"It isn't how old you are, but how well you age"

That is what my Sifu told me when I asked him how it feels to turn 50. So to keep things in perspective and myself motivated, I've attached a picture of Byung-Hun Lee as Storm Shadow from his recent movie in the G.I. Joe Retaliation.

... Did I mention he is 42? 15 years older than I am and is in greater shape... I have no excuse.

... If he can do it...so can I... 

Let's KICK IT UP!

Crunch Time!!

So for the last few weeks I've been training in preparation for the International USKSF tournament which I've been attenting the last 4 years. Although this year I plan to compete in the lower weight division that i am used to, which means I will have to work hard to drop about 10 lbs. I have approximately 3 months to do so. It's a lot harder than I had anticipated, with the weather still a bit too cold to be running outside, my cardio hasn't been where it should be. My current training regiment involves:

Monday: 5:30pm to 7:30pm - Warm-Up, Bag and Pads Training

               7:30pm to 8:00pm - Sparring

               8:00pm to 9:00pm - Forms and Set Fighting

Tuesday: 5:30pm to 7:00pm - Weight Training and Bag Training

Wednesday: 5:30pm to 7:00pm - Bag Training

                    7:00pm to 9:00pm - Forms, Set fighting, and weapons training

         

Thursday: 5:30 to 7:00pm - Weight Training 

                7:00 to 8:30pm - Bag and Pads Training

                 8:30 to 9:00pm - Sparring

My bag training consist of :

20 of my most powerful round houses, front kicks, and low sweeps per leg which comes to 120 kicks to enhance the strength of my kicks, then I do 20 double round houses as quickly as possible per leg to enhance my kicking speed which comes to 80 kicks for the set. A total of 200 kicks per training session.  

I then move on to 20 straight jabs per hand as powerful as I can throw them, and 20 cross punches per hand for strength and conditioning my biceps, triceps, shoulders, and wrists. I then follow up with 20 Jab, cross combo to work on the speed of my jab and the power of my cross per side. I then work on 10 hooks per side and end it there. A total of 180 punches per bag training.  

Here is weight training regime:

4 Sets of:

10 Wide Grip Pushups

10 Chest Clap Pushups

10 Shoulder Raises (25 lbs)

10 Hammer Curls (25 lbs)

10 Tricep Push Ups

10 Shoulder Grudge (approx. 130 lbs bar)

10 Leg raises (6 lbs ball)

At the moment I weigh at 163 lbs and I need to reach below 154.5 lbs. I have to admit that my biggest problem at the moment is my diet... I have no discipline when it comes to eating bad food.

During work days my diet consist of 

9:00am - 2 Slices of Cheese Bread with cream cheese spread, 2 cups of V8 tomato juice, and an apple

1:30pm - 1 Tortilla wrap with cheese, salami, and mustard with a side of vegetable and hummus as a dip

4:00pm - A bowl of cereal with almond milk

5:30pm - A protein drink

9:30pm - Meat and Salad

Obviously there are times, where I will have a snack here and there throughout the day and on weekends I pretty much eat whatever the hell I want and snack on whatever I want... WHY DO THINGS HAVE TO TASTE SO DAMN GOOD!!! I was reflecting back on my youth and wondered how the hell did I sustain an avg of 140lbs... then I remembered that I was easily capable of ignoring my hunger whenever I was focused on my video games... perhaps I should return to my video games to help me lose some weight :)

Wish me luck everyone! :)

CHÚC MỪNG NĂM MỚI 2013 !!!

Happy Lunar New Years Everyone!! Since last week, I've been involved with the traditional cultural lion dance at my Kung-Fu school. This year will be my 12th years performing for the Lunar New Years and I haven't missed a year since I started volunteering.

Although, It took about 2 to 3 years of convincing me to get into it from the time that I started Kung-Fu. At first, I was completely uninterested in doing such thing. It just wasn't appealing to me. What REALLY got me into it, was that I was told i could use this opportunity to clock in my necessary volunteer hours to graduate from highschool. All my kung-fu brothers and sisters were doing it at the time, so I figured "Why not." Here I am today, 12 years later... still performing and doing what I can to keep the tradition alive while keepin' it old school. Although now, the main reason for my return each year is for the school, the people, and the good times :)

Not only am I helping my school but also this is helping me stay in shape. The amount of cardio, shoulders, biceps, triceps  thighs, neck, back and core muscles that i use throughout the performances is just as good as going to the gym. 

With the New Year passed , Valentine's Day over, and Family Day behind us... It's time to get "Back on Track!" :) Tonight I will be heading back to Kung-Fu for a nice work out :)

Enjoy the pictures :)

My Lion for Day 1

Last day of Lion Dance with my partner in our flashy  pants :)

Day 17 - 22

As I am getting closer to the end of my Back on Track project, I can't help but feel like I haven't quite pushed myself to the limits of my capabilities throughout this whole program. Then again, while reflecting on that thought... I  feel a sense of reassurance that I AM on the right path and that IS EXACTLY what I should be feeling and thinking. With that feeling and thought inside of me, it will drive me into my next program which will be MORE intensive, detailed, and focused. 

Day 17 - I didn't end up going to the Gym that day due to the crazy cold weather, so i ended up going straight to Kung-Fu after workd. I arrived at around 5:30pm and started getting ready for a good stretch and warm up, followed by intensive kicking drills. Then 2 hours of kung-fu training. 

Day 19 - Went to the gym and did 20 min of cardio (5 min of warm up and 15 min of running at 6.5 speed on the treadmill). Blazed through the cardio due to my new and improved method of distraction lol!

