All posts tagged "si8"
It’s hot out, fellas. Even with the air conditioning pumping (which I’m against), the school is still a little hot box on days like today. I literally had to wring my shirt out in the sink between classes today.
First class was tough - after the warmup we drilled a few sections of Gung Ji a bunch of times. Then we worked on a few techniques in those sections. Second class was more of the same, but I worked out a bit less and instructed a bit more - I was all out of sweat.
The school was stuffy as hell today and the sweat started flowing as soon as I did the TWBS warmup before class. Took the first crew through lots of basics and then drilled some basic hand techniques. After they scurried off, I ran through Tiet Sien Kuen with my Sihings a few times.
I took a back seat for the first class of the evening and assisted Al in teaching. Ended up drilling a bit of the technique with the class, but took it easy for the most part. Worked out along side the second class and got an unhealthy sweat going. It was hot as fuck in the school.
Started by doing 3 rounds of Cindy as a warmup, then went into squat work. Started light again and worked up to 245lb for 3 sets of 5 reps. The form felt really good at times but it’s still inconsistent. I gotta keep thinking of my cues when I’m squatting: look down, chest up, elbows back, ass out, etc. Lifting the toes a little also helps me keep the weight on my heels.
Coach Keith also introduced me to the power clean today. I was having a hard time connecting the deadlift to the jump at first so he had me deadlift the bar for a full rep, touch and go on the floor, and then explode up into the clean. This seemed to do the trick of preventing me from stalling. After a shitload of singles like that, I was feeling pretty strong on the form (and feeling better about my deadlift form too). The keys here are keeping the bar really close to my body and using the hamstrings/hips to drive the jump, not the arms. All the arms need to do is circle under the weight when it’s in motion. I was using 135lb for the majority of time here and probably did about 20 singles.
Another important correction I got from Keith during the power clean training is that because I have long legs and a short torso (the anti-Zach), I need to start the deadlift from an almost horizontal back position. If I try to use the textbook approach, the weight will be too far over my toes and throw off the entire movement. Good to know.
Repeat 6x, resting 30 sec between rounds.
I searched the GPP archives for the worst individual exercises and tried to include a bunch of em in today’s circuit. I thought it would be interesting to see which was the worst today but it was no contest - the chinnies took it. That got me thinking that maybe the placement in the circuit has some effect on the pain. I’ll try something similar with the chinnies earlier in the circuit and see if they still kill me. I couldn’t get an unbroken set of those bastards after the first round today.
I also decided that I need to set up a sort of baseline for maintaining the intensity. I’m thinking that Crossfit’s tabata scoring system — keep the lowest number of reps you complete — may work for my purposes. For example my lowest burpee count in the 6 circuits was 10. So in the future, the 30 sec burpee baseline will be 10. Woodchoppers and slams came in about 16 but I still need to figure out the rest, record em, then hold myself to that standard for every GPP session.
I was digging through the archives and realized I hadn’t done Ross’s Magic 50 in a while. Grabbed a 65lb dumbbell and went to work:
Repeat 5x
Total time: 11:20. This was the first time it ever took me over 10 minutes, but it was the heaviest I’ve ever gone as well (used a 50 last time and finished in the 9 minute range). Finished with 3 sets of 10 pullups. I felt absolutely terrible and am still recovering from this one an hour later.
I did some experimenting with weights before I started and settled on the 65lber. I was actually planning on using the 75 before I got to the gym, but that just wasn’t happening with the 1 arm swing. Also did 5 TGUs/side with the 65 before starting. Man, I had somehow convinced myself that this one wasn’t that bad. Just goes to show that I wasn’t going heavy enough before and these workouts are as hard as you make them.
Heavy strength day.
I tried doing the snatches before the C&P since they’re such similar movements and I usually do it in the reverse order. Sure enough, I was stronger on the snatch than the C&P this time. Also hit another PR with TGU. Failed at my first attempt on the left, but gave myself a minute and got the full rep. Those weighted pulls tore up my hips. It’s definitely time for a new weight belt.
Jump rope intervals:
15 minutes of hard work. Tried to stick to high-knee-sprint-in-place and double unders for the duration, but I had to mix in a little basic skipping at the end. I was stringing the double unders together pretty well - got 20+ several times.
I suggested the Deck of Cards workout for today and Frank upped the ante by asking for the straight pushup/burpee variation. The card’s value determines the number of reps (Ace is 11, face cards are 10):
Total time: 31:47. That’s 192 reps of each exercise. Oh, and each burpee also contains a full pushup, which made this especially gruelling. We were really looking forward to the jokers for a change of pace. Frank beat me by about 10 seconds again.
For the first class of the evening, we spent lots of time building the foundation for the dragon step to front snap kick combo. We broke down the movement, drilled it, partnered up, then I showed the beginners some drills that will help them feel more comfortable in the hanging horse stance and develop the kick.
For the advanced class, Sifu had us work on tons of combos with the pole. He had us work the opposing movements and drill them until our arms were falling off (and I was soaked with sweat). Then I kept drilling some more and finished up with some work on Fu Hok Seung Ying Kuen. Great class.
Small class tonight, so we just drilled some of the techniques from the dragon section of Ng Ying Kuen, then we practiced practical application with partners and worked on some follow-ups. After that I ran through the entire dragon section of the form a few times, focusing on generating power. Pretty beat from the workout we did before class.
Small class tonight, so we did a quick warmup then ran through Gung Ji together 3 times, then Fuk Fu 5 times. We picked apart certain sections to make sure we were all on the same page with a few moves that seemed off. Then we went into sparring for a bit. It was stuffy and hot as balls in the school. Here come the sweat.
