Shu's Training Journal (or "Old Man Kung Fu")

Kung Fu Time!

Good class. The focus seemed to be on basics tonight.

Did our usual warm up stretches followed by warm up kicks across the studio. After that, we worked on fairly basic punch/kick combinations (Back Fist/Reverse Punch/Ridge Hand, Back Fist/Reverse Punch/Steal Step Side Kick, Jab/Cross/Round House Kick, etc...).

After we finished Techniques, the whole class worked through all the Forms from Sei Fon Sei Bei on up through Chong Keun. If someone got to a form they didn't know, they'd drop out and work more on that form.

It was a fun refresher for me, because I haven't done some of my forms lower belt Forms in awhile.

Afterwords, the upper belts worked on Staff. And I finally learned the last three moves! Turns out, I'd been pretty close to getting it right.

 

Solo Training Time!

Worked from home today, so I had a chance to get a good ol' fashion Kung Fu-lery/Gym Foolery workout in.

Here's how it went down:

Kung Fu-lery

-High Heel Kick - 8/side
-Inside Crescent Kick - 8/side
-Outside Crescent Kick - 8/side
-Balance Stances - 3/side
-Front Slap Kick - 8/side
-Round House Kick - 8/side
-Side Kick - 8/side
-Form: Chong Keun (despite doing it Wednesday, I forgot half of it and had to run through it numerous times!)
-Form: Staff - No problem with this one - start to finish

Gym-Foolery - Chest and Triceps

-Jump Rope - 5 min (not consecutive)
-Heavy Bag - 15 mins

• Jab/Cross/Hook
• Back Fist/Reverse Punch/Ridge Hand
• Front Leg Round House
• Rear Leg Round House
• Punch/Kick Combos
• Push Kick Combos

-Seated Chest Press - 140 lbs, 150 lbs, 160 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Cable Crossovers (per arm) - 27.5 lbs, 30 lbs, 35 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Tricep Press Down - 110 lbs, 120 lbs, 140 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Overhead Tricep Rope Pull - 80 lbs, 90 lbs, 110 lbs (10, 8, 6)

(Had to skip legs to run to a conference call. But the heavy bag time more than made up for it).

 

Kung Fu Time!

Sihing Alex led the class tonight. So that means a lot of pain.

Actually, it wasn't that bad. We did our warm up kicks, interspersed with push ups and sit ups (which includes v-ups, crunches, bicycles, etc...so my abs are shredded today!)

For Techniques, we worked on punch basics (planting the foot, rotating the body...i.e. "corkscrew power!"). Then we spent a little time on classical punches (white crane punch, upswing, crane beak strike).

Sihing Alex did a really nice job breaking the moves down into their component pieces and taking us through them.

And since I was the only Blue Belt there, I had a one on one lesson on forms. Ran through Staff to completion and finally started Somla Keun (sp?)!

Who knows? At this rate, I might be able to test for my Blue-Purple belt by Mid 2017!

 

A little after hours Gym-Nannigans - Back, Biceps and Shoulders

Here's how it went down:

-Seated Lat Pull Down - 160 lbs, 170 lbs 185 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Close Grip Seated Row - 105 lbs, 120 lbs, 135 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Preacher Curl (Machine) - 60 lbs, 80 lbs, 90 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Supinated Cable Rope Curls - 80 lbs, 90 lbs, 100 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Weighted Punches (10 lbs per arm)

• Jab/Cross/Hook - 10/side ("side" = leading leg stance)
• Back Fast/Reverse Punch/Ridge Hand - 10/side

-Seated Shoulder Press - 110 lbs, 125 lbs, 140 lbs (10, 8, 6)

 

Kung Fu Time!

Good class. We seem to be slowing down and spending more time on fewer things, which I really like.

We warmed up with some balance stances, one leg hops and jump/switch/low stances. Followed that with our push up set (of the knuckle, tricep, Spider-man and one-arm variety).

Spent some time on punches with a focus on the rotational body movement. Sifu broke down the Back Fist and Hammer Fist into their component movements so we could develop an understanding on where the power comes from.

For Techniques, we worked our legs and practiced various punch combos in horse and bow stance. We also did some spinning and hop kicks.

