Red's BLOG!!!!!!!

[red5angel]

Since all you crazy guys are starting blog I figured I might as well too. There's some good suggestions and advice going around as well so it might help me out.


Here are my goals: My core is weak, always has been and that's a detriment to Capoeira with all the acrobatics I'm doing. Cap has certainly helped but I need some more work.
I want to drop some weight. At the moment I'm 190lbs, would like to get down to about 175 by July. The only dieting plan I'm working on is changing my overall eating habits and moving to healthier eating, I will probably slightly cut some calories here and there but for the most part I'm working on life changes, ong term stuff.
Chief Fox and I discussed being able to do the side straddle splits in a year, that was 2 months ago so I have 10 months left.
Since Winter started I've slacked off quite a bit as well so just got back into hitting it hard yeaterday.

Other then that I'm working on overall strength and maintenance.

I won't be supplementing except for a daily vitamin. I don't think they're necessary, especially for my goals.

As for equipment I own:

I have dumbbells with a max weight on one being 55 lbs.

I have a long bar but it doesn't fit on my bench.

I have a weight machine that I can do seated flies, leg work, pull downs, rows, a couple of others.

We own a Nordic Track that I use for cardio in the winter.

A bowling ball for various things a swell.

I also have a pullup bar in the shape of an old clothes line in the backyard and I do dips on the deck.

[red5angel]

Starting with my workout from last night. I've been out of action for almost a month here so I consider that my new starting point.

30 minutes on the NT. To break up the monotony of indoor cardio I jump off about every 5 minutes and do about 30 pushups.

10 minutes of stretching afterwards.



This morning I did:

100 Hindu Squats

80 Bootstrappers

50 lunges - no weights

90 calf raises - sets of 30 alternating speeds in each direction.

10 minutes of stretching


Tonight:

30 minutes on the NT

75 Bombers

40 one arm pushups - we do these in capoeira. You squat down on one foot, the other leg out in front of you. On the side with the leg out, you put your hand down and twist your torso roughly 90 degrees to your legs, lean over and do one armed pushups. I do them in sets of 10 now. Hoping to buld up form there.

probably some handstand pushups, 30 or so.

[Chief Fox]

How's that split training going? I can almost do the front splits now and my side split is getting better.

glad you're getting back into the workout thing. keep it going.

[Toby]

Originally posted by red5angel
My core is weak ... I have dumbbells with a max weight on one being 55 lbs.Google "bent press", "windmills" and similar. 55lb is more than enough to do some nice effective lifts with those sorts of exercises.

[Fitdoc]

Chief and Red,

I began training one month ago (northern shaolin) and i too would like to increase my leg flexibility. I am a competitive bodybuilder, so my lower extremity flexibility is probably not as good as most. What type of training program are you employing in order to meet your side straddle splits goal?

[Chief Fox]

Originally posted by Fitdoc
Chief and Red,

I began training one month ago (northern shaolin) and i too would like to increase my leg flexibility. I am a competitive bodybuilder, so my lower extremity flexibility is probably not as good as most. What type of training program are you employing in order to meet your side straddle splits goal?

Here's a LINK (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33853&perpage=15&highlight=splits&pagenumber=1) to the thread. Feel free to join in. I missed my time line but I've noticed that Tai Chi has been increasing my flexibility.

[rubthebuddha]

red -- IM me next time you see me on msn. i'll have a present for you, and this time, it won't be nekkid pictures of rick moranis.

[red5angel]

Originally posted by rubthebuddha
red -- IM me next time you see me on msn. i'll have a present for you, and this time, it won't be nekkid pictures of rick moranis.

ah thank god, I'm stil trying to drink those images into oblivion! :D

Chief - I'm getting better but slowly. I'm nowhere near getting a front split yet but I'm hoping in a month to see some progress. My plan is to try some static stretching about 3 times a day, and some active stretching (kicks and so on) about once a day, probably as a warm up before each workout. We also have one of those stretching machines in class you sit down in and turn the wheel to stretch your legs. I'm hoping using that after each class for a few minutes will help as well. I think most of what I have to work on is flexibility in the hips.

Fitdoc, as I said above, I'm going to be doing some static stretching about 2-3 times a day for about 10-15 minutes a piece. Before my evening workouts I wil probably warm up by doing some kicks that force me to really stretch, some basic stuff mostly, front heel kicks and the like. Certainly doing capoeira will help that. I think for the most part it's consistancy that is important.

