Marc's training log

[Shokei Marcsui]

Current Goal:
- 203 lbs to 185 lbs
- Preparation for 6th Kyu (Green Belt) test


Monday 08/28/2006

Meals
Breakfast: Chocolate Milk. Coffee. Pork Chops. Rice. Water.
Lunch: Pork Chops. Rice. Water.
Afternoon Snack: N/A
Dinner: Turkey, Ham and Roast Beef Sandwich. Chips. Water.

A.M. Workout:N/A

Evening Workout:
Focus: Legs and Core

Squats:
135 lbs x 10
205 lbs x 8
225 lbs x 6
245 lbs x 3

Seated Leg Press:
(left and right leg separately)
90 lbs x 5/5
110 lbs x 5/5
130 lbs x 5/5

Seated Calve Raise:
45 lbs x 15
55 lbs x 15
65 lbs x 12

Ad/Abductor Machine
130 lbs x 10
140 lbs x 10
150 lbs x 10

DB Situps: 20 x 2 with (2) 10 lb dumbbells
Back Extensions: 15 x 2 with a 25 lb weight
Oblique Twists: 30 x 2 with (2) 10 lb dumbells

Comments: Still trying to get into a rythm of a steady work out amongst other things.

[Shokei Marcsui]

Current Goal:
- 200 lbs to 185 lbs
- Preparation for 6th Kyu (Green Belt) test


Tuesday 08/29/2006

Meals
Breakfast: Turkey Meatballs. Tomato Soup. Rice. Water.
Lunch: Turkey, Roast beef, Ham Sandwich. Chips. Diet Coke.
Afternoon Snack: Turkey Meatballs. Tomato Soup. Rice. Water.
Dinner: Glass of Milk

A.M. Workout:N/A

Evening Workout: N/A

Comments: I'm so tired. It's pretty hard working an 8 hour day (9 with a 1 hour lunch) and then going to school for another 3 hours on top of that. Well today I had some time in between classes and so I went to check out my school's gym. The description of it sounded really nice, but you definitely can't judge a book by it's cover. The work out facility is pretty small, but it will have to do. They have a canvas punching bag inside of a studio/dancing room with mirrors. At least that way I can practice kata, kihon, and puncing bag practice and look in the mirror to see my form.

[Shokei Marcsui]

Current Goal:
- 200 lbs to 185 lbs
- Preparation for 6th Kyu (Green Belt) test

Thursday 08/31/2006

Meals
Breakfast: Glass of Milk.
Lunch: Chicken Breast. Water.
Afternoon Snack: Turkey, Roast Beef, Ham Sandwich. Diet Coke. Chips
Dinner: Beef. Rice. Water

A.M. Workout: N/A


Evening Workout:
Focus: Chest and Core

I worked out at my school’s gym. The equipment is a little old and the dumbbells have a little rust on ‘em but I was able to effectively work out.

Flat Bench:
135 lbs x 10
185 lbs x 8
205 lbs x 6
225 lbs x 5

Incline Bench:
185 lbs x 4
185 lbs x 4
185 lbs x 4

Decline Bench:
185 lbs x 4
185 lbs x 4
205 lbs x 4

Hammer Curl
(2) 25 lb Dumbbells x 10
(2) 30 lb dumbbells x 10

Roman Chair leg lifts
Set 1: 25
Set 2: 20

Comments: I did pretty well for a 45 minute workout. This month I’m doing low weight – high reps in a circuit training mode. My schedule for school, work, and karate is starting to work itself out now. Still needs a little ironing but I’m sure my body will respond and overcome the current stress put on it.

OSU!!

