Wednesday Training

Went to TKD tonight in Dorking. Not my usual class but thought it would make a change and as it goes it was certainly worthwhile - we got to do some balance related drills which are 'all good' for me post knee op.

A bit later in the class I took people for some muscle exercises and I got them to do some wide squats, then static conditioning in wide squat, then reverse plank (hammer hamstrings) then we did the Front Splits routine. I went quite low actually, those hip flexors must be 'a movin'

COME ON!

Ruby Tuesday

Ruby because Wine was involved and Tuesday cos I am writing about yesterday - which was Tuesday.

So, I had a night off from any training at all. I sat, had a glass of wine, after putting together a climbing frame for the children. I worked a little on the new sock webshop we have appearing soon.

I still haven't created a weekly plan to structure my training.

Still, it's Wednesday today - what could be better?

I don't like Mondays

Soooooooo, yesterday then. MMMM, what happened. I did some joint rotations and a few squats and light stretches in the morning, when to work (all day, which is unusual for me) then came home and got the unmistakable vibe of "There's no way you are going out to TKD tonight James, there's just no way"

So, of course I try to get ready to get out the house but I am made late and I hate being late so I didn't go, BUT I didn't let her off that easily. I trained at home instead.

Up goes the Pull up bar and the suspension training straps and it went like this:

Horizontal rows to max 3 sets with 30 seconds rest. (I am weak) 15, 10, 10
Press Ups to max 3 sets with 3 seconds rest. 25, 20, 15
Wide squats. 50
Reverse crunches 3 sets of 25

Then I moved in to Extended Length Conditiong (ELC) and used the green band but I was short for time and the TV wasn't even on to distract her so rather than go for 3 different exercies for inside, outside and back of leg I went for the circular motions to work all sides in one go.

Then I moved in to deep stretching for the front splits routine. My hip flexors are getting more flexible, slightly, my hams are calf muscles are getting stretchy too - i can definitely feel progess here.

Years ago I had a book called Stretching, by (I think) Bob Anderson (Mr. Anderson!) and I gound that his advice of relaxing in to a stretch really helped me get really quite flexible back then. So I have modifed the front splits routine slightly in that I use supports either side of me. I can use my hand on these props to take weight and allow my legs and hips to relax in to their new position. I am finding this gives me a better result than not using the props.

It is about time I took some more photos, perhaps later this week.

(I am going to have to think hard about next Mondays message title, I am running out of songs I know)

Just another Sunday Morning Call

05:15 

"Daaadddyyyyyyyyuh, can we go to the play park yet?"

"urgh, ugh, erm, s'abit too early darling. Can you go back to bed for a while please?"

Well, it didn't last long so we were at the play park by 07:30 - of course we were the only ones there so I didn't feel too stupid doing horizontal pullups, elevated press ups, dips, pull ups during the brief opportunities when Edie was tearing around the climbing frames.

Did I do any stretching? No.

However, tonight, after relaxing post family party (which was good fun)I did some light stretching, some basic kicking drills, then in to the side splits routine which I seem to be able to get really stuck in to. I noticed tonight that my hips currently seem to be my hips, so I shall be concentrating on grinding out the knots but massage and foam rolling.

23:37 - tired.

Saturday, Saturday, Saturday

Ethan, 5 months, let us sleep well although Edie, 3 years, came in at 05:30 so an early workout was on the cards. With Dora the Explorer on in the background I changed up the routine and tried to max out on each exercise in sets. I did:

Horizontal Rows on FlexStraps, then suspension press ups on FlexStraps, then a bunch of different types of squats, then lots of elevated half bridges, then reverse crunches, side plank raises, adductor and abductor lifts and finished with a set of pull ups. A good workout taking in the Gravity Advantage fundamentals and a good selection of the ElasticSteel stuff too.

What next?

Well, we're 'doing' the garden, so I shoveled gravel out of the garden for 4 hours. I must have done about 500 deadlifts with a shovel full of gravel. Then I had to shift 10 rubble sacks full of gravel which must have weigt about 40 kilos each. Then I had a shower and rested, until the carnage continued with the children.

Tonight, after dinner and before wine, I did some ELC and then a hard stretch following front splits routine on both sides. I think my hip flexors are moving, great news.

What now? Sitting in bed, writing this after dealing with my youngest waking just a few minutes ago - I am such a hero ;o) - and listening to a Russel Brand podcast.

Tomorrow? I'll start the morning with joint rotations, light stretches and maybe a bunch of wide squats then I'll go the play park with Edie and do some climbing. The whole rest of the day is wiped out with a family thing so maybe in the evening I'll do some ELC and Side Splits rountine.

I must find some time to practice towards my 3rd Degree too.

Night.

How to fit it in?

OMG - when to fit it all in, all the training. I mean, it's not just getting fit or going to the gym that most others do but when there is kicking and stretching goals to attain then the time investment increases considerably.

I have a family, 2 kids, 2 jobs and so I need to spread my training out in to smaller sessions. I can't spend 2 hours in one go each day, the max I can spend is an hour at an one time each day. Then I might be able to grab 40 mins in the morning.

I have been study Paul Zaichiks ElasticSteel and Gravity Advantage books again to get a better idea of whats involved. I have decided that I need to create a plan that will see me covering what I need to on a weekly basis, I'll post tomorow with a plan.

Wine tonight and training tomorrow morning.

training - little and often, rather than all in one go.

Memory Lapse

So, Tuesdays training? What happened? I have no idea because for some reason I forgot to take an audio of it so now I haven't blogged for a few days and I can't remember what I have done, at all. I mean I know I have been to work and stuff but other than that I can't remember - too many bangs to the head maybe?

Anyway I am sure Tuesday was a proper workout and I am sure it involved stretching. Wednesday, much the same. Thursday, a bit different, I didn't go TKD training other than to hand in supporting information for my CRB form. When I got home I had to get involved with dinner, I mean I have to eat but I am reducing portion size and changing habits, then after a little rest I did some light training working some horizontal pullups, then pressups, then lots of lunges, criss crosses, reverse crunches, adductor and abductor lifts all followed by some light stretching.

And now it is friday.

Just another manic monday

Firstly, where the goddam did that blog title come from - I've not even had any wine tonight, OMG I am going to have to keep it now.

Anyways, no splits specific training today. Went to TKD tonight and realised that I am rubbish at it, I mean totally pants. What was useful from going? I got to practice some patterns and a little bit of sparring which basically told me that me that I have no confidence what so ever when doing unpredictable stuff. But yet I am happy training up for pistol squats, possible the hardest squatting exercise I will ever likely do. (unless I carry someone on my back and do a pistol squat, which I wont ever do, probably).

On my way home, from now on, I am going to record my feelings after every TKD class I go to, just like a I do with my workouts and stretching. I have been using a microphone thingy attached to my iPod, here's the link to the micromemo for iPod.

Bedtime now, well I might just read a little of Recoil which should just about take me round to when our youngest wakes up, so very little sleep for me then.

Sunday Training

Took the TKD class this morning, pretty good really and all students seemed interested in bunch of new exercises. All seemed to go well. However, I really needed to get some more training done so I did that in the evening:

After a warmup I went in to Extended Length Conditioning working the Hamstrings and the innerthighs, doing Hamstring Force and Adductor Force. I find the Hamstring Force quick tricky to get the right muscles to the resistance band, but that'll get better quickly. I find that working the Hamstring Force II a better option for working right up high in my hamstrings, close to my bum. I find that currently the limiting factor with the Adductor Force exercises is the strength in the arm holding the restistance band. It is not my grip (although that is also poor) but it is the strength in my arms, this will get better though with more training - just gotta keep working hard.

Then I moved in to some deep stretching and worked the Front Splits routine both sides. As a general observation I can feel that my hamstrings are tight and my hip flexors are REALLY TIGHT. However, I can feel some positive progress since my bench mark tests just over a week ago.

All in all, feeling GOOD.

Amazed

Late last night I flicked through the ElasticSteel splits DVD because I haven't really had the chance yet. Well anyway, the posture section was very interesting - PZ talks about your upper back possibly hurting and YEP MINE DOES BIG TIME.

summary: lots to work on

Saturday Workout

Well, after going to the play park this morning and doing horizontal pullups, chins, dips and press ups all over the place I still felt I needed to do a workout in a formal way. It went a little like this:

1) 10 x Horizontal Pullups, then 15 elevated spiderman pressups. 3 times round.

2) 8 x assisted pistol squats, 10 x elevated One Legged half bridges. 3 times round.

3) 8 x Bodyweight Chest Flys, 8 x chinups: twice round. 

Then I did some side plank raises, 30 on each side. I'm sure I did something else as well but I just can't remember - I have been taking audio notes on my iPod but tonight I didn't and as a result I have forgotten.

