Chief Fox's training journal

[Chief Fox]

I need to have some kind of journal going on to keep myself focused and motivated. I'm also depending on all of you to help with the motivation part.

Here's some brief info on who I am:
Male. 36 years old. 5"11" 177lbs <-- holiday weight, normal weight is about 172lbs. Married, full time job with 2 kids. 7 year old daughter, 3 year old son.

I've been in decent shape my whole life. I like to run, swim, go cycling, lift and of course practice kung fu.

I've been practicing kung fu for only 2 years and after every class I ask myself why didn't I start 10 years ago. But hey, what can you do.

The styles that I practice are 7 star praying mantis, long fist, hung gar and tai chi. (just started tai chi about 2 months ago)

I really enjoy everything about my kung fu class, I try to go 3 times a week but most weeks it's only twice and lately it's been only once a week.

I'm not really belt or sash oriented. I look at kung fu as a life long pursuit and don't really care about the color of my sash. I just want to be the best martial artist that I can be. But if you really want to know, I'm a blue sash. In my school this puts me about half way to black.

So here are my goals:
1. go to kung fu class at least twice a week. Probably Thursday nights and Saturday mornings. Try to fit in a tuesday night class twice a month.
2. I used to race triathlons and I want to start doing this again this comming summer with the ultimate goal of completing an IRONMAN triathlon when I'm 40 years old.
3. Maintain a consistant workout schedule.
4. I have a shoulder injury that I've been trying to recover from so I want to continue to recuperate my shoulder.
5. Keep my workout schedule balanced to reduce or avoid injury.

I intend to have a basic fitness plan through February and then narrow it down starting March to be more triathlon focused.

Here's the basic plan:
Monday: Swim 750 to 1000 yards
Tuesday: Run 4 miles at lunch (Kung Fu at night twice a month)
Wednesday: Practice forms and full body weight routine at lunch.
Thursday: Run 4 miles at lunch, Kung Fu at night.
Friday: Practice forms and full body weight routine at lunch.
Saturday: Tai Chi with Kung Fu class after.
Sunday: Rest.

I also do some workouts at home from time to time. The equipment I have at home is a wooden dummy, a heavy bag, parallettes and some power rings. I'll probably end up working these into the routine on Monday nights and on sundays.

I'll try to post all of my workout material here as well as some diet info. Everyone's input is welcome. See ya!

[Chief Fox]

Monday: 12/20/2004
Swim 750 yards at lunch. Felt pretty good in the pool. I've only been back at it for about three weeks. Shoulder feels ok while swimming. I have full range of motion and no pain while swimming. Need to focus on elongating my stroke and regulating my breathing a little better.

Tonight I'll work the wooden dummy a bit at home.

Meals for today so far.
1 bowl of raisin bran crereal with 1% milk.
1/2 peanut buter sandwich on wheat bread.
20 oz. of Dr. Pepper.
32 oz. of water.
Salad with baked chicken on top and some italian dressing.
1 orange.
12 oz. Dr. Pepper.
about 4 chocolate chip cookies.

[Chief Fox]

Tuesday: 12/21/2004
Over the past week my 7 year old daughter has had a stomach problem. She's thrown up a few times and has just felt not right.

So guess what. Now I have it. I haven't thrown up but I feel like I could at any moment. So no running for me today. I may still go to class tonight if I'm feeling better. We'll see.

Diet so far today looks like nothing.

[Chief Fox]

Wednesday 12/22/2004

Well I've got the stomach thing. I didn't eat at all yesterday and last night I woke up at midnight and made a mad dash for the bathroom. I was sitting on the toilet off and on all night from midnight until 5:00am. So I called in sick to work today.

I feel like the worst part is over. Hopefully. I'll try to get back to my routine tomorrow.

today so far I ate 1 egg on 1 piece of wheat bread.

[Samurai Jack]

Well, since you're asking for motivation, here's my two cents:

You're taking on alot of fitness goals, which is fine, especially since you want to be a tri-athlete, but I'd like to see you practicing your kungfu more often (I'll bet your Sifu/s would agree with me).

You're studying FOUR SEPERATE MARTIAL ARTS and only training two or three times a week?!? I'd wager that your progress in any of the four is poor at best, and I'm not talking about belt ranks. Are you just putting the martial arts on the back-burner for awhile, or is this a long term plan? If you want to be the best martial artist you can be, whcih is one of your stated goals, you need to spend more time training.

[Meat Shake]

Gotta agree with jack. Cut down to at least 2 at a time and youll see a lot more progress. Make one of the 2 tai chi. It would work well with any of the other 3.

[Chief Fox]

Originally posted by Samurai Jack
You're taking on alot of fitness goals, ...

You're right. I've never been one to settle with one thing. This is my problem and probably the source of my almost continuous stream of over use injuries.

Well the holidays are as good a time as any to do some soul searching. Looks like I've got some re-evaluating to do. I'm sure it will be tai chi and praying mantis but if I want to do triathlons that will probably consume most of my time come this spring time. I'll have to think about what I really want.

Thanks for the input Samurai Jack and Meat Shake.

Thursday: 12/23/2004
My stomach is STILL gurgling and I don't remember my last solid poop. The rest of my body is feeling good today. I may do a light workout after work if I can get through this today, or even better, if this can get through me today.

[Ford Prefect]

Ouch. I got that stomach thing too a couple weeks ago. I was throwin and goin for two days straight. It was like my insides turned to liquid and were firing out of every available orifice. Yum.

[Chief Fox]

Originally posted by Ford Prefect
Ouch. I got that stomach thing too a couple weeks ago. I was throwin and goin for two days straight. It was like my insides turned to liquid and were firing out of every available orifice. Yum.

That's an ugly picture you just painted. Accurate, but ugly. LOL

[Chief Fox]

Saturday: 12/25/2004 Merry Christmas!

Ran 3 miles today on the streets around my neighborhood.

Diet was the typical Christmas day stuff your self.

My stomach virus is all but gone. I'm feeling much better.

[Chief Fox]

Monday: 12/27/2004

Practiced forms for about 45 minutes.

Deadlift and squats with shoulder rotator cuff exercises.

DL: 6x135, 6x195, 3x225
SQ: 12x135, 8x195

Notes:
I've been reading "The Sword Polisher's Record" and have been doing a lot of thikning about the way I've been approaching my training. I'm all over the place. I'm not focused at all. I've always thought that my life long goal was to compete in triathlons but now I'm not so sure that is true. I know that I enjoy running and lifting but I really love doing kung fu.

So I guess what I'm saying is, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I thought that I had a plan for this up comming year but now plan has changed. I'll have to come up with a new plan. I'm intrigued by premiere's periodization plan maybe I'll try something like that. I've got some more thinking to do.

[Chief Fox]

Well I'm trying to figure out what my training plan will be and I've come up with several elements that it must include.

1. Internal or Chi development
2. Strength development
3. Flexibility development
4. Endurance development
5. Skill development

1. Internal development will come from tai chi and forms practice while using controlled breathing.

2. Strength development will come from weight training, body weight exercises and controlled forms practice with light weights.

3. Flexibility will come from tai chi, forms and following Thomas Kurz's stretching scientifically techniques.

4. Endurance will come from running, heavy bag work, forms and sparring.

5. Skill development will come from forms practice, drills in class and sparring.

A lot of this stuff will combined together but the final mix is still up in the air.

Any suggestions?

[SevenStar]

Originally posted by Chief Fox

I've been reading "The Sword Polisher's Record" and have been doing a lot of thikning about the way I've been approaching my training. I'm all over the place. I'm not focused at all. I've always thought that my life long goal was to compete in triathlons but now I'm not so sure that is true. I know that I enjoy running and lifting but I really love doing kung fu.


you're cramming four different MA into 2 days per week - it's no wonder you're not focused. If you are stuck with only two days, I would drop to either one or two styles.

[Chief Fox]

Originally posted by SevenStar
you're cramming four different MA into 2 days per week - it's no wonder you're not focused. If you are stuck with only two days, I would drop to either one or two styles.

Yeah I know, you're the third person who has told me this. In the future I intend to focus more on Tai Chi and Seven Star Praying Mantis.

Thanks for the input.:)

[SevenStar]

out of curiousity, why do you want to wait four years before entering another triathlon?

[Chief Fox]

Originally posted by SevenStar
out of curiousity, why do you want to wait four years before entering another triathlon?

That would be 4 years to enter an IRONMAN triathlon.

Ironman triathlon = 2.4 miles swim, 112 mile bike ride, 26.2 mile run.

To complete something like this takes up a huge amount of training time. I've done half ironmans in the past and the time comitment for those was a lot. Also, for a lot of the IRONMAN length triathlons, you have to qualify at another event first. So I would have to be at the top of my age group. Finishing is one thing, finishing in the top of your age group is totally different. So I'm giving myself 4 years to get there.

There are other types of triathlons. Sprint distance, Olympic distance, and Half Iron length. I'm giving myself two years of doing these lengths so I can hopefully get competitive in my age group and then hopefully be able to qualify for an IRONMAN by the time I'm 40.

[Chief Fox]

Tuesday: 12/28/2004
I went to my kung fu class on tuesday night. Easy warm up with some dynamic stretching and some punching drills. Then we did some line drills and I discovered that my sweeps are improving. Then we did three rounds of open hand sparring and 2 rounds of staff sparring. I'm terrible at staff sparring. Then we worked on forms for about 30 minutes. For the past 6 weeks I've been working on a crane form. I has two moves in the form that I really need to practice. One is a flying kick where you land on your side on the ground. I'm trying to learn how to do this with the proper technique and not hurt myself. The second move I need to practice is sorta like a twisting kip up. While lying on your back you spin your legs up and around in a windmill motion so your legs are up in the air and you are rolling up on your shoulders. You then roll off your shoulders and push off with your hands so you land standing up. I've only successfully done it twice. So I need to practice both these moves.

Notes:
I felt good sparring but I need to mix up my attacks more. At one point I was sparring this guy and I had two clear shots to his face that he wasn't able to block. I should have followed these up with a low kick, sweep or throw. Always learning.

Wednesday: 12/29/2004
Today I practiced my forms at the Y and then did some rotator cuff exercises. I'm a little sore from last nights class.

Notes:
My shoulder is feeling much much better. I'm going to continue to take it slow all though I am tempted to just jump right into a hard workout.

I'm still thinking about what my overall plan for the year will be. I'm pretty much sold on the fact that I won't be triathlon training. I'm still not sure though. Triathlons are a lot of fun.

Tonight I'll work on my wooden dummy a bit and then do some pullups and pushups.

Diet today and over the holidays has been terrible. I need to get back on track starting tonight. Maybe some grilled chicken, rice and green beans.

[Chief Fox]

Thursday: 12/30/2004
Ran about 3 miles on a new trail today. I'm not sure of the exact mileage, I'll have to take my GPS watch next time I run it. Just took it nice and easy. There was a lot of ice. My right hip flexor is sore for some reason. I really stretched it out pretty good after the run. I'll have to start stretching it every day.

I have class tonight. If my hip feels ok, I'll go. Not sure yet.

[Chief Fox]

Friday: 12/31/2004
Didn't go to class last night. My wife wasn't feeling so hot and my daughter had a friend over.

Today I went to the local climbing gym with my daughter. We were there for about 4 hours. I mostly belayed while she climbed but I did do some bouldering. So my workout today ends up being a bunch of pullups and grip work. it was fun. First time that she and I went together. It's amazing how fearless kids are.

Tomorrow I plan to run 10k in a local race.

[Chief Fox]

Sunday: 01/02/2005
I didn't run the 10k yesterday. I got up late and was a slug all day.

Today I got up early and ran 3 miles. I just took it easy. My right hip flexor has been sore during runs lately. Today it wasn't so bad.

Tomorrow is swimming day.

[Chief Fox]

Monday: 01/03/2005
Swam 800 yards

100
200
300
100
100

My last 100 was 5 seconds faster than my first 100.

total time was 20:56

notes:
My shoulder was a little sore during the swim but feels ok now. I need to stretch it and do my rotator cuff exercises tonight.

Tonight I'll work on the wooden dummy a bit and tomorrow I run 4 miles.

[Chief Fox]

Tuesday: 01/04/2005
Ran 3.5 miles.

Nice trail run in Red Rock Canyon. Took it easy seeing how it was 27° and flurrying outside. We saw two guys rock climbing during the run and I thought I was crazy for running. There's always someone more crazy then you.

If I'm brave enough to go out tonight I have kung fu class. It will probably be a good night to go. Very few people actually show up when it's very cold.

Tomorrow's workout is forms and a full body weight routine including squats, dead lifts, pullups, bench, dips and shoulders. OR I may start getting back into CROSSFIT. Not sure.

[Chief Fox]

Wednesday: 01/05/2005
I worked on forms for about 30 minutes then I did a light upper body workout.

abs
Rotator Cuff Exercises
Pull ups
Seated Military Press
Seated Rows

Notes:I didn't go to kung fu class last night. I get home from work and its dark and cold and the last thing I want to do is go out again. I might go to class tonight. Not sure seeing how it's all of 9° outside right now with snow everywhere. At least I practiced my forms today. I do need to spar though. It's been a while.