[red5angel]

Toby - I do windmills from time to time but will have to check out Bent Press, thanks!

[red5angel]

last nights workout - 01/31/05

25 minutes of NT (I try to keep the pace up above 6.3 - I can't remember if that is miles an hour or some other abstract measurement on the machine itself).

As usual I broke up the monotony by doing some sort of exercise every 5 minutes, in this case:

50 crunches
50 Medicine ball twists - each direction
30 leg lifts
30 side crunches each side
20 medicine ball lifts for the lower back - like a dead lift but with the medicine ball

Stretched for 15 minutes afterwards.


I skipped my morning workout so I'd be fresh for capoeira tonight. On top of whatever we do in class I'll be doing 150 pushups and about 10 minutes on the bag to warm up. I consider a capoeira class to be the equivalent of an hour of high impact aerobics. Typically at the end of class I also do a couple of sets of handstand pushups as well. against the wall so far but I'm working on doing them without the help!


Since my goal is also to drop some more weight I'll post what I"m eating. Today:

Bowl of whole grain shredded wheat with milk and a half glass of orange juice.

midmorning snack is a banana and small thing of yogurt

Lunch is a turkey sandwhich with salad and veggie sticks

Afternoon snack is an orange

Not sure about dinner, hard to say on my nights with class but usually I end up making a sandwhich or my wife makes up a bag of ready to eat rice dishes she get sat the local co-op.

[fa_jing]

Man, you have to figure out how to do dumbell snatches.

[red5angel]

Actually I do them from time to time.

[red5angel]

Long class last night. We had a quite a few people show up so worked on several things and had a good roda. I ended up staying after for about 45 minutes and working on a couple of combinations.

One note on progression - I picked up an exercise from one of the instructors for core flexibility. From a standing position you just lean forward you your on your hands and knees and the object of the exercise is to roll into a bridge, and then roll back. You can do it in one direction or go back and forth. Either way I couldn't do it when I first tried it, but now I can do it both directions as long as I keep moving. If I pause going from a bridge back to the starting position I still get stuck from time to time.

[red5angel]

Last night I took the night off. Since I started hitting it hard again just monday my boddy is a little sore and I'm a little tired so I decided an evening off would be fine.

Actually come to think of it the whole day wasn't a wash. I work in a 26 story building and from time to time I will walk the steps. I take them two at a time at a brisk pace and every 10 flights or so I stop and do some do a set of some sort of body exercise. Yesterday on top of climbing the 40 or so flights of steps I climbed I did:

50 pushups
30 handstand pushups
50 crunches
50 hindu squats


This morning I got up and did some arm work with some weights.

I did 4x10 at 35lbs with dumbbells

4x10 at 35 hammer curls

3x14 at 20 lbs modified preacher curls

I also started my Planche training this morning. I did the Frog for 60 seconds. I could only hold it about 25-30 seconds at a time so far but I feel confident I should be up to a full 60 seconds in a week or two. I also plan on doing it again this evenig as part of my warm up for capoeira.

[red5angel]

Class last night. I burned out towards the end of class which is when we do the roda so that sucks. I kept gassing out while in the circle. I think I'm just worn out from the pace I have kept up this week.

Worked on more of the Frog. It's getting better already! Hoping to be doing it without the support of my elbows by the end of the month, we'll see.

Nothing this morning since it was a morning after class and I got home late.

[red5angel]

I should start logging how I'm feeling during training sessions too I guess huh?

Last night in class I was good for the first 45 minutes or so. We stopped after 45 minutes of drilling to work on some music (It's important in Capoeira to get good at singing the songs and playing the instruments because that's where all the Axe or spirit comes from). After that we made the roda and played but my 3rd time in or so ( you rotate with people buying into the roda to play with someone who is already in it. On a really good night, in 15 minutes you may go in about 15 times or so.) I started to drag really bad and my legs were burnt.

After class was officially over I work on a couple of techniques that resemble bizarre headstands for about 20 minutes and did some more Planche/Frog work then went home! today I feel good, not really sore but am a little tired.

I attribute the tiredness to get backing into the groove. My feeling is if I work out good over the weekend by next week I should be back into the flow of things.

[red5angel]

2/4/05 - Friday was a wash. I was up late thursday so didn't work out that morning and my wife had plans for me friday night.