Then I did some ELC which was disrupted because of kids bathtime / bedtime.  And at time of writing I have desperately been trying to spend some time stretching but children are waking and sleeping and waking and sleeping tonight.

I am a little frustrated but I guess I am yet to settle on a real routine of action and I am sure when I do things will slot in nicely.

Wine now. 

Play park fun

Early morning jaunt to the local play park. Absolutely nothing to do with stretching and getting the splits but absolutely everything to do with nurturing activity.






Here's a couple of vids:






That's all folks.

Of to Park Now

Gonna be fun!

Friday Night Training

Same a last week actually. I had some vino and a curry - not good for the athletic figure I know but am going to the park tomorrow with the bairns and will train hard later in the day.

Thursday Night Home Paining

nah, I meant 'training' not 'paining'.

I am shattered. Good things though. My FlexStraps arrived today, as I mentioned earlier, so I attached them to my PowerBar and got cracking with a workout based on exercises from the Gravity Advantage and the Elastic Steel books, here's what happened:

1) 10 x Horizontal Pullups, then 30 standard press ups. I did this 3 times round, 2nd time I did 20 pressups, 3rd time I did 15. Pressups particularly hard tonight maybe because of the elevated press ups I did yesterday.
2) Lunges to front and rear x 10 each leg (once front and back counts as one rep), then 10 x Hamstring curls on the straps. I did this 3 times round.
3) Pressup position Ab pike thingy (feet suspended on straps, hands on floor making pressup position then bring knees to chest) x 12, static press up stability hold (straps close to floor, hands on straps and just hold the position) for 30 seconds, this made be work hard ! I did this 3 times round.

Then 50 kick backs each leg
20 side plank raises each side
Static Conditioning: Horse Stance 1 minute then rest then another minute. OMG, was I hammered after this, HARD! Then 1 minute each leg on the lunge stange thingy. This did totally knacker me and totally tired my muscles out just as Paul Zaichik implies in the ES book.

Then I moved in to some deep stretches. I worked the Side Split routine in the Elastic Steel manual and I found that my back and sides are not very flexible, really quite tight actually. However, I have worked side splits a lot over the years I have done TKD am confident that it wont take too long to see improvements here. On the other hand it is gonna take a while to see improvements in front splits.

Still all is good.

Suspension seems great

I am sometimes sucked in to new fads and things, however I like to think that I just get excited about doing new stuff. So anyway, I have always been into bodyweight exercises just because I don't like the gym and pumping weights - except that recently doing the Turbulence Training workouts I have changed my views on lifting weights. 

So anyway I, much like many other people I imagine, thought that bodyweight exercises just were press ups, chinups, situps, dips, squats and lunges. My eyes were opened so wide when I discovered BWC and PZ on You Tube and my interest in using bodyweight as resistance is now at the highest it has ever been. 

I found the Universal Strength Apparatus and then the well marketed TRX and I was going to buy one of them but they seemed pricey. So I attached a couple of belts to my chinup bar and started doing some brand new exercises. 

My hands started to find it tricky getting the right grip so I trawled the internet for a cheaper alternative to the USA or TRX or how to make one. With some luck I found the Flex Staps which were only about £25. 

The FlexStraps arrived today, yes I bought them, and first impressions are that they seem excellent value. Good hand grips and adjustable lengths from high enough to do horizontal pull ups and low enough for stability press ups or various ab exercises where you feet are suspended. 

I shall use them later properly. very cool.

Static Conditioning

I have always wondered about the benefits of static conditioning exercises. Also, I have heard of people refer to 'isometric' exercises, and today I find out they are the same thing, as per this article.

Isometrics seem to help a muscle grow in size and help muscles get stronger, but only at the angle the joint is in at the time the isometric exercise is done. However, the article says there is some evidence to suggest that with some muscles there is some transferrence of strength gains to other angles. The writer goes on to say that isometrics need to be done at many angles to strenghten the muscles at different lengths, which would take ages implying that dynamic exercises would be better. i.e. Squatting with a load.

Strangely he finishes the article by giving reference to many good and renowned and currently fashionable static conditioning exercises such as the Plank and Side Plank.

So are isometrics any good or what?
I don't know really. All I know is that we have done lots of them in TKD training in terms of leg raises and leg holds. There is a question on the Paul Zaichik forums asking what a certain static exercise is doing and Paul replies by saying that stregth is developed in surrounding muscles and that the induced fatigue helps with getting a good deep stretch in afterwards.