[Samurai Jack]

You know, I have problems getting to class sometimes myself. I've decided that I'm going to start telling myself, "If my teacher can make it every day, so can I." Maybe that'll help us both. ;)

[Chief Fox]

Originally posted by Samurai Jack
You know, I have problems getting to class sometimes myself. I've decided that I'm going to start telling myself, "If my teacher can make it every day, so can I." Maybe that'll help us both. ;)

That's an excellent way to think about it. I truly admire my teacher's dedication. Thanks!:)

[Chief Fox]

Thursday: 01/06/2005
Today I did the CROSSFIT workout of the day and some other stuff too. Heres how it went.

3 minutes of skipping rope (1 minute intervals)
Overhead squat warm up with just the bar x12
Dumbell Thrusters with 20lb dumbells 15, 12, 9 (alternating with pullups)
pullups 15, 12, 9
Deadlift 135lbsx12, 225lbsx6
Some light stretching.

Notes:
Jumping rope gives me a headache. I tried one of the ropes they have at the gym. It has the little plastic tubes on the rope to make it heavier. The rope was a little long and one time when it hit the floor, it bounced up and wrapped around my foot and in a whipping motion, FWAP! I have this huge welt going down my leg. Leave it to me to get injured while jumping rope.

A bunch of new people at the gym today. i don't mind all the new chicks but some of the guys who just go in and try different stuff and then flex in the mirror a bit are funny.

The schedule got a little messed up this week with the cold weather so tomorrow is running day.

[Chief Fox]

Friday: 01/07/2005
I ran 4 miles today on a mostly flat city trail. I ran in shorts and it's 25° out there. I might as well of ran with no shorts at all. It was ccccccold. Still a good run though.

Notes: Right hip flexor is still a little sore still need to stretch it out more. Everything else feels fine.

Tomorrow I have Tai Chi and then my kung fu class. I can't wait, it's been a little while.

[Chief Fox]

Saturday: 01/08/2005
Today I had my Tai Chi class and then my kung fu class right after. Tai chi was good. I still don't know the whole form yet. The form we do is broken down into three parts and I've just gotten through the first part and started on the second today.

Kung Fu class today was warm up, conditioning, line drills and forms. No sparring today.

Notes: My shoulder is sore today. Still dealing with this rotator cuff tendonitis. I put some ice on it when I got back from class and I'm just resting it now.

This week was a good week for working out. The only way it would have been better was if I had gone to kung fu more. That's what next week is for.

I'm taking tomorrow as a rest day.

Hopefully next week will look like this.
Monday: Swim 800 yards
Tuesday: go running at lunch
Wednesday: practice forms at lunch and then a full body weight workout.
Thursday: go running at lunch, kung fu at night.
Friday: Practice forms at lunch and then a full body weight workout.
Saturday: Tai chi and kung fu.

[Chief Fox]

Sunday: 01/09/2005
So much for a rest day. I was really sore from kung fu class yesterday and there nothing better for sore muscles than a nice easy run. So I ran 3.3miles. It's also the nicest day of the week. 59° sunny and warm. So I had to run.

I ran the trails around my house. Felt good to be out there.

Swim tomorrow.

[Chief Fox]

Monday: 01/10/2005
I'm taking today off. I need the rest. I'll probably go through a stretching routine tonight.

[norther practitioner]

Cheif, where do you live?

[Chief Fox]

Originally posted by norther practitioner
Cheif, where do you live?

Colorado Springs.

[norther practitioner]

yeah.. lol, I had no idea, then I was like, hey, that is basically my weather report....

Chaser is up here for the time being too. Do you study with the black lotus people?

[Chief Fox]

Yes I do. Are you Shaolin Center?

[norther practitioner]

No /shudders/, I study with Christophe Clark, he teaches primarily taiji now.. but I do mostly Northern Shaolin Long Fist.. I used to compete in the local karate tournies against you guys....

[Chief Fox]

I've only been with Black Lotus for 2 years and I've only been to one to karate tournament. I didn't like the whole point sparring deal. Didn't feel very "real" to me. I did come in second in forms for my age group though.

It would be interesting to get together sometime to share some ideas.

The thought of the Shaolin Center makes me shudder too.

[Chief Fox]

Tuesday: 01/11/2005
Ran 4 miles.

Notes: Wow! What a day! It's awesome out there right now. That was a good run. I ran on the trail by the creek that goes through town. Pretty much just a flat run. It felt good to get out of the office. Now I can face all the political BS with a smile. Hip flexor was just a little sore during the run. I think I'm working through what ever it is.

Tomorrow: I do forms and then a full body workout at lunch.

[norther practitioner]

I don't spar at those things.. they suxor...

I enjoy doing forms either way, it is foggy as hell up here today.

[Starchaser107]

there's insane amounts of snow falling. today wed.12
I wish i had a training blog too,
sorry to hijack:D

[Chief Fox]

What a difference a day makes. We have horizontal snow right now. I'm glad my workout is indoors today.

[Chief Fox]

Wednesday: 01/12/2004
Today I worked on forms for 30 minutes. (I wish I had 2 hours to work on them) then I did two quick circuts of 10 pullups, 10 dips and 10 lunges. Then I did my normal ratator cuff work.

My shoulder is acting up the past couple days. I guess I woeked it pretty hard last week.

Tonight I might go to kung fu if all the schedules work out.

tomorrow is running day and possibly kung fu at night. Like I said, I need to work on my forms.

[Chief Fox]

Thursday: 01/13/2005
Today I ran 3.5 miles in red rock canyon 40°. A hilly course and I ran it in 34 min. I'd like to get that down around 31 min come spring time. For now I'm just putting in base mileage.

Notes: My right hip flexor is still a little sore but it isn't bothering me nearly as much as it was. Weather was chilly and clear. Very little snow on the trail and it was all dry. So you can't beat that in the middle of January.

Tonight I have kung fu class. I'm looking forward to working on my forms some more. I also need to spar.

I just bought a Yoga DVD. Thought I wold give it a try so this morning my daughter and I did sunrise yoga. It was pretty cool. A good way to start the day I think. I'll stick with it for a while and see how I feel.

Tomorrow is forms practice and a full body workout.

[Chief Fox]

Saturday: 1/15/2005
Today I had Tai Chi and then my kung fu class right after. I haven't been in class since last saturday. Felt good to be there and was actually able to spar for a few rounds. My tai chi is improving very slowly. I'm still only 1/3 of the way through the form but I know it a bit better.

In kung fu class there was this guy there. he shows up about every 6 months or so and hes a black belt in some style of Karate or Kempo or something. Anyway, he's got this attitiude like he just knows everything. It really bothers me and some of the other students. I sparred him today and I'm not sure if he was taking it easy or what but the fight was not going his way. I don't know this just tells me that I still have a lot to learn. This guy shouldn't bother me so much. Not sure why he does. Maybe I feel like I've paid my dues at this school and he hasn't. I don't know, lets just leave it at, I still have a lot to learn.

Notes: My running has been going really well. My shoulder and knee are both felling pretty good. I didn't workout yesterday. Had some personal stuff to take care of at lunch and just wanted to go home after work. It's ok though because I felt like I was really able to push myself at class today.

I think I may run tomorrow. I may even give one of my class mates a call to work on wooden dummy a bit.

[Chief Fox]

Monday: 1/17/2005
Today I swam 800 yards. I have no idea what my time was because I forgot to set my watch. I swam 1 of the 100s in 1:55. So that's about as fast as I swam last time. I didn't feel so winded this time around. My form must be improving.

I didn't run yesterday. I decided that I would be a slug all day. I did watch Jackie Chan Drunken Master though. So that was cool.

I missed two workouts last week. One because I had worked out 8 days in row and needed the rest and another for personal stuff. I guess that's not too bad. This week I intend to complete my whole schedule.

Monday: Swim 800 yards
Tuesday: Run 3.5 miles & Kung Fu class at night.
Wednesday: Forms practice and full body workout.
Thursday: Run 4 miles & Kung Fu at night
Friday: Forms practice and full body workout.
Saturday: Tai Chi and Kung Fu class.

Notes: After reading Foo Fighter's post today I did some looking around on the web about Circular strength and clubbells. I think I'm gong to make one and try out a workout or two just to see what it's like.

Right now my routine is ok but there are things missing that I would like to incorporate.
1. I don't do enough bag work. I have a heavy bag in my garage and need to start using it more.
2. Wooden dummy work. I also have a wooden dummy that I would like to work on more.
3. I also have a set of power rings at home that I don't use enough. I would like to add these to my work out as well.

I may eliminate my full body workout on friday's at lunch and just work on forms at that time. So I can do a full body wokrout at home using the equipment I have there. i may try this for a few weeks and see how I feel.

Tomorrow I run.

[Pork Chop]

I always wondered if those weights baseball players put on their bats while they're on deck would be an easier work around as opposed to shelling out dough for club bells.

hey, while i've got all you colorado folks here:
I've got a buddy who's been in gymnastics his whole life. He's real good; but can't compete coz there's not many options for him as an adult- so he really misses it. He seemed somewhat receptive to looking into wushu. I was wondering if any of you denver area folks could help him out. Sorry to hijack, please pm or email me if you've got any suggestions. Thanks in advance. :)

[Chief Fox]

Clubbells are even more expensive than kettlebells. That's why I'm thinkning about making one out of a plastic bat filled with sand. http://www.geocities.com/fightraining/klub.html

Not sure about the wushu opps in denver. I'm 60 miles south of there.

[Pork Chop]

Well he's a good 20~25 miles south of denver; so what yah do know might help. :)


The plastic bat idea looks the best.
After looking here:
http://www.hitrunscore.com/batweights.html
I didn't realize how light the ones the baseball players used were.

Another thing I been thinking of was getting some kind of long-handled rubber sledge hammer that could survive pounding asphalt or concrete; to use as a substitute for chopping wood.

[Chief Fox]

Tuesday: 01/18/2005
Just got back from a 4 mile run. Felt ok. My right hip flexor is still sore. Thought it was going away. ???

I'm going to kung fu class tonight. I'm calling my friend and I'm gonna tell him that I'll be there. Then I'll have to go. Been Having trouble motivating myself to get out of the house at night. Then I just sit there and watch TV and feel bad about it.

Tomorrow I practice forms and do a full body workout.

[Chief Fox]

So I went to kung fu class last night. There were a lot of people there. Two students were testing for their next level. So when someone is testing it's like everyone has to test. Our instructor makes it an extra hard conditioning class and then we spar and then we work on forms.

It was a great class. BUT. The people who are testing always have to do a two on one round to see how they handle multiple opponents. So me and my friend had to go up against one of the testors.

So this guy is kind of a spaz and doesn't have a lot of control. He's an ex-tae kwon do guy so all he does is kick all over the place. He's such a spaz that he doesn't even realize when someone performs an effective technique on him. This irritates me because I try to communicate with my opponent when I spar. Letting them know that I know when they would have hit me. Anyway this guy doesn't spar like that. He's just all over the place with his kicks. So last night I caught one of his kicks and dumped him on his back. I sorta felt bad about it but I hope he realizes that his form of sparring (crazy spaz kicking techniques) isn't effective.

Other than that is was a great class.

Today, I do forms and a full body workout at lunch.

[Pork Chop]

I know the drill may have not been full contact, but I wouldn't feel bad about that.

After years of continuous sparring in the school and at tournaments; I have very little respect for medium/light contact.
Reminds me of that quote in Prodigal Son about "friendly matches".

In my opinion there's not a lot you can tell by "going light and pointing out each other's weaknesses".

Of course, there are a lot of people who disagree with my view point on this issue, even other full contact folks- so take my advice with a grain of salt.

But still, when it comes to takedowns, the discussion has come up of whether or not you can actually demonstrate the technique and still go light. I, for one, am guilty of losing my cool after being taken down quite forcefully while "going light". As long as you didn't intentionally spike the guy, I wouldn't worry about it.

[Chief Fox]

Originally posted by BMore Banga
I know the drill may have not been full contact, but I wouldn't feel bad about that.

After years of continuous sparring in the school and at tournaments; I have very little respect for medium/light contact.
Reminds me of that quote in Prodigal Son about "friendly matches".

In my opinion there's not a lot you can tell by "going light and pointing out each other's weaknesses".

Of course, there are a lot of people who disagree with my view point on this issue, even other full contact folks- so take my advice with a grain of salt.

But still, when it comes to takedowns, the discussion has come up of whether or not you can actually demonstrate the technique and still go light. I, for one, am guilty of losing my cool after being taken down quite forcefully while "going light". As long as you didn't intentionally spike the guy, I wouldn't worry about it.

I didn't dump him on his back hard. I caught his kick and then just lifted it up so he was able to realize that he was going down and was pretty much able to catch himself.

I agree, that "going light" is not 100% effective. I think that it does teach control but it does not teach how it feels to hit hard or be hit hard. If I could change one thing about my school I would add a full contact sparring class. Maybe I'll talk to my instructor about it. He's mentioned it before.

[Chief Fox]

Thursday: 1/20/2005
Today I ran 3.5 miles in Red Rock Canyon. It's 67° out there right now. Awesome day for the middle of January. Shoot, it's an awesome day for any time of year.

I didn't work out yesterday. I was sore from my double workout the day before so I took yesterday off.

knee feels ok, right hip flexor is still a bit sore.

Tomorrow is forms and weights.

[Chief Fox]

So I've been recording my workouts for the past month. In the past 30 days I've done 24 workouts. I feel pretty good about that. I'm looking forward to the next 30 days.

