100 Days Foundation

[hammer_2020]

Day #18 - Low Intensity: Iron Body, Iron Palm, Taijiquan


Iron Body qigong: Front and back, 80 repetitions each, with RESET drills in between to release excess density.


Iron Palm

Through-Arm swinging, forwards, back, transverse - 30 swings each direction, each arm.

Bag-striking, 6 hand forms, 50 strikes each form, each hand.



Chen-style Taijiquan

1st Form x 3

Pushing hands


Remarks: Went to see my teacher for some training this morning. We did forms briefly to warmup and then went into pushing hands. Yet again am I reminded exactly how harsh pushing hands is on the knees - who would have thought four ounces of pressure on the hands could result in bringing all my weight plus a little bit more to bear on one leg? My right knee was screaming in pain every it was the rear leg and I had to put weight on it - was kicked in it by a muay thai practitioner yesterday and it has felt a little out of shape since. So I had to favour the right side-forward position more in training. In all, pushing hands was badly out of practice - hand-core-foot connectivity was all over the shop, and my teacher said as much.

[hammer_2020]

Day #19 - Zero Intensity: Martial Arts Drills, Intu-Flow®

Iron Body Qigong

Front x 80 reps

Back x 80 reps

RESET Drills in between to release excess tension.


Iron Palm

Through-Arm swinging, forwards, back, transverse, 30 swings each direction, each arm.

Bag-striking, 6 hand forms, 50 strikes each form, each hand.


Systema Callisthenics

Slow pushup on fists - 30 breaths down, 30 breaths up

Slow squat - 30 breaths down, 30 breaths up


Wing Chun

Siu Nim Tau x 1


Intu-Flow®

Advanced-to-Master routine x 1


Remarks: Left shoulder is really bothering me. Tweaked a line of tension that ran diagonally up my neck to the right side. Better after Intu-Flow®, but still slightly tense there. Right knee seems a lot better.

[hammer_2020]

Day #20 - Low Intensity: Iron Body, Iron Palm, Taijiquan


Iron Body qigong: Front and back, 80 repetitions each, with RESET drills in between to release excess density.


Iron Palm

Through-Arm swinging, forwards, back, transverse - 30 swings each direction, each arm.

Bag-striking, 6 hand forms, 50 strikes each form, each hand.



Chen-style Taijiquan

Basic Exercises (Ji Ben Zhuang Gong): 11 exercises, roughly 10 reps each, per side for asymmetrical drills.

1st Form x 3


Systema Callisthenics

Slow pushup on fists - 30 breaths down, 30 breaths up

Slow squat - 30 breaths down, 30 breaths up


Wing Chun

Siu Nim Tau x 1


Prasara

Flock of Pigeons x 1
Forest x 1
Diving Dolphin x 1
Tumbleweed x 3


Remarks: After revising the basic exercise of Chen-style Taijiquan and some in-depth conversations with a fellow CMAist, I've decided to attack them with some dedicated practice, which I haven't had the patience for pretty much since I started Taijiquan, especially after overhearing a comment from my teacher than earlier generations of Taijiquan practitioners didn't do them at all but just jumped straight into the forms. After some short but focused practice of the Zhuang Gong, I moved into the forms and boy, did it make a difference. My first set, which is usually my warmup 'throwaway' set was focused, flowing and powerful, bar some energy blockage at the shoulder when doing fa jing which disappeared in later repetitions. On the whole, Taijiquan was good today, bar knee pain, which has migrated from my right knee to my left.

On the Prasara front, I reckon I need to do more Pigeon to release the hips and knees, but I'm having trouble finding the time to fit in one of each as it is. Guess I'll have to take advantage of extra time as it comes.

[hammer_2020]

Day #21 - Moderate Intensity: Strength Work


Warmup: FlowFit®® - 7 flows in 9 minutes 05 seconds at level 4 sophistication


Circuit - 3 cycles, 2 minutes rest in between

One-handed Bruiser Swing to Shoulder Park and Squat: 45 lbs, 6/6 reps

Kettlebell C&J: 32kg, 6/6 reps

Asymmetrical towel pullups: N/A, 6/6 reps

Two-handed Bruiser Technical Mill: 45 lbs, 5/5 reps

Round-body Kettlebell Pass: 32kg, 7/7 reps

Weighted Parallel-bar Dips: 10kg, 6 reps


Iron Body qigong: Front and back, 80 repetitions each, with RESET drills in between to release excess density.