2/5/05 - Long class today. Saturday classes are pretty casual since only a few people show up. This day we had 5 people. I hit it pretty hard working on some moves that really worked my shoulder and back/abs for most of those two hours.

Backward flips are cool. One handed backward flips with a twist suck!

I did do about 150 pushups as well as about 3 minutes total on Planche workups.

2/6/05 - rest day

2/7/05 -

AM

60 regular pushups

40 diamond pushups

40 wrestling/grappling pushups

60 wide grip pushups

70 crunches

40 leg lifts

Planche work.

[norther practitioner]

40 leg lifts

what type of leg lifts?

[red5angel]

the type in Pavel's Bullet Prof Abs. Back flat on the ground, legs together, lift up until they are vertical, down until your heel touches the floor or your back hurts/lifts from the floor.

[norther practitioner]

do you hold onto anything?

similar to a boxer's crunch.

[red5angel]

I don't really hold onto anything. I think it engages the muscles more if you don't use anything to hold onto. I do press my hands to the floor from time to time when it stats to get hard.

[red5angel]

2/7 PM - Nothing, had a date with the wifey

2/8 AM - Slept in after a late date with the wifey ;)

2/8 PM - Capoeira

[red5angel]

02/08/05 PM -

Class tonight. We worked until my legs were completely burnt. We did tons of kicking drills, specifically a kick called meia lua, here's a link:

http://www.princeton.edu/~capoeira/mov/batclip03.mov

about halfway into that video the grey haired guys hands go to the floor and he throws a sort of crescent kick.

Anyway it works the crap out of your abs, especially the obliques and back and we probably did a couple of hundred.

When we did the roda, we made it really small and played slowly so people were forced to move around more and to think about what it was they were doing.
After that we spent an extra half hour playing Regional. I did about 60 pushups and crunches/leglifts after this but was too burnt too do anything else!

My legs were so burnt towards the end of the official class time that I could only go into the roda for about a minute before gettting too tired. I need to work on the endurance in my legs. If anyone has any tips then feel free to throw them out!

[red5angel]

what?! No crazy, unique or state of the art suggestions on how to increase leg endurance? I'm disappointed in you guys! :D

Rub IM'd me and reminded me of tabata, unfortunately I only have access to the bag at my school, I don't have one at home.


2/9/05 - PM

Nothing, I played video games. I've been told that burns calories.



2/10/05 - AM

100 Hindu Squats

60 Boot strappers - these things kill me, I have a hard time getting past about 15-20 in one set.

50 lunges

Later today I'm going to work the stairs here at work twice, should be a pretty good day for legs.

[Chief Fox]

I'll take a stab at the leg endurance question.

How about running. I run 3 times a week and my legs rarely get burnt out. You can run long flat distance or you can run sprints or you can run hills or you can mix it all up. Running is great.

Or you could take one day a week and make it you super leg endurance day. Maybe start out with some light cardio on a stair stepper or something, then move on to some hindu squats, then you could do some squats with weights, then you can do some box jumps, then throw in some of your Capoeira exercises and then to top it all off when your legs are spent, go for a 2 mile jog.

Just thought of another one. In triathlons a brick workout is very common. Here's how it's done. Run 2 or 3 miles then hop on you bike and ride for 10 or 15 miles after your ride go run another 2 or 3 miles. On this second run your legs will feel like bricks.

You could also take a tai chi class. Since I've started tai chi the muscular endurance in my legs has increased. I have no scientific evidence to back this up. I just feel stronger.

[red5angel]

Chief, I'd love to run! But recently things have become somewhat complicated.

now a dyas, unless I run on a soft tral, like dirt or grass, I get shin splints in no time. Right now Minnesota is alternating between ice and snow and mud and water on all the trails I run otherwise so at the moment I can't. soon as we hit our thaw, somwhere around July :P I'll start running a gain a couple of times a day.
I've considered joining the local Y, but with the workout I get at Cap, I can't vindicate paying the extra money just to go running a couple of times a week.


Or you could take one day a week and make it you super leg endurance day.

this is what I've been considering but I'd like to get some opinions form people on it. I've considered doing it twice a week, on top of my capoeira classes. I'm not sure if thta's overkill or not though.

As for the taichi, I think along those lines, just lining up at home and doing some capoeira kicking would probably have the same effect.

[Chief Fox]

I should have noticed your locations and realized that running outside was probably not an option.

