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

Kung Fu II Time!


-High Heel Kick, Jumping High Heel Kick
-Inside Crescent Kick, Jumping Inside Crescent Kick
-Outside Crescent Kick, Jumping Outside Crescent Kick
-Four Kicks
-Cyclonic Kick
-Stance Walk
-Back Fist, Front Slap Kick, Straight Punch, Roundhouse Kick, Spinning Side Kick
-Side Kick, Jump Side Kick
-Steal Step Side Kick, Spinning Side Kick
-Back Fist, Roundhouse Kick, Spinning Side Kick
-Skipping Side Kick, Hook Kick, Roundhouse Kick
-Running Step Front Back Fist
-Running Step Front Straight Punch
-Running Step Front Ridge Hand
-Running Step Rear Back Fist, Straight Punch
-Double White Crane Punch, Upswing, Jump Spinning Scraping Punch* (see notes)
-Steal Step Groin Slap, Spinning Back Fist, Scraping Punch Upswing*
-A Sequence of Moves of which I Don't Know The Names*
-A Sequence of Moves of which I Don't Know The Names*

-Forms:

• Staff
• Sam Lei Keun
• Tong Keun

Notes:
-Fitbit results from today: 366 calories, avg heart rate of 98 BPM, max heart rate of 137 BPM
-All the moves with the asterisk next to them were part of the Brown Belt test. The last two I had never ever seen before and have no idea how to even describe them!
-Did a lot of literal running around at work all this week and as a result seem to have put a strain on my left hip. So class was pretty painful tonight. One of my Sihings actually told me he saw me wince during my kicks.
-He suggested I take it easy...which was advice I was only too happy to follow.

 

Gym Time!

-Cable Pec Flies **NEW MACHINE**- 90 lbs (15), 100 lbs (10, 10)
-Seated Lat Pull Down - 90 lbs, 100 lbs, 120 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Cable Rope Curls - 50 lbs, 60 lbs, 85 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Cable Tricep Press - 60 lbs, 85 lbs, 100 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Seated Leg Curls - 85 lbs, 95 lbs, 105 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Seated Leg Extensions - 85 lbs, 95 lbs, 105 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Horse Stance Squats/w 2 sec hold - 2 x 10
-Straddle Splits - 3/side
-Standing Splits - 3

Notes:
-Fitbit results from today: 185 calories, avg heart rate of 98 BPM, max heart rate of 137 BPM
-It was fun using a new machine for a change. Never used that Pulley Cable Chest Machine before. Took me a bit to get used to it, but it was a great work set. I will definitely be sore tomorrow.
-Brought back the Leg Curls and Leg Extension. Felt like every part of my body was getting nice and lean except my legs. This, I surmised, was due to the lack of variety in the leg exercises.
-Funny story...I was searching the web to see if there was any martial arts benefit to the two above exercises. The 2nd or 3rd Google hit was to a forum post link entitled "Martial Arts Benefits to Leg Curls?". So I clicked on it...and it brought me here! And the poster was me! Turns out I'd asked this same question (and got some great responses) about three years ago. How did we all survive before Google?!

 

Kung Fu II Time!

-High Heel Kick
-Inside Crescent Kick
-Outside Crescent Kick
-Step Same Leg Jumping High Heel Kick
-Step Same Leg Jumping Inside Crescent Kick
-Step Same Leg Jumping Outside Crescent Kick
-Skip Forward Roundhouse, Skip Side Kick, Skip Hook Kick
-Running Punch, Front Backfist
-Running Punch, Front Straight, Ridge Hand
-Running Punch, Rear Back Fist, Straight Punch
-Knuckle Push Ups - 10
-Tricep Push Ups - 10
-Spider-Man Push Ups - 10
-Tricep Dips - 10
-Back Bend Push Ups - 10
-Standings Split - 3
-Straddle Split - 3/side
-Dive Bomber Push Ups - 10
-Horse Stance - 4 min
-Forms:

• Sam Lei Keun
• Staff
• Chong Keun

Notes:
-Fitbit results from today: 334 calories, avg heart rate of 100 BPM, max heart rate of 148 BPM
-Sifu announced that we're finally having another Rank Test in two weeks! . Turns out the reason for the delay was that he was waiting on the factory to make the new shipment of belts!

 

Gym Time!