Then went onto the free weights. Same routine as the last few times... although my second set was extremely difficult this time around. While I was doing triceps extensions, I had to stop at 7 of 10, put the weight down, give myself a few seconds, pick up the weight again, and finish the reps. I actually shocked myself and immediately started to assess the situation. What did I do wrong for me to not being capable of doing my full 10 reps?? I started thinking "Did I not get sufficient sleep the night before? Did I do anything strenuous during the day? Did I not eat enough throughout the day? Did I not give myself sufficient rest in between the set? Am I lacking H2o?" After going through the process of elimination, there was only one possible option for me to try out and also capable of seeing immediate results. I gave myself 2 min rest between my 2nd and last set. I went through all of my reps for each exercise without putting the weight down. It still was a struggle to finish my last set but at least I managed it better than my previous set.

Day 22 - Yesterday was sparring day at my martial-arts club. Not a bad day at all, I might add. Everyone did exceptionally well. We also saw a lot of progress in a lot of the students... Visible differences that is. Anyways, i'm getting off track. Usually, I would go to the gym for a 30 min cardio...or at least I should go every monday, but the last two mondays... I haven't. I figured the one hour of sparring should be sufficient cardio for the day. The only problem I'm currently encountering is that from 6PM to 7PM, the school is running the northern shaolin class and during that time...the school is PACKED...literally PACKED... There is barelly enough space to stretch, let alone throw a punch without having it land on someones face. Now I'm faced with a new scheduling dilemma...I'm thinking of going to the gym and do core or something considering i don't ever do core or include core exercises in my program...yes... I am aware that the core is a major muscle that with proper training will enhances all aspect of my fighting capabilities... but I'm just not willing to spend that extra 20 min to 30 min when I've already been at the gym for over an hour. I guess the mondays and wednesdays would be a good core day... I still have lots of figuring out to do before the end of my program ends...

Day 15 - 16 of Back On Track

Monday was day 15 of my Back on Track project. I ended up just going straight to Kung-Fu. Started with a nice stretch warm-up and then went on to some punching and kicking drills. My training continued with an hour of Sparring, 2 minutes sessions with 5 to 10 min breaks in between. Finished my day with an hour of forms and two man drills.

Yesterday for day 16 I went to the gym. Started with 25 min cardio on the treadmill. This time, I uploaded my fight videos from Malaysia into my phone and while running on the treadmill, I watched them and studied them. It made time go by SOOOOOOO much faster. 5 minutes felt like 1, so from now on i'm going to upload ALL of my fight videos that i have on my computer into my phone and watch them when running on the treadmill.

I then moved on to free weights.

3 sets of:
10 reps of Rows with 25 lbs
10 reps of Bench Press with 45 lbs
10 reps of Triceps Extensions with 45 lbs
10 reps of Hammer Curls with 25 lbs
10 reps of Shoulder Raises with 25 lbs, and
10 reps of Upright Rows with a 50 lbs bar

This time around, it definitely felt a lot easier although I still struggled to finish my weights with proper postures on my last set. Hence, I know I'm not ready to go back to 4 sets just yet.

My diet currently consists of :
9AM - 2 toast with cheese and a coffee
1:00PM - Chicken, Lettuce, and Swiss Cheese Sandwich
5:30PM - Protein Drink
9:30PM - Meat and Veggies (It varies every night)

Day 10 - 13 - Back On Track

Sorry for the late post, it's been a ridiculously busy weekend. Anyhow,  the following day I ended up going back to the gym. I started with a good 20 min run on the treadmill which included a good 5 min warm up, by the time I hit 10 minutes I was already dying...it was EXTREMELY difficult to continue the jog on the treadmill for a continuous 15 min on 6.5 speed. I even tried watching an episode of Family Guy on my phone while running, but that only distracted me in the beginning...closer to the end of my run, i couldn't focus on anything else but the time.

I then hit the free weights. I didn't go straight for the weights that I use to do before my break, I didn't want to cause to much trauma to my muscles, so I started light with 25lbs and 30lbs weights. My routine for now consist of 3 sets of:

10 reps of rows with 30lbs,
10 reps of bench press with 30lbs,
10 reps of shoulder raises with 25lbs,
10 reps of triceps extentions with  30lbs.
10 reps of hammer curls with 25lbs, and finish with
10 reps of upright rows with 50lbs bar

With a 1 min break between each set.

I usually do 4 sets but considering it was my first day back...I started again with 3 sets. My body wasn't as sore as I had anticipated so i'm pretty happy with the fact that I was smart with my routine. Since i don't exactly have a deadline to attain, i can pretty much take my time without making my body suffer too much :) Right after the gym, I went to Kung-Fu class which is about medium lvl intensity for a good 2 hours. I took a protein drink before the class to last me until dinner, or my body would've probably started to eat itself lol!

Day 11 and 12 were rest days for me, as I was getting my body back to 100% to go snowboard all day on day 13, which I may add was AMAZING and a great way to burn calories all day!!! :) Although I probably gained it all back with the food and alcohol i had at the cottage...was all worth it :) :) On a more serious note...I really need to take my diet more seriously lol! Damn you good food!!!!

Day 9 of "Back on Track"

Seems like I overestimated myself. I went to the gym and after I ran on the treadmill for not even 2 minutes, I stopped, got off the treadmill, went home. 

My body was aching from the night before. I could have pushed myself beyond the discomfort that I was feeling, but I knew it would only contribute to longer healing time and less training sessions. So yesterday ended up being a rest day for me after all  Hopefully I will be good to go to the gym tonight and start lifting weight again.