[Chief Fox]

Saturday: 01/22/2005
Today I had Tai chi and then kung fu class after.

I'm learning more of the tai chi form and was actually shown some of the applications today. I can see why they say it takes a life time to master. I really enjoy it and have seen improvements in my leg strength and flexibility.

Kung fu class today was cardio crazy. We did a lot of drills. Hard work but fun. After all the drills we sparred and I quickly had my @ss handed to me by two other students. One has been studying kung fu his entire life and has also done some kick boxing. The other moved here last summer and is an excellent martial artist. I have a lot of respect for both of these guys and learn something every time I spar them. My legs are sore right now.

I made two clubbells. I went to walmart and bought a plastic bat for $1.97. I then filled it with play sand that cost $2.99. I also had a smaller plastic bat at home. So for about $5 I now have two clubbells. The smaller one is 7lbs. and the bigger one is 11.5lbs. I warm up with the lighter one and move on to the heavier one. I plan on buying the circular strength training book and if I like it I'll buy a real clubbell later.

Tomorrow is a rest day but I may work on wooden dummy with my friend from class.

I'll have to wait and see. It's been barf fest 2005 at my house the past few days. It started with my 3 yeard old son, then my wife got it and then my 7 year old daughter. I feel fine but I'm sure its waiting around some corner some where.

[Chief Fox]

Sunday: 01/23/2005
yesterday at class I was doig my two weapons sets (broadsword and staff) and I realized that I need practice. So, seeing how it's 63° outside I went out back and did each form 5 times. I also gave my new homemade clubbells a try.

Here's what I did:
Call to order: (clubbell hanging at your side, you swing it up so it's straight up and down. Your forearm is parallel to the ground)
3x12 each arm with 11.5lb club.

Forward Leverage Press: (perform a "call to order" then tilt the club back so it rests on your shoulder at a 45° angle. Then press it up while keeping it at that angle.
3x12 each arm with 11.5lb club.

Shield Cast: Perform a "call to order" then raise your arm so the club falls back behind your head. Rotate you arm over your head and bring the club back in front over the opposite shoulder.
3x12 each arm 7lb club

Tourch: call to order then press the club up into the statue of liberty pose.
1x12 11.5lb club.

I got the exercises from these two pages on bodybuilding.com
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/myers3.htm
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mahler42.htm

Tomorrow is swim day.

[Chief Fox]

Monday: 01/24/2005
I swam 800 yards today. Again, I forgot to time myself. I feel like I'm getting faster though. I did time my first 100 and I completed it in 1:51. I'll be satisfied when I can get that down to 1:30. Next time I'll swim 1000 yards.

There was a lady there who was over weight but when she got in to pool, wow, she was smooth. I hope one day to swim as well as she does.

Then when I was taking a shower this guy comes in to shower room and the next thing you know, the whole shower room smells like cigarette smoke. It really grossed me out. I admire the fact that the guy is trying to loose weight but dude quit smoking for crying out loud!

Anyway, for the most part it was a good swim and my shoulder feels pretty good.

Tomorrow is run day.

[Chief Fox]

Wednesday: 1/26/2005
Today I ran 3.5 miles. Felt pretty good. Right hip flexor was a little sore.

I didn't workout yeterday because I was in a stupid meeting all freakin' day.

Tomorrow I might do my new clubbell workout and my weapons forms.

[Chief Fox]

Thursday 1/27/2005
I didn't do my clubbell workout today because the weather wasn't so great. So I did my indoor workout instead.

today's workout:
about 30 minutes of forms. Man I need practice.

Upper body pyramid.
1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1
Pullups x 1
Pushups x 2
Situps x 3

Deadlift 135x12, 225x6
Squat 135x8, 225x3 (I was pretty spent on this set, especially after the deadlifts. I didn't even go all the way down.)

Tonight I'm going to my kung fu class. I hope to work on my forms more and I need some sparring too.

Tomorrow I'll go running.

[Chief Fox]

Last night I went to my kung fu class and I guess that I didn't eat enough yesterday because I was starting to get dizzy during class. The forms work and then the lifting must have taken more out of me than I thought.

So I ended up doing very little forms work and no sparring.

yet ANOTHER leason learned.

I'm very sore today and for me there's nothing better for sore muscles than an easy run. So that's what I'm doing at lunch.

[Chief Fox]

Friday 01/28/2005
I ran 4 miles at lunch. Felt pretty good. Muscles are still tight. Gonna stretch 'em out tonight.

right hip flexor is still slightly sore. Also today right achilies tendon is a little sore. I need a rest day.

tomorrow I have tai chi and then my kung fu class after.

[Chief Fox]

Saturday 01/29/2005
Today was tai chi and then my kung fu class.

Tai chi was great. What a great workout and I'm learning more and more of the form all the time. I'm about 1/3 of the way through the second section.

Kung Fu was also a great class. Tai Chi alone is a workout but then add on a kung fu class after it and I'm soaked in sweat. Warmed up worked on some drills, 3 rounds of sparring. Jammed my right middle finger. Help a beginner with our first form and then worked some two man drills. I'll probably test for my next level in about 6 weeks.

Tomorrow is a planned rest day but a friend may come over to work on the wooden dummy and I may do my clubbell workout if I feel rested.

Right now I'm gonna eat something and probably take a nap.

Shoulder feels pretty good and right achilies is fine.

[Chief Fox]

Sunday 01/30/2005
We got dumped on with about 10 inches of heavy wet snow so I shoveled the driveway and walk for about an hour and then I made an igloo for my kids that took about 3.5 hours. Not an official workout but wow still a workout.

Tomorrow I swim at lunch. Going for 1000 yards and must remember to time myself the whole way.

edit: Here it is 6 hours after I finished my igloo and the darn thing has already caved in.

[Chief Fox]

I'm wiped out from shoveling all that snow yesterday. Hamstrings are sore too from bending over and filling up my bucket to build the dang igloo. Taking a break today. I need the rest.

[norther practitioner]

Originally posted by Chief Fox
Sunday 01/30/2005
We got dumped on with about 10 inches of heavy wet snow so I shoveled the driveway and walk for about an hour and then I made an igloo for my kids that took about 3.5 hours. Not an official workout but wow still a workout.

Tomorrow I swim at lunch. Going for 1000 yards and must remember to time myself the whole way.

edit: Here it is 6 hours after I finished my igloo and the darn thing has already caved in.

hopefully your kids weren't still in it... :eek: :D

I got about a foot up at the old house...

[Chief Fox]

the kids got out in time but there was a chair in there that felt the full force of the cave in. :D

[Chief Fox]

Tuesday 02/01/2005
went running today. About 3 miles. It was cold and slushy. My feet are wet and I didn't have gloves. My right hamstring is still a bit sore from building the igloo. Just took it easy.

Tonight I have kung fu class.

Tomorrow is form work and full body workout I think I may go with the upper body pyramid again and then add on some squats and lunges.

[Chief Fox]

I have ZERO motivation this week. I hate getting in these ruts from time to time. I missed monday's workout, I was going to go to class on tuesday but didn't go, I ran easy on tuesday but did nothing yesterday. Today I plan on running and then a friend and I are going to check out a new kung fu school in town tonight. We're not thinking about switching schools, we just want to see how they structure their class and just check it out.

Everyone else's training journals are very insprirational so keep up the good work everyone. I hope to get myself out of this rut today.

[rubthebuddha]

burnout?

[FngSaiYuk]

Originally posted by Chief Fox
Everyone else's training journals are very insprirational so keep up the good work everyone. I hope to get myself out of this rut today.

VERY inspirational, I applaud you all. These journals really help out guys like me who do solo training. This training forum has been my motivational partner replacement.

Thanks guys

[norther practitioner]

Thats why I did mine.. for motivation.

Hey, what style do they do Chief? What part of the springs?

[Chief Fox]

Originally posted by rubthebuddha
burnout?

I don't think so. My wife and I aren't exactly seeing eye to eye right now and it just impacts everything. Mostly my motivation.

Maybe I do need to mix things up a bit to get going though. Thanks for the input.

[Chief Fox]

Originally posted by norther practitioner
Thats why I did mine.. for motivation.

Hey, what style do they do Chief? What part of the springs?

I think they do northern mantis and northern shaolin. They are located in the rockrimmon area of colorado springs. I think they just opened up. I'll have more info tomorrow.

[red5angel]

By the way chief, I'm about 7 inches away from pulling a front split. It sounds lie a lot but I feel like I get more flexible everyday.

[norther practitioner]

cool, let me know if they are worth their weight in salt... I'll add them to the list for my chang san fang thing. Also, we're doing a demo on the 13th up here at a restaurant.... if you guys were up to a little drive.

[Chief Fox]

Originally posted by red5angel
By the way chief, I'm about 7 inches away from pulling a front split. It sounds lie a lot but I feel like I get more flexible everyday.

NICE! I'm at the point where I don't need to hold myself up with my hands on either side. I've still got a few more inches to go before I'm in a full split.

Side split is also improving but very slowly. Once I get to a full split I'll take a picture and post.

[red5angel]

I figured out something this morning that works really well for me to work into it.

I stretch at the end of my workouts everytime, even if I didn't particularly work those muscles, just to help stay limber. So what I do is a lung of sorts but a really stretched out one. I kep stretching it out, switching legs form time to time. eventually what I do is I lean back so the front leg straightens out. that seems to be making a real difference. It's a small thing but it's helping.

[norther practitioner]

For hips, one of the stretches I do is similar to that.. but more gong bu ish...

pretty common.

[Chief Fox]

Thursday 02/03/2005
I went running at lunch. 4 miles. It was very muddy and slushy on the trail I even slipped and fell on the ice and rolled over in the snow. Still a great and much needed run. My whole attitude on life changes after a good run.

Tonight I'm going to check out that new school with my friend.

[Chief Fox]

So me and a friend went and checked out a new school last night. It's a Wah Lum Tam Tui Northern Praying Mantis school and is very traditional. There were only 5 people in the entire class including two instructors.

We started with some breathing exercises. Then we did some stance drills to warm up. Then we did some shaolin style exercises.
1. While standing, bring your right leg up and rest your right ankle on your left knee and then lower youself like you're sitting in a chair with your leg crossed. We held this for about 30 seconds and then did the other leg.
2. Then we did a pose where you lay on your right side, you bring your left up in front of you with your foot on the floor. Your right elbow is on the floor and you lift yourself up with your weight balanced on your left foot and your right elbow. WE held that for 30 secs then did the other side.
3. We did a sideways plank position where basically you hold your body in the shape of a "T" laying on it's side. All your weight is on one arm and the side of one foot. Try to keep your mid section as straight as possible. We held on one side for 30 secs then did the other sid for 30.
4. Then we did a head stand for about 30 secs.
5. Then we did hand stands for about 30 secs.

After that we worked on a form for a little bit then we worked on some chin na for a little while.

It was a pretty good class. It was very traditional. And at the end the instuctor demonstrated a Bagua form that was very cool.

At the school I go to now we do a lot of cardio type stuff. Kicking and punching drills and then line drills before we spar and then work on forms. The focus at this other school appears to be more on breathing exercises, stance drills and forms.

That's about it. I like the new school but there are a lot of things that I like about my current school and I can't really see myself attending two different kung fu schools. My friend and I discussed just going for a month to really get a feel for it. Not sure.

Today I work on my forms and then a full body workout.

[norther practitioner]

wow, more wah lum...

there are two schools in the southern suburbs here.

[red5angel]

hand and headstands for 30 seconds, that's it?! :D

[Chief Fox]

Originally posted by red5angel
hand and headstands for 30 seconds, that's it?! :D

Yeah I know. It wasn't very difficult but I'm giving the guy the benefit of the doubt. I think that maybe he didn't want to push us too hard. Just see where we were at. To his credit, he did the headstands with out his hands just his head. He was leaning against a wall but still impressive. Also there was really only one other student there and she was just getting back into kung fu. :)

[Chief Fox]

Friday 02/04/2005
I was going to do forms and a full body workout but I decided to just make it a forms focus day. I have three forms that I really need some help on. Hopefully my instructor wil have time to go over them tomorrow.

Tomorrow I have Tai Chi and then my Kung Fu class.

[norther practitioner]

what forms are you working on?

[Chief Fox]

I am a bad student because I don't know the official chinese names for them but as i know them, they are:
-Young Tiger (7 star praying mantis form) - this form has some intricate stepping in the begining that I need to nail down.

-Che Chin (I think, northern shaolin form) - This form is so repetitive I get lost in it sometimes.

-White Crane (actually 3 smaller crane forms bundled into one) - This is a long form and I know all of it. I just have to practice.

[red5angel]

I'm just teasin' ya chief. I would guestimate I spend about 20 minutes or so in hand stands and headstands of some sort or another in capoeira but we're crazy like that :D

[Chief Fox]

Originally posted by red5angel
I'm just teasin' ya chief. I would guestimate I spend about 20 minutes or so in hand stands and headstands of some sort or another in capoeira but we're crazy like that :D

That's cool. I can take it. It's actually something I would like to work on more.:D

[Chief Fox]

Saturday 02/05/2005
Tai Chi and Kung Fu class after. I officially have the first part of the tai chi form down and I am several moves into the second part. I'm going to start practicing daily.

