A Novice's Kung Fu Blog

[JadeMantis]

Hi All

After my last grading, Grade 5, where I nearly died from the beasting we got I decided I must spend a lot more time training outside class than I currently do. Being inspired by all your hard work I'd thought this is just the motivator I need.

I've only been training for about 18 months but have found the gradings getting exceeding more difficult as they go by. Not moaning because once all the hard work is over I feel like a million dollars. Luv that pain. :D

The grading went reasonably well but my cardio is like cr@p, needs lots of work. My forms where reasonable but I know I could have done better, fatigue came into play way too early. My basics where good but some of the more advanced techs where weak. I think I have good power and flexability but need more control.

So my goals are :

1. Increased Cardio/Endurance.
2. Increase Forms definition, intensity and flow.
3. Strengthen my techiques.
4. Dont die on the next grading :)

My next grading is 6 months away so long as I manage to learn the forms and tech required.

Here's my training schedule to start Sunday.

Sunday - Evening - Class 2 hours
Monday - Morning - 20 mins warm up, 15 mins HIIT on excercise bike, 30 mins forms, 25 mins stretch & cool down
Tuesday - Morning - 20 mins warm up, Fish's Workout 1 with modifications Pyramid Pushups, flat hand, knuckle and finger tip to 10, removed pull ups, only 2 sets of Dips, Squats and bootstrappers all the rest the same, 25mins stretch & cool down.
Wednesday - Morning - 20 mins warm up, 15 mins HIIT on excercise bike, 30 mins forms, 25 mins stretch & cool down
Thursday - Evening - Class 2 hours
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Morning - Warm up, 1 Mile Run, 30mins forms, 25 mins stretch & cool down.
- Afternoon - Warm up, 1 hour forms training, 30 min technique training, 25 mins stretch & cool down.


I've tried parts of this for the past few weeks and it feels ok. If all goes well after the first few weeks I'm going to hopefully add some weights in the evening.

What do you all think ?? Your thought and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks. Bye for now :D

[JadeMantis]

Hi All

Well I started my training a little earlier than Suday, I started on Saturday with a modified version of the above.

Did warmup stretches, 5 steady mins onn the exercise bike and went through all forms at a teady pace.

Then i hit the 15mins HIIT on the bike, that was fun - legs felt like jelly afterwards.

Then di a body workout

Pyramid Hand Pushups to 10
Pyramid Knuckle Pushups to 10
Pyramid Fingertip Pushups to 8 - couldnt manage 10

Failed miserably on Diamond puchupsm, the arms just could support me.
Arms had given up now so I skipped the dips also.

1x25 Shootfighters
1x25 bootstrappers
Legs still battered after HIIT, must try harder on these next time.

Abs
20 straight crunches
20 Crunches to each side
20 Flutter kicks
20 Leg raises
20 Leg spreaders

Did some passive stretching to warm down, job done

Arms and legs ached for most of the day but thats all the fun.

Sunday

Legs a little achy and triceps + top of chest ached.

Had a good hard class, came out feeling high.
Legs ok but triceps + chest aches

Monday

Start workout as first stated, got up at 5.30am.

Stretching, 5 mins warmup on bike, 10 mins Chi Gung.
15 mins HIIT, went OK legs complained a little but I got through it.
Only managed 10 mins on forms, running out of time.
Warmdow stretches.

All in all a good enjoyable workout. Finished at 7.00am
I liked the Chi Gung in there so I will probably keep it and extend the workout to 2 hours starting at 5.00am.

Thats all for now.

I'll get round to posting my diet soon

Ta Da

JM :D

[JadeMantis]

Well not doing too well now.

Tuesday woke at 5.30 and was totally tired but got up and went through the warm up. The old body was saying no way so I left it at that. I know pittiful. Must do better.

The elft of my chest is aching quite a bit so i also gave Wednesday morning session a miss. Feeling better now so I will catch up this evening with an hour or so.

Cheers

[JadeMantis]

Workout last night went well

Did 20min warmup then my 15mins HIIT on the bike. This was stronger than previous so I am quite happy. Finished with 20 minutes stretching.

Got class tonight, looking forward to it, should start to learn a new form.

Cheers

JM

[Pork Chop]

Hey it looks like your training's goin pretty well.
Try to be patient on those days your body tells you "no", it'll come in time- you're not in any rush.