[Shokei Marcsui]

Current Goal:
- 200 lbs to 185 lbs
- Preparation for 6th Kyu (Green Belt) test

Sunday 09/04/2006

Comments: It was my 2nd year anniversary with my girlfriend, so we packed it up (9/1 - 9/4) and left to go out of town. It's nice to go out of town for awhile, I really needed it. I've been really feeling the stress of this new promotion at work and the rigors of going to school in the evenings whilst trying to maintain my work out regimen. This trip allowed for me to recharge my mental batteries and to prepare for the ardous journey through this semester. At least my schedule looks like it will be able to turn around. I'll be able to work out on the weekends and will probably do some exercises before work in the mornings. My body will just have to adjust to this new schedule because it has no choice. Anyways, September is my low intensity - high repetition month so i'll be doing that for the next four weeks.

OSU!!

[Shokei Marcsui]

OSU!

Yesterday was the first day on my low weight - high rep month and i'm kind of lost as to how "low" on the weights I should go. My target number was 25 but perhaps I should lower that down a bit and raise the weights up.


How low should I lower the weights and what is a good target rep?
Should I do one body part a session or a total body work out?

I am doing the exercises in circuit training sets with little to no rest in between.

Any information would greatly help. Thank you.

[Shokei Marcsui]

Lately i've been working on increasing my stamina. At first I tried doing the lighter weights more reps, but that really didn't seem to be working. So i'm doing more days of cardio (since i'm pressed for time) and then lift weights 2-3 times a week.

I'm thinking about following the Francisco Filho work out for lower-weight higher rep but will see how I do with the weights the work out prescribes.

Originally Posted by http://kyokushin4life.com/forums/showthread.php?t=946&highlight=francisco+filho

Training Routine of Shihan Francisco Filho
This is the weight training routine of Shihan Filho in 1997.
At that time, he did weight training twice a week (for one day it was high repetition-low intensity and vice versa for the other day).

High repetition-Low intensity
Squat (115lbs x20) - he placed a small chair under hit butt to ensure he always sink down to the same depth.

Deadlift(115 lbsx20)

Bent-over rolling(66 lbsx20)

Bench press(115 lbsx20)

Crunchx50(with 10 lb iron behind the head)

The above exercises are done in succession as one set. Only 15 sec rests between intervals. Shihan Filho finished each set within 6 to 8 mins. For squat, deadlift and bench press alternate between 50kg and 70 kg weights. For bent-over rolling alternate between 30kg and 40kg weights.

We'll see how it goes. OSU!

So far i'm down to 195... but i'm afraid that it might be muscle mass as well.

[Azimuth]

Best exercice to loose wheight is long distance running
you might loose a lot of muscle mass aswell but you will
built a lot of endurance . You will have to find the best average distance to accomplish your goal . Some people don't like to start with this training but i can assure you that as soon you get over the point where you think you cant
go any further , you will start to enjoy the endorfine ; )
build up the distance day by day and before you know you can run whatever distance you had in mind .

[Shokei Marcsui]

Azimuth-san,

Thank you for the suggestion. I really don't like long distance running due to the monotony of it all. That and I don't want to lose muscle. I don't want the endurance of a marathon runner, but that of a boxer. Explosive edurance instead of a gradually increasing endurance.

OSU! again thank you for the suggestions.

09/18/2006

Class finally starts today after a 2.5 month long hiatus. The dojo was scheduled to be re-opened in mid-August but it's now mid-september. I feel that i've accomplished a lot during that break though and i've been practicing a lot of kihon (not as much kata though ) to supplement with my weight training exercises.

Some things that i've worked on during the hiatus were to get my left arm as strong as my right arm. I feel that my left arm has DEFINITELY come a long way and am surprised by the rate at which the body reacts to stresses. I did dumbbell bench presses so that each arm and chest muscle had to compensate for an equal amount of weight instead of the bench press with a bar that one arm can compensate for another arm's weakness.

I combined that with heavy bag and muy thai bag training.

Start off with practicing kihon on the bags. One kick, set down. 10 reps per leg. Then work in combinations.

To build up stamina, I started with 1 minute rounds. Twelve of them. I would switch bags every round so that I could keep track of rounds without having to count them. I'd just count the bags that i've been on. (Total of 5 bags at my gym). I've worked up to 1:30 rounds with 1 minute rests. I feel that i'm ready to move to 2:00 rounds though. My goal is 3:00 rounds with 1 minute rests.

