29th of May : "old school" training

Todays stats: 

• Weight: 78.9kg (So guess my diet is working for now)
• Training location: Malden Gym

Amituofo! 

Today I visited the physiotherapist. There's good news and bad news:
The good news is that he agrees with me on both points, he does think that if I can move pain free that I should do it, he also did some test to see if I may stand up on 2 legs (which would enable me to do some exercise again) and thats OK. Jey! 
He also agrees on the other point :(, he did a number of pressure/torque/bending tests on my knee and I tested positive for all meniscus damage tests... but negative on some ligament tests. So he is quite sure that my meniscus was damaged.
Most likely the medial ligament also took some minor damage as a consequence.
The bad news is that he is quite confident that it will not heal by itself and the it is quite likely I have to undergo surgery to have it fixed (he explained me that only a very small part of the meniscus, the part which is connected to the ligaments, has blood flow and is able to recover minor damage. The rest of the meniscus has no blood flow and is also not capable of recovery).
He will send my local doctor a note with his findings, hoping that this can speed up referral to a orthopedic specialist.

Luckily recovery time from such a surgery is relatively short (6 weeks). Now I just hope that it can be done soon, and I will not be on some waiting list. More news on that as soon I as I visit my local doctor again (Thursday, but will call on Monday to check if we can speed up things).

Now... more fun news. I decided I didn't want to spend another evening lying down. So I 'apped´ Sam to ask if he was willing to pick me up for training (since I cannot drive now).
So I went to training, which was quite a laugh, showing up on Kung Fu training on supports (krukken, for the dutch people reading this). I couldn't do too much, but I did part of the warm-up and stretches, then did some Qi Gong. I did bench presses instead of push ups, (literally, there were no weight so I used the gym benches as weight :) )  did sit ups, and afterwards I tried if I could do push ups without locking my knee, and that also worked out. I even worked up some sweat!!! Of course I was not able to do Tao Lu (forms) now. So the rest of the training I spend with some old school training. Practicing 'feeling' the jian (straight sword). For those who do not know shaolin martial arts (or Shaolin Wu Shu). Jian is a very graceful weapon, and it is one of the harder weapons to master since you really have to feel the sword as extension of your body. So it takes lots and lots of training to really feel what the sword is doing and to steer it as extension of the body. So I took one exercise from a traditional Yang style Tai Chi sword style book I own and practiced that for the rest of the training. (applying pressure on the staff with the sword while you turn it around the staff... without loosing connection to the staff, sounds a lot easier than it is. Of course some weights on the arms to simultaneously train the shoulders):
 

I have to say I feel great now and miraculously my knee also feels quite good although I have been standing and stumbling all evening. But that might bite me in the coming night. We'll see....

For now I wish you a good night!

Amituofo!

28th of May: injuries are no fun....

Todays stats: 

• Weight: Do not dare to stand on a scale at the moment
• Heart-rate: not measured
• Training location: :( 

Amituofo! 

Today boredom is really kicking in. Not too strange since I went from training every day at least once to practically no training. I am really getting crazy of sitting and lying all day. Since I still have quite a bit of software writing to do I can work from home. But in the evening I really am getting bored, this evening I just continued work just to keep myself busy..... Yesterday my knee felt quite ok after sitting all day, so  I tried some stretching but I cannot do too much without also stretching or loading muscles in/around my knee. Today it felt a bit worse again, so I guess that wasn't a wise choice. I noticed that if I just lay down, leg a little up... and then do a couple of  knee bends and leg lifts each hour that my knee is responding well on that. One good thing is that due to the boredom  I also am studying Wing Chun concepts which also is growing my interest in Wing Chun again. 
Some more sad news... I stopped training Tai Chi at Sifu Clemens Kwee Wie Yang. I enjoyed my time training under him, and I can recommend him to anyone that is looking to get into Tai Chi. For me it was just not what I was looking for. I do want to know more about tai chi, because I am fascinated about the concept of connecting movement with breathing, but for the moment I will regard it as second priority and I will study it from books, internet, and my Shaolin sifu Carl who also has some Tai Chi skills, but considers himself not completely ready to teach others.
He was thinking about teaching his Kung Fu students, because he has a good feeling on our movements and breathing methods,  so I hope he will teach us some more...

