Shu's Training Journal (or "Old Man Kung Fu")

Ja, I usually do them as in the second set of photos. Alternate the extensions with the rows.

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlRrIsoDpKg[/ame]

Probably better than either of the other two examples seen so far :' D

LFD

 

I'll try these over the supported dumbell rows I've been doing. Thnx!

 

Had the day off. Bought a guitar.

It was a "me" day.

Figured I'd cap it off with the stroll through the gym for some Weight Training

Here's the drill:

-Bench Press - 165 lbs (3x8)
-Seated Cable Pull Down - 140 lbs (3x8)
-Cable Tricep Press - 140 lbs (3x8)
-Curl/Press - 30 lbs (3x8)
-Side Leg Cable Raises - 15 lbs (3x8)
-Roman Chair Leg Raises (with a "tweest") - (3x8)

Then, to cool down, I worked on forms. It'd been so long I could barely remember them but somehow manged to fumble my way through.

-Sei Fon Sei Bei (finally learned how to spell it correctly!!!) - Focused on just remembering what the hell I was supposed to do.
-Kuen Lei Kuen - Ran through it twice just to reacquaint myself with the moves and a third time with the focus on power.

Notes:
-Just for kicks, I added an extra wrinkle. Only rested 30 seconds between sets 1 & 2 and no more than a minute between sets 2 & 3.
-That changed everything! I was struggling on the last set of all the exercises!
-But...no pain Rogaine, as they say (or something like that...)
-Intentionally took it easy on the legs and core today since kung fu class is tomorrow and I know Sijing Alex is going to kill us in those areas.

 

What'd you get ??

 

A Rain Song WS1000 Acoustic. It's all graphite and has absolutely no wood (insert Viagra joke here!)

Set me back a goodly amount of money. But commission checks have been good this year.

Do you play?

 

wow. Very nice. I've heard those are exceptionally engineered; very stable as they don't go in and out of tune with changes in the humidity - being all graphite.

I used to. Not an overall good player - things that I liked I become quite obsessive over as far as reproducing an exact tone and the like.

I had a small business years and years ago buying old, antique effects units such as the Eventide Harmonizer, Roland Space Echo, Maestro Echoplex, etc.,; refurbishing them for resale, so I kept guitars around for that.

All long gone, sad to say. I've a bad telecaster copy, a busted echoplex with a bent shaft, some ancient small valve combo amps and some odd parts laying around gathering dust or still packed up from our last move.

I'ven't picked up a guitar in ... I don't know when. With kids, and one of 'em having severe OCD and bipolar issues, its all I can do to manage time here and there to go to boxing class and a brief work-out.

Picking up guitar again...forget it


Below a six or seven year old pic of one of the bairns coping a feel of my long gone Japanese LP copy - the best sounding thing I've ever owned - I loved playing that.

 

That was a selling point for me. Since I'm mainly an electric player, the acoustic is just there to tote around and show off to friends. But I had severely outgrown my Takimine yet wasn't ready for the maintenance of a Martin or Taylor.

Very cool! That stuff makes my Crybaby Wah Wah and Boss Distortion pedal seem positively futuristic by comparison.

Understood. Sometimes you have to set aside old hobbies with family responsibilities. I thought I'd have to pack up my gear after I got married. But my wife actually insists I play from time to time (in a nice way). But then, we have no kids...yet.

 

Kung Fu class today!

Sifu Henry's won't be back until next week. So we were all in the capable but sadistic hands of Sihing Alex...again.

Although, relatively speaking, class was comparatively tame. Probably because everyone was back from vacation.

Warm Up

Jumping Jacks - 30
Lunge Stretch (both sides)
Middle Stretch
Knuckle Push Ups - 10
High Heel Kicks (left leg) - 10
Knuckle Push Ups - 10
High Heel Kicks (right leg) - 10
Knuckle Push Ups - 10
Inside Crescent Kick (left leg) - 10
Tricep Push Up - 10
Inside Crescent Kick (right leg) - 10
Tricep Push Up - 10
Outside Crescent Kick (left leg) - 10
Tricep Push Up - 10
Outside Crescent Kick (right leg) - 10
Tricep Push Up - 10
Wide Leg Crunches - 30
Flutter Kick Crunches - 15
Mountain Climbers - 15
FlutterKick Crunches - 15
Mountain Climbers - 15


Kung Fu and Techniques

The emphasis today was on jumps, spins and balance. Totally took me out of my comfort zone.

Basically it was many variations of jump and spin kicks (jump up and kick out while spinning in the air 360 degrees). Never done those before. It was...interesting.

Didn't quite get the gist of the mechanics (which arm goes up, which way do you twist, where do you pivot, etc...). I just need that kind of thing broken down for me. Sort of got the hang of it towards the end.