-Seated Chest Press - 90 lbs, 110 lbs, 130 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Seated Row - 80 lbs, 90 lbs, 100 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Overhead Tricp Pull - 70 lbs, 80 lbs, 90 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Seated Preacher Curl - 50 lbs, 60 lbs, 70 lb (15, 12, 10)
-Straddle Splits - 3
-Standing Splits 3/side
-Horse Stance - 1 min, 30 sec break, 1 min, 1 min break, 1:30 min

Notes:
-Forgot to wear my Fitbit . Now Fitbit thinks I'm a slacker
-Between the Cable Chest Press and the 60 push ups yesterday, my pecs were beat! Could barely finish my set on the Seated Chest Press. And that used to be my best exercise!
-Once again, the Hot Yoga Class was hogging the fitness room where the heavy bags are kept. So no bag work or jumping rope.

 

Thats frustrating! It used to wind me up when I went to a gym to use the weights or bag, but on a few occasions they had a class (in there because their other room was closed).

So wound up and ready for a workout, I decided to use what I had available outside the room. A bench, a wall and some rack thing. So I was working on hindu pushups, wall tiger bends, assisted pistol squat outside. When they finished, as they came out, some of the women called me a perv???
I finished my workout in the gym, but it wound me up, just because I was working out I was a perv? I couldn't figure it out, but took my frustration out on the weights

 

I hear ya. Once I wandered into the big room just after a Step Aeroba-zoomba-abs class (or whatever) was done and started doing my thing. Did about a minute of jumping rope and then started going to town on the heavy bag. Just then, two women came in, laid down their mats and started shooting me dirty looks. I just figured they were going to do their workout and we could all share the big room.

But they kept staring angrily at me.

Finally, I asked "Is there a class in here? Because I didn't see anything on the schedule."

"Well, that's an old schedule," one of the women replied all huffy. "The Hot Yoga class starts in five minutes."

Well, geez! Then just politely ask me to leave. No need to be all crabby about it.

For a couple of Yoga girls...they were pretty uptight!

 

Kung Fu II Time!

-High Heel Kick
-Inside Crescent Kick
-Outside Crescent Kick
-Step Same Leg Jumping High Heel Kick
-Step Same Leg Jumping Inside Crescent Kick
-Step Same Leg Jumping Outside Crescent Kick
-Front Leg Step Jump Spinning Inside Crescent Kick
-Front Leg Step Jump Spinning Outside Crescent Kick
-Inside Crescent Kick, Jump Spinning Inside Crescent Kick
-Four Kicks
-Cyclonic Kick
-Butterfly Kick
-Roundhouse Kick, Spinning Heel Kick
-Back Fist, Side Kick, Straight Punch, Roundhouse Kick, Jump Spinning Heel Kick
-Step Side Kick, Jump Side Kick
-Skipping Side Kick, Roundhouse Kick, Ax Kick, Hook Kick

-Knuckle Push Ups - 10
-Tricep Push Ups - 10
-Wide Palm Push Ups - 10
-Backwards Push Ups - 15
-Spider-Man Push Ups - 10
-Back Bend Push Ups - 10
-Dive Bomber Push Ups - 10

-Sit Up Punches - 25
-Back Extensions - 35

-Forms:

• Staff
• Sam Lei Keun
• Tong Keun

-Horse Stance - 4:15 min

Notes:
-Fitbit results from today: 456 calories, avg heart rate of 104 BPM, max heart rate of 138 BPM
-Sifu worked us pretty hard to see who was ready for the Rank Test next week. Thinking I'm going to go for it. After all...I've only been a Blue Belt for two years

 

Kung Fu Sparring Class!

Good class. But we didn't get to spar .

I guess we had too many new people and ran out of time going over the basics.

But it was still a fun class. It's always good to review the foundational stuff.

So we reviewed the basic combos, blocks and evasion techniques.

And we have a belt test coming up, a few of us Blue Belts wandered off and worked on some 2 on 1 sparring drills for a couple of minutes.

Would have been nice to get some actual sparring in, but I think I'm ready for the test. After all...I've been coming to class long enough. If I'm not prepared by now, I never will be.

Notes:
-Fitbit results from today: 383 calories, avg heart rate of 104 BPM, max heart rate of 130 BPM

 

Kung Fu Forms Practice

It's in the title, folks.

Thirty minutes of Staff and Sam Lei Keun (with a little stretching and warm up thrown in for good measure.)

Notes:
-Fitbit results from today: 286 calories, avg heart rate of 114 BPM, max heart rate of 137 BPM
-I feel pretty comfortable with them both. Just worked on those little details...like low stances, crisp movements. "Make it look pretty," as Sifu says.
-My Cyclonic Kick is still pretty eh. But not bad enough to prevent me from testing, I think.