My last training was 2 days ago (see last post).
Tomorrow I think I will go to Shaolin training, but then just do some basic stretches and qi gong. Then at least I can do some internal martial arts training (although I shouldn't be standing too long).
Tomorrow I also will visit my physio therapist who also solved my back problems and gave me some great tips to get my hamstrings longer. I hope he can give me some exercises to do and I hope he can give me a second opinion on my knee issue so I know where I stand.

So more news tomorrow.

Amituofo!

26th of May : Doctor day

Todays stats: 

• Weight: 78.6kg (huh??? Apparently the weekend did not harm me too much :) )
• Heart-rate: not measured
• Training location: @Home

Amituofo!
Today was doctor day.... I visited my physician to get my knee checked up. I was afraid that it would be a waist of time, because our health care system is intended on 'try to get you out the door as fast as possible', so normally the advised care plan starts with... "lets wait a week and see if its any better".... and this time was no different, except that this doctor wants me to take 2 weeks of absolute rest and then see him again.

Of course I am far to pro-active to do so :)


 So I told him that I had already made a training plan to limit the load on my knee and do only pain free stuff... but he still didn't liked it... I can only do exercises for which I don't have to stand up.
So I will listen a little bit, I will avoid standing on the leg until I speak to my sports physician who has helped me greatly before and is specialized in these kind of sports injuries. I booked an appointment with him on Friday.
I've also done 3 days of 'knee problem' study on the internet and found that most sources recommend to keep moving if you can move pain free, so....
Today I finally did some training again like agreed with the doctor (and I feel great now! Apart from my knee of course). I limited it to upper body exercises that I could do while laying down... so here is what I did today:  

• Fast 20kg bench press 'elbows close' : This imitates a fast push up with arms close to the body and is good for punch force and speed (trains chest and triceps, focus on chest).
  3 sets of 25 reps
• Fast 20kg bench press 'elbows wide' : This imitates a fast push up with elbows wide and is good for blocks and acrobatics (trains chest and back)
  3 sets of 25 reps
• Fast 20kg bench press 'diamond' : This imitates a fast push up diamond style and is good for punch force and speed (trains chest and triceps, focus on triceps).
  3 sets of 10 reps
• Crunches 'straight' : Just a regular crunch but with hands below the lower back so the back does not get strained when moving up.
  3 sets of 30 reps
• Crunches 'side' : Chrunches while lying on the side.
  3 sets of 30 reps (15 reps per side)
• Supermans : pull up legs and chest while lying on stomach
  3 sets of 20 reps 
• 5kg Triceps curls : Take two 5kg dumbles and hold them above your head. Then let them sink behind your head and pull them up above the head again. Nice triceps isolation exercise.
  3 sets of 20 reps
• Shoulder, neck, hamstring and buttocks stretches.
  
  Just some random motivational movie of something which I hope to be doing very soon again
  (although I am afraid I have to miss it for a while :( ):
  

25th of May: Made a training routine for the coming weeks

Todays stats: 

• Weight: not measured, but guess roughly 80-81kg again :P (normal after the weekend)
• Heart-rate: not measured
• Training location: Desk :P

Amituofo!
After spending 3 days of sleeping bad, not training and getting really sick of doing everything in slow motion I also have some good news for the coming days.
Let me start with a small update on my knee. Saturday I took complete rest for my knee. Yesterday I visited my parents and brother, and did some work on my Celica T-sport project (see other blog), I think this already was a bit to much for my knee since it started to swell quite a bit. So I decided not to do training today to give my knee some rest. I am very slowly loosing some stiffness in the knee, and I kind bend it a little more. I guess roughly 60 degrees of motion now (from straight to 90 degree bend, and about 15 degrees further). The knee feels very funny though. Feels like somethings loose inside but that might just be the fluid build up. Also feels like something is stabbing the muscles there, so all in all it does not give me hope... anyway. Tomorrow I will try to see my physician to discuss what to do next.

Today I spend on putting together a workout for tomorrow and for the coming days. Will be a bit boring because I cannot do to much without loading the knee, but never mind that. As soon as I will regain some capabilities in my knee I will adapt it and create some new workouts so I can rotate workouts.

For now I put together a 1h30min workout that has about 40 minutes of high intensity stuff in there. It focuses on wing chun since almost all shaolin stuff requires stances that load my knee.