Forms: Nunchuck form. We're about 3/4 of the way through. Should learn the whole thing by the end of the week.

 

Big flexibility issues come up with this sort of thing, I'm sure. Did they tell you how long it would take, assuming one invested a significant portion of time in the flexibility training required, before one would be able to properly do/incorporate them in MA?

 

"Until you're flexible" was the Zen-like answer.

Truth is it comes from practice and stretching. Sifu tells of an older gent (like us) who had minimal flexibility but practiced splits twice a day. In six months, he was able to the leg stretch Jean Claude Van Damme.

Practice, practice, practice...

 

Solo Training today. Here's how it went down:

Kung Fu stuff:

Slow kicks - Side kick - 10 per side
Slow kicks- Roundhouse - 10 per side
Stretching
Forms: Sei Fon Sei Bei, Kuen Lei Kuen and Nunchucks (just ran through them a couple of times to remember the moves. We haven't much with forms during most of December!)

Gym Stuff:
-Seated Chest Press - 130 lbs (3x8)
-T-Bar Bent Over Row - 80 lbs (3x8)
-Over head Tricep Cable Pull - 100 lbs (3x8)
-Seated Dumb Bell Curl - 30 lbs/arm (3x8)
-Goblet Squats - 50 lbs (3x8)
-Standing Calf Raises - 220 lbs (3x8)

As before, I rested 30 seconds between sets 1 & 2 and a minute between sets 2 & 3.

 

Kung Fu class today!

Another Sihing Alex production in the Theater of Pain. So here's the story:

Warm Up

Pretty much the same routine as Monday so there's no reason to retype it. Nothing to see here, kids. Move along...


Technique
Focus on kicks today. Did them down the length of the studio and back.

-Heel Thrust Kick
-Steal Step
-Steal Step/Side Kick
-Steal Step/Roundhouse Kick
-Steal Step/Hook Kick
-Back Fist
-Back Fist/Switch Foot/Ax Kick (really cool combo!)
-Stance Walk (Horse stance to bow stance)
-Stance Walk/Rear Kick

Forms: Nunchuck. Finally finished it! Now I just have to retain it.

 

Twice a day? From morning till tea and then afternoon till suppertime? lol.

 

Well, I can neither confirm nor deny the man's tea drinking habits. But apparently he stretched fifteen minutes just after he got up and fifteen minutes just before beddie bye.

 

Solo Training: Yoga and Forms

In an effort to mix things up a bit, I decided to throw some yoga into the mix.

So I pulled out my old "P90X Yoga" DVD and did the first half of that. That went for about about 35 - 40 minutes and I have to admit...it felt pretty good.

A breakdown of the routine can be found here. I did the first two sections:

http://sheerbalance.com/p90x-yoga-poses-tony-horton/

After that, I moved on to forms. But I did them slooooowllllyyyyy. Probably because I was in that calm yoga frame of mind.

But anyway, I did:

-Seifon Seibei (focusing on movement, breath and position)
-Kuen lei kuen (focusing on movement, breath and position)
-Nunchucks (focusing on what I was shown last night, most of which I fogrot!)

So I'll do this for a few weeks and see if it has any benefits.

Stay tuned.

 

Yep - I'm keen to start yoga once I reach a point where its feasible - excellent art, I understand.

 

It's good for flexibility. And as you know...Old Guys Don't Stretch!

Not sure how much good doing yoga once a week will do. But I guess it's better than not doing it at all.

 

Solo Training today.

No forms. No yoga. No bag. Just weights. Here's the drill:

-Bench Press - 165 lbs (3x8)
-Seated Cable Pull Down - 150 lbs (3x8)
-Cable Tricep Press - 140 lbs (3x8)
-Cable Bicep Curl - 70 lbs (3x8)
-Roman Chair Leg Raises/Twist - (3x8)
-Seated Leg Press - 210 lbs (1), 195 lbs (2x8...see notes)
-Seated Calf Press- 195 lbs (3x8)

Notes:
-As before, I rested 30 seconds between sets 1 & 2 and a minute between sets 2 & 3
-The yoga stuff seemed to have worked out some stiffness in my shoulders and hips. The range of motion today was really good!
-Since tomorrow is Sihing Alex's last day running the class before Sifu comes back, I'm expecting new levels of sadism. So I decided not to push my legs too hard in preparation (hence backing off the weight on the seated leg press).

 

I don't know the forms but I have an intuitive understanding of the meditative part of it - its really what aided me in being able to attempt single-leg squats - one can truly learn to block out pain and exist in this quite place somewhere in your mind.

Of course, you've to go out sometime and then you pay for it the next day :cry: