I'm back and a new rule

Sorry I have been away!!

So a quick news update, the diet continues! Sorry I haven’t been posting as regularly recently. The reasons are:

1. I got sick: Like a really stinky smelly cold with headaches and everything. This was courtesy of my lovely wife who brought it home from her office. She claims it was me, but I know the truth!
2. I got busy: predictably work started to escalate in the New Year; more reports bigger projects etc. so I had less time for keeping you all up to date on my minute weight fluctuations.
3. I hit a stable period, working harder and getting sick meant I slacked of the exercise regime (which I feel the sickness permits), I kept the diet but I had a real slow down of progress. This provided me less motivation to write, which was foolish! I will be writing up a post about overcoming plateaus and maintaining motivation.

But now I’m back and ready for more fun filled healthy living (and moaning about the lack of milkshakes in my life). A few developments:

1. I did my first proper outside run in ages! 10km into work from Greenwich to Blackfriars, it took me about an hour, but I had to stop for a loo break (morning runs leading to morning runs…hohoho) and left my timer running so I would say 55min or so.
2. The weight is still falling off. I’m now down to 96.7kg from 105.4kg at the start meaning I have lost 8.7kg in 5 weeks! Yeahhh
3. I had my first day of complete slacking off! This weekend was the start of the six nations, I went to a pub, I drank beer (3 pints) and I ate crap food. England lost to France, but hey, I didn’t feel too bad. I got right back on with the program the next day. Interesting points from this being; I can’t drink beer anymore (one pint and I was feeling it!) and I think its Ok to have a break now and then. In fact this is now a new official rule of three months fitness.

THE NEW RULE

Every month give yourself a break, for one day ditch the rules and drink and eat what you like. 

So, while all the dryalthon crowd fall back down to their miserable drunken ruts after a mere singular puny month of purity, Threemonth fitness runs on ahead, pushing for the ultramarathon of healthy living! 

1000 page views

Just a quick one to say thanks for all the support so far, we have just hit 1000 page views!

So far everything is going well, I'm still loosing weight and XX is still pushing on with her exercise program.

We are a very healthy happy team!

More updates will include: more cooking advice from XX, more workouts from Mark, detailed training advice for particular exercises and maybe even weight loss photos (or graphs if I really can't bring myself to show you photos)

Kung Fu Workout

I think I haven’t been putting up too much that is specific to the martial arts that I do. I want to address that now! I think there are a few important things that you can do when training by yourself to improve you martial arts and meet you fitness goals. A few general points:

1)    Leave you maximum strength training for another session: Lift big weights or do hardcore bodyweight exercises (pull-ups, one leg squats and one arm push-ups for example) with low reps, high weight and big rest periods in another session.

2)    Functional movement and mobility is important: Leave your stretching for greater total flexibility for another session. Do mobility stretches that let you move freely and easily.

3)    Work on your endurance: Do the exercises that you want to be able to lots of, the basics. If you want to kick better, kick, a lot! If you want to punch better, punch, a lot!

4)    Work on your breathing: Do endurance exercises mixed in with breathe work and qi gong, your traditional forms work pretty much like this anyway.

5)    Work your mind: mental focus is key, this is no jogging in the gym session with headphones in, get mind body connections working.

With that in mind here is a traditional Kung Fu workout.

Stage 1) Warm up

Jog 10 mins

High knees 30 each side

Horse stance 2 mins

Functional mobility stretches

This part gets your blood flowing and core activated

Stage 2) Bodyweight endurance session

Repeat 3-5times

Burpees 10

Squats 10

Pressups 10

High knees 30 each side (active rest)

Core working hard now, blood flowing, endurance and functional mobility being developed.

Stage 3) Basics

Repeat 3 times

Punching drills (30secs continuous)

Pushups 10

Repeat 3 times

Kicking drills (10,10 first round 20,20 second round 30,30 third round)

Lunges (10 each side)

Really focus on these basics, get the form correct but strive for high repetition as well. Keep the pace and try to improve ease and speed of movement as time goes on.

Stage 4) Footwork and details

Repeat 3 times

Pick an area that needs improvement, do focussed drills for 2mins (I picked my low kicking and did super slow drills with attention to the details of posture etc)

Stop this and do dynamic footwork drills for 1min

Work on the details here; take the time to correct details. Use a mirror so you can assess yourself. This could be form work or a particular technique or combination. Whatever it is do it slow and focussed, then do the fast moving footwork afterwards.

Stage 5) Bagwork and breathing

Repeat 3-5 times

Bagwork/Padwork 1-2mins

Perform one basic form slowly, focus on breathing, get the details right even when tired

This is the last intensive session, push yourself on the bad/pads to perform as fast, powerfully and fluid as possible. KEEP BREATHING! In the recovery session try to control your breath. Try to push yourself to have better form and posture even when tired.

Stage 6) Breathing and recovery

Do a form that is slow and measured or some standing or static Qi gong for 5-10minutes

Some light stretching

Seated mediation 10-15mins

Slow down and recover, let your mind be free. Don’t concentrate on any one thing, just experience the feelings that arise in your mind and body.  

