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

Huh...looks like the stuff I posted yesterday didn't get uploaded. So before I post today's...here's Tuesday's:

Kung Fu-lery
-High Heel Kicks - 8/side
-Inside Crescent Kicks - 8/side
-Outside Crescent Kicks - 8/side
-Forms (Weapons only)

• Nunchucks
• Sabre (Had a hard time remembering some of the moves...probably because Heraclius likes it )
• Staff

Then off for some Gym Foolery

-Bench Press - 155 lbs (10), 185 lbs (7, 4)
-Incline Bench Press Machine - 150 lbs, 165 lbs 180 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Cable Tricep Press - 100 lbs, 120 lbs, 140 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Tricep Dips - 3 x 10
-Seated Leg Press - 195 lbs, 220 lbs, 235 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Seated Calf Press - 220 lbs, 235 lbs, 250 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Stretches

• Straddle Split
• Standing Split
• Low Stance
• Cobra

 

Kung Fu Time

Sihing Kirby (our best sparrer and all an around good human being) warmed us up with the usual stretches and push ups.

But it wouldn't be a Kirby class unless he threw in something nutty. He had us go from a hurdler stretch to a horse stance and back down to a hurdler stretch on the other side...with no hands.

I couldn't do it. Although...I don't think it's a strength thing so much as understanding the mechanics. At least... that is what I will tell myself.

We worked on kick combos and footwork followed by some focus on the classical swinging punches (which look really cool and kung fu-ey!)

Afterwards, we worked on forms. We all did Chong Keun as a class. Then Sihing Curtis (of nose breaking fame) did something interesting...he had us go through staff...but without our staves!

His thought was that even weapon forms could be used as open hand techniques. I think he's on to something. So that was a neat exercise.

And finally we worked some more on the Staff From, this time with an actual staff.

 

It's all part of my evil plan to make my enemies less effective :evil:

That's a pretty common thing in CMA (I think). Conversely, it could be that, as previously the armed training would have been more important, the unarmed stuff is directly based on techniques and movements done with weapons. I think it can be taken too far - when you study weapons only to supplement unarmed training (like the bokken in aikido) it makes me a bit sad, since they are so awesome in their own right (yes, even staves).

 

Ok, granted. I'll shut up about nunchaku now.

 

"Enemies", eh? And here I though this was a nice friendly forum.

Well, if that's the way it is...you're going to rue the day your sword crossed staves with me!

All very true. The point of the exercise was to examine the commonalities and basic principles of the movements. An upward block with a staff easily translates to an outer block with the forearm and so on...

 

Solo Training

Gym Foolery for back and bicep day.

-Lat Pulldown - 150 lbs, 165 lbs, 180 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Cable Row - 100 lbs, 120 lbs, 130 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Supinated Cable Curls - 50 lbs, 60 lbs 80 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Seated Preacher Curls - 50 lbs, 60 lbs, lbs (10, 6, 4)
-Seated Leg Curls - 60 lbs, 70 lbs 90 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Seated Leg Extensions - 70 lbs, 80 lbs, 100 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Heavy Bag - 20 mins

• Jab/Cross/Hook
• Right Cross
• Free Hand combos
• Front Leg Roundhouse
• Left Leg Kicks

 

Kung Fu Sparring Time!

I was a tad nervous about this class.

First, it's my first time back (like, for realsies) after three weeks.

Second, I took a customer out to a steak place for lunch and had a grilled chicken pannini foolishly believing it to be the "healthy option". That thing sat in my stomach like a rock!

It finally burned off after thirty minutes of footwork and evasion drills. Then we free-sparred for remaining half hour.

And I verified my theory that I waste too much energy with too much jumping around and superfluous movement. This time, I picked my shots and used my footwork to step out of the way as opposed to jump away.

Worked like a charm. I'm not half as tired as I have been.

So it was a good class all in all. No one died.

 

Kung Fu Time!

I hate it when the young 'uns do the warm up. Waaaay too much cardio for my tastes. But, I guess it's all about getting out of one's comfort zone.