Since we barely had time for forms, Sifu ran the whole class ran through Keun Lei Keun together.

 

Keep up the hard work sir!

 

Gym-nannigans - Chest, Triceps and Legs

-Jump Rope - 2 x 2 min
-Heavy Bag - 15 min

• Jab/Cross/Hook
• Back Fist/Reverse Punch/Ridge Hand
• Rear Leg Round House
• Front Leg Round House
• Free

-Seated Chest Press (machine) - 90 lbs, 140 lbs, 160 lbs, 180 lbs (10, 10, 8, 6)
-Cable Cross-Overs (weight per arm) 25 lbs, 30 lbs, 35 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Tricep Dips 3 x 10
-Overhead Tricep Rope Pull - 80 lbs, 90 lbs, 100 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Seated Leg Curls - 90 lbs, 100 lbs, 110 lbs
-Seated leg Extensions - 80 lbs, 95 lbs, 110 lbs (10, 8, 6)

 

Did A Little Pre-Sparring Fu this afternoon:

-Balance Stances -3/side
-High Heel Kick - 8/side
-Inside Crescent Kick - 8/side
-Outside Crescent Kick - 8/side
-Front Slap Kick - 8/side
-Rear Round House Kick - 8/side
-Front Round House Kick - 8/side
-Forms:

• Taijin Keun - Ugh! This was ugly! I'm really out of practice with this one!
• Chong Keun - This one was only slightly better than the last one!
• Staff - Thankfully, I redeemed myself on this one!

-Stretch:

• Standing Split
• Straddle Split
• Low Stance
• Cobra

Then Kung Fu Sparring Time!

First time back after two weeks of missing class. Despite the fact that my stamina had gone way down, it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Warmed up with some punch/kick combos...mostly emphasizing front kicks. Actually, we spent a lot of time working on springing forward with kicks and punches thrown simultaneously (something we put in to practice during free spar!)

During the actual sparring, I did use the jump forward/raised knee tactic to jam kicks. It was really effective. Especially if while throwing punches while closing the distance.

For a change of pace, we did a little King of the Hill point sparring. Two people would face off. Who ever landed the first point stayed on and the next contender came in.

The first person was on of our sijays (reminder: "Sijay" means "big sister") who was a brown purple belt (one rank below a brown belt). She had the most text book round house kick. I mean...it was a thing of beauty.

She got everyone with a roundhouse to the head (she was tall, flexible and fast...deadly combo).

When it was my turn, I saw the kick coming and blocked my head. she manged to kick around my block and tag me in the noggin!

But all in all, it was a good night. Kicks are getting much better and I'm getting a reputation for being fast with my hands. Plus I'm developing a killer spinning back fast (gets 'em every time!).

Oh! As an added bonus, Sifu finally told us what the name of our style - Mizong Louhan means! It means "Honorable Lost Track"

Basically, it's a reference to the sneaky and deceptive moves of our style.

 

Very good information, thank you!

 

Well, somehow I sliced up my thumb Monday night. So Kung Fu class was pre-empted by a trip to the E/R.

But I did get some Gym-Foolery in today. Worked back, biceps and shoulders.

And I've changed up my workout routine to moderate weight/high rep.

Here's how it went down:

-Seated Lat Pull Downs - 110 lbs, 120 lbs, 130 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Seated Rows - 105 lbs, 120 lbs, 135 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Preacher Curls - 30 lbs, 40 lbs, 50 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Wide Grip Cable Curls - 40 lbs, 50 lbs, 60 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Seated Shoulder Press - 100 lbs, 110 lbs, 120 lbs (15, 12, 10)

 

Kung Fu Time!

Good to get back after missing Monday. With the rank test coming up on Saturday, every one was focused on their various forms and techniques.

So we warmed up with some basic stretches and went straight into kicks. To keep things interesting, we also threw in the jumping version of our basics (so jumping high heel kick, jumping inside crescent kick, etc).

Followed that with our more advanced punch/kick combinations (back fist/reverse punch/round house kick/spinning heel kick, back fist/back fist/ridge hand/steel step/spinning back fist - my favorite sparring move!)