I belong to the local Y and do all of my workouts at lunch. They say that treadmill running has the least amount of stress on your legs. If you get shin splints a lot it may be your shoes. I went to a running store here in Colorado Springs and was video taped on their treadmil. They picked out a great pair of shoes for me baseed on the way that I run.

Super leg endurance day or (SLED). I would probably keep this to one day a week so you can be fresh for class.

Here's another idea:
jump rope for 1 minute
do 25 lunges per leg
do 25 box jumps
do 50 squats

That's one round. See how many rounds you can do in 20 minutes. You'll know you're improving when you can complete more rounds.

Oh, here's another one.
Get yourself a 20lb medicine ball. I have a 17lb medicine ball that I made out of a basketball, some sand, some old t-shirts and duct tape. Find yourself a target that is 10 feet off the ground. Hold your medicine ball in both hands, drop down into a squat and explode up pushing the ball at the target. When the ball comes down, catch it and drop back down into a squat. Repeat. You can do sets of 25 or 50. Or you can make this exercise part of your SLED.

[red5angel]

ironically I ran cross country for about 9 years and never had a problem. We'd do 60 mile weeks and I'd feel great. I started getting them about 6 years ago. Now I use good shoes and gel inserts and I don't run more then about 4 days a week.

I like that round idea Chief. I really neeed to work out more on jump roping, I don't do it very well so it gets' frustrating and tedious but it's a good workout once you get it down!

that last looks alot like a book I forgot I had on fitness in the martial arts. It has a ton of ply work like that in it I should look at!

[red5angel]

The last 4 or 5 days have been almost a complete wash except for going to class. With my mom's surgery yesterday and trying to find a new place to live, I've been too worn out to do anything but sleep and eat and go to class.

However, On saturday we worked on something called "Amazonas" in capoeira. It's probably the most popular move in the art and you see pictures of it all the time.

The "au batido" on this page is similar "http://hometown.aol.com/rodamarinheiro/manga.html"

The idea is that you go into a one handed hand stand and kick over your head with one foot.

Surprisingly I stuck it pretty well with a little bit of assistance. I'm working on refining it so I don't need the assistance. Essentially at the moment I have to grab something like an arm to help support myself a little. It's a viable tactic in the roda, grabbing someone while doing it is also a way to and insult to injury, but to be able to do it on my own would be cool.

[red5angel]

2/16 - PM

WORST FUKKING NIGHT OF TRAINING EVER!!!!!

Seriously, I tried to recall some of my worst moments in martial arts and I'm pretty sure this tops the list. I was sort of worn out all day. Monday I spent most of the day at the hospital waiting for my mother to get out of surgery so I'm sure that has something to do with it. Also, the last two weeks I've been somewhat slacking off, this happens every winter, SAD kicks in and I find it harder and harder to motivate.

Anyway, I get to class and barely bother to warm up, no drive to. We warm up a little and stretch, I'm slow, lethargic even. After stretching we start with a series of basic techniques - start with one, then add another, then add another, then change it around. I can't nail SH!T!!! I can't do even the most basic crap right.
After that we break up into pairs, I get to pair up with this hot chick from the U of M. We have to do handstand pushups, 20 of them in total, in as many sets as you need to to get them done, while the other person holds on to your legs. This is the only shining moment in the whole fukking night because I pulled off all 20 without a pause!

After that we did 2 person drills - capoeira is a highly interactive art so 2 person drills are really common for training. In this case we took the drills we worked in the beginning of class and worked them with a partner who pacticed dodging. To make a long and miserable story short, My back started to kill me almost right away , and I gassed out about halfway through and frustration was making it that much worse. I was really close to just packing up and heading out, calling it a night.

We worked on music later, I couldn't remember the words. We had to play all the instruments, I couldn't keep the beat. We played in the roda, I got my ass handed to me everytime.

I was so ****ed after class was oficially over I forced myself to throw a ton of basic kicks, focusing completely on form and posture. Then a fellow classmate and I grabbed the bag and kicked until we couldn't lift our legs.

I was hoping to get home early, go to bed early and wake up early enough this morning to work out, but I was so ****ed off when I got home I couldn't go to sleep right away.


Tonight I plan on hitting the nordic track for 30 minutes then trying something NP and I discussed a few days ago. I'm going to make a list of body weight exercises, and I'm going to do 50 of each and try to fill 45 minutes to an hour of time.

