a decent job of not going to war- i made a serious effort to keep it friendly.

72

I’m fully prepared to be called a wuss or whatever, but my leg was giving out on me like crazy yesterday- even gave out when i was walkin down the stairs after work, almost busted my ass; so I didn’t go train.
Instead, I took a nap.

After i woke up, I had a grilled chicken sandwich (lettuce, tomatoes, no cheese), a lil root beer, played some games, and went back to bed.

I feel quite a bit better today.

Leg’s still sore, but not giving out on me as bad, don’t have to walk as stiff-legged.
Want to go to the boxing gym today but i’ll probably just wait and go to kickboxing tomorrow.

Been feeling real down in general lately. The day of my birthday i was feeling a little better, but after the sparring session just feel bleh. Yesterday was almost dangerously “bleh”, today not too much better.

I got some stuff going on in my personal life that I’m kinda looking for an escape from.

Training wise, the sparring session really just cemented my fears- that my kickboxing form has gone to heck and that I have no footwork.

Ideally for my muay thai, i’d like a boxing gym type scenario where I could work on my own, occasionally get some tips, corrections, & pad work from a trainer, and have some good partners to work with on 2 man drills & sparring.

I’m used to spending a lot more time on what I like to call “fundamentals”, ie footwork drills, stretching, kicking drills, knee drills, light plyos, and a general warm up.

I’m not used to coming in, jumping rope for 3 rounds, learning a few combos I’ll never use again to bang out on the pads or bag for a few rounds, doing rigorous calisthenics, and calling it a day.

I have gotten a lot of correction for my kicking form, which i’m very appreciative of; but haven’t really had the opportunity to work it into my repertoire via free form bag work & shadowboxing (yeah, no shadow).

Hate to say this, but I love the thought of going to the boxing gym and working on my weaknesses and i usually have to force myself to go to kickboxin - though i love the conditioning class.

I’ve signed up, so I’m not gonna quit, and I hate talkin trash about people who’ve been nice to me, but this log is just as much a sounding board for myself as it is a progress-tracker.

I think ultimately, instead of adding a morning cardio session, I’ll probably have to add in some “fundamentals” training and shadowboxing in the mornings before work, assuming I can wake up that early. My schedule feels very tight as it is.

If you’re out there Suntzu or Akhilleus, wish one of you guys or Julio would come out here instead of tryin to deal with this other gym; I always got a place to crash for yah and food too. PS- Jon, I might even be able to get you a face-to-face with Chuck Norris.

73

Okay friday was a good day until dinner- my girl wanted to go out to eat.
Still didn’t work out coz of the leg.

Saturday woke up early and made it to the boxing workout at the kickboxin gym a few minutes late (missed the jump rope). Had a pretty good workout, really pushed myself and managed to get tired.

Afterwards I talked with the coach about a lot of stuff. He told me he was cool with me doing whatever training I wanted to during class hours, just as long as it didn’t directly interfere with the class. So I gotta take back everything i said about the gym before; this is a pretty dang solid solution to my training situation. I think on Wednesdays I’ll do the open training thing.

Saturday evening I was shopping & running erands from 7 to midnight.
Four hours of that was walking & carryin stuff, about an hour was eating.
Didn’t eat well, but didn’t gorge either.
After unloading the car with the stuff we bought, i was dead tired.

Sunday was… ugh…
My girl works nights so she plays video games all night while i sleep. She woke me up at 5 am when she decided to go to bed. I managed to get back to bed, but didn’t really wake up until the afternoon and when I did, I felt like I’d been hit by a car.

Didn’t do anything the whole day, except a lil grocery shopping in the evening.
Really ate bad. i know the week before a 5 day weekend is a bad time to get serious but I gotta do a lot better than I have the last few days.
The good news is that my leg’s good.

74

Okay now THAT’s the way to start the week…

Monday I tried Spike from biotest for the first time. I can tell this stuff is really helping with my add.

