Chief Fox's training journal

[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.

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.

[Chief Fox]

Monday 11/07/2005
It's been a while since I've posted on this thread.

I'm still having issues with my shoulder but my hip is much better. Got some much needed physical therapy for both.

This past weekend. I went to my tai chi class on saturday. We warmed up with some breathing exercises and some qi gong. Then we went through the Yang long form. After that we went through the straight sword form and then did some sparring with the straight swords. My instructor and I used the straight sword and a dagger when sparring. It was a lot of fun.

After that I had my kung fu class. It was a good class. We did a lot of pad work, open hand sparred. (I got kicked right in the jaw. OUCH!) Then we sparred with wiffle ball bats in place of broadswords. That was fun too. They sting and have no hand gaurd.

Sunday I went for a run. 3.1 miles. I haven't been able to run much lately because of my hip but Sunday's run was great. Total time was 29:31.

Today at lunch I'm going to a local park to practice some tai chi and do some shoulder work with a medicine ball.

Tonight I'll be doing today's CROSSFIT workout. Squats, 7 sets for 1 rep max. This will be difficult seeing how I don't have a squat rack but I'll make due. I'll also work on some pullups and some ring dips tonight too.

I hope to get back in the groove of keeping this journal going. It was a great motivator there for a while.

[Chief Fox]

Tuesday 11/08/2005
Yesterday I did my Tai Chi form in the am and then did the CROSSFIT workout last night. xfit was: 95lbs push press 15 reps, 15 box jumps 20 inch box, 15 back extensions. Do as many rounds as you can in 20 minutes. I did 6 rounds. Could have done 7 but my kids were working out with me and you just have to stop and talk sometimes.

I've also discovered that my tai chi form is different from the classic Yang 108 form. I have a few books and I just got a video for reference. The first section is almost identical. The second section is pretty close up to cloud hands and then it's way different. I'll have to get some more info on our form from my instructor to see what is up.

Today I'll be working some forms at lunch, then doing some shoulder work for my rotator cuff and then I have kung fu class tonight.