A Warrior's Thougts on the Martial Arts

I'll have to skip swimming today. Yesterdays strength training left me sore and tired. Getting up at 6 to begin the day by teaching two classes didn't exactly help that fact. Now if there was nothing more to do for me today, I'd force myself to swim. Still having three classes and a nightly meeting with my good friend and mentor Ronny ahead of me, however, I'll have to conserve my energy. Obviously I still need time to get fit for the volume of training my program has me go through every week. Still, I'll try to catch up on that workout before the week is over. In between the classes I've yet to teach today I'll be doing some tennis ball work to help me be fit again tomorrow. By the way, there was an article in a local newspaper about my dojo today. I'll post the scanned image in the evening. So long, take care

Today was strength day. To be precise, we had our "max-squat day". Now that's a good one. Interrestingly, there was no problem with the grip-strength today. On a negative note I missed some reps on the barbell rows as we upped the weight quite drastically. Today's stats: Squat, 1RM: 130Kg Bench Press, 4x8, 60Kg Deadlift, 4x8, 90Kg Bent-over barbell rows, 4x8, 45kg (failed on 3 reps here) Military press, 4x8, 35kg I'm positive I can go to 140kg on the 1RM on the next "max squat day", as I wasn't exactly at my limits today. For safety reasons, however, I decided not to go heavier than 130 on my first heavy squats in more than 6 months. For the warmup we did every "Movement Prep" exercise that can be found in Mark Verstegens "Core Performance" program. That stuff really does prepare you for strength training. The second workout - the interval swimming - I missed out of pure confusion. When we went to venice, I removed everything from...

So today I started the 2nd week of my 9-week program. Unfortunately, things have deteriorated for me again. You see, me girl and I, we was at Venice on Saturday, to enjoy Carnival there. The implication, of course, was an 8-hour march through the city. As you can imagine, my ankle didn't like that very much. For me, that means another change in my program. Since the rope-skipping is just too hard on my ankle, I'll be replacing that with Movement Prep / Prehab exercise from Mark Verstegens "Core Performance" program. I've yet to figure out the exact routine I'll be doing, but it'll most certainly revolve around programming proper biomechanics and stretching the lower back (as that's the one body part I tend to neglect with my mobility/flexibility work). Of course, adapting the program every week might look bad in regard to the results, but then that's something that comes with creating an individual program. Out-of the box programs, on the other han...

Just returned from the pool. I feel great. In fact, I feel much better than I did tuesday afternoon. When I'd have to decide for or against swimming after working out in the gym, I'd rather choose to do it. Of course there's downsides to it, but for me the positive aspects far outweight the negative ones. You see, when I walked out of the gym I wasn't motivated to do just about anything else today. I was completely devastated. Obviously, this affected my performance at the pool. But then, on the other hand, it took me exactly 25 minutes net training time to complete the swimming workout (8 minutes warmup, 10 minutes intervals, 7 minutes cooldown), so I guess my speed hasn't suffered all that much. Also, most people will agree that endurance is as much a mental thing as a physical. Doing my cardio in an exhausted state might actually help my fortitude. It's not the total result that counts with endurance (as opposed to strength and/or speed training, where only m...

Just returned from my strength training session. There's a good thing and a bad thing: Good thing: I'm currently free of pain. Bad thing: As soon as feeling returns to my body, it'll be agonizing. The routine was the same as last time, only today we upped the weights a bit. Also, today was "bench" day, so we re-estimated the 1RM for the bench press and did 4x8 on the dealift and the squat. Those two exercises are propably the most useful one can do, but combined in the same workout, they're murderous. We wramed up by doing some movement-prep exercises from Mark Verstegens "Core Performance" book. I have to admit I was positively surprised by the effect. I felt loose yet stable and properly prepared. We did: Hip crossover, 10l/10r Scorpion, 10l/10r Calf strentch, 10l/10r Hand walk, 5 Inverted hamstring, 5l/5r Backward lunge with a twist, 5l/5r Drop lunge, 5l/5r Today's stats: Bench press, 1RM: 95kg (I was disappointed) Deadlift, 4x8, 90kg Militar...