Finished up the sequence with skipping side kicks and skipping round house kicks.

For forms, I ran through Staff several times to completion. The last few finishing moves are still throwing me, but I think I got it down.

Must be doing something right. Sifu officially invited me to come to the Kung Fu II class!

I'll probably still hit the Kung Fu I classe for a while...just until I'm really comfortable with the basics.

 

Gym-nannigans! Chest, Triceps and Legs

-Bench Press - 115 lbs, 135 lbs, 145 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Pec Deck - 135 lbs (15, 12, 10...should have started at a lower weight)
-Cable Tricep Press - 90 lbs, 100 lbs, 110 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Overhand Tricep Rope Pull - 60 lbs, 70 lbs, 80 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Leg Press - 150 lbs, 165 lbs, 180 lbs (15, 12, 10)

-Heavy Bag - Exactly 2 minutes before I was run out by the Zumba class (those ladies are fierce!)

 

Got in a little Pre-Sparring Workout (not that it helped)

-Jump Rope - 2 x 2 min rounds
-Heavy Bag - 20 min
Jab/Cross/Hook

• Back Fist/Reverse Punch/Ridge Hand
• Front Roundhouse Kicks
• Free Combos

Then Kung Fu Sparring Time!

We got off to a bit of a late start, so we jumped straight into it with no warm up. That may have contributed to my dismal performance tonight.

But first, we did some partner drills. The focus was on defending against kicks using footwork, jamming and counters. Good to practice.

We used what little time we had left for point sparring. Since I'm terrible at that, I welcome any chance to train at it.

Unfortunately, all my opponents were a) taller (over 6') and b) upper belts. So I got creamed. I had them on the run a few times, but never scored any points.

I honestly think the lack of warm up affected me tonight. I just felt slow and leaden. Just did have the speed.

We also did a "King of the Hill" type tourney where we'd fight to whoever got two points, and then cycle the next person in. But in the meantime, the rest of us were just standing around cooling down.

Not blaming the class. Just trying to pinpoint why I was so out of it tonight. There's obviously been some improvement...but I still have a long way to go.

 

Kung Fu Time!

Sihing Alex was back and bringing on the pain for the warm up! Here's how it went down:

Warm Up
-Jumping Jacks - 30
-Lunging Stretch - 2/side
-Semi Quasi Hurdler Stretches - 2/side
-Right Side High Heel Kicks - 10
-Knuckle Push Ups - 10
-Left Side High Heel Kicks - 10
-Knuckle Push Ups - 10
-Right Side Inside Crescent Kicks - 10
-Tricep Push Ups - 10
-Left Side Inside Crescent Kicks - 10
-Tricep Push Ups - 10
-Right Side Outside Crescent Kicks - 10
-Wide Palm Push Ups - 10
-Left Side Outside Crescent Kicks - 10
-Wide Palm Push Ups - 10
-Right Side Front Slap Kicks - 10
-Box Push Ups (Elbows against the rib cage)- 10
-Left Side Front Slap Kicks - 10
-Box Push Ups - 10
-Crunches - 30
-Bicycles - 20
-Cobra Stretch
-Plank to Side Plank - 2/side (15 sec)
-Yoga Push Ups - 10 (see notes)
-Horse Stance - 2 min
-Iron Shirt - 2 min

Technique
-Heel Thrusting Kick
-Heel Thrust Kick/Same Leg Side Kick
-Heel Thrust Kick/Same Leg Hook Kick
-Back Fist/Switch foot/Round House Kick/Ax Kick/Reverse Punch/Rear Leg Round House (whew!)
-Reverse Spinning Round House Kick (see notes)

Forms
-Staff (to completion)
-Sam Lei Keun (first six moves)

Notes
-Pretty sure I got my quota of push ups in for the week!
-"Yoga Push Ups" are when you start in plank with your forearms on the ground and then rise up to push up position. Then back down to plank and repeat. Not sure if that's what they're actually called, though...
-"Reverse Spinning Round House" - turn the lead foot inward, spin as if performing a side kick, bring the knee up but do a regular round house at the last minute - I've actually used this one in sparring. Really confuses people!
-Sifu seems to be focusing on the more deceptive elements of our style...and I like it! :evil:
-P.S. Started writing each exercise down again to as a way help keep the ol' memory in tact. Good practice!