[red5angel]

ok, I figured out why tuesday night was such a ****ty night for training. I'm sick!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRR

I spent last night resting, had to go fill out paperwork for the new apartment anyway.

I sucked it up this morning though, got up and hit the nordic track for 20 minutes. I didn't want to over do it so I just went for 20 minutes. Also did:

120 pushups

20 minutes of Pilates.

I feel pretty good at the moment and I think if I just keep drinking water I should be ok for class tonight.

[Chief Fox]

Ok, all of this workout stuff is all fine and dandy. And you were sick blah blah blah. I want to hear more about "this hot chick from the U of M." :D

[red5angel]

lol! She's this cute little blonde chick from the U of M club who shows up about once a week at my school in cottage grove. She's a good looking nordic babe with strawberry blonde hair. The sweet thing about capoeira is you get boob and ass shots all the time because the pants ride low and your upside down all the time :D

[Chief Fox]

Originally posted by red5angel
lol! She's this cute little blonde chick from the U of M club who shows up about once a week at my school in cottage grove. She's a good looking nordic babe with strawberry blonde hair. The sweet thing about capoeira is you get boob and ass shots all the time because the pants ride low and your upside down all the time :D

Wow, I might check out my local Capoeira school. I could handle some boob and ass shots. :D

[red5angel]

LOL!

Seriously though man, in all the martial arts I've participated in, Capoeira has the highest percentage of hot chicks I've ever seen! First of all they HAVE to be in shape since you platuea really quick if you aren't. Second it isn't as "aggressive" as some other arts, it has a playful side I think helps chicks to not feel so intimidated. I'm not saying all chicks get intimidated by the martial arts, just saying that I know plenty who don't attend class long or just don't go because they do feel intimidated. They could also be intimidated cause it looks like I have two rolls of quarters in my pants. :D

[red5angel]

ok, this fukking sucks ass. I got sick last wednesday, sat around from that point all the way until this past tuesday. Felt a bit better tuesday so I went to class, woke up yesterday with a sore fukking throat and now it's all swollen and sore as ****!

Fukk.

So I went to clas son tuesday and had a pretty good one, although a little winded from being sick the last 5 days or so. however now I'm sick again so I'll be doing nothing except eating and sleeping until saturday an d we'll see how it goes form there.

[Chief Fox]

Hang in there man and just take it easy. Look at this as the perfect time to watch some kung fu movies.

I was feeling a little run down over the weekend and I watched, Super Cop with Jackie Chan, The Once Upon a Time in China Trilogy with Jet Li and Legend of the Drunken Master with Jackie Chan.

[red5angel]

tonight I plan on watching a few movies, a new Masterkiller movie I just got and Saving Private Ryan, then I'm gonna go to bed early.

The good news Chief is that I got to play with the hot blonde again :D I did a lot better this time and managed to keep up, however she got kicked really hard in the side of the face by a fellow student just after we got done drilling together. It was the kind of shot that everyone hears and brings all the training in the room to a dead halt! She hung around class and iced it the rest of the time though so it's all good. also a couple of my middle toes are black and blue. I was trying a sweep, called rasteira (pronounced hahsteyda) and insted of hooking the ankle I ended up kicking the ankle! OUCH!

[Chief Fox]

Why not give the hot blonde a call just to check on her as a concerned class mate ;) . See how her jaw is doing if you know what I mean. Could lead to some more play time.:D

[red5angel]

LOL! Well I would have to assume that my wife wouldn't apporve of those extra-cirricular activities!

[Chief Fox]

LOL! Well I would have to assume that my wife wouldn't apporve of those extra-cirricular activities!

Oops! Yeah, she probably wouldn't like that. Bad idea. Maybe just go with the movie watching plan instead. :)

[red5angel]

I cna't remember when I posted last. Last thursday I came down with a pretty nasty fever and sore throat. Needless to say, I laid around all weekend doing a whole lot of nothing but coughing..
I'm feeling a little better today finally but the weekend was miserable. I'm taking a lesson or two away from this past months worth of sickness and slacking off.

1) no more slacking off midwinter. Obviously my body can't handle it, but especially when there's a ton of crap going around. Last year I worked out hard and consistantly all winter and never got sick. This year I took a couple of weeks off around christmas and since then it's been in and out of one cold or another.

2) I miss training. I'm approaching this whole thing as an oppurtunity to start over. I'm resting for the next few days just to make sure I fully recover. after that I'll ease back into it. I own't be attending class until next week but I plan on starting pilates and some basic body weight stuff again by thursday.

