All Aboard the Pork Chop X-press!!

[KTS]

yo PC, do u have any KB's that you dont use? cause i would love to give them a run. unless u know of a good cheap place to get some. JK

i have looked around a bit before, not sure of what a great price is. of course, stone locks are fairly similar too, so that was a thought i bounced around.

my xingyi/bagua teacher, his son i think uses KB's, and i know that he is an extremely talented wrestler in his weightclass. an all state dude. good enough to get scholarships.

but, my teach likes them - i think he might use them sometimes as well, he is extremely well in shape for being a 50+ year old chinese boxing teacher. and, i have always wanted a pair of kettlebells anyways.

where did you get yours might i ask? and, how do you like them so far? what are your thoughts on them?

[Pork Chop]

you gotta act on this one quick
there's a huge kettlebell sale going on
unfortunately i'm too broke to take part with the house and all
http://www.everythingtrackandfield.c...gn=annual+sale

my last set of kettlebells were the vinyl ones from this place (might also want to check the PerformBetter website).
I don't currently own kettlebells, i just use the ones that my buddies at Gold's gym picked up on overhead.

i love kettlebells, but in a pinch i haven't noticed a huge difference between them and dumbbells (as long as I take a dbell that's about 5lbs heavier than the desired kbell).
while i love them, i also don't feel comfortable just doing them as my sole weight lifting - if i'm gonna lift i usually gotta supplement with something else.

Mike mahler has some great routines too.

[KTS]

man! thanks so much for the hookup! dunno if i will be able to in time though.

anyways, doing a lot of push-up exercises - "wheelbarrow walks" can be used with a computer or desk chair that has wheels, and can be used as a moving platform when u dont have a partner to hold your ankles. those are excellent for working the abs, chest, core in general, and the arms for sure.

i definitely like to get creative. there is also a butterfly style push-up i do that i havent seen anyone else do yet - not that it hasnt been done, it feels like everything almost has been done before.

now, since i am a little sore from the abdomen up, i am focusing on horse stance training, weighted and unweighted squats, various stances and exercises that use a good low stance. i always mix this with more mobile stepping work.

even though i am a xingyi/bagua/taiji guy, certain kinds of conditioning are usually used and are not limited to "harder" arts like hung gar or thai boxing. "internal" arts have a vast array of conditioning exercises, it is just not emphasized as much as the skillsets seem to start off with different frames of mind.


anyways, good looking PC!

[Pork Chop]

signed on the house monday
been working on it nonstop
taking a lot more time than i would've thought
still got a ton of stuff to do
will be happy when it's all finished and i'm moved in
dunno when i'm gonna have time to hit the gym

[KTS]

whatcha been busy with? man, i gotta tell ya, the low stances in chen taiji are excellent training for the legs! and the general slowness of movement has certainly increased how much i can sit "through" my kua.

do you do any weight training that has a direct functional application to anything you do in MT or etc?

have u ever used resistance with kicking? reistance bands for example.

anyways, how ya been bro?

[Pork Chop]

been busy with buying a brand new house (which means I've gotta prep it) and moving into it

at least a lot of my stress is gone for the time being,

but i've still got a LOT to do:
yard stuff
ceiling fans
putting together some book cases we ordered
caulking the shower

going to try to make it back to the gym tonight.

pretty soon i'm going to try to shift to a 10x4 schedule (10 hours a day, 4 days a week)
that'll let my wife go back to full time employment
and i'll be watching the kid 3 days a week (which means hopefully i'll get better at it hehe)

with the traffic i have to deal with on the way home now (something that wasn't bad when i lived 1.9 miles from work), I have no incentive to try to go home before 7pm.
going to use that to my advantage with getting back to the gym.
probably work an 8 to 7 schedule and hit the gym after that.

[KTS]

a new house?!?? i can crash anytime, yeah?

[Pork Chop]

Originally Posted by KTS

a new house?!?? i can crash anytime, yeah?

sure

didn't make it to the gym friday
but this week things should finally start settling down a bit.
just gotta figure out my new schedule and get adjusted.