To burn fat, i've recently added HIIT training. High Intensity Interval Training. HIIT is great for people that want to burn fat but not the muscle. The way it works is

30 seconds medium pace speed
30 seconds "As fast as you can. As if your life depended on it" speed

alternating between the two you can really start to feel the burn around the 3 - 4 minute mark. Right now i'm doing 4 - 5 minutes of that with a goal of 15 minutes.

I'm now down to 195.

Lately, i've been having a complex with the amount of time that I have to train due to full time work AND full time school. My days are something along the lines of 15 hour days on my hard days, and 12 hour days on my "easy" days. During the first week of this new schedule, I was dragging the whole time. Bitching, Whining, Complaining, about the fact that I hate having days this long etc etc. That's when I realized two things.

1. Attitude is everything
2. Your body compensates VERY quickly to stresses if you allow it too.

My attitude was negative and therefore my body felt the aftermath of that. Dragging, Drudging, Hating, waking up. Hating the fact that I only got 6 hours of sleep somedays and 5 hours on others. But your attitude will dictate a lot of things in life, especially hard situations. Instead of looking at whether or not the glass was half empty or half full, I appreciated the fact that I actually HAD water.

Currently, my body has adjusted to this new schedule. I'm no longer as tired as I used to be.... although I wish I had more time for homework. My workout schedule is coming along quite nicely. The only problem now is finding work outs that allow me to maximize the amount of time (or lackthereof) I have to spare for that. Lately it's been just a lot of bag work, kihon, and HIIT. That and core work, lower back and abs.

Thank you for listening to my ramblings......

[Shokei Marcsui]

Went to class for the first time since the dojo closed down for renovations and relocation(over a month and half delay). I went into class and truthfully, I think the break did me well. During the break, I was able to work on things like improving overall strength, balanced left and right strength, and improve on dynamic and static stretching (I can now do the splits front and side ways).

It was just me and shihan again. He emailed the people that were waiting for the dojo to open again and hopefully they will be coming to class soon. One of the prospects is a man hailing from the philippine islands that is in the US military services and trained in kyokushin in the philippines. He is a shodan so i'd be nice to have more imput on kyokushin from on outside organization.

We had two people come in and speak with shihan about classes and they observed.

Last night we practiced on conditioning by exchanging punches and front kicks to the body and legs. Followed with bag work for kicks. We also did sanchin a few times and then followed up with strength training.

Shihan showed me a manipulation of the gedan mawashi geri, where you start the motion by kicking high (around waist level) then coming down to hit the thigh at an angle. This is supposed to add power similar to "dropping the hammer" as opposed to a "flat" kick across a plane.

In theory I suppose I see how it could, but application is a different story. I'll try it out and see how it works.

Any comments or suggestions are always welcome.

OSU!

[Shokei Marcsui]

It's been great working out in the new dojo. Shihan Hartzog has increased the hours of operation from Monday - Thursday from 6:30pm - 8:00pm. We've also had a shodan from venzuela join our dojo. His name is Sempai Phillipe and he trained under Shihan in Venezuela whose name escapes me at the moment. It is interesting to hear about the different philosphies from different factions that act under the same banner kyokushin.

I worked out with Sempai the other evening. One difference I noticed while working out is that he likes the numbers 20 and 50 a lot. 20 repetitions of Mae Geri per leg. 50 repetitions of punching. 20 repetitions of mawashi geri per leg. etc etc. Training with Sempai has opened my eyes to some new things and makes me realize that I have a lot more to learn.

I'm lucky to have two experienced kyokushin practioners to learn from. Our classes are very small (just us 3) so i'm fortunate enough to be able to build a relationship with both of them before classes start to get larger.

Shihan mentioned testing for 6th kyu soon, so hopefully that will happen sometime soon! I'm excited.

I'll post pictures up of me, shihan hartzog, and sempai phillipe later.