[red5angel]

ok, this is the first day I really feel like I'm starting to recover. for the sake of not backsliding or catching something else, I'm going to take it easy until monday. No working out for me this weekend except maybe a pushup or two and some situps or something from time to time. Monday, I start fresh!

[JadeMantis]

Lots of R & R dude and dont forget to eat tons of fresh fruit, veg and water. You'll be fighting fit in no time.

I also find that Chi Kung or Tai Chi helps. Is it possible that you could do your forms in a Tai Chi manner ???

Just my thoughts and suggestions

Get Well Soon

JM

[Chief Fox]

Get some rest Red and come back strong on monday. I've stayed pretty healthy for most of the winter and I'm giving the credit to Baby carrots. I love those things and they're jam packed full of vitamin A.

[red5angel]

Jade, it's possible to do a little taichi I suppose, I know a form or two but capoeira has no forms to speak of.

Chief - Last winter my worout routine was consistant and I stayed pretty healthy. On top of that it didn't seem like there was a whole lot going around.
This year, in December I sort of slacked off for a couple of weeks and I think that really through me for a loop. January I found it hard to get back on track. I get hit with SAD about January every year and it's important for me to stay focused, this year I just couldn't. Combine that with the fact that atleast around here, there is a ton of crap going around and I was doomed from the get go! Ah well.

[JadeMantis]

I feel for you Red with the SAD. Both myself and wife suffer from it over here, it is hard to focus. Anytime I feel down in the evenings I try to do a little light training maybe a couple of miles run or some forms just to get the blood pumping round and some extra Oxygen in the body. To keep the colds down my Sifu advocates Chi Kung and Tai Chi, this gives your internals a good workout and increases I think the white blood cells so these help combat any infection.

Get Well Soon Red

JM

[red5angel]

Ok, feeling much better today so plan on starting my training again tonight. I'll be easing into it this week and keeping the workout slow impact for the next 5 or 6 days. Plan is to di pilates and some basic body weight stuff tonight, probably just some pushups and handstand pushups.
Tomorrow night I will go to class, wednesday I'll do some more body weight work in the evening and pilates.
Thursday, class again, and friday I may even go running.
Each day I'm going to be working on the planche stuff as well.

[red5angel]

Easing back into it starting last night.

20 minutes of Pilates

150 pushups

10 minutes of stretching.


It wore me out and this morning I feel like crap but I don't fee like I'm getting sick, just like I haven't worked out in a couple of weeks. :mad:

[red5angel]

Well, I'm back on! Went to class tonight and it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.
Did some hindu pushups and about 30 or so hindu squats before class to warm up.
Class went well, we did about 20 minutes throwing various kick/dodge combinations. We'd do 10 kicks on each side then drop down for 10 pushups and 10 situps (our choice on situps so I did alot of leg lifts and atomic situps).
Played in the Roda for a while, thought I was going to gas out pretty quick but I actually managed to do alright.
Didn't stay after class very long, didn't want to push my luck, decided getting home and getting a normal amount of sleep would do me good. I feel good today, not as sore as I thought I woudl be.

[red5angel]

3/9/05 - Took it easy last night. Decided not to rush things and I worked out pretty hard tuesday night so deicded to just to take it easy. I spent about 20 minutes stretching but that's about it.

Tonight is class.

[Chief Fox]

Taking it easy to get back into things is smart. You'll be back in the rodah (spelling?) with that cute blonde in no time! :D

[red5angel]

lol! So wil my wife :D


Roda, close! I got into the Roda on tuesday actually and it felt great.

On a side note it also sounds like our instructor is finally going to be pushing to get more students in. He's been sort of a recluse for a while, not really pushing his school or Capoeira classes. He sat and talked to us about getting out in public more once it warms up (roughly July in this state :D) and doing a weekly roda in some public location to attract attention.

[Chief Fox]

The local CAPOEIRA school here in Colorado Springs has been doing a huge push lately for new students. They have some agreement with the school district because they gave a series of free classes at my daughter's school and then sent home sign up papers when the class was over. They've also had a few articles written about them in the paper. Just some ideas, maybe your instructor could use.

[red5angel]

I actually recommended that before, doing demos or seminars at schools and things like that.