Here's a wikipedia article on isometrics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isometric_exercise

This article on bodybuilding.com says that isometrics help you recruit more muscle fibers than dynamic exercises do. This is obvioulsy beneficial.

Reading internet articles they all really say the same thing, "good for the angle that you are training in". Now to me that doesn't really seem much use to me, surely you want to have strength throughout your range of movement. I have posted a question to my pal Alex Poole so I'll post here what he comes back with.

I need to do some work now.

I love my kids...

...but tonight I wanted to get a conditioning workout in (every other day), we have just got them both to bed and, to cut it short, I was up and down the stairs putting our 3 year old back to bed and helping her understand that she needs to sleep.

So, my workout time was severely hampered which meant I only had time for:

1) 10 x Horizontal Pull Ups, then 20 elevated press ups: 3 times round
2) 10 x single leg deadlift each leg, then 10 half bridges with single leg, both legs: 3 times round.

The single leg deadlifts are the ones with a bent leg, so basically you are squatting on one leg but not as deep as a pistol squat and your hanging leg is behind you like Paul Zaichik demonstrates here in his Warrior 3 and Dead lift exercise.

These single leg exercises are great, my muscles were working hard when doing these. I 'll deffo be including these more often.

Of to bed now and I didn't eat any cake tonight or drink any wine at all. :o)

Stretchy Stretchy

Tuesday night I did a little teeny weeny workout:

Little warmup

1. 50 or so sqauts of various types include squats with legs together as suggested here.
2. 10 or so back raises with hands clasped behind back as suggested in ES manual. I find though that I must be severely hampered in flexibility when hands are behind my back because I can hardly lift at all even though with hands anywhere else I am quite strong in this area.
3. Adductor raises, 50 each leg
4. Abductor raises, 50 each leg

Then I moved in to ELC.

ELC - Extended Length Conditioning
This is my second ELC session. I chose these exercises:

1. Extended Abductor Force (one green band)
   
2. Extended Hamstring Force (one green band)
3. Half Adductor Fly (one green band)
4. Single Leg Deadlift (I find this currently gives me a better hamstring workout that Hamstring Force at the moment and it works my balance.)

Deep Stretching
I went on to to some stretching following the splits routine at the end of the ES book. My technique is to position and feel the stretch then breath out and deepen the stretch while relaxing, old for 15 - 30 seconds then back of then repeat. I am slightly sore today from the stretching but nothing too bad. I am hellishly tight around my hip flexors though.

One problem I have is with my knees. I have had keyhole surgery on both for meniscus tears and the most recent being in Jan 08 for a cleavage meniscus tear in my left knee. While my knee nows feels more stable I can't sit back on my heels for complete Range Of Movement. As as result I find that I can't do the 'Sitting Hamstring Stretch' in the Front Split routine from the ES book when I have my right leg in front where I am supposed to sit back on my left heel.

I can't do it yet because it is painfull inside my knee when weight is put through the joint. My ROM has improved lots since the operation and this is just the last little bit to get back. My question is if there is a similar stretch I can do to give the same benefit. I'll post the ElasticSteel forums and see if I get an answer.

That's all for now, and tonight I must not eat Cake or drink Wine.

Cake!

Perfect splits training. Not. I must get a grip.

OW!

After the Monday night workout I am FEELING IT especially as a result of the side plank raises. My legs have a very different fatigue than doing weights.

Monday Night Fun

So, I didn't go to TKD class tonight so I did a good bodyweight workout based on the Gravity Advantage exercises and some from the Elastic Steel manual. All geared towards getting stronger upper body and stronger core.

Super Set 1 x 3: Horizonal Pullups x 10, Elevated Spiderman Pressups x 12.
Super Set 2 x 3: Bulgarian Split Squats with rear leg on strap x 10 each leg, Hamstring curls with legs on straps x 12.
Super Set 3 x 2: Bodyweight Chest Fly x 10, Standard Chin Ups x 8. (Wow, I actually managed to do 5 chin ups in one go. That's amazing for me)
Super Set 4 x 2: Abdominal Pike thing (press up position with feet on straps and brings knees to chest) x 12, Side Plank raises x 20 each side.

Then I finished with a bunch of reverse crunches.

All in all a good workout, I loved the elevated spiderman pressups - I felt like a superhero. The bulgarian split squats put a surprising amount of pressure at the rear of the leg that's on the ground and I can really feel my body working. Chin ups are hard going, I have never been any good at these but now I am determined. I start from an absolutely still hanging position and the just pull up, each pull starts like this without any swinging.

