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?