I want to do this routine 3 or 4 times a week. And do Qi gong for as much as my knee allows for the remainder of the days... so that means I have to reduce my portion size of diner since I will be moving a lot less and will have no real cardio training (although the workout does have 2x 20 minutes of 'high intensity' which therefore will function as interval training).
Real physical exercise I did not get, but I did try out the moves for the punch ball training, so I did not completely sit still :)

Here is the workout for the coming days. I will do these at home since I need the punching ball, and walking to the park takes a bit to much time with my current walking pace (stumble might be a better word to use currently).

Warm up 20-25 minutes (condensed Shi Yan Ming stuff):
- Wrist turns
- Ankle turns (slow and gentle on the knee that hurts!)
- Wrist + ankle turns
- Neck stretch left, right, forward, backward
- Neck rotations
- Eye focus exercise
- Shoulder loosening (left arm up, right arm down, stretch backward, and vice versa)
- Shoulder loosening (open from front to side)
- Hamstring stretches (KNEES NOT LOCKED but slightly bended).
- Spine stretches (left and right)
- Rotate hips
- Massage knees and 'flex' knee caps
- Lie down and stretch 'buttocks'. Stretch one leg. Other leg pull up the knee, keep the foot down. Twist your hip so the pulled up knee goes over the straight leg, but keep your back flat on the ground. Try to touch the ground with your knee. Hold for 15 seconds. Repeat 5 times on both sides.

Power training (20-25 minutes):
3 reps of this routine
- Do 5 PROPER fist push ups. Focus on shooting out.. so drop down (fast), hold for a sec, shoot back up.
(1minute, rest for the time that you have left from the one minute)
- Do forward planking
(1 minute)
- Do 10 PROPER wide push ups. Focus on shooting out again.
(1minute, rest for the time that you have left from the one minute)
- Do side planking (30 sec + as long as you can per side) If the knee can support it.
- Do 15 PROPER V-style (sit ups).
(1minute, rest for the time that you have left from the one minute)
- Do 5 PROPER diamond push up. Focus on shooting out again.
(1minute, rest for the time that you have left from the one minute)
- Do 15 PROPER side sit ups (on each side)
- Quick stretch on shoulders, and stomach muscles + 30 second break.

Wing chun relaxed basics practice. (~20 mins)
(In goat stance for as much as knee will allow, focus on structure, not muscle power)
- Taan Sau -> From starting position, move hand in the Taan Sau position slowly. Focus on the correct relaxation points. When in final position rotate wrist to Man Sau position (stretches the wrist), bring fist back to Wu Sau, and then back to starting position. Change hands with each rep.
20 reps (~6 minutes)
- Bong Sau -> From starting position, move hand in the Taan Sau position slowly. Focus on the correct relaxation points. When in final position rotate wrist to Bong Sau position and back again. Change hands with each rep.
20 reps (~6 minutes)
- Fook Sau --> From starting position, move hand into Wu Sau and change to Fook Sau position slowly. Form there move outwards to final position, focus on relaxation points.
When in final position rotate wrist to Man Sau position (stretches the wrist), bring fist back to Wu Sau, and then back to starting position. Change hands with each rep.
20 reps (~6 minutes)

Punch ball practice (20-30 minutes):
- Taan Da --> do taan da, start by guiding the punch ball in and to the side for the 'taan', punch in air (or against a wall bag) with the other hand. Exchange left and right on each rep. Focus is on 'guiding the ball', turning in the body and relaxing the shoulders while doing so.
50 reps
- Gang Da --> same as Taan Da but now with Gang...
50 reps, Gang da can be a bit more punching than receiving...
-Chain punching
50 chain punches on the ball. Focus on low muscle strength/resistance, high speed.
-Punch Ball/ deflect with Pak Sau / punch again. Change hands per rep
50 reps


Fill the time with repeating the above punch ball exercises.

Cool down: Sit down and do some very relaxed hamstring stretches, shoulder stretches, neck stretches

Amituofo!

23rd of May: Planning for recovery

Todays stats: 

• Weight: 78.8KG 
• Heart-rate: not measured

Amituofo! Sorry, no training today. It turned out that my suspicions about my knee were spot on.
I got maybe 2 hours of sleep last night, cause my knee started hurting, a lot!
Halfway through the night I literally could not find a pain-free or even low-pain position to lie or let alone sleep.