Iron Palm

Through-Arm swinging, forwards, back, transverse - 30 swings each direction, each arm.

Bag-striking, 6 hand forms, 50 strikes each form, each hand.



Systema Callisthenics

Slow pushup on fists - 30 breaths down, 30 breaths up

Slow squat - 30 breaths down, 30 breaths up


Wing Chun

Siu Nim Tau x 1


Chen-style Taijiquan

Basic Exercises (Ji Ben Zhuang Gong): 11 exercises, roughly 10 reps each, per side for asymmetrical drills.



Intu-Flow®

Advanced-to-Master routine x 1



Remarks: Had another round of fast massage with my colleague's aid today, just before I began the Systema callisthenics. Muscular and nervous fatigue definitely have a negative impact on my absorption, I have found. When the punches started raining down, I found myself using what I term fear-level absorption - tensing up the muscles to armour against the impact. When I tried to use flow-level soft absorption, I just couldn't coordinate the movements right and the punches went through into the internal organs. Needless to say, I had some trouble lasting the 3 minutes I had planned for the exercise. Anyway, I reckon more fast massage is what the doctor will prescribe for defective absorption.

Had to keep the resistance component short today due to timing reasons.

[hammer_2020]

Day #22 - High Intensity: FlowFit®® Intervals

Warmup: FlowFit®® - 8x flows, no timing

FlowFit®® Intervals: 6 x 3 flows interspersed by one set each of the following.

1.) 2x24kg kettlebell C&J, 6 reps

2.) 15 lb Clubbell®® Drummer casts (no choke), 10 reps

3.) 16kg kettlebell windmills, 6/6 reps

4.) 15 lb Clubbell®® super mills, 12/12 reps

5.) 24kg kettlebell 1/4-getup, 6/6 reps

6.) Bridge press-ups, 12 reps


Iron Body qigong: Front and back, 80 repetitions each, with RESET drills in between to release excess density.


Iron Palm

Through-Arm swinging, forwards, back, transverse - 30 swings each direction, each arm.

Bag-striking, 6 hand forms, 50 strikes each form, each hand.



Systema Callisthenics

Slow pushup on fists - 30 breaths down, 30 breaths up

Slow squat - 30 breaths down, 30 breaths up


Wing Chun

Siu Nim Tau x 1


Chen-style Taijiquan

Basic Exercises (Ji Ben Zhuang Gong): 11 exercises, roughly 10 reps each, per side for asymmetrical drills.



Intu-Flow®

Advanced-to-Master routine x 1



Remarks: I only say I didn't hit RPE 10 today because of Coach Sonnon's definition of RPE 10 as a completely catatonic state from which one cannot stir even at the risk of life and limb.

Objectively, this was of course not the case, as I managed to struggle to my feet a few minutes after finishing the final set of active rest (hah!) exercises to keep my equipment and continue with the second half of training.

Subjectively, I felt like I'd been run over by a steamroller. Repeatedly. Which, of course, was the desired effect for high-intensity day.

I hit my second wind early, resulting in all-round improved technique. Leg swoops were especially good today - I came my closest yet to a full floating continuous leg swoop with my right leg. Mobility issues in my left hip have caused performance on that side to lag behind, but there has been improvement nonetheless. I am also pleased to report that I am finally able to circle into the bridge on both sides! Whee! I thought I would be able to start working on Spider Monkey, then found that I still have a long way to go with the elbow lever. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

[Joseph David]

Good training James. I like the FF mixed with the loaded circuit!

[hammer_2020]

Glad you like the methodology, Joseph. I try to avoid exclusive focus on any one modality as I don't like the feeling of over-specialisation. Instead, I try to adopt a spotlight approach - each modality takes centrestage on different training days while the others fade into the background, but are still onstage and supporting, so to speak.

The FlowFit®® intervals evolved from my attempts at finding a way of getting both intensity and volume into one workout while avoiding the unidimensionality of, say, high-volume kettlebell work, doing the same lift over and over for long periods of time. FlowFit®® seemed a natural choice, but I felt even that by itself had its blind spots, such as posterior chain development, for instance. In the end, I cottoned on the idea of using relatively short FlowFit®® intervals interspersed with intervals of high-intensity and generally weighted resistance exercise to stimulate the pathways not, in my opinion, adequately addressed by FlowFit®® I.