I grew up on ritalin and like most people who grow up on ritalin, when I got off I’ve had a lot of problems. A lot of people self-medicate with speed or cocaine. For me it’s generally been food; which explains me going from a 165lb high school grad to a 260lb college grad.

See, my brain tends to get “tired”. If I’m in a lecture or a meeting, I have a real hard time following people talking in front of the room. My mind starts to wander and half the time I start to drift off and fall asleep. At work tihs is problematic coz I have to do things to keep me interested enough to be able to carry some of the momentum over to whatever I’m working on.

Caffeine’s never really helped me with this problem. Sugar has somewhat. When I diet it gets a lot worse, which is why I have such a difficult time sticking to a strict diet.

It was really noticeable monday, taking my first dose of spike, that i wasn’t fighting my brain anymore during this morning meeting that ran a couple hours. I didn’t have to use any of my tricks to stay awake or try to pay attention.

Mentally I had a lot more “energy” to work on the tasks that I wanted. I’m not perfect yet, but it was definitely a big step in the right direction.

my workout:

3 rounds of jump rope - this was suprisingly easy today. The time off last week let my legs heal I guess.

3 rounds of shadow - first 2 rounds weight vest & hand weights, last round no handweights.

6 rounds of heavybag - first 2 rounds with weight vest, last 4 rounds no weight vest. my nose started running midway through my 4th or 5th round so i had to break for a sec.

5 rounds of head movement - alternated between slip bag and bobbin & weaving under the rope. Wore the weight vest the whole time. 3 rounds of slip bag, 2 rounds of bobbin & weaving.

Sledgehammer work on the big tire - 30 swings over each shoulder; still wearing weight vest.

Ab work - 30 overhead medicineball situps, 30 medicine ball self-tosses, 30 medicine ball twists, 30 knees to chest

Neck work - 30 neck curls - front, back, and each side. Added a lil resistance with my hands.

In 92~93 degree heat my workout was actually starting to look like my old workouts. i wish the gym had better double-end bags coz that’s my favorite tool in the gym. I’d like to step it up to 4 or 5 rounds of rope & shadow, w/8 rounds of heavybag; though time is a factor.

When i got home I did a set of 20 pushups w/hands less than shoulder-width apart, followed by 3 sets of 5 pushups w/hands less than nipple-width apart.

Diet: between 2.5 and 3 cups of beef stew w/lots of veggies, a small serving of chicken salad & crackers, half a bolthouse farms “green goodness”, chocolate milk & gatorade post workout.

75

Tuesday was my gf’s bday. Took her to a churrascaria & had a meat orgy. Had to pick up my brother that night.

Wednesday was entertaining my brother.

Thursday went to kickboxing and did the last conditioning workout.

Friday didn’t do much of anything.

Saturday drove to houston and did a ton of lifting, helping my folks move furniture.
Played around on my brother’s weight set.

Sunday more lifting furniture, even more playing with the free weights.

Monday drove back to fort worth, drank a lil bit.

Tuesday just relaxed- slept all afternoon.

In general my motivation’s shot.

Gotta go to the kickboxing gym to pay my monthly dues and i think that’ll be the last time I go down there for a while.

I just don’t like going down there to train. I know it may make me a wuss, but I only practise these sports coz I enjoy it. if the training leaves a bad taste in my mouth something’s wrong.

I’d rather go boxing. I really lost my motivation when faced with the prospect of training at the kickboxing gym exclusively. I feel like I’m trapped into going to that place. The coach is cool and the people are nice but I really don’t dig the training; eventhough I’ve recently been given carte blanch to do my own thing, hard to explain.

I’d just much prefer boxing 3 or 4 times a week and hitting my fitness center the other days. Think i may go kickboxing on saturday.

76

Got a good boxing workout in today.

10 min straight on jump rope.
3 rounds shadow- 2 with vest & 3lb handweights, 1 w/vest & 5lb handweights
8 rounds of heavybag (spread across various heavybags) - first 2 w/vest

By the end of the bag rounds I really didn’t have much left. I figure tomorrow I’ll work more on footwork and other drills if i can make it to the gym in time to work out (they close early).

