September 2008
46 posts
1 tag
August 2008
47 posts
3 tags
GPP Circuit
Headed to J.J. Byrne Park near the new place for a quickie (after being cooped up waiting for the sofa to be delivered). Not really any good place to workout there since it’s half gravelly cement and half overrun with kiddies. I opted for the gravelly cement part for today’s workout.
Burpees x 30 sec (9)
Burps x 30 sec
Mountain Climbers x 30 sec
Burpees x 30 sec (8)
Burps x 30...
3 tags
Core Training
Waiting for the phone guy to come today, unpacked a box with the old ab wheel, so:
30 Standing Wheel Rollouts
Total time: 6:08. Broke it down into 6 sets of 5. Collapsed at full extension on the last few.
1 tag
“A handsome face you may not have. A handsome butt you can earn.”
– A Better Butt in One Move, Kilgore & Rippetoe
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Moving Day
Hey, I got a pretty good sweat going running boxes and furniture up and down the stairs today. Of course it was easy peasy once we got to the new place, what with the elevator and all.
5 tags
Compromise
Zach and I got up nice and early to prepare for today’s move so we headed to Pier 40 for a quick workout. Zach loves situps, I love divebombers, so we did:
Sprint 100m
Situps
Divebomber Pushups
Repeat 5x with the following rep scheme: 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, then sprint 100m back to start.
Total time: 14:27. Those pushups slowed me down way more than I anticipated due to soreness from the...
1 tag
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Back-off Strength Training
Last dance at the Tony Dapolito shitshow. Going for quality sets here, not to failure:
4 x Circuit A
Pullups - 20 wide grip, 10 L-pullups, 16 alternating sides, 16 chin
Glute-Ham Raises - 5, 5, 5, 5
4 x Circuit B One Arm Pushups - 5, 5, 5,5
One-Legged Squats - 5, 5, 5, 5
4 x Circuit C Handstand Pushups - 5, 4, 5, 5
Good Mornings - 16, 16, 16, 16 (12lb)
3 x...
4 tags
Shoulder Scorcher
50 Double Unders
25 Pushups
Repeat 4x
Total time: 9:30. I wanted to do a quickie centered around double unders and thought that adding pushups to the mix would be a good way to torch the shoulders. I was right. After the first set, all the pushups were broken into 10s or 5s because my shoulders were burning. The most consecutive double unders I hit today was 22.
2 tags
Kung Fu demo
Round two of filming at the school. Round two of lots of standing around and waiting. After a last minute switch, I ended up performing a section from Yu Ga Dai Pa for the cameras. It went well, but I bashed the hell out of my knee with the fork warming up (outside, away from the cameras).
2 tags
Kung Fu class
Sparring class today. Used the GPP session for warmup, then some three star block and right into sparring. I broke in some newbies today, so didn’t really go crazy.
3 tags
GPP Circuit
Burpees x 30 sec (12)
Split Jumps x 30 sec
Mountain Climbers x 30 sec
Jumping Jacks x 30 sec
Med Ball Woodchoppers x 30 sec
Grasshoppers x 30 sec
Repeat 5x, resting 1 min between rounds.
Did this one as a warmup for the sparring class, so padded the rest and limited the number of circuits. This was really a recovery session for me since my legs are still sore from Jonesworthy. Maintained...
The Lipid-phobe’s Guide to Dietary Fat →
I am not, nor have I ever been a lipid-phobe. Bring on the whole milk.
3 tags
Jonesworthy
A Gym Jones workout today:
Squat - 80, 64, 48, 32, 24, 12
DB Swings (55lb) - 40, 32, 24, 16, 12, 6
Pullups - 20, 16, 12, 8, 6, 3
First round was 80 squats, 40 swings, 20 pullups. Second round was 64 squats, 32 swings, 16 pullups, etc for a grand total of 260 squats, 130 swings, and 65 pullups.
Total time: 20:12.
Not very pleased. Too many broken sets, too much rest....
