Mr Punch's Brand Spanking New Blog

[Mr Punch]

Realisitically you probably won't be able to touch your ears, it is just the idea of getting them as high as possible. ...

You tryin to make me look like a fool!?

That is a great guard. Excellent default position. Nice choice bro.

I'm no expert. in fact I'm new to it. Haven't tried it out in sparring yet...

was looking for a better guard against bigger guys. Smaller or same kind of height people I can usually just whale in and get them with aggression, and that's what I usually do with bigger guys too (! ) but was having some trouble finding a safe guard with them if it didn't go my way in the first exchange.

Wing chun's guard is pretty useless. It's good enough for a fence in an SD situation, but as an active guard it has too many holes against guys with longer arms and any skill. The aiki guard is as close as you can get to having a limp wrist as a guard... and although I agree with the trad (as in hardcore, good...) aiki stance of having no stance (which again fits in with Geoff Thompson and whatever in SD and is nice in that it allows you good short-range energy issuance in your strikes with next to no telegraphing from any angle in a neutral position) again, it isn't so good if you need something after it's kicked off.

My MMA teacher was really good at teaching boxing (with it's big ass gloves, street-useless guard), Thai (I always sucked at the footwork which kind of negates the Thai guard a lot I think - and it isn't that great in the first place) and wrestling (which has a good guard for wrestling...) so that didn't really help me develop a good guard so much.

Looking forwards to trying this for real - feels nice and comfortable to use so far.

[Mr Punch]

First day of training since Eleanor was born...

Sprints...

Managed 200 m in 28 secs - way down on my high school champion days, but not bad for standing start, (too) full stomach, tail end of a cold, and no training for a while...

er, that's it! LOL

OK, OK, did run on a little bit and then sprint another couple of 200s... then did some tabata pushups when I got back, but a thoroughly lacklustre performance. Looking forward to when my wife's hip-bones have gone back to normal so I can get her in training too.

[Mr Punch]

Decided on a change of tack. Rather than just kicking my own ass for sitting around with a baby on my shoulder, and being up to my eyes in washing and washing up on top of my full time job and three part time ones, though I’d aim for at least one short training session a day. This may only be a four-minute tabata set, but whatever is better than nothing. And so… since I only have fifty kilos of dumbbells available so I can’t push my overall big lifts at all anyway, it’s maybe time to focus on more intervals to build the endurance, some explosive strength and lose a couple of pounds of fat. My diet is OK, my BF isn’t too bad (well my shonky scales reckon it’s 20 % but I reckon that’s nonsense – but I do have a slight gut), and who knows, I think I actually have enough lack in the general muscle dept to put on a bit more muscle weight and lose a bit of fat at the same time (dare I say, ‘tone’! ).

So yesterday, with the tail-end of a cold, and without having done any training for a while (the day before’s sprints notwithstanding) I did a measly 96 tabata pushups (those ones with one leg in the air really slow me down, but it feels good and painful).

This morning I warmed up using light low range dynamic leg swings, slowly building the ROM up.

Then I thought I’d go against the advice of just about everyone and see what I could do with an all over set of tabata weight exercises. I had 16.7 kg on each db already so just went with that (a little higher than I would have chosen but before work after a sleepless night with baby Eleanor so couldn’t be bothered to change – I’ve done tabata squats and DLs with 20 kg before but I ended up compromising my form a bit with the DLs and putting strain on my lower back so I thought next time I’d have to make sure I was going lighter until I was sure the quick reps wouldn’t compromise my form).

The result was shockingly poor!

2 x 16.7 kg DBs
Standard tabatas - 20 secs of reps, 10 secs of rest:

Squats x 8 (turned into an extra warm-up - couldn't get any gumption!)
DLs x 9 (concentrating on form but still low for 20 secs)
Overhead presses x 6 (this is where it all went pear shaped - realised before I locked out the ceiling in the kitchen is too low! So, dropped to my knees and continued there but lost rhythm and it was TOUGH!)
Side presses x 4 (OK - dunno WTH happened - all I could do to get lock-out)
Knackered
Extra rest... still well out of breath
Bench (Ball) presses x 8
Shrugs x 10.

Puny.

Try again tomorrow with 11.7 kgs x 2 - with a tiny touch more planning and a bit more mental fortitude shouldn't be a problem to finish all the exercises and add another with better rep count.

Oh well, it got my metabolism working if nothing else.

[Mr Punch]

Anybody else do tabatas with weights?

Are they supposed to be that hard, or am I just getting punier?!

[stricker]

never done tabatas with weights... just seeing what your posting dude the problem from where i see it is you seem a bit erratic in what your doing. IME results come from consistent effort over time. dont get me wrong mate im not preaching i just know the areas ive made progress in are those ive been organised in, and where i aint made progress is where i havent stuck to a plan...

also if times really really limited simple stuff like 5 min rounds of dumbell swings is pretty good all-round strength and cardio. getting a pull up bar that pops in a door frame could be an awesome investment too, bust out a few sets of pull ups through the day...

for heavy-ish weight work you could think about doing making a fairly heavy sand-bag, good for squats etc

keep it up

[Mr Punch]

never done tabatas with weights... just seeing what your posting dude the problem from where i see it is you seem a bit erratic in what your doing. IME results come from consistent effort over time. dont get me wrong mate im not preaching i just know the areas ive made progress in are those ive been organised in, and where i aint made progress is where i havent stuck to a plan...

Nah, appreciate any advice as ever... but yeah! I know I'm really erratic right now. But that's just now. If you look at my posts before don't miss where I say that I've been doing more of the same (but haven't been posting about it) - except when I was injured, and now we've got a three-week old baby!