[Chief Fox]

Hey it looks like your training's goin pretty well.
Try to be patient on those days your body tells you "no", it'll come in time- you're not in any rush.

BMB makes an excellent point. If you miss a workout or have to cut one short because of fatigue. Just let it go and get right back to it the next day. You can over train by trying to make stuff up.

Also, continuous improvement is almost impossible. After a month or 6 weeks of hard training back off for a week or so to give your body a rest. After the rest week you'll probably see a boost in performance.

You're doing great keep it up.

[JadeMantis]

Thanks for help and support guys, much appreciated.

Definatley right about the rest, I felt much better after Turseday.
So I think I will make Tuesday another rest day for now, so I'll have Sat, Sun & Mon training, Tues - Rest, Wed & Thurs training, Fri - rest this seems to have worked this week.

Heres the updated schedule :

Sunday - Evening - Class 2 hours
Monday - Morning - 20 mins warm up, 15 mins HIIT on excercise bike, 30 mins forms, 25 mins stretch & cool down
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - Morning - 20 mins warm up, 15 mins HIIT on excercise bike, 30 mins forms, 25 mins stretch & cool down
Thursday - Evening - Class 2 hours
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Morning - Warm up, 1 Mile Run, 30mins forms, 25 mins stretch & cool down.
- Afternoon - 20 mins warm up, Fish's Workout 1 with modifications Pyramid Pushups, flat hand, knuckle and finger tip to 10, removed pull ups, only 2 sets of Dips, Squats and bootstrappers all the rest the same, 25mins stretch & cool down.

Lets see how this goes. :)

Last night I had class.
A good class, did some basics and stance work, stretching; was quite happy with the stretching as it was the best Ive done yet, then learnt a new 2 man drill which had a good 9 moves in it, lots of fun here. Onto some forms work where I started to learn my new form Dai Fan Chie Kuen or Whirlwind boxing.

Today is a wel earnt rest day. :D

[JadeMantis]

Heres a littel something on my diet, let me know what you think.

Breakfast
Smoothy with milk and a whole heap of fruit.
A bowl of All Bran/Fruit & fibre whichever I fancy.

Mid Morning Snack
Some combination of :
Bananna, raisans, almonds, tomatoes, celery, sugar snap peas, cereal bar.

Lunch
Some combination of :
Wholemeal Bread/Wholemeal Pitta's, Tuna/Salmon, a mixture of fresh veg/salad, lowfat cottage cheese, yogurts, selection of fruit.

Mid Afternoon Snack
Some combination of :
Tuna/Salmon salad sandwich & selection of fruit.

Dinner
Again another combination :
Wholemeal Pasta / Brown Rice / Jacket Poatatoes, loads of part boiled / fresh / stir fried vegies & either Turkey, Chicken or Fish.

Supper
Smoothy with milk and a whole heap of fruit.
A bowl of All Bran/Fruit & fibre whichever I fancy.

Sometimes I'll have some rice cakes here and there as a nibble in the evening. At the weekend the snacks usually go down to just some fruit and lunch will change to something like Boiled Eggs, Soup or Cheese on Toast. Quite often I take my wife out for an evening dinner and I usually have some incarnation of Steak, Fish or Chicken.

Heres my stats also :
Age 32
Height 5' 8"
Weight 152lbs.
Body fat - dont know, but a little noticable round the hips and abs, cant seem to shift this, lol.

Thats all for now

See you all later

JM

[Toby]

Your diet seems pretty good. Funny, I thought you were a girl from your handle. One thing to potentially watch is that in certain parts of the world they actually advise against eating too much fish from higher up the food chain (e.g. tuna). Reason being mercury accumulation in bigger and older fish. Dunno if it's an issue in England. It's not something that bothers me in Oz, but it probably should. FWIW I would sometimes eat up to a small can of tuna/day, but more wouldn't bother me.

[JadeMantis]

A girl, sh1t where did my 2 kids come from, whatever you do dont tell the missus Ive not had the op yet....LOL
**** it I can see what mean though, It took me a couple of weeks to come up with JM, now everyone will think I'm a tranny. :D

Oh well I'm stuck with it now. **** It again.