When I got up this morning it was no better. I have about 30 or 40 degrees range of motion in the knee, and I have to assist it in every move I do. Luckily I can stand on it without pain, so that means I can do slow walking.

This means that I will have to adapt my exercise plan quite a bit. I will focus on arm techniques and upper body training, thats not the problem. But I also have to find ways to do cardio and 'fat burning' training without running or cycling, or basically without loading my legs (which is quite hard because your legs are roughly the largest muscles in your body and are therefore best suited for that). I will also have to practice Tao lu and Ji ben gong in a different way.

Today and tomorrow I will take a day of from training to think about how I am going to do this. Of course I will still be using the punching ball today and tomorrow, since this will be my friend for the coming weeks :)

Amituofo!

PS.. want to make a little bet? My weight will be above 80kg again on Monday (its weekend! no food rules :P )

22nd of May : Friday injury day

Todays stats: 

• Weight: 78.1KG 
• Heart-rate: not measured
• Location 1: Goffert park
• Duration 1: 1h
• Intensity 1: Low
• Location 2: Malden Gym
• Duration 2: 1.5h
• Intensity 2: Moderate

Amituofo! Today I felt super, but that turned out not a good thing unfortunately. Yesterday evening I started to feel a 'click' or 'pop' each time I turned my knee. Must be related to a snap-kick I did yesterday. I missed my hand (We kick our hand to give some resistance in the kick and harden your hand at the same time), and since I had weights on my ankles I am afraid I overextended my knee :(

Since there was no pain involved I didn't suspect it to be to bad.Today however the 'pop' went over in a stiff knee. In the lunch break I still did a nice Qi gong and stretching session in the hope a bit of stretching would help.
Little explanation why: I experience that when your joints are overloaded stretching is a good way to relieve pain.  I guess (I am not a physiotherapist, just some logic reasoning here) this is since irritated joints tend to swell and stretching and keeping your muscles warm helps to create a little more space in the joint. If the muscles in the joints get cold and crimp the room in the joint is less while the joint itself is swelling, that causes pressure and expresses itself as pain.
And indeed my knee felt good after the Qi gong session. It still 'popped' though.
In the evening we did Shaolin kung fu training. I told Carl I would take it easy.  (Of course everything not loading my knees I still did on maximum power and speed :) )
I skipped the knee twisting exercises during the warm up and Ji Ben Gong. The remaining exercises went just fine. Then we did Tao lu (forms), this also went fine and I did take it easy during Wu bu quan and Tong bei quan. Then we started Xiao hong quan. And after a couple runs, I felt good and I thought, well, lets try it at a descent speed and with normal power.

Shouldn't have done that. I felled a harder 'pop' and a sharp pain in my knee. It stopped popping afterwards, but now it did hurt. The last 15 minutes I took it easy and helped some junior student practice Yin Shou Gun...

My knee is all stiff now, and it hurts bad. From my experience I can tell this will be a bad night, and it will be even worse tomorrow morning, when all my muscles are cold again. Hope I can still join the Tai Chi class tomorrow :(

I guess today was a bad day for martial artist in our region, since also Sam suffered form lower back injury and Wietze, one of our fellow students who also trains really hard in Muay Thai, seemed also not to be having a good day. May be the shape of the moon is not suited for martial arts training today :P

Still I would like to say: Sleep well and have a good evening.
More news tomorrow.


PS. lots of kids in the park today. Kids=noise="no picture of bunnies", better luck next week.
Amituofo!

21st of May : Thursday

Todays stats: 

• Weight: 78.2KG 
• Heart-rate: not measured
• Location 1: Goffert park
• Duration 1: 1h15m
• Intensity 1: High
• Location 2: Exercise Body & Mind Nijmegen
• Duration 2: 1h
• Intensity 2: Low

Amituofo!  Normal working Thursday today, but I was not feeling so well today when waking up. Never the less I just got up and went to work. I got on the scale and noticed I lost 2 kg in the last days... that cannot be right... have to test the repeat-ability of the scale tomorrow (sorry, engineering blood).
Turned out my bad feeling was just a bad mood, and I was feeling just fine after I cycled to work. I finally finished a data analysis that I've been working on for weeks now, and I presented it today to our design team. It took a bit longer then expected, but although it was late already I just felled like I had to get out and move after that presentation. So at 13.00h I went to the park for a nice workout.
I didn't plan what I was going to do today, but since I will had a relaxing Tai Chi practice after work in the planning I decided to do a high intensity workout during the lunch session today.