I already like the idea of just focusing on boxing & the boxing gym. Got an ease of mind and interest in my training that I haven’t really had lately.

77

The new plan

Friday I went down to the boxing gym lookin to show off my medicine ball w/rope and some clips I got on my computer but nobody was at the gym. There was an event in Houston this past weekend so the owner was at that and nobody covered for him.

Saturday and Sunday I just chilled; thinking about the new routine I want to get on.

Basically, the last 3 weeks i’ve worked out 5 times. I’m not proud of that. I had some good momentum going and flushed it down the toilet. Part of the problem was not digging the kickboxing gym, so i’ve dropped that (for the most part). Now it’s a matter of “what would I rather be doing?”.

Not that I’m a devoted follower of Periodization (or even know that much about it for that matter), but the nice thing about it- or at least my understanding of it - is that if you find you’ve been wasting your time for the last month, it’s not such a big deal coz you just start a new period and switch things up.

Monday through Thursday I plan to hit the boxing gym.
Monday and Friday I think I’ll plan to hit the fitness center w/weights and high intensity cardio.
Yes, that means Monday’s a monster day, but my only other option is to spend Friday & saturday at the fitness center, which is hard coz weights on consecutive days is rough.
If I do anything on Saturday it’ll be a light day, probably at the kickboxing gym for some thai pad & boxing work.
Saturday and Sunday will be “make up” days for any fitness center workouts I miss.

My plan for the fitness center includes high intensity cardio and weights:

*For the cardio I was thinking elliptical crosstrainer interval training on Mondays and Taku’s intervals on the Versaclimber for Fridays.

*For the weights, i was thinking something a little more stripped down than the Bill Pearl workout.
Mondays being more olympic lifting & bodyweight based:
clean & jerk, squat press (and/or lunges, not sure which), dips, pullups, and extra ab work
Fridays being more “big lift” based, with a little bit of isolation to help with some deficiencies:
deadlift, squat, bench press, bent row, shrug, left arm tricep ext, left arm bicep curl

I’m not sure what rep scheme I want to use yet (if anybody’s got any ideas, I’d appreciate the input).

At the boxing gym, on different days I plan on incorporating the medicine ball workouts, footwork drills, box jumps, side to sides, sledgehammer type stuff, ab work, neck work, planks, and bridges. The intensity of the boxing workout is why I’m looking to tone things down in the weight room a little from the Bill Pearl workout.

I still believe in adding some low intensity cardio to help with weight management.
I am serious about wanting to add in a 30 to 45 minute walk in the evenings to help out, eventhough I haven’t had much luck yet.

I understand that this plan’s a bit ambitious seeing the trouble i’ve had this year, but I’m ready and willing to take it slow. I want the workouts to be there, but just be less intense in the beginning, with lighter weight and maybe less overall work. When I’m motivated to work out & have momentum going, i do well; so the goal is to build that momentum & motivation with small successes.

78

Kinda killed it last night…really killed it last night. haha

diet was good- yogurt for breakfast, some phillipino dish with squash, eggplant, a lil beef, and string beans for lunch, afternoon snack of some dorayaki, chocolate milk after first workout, creatine & muscle milk after second.

workout:

jump rope - 3 rounds. kept shortening my rests to 30 seconds or less.

shadow boxing - 4 rounds. 2 w/vest & weights, 1 w/vest & bare hands, 1 w/vest & gloves

Heavybag - 2 or 3 rounds (having a hard time remembering). First two were with a weight vest. I took off the vest and some time after that the coach asked me to work mitts.

Focus Mitts- 1 killer round. I swear I threw over 100 punches and he was having me do a lot of head movement. My feet eventually felt like they were stuck in mud- partly due to being tired, partly due to being out of shape, and partly due to a combination of nike shox and a soft ring.