In suspense?

I am addicted to bodyweight training and I have a real desire to prove to other that your bodyweight is plenty of resistance to get very strong indeed. I remember either reading or hearing an interview with Alwyn Cosgrove who said something like:

If you can't do pistol squats then you have no business to start adding resistance.

I also remember him saying that you really need to be able to stabilise your load to create functional strength. Bodyweight training is a great way to do this.

So after years and years of very basic bodyweight exercises, and the explosion of video sharing on the internet, I found BodyWeightCultre and they (and ElasticSteel) show the USA being used to what seems great effect. So I did a little research and found also the TRX which seems well designed also but really quite expensive. A little more research found me something that looks like it will do all I need it to do just now and a fraction of the costs, it is the Flex Straps - less than £25 to my door, should arrive sometime next week. I will be able to do away with my belts and use handles instead of wrapping the belt round my fists.

;o)

Make up for it

In response to curry and wine last night (I cave too easily) I managed to get in a semi-decent workout based on exercises in either the ElasticSteel manual or the Gravity Advantage manual. Here's what I did this morning, at about 7:30am:

Superset 1 x 3: Horizontal Pull ups using straps rather than bar x 10, then squats with purple resit-a-band x 25

Superset 2 x 3: Double leg curl and bridge using straps (rather than swiss ball) x 12, then elevated press ups (feet elevated on straps) x 12

Superset 3 x 3: Pistol Squats (assisted, holding straps) x 8, then 25 reverse crunches.

Resting 1 minute between supersets.

Pistol Squats are an important progression for me, with both my knees now having been operated on (meniscus tears) I generally don't have that much confidence in them. My left, operated on in Jan 08, is taking ages to heal, but I generally need to build strenght and range of movement under load - so 2 leg squats are fine, progression is pistol squats. I will do them assisted until I am confident I am strong throughout the range of movement.

After these 3 supersets I did:

Side Plank Raises x 25 each side, Adductor and Abductor lifts x 30 each leg, Kick Backs x 25 each leg. Statics: horse, lunge, balance, leg raise - all terrible generally due to my balancing ability of a 90 year old human.

So what has all this go to do with doing the splits then?
Well, Paul Zaichik in the ElasticSteel manual talks about being generally conditioned in the legs and core. His Gravity Advantage book Fundamentals level has some overlap exercises. I have been busting a gut doing Turbulence Training workouts recently - so I thought I would combine all of what I need at this conditioning stage of my splits quest. I need to be conditioned throughout my body and I need to keep on top of my bodyweight and I found that working the supersets help me loose fat, so I shall continue.

When shall I fit in the Extended Length Conditioning? Either on off days or opposite end of the day to my general workout. I have done one session of this and it has brought back great memories. When will I do deep stretching? Probably right after the ELC. When will I do kicking techniques? I'll build some more strenght first before doing more work on kicking, we do some in class anyway.

So far so good, but I also had more vino tonight. We have guests.

Training tonight?

No Chance!

Training tonight?

Curry for dins. Not much chance for training.

Splits Benchmarks

So I post here, at the start of my ElasticSteel quest for full splits I post my benchmarks. Is that the right word? Maybe it isn't, what I mean is 'I post my standard of splits at the start of my training'.

I have trained in TKD for almost 14 years. I worked hard at side (box) splits but not front splits. I worked hard for about 2 years of training and since then (sadly) have sat back on my standard. I am very interested to see what a little (or a lot) of application can do over a few months:

Front Splits Left: (this is embarassingly poor):

Side (box) splits:



Front Splits Right: (this is embarassingly poor also):


So, front splits both sides is quite poor. Box splits are ok, there are some grinds in the hips which I need to iron out but otherwise I can feel that there is progress to be made easily.

Back to front splits. By the looks of it, the front of both legs (hip flexors and quads) are really tight, so I need to work a lot on them. I can feel movement to be made in my hams though.

That's it for now.

PS: I did ask my wife to miss out my bald spot in the photos so I apologise if anyone got struck by the flash bounceback.

Exercise Descriptions

Ok, because I haven't got chairs to do Pulls on I hung straps from my chin up bar like this:

Now, the pic doesn't actually show me doing horizontal pull ups, just me messing about.

Then there are the bulgarian split squat type things using the strap again:


Then there are the bodyweight chest press things using the straps:

What fun! I am sure a USA or TRX or FlexStraps would be much better but they seem too expensive so my belts will have to do just now.