Kung Fu class was another good one. Nice warm up although I didn't need it after tai chi then did 3 rounds of sparring. I sparred with a begginer, a mid level student and then an advanced level student. The advanced guy has excellent stances and is so rooted. He is extremely hard to move. After that I worked on some forms. Got some things cleared up by my instructor. It was a good class.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a rest day but I think I'm going to start running on Sundays. I've been doing this work out pretty regular for about 6 weeks and I think it's time to kick it up a bit so I'm going to add a run day with some clubbell work.

I think the motivation issue is over.

[Chief Fox]

Sunday 02/06/2005
Ran 3.1 miles in 25:52. I'm pretty happy with the time. Stetched a bit after the run.

Tomorrow is swim day.

[norther practitioner]

Originally posted by Chief Fox
I am a bad student because I don't know the official chinese names for them but as i know them, they are:
-Young Tiger (7 star praying mantis form) - this form has some intricate stepping in the begining that I need to nail down.

-Che Chin (I think, northern shaolin form) - This form is so repetitive I get lost in it sometimes.

-White Crane (actually 3 smaller crane forms bundled into one) - This is a long form and I know all of it. I just have to practice.

Cool,
I'm working yi lei mei fu again... I'll compete with that this year.
I just started working my competition yang form again... we'll see how well it comes along in the next five weeks.

[Chief Fox]

Monday 02/07/2005
Today I swam 1000 yards at lunch. Total time for the swim was 24:53. This was the first time I've swam 1000 yards in a long time. Probably like 2 years. I'm glad I'm getting back into swimming. It's good for my shoulder and for my cardio. My first 100 yards was completed in 1:57. This is about my average time. I've also been counting strokes per length. Right now my average strokes per length is 18. I'd love to get that down to 16 but that would be a huge improvement. I'll stay at 1000 yards here for a while and then move up to 1200 in a month or so.

Tomorrow is run day. Hoping to run 4 miles. If it's too snowy I may switch up my routine a bit.

[Chief Fox]

Tuesday 02/08/2005
Ran 4 miles at lunch.

38:45 - kinda slow but it was 26°,cloudy, snowy and icy on the trail. My friend and I also just *****ed about the place we work the whole time. It was a good run.

Tomorrow is forms and full body workout.

[norther practitioner]

but the question here is when the other designs coming out?

[Chief Fox]

Originally posted by norther practitioner
but the question here is when the other designs coming out?

Well that's kind of a funny story. I went to school for graphic design and illustration. I do web design now. But I thought "hey, why don't I combine the two things I really enjoy and try to make something out of it". So I came up with this kung fu t-shirt idea. I used some money that I got from a freelance web job, put an ad in "Inside Kung Fu" magazine and had 100 t-shirts printed up. The shirts are nice and the design is a 6 color design so they were kinda pricey.

The first day of the first month the ad was in the magazine I got an order! I was thinking that if I could sell most of this one style I would then have enough money to get that style re-printed and introduce a new design too.

To date I have sold 1 t-shirt and that's it. Kind of a bummer but I knew going in that it was a gamble. So now I'm thinking about going to dragon fest next year to try to sell the rest of my shirts.

I have 3 more designs all ready to go but I'm afraid to just throw money at it and get them all printed.

What do you think of the first design? I've attached a close up of it. I'd upload the other designs but I don't have them here at work.

[norther practitioner]

how much? like 20 beans right?
If you come up anytime soon (there are a lot of cny things going on this weekend by the way) bring an l or xl depending on how they are sized, and I'll buy shirt #2.

[Chief Fox]

Not sure when I'll be up in Denver but I also have a Cafe' Press store set up. You can get a white shirt there: http://www.cafepress.com/artforrunners.12924055

[Chief Fox]

Wednesday: 02/09/2005
Today I worked on forms for about 35 minutes and then I did some rotator cuff exercises and some pullups. I ran out of time. I really need to spend an hour or two on forms a day. I am getting better/more familiar with them but I just need to spend more time going through each move.

Tomorrow I run and have Kung Fu class at night.

[Chief Fox]

Last night I had some extra time and I was feeling energetic so I did another pull up pyramid up to 4 and back. Then I worked with my homemade clubbells a bit. My left shoulder is so much weaker and less stable than my right. Anyway the additional pull up work and the additional shoulder work has made me just little sore today. Feels good. I've lost a little bit of weight since starting this journal. Probably about 3lbs. I now weigh 175lbs. I'd like to get down to 170lbs.

That's it for now. I'm running 4 miles at lunch and I have kung fu class tonight.

[Chief Fox]

Thursday 02/10/2005
Today I did not feel like running at all. The guy I run with is sick and I was thinking that the trail was going to be all muddy. Well I ended up running and I had a great run. The trail was a little muddy but much drier than I thought it was going to be. I ran 4 miles in 36:36.

Hip flexor is still a bit sore.

Tonight I have Kung Fu class WATAAAAA!

[Chief Fox]

Last night I went to my kung fu class. The normal instructor wasn't there so one of the advanced students conducted class. We warmed up, did some drills, sparred a bit and then worked on forms. We talked a bit about reading your opponents next move by their hip movements. It was interesting. When sparring, I felt good, in control and relaxed. Another good class.

Tonight just about the whoel kung fu school is getting together at a local Chinese restaurant to celebrate new year so that should be fun.

Today at lunch I'm practicing forms and doing a full body workout.

[Chief Fox]

Saturday 02/12/2005
Today I had my Tai Chi class and then Kung Fu right after. Tai Chi is feeling better and better all the time. I was able to do part of the form on my own a few times this week. I would like to get to the point where I can do the whole form everyday. Kung Fu was a laid back class. My main instructor wasn't there (family emergency). We warmed up, did some drills and then worked on forms. I got in some staff sparring too. I suck at staff sparring I need the practice. Two other students and myself are going to get together a few times a week to work on staff sparring.

Tomorrow I may go for a run and then get together with my staff sparring friends.

didn't work out yesterday, knee was a little sore and so was my shoulder. Took the day off.

[Chief Fox]

Monday 02/14/2005
Didn't do my normal swim workout today. Instead I did my staff form once. Ran through the wooden dummy fomr a few times. Did a pull up pyramid from 1 to 5 and back. Then I worked with my clubbells a bit. I noticed increased stability in my left shoulder. This is good.

Tomorrow I run 4 miles at lunch and I'm thinking about going to kung fu class tomorrow night.

[Chief Fox]

Tuesday 02/15/2005
I just got back from running 4 miles and it's freakin' ccccccccold outside. Felt good to run though. Hip flexor felt fine. Knee is a little sore but not bad. Time was 37:47. Strong headwind on the way back.

Tonight I've got kung fu class.

[Chief Fox]

Wednesday 02/16/2005
Today I worked on forms and then did a full body workout.

My forms are coming together and my cardio is improving. Usually it takes 35 minutes to work through all my forms and I'm usually out of breath by the end. Today I finished them all in 31 minutes and I felt like I was taking it easy. I was still winded but I felt pretty good.

The full body workout is pretty basic but I think it's effective. I do a pyramid workout from 1 to 5 and then back down to 1.

Today I did:
Pullups x1 (1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1)
Pushups x2 (2,4,6,8,10,8,6,4,2)
135lb. @ss to grass squats x1 (1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1)

The pullups felt good I struggled to get that 5th one in and then the fourth one on the way back down.

The pushups were easy wich is great news because my shoulder has been giving me trouble since last summer and now it's feeling a lot better. I still don't feel ready to do bench press yet but I probably will soon.

The squats were also easy. next time I'll go up in weight.

Another exercise I may add next time is power cleans or deadlifts.

I would also like to add in that planche progression workout but that may be pushing my time limit. I could try that at home in the evenings. Something to think about.

Tomorrow is running day but I'm not sure if I'm going to. My legs were a bit sore yesterday. I think I'm ready for new shoes. We'll see.

[Chief Fox]

Thursday 02/17/2005
Ran 4 miles today at lunch. Legs were still sore so I ran it very slowly. Still a good run though. Kinda muddy and sloppy out there but it's a beautiful day.

Tonight I've got kung fu class.

Tomorrow is forms at lunch and a full body workout.

[Chief Fox]

Friday 02/18/2005
Today I did forms and a upper body workout at lunch.
Forms are coming together. I still need to work on my white crane form a bit. There are some things that I need to clear up but for the most part I'm right where I want to be.

Upper body workout was 1 to 5 to 1 pyramid.
pullups x1
pushups x2
situps x3

then I did some rotator cuff exercises.

I did not go to class last night. I was feeling a bit run down and thought I might be coming down with something. I guess it's a good thing that I didn't go because I was feeling better this morning. Need to rest tonight.

Tomorrow I have Tai Chi and then Kung Fu and I'll be sure to go to both of those.

[Chief Fox]

Tuesday 02/22/2005
Ran 4 miles at lunch

Wednesday 02/23/2005
Today I worked on forms at lunch. I found out that I'm going to be testing tomorrow night so I didn't want to wear myself out doing a full body workout. I will also probably not run tomorrow at lunch so I can be fresh tomorrow night.

I worked on wooden dummy over the weekend. There is so much there in those techniques. I really like it. I'm thinking about modifying one of my praying mantis forms to see if it would work on the dummy.

[Chief Fox]

Thursday 02/24/2005
Kung Fu class tonight. I had the first part of my next level test. We warmed up, went through 9 forms including a broadsword form and then we sparred. 3 rounds of one on one and then one round of two on one for the testers. All the forms went pretty well and I sparred well but I must side step more. I sometimes get caught flat footed. Then we worked on forms a bit.

Next class is saturday and I will probably have the rest of the test then. That will be 11 more forms including a staff form and then some staff sparring.

Tomorrow I'll practice my forms and then try to get in a full body workout if I can.

[Chief Fox]

Saturday 02/26/2005
Well I didn't have the rest of my test. I think my instructor will have it this week.
I had Tai Chi and then Kung fu class after. Tai was great as always and then Kung Fu was another good class. I didn't spar because I was feeling a little beat up from Thursday but it was still a great class.

I'll probably just do some shoulder exercises today. I might hook up with a friend later to do some wooden dummy work.

[Chief Fox]

Wednesday 03/02/2005
Didn't workout monday or tuesday. Came into work with my stuff on monday planning to workout but somewhere during the day I got a migraine headache that lasted all through tuesday. Still have a slight headache today but I went and ran anyway.

Ran 3.5 miles at lunch in Red Rock Canyon. I'm going to be modifying my workout routine because the days are getting nicer and longer so I'll be doing more running.

I signed up for the Pikes Peak Ascent trail race. Basically you run up Pikes Peak. The trail is 13.1 miles with a total elevation gain of 7,815 ft ending at 14,110 ft above sea level. I've run it twice before. My goal this year is to run it in under 4 hours.

[red5angel]

nice run that. Good luck geting to the top of the peak, plant my flag for me will ya! :D

[Chief Fox]

I've run the race twice before.

In 2002 I did it in 4:44.
In 2004 I did it in 4:23.

The race is on August 20th of this year. So I have about 6 months to train. My mistakes in the past have always been not enough training at altitude (over 11,000 feet). So this year I intend to include one run at that altitude or higher each week.

[JadeMantis]

That looks like fun Chief.

Only 23 minutes to shave off and 6 months of training. You should do that.

Good Luck and train hard.

JM

[Chief Fox]

It is fun. Just to give you and idea of what the race is like. The first year I ran it I got to 11,000 feet (tree line) in 3 hours. With 3 miles left to go. Being at altitude and having already run 10 miles the last 3 miles took me 1:44 to complete. Last year I did that same final 3 miles in about 1:30. This year I'm actually hoping to knock that down to an hour. I plan to do a lot of training at altitude.

[Chief Fox]

Thursday 03/03/2005
Tonight I had kung fu class. Another great class. warm ups with some isometric tension. Then some line drills. Then 4 rounds of sparring. Some form work. A bunch a Chin na and then some staff sparring.

Tomorrow I stretch in the am and then run at lunch.

Here's the new schedule Please critique.

Monday: Stretch in am. Run at lunch
Tuesday: Tai Chi in am. Forms in the park and a clubbell workout.
Wednesday: Stretch in am. Run at lunch
Thursday: Tai Chi in am. Forms in the park and a clubbell workout.
Friday: Stretch in am. Run at lunch
Saturday: Tai Chi and Kung Fu
Sunday:Hike in the mountains.

I'm quitting my gym membership and intend to get an Olympic set for home so I can do deadlifts and squats.

[JadeMantis]

Schedule looks good Chief, lots of cardio ready for the Peak race. Yep run still looks a hell of a lot of fun. Out of interest do you know the fastest time was for the course ??

How did the rest of your grading go ??

Cheers JM

[Chief Fox]

Schedule looks good Chief, lots of cardio ready for the Peak race. Yep run still looks a hell of a lot of fun. Out of interest do you know the fastest time was for the course ??

How did the rest of your grading go ??

Cheers JM

Hey JM, thanks for all the interest. The winner of the Pikes Peak Ascent ran it in 2:23 last year. I can't even imagine running it this fast. The 4 hour mark is pretty much the difference between recreational type runners and competitive age group runners so I'm shooting for that.

The rest of the grading didn't happen yet. My Sifu is in a difficut spot. He's got some family issues and really doesn't have time right now to complete the test. I'm ready and so are my classmates but we don't want to pressure our sifu. He's got enough to worry about right now. I'm not really in it for the sash color anyway so I'm being paitient. Thanks for asking.