[red5angel]

3/11/05 - Class

I decided to turn it up a notch over tuesdays class. I was determined to work harder in this one. I warmed up before class:

50 Hindu Squats
50 pushups
20 Dive Bombers
20 Scorpions

I threw a series of kicks until I broke a sweat.

Class was good we worked several drills involving a lot of inverted work. My shoulders feel pretty good. My legs are a little sore, we worked on an escape from what is called "Rasteira" a classic capoeira move. It's like a foot sweep except you don't really sweep so much as hook their foot/ankle and pull it out from under them with your foot. Anyway the escapes were essentially this funny little hop type moves. Typically you use Rasteira to take someone down when they are kicking and on one leg. Because of that you have to learn to hop out of the way, or atleast hop a little with a successful rastiera so you don't fall on your ass.
Stayed after class for about 20 minutes and worked on a kick I have trouble with.

tonights plan is to do some pushups and Planche work along with some Pilates and then hopefully about an hour of capoeira with my wife.

[red5angel]

This past weekend was a wash. On top of packing to move at the end of the month we had a party to prepare for on saturday night, then I was drunk and up until about 6am. That's right, Training like a real champ is what I am!

[red5angel]

3-14-05 AM

Got up for an AM workout for the first time in over a month. It felt great! I need to build up my strength from all the slacking so I stated out light.

150 pushups - diamond, wide and regular

20 minutes of pilates

3 sets of 15 body weight deadlift type thingies for my lower back
3x20sec superman for my back.

10 minutes of stretching including a bridging exercise that feels awesome.

[red5angel]

Had an awesome class last night! I managed to pull of a move I've been wanting to learn since the beginning! The physical workout was almost all workout and core because of the nature of the drills we did, and the workout was only about 45 minutes compared to about 2 hours usually but it was pretty tough.

[red5angel]

3/21 - AM

I ran this morning whooohooo!!! It wasn't a good run, I'm horribly out of shape, but I decided to make myself work a little harder by running a mile, then doing tabata at 10 second intervals. If I keep up with the tabata, I should be back up to running 3 miles comfortably in no time. Of course the weather needs to warm up a little mroe for me to really make the most of it, but it's a start.

Also did 100 pushups and some situps plus stretching afterwards.

[red5angel]

I have a plan from here on out. I'm kicking in the second Phase of Project Uber-Red.
Last spring I did the same thing, started working out really hard, I wanted to drop a few pounds, and make some goals with pullups and some other various things. I met most of my goals so this year I'm going to shoot for the rest and add a few more.
I'd like to get down to about 175 but I'm not sure my muscle mass will allow it.
I'd like to be able to pump out 3 different sets of pullups in about 4 minutes time.
Planche pushups by the end of summer, say Oct. 1st.

To begin with, and get me back into the mode of things, I'll be doing more endurance based body weight workouts. Scrappers workout a couple of times a week. Running/nordic track a couple of times a week. Class 2-3 times a week. I'll toss in about 2-3 days of weights but since I'm limited there, it will be mostly for arms and probably back.

[red5angel]

Best class ever last night!

why you might ask? Well....I'll tell you!

First, I managed to not gass out too much over the entire class and it was a tough one.

Second, I wasn't the new guy in class anymore, we have a couple of new students and I spent alot of my time helping them out. Nice to know my instructors trust me enough for that.

Figured out the trick to a basic kick that I haven't felt comfortable with.

Won 10$ pumping out 98 pushups consecutively!

The instructor mentioned I had obviously got a lot more flexible.

I was told by a guy I feel is better then me, that he thinks I'm better thenhim LOL!

I even stayed after class and worked on a particularly tricky combination of things that I had had some difficulty figuring out in the past.

The overall energy of class was awesome. We had a bunch of spectators, a couple of college kids doing some research on capoeira, one of them spoke fluent brazillian which prompted us to suck those guys and another couple who came to check things out into our Roda to sing with us.

[Ming Yue]

98 pushups! NICE
:)

[red5angel]

I was hoping for 100 :D

Seriously though I've always been a pushup fiend, not sure why. Even when I"m not exercising regularly, I still do pushups, I think there are two reasons, the first is that pushups are easy and you can do them just about anywhere. Second, other then my eyes, the girls always complement my chest so I gotta maintain :D :p
Last spring I did the 100 pushup program and got to it pretty quick.

now they're trying to talk me into going and doing that contest, but I know some smaller lighter guys who can do 100 easy so I'm not going to bother. If I knew about 3 months in advance I'd do it but it's in alike two weeks.

