A Warrior's Thougts on the Martial Arts

Today, I've been down all day. I failed at doing even one single repetition of whatever exercise. I'm not exactly sick, but everything's aching and my body just feels heavy. Altough I've already devoured loads of food today, I'm still starving. My motivation to do just about anything is on an all-time low. That's all classical signs of overtraining. Seems like my HFT is beyond my current possiblities. As mentioned in my previous post, training volume has to be put into a proper relation to everyday life. For me, personally, everyday life means teaching martial arts 7 days a week (since my partner, Chris, is taking friday and the weekend off, I have to teach on friday and sunday as well). That is, besides stuying at university and writing an exam or two every week. I spend a good portion of my day on the way, going from one place to the next. That's an additional source of exhaustion. Despite the above said, I'll stick to the plan for now. In any case, th...

Over the last week, I've finished my HFT training on one day. That's not exactly a lot. So, I've decided to alter the routine. Instead of pullups and leg raises, I'll now be doing one-armed pushups. 50 per side. Today, this routine worked out just fine. You see, sometimes, you have to adapt your training to your everyday life. Working 10 hours a day on a construction site doesn't match well with a high-intensity training routine and a carb-reduced diet. Likewise, being on the run all day every day doesn't abet a gym-dependant program. To quote Pavel again on this one, there's a huge advantage in doing bodyweight-only exercise: "Because it is always there ." Sometimes, it's as simple as that. By now, if you've been following my posts, you know that I hold Pavel in great respect. That's not because he's pointing out some revolutionary, brand-new concepts and ideas. He's not. What makes "the evil russian" such a great tra...

Yesterday was the 4rd day on my HFT program. I decided to pay a visit to my Stadlau-based dojo (for those non-Vienna residents amongst you: Stadlau is a part of Vienna's 22nd district) before going on to teach at my Aspern-based gym (again, Aspern is another art of Vienna's 22nd district). While my partner, Chris, was holding the children and youth classes, I set a basic "outdoor-gym" that perfectly suits my needs at the moment. All the equipment I used was a stool, a piece of rope (which I could have done without), a towel and a 12 KG kettlebell. The kettlebell and the stool I used for the pistols. To add some variety, I've decided to do them with extra weight today - that's where said kettlebell comes into play. Due to my ankle injury, I did box-pistols for my left leg. Hence the stool. Also for the sake of variety, I used my rope (which is usually used in kids and youth classes for strength-building games) for the pullups. The first 5 sets I did only with t...

So today is the third day in the second phase of my HFT program. It is also the first day I completed the whole thing. During the last days, I just didn't have enough time to work all those 200 repetitions. The pistol squats can be done just about everywhere, however, the pullups and leg raises require some form of equipment. Today, I was teaching the the dayschool I mentioned in my original "Wednesdays are easy post", so I had three breaks of about 15 minutes each. Plenty of time, if you're at least a bit smart about how you organize your sets. As for the program, although it's a bit harsh (my quads are sore from the last two days, so stairclimbing is no fun at all), I think it's the right thing to do at the moment. My goals are, as mentioned before, better lower-body intermuscular coordination, a strong core that prevents spine injury and general upper-body strength. That's why I choose the pistol squat (lower body), the hanging leg raises (core) and the...

So yesterday I've finished my HFT phase #1. Basically, that program had me do 100 pushups and 50 pullups per day. Each sunday, I did what I call "max days", so those 150 reps were done in one session. Yesterday, I figured out a way to do those pullups more easily by adding a plyometric element. Instead of doing the excentric movement in a slow, totally controlled fashion all the way down, you release tension just before your elbows are completely straight. Gravity will pull you down rapidly, thus stretching all participating muscles. As in all plyometric exercise, you then take advantage of your CNS's response - which is a reflex to contract those stretched muscles - to add more force to the concentric movement. Anyhow, since it's Monday and I had my last max day yesterday, it's time to move on. My new program will have me do the following each and every day: 1) 50 neutral-grip pull ups: Those will strengthen my arms and lat, supporting my grappling 2) 50 pis...