[JadeMantis]

Thats some time Chief, that guy "presuming he's a he and not a she" sounds like Superman :) .

Ive been reading alot of the posts of the forum for the past few weeks and it really inspired me. It makes my day finding out how everyone is doing.

I know what you mean about the training and the gradings; just in there for the fun of it. I hope everything works out well for your Sifu.

Have a good weekend

JM

[Chief Fox]

Friday 03/04/2005
Did some dynamic stretching when I got up this morning. And ran about 4 miles at lucnh. Forgot my watch so i don't know how long I took but it was a great run. I'm thinking about getting Thomas Kurz's DVD on stretching and going through his routines 3 times a week.

Notes: Right hip is a bit sore but feels ok. Knees feel great.

[norther practitioner]

Dude, what has been up with the weather this winter, it's like we're only getting like 2.5 seasons a year now.

[norther practitioner]

:eek:
Hey JM, thanks for all the interest. The winner of the Pikes Peak Ascent ran it in 2:23 last year.



**** dude, thats ****ing rediculous

[Chief Fox]

Dude, what has been up with the weather this winter, it's like we're only getting like 2.5 seasons a year now.

Yeah man, it's crazy. But it's great if you like to run outside. I read an article that in 40 years there won't be enough snow to keep the ski areas open. How messed up is that.

2:23 to the top of Pikes Peak is amazing. And last year there was 3 inches of snow at the top. Had the conditions been better, I'm sure the guy could have run it faster.

[Chief Fox]

Saturday 03/05/2005
Today I had Tai Chi and then Kung Fu class after. I started learning the Tai Chi sword form today and all I can say is COOL! We practiced the form a few times and then did some sparring.

In Kung Fu class we did a bunch of stance drills, then some line drills, then some forms, then some sparring, then more stance drills and then a couple more forms. It was a tough class but good.

I'm off to KFM.com to buy a wooden tai chi sword.

[Chief Fox]

Sunday 03/06/2005
I worked on my staff form a few times and some basic spins, went for a short hike with my son, did a clubbell workout with my home made clubbells. Then I did some dyanmic stretching and then some static holds with ankle weights.

[Chief Fox]

Monday 03/07/2005
Today is the start of my new workout schedule.
Ran 3.5 miles today on hilly red rock canyon. 35 minutes. Took it easy at first felt good at the end. My right hip is still bothering me a bit but not until well into the run.

Tomorrow I intend to do some Tai Chi in the morning and then practice forms at lunch with some clubbell work, situps, hindu squats and pullups.

The main goal this week is to get in three runs during the week. M, W, and F.

[Chief Fox]

Tuesday 03/08/2005
Today I worked on some forms. Then I did some rotator cuff exercises. The word on the street is the rest of my test will be tomorrow. FINALLY!

I also did what i know of my Tai Chi form this morning. I guess I know about half of it. I also got confirmation today that my wooden Tai Chi sword has shipped.

Tomorrow is running day and then the rest of my Kung Fu test tomorrow night.

[Chief Fox]

Wednesday 03/09/2005
Ran about 4 miles at lunch. Felt pretty good. Hip isn't too sore and knees feel fine. A good run. The rest of my kung fu test is tonight. I'm ready and have been for a few weeks. I'll update later on how the test goes.

[Chief Fox]

Wednesday 03/09/2005 PM Kung Fu Class
Completed my Kung Fu test for my next level. Did two open hand sets then a staff set then 8 Chin Nas and 7 more open hand sets. After that we did 2 rounds of regualr sparring and then 2 on 1 sparring. Running this afternoon was not a good idea. Both of my calfs were cramping and I'm pretty sure that I didn't eat enough today. Still got through the test. It was fun.

Tomorrow I'm taking as a rest day and then running on Friday.

[JadeMantis]

Congratulations Chief. Well Done. :D

[Chief Fox]

Congratulations Chief. Well Done. :D

Thanks man. I'm satisfied with my test and my instructor came up to me after and told me that he was really impressed with my sparring. So that was a little ego boost.

[red5angel]

Congrats chief, what level does that make you respective to your school rank system?

[Chief Fox]

Congrats chief, what level does that make you respective to your school rank system?

THANKS. This puts me at just half way through my schools curriculum. I've probably got another 2 years to get through the whole thing. I feel like I've come so far in the past 2.5 years. I'm excited about what's to come.

[norther practitioner]

Congrats bro..

hope all is well down there.

Zhang San Feng festival is coming up, you should try to make it up here.

[JadeMantis]

Hey Chief, Its always good for your Sifu to give you some praise, a very good moral and motivator boost. What will you be learning for this grade ??
Congrats again.

Cheers

[Chief Fox]

Congrats bro..

hope all is well down there.

Zhang San Feng festival is coming up, you should try to make it up here.

Thanks man. I haven't heard of the Zhang San Feng Festival. When and where is it?

[Chief Fox]

Hey Chief, Its always good for your Sifu to give you some praise, a very good moral and motivator boost. What will you be learning for this grade ??
Congrats again.

Cheers

For the next level I'll be learning 2 open hand mantis sets, a spear set and my instructor is thinking about adding a fatal flute set. COOL!

[JadeMantis]

Nice. Whats the Fatal Flute set ?? Not heard of that before. It sounds like loads of fun.

[red5angel]

fatal flue eh? so next time your at band camp...... :D

[norther practitioner]

Thanks man. I haven't heard of the Zhang San Feng Festival. When and where is it?


Zhang San Feng is the legendary founder of taiji. We throw a demo and a party every year for his birthday. Usually in early April.

[Chief Fox]

JM - I don't know much about the fatal flute form. My instructor was just talking about how he may include it for this next level. I've never even seen before. The only thing I can find on it on the web is this book: LINK (http://www.cfwenterprises.com/product.asp?s=cfw&mimid=H2BHM8CG4CGW9PEU91S4GSBFJ6GA7VJA&pf_id=215&dept_id=272)

red - This one time at band camp, I took my fatal flute and I ..... :eek:

np - The fetival sounds pretty cool. You'll have to send me the details.

[Starchaser107]

good work chief fox

[Chief Fox]

good work chief fox

Thanks man, I appreciate it.
:D

[Chief Fox]

Monday 03/14/2005
Today I went through all my forms and tried to focus on very deliberate movements. I then did squats. 6x135 - 6x185 - 6x185. I then did a series of static stretches for my quads and hamstrings. I'm very close to full front squats. (edit: this should say splits)

Friday was my anniversary my wife and I went out of town so I didn't workout. Saturday was an awesome day. I did some staff work in the back yard and then did a clubbell workout. Sunday, I did a puch up pyramid from 1 to 10 to 1 and then some stretching.

Tomorrow I'll probably run and then go to kung fu class.

I ordered Thomas Kurz's "Secrets of Stretching" DVD this weekend and will start doing his workout a few days a week. The goal is full side splits on chairs.

[Chief Fox]

Tuesday 03/15/2005
Ran 3.85 miles at lunch on a new running route. Next time I'll stretch it to an even 4 miles. I am very sore from doing squats yesterday and still sore from my push up pyramid on the weekend. I've been focusing a lot on forms lately and not lifting as much and I can tell. Anyway, just took it easy on the run and stretched a bit after.

Tonight I have kung fu class if I'm not too sore.

[red5angel]

lucky ******* and you're running. It's getting into the 40's here though at the end of the week, I may sart up again..... :)

[FngSaiYuk]

lucky ******* and you're running. It's getting into the 40's here though at the end of the week, I may sart up again..... :)
40's? lucky ******* ... it's still in the low 30's and forecasted to stay that way here. What's worse is that the local sports store wouldn't accept my check so I wasn't able to get the treadmill that was on sale...

[red5angel]

well that's because you're way up north! :D

We're looking at 40's towards the end ofthe week which usually means it should hit you guys by the weekend.
I'm sick of using my nordic track, all that work and I don't get to go anywhere! LOL

[Reggie1]

And I thought the weather was bad here because it's 65 and rainy.

I love Texas.

[red5angel]

fukk off :mad: :D

[Reggie1]

:D :D :D

I won't tell you what the weather was like last weekend. Or the forecast for this weekend. :)

[red5angel]

:mad: :mad: :mad: :(

[Chief Fox]

hijackers!

I admit, I'm pretty lucky. Everyone thinks of Colorado as being cold and snowy. The mountains are like that. But I live on the front range and it's mild and dry here most of the time. It was 70° and sunny this past saturday.

[Chief Fox]

Tuesday 03/15/2005 - PM Kung Fu Class
Kung Fu class tonight. Did some warm ups, then some two man drills with some iron bone training thrown in, then 3 rounds of sparring. Then worked on some forms with some of the newer students. Then I was able to work on my newest form. Then a round of sticky hands.

It was a good class. Kinda informal and low key. I sparred a guy who's about 4 inches taller than me (I'm 5'11") and has about 40lbs on me. He's a super nice guy but he's a spaz when it comes to sparring and I don't think that he gets the idea that we're supposed to try to work on applications of forms when we spar. He's sorta all over the place. It's probably a more realistic fight though. Anyway, it was a good round and he got a few shots in that would have hurt had they been full force. I need to move more and work my angles better when sparring larger stronger opponents.

[Vash]

[b]we're supposed to try to work on applications of forms when we spar.

teh l33t. :cool:

[red5angel]

hijackers!

I admit, I'm pretty lucky. Everyone thinks of Colorado as being cold and snowy. The mountains are like that. But I live on the front range and it's mild and dry here most of the time. It was 70° and sunny this past saturday.

Chief, I love the climate of colorado! I fell in love with it while I was there. It's just about perfect, you get all of the season with very few of the extremes, the very opposite of minnesota!

[Chief Fox]

Thursday 03/16/2005
Ran 4.22 miles at lunch. Felt good. Right hip flexor isn't sore. I guess my squats an other leg exercises are working.

Kung Fu class tonight.

[norther practitioner]

CF, are you or any of the guys from your school coming up this weekend to compete in the CKA event at the Holiday Inn DIA?

[Chief Fox]

NP, sorry I missed your post. I didn't go. I'm not sure if anyone else went but I suspect maybe because the class wasn't as big today as normal. I'll have to make it up there for a tournament this year. I'm not really into the point sparring though but I do enjoy the forms.

Saturday 03/19/2005
Tai Chi Class and then Kung Fu class after. My TaiChi was a little off this week but my strength and balance are increasing. Kung Fu was a good class. We did alot of warm ups then some drills then some stance work and then a lot of stretching. Then we sparred for three short rounds and then worked on forms. I worked on some two man china, some punching drills and my new tiger mantis form.

A good class.

Tomorrow I'll run and probably work with my clubbells.

[norther practitioner]

It's all good... I didn't end up going up there anyhow

[Chief Fox]

I've only ever been to one tournament. I placed second in forms and had already lost at point sparring before I got the hang of it. What do you do when you go to a tournament?

[norther practitioner]

Depends on the tournie...

here, just forms.. I don't like point sparring....

big tournies, so far, just forms.. I want to do continuous sparring at taiji legacy this year though... I'm too fat, I'll get my ass handed to me.

[Chief Fox]

Sunday 03/20/2005
Ran 3.1 miles today in Garden of the Gods. It was good to be out and this week was my first week with three runs in it in a while. I also did a clubbell workout after my run. My shoulders are feeling a lot stronger and more stabel these days because of these clubbell workouts.

Yesterday I got my Thomas Kurz DVD. So I'll begin to incorporate his methods into my weekly workouts. Tomorrow is the first day of Spring so my goal will be to do full side splits by the first day of summer June 21st. We'll see what happens.

Tomorrow is a running day with stretching in the am.

[Chief Fox]

Monday 03/21/2005
This morning I did my new stretching routine.
- warmup with joint rotations
- 10 front leg swings each leg
- 10 side leg swings each leg
- 10 back leg swings each leg
- 30 crunches
- 30 back extensions
- 50 adductor flys
- hurdlers stretch 1 min each leg
- lean back quad stretch 1 min each leg
- straddle stretch 1 min.
- fronts splits as far as I could go 1 min. each leg.

Ran 4 miles at lunch. Felt pretty good. First time I've run two days in a row in a while.

Tonight I'll do some more relaxed stretches while watching TV with the kids.

Tomorrow I do forms, deadlifts and pullups.

[Chief Fox]

Wednesday 03/23/2005
AM stretching = leg swings, adductor flys, straddle stretches.

Ran 3.5 miles at lunch in red rock canyon. Right hip flexor is a little sore.

Tonight I have Kung Fu Class.

[Chief Fox]

Wednesday 03/23/2005 PM Kung Fu Class
My sifu was not able to make class tonight so one of the senior students conducted class and he did a great job.
We started out with some breathing exercises, then some stance drills, then pushups, situps, more stance and kicking drills, some line drills right out of our forms, then some forms application, then we worked on forms and then a round of push hands. then we finished up with more stance drills.

no sparring but still a good class.

tomorrow is forms and a full body workout at lunch.

[red5angel]

I actually enjoy mixing up the instructors some at my school. Some of them have tricks that help me to understand something someone else might not be able too.

[Chief Fox]

Yeah, the pace was a little different and the focus of the class was full body movement. He took this concept from drills to forms into application. He really did well.

