Southern Praying Mantis Kung Fu Training Diary / Blog

toastcrumb — Thu, 10 May 2007 15:25:53 +0000

Went back to Kung Fu yesterday, suffered in the chy sau as predicted. Other than that, a relaxed, chilled lesson.

I’ve been getting into the habit of doing weights in the morning while I wait for the bathroom to become free - I throw out 3 sets of an exercise at as heavy a weight as I can manage whilst maintaining good form. Following this up with SBG. I think this is a good habit.

Mayday

toastcrumb — Wed, 09 May 2007 13:31:30 +0000

Mayday mayday! I’m getting fat. Been boxing, sparring and doing weights to shed the flab and get fit in time for the tournament. I’m benching at around 2/3 my max, have gone up by around 10% in the last 3 weeks.

Thump

toastcrumb — Wed, 02 May 2007 09:21:09 +0000

Back at boxing last two days, and I’ve been doing weights/sparring every Thursday for the past 3 weeks. All my core muscles are killing me from the skipping, bagwork and fitness training.

Tonight I’m going back to Kung Fu, still out of shape but rearing to go

Wuss

toastcrumb — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 14:36:17 +0000

Did my first ever workout with my lovely girlfriend yesterday. I had to take all the weights off and just give her the metal dumbbell bars! I did suggest tins of beans but this was too light apparently.

Did lats and triceps, still got constantly sore tonsils though.

Ill-matic

toastcrumb — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 14:14:16 +0000

Did a few weights yesterday, nothing much. Just benching and biceps. Haven’t managed to shift this sore throat/cough.

This weeks training so far…

mantis — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 11:43:48 +0000

Monday

Morning: Saam Bo Gin and Jee Lik

Evening: Train at homes on Monday evenings after work for now:

Warm ups
Stretches – hips, hamstrings, legs, neck, shoulders, back, joints
Pull ups – 3 sets
Stretch
Dips – 3 sets
Stretch
Weighted seated tricep dip
Stretch
Press ups – 2.5 sets
Stretch
Floor Crunches – 2 sets
Swiss ball stretch followed by 2 sets of crunches.
Rest
Saam Bo Gin and Jee Lik

Left arm getting stronger but still shakes when it gets tired or is under lots of pressure from doing a lot of certain exercises. However I can do more of the exercises than previously and slowly but surely its getting better. The tightness is still there on the left side, shoulder and around neck but the training, stretching and strengthening is having postive effects. A little more time and correct / safe training will get me back to 100% asap.

Tuesday

Morning – Sarm Bo Jin and Jee Lik

Evening in Class:

Kalari – Got in late as had to finish work later. Warm ups, Forms, applications, 2 man fighting drills, techniques. Floor / grappling techniques

Chow Gar Mantis:
Jee Lik – concentratining on gripped stance, ribs, clawing, breathing, tongue up, tension in neck.
Hao Gung – throat gung – 2 versions. Feel this builds up my head (temples and muscles) and jaw. Jaw and neck ache from the muscles being worked after doing this one after the other.
Hoot Sar Jeung – spent a lot of time doing this blood sand palm chi gung form. Concentrated on keeping a balance on the tension from head to toes as well as timing / controlling the breathing.
Yee Kup Saam Bo Gin- definately feeling sharper in my form and techniques and stronger.
Bic Sarn – broken down and applications
Say Ban Gen Sau – 4 way power hand form and 2 man drills with application – All applications broken down into 2 man drills. Drills worked up close and personal. Trying to hit the partner controlled and not being at a safe distance but rather putting a little pressure.
Man Dan sau chong – done as above
Chy gerk inside / outside - clockwise and anti clockwise – leg grinding (on the floor and seated) and foot conditioning. Killed my hips and legs. Feeling it today, always a killer doing this exercise.
Finished with going over bo sim sau and a set of pull ups.

Today
–
Chi Gung before catching the train to go to work
Hoot Sar Jeurn chi gung
Saam Bo Gin
Jee Lik.

Cant goto class today or over weekend  so will train at class tomorrow in kalari and at home during the long weekend (may even hook up with some martial art friends to train too).

Generally after injury I am recovering well and faster than most people as I am training, having massage, eating well, having supplements (vitamins etc). Training I am feeling more balanced and not like my body is made up of different parts (if people know what I am talking about - ie doing forms, or free flowing). Still not 100% smooth as I still have muscle soreness and tightness in certain areas. But I am training to get there!

Hurdle

toastcrumb — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 20:59:09 +0000

Gah! I got a chest infection. Coughing up all kinds of shit. Undeterred, I shall be doing SBG and some great gungs taught to me by Mr Ox.

Lactic

toastcrumb — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 09:28:23 +0000

Oh my God my legs hurt. I’m walking like Robocop, and stairs are a near impossibility. My quads are like rock, and too tender to stretch. But I know that I can handle a regime like this; I used to do much more, and I’m not going to give up.

Yesterday was weapons and Chow Gar. I trained with the pole, butterfly knives and the old concrete bar.

In the main class there was SBG, chy sau, jongs (all the usual). Did some shin conditioning, book kiu, doi jongs, and basic locks. Nothing killer (thankfully)

Enter the Toastcrumb

toastcrumb — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 08:58:59 +0000

So I’m adding my training regime to this blog. Don’t expect it to be so eloquently written or in-depth, I’m doing this purely for my own benefit. I’m a slacker at the best of times so I’m attempting to put paid to laziness by keeping track of all my training.