 

Gym-Osity Back, Biceps and Shoulders

-Seated Lat Pull Down - 110 lbs, 120 lbs, 130 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Bent Over T-Bar Row - 55 lbs, 65 lbs, 75 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-One Arm Curls - 15 lbs, 20 lbs, 25 lbs (15, 12, 10...per arm)
-Reverse Grip Preacher Curls - 40 lbs, 50 lbs 55 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Seated Shoulder Press - 80 lbs, 90 lbs, 100 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Iron Shirt - 1 min

Notes:
-Really need to review my notes before setting off to the gym. The weight on the Shoulder Press was clearly too low.
-Although my shoulders were pretty much on fire the whole time. Could have something to do with the 2 min Iron Shirt last night...

 

Kung Fu Time!

Sijay Brenda warmed up the class. Which meant it was all about legs.

And I can barely walk.

Here's how it went down:

Warm Up
-One Foot Stance - 3/side
-Balance Sequence (One Foot Stance/Searching the Sea/Side Kick/One Foot Stance) - 5/side
-Lunging Stretches
-Hurdler Stretches (from Lunging)
-Straddle Splits
-Standing Splits
-Standing Split sequence (Stretch to each side then back to middle) - 3
-Diamond Stretch
-Seated Pike Stretch
-Close in Diamond Stretch

Technique
-High Heel Kick
-Inside Crescent Kick
-Outside Crescent Kick
-Inside Crescent/Spinning Outside Crescent Kick
-Side Kick/Spinning Side Kick
-Steal Step Side Kick/Spinning Side Kick
-Front Round House/Spinning Rear Round House Kick
-Rear Round House/Jumping Spinning Round House Kick
-Back Fist/Switch Foot/Ax Kick/Round House Kick
-Stance Walk (Horse Stance, Low Stance, Bow Stance, Twist Step, Cat Stance, One Foot Stance)

Cool Down (and more Sadism)
Stance Stretch Sequence (hold each stance for two minutes each side) x 3 (this one did my legs in!)

• Low Stance
• Bow Stance
• Horse Stance

-Standing Split Sequence - 3/side
-Hip Stretch

Forms
-Staff - Led some of the newer Blue Belts through the form. Then Sifu worked with me on polishing up a few moves.
-Sam Lei Keun - First six moves

Note:
-You know it dawns on me that I'm probably doing something wrong if I'm sore from stretching. Probably holding my breath or pushing it too much or something equally silly...

 

Gym Foolery - Chest, Triceps and Legs

-Bench Press - 115 lbs, 135 lbs, 155 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Cable Cross-Overs - 35 lbs, 45 lbs, 55 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Tricep Press - 80 lbs, 90 lbs, 100 lbs (15, 12, 10...see notes)
-Seated Leg Curls - 50 lbs, 60 lbs, 70 lbs (15, 12, 10)
-Seated Leg Extensions - 60 lbs, 70 lbs, 80 lbs (15, 12, 10)

Bonus Round!
-Staff - 15 mins...working on "making it pretty"
-Sam Lei Keun - 10 mins...first 6 moves

Notes:
-My Triceps appear to be getting freakishly large, so I'm scaling back on them a bit. Hence only one exercise.

 

Pre Sparring Fu

-Staff Form - Worked on it for about twenty minutes. Ran through it fast, then slowed it down with each successive repetition. There are a lot of little subtle strikes that are easy to blow through if one does it fast.
-Sam Lei Keun - Ran through the six moves I know.
-Chong Keun - Just because. And I can use some of the moves in sparring...which I did.

Kung Fu Sparring Time!

Good class. Lot of emphasis tonight on techniques that are specific to our style (like the front round house kick and certain punch/kick combos).

So we warmed up with those and moved to partner drills.

A hallmark move of our style is a simultaneous Back Fist/Front Round House Kick. It tends to catch people off guard. Unfortunately, that's ALL some of my class mates do! So we worked on some combinations to use behind that opening (punches, kicks and footwork).