[KTS]

haha, cool, man!

btw, are you going to section off a part of the yard or house(like the basement for example) and make it a mini gym or training area?

me, that would be one of the first things i would think of hahaha. good luck smooth talking the lady into making a whole room your personal gym/martial arts studio!

[Pork Chop]

I'm thinking about using the garage as a place of solo training & using the back yard if we end up doing any taiji or partner type stuff.
my biggest issue with that is money.
there's so much you've gotta buy just to prepare and maintain a house, it's unbelievable!

[Dragonzbane76]

feel your pain on the house thing. preping for mine in the spring or summer. I'm having mine built though. me and a friend were talking the other day about putting together a gym type workout area above his garage. When i move next year i'll be a couple miles from his place and we thought it would make life a little easier if we had some place close to work out togther. Still go to the gym and class but this place would be great for a close workout, you know for those days after work you really don't want to drive clear back to the gym and workout. something of that nature.

[Pork Chop]

we had our house built too
maybe not 100% custom, but centex/pulte, with tons of options

today i found out just how well this is going to work - it should even still be viable when i switch to 10 hour days, 4 days a week

see, i've decided to basically strand myself in the area around work & both my gyms, opting not to go home at least until 6:45~7pm

today i got outta work around 5:20 and hit the gym till about 6:50
as long as I'm not getting out of work close to 7 i think this will work to help to overcome any end-of-the-day fatigue I may feel.

if/when I go to the 10 by 4, I'll hit Gold's in the afternoon and shoot for the muay thai gym in the evenings.

I want to hit muay thai on "cardio" days, even if that's only a couple days a week.
Planning to go back to muay thai tomorrow.

If I'm able to stay on track long enough without getting worn out, I'll up the muay thai but I'm shooting for 2~3 days of lifting, 2 days of pure cardio with muay thai.

That should be enough for me to drop some significant pounds and get a bit more heart healthy.

Monday 11/16
all the arc trainer machines were taken
so i jumped on an old-fashioned elliptical for 15 min warm up
just tried to keep a nice, quick pace, didn't really shoot for max resistance

Superset 1:
-2 times through, consisting of:
*kbell swing with 2 x 10lb kettlebells, 20 reps
*incline situps on the chair, 10 reps (20 first set)
*twisting deads with a 10lb kettlebell in each hand, 20 reps each side
(need heaver kbells)

Superset 2:
-2 times through, consisting of:
*lunge with 80lb barbell, 10 reps each leg
*overhead press with 80lb barbell, 10 reps
(starting to get easy)

Superset 3:
-2 times through, consisting of:
*assisted dips, 10 reps - 110lb assist first time through, 100 second
*assisted pullups, 10 reps - 110lb assist 1st, 100lb 2nd
(could've done more)

dumbbell bench: 60lb dumbells, 2 sets of 10 reps
(pretty easy)

tbar row: 135lbs on the bar, 2 sets of 10 reps
(pretty hard)

Tried to start slow today
went better than i expected
we'll see how i feel tomorrow

[Dragonzbane76]

sounds like a full schedule to me, especially with the house thing going on.

[Pork Chop]

tues 11/17
did 30 min of cardio at gold's
and then i went back to the muay thai gym for the first time in a long while
10 min jump rope
10 min shadow
3 rounds pads
3 rounds bag
i'm really out of shape
took a lot more out of me than it should have.

[Pork Chop]

Thurs 11/19
15 min cardio warm up - was talking with a friend so it wasn't a killer pace, but decent.

Superset 1
-2 times through
*dumbbell swing w/2 12.5lb dbells x 20
*incline situps x 20
*twisting deadlifts w/2 12.5lb dbells x 20 each side
***works up a good sweat but need heavier weight

Superset 2
-2 times through
*lunge w/90lb barbell x 10 each leg
*overhead press w/90lb bbell x 10
***hard but good

Superset 3
-2 times through
*assisted dip w/100lb assist x 10
*assisted neutral grip chinup w/100lb assist x 10
***pretty easy

Dbell bench w/65lb dbells x 10 reps x 2 sets
***pretty decent

TBar row - 2 separate hammer strength machines (sets) w/70lbs on each side x 10 reps
***terribly easy