 

Kung Fu II Time!

-One Foot Stance - 5/side
-Searching the Sea -5/side
-Horse Stance Punches - 10
-Front Leg Jumping High Heel Kick
-Front Leg Jumping Inside Crescent Kick
-Front Leg Jumping Outside Crescent Kick
-Side Kick, Jump Side Kick, Jump Spinning Side Kick
-Skipping Side Kick, Hook Kick, Roundhouse Kick, Ax Kick
-Roundhouse Kick, Spinning Heel Kick
-Roundhouse Kick, Spinning Roundhouse Kick (this one's tricky!)
-Front Leg Jumping Push Kick
-Back fist, Block, Running Step Front Back fist
-Back fist, Block, Back fist, Running Step, Front Back fist
-Back fist, Block, Running Step, Ridge hand, Ridge hand
-Back fist, Block, Running Step, Rear Back fist
-Forms:

• Chong Keun
• Sam Lei Keun
• Staff

-Horse Stance: 4 minutes

Notes:
-Fitbit results from today: 438 calories, avg heart rate of 108 BPM, max heart rate of 137 BPM
-Sifu didn't seem too impressed with us Blue Belts. He may not let us test this weekend.
-I should point out that he didn't specifically direct any criticism to me. However, he didn't direct any specific praise my way either. But as a group, he felt we could use a little fine tuning...

 

Gym Time!

Had a little time to visit the gym between meetings, so I did. (Don't worry...I cleaned up afterwards)

-Seated Chest Press - 90 lbs, 110 lbs, 140 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Seated Isometric Rows (see notes) - 80 lbs, 90 lbs, 100 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Cable Tricep Press - 80 lbs, 95 lbs, 110 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Preacher Curls - 50 lbs, 60 lbs, 70 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Leg Curls - 80 lbs, 90 lbs, 100 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Leg Extensions - 80 lbs, 90 lbs, 100 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Standing Split - 3
-Straddle Split - 3/side

Notes:
-Fitbit results from today: 198 calories, avg heart rate of 107 BPM, max heart rate of 143 BPM
-I don't normally go to this branch of my gym, so some of the machines are different. Seated Iso Row was one of them...but it sure was fun!

 

Kung Fu Rank Test Today!

After completing...

-A 3:45 minute Horse Stance
-Side Kick, Spinning Side Kick
-Roundhouse, Spinning Side Kick
-Side Kick, Jump Side Kick
-Side Kick, Hook Kick, Roundhouse Kick
-Block, Front Back-Fist Running Punch
-Block, Front Straight Running Punch
-Block, Rear Back Fist Running Punch
-Sam Lei Keun
-Staff Form
-2 on 1 Sparring (3 x 30 second rounds)
-Breaking two boards...

I got my Blue-Purple Belt!!

I also got...a lot of bruises and sore muscles.

But that's a big job done. Now I won't have to worry about testing again for another year-and-a-half.

Notes:
-Fitbit results from today: 678 calories, avg heart rate of 96 BPM, max heart rate of 158 BPM.
-But that was over the space of two-and-a-half hours. There's a lot of "hurry up and wait" as each belt group went through their various techniques, forms and such.

 

Kung Fu II Time!

Plagued by a nagging tightness in my left hip (again). Think it has to do with some bad shoes! For reals! Anyway, I muddled through class as best as I could. At least I had this cool shiny Blue-Purple Belt...

-One Foot Stance - 5/side
-Searching the Sea -5/side
-Front Leg Jumping High Heel Kick
-Front Leg Jumping Inside Crescent Kick
-Inside Crescent Kick, Jump Spinning Inside Crescent Kick
-Outside Crescent Kick, Jump Spinning Outside Crescent Kick
-Front Leg Roundhouse, Jumping Roundhouse
-Front Leg Roundhouse, Jumping Roundhouse, Two-foot take off, Jump Spinning Roundhouse
-Side Kick, Jump Side Kick
-Side Kick, Jump Side Kick, Two-foot take off, Jump Spinning Side Kick
-Knuckle Push Ups - 10
-Tricep Push Ups - 10
-Spider-Man Push Ups - 10
-Backwards Push Ups - 20
-Back Bend Push Ups - 10
-Straddle Split - 3/side
-Standing Splits
-Dive Bomber Push Ups - 15
-Sit Up Punches - 35
-Back Extensions - 45
-Forms:

• Chong Keun
• Tong Keun

Notes:
-Fitbit results from today: 395 calories, avg heart rate of 109 BPM, max heart rate of 148 BPM
-It's also super humid today (yay Texas!), so each of us was fighting for breath about thirty minutes into class...