Thursday 03/24/2005
AM: Did some leg swings, 100 adductor flys and some static stretches.

Lunch: I warmed up with some forms then did deadlifts and pullups.
Deadlifts: 6x135, 6x185, 6x185, 6x205
Pullups: 2x5

Straddle stretches and front splits. I'm almost there on the front splits. Another few weeks and I bet I'll have it.

Tomorrow is running day and a clubbell workout at home and then some stretching.

[Chief Fox]

Friday 03/25/2005
AM: Did some dynamic stretching this morning.

Lunch: Ran 4.25 miles in the cold snow and rain. It was awesome.

Tonight: Clubbell shoulder workout.

Tomorrow I have Tai Chi and Kung Fu class after.

[norther practitioner]

Yo, keep April 30th Open....

and then come up here

[Chief Fox]

Saturday 03/26/2005
Tai Chi Class and Kung Fu after.

Tai Chi was good, I almost have the second part of the form. We also worked on the tai chi sword form a bit too.

Kung Fu class was great as usual. We did our warm up, two man drills, 3 rounds of sparring and then worked on forms. I worked on my new black tiger mantis form and a started short stick form. I also did my first full front split EVER! My thighs were actually able to rest on the ground a bit. Only held it for about 10 seconds or so but it's improvement.

NP: what do you guys have going on April 30th? I'll try to keep it open but the boss (aka: the wife) has final say.

[norther practitioner]

Taijij festival for Cheung San Fung. Bring the family, it's a potluck and whatnot.

[Chief Fox]

Monday 03/28/2005
AM: Did a brief warm up, some dynamic stretches and then 100 adductor flys.

LUNCH: Ran 3.5 miles today in Red Rock Canyon. My friend and I spotted a new trail as we were leaving. We'll be trying that one out next time for sure.

I was a little concerned about running today because my left knee was sore all weekend. I've had trouble with the petellar tendon in my left knee before. So much so that I couldn't run or go to kung fu for a few months. In that time I discovered that the key to knee health is strength and flexibility. So I'll be doing plenty of stretches this week as well as squats tomorrow.

Tomorrow is kung fu forms, squats, pullups, pushups and static stretches.

[fa_jing]

CF: For the knees, I like that one where you lie on your stomach, put your hands behind your back and grab your ankles.

[Chief Fox]

CF: For the knees, I like that one where you lie on your stomach, put your hands behind your back and grab your ankles.

Thanks for the suggestion. The physical therapist showed me that one with a slight variation. You lay on the side of your bed on your stomach. One foot on the floor, other leg extended down the bed. The foot on the floor should be extended as forward as possible. You then reach behind you and grab the ankle of the leg on the bed and pull it to your butt. Increase the stretch by moving the foot on the floor even more forward.

Another one I do for my knees is an IT band stretch. Lay on your side and raise the leg on top up in the air and then lay it down in front of you. Doesn't seem like much but feels good.

[Chief Fox]

Tuesday 03/29/2005
AM: Warm up with leg swings and joint rotations. 100 adductor flys. Relaxed stretching for side and front splits.

LUNCH: Warm up with some joint rotations, kicks and stances. Work on forms.
Pullup/pushup/squat pyramid 1 to 5 to 1
Pullups: 1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1
Pushups: 2,4,6,8,10,8,6,4,2
Squats 155lbs: 1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1

Relaxed stretches for side and front splits.

This was a really good workout today. I did need some assist on the last pullup of the 5 set and then the 4 and 3 set on the way down. But otherwise a great workout. Next time I'll go up in weight on the squat.

Total workout time: 50 minutes

[Chief Fox]

Wednesday 03/30/2005
My legs were a bit tired from yesterdays squats so I didn't do my AM stretch routine today. I'll probably do it tonight.

LUNCH: Ran 4.22 miles in 37:21. That's an 8:51 pace. Not too bad. Although I shouldn't be worrying about pace at this time of year. I feel pretty good about it.

Tomorrow I work on forms and then do my pullup, pushup, situp pyramid with deadlifts instead of squats.

[Chief Fox]

Saturday 04/02/2005
So Thursday and Friday were a total wash. I caught a cold, woke up with a sore throat sneezing and coughing. Thursday night I took a tylenol pm cold and slept good. Then I drank a ton of fluids on friday and woke up today feeling pretty good. So I went to Tai Chi and Kung Fu. I was a bit more fatigued in class than I normally am but all in all it was a good class. After class my wife and I dug a huge freakin shrub out of yard and transplanted it in the back. That took 4 hours. I'm still feeling pretty good but I'm totaly wiped out. If I'm feeling ok tomorrow I'll go for a run. I'm glad this little cold didn't ruin my whole weekend.

[Chief Fox]

Monday 04/04/2005
Sunday i was kinda hurting from moving that d@mn shrub for 4 hours and I had to hang with the kids so I watched the Biker Build off marathon for most of the day. I even took a nap.

Today at lunch I ran for 36 minutes. Not sure how far because we ran on a new trail. next time I'll have to bring my GPS watch to see how far it is.

Tonight seeing how it will be lighter outside I'll probably work some forms in the back yard.

Tomorrow is forms and a full body workout with some stretching too.

Oh, and I was able to do a full front split on saturday. My flexibility is improving!

[Chief Fox]

Tuesday 04/05/2005
Today I did a brief warm up then worked on some forms. Then I did my pullup, pushup, squat and crunch pyramid.
pullups: 1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1
pushups: 2,4,6,8,10,8,6,4,2
squats 155lbs:1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1
crunches: 3,6,9,12,15,12,9,6,3

The weight I used for squats is way too light. Next time I'll use 185lbs.

Tomorrow I run and will probably do my stretching routine.

[Chief Fox]

Wednesday 04/06/2005
Ran 4.22 miles at lunch. Windy out there today.

Tomorrow I have my upper body pyramid and then dead lifts and kung fu class at night.

[norther practitioner]

You coming up or what man?

[Chief Fox]

Still too early to tell. Sorry man, you never know what's going to happen with my family.

[norther practitioner]

Make plans and you will..

I'm just razzin'... my sister and I talk about the lack of schedule, even though everything is scheduled with the kids and all...

[Chief Fox]

Friday 04/08/2005
Ran 4 miles in 36 minutes today at lunch.

Felt pretty good.

I didn't do my planned workout yesterday or go to class last night. Just took it as a rest day. Got some good sleep last night.

Tomorrow I have Tai Chi and then Kung Fu Class. Then I'm going to watch the Ultimate Fighter marathon on Spike TV.

[Chief Fox]

Saturday 04/09/2005
Today I had Tai Chi and then my kung fu class after. Tai Chi, as always, was a good class and then a decent kung fu class after. I didn't spar too well today. I didn't do bad but my conditioning is not what I want it to be. I need to step it up. My forms need work but what i apply in sparring isn't bad. I need to add some intense cardio sessions. I have a heavy bag in my garage but my garage is filled with crap so I don't have room to use it. Tomorrow I'll start moving somestuff around so I can at least use my bag. I also need to get a pair of bag gloves.

I'll also probably do a clubbell workout tomorrow for my shoulders.

[Chief Fox]

Monday 04/11/2005
Today I worked on some forms at lunch and then I did the CROSSFIT "Kelly" workout.

You do 5 rounds of
- 400 meter run
- 30 box jumps on a 24 inch box
- 30 wallball throws with a 10lb medicine ball.

I almost threw up.

I want to start incorporating CROSSFIT into my weekly routines more. I'd like to do 4 CROSSFIT workouts a week early in the morning. Then do my kung fu and running at lunch and then have my kung fu class a night a few times a week.

So the idea would be:
- body conditioning in the mornings.
- kung fu form and technique at lunch
- running at lunch.
- kung fu application at night.

So I realize that I could end up over training with this much so I would try not to have more than two workouts on any one day. I'll try it this week and see how it goes. The hardest part will be dragging my azz out of bed earlier.

Tomorrow: Xfit in the am, kung fu forms at lunch and kung fu at night. 3 workouts. we'll see how it goes.

[Chief Fox]

Tuesday 04/12/2005
AM: did some leg swings and then 100 adductor flys with ankle weights. I then did some static stretching for straddle and front splits.

LUNCH: Ran 4.22 miles in 36:47. That's an 8:43 per mile pace. That's pretty good for me.

Tomorrow I'll stretch more in the am and will try to do the CROSSFIT WOD at lunch and then I'll try to get to kung fu tomorrow night.

[Chief Fox]

Wednesday 04/13/2005
Am: Did some leg swings, 100 adductor flys with ankle weights and then some static stretching.

Lunch: Ran 4.23 miles. Just took it easy. I'm still recovering from my crossfit workout on monday. I think I'll modify my plans to include 2 crossfit workouts a week until I can get up to speed.

Tonight I have kung fu class.

Tomorrow I'll stretch in the morning and do crossfit at lunch.

[Chief Fox]

Wednesday 04/13/2005 PM Kung Fu class
Had a great class tonight. A senior student taught. We did an extensive warm up with some conditioning. Then we did some pad work. Sparred a couple rounds and then worked on forms. We finished up with soe stance drills wich really killed seeing how I went running today and am still not fully recovered from monday's crossfit workout.

Tomorrow I may take as a rest day. We'll see.

[norther practitioner]

30th, be here or be square

[Chief Fox]

Saturday 04/16/2005
Tai Chi and then Kung Fu class.
Tai Chi was good as usual and kung fu class was pretty good too. There were a lot of people there. I worked on a bunch of forms with a couple other classmates. Sparred 3 rounds and worked with some weapons.

Tomorrow I will probably go for a run in the morning.

[Chief Fox]

Monday 04/18/2005
Ran 4.23 miles at lunch. A pretty good run. Strong headwind on the way back. Kinda hot out there (74 degrees and sunny). Right hip flexor was a bit sore during part of the run but feels fine right now and as soon as I stopped.

Yesterday I did a few forms in the back yard including my staff form, short stick form and my new Black Tiger Mantis form. Then I carved some grips into my short stick. That took a little while. Then I did a shoulder clubbell workout with my home made clubbells. My shoulders are both feeling much more stable. My left shoulder is still not as strong as i would like it to be but I'm making progress.

Tomorrow I'll stretch in the am and then do a crossfit workout in the afternoon.

[Starchaser107]

Chief you do alot of running
do you find that is improves your stamina when doing forms and or fighting?
or do you just enjoy a good run.
I hate running I'm sure I mentioned this already.

When you run, is it usually on a flat surface or do you run uphill and on man made inclines etc.?

[Chief Fox]

Chief you do alot of running
do you find that is improves your stamina when doing forms and or fighting?
or do you just enjoy a good run.
I hate running I'm sure I mentioned this already.

When you run, is it usually on a flat surface or do you run uphill and on man made inclines etc.?

I believe that running gives me a good fitness base but I still get winded while sparring. Maybe not as much as everyone else but I do get winded. So it does help but only to a certain point.

I need to do more specific round/interval/HITT type training to really take me to the next level. I plan on incorporating this soon. I just have to clean out my garage so i can use my heavy bag. I've also just started adding in a crossfit workout from time to time so these will have me better prepared for fighting as well.

My opinion on running is a little biased because I really do just enjoy running.

I try to run mostly on trails. Right now I have a few that I mix up. Today I did a flat run on a man made trail that runs along a creek through the middle of town. I have a few others that are in local parks that are all single track type rolling trails. Later on this month I'll start getting up in the mountains more, so more and more of my runs will be very hilly on single track.

Thanks for asking. Are you thinking about going for a run?

[Starchaser107]

I am , but not for a while, the only thing to run on here is asphalt... I suppose and the park. Running on the asphalt (although I've done it, training for san shou) I fear might be rough on the knees with all that shock.
When I'm in Denver this summer maybe we could link up and go for a run on one of those trails, maybe even convince np. Co. has always been a plus for my endurance.

[Chief Fox]

That would be great. I still have to get up there to Denver and actually meet that guy. Maybe we could hook up at a tournament or something.

Some things to consider when running. First is the proper shoes. The right shoes can make you love running or hate it. Second is your running frequency. Start out very slow with only 1 or 2 runs a week and ramp up slowly month by month. Third is your running surface. They say the best surfaces are grass, trail, track, asphalt, concrete, in that order.

I jacked my knees running on concrete one summer. I was also wearing the wrong kind of shoes.

So what are you doig in Denver for the summer?

[Starchaser107]

Spending time with my wife. Hanging out with family. yadda.

[norther practitioner]

Maybe, we need to find a place to do 2 laps... I'll do one, then catch up to you guys on my bike during the second...


:D

[Chief Fox]

Tuesday 04/19/2005
Today I did the Crossfit "Fight Gone Bad" workout.

it goes a little something like this:
3 rounds of:
Wall-ball – 12 pound ball, 10 ft target. 1 minute
Sumo deadlift high-pull 50 pounds 1 minute
Box Jump – 20” box 1 minute
Push-press 50 pounds 1 minute
Row – calories 1 minute
1 minute rest

to be honest, I just wasn't ready for the load this was going to put on my cardio vascular system. I was burning out by the middle of the second round. The idea is to count the reps for each exercise and then count calories while rowing. Add it all up and that is your score. I ended up with a score of 264 (pretty bad). a good score would be in the 350 range. I'll use this as a bench mark and I'll do this work out once a week to see where I'm at.