[red5angel]

Had class last night. It was small, me, my wife and 2 new kids so we worked a lot on the basics, which is fine with me. I did the normal sets of pushups and situp type thingies to warm up and after the workout.

[red5angel]

One training note I'd like to make is that I'm starting to learn to control the roda somewhat.
Last week we had a discussion after class on controlling the space in the roda. Trying to squeeze your opponents into the corner. Last night since besides our instructor I was the most senior student there I decided to work on doing that with the new students, my wife and even a little with my instructor. IT was crude for the most part but I got the hang of it.

[red5angel]

Another awesome class last night. Tougher then normal! Our instructor had us on this rotation that was sort of fun. Basically there were 3 beginners, and 4 experienced students. 2 of the experienced student shave been training for 2 or more years so what he did was split us into three groups.
Essentially the new guys went out on their own and did 20 basic kicks, ten each side while the 4 of us sat out. then they came out and four of us went out to do kick dodge combos, 20 - 10 on each side. Then myself and another student who have been studying for less then a year got out and did pushups and wall sits whle the more experienced 2 did fancier combinations. When they finished they came out and thenew guys went back and we started all over again. We did about 8 rotations or so.
We did played in the roda and worked on some music the last few minutes of class then I stuck around to work on handstand pushups and about 100 pushups using raised grips and varying widths in sets of ten, alternating with another student.

From here until atleast sunday I'll be packing and or moving so won't get much time to workout officially. I'm going to try to make the moving and packing thing a workout in itself.

[spiraler]

if you do capo, have you ever thought about training your rythm(i know i spelled it wrong) get on a friends drumset maybe?

[red5angel]

if you do capo, have you ever thought about training your rythm(i know i spelled it wrong) get on a friends drumset maybe?


depends on what you mean. Rhythm is part of the training at pretty much all levels. It determines how you move in capoeria, for the most part. On top of jus the physical training you also have to learn the music, which includes clapping, playing the instruments and singing.

[red5angel]

Haven't been keeping up very well on my training or my blogging since the move this past weekend. Haven't had much time for training at all, however I have to admit that spending 3 days moving - especially when you own as many books as the wife and I do, is one hell of a work out!

Last night class! I was tired all day, right up until about 5 minutes before class started. I've been sort of dragging since I had to move this weekend, legs felt burnt out, forearms are really fried, lower back hurt slightly, so I figured it was going to be a crappy night.

Worked on a couple of combination/strings. I was having a hard time with one of the transitions but figured it out after putting in some hard work. It's still really sloppy but I can do it.

After class did 100 pushups on the bars and 80 hindu squats along with about 40 total handstand pushups.

On a personal note, I managed to go from a head stand to a handstand and back a couple of times before class. I was too burnt after wards but still pretty cool.

[ewallace]

The real question is how many cartwheels can you do in a row? (This is somewhat of a serious question)

[red5angel]

I've never bothered to see how many I can do in a row. I can do atleast 15-20 meiulua before I get too dizzy, it's a circular kick. To see what it looks like go to:

http://www.carfweb.net/capoeira/

enter the site, click on "movements" and then "grading system". Under Amerelo check out Meia Lua De Compasso.

[red5angel]

Saturday morning I went running. I started by walking the 5 blocks or so to the lake. Once I got to the lake I jogged for about 3/4 of a mile or so then did 10 second sprint intervals. I'd sprint 10 seconds, then jog 10 seconds. I do this in sets of 5, then walk/run for 1 minute, then do it again. I got about 5 or 6 sets done, jogged the last mile then stretched and did pushups.

[red5angel]

Had class last night, it was a good one, but I rarely have bad ones! Worked a lot on my handstand pushups and several different sets of pushups. Figured out my hanstand pushups work better when my arms are wide enough for my forearms to stay at fialry right angles to the ground.

[red5angel]

Well I've reached a milestone. While I've been able to do the move called "Macacao" for a while, it's been rough and I haven't been satisfied with it. The last couple of weeks I've been doing bridging everyday to strengthen my back and gains some core flexibility. Turns out it's also what I needed to be able to pull off macacao successfully! Now it actualy looks right!

The other technique I've learned this week that's rough but getting better is a sort of head spin designed to allow you to change directions after performing certain low moves. It looks really cool and isn't quite a spin but you go down on your head and swing your legs from one side to the other.