Sihing Derek (our second best sparring student) threw in a lot of hopping, bouncing and jump knee tucks. Used to be good at those when I was younger. Now I can't stand 'em.

The focus was on legs tonight, so we did a lot of stance work and kicks, with a few combos thrown in to spice things up.

Then we worked on forms. Sifu spent a little more time with us "newer" Blue Belts to break down the moves a little better.

So I think we have the first two sections of Staff Form down (only twenty three more to go!)

 

Solo Training Time!

Kung-Fu-lery today consisted solely of doing weapons forms (since we did a lot of kicking and leg work yesterday.

The focus on all forms was precision of movement. We noticed last night that we were hurrying through our staff form and skipping some moves. So I wanted to pay attention to that.

-Nunchucks - Ran through it once. Paid special attention to behind the back pass and reverse figure eights.
-Sabre - Ran through it twice. Focused on keeping stances low and the last three moves (they were sloppy).
-Staff - Ran through the first two sections (since that's all I know so far!). Focused on grip and strike mechanics.

Then down for some Gyn-nanigans and Chest Day. I was pressed for time so I only did the machines - no free weights.

-Seated Chest Press - 100 lbs, 120 lbs, 150 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Incline Chest Press Machine - 100 lbs, 120 lbs, 150 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Tricep Cable Press - 120 lbs, 130 lbs, 140 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Overhead Cable Tricep Pull - 80 lbs, 90 lbs, 100 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Seated Leg Curl - 80 lbs, 90 lbs, 100 lbs - (10, 8, 6)
-Seated Leg Extension - 90 lbs, 100 lbs 110 lbs - (10, 8, 6)

Stretch Fu
-Standing Splits
-Straddle Splits
-Low Stance Stretch
-Cobra

 

Kung Fu Time!

Good class! The weather was nice and everyone seemed to have a good energy level.

Did our usual warm ups then spent time on kicks and jumping kicks. I can notice some improvement as my kicks and my jumps are both getting higher.

Then we broke out into groups and did forms. And us lazy shiftless Blue Belts learned the next section of the Staff Form.

 

Kung Fu Time!

Got hit with a severe case of The Lazies last night and opted to enjoy the nice Texas Spring weather instead of going to sparring.

Made up for it this morning by going to the "Open Kung Fu" class. It's mostly a lot of cardio and there are a ton of kiddies there.

But it was fun to do something outside the routine for a change.

And we learned the next section of The Staff Form. So that was goodness.

 

Staff Time!

Leaving town for a week, so I did about thirty minutes of practice with the staff...just so I won't forget.

Hopefully, I can get a little practice in at the hotel. Maybe I'll commandeer the maid's broomstick or something...

 

Kung Fu Time!

Back into it after a week-long hiatus. And I came back to find Sifu out of town and Sihing Alex (aka the King of Pain) teaching in his place.

So there was a lot of jogging and jumping in our warm up. That was a great way to break in my new shoes, but not so great on my old feet.

Then Alex put some sadistic twists on old classic like push ups, sit ups and dynamic stretching.

For the second half of the class, we focused a lot on the foundations of sparring; specifically footwork and punching.

We even paired up for some very basic block/evasion drills.

No forms, though...which was kind of a bummer.

Still...it's good to be back.

 

You mean you like forms better than partner drills? My mind cannot comprehend this....:bang:

 

Training Time!

First, some kung fu-lery:

-One Foot Stance into Searching the Sea (yogis would call them "balance postures") - 5/side
-High Heel Kick - 10/side
-Inside Crescent Kick - 10/side
-Outside Crescent Kick - 10/side
-Weapons Forms:

• Nunchuck
• Sabre
• Staff

Then for some gymnanigans and back and bicep day:

-Seated Lat Pulldown - 140 lbs, 155 lbs, 180 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Dumb Bell Curls (per arm) - 25 lbs, 30 lbs, 35 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Seated Upright Rows - 80 lbs, 100 lbs, 120 lbs (10, 10, 8...first time on this machine. Need to increase weight)
-Standing Cable Rope Curls - 50 lbs, 70 lbs, 80 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Seated Leg Press - 210 lbs, 225 lbs, 240 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Seated Calf Press - 210 lbs, 225 lbs, 240 lbs (10, 8, 6)