After the workout, and since I had a relatively quite day at work up ahead, I decided to stay and relax in the park a little longer. So I sat down at the little pond in the park and stared into the trees for a while... 
My friend the bunny appeared again, and this time he brought some friends :)
Tomorrow I will take my phone along, so I can make a picture because I guess you must be thinking I am getting crazy :P

In the evening it was time to do some Tai Chi togehter with my hunny bunny (Katja that is....., not the Goffert park bunny, I am not crazy remember) 

• Lunch break (all exercises done with 0.5kg weights on ankles and wrists): 
• 2km run (Tried to run a bit faster then normally)
• 'Shaoletics' exercise session. This means repeating the below routine first 30 repetitions, then 20 repetitions, then 10 repetitions, then 5 repetitions. All in one go as fast as possible without any breaks
• Ma bu followed by Zheng ti tui (front flex kick) followed by a Ma Bu / Gong bu + punch (with the non-punching arm next to the head, like in Lian huan quan)
  Punching arm and kicking leg switch with each repetition
• straight crunches
• side crunches
  (half of the reps on one side, other half on the other side, one extra rep on the un-even counts)
• Ma bu / Gong bu punches. One arm punches on the gong bu, the other on the ma bu
  (half of the reps facing left, other half facing right)
• 1.5km run (again, as fast as possible and without break after shaoletics)
• 1 minute breathing break (and I needed it!)
• Da mo jian practice, but without a sword... just trying to get the moves in my system
• Stretching (Shi Yan Ming method with some additional 'Yoga' alike hip opening exercises)
• Walk back to work with a nice break to visit my friend the bunny.
• Evening 
• Stretching (before class)
• Breathing exercises
• Tai Chi 'Clemens' style (Yang simplified 24, A secret Pack Mei Pai form, A chen style form. And a yang style jian form, al very much shaped with Clemens personal touch)

Hope to see you tomorrow! 

Amituofo! 

20th of May: Wednesday 'gift day'

Todays stats: 

• Weight:not measured
• Heart-rate: not measured
• Location : Home
• Duration : 1h
• Intensity : Medium

Today was a special day. First I had an important meeting early in the morning, I really really hope that works out (cannot say more for now....).
After that I went to work and things didn't seem to go as planned. First I forgot to buy lunch before going to work... so when I arrived at the office I could turn around and do some shopping first. Then when I arrived at work AGAIN, I found out I forgot my access-badge. So again I turned around and went home to get my badge. By now it was almost lunch time, so I decided to lunch at home. So no time for lunch break sports today unfortunately. Never the less, I got cheered up, cause at home my new headphones, on which I listen to nice Chinese relaxing music during sports, arrived in the mail. And...... the gift I bought for my girlfriend and best buddy also arrived.

The rest of the day went as planned.

In the evening I did an hours of practice, and of course I had to test the gift I gave my girl (see video's below :) ). It was a fun hour of training, with Shaolin punch practice, (Wing chun) shifting and stepping practice, and some wing chun application play :)

(PS. I call it Wing Chun, but since I suck at wing chun it most likely is VERY BAD wing chun....., see introduction story of this blog for more explanation)
PLEASE DON'T MIND MY GIRLFRIENDS UGLY KARATE POSTER IN THE BACKGROUND!!!

Shaolin punch (and stance) practice:
Practicing stance and punch shifting application.
Start in Ma Bu. Punch when going to Gong Bu and another punch when going back to Ma Bu.

Wing chun application play:
An (imaginairy) punch comes in (Opponents left hand, e.g. a left jab), which gets blocked with a Bong Sau. Then I take over/control the incoming arm with my left hand. My right arm rolls over the opponents arm (which I still control with my left hand) and the right arm goes out for a throat slash/jab.
On the bong sau I shift weight to the right.. on the throat slash I shift back to goat stance to generate more force in the punch...