2 tags
Kung Fu class
Standard warmup, followed by form work for the beginners. After they cleared out, I worked on Hang Yuet Darn Dao and Chun Choy Dai Dao a bit in preparation for an upcoming performance. Not sure which weapon I’ll be asked to demo or which specific techniques, so I have to be prepared for anything!
1 tag
“We believe that our bodies are our most glorious possessions; that health-wealth...”
– Bernarr Macfadden, The Physical Culture Creed *
1 tag
Ring of Fire →
“For outstanding achievement, learn to bypass the Happy Exit and head straight into Hell, because hardly anybody gets a PR with a smile on their face. The smile usually comes after the effort.”
2 tags
Grimaldo's Mile 2008
Dave and I headed out to Coney Island for our second consecutive Grimaldo’s Mile swim today. When I arrived at 6am, the full moon was still really visible, so I was really banking on an amazing performance. Official time: 36:27, which is not amazing and probably not correct. I started in the 3rd wave and I don’t think my time was adjusted (last year I finished in 31:25 in much choppier...
2 tags
Kung Fu practice
Out on Pier 40 to enjoy the sunshine. I ran through Gung Ji Fuk Fu a few times with full power to warmup, then worked on Tiet Sien Kuen for the remainder. I was feeling sorta rusty on TSK and being in “Gung Ji mode” didn’t make it any easier (due to the similarities). I felt good by the last run-through, but I need to make sure I practice this more consistently.
Bolt smashes 100m record - Dad chalks it up to... →
“Bolt’s father said ‘yam power’ won it for his son. Wellesley Bolt said Usain was partial to the vegetable grown in the Trelawny area of north-west Jamaica where he was born. Local citizens believe the local staple has medicinal powers.”
3 tags
Swim Intervals
At the Chelsea pool today, mainly working on technique.
400m warm up
300m slow side stroke
Intervals - repeat 10x 25 freestyle
25 breaststroke
300m cool down
Total time: 40 minutes. Total distance: 1500m.
The Chelsea pool is normally very clean, but there was crud that looked like the alien eggs from Coccoon at the bottom today. I wonder if I’ll feel like a young man (like Hume...
3 tags
Density Training: Pullups + Pushups
Using the principles of density training to increase my pullup AND pushup numbers (shooting for 50). Starting each set at 1 minute intervals, go until you can’t complete the numbers in a 1 min set:
10 pullups
10 pushups
Finished 8 rounds.
Total of 80 reps of each, resting until the full minute is up. I was shooting for the full 10 rounds, but just wasn’t feeling it today....
2 tags
Kung Fu demo
There was a film crew at the school tonight to interview Sifu and shoot some footage of us training. So we trained and performed sections from some of the forms for the cameras. Didn’t get much of a workout since there was a lot of standing around and waiting.
1 tag
“Those who think they have no time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have...”
– Edward Stanley
2 tags
Kung Fu class
Standard warmup followed by a bit of stance work and a whole mixed bag of drills. Covered everything from the basic tiger claw to the individual animal sections in Ng Ying Kuen and worked on Chun Choy Dai Dao a bit, all in preparation for an upcoming demo.
In Defense of 8 Cups [Glasses] of Water →
“If you are active, 8 cups [glasses] may not even be enough. Drink water instead of other things that are less healthy.” I’ll drink to that.
1 tag
“Results are just the simple yet important things done on a consistent basis.”
– Trainer Tells All: What I Have Learned About Health and Fitness
3 tags
Core Training
Started with L-sit work on the chair. 4 sets of 30 sec. Then the main circuit:
Kneeling Wheel Rollouts x 10
Lying Hip Swings x 10/side
Bird-dogs x 20
Abmat Situps x 30
Repeat 4x
Finisher: 2 min plank.
2 tags
Kung Fu class
Sifu took us through lots of basic technique work after tonight’s warmup. Then we went into form work and I helped the beginners and worked on the 5 animal sections from Ng Ying Kuen.
Intermittent Fasting 101 →
“Intermittent fasting is just taking times of fast (no food) and working them into your lifestyle. This can be either daily or a couple times a week.”