 

Gym Time

Got some weight training in.

-Cable Chest Press - 8, 9 ,10 (15, 12, 10...weird machine. Didn't have any actual weight labeled on the weights, only "levels". So that's what I indicated)
-Lat Pull Down - 110 lbs, 120 lbs, 130 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Tricep Extension - 60 lbs, 70 lbs, 80 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Preacher Curls - 50 lbs, 60 lbs, 70 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Seated Leg Press - 130 lbs, 140 lbs, 150 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Seated Calf Press - 130 lbs, 140 lbs, 150 lbs (15, 12, 10)

Notes:
-Fitbit results from today: 123 calories, avg heart rate of 94 BPM, max heart rate of 138 BPM

 

Kung Fu II Time!

Heat and humidity were not our friends tonight. But...we survived! Here's the drills:

-One Foot Stance - 5/side
-Horse Stance Punch to Bow Stance Punch - 10/side
-Horse Stance Punch Kick Punch to Bow Stance Punch - 10/side
-High Heel Kick, Jumping High Heel Kick - 10
-Inside Crescent Kick, Jumping Inside Crescent Kick - 10
-Outside Crescent Kick, Jumping Outside Crescent Kick - 10
-Inside Crescent Kick, Jump Spin Inside Crescent Kick - 6
-Outside Crescent Kick, Jump Spin Outside Crescent Kick - 6
-Roundhouse, Spinning Heel Kick - 6
-Steal Step Side Kick, Spinning Side Kick - 6
-Front Roundhouse, Jump Rear Roundhouse - 6
-Front Roundhouse, Jump Rear Roundhouse, Jump Other Rear leg Roundhouse - 6
-Sit Up Punches - 25
-Back Extensions - 35
-Forms:

• Sam Lei Keun
• Staff

Notes:
-Fitbit results from today: 363 calories, avg heart rate of 98 BPM, max heart rate of 138 BPM
-We only did 6 of each of the spin kicks because Sifu (and everyone else) started getting dizzy!
-Had a chance to get a good look at myself in the mirror...and my Jump/Spin kicks have improved! Almost worthy of being a Blue-Purple Belt!

 

Kung Fu II Time!

Between family stuff and letting the ol' hip heal (and it's been feeling old!), I took a little time off.

But now I'm back and ready to martial those arts! Here's how it went down;

-One Foot Stance - 5/side
-Horse Stance Squats - 10
-Horse Stance Jump Squats - 10
-Low Stance Squats - 10/side
-High Heel Kick, Jumping High Heel Kick -8/side
-Inside Crescent Kick, Jumping Inside Crescent Kick - 8/side
-Outside Crescent Kick, Jumping Outside Crescent Kick - 8/side
-Straddle Splits - 3/side
-Standing Splits - 3
-Dive Bomber Push Ups - 10
-Knuckle Push Ups - 10
-Tricep Push Ups- 10
-Spider-Hombre Push Ups - 10
-Sit Up Punches - 25
-Back Extensions - 35
-Front Roundhouse Kick, Back Fist, Straight Punch, Rear Leg Roundhouse, Spinning Heel Kick - 8/side
-Side Kick and Back Fist (same time), Jumping Side Kick, Jump Spinning Side Kick - 8/side
-Back Fist, Ax Kick, Straight Punch, Jumping Front Leg Roundhouse - 8/side
-Running Punches - Front Back Fist, Straight Punch - 8/side
-Running Punches - Straight Punch, Straight Punch - 8/side
-Running Punches - Rear Back Fist, Straight Punch - 8/side
Forms:

• Tong Keun

Notes:
-Fitbit results from today: 343 calories, avg heart rate of 96 BPM, max heart rate of 110 BPM
-Note: I forgot to turn my FitBit on until about 30 minutes into the workout! So I'm sort of "estimating" the correct calorie burn. Heart rate was taken from the activity status...though the actual average is probably higher.
-It's good to be back!

 

Workout Time!

Got myself into a rut lately. So I'm trying to mix things up a bit.