Today, I had two training sessions. First, there was rope-skipping. Seven rounds á two minutes with one minute of active rest in between every two of them. Those rest periods were filled by "movement prep" and "prehab" exercises from Mark Verstegens "Core Performance" program. As warmup, I did 10 minutes of joint mobilisation and posture-correcting drills. Second, I joined a Shinergy class that was held by Chris, a good friend of mine and trainer at my dojo. It was great fun and really helped me loosen up again - I still was pretty stiff from tuesdays strength training session. Although I spared my left foot wherever possible I was able to keep up with everyone in the class, so I'm optimistic for the near future. In between those two sessions I did about an hour of soft tissue work, so basically massaging myself with a tennis ball. Before you laugh, try it out for some time, this stuff does wonders for regeneration. You can find pretty good information...

There it was again. The familiar bag on my door that brought me the newest issue of the "district news". Out of pure boredom while riding the bus, I took a lot at the magazine. I'd rather I didn't. I don't usually fret about other people in the fitness industry, but today's experience was too much for me to remain silent. On the cover page I found a teaser for an article that deals with the first "Power plate" studio in the district. In case you don't know, a powerplate is a vibrating device onto which one steps in order to "train". The basic concept is that the body will reach with muscle tension to stabilize itself on the vibrating surface. This, in turn, is - of course - believed to strenghten the muscles and burn calories. Combined with basic calistenics and isometric holds, this training method has been employed by some professional athletes as a supplementary tool. Remember those "perfect abs" electro-muscle-stimulation ...

I just started my day with swimming. It's been both a pain and a pleasure. The routine: I tend to keep my cardio workouts short and intense. Although what I do can't exactly be called an "HIIT" workout, I do employ a form of interval training. As a matter of fact, it's all pretty simple (I said simple, not easy). I got up at 6 and started my workput at 9AM, so that's three hours for my joints to lubricate properly. Some tennis-ball work for my feet and calves loosened up the legs, which are pretty sore from yesterdays workout. To go to the bath it takes me about 12 minutes, which I've used for joint mobilization in the shoulders, elbows and neck. Once at the pool, I warmed up with 10 lanes (25meters/lane) of breaststroke at a low to moderate intensity. After that, I did seven intervals of two lanes each. The first lane I'd go all-out, crawling, while the second lane was done by backstroke, at an easy pace. With seven intervals, that's another 14 la...

Hit the weights the first time today. It's a great feeling to be completely wasted. Basically, the routine was: Deadlift, re-estimate 1RM Military Press, 4x8 Bench Press, 4x8 Squats, 4x8 Bent-over rows, 4x8 After readining Mark Verstegens "Core Perfomance Endurance", I've decided to try a very short and - for me - untypical "warmup". Basically, instead of riding a bike or stepping on the cross trainer, I've focussed on myofascial self-release and art techniques along with what Verstegen calls "movement prep" - that's exercise that revolve around the concept of doing specific, biomechanic-enchancing drills to prevent injury. Interessentingly enough, we have been using that concept for quite a while in the Shinergy system, at an even more basic level: we have our athletes stand correctly. Sound weird? Well, yes, I guess it sounds that way. Anyhow, proper standing contains anything that differentiates a "good" movement from a "b...

Today, I wanted to go swimming to buildup endurance. As a matter of fact, I'm planning on swimming twice per week. Quite frankly I have to admit my motivation was pretty low and I had to see that my self-discipline seems to have suffered during those last 4 weeks. When I finally got myself to get out into the cold and walk over to the baths, I was told they're closed on mondays. Great. Well, anyhow, I just adapted to the circumstances and skipped rope instead of swimming. Not exactly the same, but it just had to do. Apparentaly that wasn't all that wise though, for now my ankle is pretty heavily swollen again and hurts badly. So, when it came to working the pads, I had to do 7 rounds of boxing in order to spare my foot. Although I know that I'm greatly benefiting from focussing on my boxing game, being forced to do so leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Tomorrow, I'll hit the weights for the first time since what seems like eternity to me, I'm really looking forw...

It's been a while since my last post. Quite frankly, my motivation to post was pretty low as I wasn't really doing martial arts training. Up until now. Yesterday I did my first training - albeit a very light one - in ages. To be precise, it was the first time in 6 months I worked the pads. The video - analysis was quite frustrating as there's a lot of rookie mistakes. Also, my endurance ain't anywhere near the point it should be. Well, I guess I shouldn't be overly surprised by that. Anyhow, it was a great feeling to be punching and kicking again. Now as much as I'd love to get at it again, I'll have to carefully limit my specific training as not to injure my ankle again. It's time for me to build up a solid foundation of strength, endurance and joint stability before I can put an emphasis on improving my striking game. My program will basically consist of lifting weights for strength, swimming for endurance and doing light technique training to re-learn...