ES Conditioning Workout 1

Ok, so last night I did some bodyweight conditioning to merge the conditioning bit of the Elastic Steel manual and the fundamentals of the Gravity Advantage manual. I will create A and B workouts and do them on alternate days for one month, then up the ante for another month and then assess the situation.

So for last night I did:

1. Superset 1 (x3): Press Ups Max Reps then Horizontal Pull Ups 10 reps
2. Superset 2 (x3): Similar things to Bulgarian Split Squat x 10, then stability leg curls
3. Superset 3 (x3): Bodyweight Chest Press (using suspension strap things like a USA or TRX) x 8, then 8 standard pull ups
4. Finish strength with 1 set of 10 Horizontal rows

Then I moved on to a couple of exercises from the Gravity Advantage manual Fundamental section that I need to work on, I did 2 supersets of: 20 Side Plank Raises then 25 reverse crunches.

That's about it.

I don't have suitable height chairs to place my bar on to do the horizontal rows but I do have a pull up bar so I suspended some straps and attached my bar to the straps which allowed me to do the horizontal pull ups.

If you have heard of suspension bodyweight training then you might know of the USA (universal strenght apparatus) and the TRX . My make do strap system follows these principles and let me do the rows and the bulgarian split squats and the leg curls and the bodweight chest press. Versatile.

Photos of my straps and exercises tomorrow. Ooh, and a benchmark on my current stretching.

L8rs.

We Have Kick Off

Tonight I started bodyweight conditioning stuff to replace the TT workouts that I have been doing. I am doing a combo of the ES manual and the GA manual and some inventive stuff of my own,

Full posting tomorrow and will photo post splits benchmarks tomorrow.

What to replace my workouts with?

So, the past 12 weeks or so, on the days that I wasn't doing TaeKwon-Do, I trained at home following Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training. Basically I needed to get fitter, stronger and I needed to burn some fat. I could just continue doing more TT workouts but I want to move on to strictly bodyweight exercises for a few reasons:

1. When my TKD school starts (imminently) I want to make the physical conditioning part of the classes a little different to the general pushups, situps, etc
2. I like the culture of using your own weight as resistance.

The conditioning exercises in the Elastic Steel manual are generally lower body and or core. I also got the Gravity Advantage book from the Elastic Steel site as this is upper body and core.

To keep improving my fitness and conditioning I can't just neglect working out in pursuit of doing the splits simply because while I might become highly flexible I might well become fat (ter)!

Looking at the conditioning exercises in the Elastic Steel manual and the Fundamentals in the Gravity Advantage book there is some repetition. I see no reason why I can't make a full body workout from the GA and ES books to work on say days M, W, F and then work specific flexibility training on other days. I will post what workout schedule I compose, when I do it and how long it takes.

So for the next 12 weeks I'll do this instead of Turbule Training and see what the results are.

Conditioning benchmarks

Ok, so a few more of these:

Dynamics:

1. The Roll Ups are fine, 50 no probs.
2. Kick Backs, a great exercise IMHO, 50 each side.

Statics:

1. Horse Stance: erm, just about managed 1 minute. This needs a lot of work and I can really see how this will benefit me.
2. Front Stance: just as embarassing, about 1 minute each site. Lots of work needed here.
3. Balance, worst of all, I almost can't stand there. I managed about 10 seconds each side before my balance was gone. I noticed though that my Hams and very top of calves are very tight.

That's all for now. More to come later.

Elastic Steel Splits DVD

So, I had a flick through the Elastic Steel: Everything you ever wanted to know about SPLITS dvd this morning. My first impressions is that while there is some common ground between this and the book (to be expected) there is actually a whole bunch more content which means that hopefully it will keep my routines interesting to me and students.

I found it very helpfull to see the exercises performed in motion, it gives me a better idea what to aim for.

Later today I am gonna have a play around with some other exercises and do another couple of benchmarks on the conditioning.

Quick Rant: dealing with people who say 'This is easy'

Ok, so in my experience I have seen many people put varying amounts of effort in to doing exercises. "You only get out what you put in" being a popular old saying that springs to my mind.

So, take any exercise such as leg raises (Abductor lifts) while lying in the ground - these can be quite hard going if you have the position correct. It can also be extremly easy to do if your body position is wrong.