-One (1) Round of Jump Rope - 2 min
-Heavy Bag - 10 minutes

• Footwork drills from yesterday
• Punch combinations
• Switch kick

-Cool Down Jump Rope - 1 min

Notes:
-Was reminded that in kung fu, we plant our "power foot" just before throwing a punch (as opposed to pivoting on the balls of the feet like in muay Thai). So I tried it. It worked!
-Dusted off the old switch kick I used to use in muay Thai. It works rather well with a kung fu roundhouse! I may try to work that in with sparring :evil:
-I completely remembered all of my weapons forms! Which is odd, considering I haven't done them in over a week.

 

Kung Fu Time!

Sifu's in The Old Country for a few weeks, so once again...we were subject to Sihing Alex's School of Sadism.

Actually it wasn't that bad. I guess once we got over the initial shock of change, it was just a question of focus.

So, same warm up with a lot of running, jumping and stretching. We also did a bunch of static conditioning (Plank, Iron Shirt, Horse Stance, etc...) with a little Kung Fu yoga thrown in (and if that's not a thing...I'm making it one!).

Then we worked on classic kicks before breaking into groups to do forms.

Learned a few more moves of the Saff Form. Now we're officially 1/3 of the way through.

 

Solo Workout Time!

Ran through all the open hand forms for The Kung Fu-lery bit

-Sei Fon Sei Bei - Focus on precision and power
-Keun Lei Keun - Focus on precision and power
-Taijin Keun - Focus on remembering the form!
-Chong Keun - Geez! Really? Had a tough time pulling this one off smoothly too!


Gym-nanigans for Chest and Tricep day

-Bench Press - 135 lbs, 155 lbs, 185 lbs (10, 8, 5)
-Tricep Overhead Cable Chop - 90 lbs, 100 lbs, 120 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Incline Chest Press Machine - 140 lbs, 155 lbs, 180 lbs (10, 8, 6)
-Tricep Dips - 3 x 10
-Leg Extensions - 80 lbs, 90 lbs, 100 lbs (10, 10, 8...go up in weight)
-Leg Curl - 70 lbs, 80 lbs, 100 lbs (10, 8, 6)

Notes:
-Had to skip bagwork and jump rope because of time. I'll try to get some in tomorrow before sparring class.
-Rusty on my last two open had forms. That's what happens when I don't practice enough.
-Mental note...Practice open hand forms more!

 

Kung Fu Sparring Class!

Since Sifu's out, Sihing Kirby led the class. And he didn't waste any time!

We did about ten minutes of stretching/warm up, ten minutes of drills and about forty minutes of sparring!

It was awesome!

Surprisingly, I'm not as tired as I used to get. So this whole "fighting smart" thing appears to be working.

I also got a chance to try out some of the footwork Sihing Alex taught us earlier this week...against Sihing Alex! Of course, that didn't last long.

Did okay tonight, but was pretty rusty after missing the last couple of weeks.

So I vow before the MAP that I shall not skip any more classes unless I'm injured, out of town or injured out of town.

 

Kung Fu Time!

Whew! After being weighleighed all weekend with a nasty cold, this was the first bit of physical exercise I did since Sunday.

It could have gone better. The warm up consisted of a ten minute jog mixed in with high knees, grapevines, high skipping and running punches. I got lightheaded but refused to pass out.

Then we did the usual dynamic stretching and push ups and the like. Did some horse stance (which was no problem) and Iron Shirt (huge problem!).

And I almost tossed my cookies during the core work (sit ups, crunches, etc) because my stomach is still sore from all the coughing. Almost.

The technique stuff focused on the practical applications of Sei Fon Sei Bei (our first form). There are a couple of very useful moves we drilled which I'll definitely try out on Friday (where appropriate).

Then we worked on Staff Form.

Hopefully, I'll feel more 100% for sparring class. Otherwise, I'll just sneeze on people as part of my defense.