19th of May: Tuesday

Todays stats: 

• Weight: 79.8KG 
• Heart-rate: not measured
• Location 1: Goffert park
• Duration 1: 1h
• Intensity 1: Low
• Location 2: Gymzaal Uranus straat
• Duration 2: 1.5h
• Intensity 2: Moderate/High

Normal working Tuesday. Weather was crappy lot's of rain today. Did Qi gong in the park today, which was quite funny....
Had my headphones on and my eyes almost closed, and I was practicing in almost meditative state... until I realized my 'karate friend' from the city gardening services was there again... apparently he, and his crew were watching me and he was already talking to me for 5 minutes (but he didn't notice my headphones...). I do need to find a place with less people to train in the rain, this was too distracting. Unfortunately I did not see back the bunny that visited me yesterday, probably it was hiding for the rain.
  
In the evening we did our Tuesday evening training as usual, but I cranked up the speed and power during Ji Ben Gong and Tao Lu practice today, now just try to keep that up.......

• Lunch break: 
• Walk to the park
• 20 minutes of stretching and flexing
• 20 minutes of stance practice (Ma bu, Gong bu, Xie bu, Pu Bu, Xu(e) bu)
  Hold stances deep and firm for 5 breaths
• Qi gong exercises
• Walk back to work

• Evening (open training Kung Tao):
• Warm up + stretches (Shi Yan Ming method with some of Sam's extra exercises)
• Ji Ben Gong 
• Tao Lu (Wu Bu Quan, Lian Huan Quan, and the rest of the training Da Mo Jian)

Had a nice salad for lunch for the past 2 days..., coming days I'll be having delicious yogurt with fruit for lunch again!
If the weather stays like this I think I will also get some more soup like in the colder periods I think, just because it is brrrrrrrr..... in the park now. 

18th of May: Monday

Todays stats: 

• Weight: 80.4KG 

• Heart-rate 

• not measured

• Location: Goffert park

• Duration: 1h

• Intensity: Moderate

Normal working Monday. Weather was a bit dull, body was feeling really sore from yesterdays training in Belgium and my strange San Da fight that I had in my dreams last night (yes... don't ask). Even though I enjoyed a good massage last evening I was still suffering from muscle pains and didn't really feel like going out in the cold...

Well, eventually I did, else I wouldn't have anything to write here :)
I did a nice, medium intensity workout during lunch break, after which I was feeling much better again. I also did some Da mo jian practice, but with a stick I found in the park, because I didn't have a sword with me. So I guess it was Da mo gun practice ;)

Todays routine:

• Lunch break: (all exercises with 1kg weights on the wrists)

• Running 2 km 

• Fitness routine:
  3 sets

• Push ups (15x per set, elbows close to body for triceps isolation)

• Squat (50x per set, legs close together, better for the tendons in the knees)

• Sit ups (straight)(30x per set)

• Sit ups (side) (20x per side per set)

• Running again 1.5km

• 1 minute breathing brake

• Wing Chun + Shaolin Tao Lu

• First did a set of wing chun moves, that I practice regularly, just for some self defense purposes.  

• Then practiced Da mo jian (Gun :P )

• Stretching

17th of May - Sunday - Training @ Sifu Shi Heng Jin's school

Todays stats:

• Weight: 80.6KG 
• Heart-rate 
• not measured
• Location: Sifu Shi Heng Jins school in Melle Belgium
• Duration: 2h
• Intensity: High

Today was a beautifull day! Sunny weather, and going on a trip to Belgium together with Sam to train Da mo jian at Sifu Shi Heng Jin's school in Belgium.

Unfortunately Yasemin, who joins us normally for Tai Qi and Qi Gong lessons, couldn't join us today. On the up side, that means that we could leave at 8.15h in stead of 6.15h.... so its not a real punishment....

After a 2,5 hour long ride (Sam's turn to drive :) ) we arrived at Sifu Shi Heng Jins place at 10.45h. At eleven we joined for an hour of the regular Sunday kung fu class, as we always do. Due to the nice weather we trained outside, which was really nice & far more energizing than training inside. This training is always the same. We first run a bit to get warm and then do leg and arm stretches. Then we move to some exercises to loosen up the body such as, Ma bu/gong bu transfers, squats, back stretches (Qian hou fu yao, Bao fo jiao), Gong bu ya tui, Pu bu ya tui, Wu lung pan da. After that we practice Ji Ben Gong (basic kicks and moves) and we finish the training with Taolu practice. At Sifu Shi Heng Jin I only practice Ba bu lian huan quan in Taolu practice.