In my current TKD class I have someone who all too often says "oh, this exercise doesn't touch me" and it is plain to see that they are doing it wrong. They are a senior grade and, in my opinion, should have the attitude where they are always looking to improve themselves in the training. They should be looking to do the exercises as well as they can and try to get maximum benefit and NOT doing the exercises wrong to make themselves appear 'really fit' and worthy of their station / rank. In actual fact in just makes them look bad as if "Look, they can't even do the exercise correct", doesn't set a very good example does it?

Anyway, what I am getting to (and not very quickly) is this; when this person is behaving as described and when they don't take criticism well how do you approach it? Last night I said to this person that they could in fact do the exercise properly and then they might get some benefit from it, I got snorted at in return. I mentioned it again and they tried it properly for about 3 seconds and then plainly found it too difficult and so returned back to doing it poorly again. I should say this class was not my own so I had to tread carefully just in case I upset the person too much and I lost the instructor a student.

Perhaps I am just too hard, too much of a perfectionist, stupid, difficult, not very forgiving or actually just like doing things for a purpose. My advice, is do the exercises correctly to actually get some benefit from them.

Rant over.

Comments Welcome.

PS. My legs are still quite wobbily.

Further Conditioning Testing

So this morning I had a bit of time so I did some more benchmark testing on the basic conditioning exercises from the Elastic Steel manual.

I did the joint rotations, warm up, light stretches (which I am loving at the moment) and then moved in to the conditioning exercises where I did:

1. 50 Lunges on each side. The last 10 each side I found my balance was going, after checking I noticed I needed to tighten the abs. Legs certainly wobly afterwards. Also, with this exercise I tend to 'feel the burn' in the rear leg.
2. 50 Half Bridges on chair. The last 20 of these had my hams in trouble. Lots more work needed here.
3. 100 Side bends (50 each side). I notice that I am not that flexible on my sides.
4. 50 Adductor lifts. Yup, the burn was there from about rep 20.
5. 50 Abductor lifts. Surprisingly weak here however we did something very similar at TKD training last night. I got to 25, then I had to do 5 reps and rest for 5 seconds until I got to 50.

I had to stop there to deal with breakfast time. At the time of writing my legs certainly know they have been worked. Despite many of these exercises being very familiar to me I am surprised how much I have neglected there worth over the years - I shall continue to work them hard.

Cheery Bye,

Mr Wobbily Legs

Basic Conditioning Test: Dead Lift

Yesterday I thought I would have time to go this:

1. Joint Rotations
2. Warmup
3. Light Stretches
4. Basic Conditioning

...mainly to just give me a benchmark on the conditioning section of Elastic Steel. As it happened I only got on the the first exercise of the basic conditioning where it seems I am allowed to choose either squat, dead lift or lunges - I chose deadlift.

I carefully performed and stopped at 100 dead lifts (I still wanna call them 'Squats' though). It was not easy, I got in to a good solid rythym and then found the last 15 or so quite tricky to stay balanced. I will be far from '100' on almost all the other conditioning exercises.

I have been working hard over the last 12 weeks on getting better conditioned by doing the Turbulence Training Dumbell and Body Weight exercises - basically this means that over the last 12 weeks I have probably done almost 900 squats with weights...

(24 squats with an added 15 kgs in each hand per session, 3 sessions a week, for 12 weeks gives me, erm, 24 x 3 = 72 a week, x 12 = 864 weighted squats)

.... so that must have had some effect on my strenght and muscle condtioning for my legs and glutes.

I'll do some other exercise on Friday and let you know the score with those too.

Light Stretches: Comments

So, also played with the Light Stretches in the ES manual yesterday and here's what I have to say:

Some are familiar, some aren't. The Mermaid Stretch took some work to get the right position, I think. Unless I am doing it wrong it seems the the adductor of the bent lent (in front of you) is getting the stretch. There is a similar stretch position to this which actually works the same sort of area that the 'Ankle Over Knee' position works.

Talking of 'Ankle Over Knee' - this is very familiar to me and have done lots of this over the years through TaeKwon-Do classes. However, both my knees have been operated on and they both seem a little lose. By this I mean that instead of just feeling the stretch in the good place of the hip rotator and glutes, I also feel an annoyance at the knee as if the hip wont turn out any more and then the weak joint at the knee gets 'the good news'. I'll post a question to Paul Zaichik on his forums to see what I can about this and I'll try to post a quick video to help explain my issue.

Ah, the same 'good news' is felt in the knees when I do the butterfly stretch (another one that I have done for what seems like a billions times) despite my be able to open my hips flat to floor. Any Comments?