Tonight I may go to kung fu class if my daughter doesn't have brownies.

[Chief Fox]

Wednesday 04/20/2005
Ran 4 miles at lunch. Rolling course affectionately know as the "homeless special" because of all the people we see along the course that choose to live outdoors.

Tonight I have kung fu class.

[Chief Fox]

Wednesday 04/20/2005 PM Kung Fu class
Started out with some warm ups and some stretching moved into situps and pushups. Then we did some line drills. 2 rounds of staff sparring, 2 rounds of open hand sparring. Worked on my Black Tiger Mantis form and my short stick of the northern begger form. Then we finished up with stance drills. Class time: 1.5 hours.

A great class. I didn't need those stance drills after running today. My legs are now offcially fried.

Tmorrow I practice forms at lunch and do my upper body pyramid. Pullups, pushups and situps.

[Chief Fox]

Thursday 04/21/2005
Lunch workout: Did some dynamic stretching for wram up and then some stances. Then I worked on forms for about 30 minutes. Then I did some static straddle and front splits stretches.

Didn't do the upper body pyramid. Decided to focus on my forms.

Tomorrow I run.

[Chief Fox]

Friday 04/22/2005
Ran 3.65 miles in Red Rock Canyon. A very hilly trail run. My friend and I are exploring new sections of this park all the time. We have a few ideas on how to link this run into one of our other runs that we do to make a huge MEGA RUN.

This morning I did some leg swings followed by 100 aductor flys with ankle weights and then some static straddle and front split stretches.

Tomorrow I have Tai Chi and then Kung Fu class after.

[Chief Fox]

Saturday 04/23/2005
Tai Chi and Kung Fu class. The usual awesome tai chi class and then a great kung fu class after. Did some warm ups, sparred a few rounds and then worked on forms. It was all good.

Tomorrow I'm helping my friends paint their house. Then maybe a run.

[norther practitioner]

http://www.taichidenver.com/events.html

Chang San-Feng Festival 2005
Year of the Rooster


Where: Fellowship Hall and Kitchen, Christ Church UM
690 Colorado Blvd. (E. 7th & Colorado)

When: Saturday April 30th
Festivities from 11 am - 3 pm
11:00 College Finals demos
12:30 Lunch
1:30 Community Demos
Masters Demos

Cost: POTLUCK - Bring something good! 12:30 - 1:30 pm
No charge, but donations for the room rental are appreciated.

A national holiday in China, April 9th is celebrated as the birthday of Chang San-Feng, the legendary founder of Taijiquan. Come celebrate with us and many other schools of T'ai Chi.

[Chief Fox]

Monday 04/25/2005
Today i was going to run but it was raining so I decided to do the "Fight gone bad" workout from Crossfit.com.

Fight Gone Bad is 3 rounds of the following
1 minute of wall ball (count reps)
1 minute of sumo deadlift high pull 50lbs (count reps)
1 minute of box jumps (count reps)
1 minute of Push Press 50lbs (count reps)
1 minute on rower (count calories burned)

After 3 rounds add up all your reps and cals and that's your score.

Score last week 264
Score this week 306

Next week I'm shooting for 310 witha goal of being at 350 in another month.

I'll probably run tomorrow seeing how I didn't run today.

[Chief Fox]

Tuesday 04/26/2005
AM: Did some dynamic stretching, then did 100 adductor flys with ankle weights, then some static straddle and front split stretches.

LUNCH: Ran 4.23 miles in 36:47. That's an 8:41 pace. Felt pretty good. Some where in the 3rd mile my right foot cramped up a bit and it sorta hurt on and off for the rest of the run. I think I'll only run 2 days this week and it's probably time for new shoes.

Tomorrow I'll work on forms at lunch and then I have kung fu tomorrow night.

[norther practitioner]

Hey man, you think you'll make it up for the afternoon?

[Chief Fox]

NP, I don't think I'll be able to make it. I'm really sorry. I know, I know. You told me about it like two months ago, gave me plenty of time to make room on my schedule. To be honest, there's just too much cr@p in my life right now. Things at home are just way out of control. I won't bore you with the details. Just in case I do manage to come up there, what size T-shirt do you wear?

Today's workout.
Thursday 04/28/2005
Worked through all of my open hand forms at lunch. Went through them kinda slow for two reasons. I really needed to focus on the techniques and my foot still kinda hurts from my run on monday.

After the forms I did a set up pullups, did a few sets of flat bench (haven't benched in a while because of my shoulder), did some seated military press, some incline situps and then two sets of adductor flys. I did these flys on the cable machine with my foot in the loop pulling downward.

Then I did some static stretching for srtaddle and front splits.

[norther practitioner]

I'm beefy bro...

xl


hope you can sneek away...
It won't take more time than one of your uber runs to get up here...

lol, I promise it'll be good for you taiji.

[Chief Fox]

So if I can make it, how will I know you?

I'm white, 5'11", 175lbs, dark hair and will probably be wearing a black Kung Fu Style t-shirt. Oh and my name is Brian.

[norther practitioner]

I'll be in white or blue (prob. white) silks, I'll prob. be the only one doing a kung fu demo, more than likely broadsword.

I sent an email to the info addy @ kung...style
with a pic.

[Chief Fox]

Well as I sit here right now, I'm missing Norther Practioner's tai chi day festivities. Sorry NP, I couldn't make it happen. I hope it was a success.

Saturday 04/30/05
Tai Chi class and then Kung Fu after. Tai Chi was awesome. We did some warm up breathing exercises, then some line drill type strenght and balance exercises. Then we went through the form. The form took about 25 minuters to complete. I still don't have all of it yet. Slowly but surely.

Kung Fu was a great class too. Warm up, line drills, two man drills, sparring, then worked on forms.

Tai Chi started at 9:45 and kung fu was over at noon. A full 2:15 of kung fu. I needed that with the week I had.

[norther practitioner]

So sick.. three schools showed up this year... good stuff

[Chief Fox]

Sunday 05/01/2005
Today i got up and ran 3 miles in The Garden of The Gods. It was a good run, very muddy clay on parts of the trail but still a good run. My new shoes feel great and my foot didn't hurt at all.

tomorrow is supposed to be a running day. I'll have to see how my foot feels.

[Chief Fox]

Monday 05/02/2005
My foot felt fine so I ran 4 miles at lunch. Right hip flexor was a bit tight but no big deal.

Tomorrow I do forms and some and probably my upper body pyramid.

[Chief Fox]

Tuesday 05/03/2005
Lunch: Did some dynamic stretching then I worked on forms for about 30 minutes.

Tonight: Kung Fu Class. Great warm up. Learned the next few moves of my new Dai Ye Low (spelling?) Mantis set. Did a few rounds of sparring. Worked on my short stick form a bit then helped some lower ranking students with some forms.

Tomorrow I run.

[Chief Fox]

Wednesday 05/04/2005
Had an easy run in the rain. 4.23 miles in 38 mins. That's an 8:59 pace. Foot felt fine, hip flexor felt fine and knees felt fine.

Tonight I may do a shoulder workout with my homemade clubbells.

Tomorrow I may do a crossfit workout or practice forms and then Kung fu tomorrow night.

[Chief Fox]

Friday 05/06/2005
Well yesterday was a wash. I took it as a rest day. I was really worn down so I did nothing.

Today I did some dynamic stretching then went through my forms, did some adductor flys on the cable machine with 40lbs. Then I did some static stretches for straddle and front splits.

Tomorrow I have Tai Chi. I'll be skipping the kung fu class because we're having a garage sale and then I have to take my daughter to a birthday party.

[Chief Fox]

Saturday 05/07/2005
Saturday I went to my Tai Chi class. It was a good class as always. We warmed up, did some line drills/breathing exercises and then went through the form. Then we did the sword form. I'm so bad at the sword form. It was still a good class though.

Sunday 05/08/2005
I did my clubbell shoulder work out, did arm grabs from the No Weights Workout and then did some jack knifes on my rings. I also went through the wooden dummy form.

Monday 05/09/2005
This morning I went running in the Garden of the Gods atleast 3 miles. It was so nice to be out there in the morning instead of lunch. I'll probably move a coupel of my runs a week to the mornings.

Tomorrow, I'll work on forms and probably do an upper body pyramid.

[stubbs]

How long does it take you to run your 3 or 4 miles? Have you made much progress in your min/mile pace?

Has your flexability increased/decreased?

(sorry if you've posted it already - haven't had a chance to read the whole thing)
________
Ryuga (http://www.ford-wiki.com/wiki/Mazda_Ryuga)

[Chief Fox]

How long does it take you to run your 3 or 4 miles? Have you made much progress in your min/mile pace?

Has your flexability increased/decreased?

(sorry if you've posted it already - haven't had a chance to read the whole thing)

Right now I'm training at about an 8:50 per mile pace. I run 4 miles in less than 36 minutes. My race pace is faster. Last year a ran a local 5k (3.1 miles) in 22 minutes. That's a 7:20 pace. I do a light stretch beffore each run and then longer static stretches after.

Over the past few months I've been trying to increase my flexibility. My goal is to do front splits and side splits. I've made progress in both areas but more in the front split category. I've been using Thomas Kurz's Stretching Scientifically method as my stretching routine. It's going pretty well.

It goes like this:
I start out with some dynamic stretches/leg swings. I start low and slow and do as many reps as it takes to reach my max height. Then I do 100 adductor flys with ankle weights. I lay on my back and raise my legs up so they are perpendicular to the floor. I then spread my legs as far as they will go and then bring them back together. Then I do static stretches for Straddle and front splits. Progress has been slow but steady. I also have one of those Manual Leg Stretchers (http://www.martialartsmart.net/20-76.html) that I use when I watch TV sometimes.

I also do a lot of stretches for my shoulders.

Thanks for the questions.

[stubbs]

Cool man. That sounds like a similar pace to mine when I was running regularly.

Was it you who came up with the split challenge thing at the beginning of the year? I bought a stretch machine like that because of the challenge but never got round to using it. Flexability is going to be one of my main priorities when I get back into training.

I haven't trained for a month because I'm resting my ankle and shoulder. I sprained my ankle quite badly and my shoulder was hurting from over-use/old training injury coming back. I was going to start training again today but I've got a cold/flu/pro-longed hangover at the moment so I'll put it off until Thursday.

What problems have you had with your shoulder? I find stretching each arm individually, first using one arm to hug yourself going under your other arm, then stretching up as far as you can, then slowly bring your arm back down and then behind your back making an L-shape with your arm. Does that make sense?
________
YAMAHA XT600 (http://www.cyclechaos.com/wiki/Yamaha_XT600)

[Chief Fox]

Cool man. That sounds like a similar pace to mine when I was running regularly.

Was it you who came up with the split challenge thing at the beginning of the year? I bought a stretch machine like that because of the challenge but never got round to using it. Flexability is going to be one of my main priorities when I get back into training.

I haven't trained for a month because I'm resting my ankle and shoulder. I sprained my ankle quite badly and my shoulder was hurting from over-use/old training injury coming back. I was going to start training again today but I've got a cold/flu/pro-longed hangover at the moment so I'll put it off until Thursday.

What problems have you had with your shoulder? I find stretching each arm individually, first using one arm to hug yourself going under your other arm, then stretching up as far as you can, then slowly bring your arm back down and then behind your back making an L-shape with your arm. Does that make sense?
My sholder injury is also an over use injury. I'm over the hump right now and slooooooowly getting better. I do the one arm hug stretch. I also put both hands behind my butt and lace my fingers together, I stratighten my elbows and slowly raise my arms up behind me. This really stretches the front of the shoulder. Another one I do is with a broom stick. I hold the stick in front of me with a hand at each end. I then raise the stick up, over and behind my back. I bring it back in front of me, close my grip a bit and do it again. I keep doing this until I can't close the grip anymore.

The split challenge was my idea and I still use my leg spreader almost every night. Only in the past month I've really been focusing on increasing the flexibility in my legs. I've actually made a lot of progress. Not close to a full side split yet but front splits are getting there.

Well good luck coming back from those injuries. I've been there before and it's not easy. Just take your time and make slow steady progress.

[Chief Fox]

Tuesday 05/10/2005
Today at lunch I did some dynamic stretching for my legs, did some stances to warm up a bit. Then I worked on forms for about a half an hour. I then did adductor flys on the cable machine with 40lbs. Then I did some light squats. 135x6, 155x6, 175x6. I then did some static stretching for straddle and front splits.

Tomorrow I'll probably run in the morning again and work on some forms at lunch.

[Chief Fox]

Wednesday 05/11/2005
Ran 5+ miles this morning in Garden of the Gods. Just took it easy and cruised along. It felt really good to be out. I enjoy running in the morning more than the lunch runs. I may practice forms today at lunch. Not sure. I may be able to go to Kung Fu class tonight. Got to check with the wife first.

Tomorrow I practice forms at lunch with some dynamic stretching.

[Chief Fox]

Friday 05/13/2005
I had a little run in with a stomach virus that crept up on me right after my run on wednesday morning. So I had the squirts all wednesday night and just took it easy on Thursday. Today I feel fine so I ran 4.23 miles at lunch.

Tomorrow I have Tai Chi and Kung Fu class.