After the regular training, Sam and I both share an hour of private training with Sifu. Sam practices in Shaolin Gui Ding Dao and knows the whole form by now, he's really perfecting it. I just started learning Shaolin Da mo jian since a couple of months, and I learned half of the moves now. So still a lot of work to do before I can start to really 'make it my own' (learning the moves is one thing... executing them fluently and perfect takes a couple years more....). Slowly but graduatly I start to feel the straight sword a bit more, but it still needs lots and lots of work.
My daily fitness training seems to be working out though, since this time was the first time that I was not completely dead after the hour of private training.

Unfortunately Sam hurt his back (old injury that keeps appearing from time to time), so we did not stay longer for more training as we intended to do. Ahh well, you can't have it all.

Coming weeks I'll try to change my fitness routine to include Da mo jian training exercises in the stamina training. Hope that improves my feeling for the sword more rapidly.

On the ride back home Sam tricked me into getting a nasty McDonalds visit (we were going for milkshakes, but sneaky Sam orded 2 cheeseburgers on top, the bastard...)

Can't wait till tomorrow! (Training in luch time!)

15th of May - Friday

Todays stats: 

• Weight: 80.4KG 
• Heart-rate 
• not measured
• Location1: Goffert park Nijmegen
• Location2: Malden Gym
• Duration1: 1h
• Duration2: 1h30m
• Intensity1: low
• Intensity2: moderate/high

Trained twice today. Practiced Qi Gong during lunch break and our regular Friday training in the evening.
Training routine(s):

• Lunch break:
• Warm up (Loosening joints + stretching)
• Stance practice
  Moving into and holding each stance deep and firm
  (Ma bu, Gong bu, Pu bu, Xie Bu, Xue bu)
• Qi Gong exercises (Book: Qi Gong workout for longevity of Sifu Yan Lei)
• Evening: 
• Warm up + stretches (Shi Yan Ming method + some of my friends Sams stuff)
• Ji Ben Gong (Shi Yan Ming method)
• Taolu (Wu bu quan, Tong bei quan, Yin shou gun, Zhen shan gun, Da mo jian)

We also did some new variant to squats :)

Ascention day: National holiday + sun = perfect day for training....

Todays stats: 

• Weight: 80.1KG 
• Heart-rate 
• In the morning: 71 bpm 
• When starting workout: 86 bpm
• After warm up: 110 bpm
• Max: 183 bpm
• Recovery time: (max bpm, to active-rest bpm) ~ 1 minute https://connect.garmin.com/activity/774266134
• Location: Kopse hof Nijmegen oost
• Duration: 2h45m
• Intensity: High for the exercise part (20 minutes), low/moderate for the rest...

I wanted to find out what my max heart-rate currently is.
So today was going deep day! Since it is a national holiday was a perfect day to do so... 
Unfortunately, although I gave it my all, I did not feel I pushed myself to the limit.
In the past I cycled up hill on full power to test my max heart-rate, which meant just push further and further,... with todays exercises though my legs (joints) stop working properly before I can give my max... I guess there is also to little continues motion in these compared to cycling to keep the heart pumping.
So next week I'll grab my bike and try again... (a couple of years ago my max ws 206 bpm! Should be getting close to 200 at least).

Today I trained @ het kopse hof in Nijmegen oost.
Training routine(s):

• Warm up (running + stretching)
• Shaoletics routine (going deep with Ji ben gong)
  • Round 1: 30 repetitions of all exercises 
  • Round 2: 20 repetitions of all exercises 
  • Round 3: 10 reps...  
  • Round 4: 6 reps...
  A round consists of:
• Front flex kick (Zheng ti tui)
• Bicycle sit-ups (Situps in Carls style, a.k.a. killing style)
• Side flex kick (Ce ti tui)
• Ma bu - block / Gong bu punch stepping 
• Outside crescent kick (Wai bai tui)

• Taolu practice
• Zhao yang quan
• Tai zu chuan quan
• Xiao hong quan
• Yin shou gun 
• Zhen shan gun
• Da mo jian