The natural evolution of this would be of course to do the routine with timing. Other than that, I find it is a very robust and flexible modality, since you all you need to do is swap out exercises as desired. Maybe one day, I might be brave enough to try this with Forward Pressure...maybe :o

Day #23 - High Intensity: Trial by Fire



Warmup: 4 FlowFit®® flows at level 4, no timing.


Trial By Fire

Weight: 2 x 15 lbs Clubbells

Swipes: 130 reps

Mills: 130 reps/side

Hammer Swings: 130 reps total

Time @ completion: 22min 43sec



Iron Body qigong: Front and back, 80 repetitions each, with RESET drills in between to release excess density.


Iron Palm

Through-Arm swinging, forwards, back, transverse - 30 swings each direction, each arm.

Bag-striking, 6 hand forms, 50 strikes each form, each hand.



Systema Callisthenics

Slow pushup on fists - 30 breaths down, 30 breaths up

Slow squat - 30 breaths down, 30 breaths up


Wing Chun

Siu Nim Tau x 1


Chen-style Taijiquan

Basic Exercises (Ji Ben Zhuang Gong): 11 exercises, roughly 10 reps each, per side for asymmetrical drills.



Intu-Flow®

Advanced-to-Master routine x 1



Remarks: I felt the intensity of the TBF a lot more acutely today, possibly because of chronic sleep deprivation. Left knee pain also resulted in several false starts, followed by quick Intu-Flow® tune-ups to shave off the pain and discomfort before trying again. In all, though, performance improved, measured by both speed and technique. Swipes and mills were smooth and less effortful than ever before, with the limiting factor again being grip fatigue. Second wind came right after completing swipes and lasted all the way through mills. Fatigue began to hit during hammer swings, causing degraded technique.



EDIT: Smokers need to die. Slowly and painfully, and preferably in some poetic fashion, such as being slowly roasted over burning tobacco.

[Joseph David]

Originally Posted by hammer

Glad you like the methodology, Joseph.

I too have been working in a similiar direction.

Originally Posted by hammer

Maybe one day, I might be brave enough to try this with Forward Pressure...maybe

I tried this last year, circuiting a Flowdome KC and Forward Pressure. I abandoned the notion at the time because I needed more foundation in FP. Oneday

[hammer_2020]

Day #24 - Low Intensity: Iron Body, Iron Palm, Taijiquan


Iron Body qigong: Front and back, 80 repetitions each, with RESET drills in between to release excess density.


Iron Palm

Through-Arm swinging, forwards, back, transverse - 30 swings each direction, each arm.

Bag-striking, 6 hand forms, 50 strikes each form, each hand.



Chen-style Taijiquan

Basic Exercises (Ji Ben Zhuang Gong): 11 exercises, roughly 10 reps each, per side for asymmetrical drills.

1st Form x 2


Systema Callisthenics

Slow pushup on fists - 30 breaths down, 30 breaths up

Slow squat - 30 breaths down, 30 breaths up


Wing Chun

Siu Nim Tau x 1


Prasara

Flock of Pigeons x 1
Forest x 1
Diving Dolphin x 1
Tumbleweed x 3


Remarks: Was low on energy today thanks to four hours' sleep the night before due to finishing work and getting home late. Still, quality of practiced improved on iron body work. Since I practice it after high-intensity conditioning on my higher-intensity days, I usually have trouble sustaining the explosive efforts it takes to fa jing and send the shockwaves into myself. Today, however, since I did it first thing in the session, the repeated explosions were effortless and the delivery of impact was excellent. All in all, a good day for iron body.

Iron palm was much the same, and showing the same trend of steady improvement.

Ran short on time late into the session, so I opted to leave out one set of chen-style and focus more on the Zhuang Gong and quality of the two remaining sets instead. Resultant practice showed a significant subjective improvement in quality, despite flagging energy levels.

On the Prasara front, the hips seem to be a little stiffer than before, quite possibly due to increased high-intensity work and not enough Pigeon flow. All the other flows practiced have shown significant improvement, however.

[hammer_2020]

Testing profile pic...