I'll look up what they say about the Tuna up here, not sure on that. I only have one can a day so I think that might be OK. I'll take a look around

Cheers

[JadeMantis]

Morning Training

Pretty Light
Warm up & Stretches, 1 mile run, went through all forms twice, warm down stretches.

Afternoon Training

Warm up & Stretches
Full Body Workout

Pyramid Hand Pushups to 10
1x15 Diamond Pushups
Pyramid Knuckle Pushups to 10
2x10 Dips
Pyramid Finger Tip Pushups to 8
2x25 Shootfighter Squats
2x25 Bootstrappers
2x25 Lunges
2x20 Sit Up Crunches
1x20 X-Legged Crunches
1x20 Crunches to Left & Right
1x40 Alternate Leg Thrusts
1x40 Alternate Leg Raises
1x40 V Leg Openers
1x20 Leg Raises

Warm Down Stretches

Thats all for now, Class tomorrow.

Cheers

[JadeMantis]

Had class last night.

Did a good warm up then spent time on Tam Toy's, learnt another 2 which takes me to 12. Also spent alot of time learning my new form.

Thats all

Cheers

[Chief Fox]

So what form are you working on?

[JadeMantis]

Hi Chief

Started to learn Dai Fan Chie Kuen or Whirlwind boxing. Its got lots of Wheel\Whirlwind Punches it along with some nice strings of fist techiques. It should be quite fun.

Cheers

[Chief Fox]

That sounds cool. I really like all of the hand/fist techniques that 7 star Mantis has to offer. Could you explain a Whirlwind Punch?

[JadeMantis]

Me too, you can really build up quite some speed running through them and they look pretty impressive especially when there's a few stance shanges in there too.

The Whirlwind punch is a little like an overhead chopping punch but instead of coming straight down it comes down at about 45 degrees. It could be directed at the temple, kneck or collarbone. Once the first has struck it is immediatly followed by another from the opposite arm. This set of two strikes continues for 3, 5, or 7 times at quite a speed. It also looks like your doing a windmill impression with both arms. It looks as though it could be quite devasting if your opponent can't block/evade quik enough. I'll have to put it into practice the next time I spar.

[Chief Fox]

Ahhh, we call these hammer fists. You can hit with your fist or your forearm. I've used these in sparring and they are very powerful. They are also excellent at drawing your opponent's attention up high at your fists while you are attacking low with a kick to the knee, groin or mid section.

[JadeMantis]

We also use the hammerfist, its used extensivly in Chap Choy - Thrust Hammer Boxing and later in Dai Fan Chie. I was thinking about this last night, I wonder if the act of performing multiple hammerfist strikes in succession is coined "whirlwind" rather than just a single or double strike. The form also changes direction, and techniques are performed to all 4 compass points, this could also be classed as "whirlwind" when the techniques are done in quick succession. Hmm.... Ill speak to my Sifu and get him to clarify this.

[JadeMantis]

I had Monday off as a rest day as the old bod decided it didnt want to do any more yesterday.

Today we where back on track and feeling good.

Warm up
Rotations of all circular joints
5 mins on bike
Dynamic Stretching
Static Stretching

Workout
15 mins HIIT on the bike
Forms + Tam Toy's

Cool Down
Static Stretching
Dynamic Stretching

Work out felt good and now I'm wide awake.

Cheers

JM

[JadeMantis]

Changed things a bit today, thought I'd do some running instead of the bike.

Warmup - 30mins
Joint Rotations
5 mins bike
Static Stretch
Dynamic Stretch

Workout
25 Minutes Run

Cool Down
20 Minutes Stretching

Enjoyed the run but could tell I hadnt run in a while.

[JadeMantis]

Had a good class last night

Warmed up and ent through basics.
Good session on partner Au Lau Choi , shoulders ached for rest of night
Did losts of stance training which burned my thighs nicely
Last half of lesson was dedicated to forms training.
Learnt a load more moves for my new form Dai Fan Chie

Chief - spoke to my Sifu regarding the hammerfis strikes and its the technique of striking with multiple circular hammerfist strikes thats called "whirlwind". This is what the form is named after.

My Sunday night class is moving to a Monday night for the foreseeable future so I'll post a new schedule later. Also I'm going to try and add something extra every week to my workout so I can work myself that little bit harder every week. Ive got some dumbells somewhere in the garage so i'm going to dig those out as well and work out a routine for using these.

Thats all for now

Cheers