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Swim Practice
At the Metropolitan Pool with Dave today to work on my technique.
300m warm up
100m slow side stroke
100m kick (50 front, 50 side)
Main Set - repeat 4x 100 freestyle
50 breaststroke
300m cool down
Total time: 40 minutes. Total distance: 1400m.
Dave helped me realize a better way to catch and pull the water - extending the hand out to the side of the body. It’s definitely more...
3 tags
Explosive Strength Training
1 Arm DB Snatch
5 x 3/side x 60lb
Barbell Punch Press
5 x 3/side x 75lb
Complex Pair - repeat 4x One Arm Bench Press x 5/arm x 90lb (3 reps on last 2 sets)
Plyometric Pushups x 8
DB Lunges x 6/side x 65lb
Lunge Jumps x 10
Finisher: Sumo Deadlift High Pulls
2 x 10 x 115lb
Started off with some light jump rope work and 100 double unders. I got 44 in a row, which is a PR....
2 tags
Kung Fu class
After today’s warmup, Sifu drilled us on some tiger claw applications. We concentrated on the ‘cat cleans its whiskers’ technique and just drilled the hell out of it. After class I practiced some sections from Ng Ying Kuen - mainly the ten tigers section.
Travel-Friendly Workouts →
Good Crossfit-inspired workouts that require almost no equipment. Always good to have lots of these handy.
On The Road Again: Eating On The Road →
2 tags
Kung Fu practice
Open practice at the school tonight. Worked on Yu Ga Dai Pa for a while, then went on to stance / hand training. Started with 5 minutes of hand slapping on the sandbag, then 300 punches on the wall-mounted sandbag. After that, I did 4 sets of 10/side Dragon Twisting with dumbbells in overhead lockout position, holding 25lb in each hand.
After I was sufficiently warmed up and sweaty, we drilled...
2 tags
Core Training
Turkish Get Ups (50lb) x 5/side
Knees-to-Elbows x 15
High-to-Low Cable Wood Chop x 10/side
Repeat 4x
3 tags
Swim Intervals
350m warm up
Intervals - repeat 10x 50m freestyle sprint
25m slow breaststroke
Intervals - repeat 5x
25m freestyle sprint
25m slow breaststroke
350m cool down
Total time: 38 minutes. Total distance: 1700m.
Jeez, I felt like a lead ape in the water today. I gotta get my ass in that pool as much as possible between now and next Sunday when Dave and I take on Grimaldo’s Mile in...
3 tags
No Excuses
Had another go at one of Ross’s worst - No Excuses:
Burpees
Pullups
Pushups
Squats
Repeat circuit 4x, starting with 60 second rounds and cutting the time spent on each exercise by 15 seconds each time through (60 sec, 45 sec, 30 sec, 15 sec). Total time: 10 minutes. No rest allowed!
Fucking brutal. I don’t know how I tricked myself into thinking this wasn’t so hard....
2 tags
Kung Fu class
Very small class tonight. After the warmup of calisthenics, stance training, basic kick work, and bridge training, we worked on forms. I worked myself on Fuk Fu Kuen before and after class. Also did lots of hip mobility drills before class. I’ve been doing these for about 2 weeks to keep my back from rounding on squats. Not sure how well I’m progressing because I have no one to check...
1 tag
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Max Strength Training
Heavy strength day.
Turkish Get Ups
3 x 55lb
2 x 70lb
1 x 90lb (PR)
1 x 90lb
1 Arm DB Snatch
3 x 90lb
3 x 90lb
3 x 90lb
3 x 90lb
1 Arm DB Clean & Press
3 x 90lb
10 x 45lb (bar)
10 x 45lb (bar)
Simple pair, repeat 4x:
Weighted Pullups (100lb) - 5, 5, 5, 5
Bench Press (225lb) - 4, 4, 4, 4
Simple pair, repeat 4:
Weighted One Legged Squats (45lb) - 5, 5,...
1 tag
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
– T.S. Eliot