I was swimming regularly, doing tabata push-ups, sit-ups and lunges regularly, and had a reasonable DL and squat routine going, interspersed with cycling other exercises to work other muscle groups (considering the lack of real weight and facilities). Also regular bagwork and fu.

Now, however, with the bairn, I'm just grabbing what I can.

also if times really really limited simple stuff like 5 min rounds of dumbell swings is pretty good all-round strength and cardio.

On busy days, with a normal day of work plus part-time job plus baby- (and Mum-!) care, I'm talking it takes a lot of effort to get even 20 mins to train. Hence my concentrating on tabatas and any other quick interval programme.

Plus, since I want to be able lift bigger on DLs, squats and windmills etc to make sure my lower back isn't going to go again before I try to pick-up any new swinging type exercise unsupervised. (Originally I was getting into weights for rehab, right?) A good link to the exercise you mean would be useful though...?

getting a pull up bar that pops in a door frame could be an awesome investment too,

Love to. However, this is Japan: I have no regular door frame: just big sliding doors and paper screens; the walls a made of paper composite/thin board; there is one supporting beam which is impossible to use and no supporting pillars!

for heavy-ish weight work you could think about doing making a fairly heavy sand-bag, good for squats etc

Again, space and to store and train is an issue. If I had time for it the nearest (and realistically right now the only available) gym is cheap and five mins walk, but it's only machines. The free weights go up to a measly 16 kg dumbbell.

keep it up

Thanks for the encouragement! I'm trying!

[stricker]

it's all good man, yeah i know you dont update this after every bit of training

here's the first youtube clip that came up for kettlebell swings :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h1QcHTkwdI

you can do exactly the same with a dumbell, or there's variations like one-handed etc. as a single exercise goes they're pretty good, and yeah they'll probably be great for your back...

[Mr Punch]

Thanks for that again mate.

One worry tho: not my back this time, but looks like a half-arsed squat position with your knees which is surely gonna tear them up...? (I've had various knee probs before too, which seem to be largely healed since I took up weights, so I'm more than willing for you to set me straight on that too! )

[Samurai Jack]

Have you been working on the Bear? I noticed you were starting out with some very respectable poundages, and it's such a brief whole body workout, it might be good for you since you're in a time crunch.

[Mr Punch]

Funnily enough, was going to try the tabata 30 kg weight set again, dumbbell swings, (maybe then) some overhead squats and then the bear to finish (me!) yesterday, but wound up lifting and carrying 4 kgs of cute but unsettled baby for a couple of hours instead while my wife got some rest!

The best-laid plans of mice and fathers!

Try again tonight...

BTW, can't remember what my pundages were for the Bear, but I think it was somewhere near the max I have for my dumbbells so I'm not actually going to get past the 'starting pundages' if that's the case! Still a good exercise though. A real burner!

[Mr Punch]

Swimming. Half an hour: pretty non-stop.

Tried the tabata weight set I dreamt up. Too d@mn hard for me right now.

33.4 kg (2 x 16.7 dbs)
each set 20 secs of course with 10 secs break...

squats 8
DLs 10
windmills 6
sqs 5
DLs 7
wms (timing was going off...) did 5 each side
sqs (abandoned tabata timing... but still as fast interval with short breaks) 5
DLs 5

seated overhead presses 5 (both hands) 5 l, 5 r.

That shouldn't have been so hard. Seriously unfit.

More tomorrow!

[Mr Punch]

Yesterday morning before work:

109 tabata push-ups... not good.

No time for planned workout after work either: lifting baby (about 4.6 kgs!)

This morning:

50 push-ups (just for a quick warm-up)

20 x empty bar db swings (1.7 kg)
20 x 11.7 kg db swings
20 x 11.7 right hand db swings
20 x 11.7 left hand db swings

(Just thought I'd start light and see how it went... quite nice: thanks for that Stricker - that'll be part of my regular programme. Used the plates on one end of the db bar so it was weighted more like a club - easier to hold that way)

[Mr Punch]

This morning's fu:

just an hour and a bit.

Some light chi sao,

and some very light sparring...

gave me a bit of a chance to see if my finger had healed (seems OK, but still a bit ginger) and to check out the crazy monkey guard against someone else. Wasn't hard enough to really put it through its paces but worked OK. Also seems to fit in very nicely for working entry in wing chun.

This evening:

49 pushups (in a minute)
12 x 2-handed db swings x 2 x 16.7 kg
10 x l hand, 10 x r hand... collar failed on DB! Wondered if it might! Luckily it was as I picked them up (was trying tabata set of swings) rather than in mid-swing where it would have shot through the shoji and the window probably!

Next time will check collar in rest period every time.

Tabata lunges with 11.7 kg... can't remember how many. EDIT: 77... waaay lower than unweighted. About the same for the first four sets... then tailed off.

10 x manji step
20 x shiko.

[WinterPalm]

What the heck is the crazy monkey guard?

[Mr Punch]

What the heck is the crazy monkey guard?

You hold both your palms strongly on the top of your head (some people recommend the eyebrow region but I'm finding that a bit sloppy and difficult to see so I go for basically above the hairline).

This is a great guard for close range. It doesn't leave you open like a boxing guard does without gloves, you can move your elbows around easily to block/cover against punches, and also to open your opponent's guard, for easy acces to clinch, double/single leg or other moves needing a quick level change. It also prevents you opponent punching your own hands back into your face and the subsequent feeling of stupidity like a lot of lazy boxers and fu-ers get!

You can cover your middle with bobbing and weaving, footwork and your legs.

You should always attack aggressively from it tho: it's not going to stop everything.