Tidy

Wife went away for a dy days. You wouldnt have known.

A little pain.

Not inside legs but hips that are stopping me at the moment.

Up The Anti

Tonight I just had to get working out. I increased the reps on the GA Level 1 because I have not felt that my muscles are 'used' enough. It is a strange feeling, I am absolutely spent after doing the usual number of reps but the next day I feel no side effects so tonight I up'd the Anti.

Which ever way you look at it, for the past few weeks I was doing two sets of the GA Level 1 Exercises but tonight I did three sets in a slightly different routine...

1A: 10 x Horizontal Rows
1B: 10 x Spiderman Pushups
3 times round
rest
2A: 10 x Narrow Horizontal Rows
2B: 10 x Diamond Grip Pushups
3 times round
rest
3A: 10 x Bridge n Curl
3B: 10 x Hammer Press
3 times round

I was hammered after it and felt muscles brimming with activity.

No lower body stuff and no stretching. Still, tomorrow for that.

Still doing it and PROGRESS

Since last week, (blogging once a week is poor I know) , I had a few days off but then back in to it on Saturday afternoon with a bodyweight training session including lower body single leg deadlifts (bending leg) - all good and balance is getting better. Upper body is still GA Level 1 and it is going good although I am not noticing much physical difference yet but my diet is sooo bad just now that I guess I am just burning the calories that I am consuming rather than those distributed around my waist.

Sunday was TKD in the morning, sparring was better but had a good front split routine stretch afterwards and I have definitely improved both hip flexors and hams - all good.

Every day I have done light stretches and leg swings although my back is still sore (18 months on) so I might go to see a back specialist. Monday night I did bodyweight conditioning again, GA Level 1 FAST with 10 reps on first circuit then Max reps (or at least 10) on second circuit. Followed by squats, single leg deadlifts then ELC with the rubber bands (I broke another green one) and a good stretch in front splits routine again.

Tuesday I had a rest apart from light stretches and leg swings in the morning.

A note about ELC: not entirely convinced of the use of bands. Cable pulls might work better because of the direction of pull but that would take a lot of rigging up. I guess I'll try the bands in a different setup tonight. 

All Good.

Just get it done

as probably the busiest man in the world ;o) I have to fit in quick workouts where I can and because the main focus of my training is not just body conditioning or fat loss or whatever, the main focus is Tae Kwon-Do so my training is gear around that. As it happens my training at the moment is about general conditioning to improve my posture, grow some muscle and fire those dormant ones. So I have to fit all this in with my quest for full splits, TKD 3rd Degree and improve my kicking.

So anyway I didn't have much time so I managed to do a good bodyweight session using FlexStraps hung from my chinup bar:

1) Wide grip horizontal rows x 10

2) Bridge n Curl x 10

3) Narrow grip horiz rows x 10

4) Hammer Press x 10

5) Press ups on the bloomin' straps x 10

6) Dive Bomber Pressups x 10

Squeezed in 1 round of this then it was kids bath time then squeezed in another round after bathtime and before dinner. Well, it's not perfect but it is certainly better than doing nothing at all, yeah yeah - ya feel me?

Ahem, so as far as the splits goes. My front splits progress is hampered by rock solid hip flexors and only slightly moving hams. I don't think there is enough stretching technique advice in Paul's material so I am gonna revert to the breathing methods I used 10 years ago or so where I make real quick progress. I'll still keep the routines the same and follow the conditioning for legs and kicking.

I'll keep you updated, innnit

Cheery bye

James

Side Kick

Good job I missed the white teddy, Edie would have been devastated if she woke up in the morning and saw him with a black eye.

Things that need to improve: 

1. Balance
2. Left hip turn out
3. Angle between right hip and torso
4. Less arch of lower back (pelvis tilting too much, posture related I am sure, WORKING ON IT!)
5. Right foot position, technically I guess it should be angled down a bit.

What Fun

Splits Pics

Here's another pic of side splits taken today:

Stretching

On the stretching front I am still having pain in my hip flexors, but I think that is just because they are SO stiff. After they are warmed up and light stretched they feel a little better.

However, I am still having problems settling into a good routine. I think part of this is because I have such imbalance in my body I almost have to start at the beginning to sort things out. For example, my balance is shocking so doing 1 leg deadlifts is hard going just to stay standing. Also my posture is pathetic, trying the sitting 'L' and getting good posture is Hard As You Like! not in my hamstrings (they are at least a little flexible after 14 years of kicking people) but my back strength and flexibility seems crap!

I'll continue working and hopefully settle in to a good routine soon. I really must make excellent progress by March 2009 - that is my goal.

Blitzed

So, I have been well busy the last week and I haven't posted much but I have been training. Last week was quite TKD heavy with classes, teaching and an all day seminar on Saturday 11th called Impact Day (each year TKD Impact puts on a days seminar, which is good).

Last night though I had a great 25 minute workout doing GA Level 1 with fast reps in a circuit. I ended up doing slightly more rows and weaving pressups than normal but on the 2nd time round the ciruit I became blitz'd - muscles where burnt, all good.

I finished off doing a 1 set max press ups (only 18 wavering press ups after this workout) and about 5 between chairs getting really low to try to push my shoulder blades together.

Above all I felt ace after this workout.

Tad sore today

Last night I did:

20 squats, then 20 straight leg deadlifts 3 times round
Splits Specific Warm up from the ES DVD - wicked this, lots of long low stances, felt it working good.
Had a good stretch through the front splits routine and spent slightly longer on some positions that others.

Today my hamstrings are a little sore, maybe from the stretch and my hips are a little fatigued maybe from the long low stances in the splits specific warm up - its all good.

Not much stretching in the routine for the calf though even though PZ talks about stretching the calf before the hams?

FEELING GOOD, but a bit bad

Last night I did the GA Level 1 upper body stuff but instead of supersets I did it as a circuit. So I did...

Joint Rotations
Light Warmup (Squats, press ups, horizontal rows with legs bent)
then into the cirtuit...

8 x wide grip rows
8 x narrow grip rows
8 x weaving press ups
8 x dive bomber press ups
8 x bridge and curl
8 x hammer press
Rest 1 minute
then repeat
then finished off with some reverse crunches.

It was a good way of doing the routine and I enjoyed it too although I didn't sweat much but my house was cold and I only had shorts on.

Then I had a good massage (using tennis ball) on my back and glutes and hamstrings while watching HEROES -YEAAAAHH.

So all that made me feel good. But Ethan was awake a lot and I probably slept for about 1 hour then Edie came in at about 5:30am and that was that. I feel bad. No Sleep and my left knee still is giving me hassle. Not going TKD tonight but will train at home with lower stuff and have a good stretch.

L8RS.