-BOSU Ball Push Ups - 2 x 10
-Moving Side-to-Side Push Ups - 2 x 10
-Assisted Pull Ups (25 lbs) - 10, 7
-Assisted Close Grip Pull Ups (25 lbs) - 10, 7
-Tricep Rope Press Down - 70 lbs, 85 lbs, 100 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Preacher Curl (machine) - 50 lbs, 60 lbs, 70 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Assisted Pistol Squats - 2 x 10
-Assisted Low Stance Squats - 2 x 10
-Iron Shirt - 30 sec

Notes:
-Fitbit results from today: 174 calories, avg heart rate of 107 BPM, max heart rate of 127 BPM.
-For the "Assisted" squats, I held on to an elevated surface to take some of the tension off the legs as I got lower. Also used it to help pull myself back up.
-My Pull Ups and Chin Ups have gotten really bad!

 

Kung Fu II Time!

-High Heel Kick
-Inside Crescent Kick
-Outside Crescent Kick
-High Heel Kick, Jumping High Heel Kick
-Inside Crescent Kick, Jumping Inside Crescent Kick
-Outside Crescent Kick, Jumping Outside Crescent Kick
-Front Slap Kick, Jumping Front Slap Kick
-Inside Crescent Kick, Jump Spinning Inside Crescent Kick
-Butterfly Kick
-Horse Stance Squat Jumps (we've decided to call this the "Monkey Walk"!)
-Running Punch, Block, Back Fist
-Running Punch, Block, Straight Punch
-Dive Bomber, Kip Ups
-Knuckle Push Ups - 10
-Tricep Push Ups - 10
-Spider-Man Push Ups - 10
-Straddle Splits - 3/side
-Standing Splits - 3
-Dive Bomber Push Ups - 10
-Sit Up Punches - 35
-Back Extensions - 45
-Forms:

• Staff
• Sam Lei Keun
• Tong Keun

Notes:
-Fitbit results from today: 423 calories, avg heart rate of 106 BPM, max heart rate of 145 BPM.

 

Kung Fu Sparring Time!

I haven't sparred in about a month (well...I sparred during my rank test, but that was only a couple of minutes. So that doesn't really count). Needless to say, I was really out of practice.

But it was a fun class tonight. Sifu wasn't there, so Sihing Mike ran the festivities.

I always like it when he teaches because he likes to mix things up. He'll pull out an obscure drill he read about in some ancient edition of "Inside Kung Fu" or something. And there's a 70 percent chance I'll remember that particular issue because we're the same age!

Anyway, we worked a lot on countering, staying loose and using clean technique.

Having missed so many classes it was interesting to see just what skills deteriorated. Thankfully, I was still pretty quick and avoid getting hit. But my attacks were pretty poor.

You've heard of "Trapping Hands"? Tonight, I was the Master of Slapping Hands! Just a lot of flailing without much precision. Finally realized what I made the appropriate corrections during the final round.

It needed...work

Still, it was nice to be back!

Notes:
-Fitbit results from today: 464 calories, avg heart rate of 117 BPM, max heart rate of 145 BPM.

 

Kung Fu II Time!

Aaaaand we're back! Nice to get back to class after a brief hiatus to take care of some family stuff. Here's what went down (in class...not the family stuff).

-High Heel Kick
-Inside Crescent Kick
-Outside Crescent Kick
-High Heel Kick, Jumping High Heel Kick
-Inside Crescent Kick, Jumping Inside Crescent Kick
-Outside Crescent Kick, Jumping Outside Crescent Kick
-Front Slap Kick, Jumping Front Slap Kick
-Four Kicks
-Cyclonic Kick
-Butterfly Kick
-Back Fist, Steal Step Side Kick, Spinning Side Kick
-Back Fist, Steal Step Side Kick, Reverse Punch, Roundhouse Kick, Spinning Heel Kick
-Back Fist, hop, Ax Kick, hop Rear Leg Roundhouse Kick
-Bow Stance, jump-punch-push, Rear Sweep
-Back Fist, Scraping Punch, Jump Spinning Back Fist, Scraping Punch, Front Sweep
-Sit Up Punches - 35
-Back Extensions - 45
-Forms:

• Chong Keun
• Sam Lei Keun
• Staff
• Tong Keun

Notes:
-Fitbit results from today: 375 calories, avg heart rate of 112 BPM, max heart rate of 144 BPM.
-The week of rest gave me enough time to heal so that the typical aches and pains weren't there during class (just after). As such, I was able to be more mobile and flexible. It was a nice change of pace.