[ewallace]

Friday 05/13/2005
I had a little run in with a stomach virus that crept up on me right after my run on wednesday morning. So I had the squirts all wednesday night and just took it easy on Thursday. Today I feel fine so I ran 4.23 miles at lunch.
I will sleep much better tonight, and I will be a better person tomorrow for having discovered the above information. Thanks CF. :D

[Chief Fox]

I will sleep much better tonight, and I will be a better person tomorrow for having discovered the above information. Thanks CF. :D

Glad I could help!
:D

[Chief Fox]

Saturday 05/14/2005
Tai Chi and then Kung Fu class after. What can I say, two great classes. Tai Chi is getting better all the time and I really feel confident when sparring in my kung fu class. Not saying I'm a great fighter, I just am happy with where I am right now.

tomorrow I may go for a long hike/run in the mountains. We'll see.

[Chief Fox]

Monday 05/16/2005
Sunday I worked in the yard all day. Cut some grass, pulled some weeds and repaired my back gate.

Monday at lunch I ran 4 miles easy.

Tuesday at lunch I'll work on forms and try to do my upper body pyramid if I have time. I'm sure I will do some stretching.

[Chief Fox]

Tuesday 05/17/2005
Worked on forms at lunch. some are shaping up others are not. Practice, practice, practice. Took so long with the forms I didn't have much time for anything else. Did some pullups, two sets of of adductor flys and then some static stretches.

I'm thinkning that I'll run tomorrow in the morning and then go to kung fu class tomorrow night.

[Chief Fox]

Wednesday 05/18/2005
today I ran 4.23 miles at lunch. didn't take my watch so I'm not sure how fast I ran it. But it felt good. Right hip flexor is a little sore, right foot is also a little sore, left knee had a little twinge. Just some minor tweaks nothing big. Stretched out after and feel pretty good now.

Tonight I have kung fu class.

Tomorrow I may try some kind of outdoor workout. I may practice forms at a local park.

[Chief Fox]

Wednesday 05/18/2005 PM kung fu class
A good class. Nice warm up with plenty of calistenics. Then we went through our first 5 forms as a group. Then we broke down into pairs to work on some applications. Then we sparred for 4 rounds. Then worked on forms the rest of the night.

We did a lot of pushups in our warm up and my tendonitis is acting up on me. I iced when I got home.

[Chief Fox]

Thursday 05/19/2005
today at lunch I went to a local park and did the following:
1. Clubbell shoulder workout.
2. Staff form
3. Broadsword form (sloppy)
4. Short stick form
5. then I tried to sit still and meditate for about 5 minutes. This was my first attempt ever at meditating. I sat still and tried to focus on my breathing. I was able to do it for a couple minutes. i guess I can only get better from here. I'll try again tomorrow.

Tomorrow I run at lunch. I may also do some weapons forms early in the am as well as another meditation attempt.

[Chief Fox]

Friday 05/20/2005
Ran 4.23 miles at lunch. Total time was 38:27, that's a 9:05 pace. My legs are sore, I need to take a few days off to recuperate.

I didn't work any forms this morning and no meditation either. I'll try to meditate tonight.

Tomorrow I have Tai Chi and Kung Fu.

[Chief Fox]

Saturday 05/21/05
I went to Tai Chi this morning and then this evening I went for a 3 mile run.

Tai chi is getting better all the time. I almost know the whole second section of the form.

My right hip flexor is very sore today after my run. Not sure why, I may need to balance out my strength a little better.

Tomorrow I plan to go for a bike ride on my road bike. First one of the year. Maybe riding my bike a couple times a week will help my hip flexor. We'll see.

[Chief Fox]

Sunday 05/22/2005
Took a little spin on my road bike today with a friend. 10.5 miles. A few decent hills that definately worked my hamstring differently. Hip flexor isn't sore at all today. The kids are done with school for the summer on Thursday of this week so I'll try to ride my bike to work a few times a week.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a running day but I may take it as a rest day or I may just practice forms. Not sure.

This past week was a good running week about 16 miles total. If I could get past this hip flexor thing and a little foot pain I could probably start putting in 20 mile weeks.

[norther practitioner]

Tai chi is getting better all the time. I almost know the whole second section of the form.

Yang long form?

[Chief Fox]

Yang long form?
Yes, we only do tai chi in class on saturday mornings so it is taking me a while to get through the set. I try to practice on my own a couple times a week but I always end up getting stuck somewhere. I have a few books that I use for reference and I have made some progress in the past two weeks. I really want to dedicate the rest of this year to learning the form well. We are also learning the straight sword form although we don't practice that every week.

The good news is, my instructor has decided to take the leap and expand the school. He'll be offering more classes and hopefully more tai chi sessions. We'll see.

Do you practice Tai Chi? What form? How often? Alone or with a group? Just curious.

[norther practitioner]

Yeah, I devote 20-40% of my time to Yang taiji chuan. 90% of the class is devoted to it though (as there are 3-4 gung fu students right now, and ~10 taiji). I work with the gung fu people most of the time, then my teacher corrects or shows them some more material to work on. I know the 24, then a form my teacher teaches which we call the 13, it's pretty much the 24 but only doing everything one time. I also practice my competition taiji form (moreso than any of the rest of it). I try to go through it at least once per class so I can remember it all.

also, he teaches the long form, the 48, I don't know if he's taught the 42 yet but I know he knows it, yang taiji broadsword x2, the 32 sword form, another yang sword form, a Yang fan form (I think he's pretty much made that one up), and I think he knows the taiji staff/spear form. He knows Chen style forms too but won't really teach that too much because he doesn't know all the applications. Sometimes we'll practice a little circle walking with a single palm change from bagua, and once in a while we'll do some drills from xingyi.

[Chief Fox]

Yeah, I devote 20-40% of my time to Yang taiji chuan. 90% of the class is devoted to it though (as there are 3-4 gung fu students right now, and ~10 taiji). I work with the gung fu people most of the time, then my teacher corrects or shows them some more material to work on. I know the 24, then a form my teacher teaches which we call the 13, it's pretty much the 24 but only doing everything one time. I also practice my competition taiji form (moreso than any of the rest of it). I try to go through it at least once per class so I can remember it all.

also, he teaches the long form, the 48, I don't know if he's taught the 42 yet but I know he knows it, yang taiji broadsword x2, the 32 sword form, another yang sword form, a Yang fan form (I think he's pretty much made that one up), and I think he knows the taiji staff/spear form. He knows Chen style forms too but won't really teach that too much because he doesn't know all the applications. Sometimes we'll practice a little circle walking with a single palm change from bagua, and once in a while we'll do some drills from xingyi.
You just reminded me. I've also seen my instructor doing the fan form a few times. So do you guys do a lot of push hands? Do you do the push hands drills or do you do freestyle? We do freestyle push hands about once a month or so.

I really enjoy tai chi. I wish I could do it more.

[norther practitioner]

So do you guys do a lot of push hands? Do you do the push hands drills or do you do freestyle? We do freestyle push hands about once a month or so.

We do this a lot, we do drills and freestyle...

I try to compete at push hands every tournie I go to.


I've also seen my instructor doing the fan form a few times.

We do our own... Not saying yours is, but a lot of people do mulan fan (which is half martial, half dance).




I really enjoy tai chi. I wish I could do it more. :D Me too.

[Chief Fox]

Tuesday 05/24/2005
Took yesterday as a rest day.
Today at lunch I did some dynamic stretching, went through some of my forms, did a clubbell shoulder workout, did some No Weights Workout Arm Grabs and then went through what I know of the Yang long tai chi chuan form. The entire workout lasted about 45 minutes.

I just started working out at a local park. You really get some funny looks from people when doing this stuff out in public.

Tonight I'm going to kung fu class.

Tomorrow I'll run at lunch.

[norther practitioner]

If you ever feel like taking a Sat. class off and coming out and doing some push hands with us, you're more than welcome.

[Chief Fox]

If you ever feel like taking a Sat. class off and coming out and doing some push hands with us, you're more than welcome.
Hey man, thanks for the invite. I just might take you up on that. I might have some time to get up there in the begining of June. You gotta promise to go easy on me though, I'm still very much a rookie when it comes to push hands.

[Chief Fox]

Wednesday 07/06/2005
Wow! It's been over a month since I've last updated my training log. I got a little burned out there and needed to switch some things up. I also went on vacation and had some nagging injuries to boot.

I'm ready to re-focus now. Here's some brief info on what happened.

injuries:
1. I have tendonitis in my shoulder. Every once in a while it gets inflamed and I have to take it easy for a bit.
2. I've had a nagging pain in my hip. I run a few times a week and this was really starting to bug me.
3. My feet have been getting sore from all the running.
4. I over stretched a bit using Thomas Kurz's stretching methods. OUCH!

vacation:
Went to St. Petersburg Florida to visit my parents. Also took the family to Disney for a few days. Had some nice down time with the wife and kids. Animal Kingdom was really cool.

burned out
1. Work has been sucking lately
2. Above mentioned injuries
3. Trying to do too much. Training for big race in August. Trying to get to side splits too quickly. Strength training. All this and still trying to focus on kung fu.

CURRENT TRAINING GOALS
This plan is still in it's development stages but here is what I'm doing.
1. The Pikes Peak Ascent is on August 20th. Some of you may remember me training for this race last year. The race is 13 miles up Pikes Peak with an average 11 percent grade. Last year I ran it in 4:22. The goal this year is under 4 hours.
2. Avoid injuries. To do this I will minimize my running to race specific running only. I will cross train with cycling, swimming and kung fu.
3. My next sash level test is in September so I plan to know my material inside and out by that time. My new forms are two mantis open hand sets, a short stick form and a spear form. I'm good with the mantis sets, pretty good with the short stick but I have just begun the spear set. There are also a few earlier forms that I need to practice more.

The Plan

Sunday - Long mountain run on Pikes Peak
Monday - Practice kung fu forms in am. Commute to work on bike. 5 miles each way.
Tuesday - Practice kung fu forms in am. Commute to work on bike. 5 miles each way.
Wednesday - Practice kung fu forms in am. Short Speed/Power workout on trails of Pikes Peak in pm.
Thursday - Practice kung fu forms in am. Kung Fu at night 5:45 to 8:30.
Friday - Practice kung fu forms in am. Commute to work on bike. 5 miles each way.
Saturday - Kung Fu and Tai Chi 9:45am to noon. Swim laps at pool in afternoon.

The Kung Fu forms practice will be a warm up, and then one form practiced several times at varrying pace. Then I'll finish up with some stretching. Total time should be about 30 to 40 minutes.

The Commute to work is not very long at all and is almost not a workout. The ride to work is a slight downhill the whole way and uphill on the way home. This makes the ride home a little more difficult but not that much. both ways, the ride is about 20 mins or less. The idea is for this to work with my running to keep my legs healthy and injury free.

The Sort Speed/Power workout is all up hill on the way out and easy downhill on the way back. This will take an hour to an hour and a half.

The long mountain run is just that. The idea of this run is to get me used to running at altitude. This run should take about 4 hours.

The Swimming is just at the local pool during adult swim while I'm there with the kids. This really helps my shoulder.

At this time, I've rememved strength traiing from my workouts. It just aggrivates my shoulder too much. I'll focus more on strength after the race on August 20th.

Tonight I'll be running the spead/power workout on Barr Trail of Pikes Peak.

[Chief Fox]

Thursday 07/07/2005
Last night I ran to the top of the W's. The W's are a series of switch backs on Barr Trail and the top is one of the major land marks that people use as a reference point. From where I started the top of the W's is about 2 miles and then 2 miles down. So the whole run was about 4 miles. It took 1:06 to complete the run. I'm happy about the run because i was able to run the whole way up. Usually you have to take a few walking breaks.

Now the bad news. My hip is freaking sore! My next run is on Sunday. This run will be more of a hike then a run. I'll see how it goes. If my hip is still sore on sunday, I'll just wait until next wednesday to run again.

Tonight I have kung fu class. I did not practice forms this morning because of my hip.

[Chief Fox]

Saturday 07/09/2005
Today I had Tai Chi Chuan. It was a great class. I feel like I've been away for so long because of vacation. I'm almost through the second part of the set.

Sunday 07/10/2005
Today I woke up and worked on some breathing exercises. then I went through some Tai Chi drills. Then I did as much of the form as I know. After that I went through my first 9 sets. Then I did some shoulder work with my clubbell.

Tomorrow I'll try to do some forms is the am and then ride my bike to work.

I didn't run today. I've decided that I don't want to be a crippled old man when I get older so I'm going to lay off for a bit. I'll still hike the moutain on race day but I probably won't break any records.

[Chief Fox]

Monday 07/11/2005
This morning I got up did some dynamic stretching, went through the tai chi chuan set, did some dynamic tension exercises and stances. Then I went through 4 of my forms. I need to re-focus on kung fu. I'm forgetting some of my forms. I'll make this week a good week for practice. I rode my bike to work. It took me all of 17:28 to get here. it's just a quick 5 mile ride.

Yesterday was a good day for me. I did my morning workout, went to the pool in the afternoon and did some laps and then went for a quick moutain bike ride in the early evening.

My shoulder has been pretty irritated lately. I know the circular motions of practicing kung fu irritate it sometimes and I think swimming irritates it too. I'm thinking about going back to the doctor for it. I've been doing all of my exercises and it is stronger but it's still inflamed. On a good note, my hip feels better and the pains in my knee and feet are gone.

Tonight, I'll ride my bike home go to the pool with the kids if its nice and then practice some forms.