[Shokei Marcsui]

Shihan Hartzog was unable to make it today again so I got to train with Senpai (Sempai) Phillipe.

- Regular stretching exercises etc etc
- 50 x Ab sit ups
- 20 x Mae Geri per leg
- 20 x Jodan Mawashi Geri per leg
- 20 x Gedan Mawashi Geri per leg
- 20 x Mika Tsuki Geri per leg
- 20 x Soto Tsuki Geri per leg

didn't work on punching today....

He showed me a couple of tricks and maneuvers during our kumite session.

On our first fight, I remembered him punching my guard arm up and my fist hit my face. At first I thought it was accidental but he did it a second time. So today I asked if he was doing that on purpose or what, and he stated that it's a little trick that you can do in competition kumite where you punch the opponents guard not only to wear the guard down but to use their own fist to hit their face. Kind of an interesting tidbit to tuck away for later use....

Kumite'd a little more and I got knocked pretty hard in the shin when I met his knee guard. He stopped and said that he knew that it hurt really badly and showed me how to protect the injured leg while fighting until you can recover from it. You place the injured leg as your back foot in your fighting stance and if the opponent tries to throw a mawashi geri to the injured leg you pivot around on your front leg to avoid it. He said something about sabaki tai or sabaki movement or something, cannot remember the name anway.

Other tidbits I took away from it all
- to drill your opponent, you want to minimize the impact zone as much as you can
- need to work on breathing. he caught me a couple of times where I was breathing incorrectly with a punch to the stomach.
- need to work on overall power and balance in my legs. my left leg is definitely weaker than my right leg.

Test on thursday so I won't be able to go tomorrow but i've decided to go Monday - Thursday next week.

[Shokei Marcsui]

10/14/2006

Been awhile since i've updated.....

Working out with Shihan Hartzog and Sempai Phillippe is going great. There is a new addition to our class! His name is Matthew and he is a true beginner. No previous martial arts experience and No previous work out experience. It is so nice to see an empty vessel during classes. Some of the shotokan habits that I have are hard to break, but they are coming. Lately we've been emphasising kihon to get Matthew up to speed. It's nice to review and refine kihon to try and achieve perfection because quite often after we become familiar with a block or punch, we skip certain steps or adapt it. This may be possibly due to laziness, but moreso because with speed comes a little improvisation and as we know haste makes waste. The only thing I wish we could do is kumite a bit more.

My main focus for October will be to increase my stamina,dynamic stretching height, and getting back into the work out mode. I've been really slacking on the eating portion of my diet and the record of my work out sessions as you can tell.

[Shokei Marcsui]

Keep my guard up. Protect my head.







That is all.

[Shokei Marcsui]

Keep my guard up. Protect my head.







I am working on effective ways to bridge the gap between kicking distance and "clinch" distance when fighting taller opponents.

In class today we did:
- Kihon
- Bag work with mae geri, mawashi geri, ushiro geri
- 20 minutes of Kumite

Incline DB bench press
35 lbs x 10
50 lbs x 10
50 lbs x 10

Lower Back Extensions
20 lbs x 15
20 lbs x 10
20 lbs x 10

Roman Chair Crunches
set of 20
" " 20
" " 20

In between sets, sen(m)pai and I would do kicking exercises and ab exercises to get the heart rate going up more.

It looks like our days are shaping out to be
Monday: Chest
Tuesday: ???
Wednesday: Back
Thurdsay: Legs

??? because I haven't been able to make it to Tuesday class because of school, but that problem will be remedied at the end of this month.

Good news I'm at 190lbs right now... my target goal is 180lbs +/- 5 lbs. I doubt i'll ever hit 175 so around 185 -180 sounds good to me.

[Bloke]

Marc

190lbs - thats great news - well done.

It is taking me forever to lose mine.

[BigAl]

Nice progress Marc!

[Shokei Marcsui]

Osu! Thank you Big Al and Bloke.

Think of ways to close the distance in kumite....
Keep my guard up. Protect my head.