Started back on Saturday with a good buddy of mine, J, doing weights and sparring (gloved and empty hand).

Monday I went to the school for my regular Chow Gar lesson. Lots of SBG, jongs and applications. First week back is always the most painful. Felt good to be back though. I am going to enter my second pole-fighting tournament in May, so I need to be fit.

Tuesday I went back to my boxing class, I am training at an ABC in East Ham. I am aiming to compete by the end of the year. Lots of running, skipping, bagwork and fitness (pushups, situps etc). My core strength currently blows.

Aaaaand… that’s yer lot for now.

Back into training

mantis — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 12:44:28 +0000

In the 2 montha I have been training slowly, surely and carefully. I train about 3-4 times a week which is less than before, when I had my injury. I attend classes on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, the odd Thursday and train at home when I don’t go to class.

Home Training

Mondays and Thursdays (or Sundays) I train at home with my brother who has designed a training programme for me to build up my physical strength, flexibility, co-ordination, posture, muscle fibres and much more. He is a Chek certified exercise specialist and works in corrective exercises and has done years in all sorts of training for strength, rehabilitation, injuries, posture etc. In that sense I am very lucky .

I have been training pull ups, dips, press ups, crunches, stretching, swiss ball, medicine ball work outs, kettle bell exercises, squats, dumbell exercises. All the exercises are done with strict form, full range of motion, mind muscle connection and multi-joint with an emphasis on functionality and translation into a martial movement (as close and as good as possible to what I train and the way I move (so a lot of core area building and overall body). So it looks like this but changes slightly from week to week:

stretches on hamstrings and hips (very tight here), neck, shoulders, sides, legs - all over basically
medecine ball squats for warm ups
jumping jacks
jumping lunges
pull ups, close grip, under hand grip, over hand
stretches
dips
stretches
press ups
stretches
dumbell squats type 1
dumbell squats type 2
dumbell dead lift
stretch
crunches (swiss ball, dumbell assisted)
stretch
medicine ball exercises
stretch / warm down.

I am feeling a lot stronger but my left side (arm, shoulder, neck) is still not 100%  but it is definitely getting there. The arm gives up and shakes under a lot of pressure or when it is tired but I do my best. I can now do sets of press ups slowly (which is better than not even being able to hold myself up or complete more than 2-3) and slowly building up on the dips, pull ups and other exercises (which are actually really hard to do properly – sometimes keeping good form is harder than doing the exercises!).

Mantis Class training

My neck, lat, left arm and surrounding muscles are still a bit tight and all the training and stretching is helping greatly. When I train all the forms, 2 man drills, chy sau, gungs, home training I can feel its getting stronger but it still feels “unbalanced” in the power and movement. Its doesn’t feel right but at the same time it feels better. Being out of training for 3-4 months was harsh and frustratingly you cant just jump back in and train like you used to. I am training smart and pushing myself as much as I can to get back there.

When I’m on the left side I try to keep to good form and use mind, intent and focus on getting the energy down there. I have the exercises, gungs and training from mantis and kalari to strengthen, stretch and build me up and I can feel it coming back again. I have tried sparring, grappling…..not just there yet but getting there. I cant wait to get back into it. Right now its build it back up, get 100% to avoid further worse injury. But all the training, treatment has increased my recovery rate so much more.

What am I doing in?

In no particular order:-

Saam Bo Gin and Jee Lik every morning
Hao Gung (3 versions)
Kum Dit Bo Gung (iron step)
Iron Back / Stomach Gung (its what I feel is being built as well as the arms and whole body)
Mor Jow clawing chi gung
18 dark internal power hands (use of waist is very apparent moving in and out)
Clamping Palm static exercises(with weight and usual form - use of waist again and the closing whilst swalling the saliva to the dan tien…the energy circular pattern.)
Chy sau (different versions)
Doy chong (single double, diu sau)
Bo Sim Sau – sections, form, techniques, applications
Pad work with combinations
Conditioning
Sparring (not so much but a little carefully)
2 man drills/chongs with more emphasis on close in and making contact (some we use gloves to aim for head and body)
Hoot Sar Jeurng (blood sand palm chi gung form and training)
Leg gung (very similar to when you see the shoaling monks move their palms up and down their legs before they do demonstration)
Forms (9 hands, bic sarn, fighting form, saam bo gin, kau dau sau, mo ying sau etc)
Learned a new two man sitting chi gung form
Poon Lung Kerk (use of, applications)
Grappling (working more of technique and drilling over – im taking it carefully)
Muay Thai – techniques and apps
Kalari (learning some new sword techniques and stick work)

Lots really, just a few new things that I haven’t listed before. Im really concentrating on building up and healing at the moment – so gungs, chi gung forms, two man strengthening and the home training exercises.

Also on another note Holland and Barrats have a sale and I purchased a lot of things on sale (glucosamine, ginko bilboa, chondrotin, cod liver oil, vitamins, milk thistle liquid). Bought in bulk to save £ and take these everyday to help with my joints / ligaments! If you are around pop in and see what you can get.