Ah, the Cobra stretch felt good tonight. Probably because I have been hunched over a desk ALL DAY.

Joint Rotations

Playing with the exercises in the ES book and the joint rotations are slightly different to what I am used to and seemed to make me focus on what I was actually doing. Then again, there could be many reasons why I was more focussed, perhaps just because it is a new program to me. However, I do like these new joint rotations.

BUT...

The Head Circles get me. I remember about 20 years ago being told by my school gym teacher not to do head circles because "It is bad for you. Therefore you need to do head up and down then head left a right".

Also, in my 14 years of TaeKwon-Do we have never done head circles just ups n downs and lefts n rights.

Would someone knowledgable care to tell about this?

Quick Comments on Elastic Steel Method of Athletic Conditioning Book

Here's a few words about the Elastic Steel Method of Athletic Conditioning Book from Paul Zaichik

- [ ] I admit to thinking that despite having the book for a week
or so it has taken some time to digest the stuff and decide
when I should do things and in what order. The content seems
to be modular but that some modules must and should always
come before other modules. It seems that I can break the book
down in to 'Workout Genres' then work on them for a while and
then move on to the next module.

- [ ] I am a little confused by the content and how it all fits
together. I mean, I understand that Joint Rotations and Light
Stretches should happen first but then I get a little
stumped. I might do the Mobility Swings when I feel I need
to, just whenever, and I might do the Upper Body Stretches in
a separate session. But I don't see the need to do Mobility
Swings if the session i am about to enter is the Conditioning
Exercises. Someone tell me if I am wrong please.

- [ ] I see the kicking chamber position circles and the extended
leg circles and the kicking technique section as another
module which doesn't necessarily need to be mastered before
moving on developing splits.

- [ ] I see the Extended Length Conditioning as something that I
should only do when the general conditioning exercises have
been mastered. I understand it here that it might take weeks
or months before I start with ELC exercises, but that's ok.

- [ ] The Splits section I think is 'Deep Stretching' - the
question here is am I only supposed to do this once
Conditioning & ELC have been mastered? I don't necessarily
think so, I think Deep Stretching should be done after joint
rotations and warmup and light stretches, perhaps in a
separate session. I'll post to the ElasticSteel forums and
see if Paul Zaichik replies.

- [ ] Thinking about this from an instructors point of view, if you
get new students you need to give them a taste of all areas.
You need to get them strong, you need to get them kicking and
you need to get them stretching. As their training develops
they should get stronger and then perhaps they can put more
emphasis on Deep Stretching. But I think it would be wrong to
not let students try stretching before they are highly
conditioned.

- [ ] Anyhow, after quite a lot of reading my opinion of the
ElasticSteel book is really good and very motivating.
However, I don't think it is really for complete beginners to
training, kicking and stretching. I think it takes someone
who has some experience with these things to get the most
from it. I will work hard and follow the advice and routines
as closely as possible - after all I wanna do Full Splits and
I just know that it is in me.

James - on my way to Full Splits

OMG - What Have I Done?

This is either very good or very bag. I have discovered that I can blog to blogger using either:

1. the web
2. email
3. my mobile phone

Basically, there is totally no reason now why I can't post every update possible about my progress and My Splits Challenge to myself.

Cheerie Bye,

James.

Blog from phone

Just testing

Test email blog

Just a quick test to see if bloggers 'blog by email' thing works.

 

James.

Why MySplitsChallenge Blog

I have been doing martial arts as an adult since 1994 and through training hard have become quite flexible, I have just never been able to do full splits or have excellent control of my kicks. don't get me wrong, all those years of training has give me GOOD control of my legs but I just wanna achieve EXCELLENT control. Oh, and I wanna do full splits. Also, I need to get stronger legs.

I had a knee operation in Jan 2008 and I started Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training workouts a couple of months after that. Then my interest in new and exciting workout ideas grea. I investigated various body weight exercises and discovered BodyWeightCulture.com on YouTube and then stumbled upon ElasticSteel Method of Athletic Conditioning and i thought to myself "Yep, I want to do FULL SPLITS like that"

I purchased the splits DVD, ElasticSteel manual and Gravity Advantage books from the ElasticSteel shop. They took a while to arrive and there was a problem with my order which the ES gang promptly rectified so I got my full pack sometime last week.

I did my last workout of the TT program last Friday and I plan to start the ES stuff this week. I'll keep you informed every step of the way on MY SPLITS CHALLENGE.

Cheers

James.