Ok, so today was max day again. You can look up the phrase max day in my original post "Today's max day". As promised, here comes the complete video. Enjoy! Remarks: After the first set, I had 3 minutes rest, after the second it was 4, then 5 and lastly, between the 4th and the 5th set it was 6 minutes. On the next may day, I'll do 4 minutes rest in between each two sets. Also, I've missed a rep on the pullups with set 3,4 and 5 this time. The missed reps were done afterwards in an extra set. Next time my priority is not to miss a single rep. So long, take care

Today's max day. Monday through Saturday, I'm spreading my HFT routine over the day, careful not to put to much stress on the body. This is due to the fact that I'm training the same muscle groups every day - so overdoing it on one day means extreme soreness and trouble to stick with the program the next day. So basically what I'm doing day in and day out is teaching my body and nervous system to become more proficient at what it is required to do: pull-ups and push-ups. That puts the phrase "if something's worth doing, do it every day" to practical use. However, I feel that from time to time it's just necessary to max out and see must how much punishment you can handle. This brings me to the title of this post: Today is max day. In a nutshell, "max days" (for me that's sundays) differ from "normal" training days in that all the volume is done in one session. Since the program requires me to do 100 pushups and 50 pullups, I foun...

Wednesdays are easy. Time-wise, that is. If you ever did some kind of HFT program, you'll know that finding enough time to perform loads of repetitions of some exercise isn't an easy taks, especially if you're doing it on top of some other training routine. Since the idea is to spread the sets and reps all over the day, some times disqualify as training times. You just don't always have the possibility to do your exercises, even if there's no need for equipment. Imagine being at university, listening to lectures for 6 hours a day. That's approximately one third of your wake time - that leaves you with significantly less time to spend on training. Subtract the time it takes you to eat, drive a car or travel by means of public transportation. Substract timespans where you complete tasks that can't be interrupted - concentrated work of some sort. Also, substract the time you spend on all your actual training. You see where this is going. Your window of opportun...

What I thought to be some simple stomach flu turned out to be salmonella. I therefore wasn't able to train at all during the last week. Seems like I'm more or less over it now. Since I've seriously lost weight, my priority now is to regain what I've built in the HFT phase. To do so, I'll repeat my HFT training (100 pushups, 50 pullups a day every day) for another 3 weeks. Additionally, I'm taking electrolytes and protein supplements to fill up stores again. After those 3 weeks, I'll see how much weight I can place on my foot. At the moment, I'm having pain treatment and ultrasonic therapy every week. Well, I only had it done once until now, due to beforementioned sickness. I hope this is going to do the trick. On a positive note, this Saturday, Ronny Kokert, the man who taught me most of what I know about the martial arts, is going to hold a master class at my dojo. The topic will be relaxed technique. If it's ok for Ronny, I'll post some videocl...

Great. Couldn't post until now, I'm sick. Apparentaly catched some infect. As for my HFT, I couldn't do more than one day in a row. Every other day I had to skip the program due to massive exhaustion. Guess I overdid it. So, I'll get back to a more moderate approach to HFT once I'm on my feet again - until I've regained what I'll lose during my bed rest. Then, I'll try again. When it comes to my foot, I'll start manual therapy next week. At the hospital, they said they didn't knew why my ankle is still so extremely swollen. My doctor at the physical medicine centre said the same thing. Well, isn't it reassuring to know medicine is such a precise science... Now I'm really curious as for how the manual therapy is going to work out. I'll keep you informed. So long, take care

Where to begin? On Friday I've finished 4 weeks of upper-body HFT training. Basically, as mentioned in my previous post, the program had me do 100 pushups and 50 pullups every day. On that last friday, I had a "max day", which basically means that I did one set of pushups, then did one set of pullups and repeated this until all 150 reps were completed. Interestingly, I wasn't sore or anything on saturday. I was told I've gained some muscle, however, due to my injury I still wasn't able to test that new strenght in any type of combat yet. Which brings me to the second topic at hand, my torn side band. The doctor told me that the band healed as supposed, however, the foot is still extremely swollen- far more than it should be, that is. That's why I'll go to hospital again tomorrow morning. I really hope those guys do anything useful this time, lest I shall lose my faith in modern medicine. As for a positive thing, on friday, yesterday and today we had a...

My leg's out of plaster again, however, I still can't do much. I'm wearing an aircast splint, so I can walk and climb the stairs to our flat again. Kicking, running and jumping remains quite out of scope for me, anyways. So, I've decided to do some high frequency trainingfor my upper body. You see, my legshave always been dominant when it comes to muscular development, speed and power, my upper body has always been lagging behind. I'm pretty much convinced that both my boxing and my grappling could benefit greatly from improved upper body strength. Basically, that's why I've decided to give Chad Waterbury's latest HFT article a shot. Today's the third day - and I'm glad to say that I'm not experiencing any of the "screaming agony" in the serratus anterior, or in any other muscle when it comes to that. If you haven't read the program, it basically says "do 100 pushups and 50 pullups every day, no matter how many sets you ne...