And I sparred my Nemesis (again)! Actually, he's a good kid. He's a brown-purple belt (two ranks above me), six feet tall (two inches taller than me), skinny, flexible and young.

He has some killer high kicks, which I know are coming. But he's so fast and flexible with them, he invariably nails me with one. Which he did during our first round.

Sifu saw us and said "You two always do the same thing. Let's change things up." So for the next round, my opponent could only use hands and I could only use my right side (I'm left handed). That actually kind of evened things up!

After that, we moved on to Point Sparring and finally got a chance to fight some students of the same rank! Won two rounds and lost one. But hey! That's an improvement!

Felt kind of slow on my feet tonight. So I probably need to start doing some footwork drills and jumping rope again. And a little running probably wouldn't hurt, either.

Anybody out there have and thoughts or ideas on improving footwork (aside from ballet, Matvei!)?

 

Fu Foot Work Training! ("Fut Work"?)

Trying out a new footwork drill routine on a nice, lazy Sunday afternoon. Here's how it went down:

-High Heel Kick - 10/side
-Outside Crescent Kick - 10/side
-Inside Crescent Kick - 10/side
-Jump Rope - 30 sec
-Front Roundhouse/Jab/Cross Advance - right side lead - 30 sec
-Jump Rope - 30 sec
-Front Roundhouse/Jab/Cross Advance - left side lead - 30 sec
-Jump Rope - 30 sec
-Jab/Cross Advance/Front Round House - right side lead - 30 sec
-Jump Rope - 30 sec
-Jab/Cross Advance/Front Round House - left side lead - 30 sec
-Jab/Cross/Step 45 degree/Pivot/Rear Round House - right side lead - 30 sec
-Jab/Cross/Step 45 degree/Pivot/Rear Round House - left side lead - 30 sec
-Free Shadow Box - 2 min
-Forms

• Staff - Once at full speed, once slow and precise. Found two area where the footwork needs to be shored up (go figure!) but it was a good run otherwise.
• Sam Lei Keun

-Stretches

• Standing Split
• Straddle Split
• Cobra

Notes:
-The two moves I practiced are hallmark attacks of our style. We learn them, but very few people can pull them off properly when we spar.
-Improving those would help me to capitalize on my strengths (fast hands) and minimize my weaknesses (weak high kicks)
-An effective strategy I used in Muay Thai when sparring Tae Kwan Do people was to close distance quickly, get inside and throw hands.
-Although the good Kung Fu kickers are flexible enough to kick at close range, the typical response to a fast advance is usually to back up or step around. If I can get my opponent to move on my terms, I'll be in control of the fight. :evil:

 

Kung Fu Time!

Good class despite Sihing Alex (aka "The King of Pain") leading the warm up.

Here's how it went down:

Warm Up
-Jumping Jacks - 30
-Lunging Stretch - 2/side
-Semi Quasi Hurdler Stretches - 2/side
-Right Side High Heel Kicks - 10
-Knuckle Push Ups - 10
-Left Side High Heel Kicks - 10
-Knuckle Push Ups - 10
-Right Side Inside Crescent Kicks - 10
-Tricep Push Ups - 10
-Left Side Inside Crescent Kicks - 10
-Tricep Push Ups - 10
-Right Side Outside Crescent Kicks - 10
-Wide Palm Push Ups - 10
-Left Side Outside Crescent Kicks - 10
-Wide Palm Push Ups - 10
-V-Ups - 10
-Crunches - 30
-Side Crunches - 20/side
-Cobra Stretch
-Yoga Push Ups - 20
-Horse Stance - 2 min
-Iron Shirt - 2 min

Techniques (Tonight, we focused on the practical application of the Classical Techniques from our Forms. Kinda different!)
-Horse Stance Punches
-Block/Palm/Palm/Scraping Punch/Upswing (Taijin Keun)
-Eagle Claw Grab/Palm/Palm/Scraping Punch (Taijin Keun)
-Block/Chop/Chop/Double Punch (Keun Lei Keun)
-Upswing/Step/Upper Cut/Step/Upper Cut (Keun Lei Keun)
-Double Back Fist/Scraping Punch (Chong Keun)
-White Crane Punch

Forms
-Sei Fon Sei Bei (together as a class)