Heavybag - barely struggled out another 2 or 3 rounds on bag. I was hurtin. It wasn’t pretty.

Medicine Ball with rope - 40 sledgehammer swings, 30 back-against-wall side-to-side swings, 3 sets of v-up swings 5-15-20, neck curls w/ball around head 20 reps for each of 4 directions

20 second plank on the medicine ball

30 second side-to-side jumps over cones

1 round shadow w/dummy, working on throwing power shots that i pull back before the target; pretty tiring.

Spent almost an hour talkin shop with the owner and a trainer who was visiting.

After that I went home to get a quick glass of chocolate milk, got changed, and went out to the fitness center to try to get in some weights.

I was tiiiiiiiiiired by the time i hit the weight room.
Cleans - 8 @ bar + 20, 8 @ bar + 50, 8 @ bar + 50
clean & press - 8 @ bar
lunges - 8 @ bar x each leg x 4
squat press - 8 @ bar x 2

After the second set of squat press i was about to fall asleep.
If i hadn’t just spent a good hour and a half boxing, I could’ve done a lot more. weight wasn’t the issue coz it was my first time back, was trying to go slow. I barely finished half the work out. I was downright drowsy i was so tired.

Oddly enough, it took me a while to get to bed last night - one of those situations where I was too physically exhausted to sleep.
Got into work about an hour late this morning (2 or 3 hours later than I wanted).

I think I’m gonna have to do my lifting in the mornings before work.
There’s no way I can finish a routine after killin it in the boxing gym.

79

I was hurtin yesterday from monday’s workout.
Waking up late stunk.
I ate well though, tried to eat a little more coz of how much i was hurting.
Yogurt, big bowl of beef tip calderetta (w/peas, greenbeans, potatoes, bell peppers, and carrots), a granola bar or 2, and some chocolate milk.

Workout was rough, eventhough I was trying to take it easier, it was 96 degrees again.

10 min of jump rope
4 rounds of shadow, just with gloves no vest - did calisthenics between rounds.
3.5 rounds of bag work before I had to take a break.
got up and finished 1 or 2 more rounds before i was just done.
1 min of bobbing & weaving under the rope.
1 round of slip bag
a round or two of walking a new guy through the jab and the cross.

My back was sore from Monday, still is a little- and that kinda worries me.
Think I’ll take a break from wearing the vest the rest of the week so i can let it heal.

Went to bed early last night and still couldn’t wake up before 7:30. Felt like ass this morning with a headache, felt like i didn’t even sleep. I’m still hurting a bit: back’s kinda sore, traps & hamstrings a bit sore too. I have a feeling I’ll be feeling a lil better by the time work’s over.

Wanna really focus on footwork drills today.

80

Left work yesterday pretty sore, was debating whether or not to hit the gym.
I decided to go anyway, felt something drawin me to go, and I’m glad I did.
I really mixed it up coz I didn’t wanna get caught in a rut of the same old workout.
Food wise, I was good: yogurt, chicken fried rice (more chicken than rice it was ridiculous), a granola bar, 2 glasses of 2% milk, and a squirt.

workout:

light shadow for a few rounds.
footwork drills- including side stepping, carryovers (karaokes), and high stepping
shadow boxing for a round
Box jumps for 2 rounds - doing side-to-side jumping last 30 seconds of each round
shadowboxing for a round
shadow sparring with unfilled BOB, working on control for 2 rounds
med ball w/rope:
sledgehammer swings - 2 sets of 20 swings, 2 sets of 10
back against wall swings - 2 sets of 30
seated v-up swings - 3 sets of 20
medicine ball over head situps - 1 set of 30
med ball self passes - 1 set of 30
seated med ball twists - 1 set of 30
bounces against the wall (jab) - 1 set of 50
power wall bounces (cross) - 2 sets of 20
Neck - 50 each direction (4)

I didn’t feel like i was killing myself this workout, but it was hard work.
Felt pretty good afterwards.