It isn't all fun and games

I had my first really shit diet experience the other day. Sunday afternoon, we had a lovely low carb meal with my parent and uncle that Xuan Xuan cooked. They had wine, but I was not that bothered with just the water. We went for a good long walk around Greenwich in the first bit of nice weather all year. It was lovely, but then disaster struck.

My parents wanted to go for coffee and cake. So we went, I was getting really hungry by this point. I had been for an epic workout this morning and after the big walk I needed something to eat. The tea shop we ended up in had literally nothing I could eat. I had a cup of tea when everyone else had coffees and cake. Even Xuan Xuan abandoned me and had a scone (with jam and cream), I was miserable.

At one point I wanted to walk out, but I sat there through the whole thing. A bit later I was home and eating a slice of chorizo and an apple. It was the first time I felt really bad and furthermore I felt unsupported. Nevertheless, only one day so far out of 20 and on balance I'm still pretty happy.    

Keeping at it even through the difficult times!

One of Mark's meals

Argentinian steak with spicy Mexican beans and zesty side salad! Sounds good right…well I thought so. This meal is low in carbs and high in awesomeness. Xuan Xuan does most of the fancy cooking, but I can handle a steak or two. What you need for two portions (and enough beans for a few more portions the next day):

2 yummy sirloin steaks (I prefer hung and matured steaks)

Two cans of red kidney beans

Two cans of chopped tomatoes

One medium red onion chopped

2 cloves of garlic chopped up

Fresh chillies (lots in our case)

Two tablespoons tomate paste

2 teaspoons chilli powder

1 tablespoon tabasco

1 can of sweetcorn

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons chipotle

Two tablespoons of parsley (fresh)

Olive oil

Salt and black pepper

Salad leaves

Handful of baby tomatoes sliced

1 Carrot chopped up

The chilli is the only thing that takes time:

1)    Fry onions and garlic together with some olive oil until soft and nice

2)    Chuck in chopped tomatoes, beans, sweetcorn, and all the seasonings. Mix well and then turn down the heat and leave to simmer (at least 30mins but the longer the better really)

3)    Black pepper and parsley go in at the end

The steaks:

1)    Season with olive oil and black pepper

2)    Preheat pan for 5 mins on max heat

3)    Chuck on steaks 3-2 mins each side for medium rare or rare (I like rare)

4)    Take off the pan to a board and leave for 1 min

5)    Slice steaks with very sharp knife at 45 degree angle for maximum pinky middle exposure

Salad

1)    Chuck all ingredients (leaves, tomatoes and carrots) together in bowl

2)    Dress appropriately for the evening (I used olive oil plum vinegar, lemon and orange juice for a zesty kick) 

Progress report

Hi guys,

I thought I would give you a quick update on how it is going and how I am feeling about the program. My general feeling is one of success and hungriness. I can clearly see the diet and exercise program is working and I can already feel the results.

Here are the good points:

1)     I have lost weight 5kg in 14 days. I was at 105.4kg at the start and I'm now at 100.4kg. This is a lot, I’m hoping it stabilises over the next few weeks to 1-1.5kg a week. 

2)     I’m fitter, I have recently gone up to 4 rounds of my HIT (High intensity training) cardio program and the cycling is back to easy street.

3)     I’m stronger, getting the gains in terms of strength, although not as fast as the other stuff. This is fine, I’m relatively happy with the progress and the weight loss is the priority.

4)     My back is much better, I knew this would recover with a dedicated stretching and strengthening program but I am amazed at how fast!

5)     I’m eating healthier, which just feels nice inside

6)     I’m sleeping better (most of the time see bad points below), when I hit the hay I’m generally out like a baby.     

The bad points:

1)     I get hungry often. All food smells amazing, walking past Gregs is torture!

2)     I get hungry at night; I have been woken up on occasion by how hungry I am. This happens at about 4am, I get up have some fruit or nuts and a glass of water, stretch or read and go back to bed in 1 hour. It’s annoying but then I get back to sleep pretty quickly.

3)     No booze, whilst generally OK on a day to day basis, can be torture when at a pub with friends or family. So far I have stayed strong, drinking water or OJ in pubs is definitively boring.

4)     Easting out has on occasion been frustrating. When we to Chinese or high end posh restaurants (been to one so far during the program with my parents) I have no problems, food can be high protein, low carb quite easily. The problem is pubs; I basically can’t eat anything on the menu at my local. Italian restaurants that focus on pasta and pizza are also no go zones.   

On balance I’m a very happy chap (but if you steal his food now he gets grumpy XX), so will be sticking to the program! In the next two weeks if I am still shedding the weight at my current rate I will adjust my carb intake slightly, otherwise, full steam ahead!!!

Mark

Workouts that work!

Hi guys,

Here again with some more advice on workouts. My particular goals are all about rehabilitation and so far it has been going great! My back is getting so much better amazingly quickly. Here is another workout I did the other day (note I'm not putting every workout up!):

Warm up

Jog 2 km
Mobility stretches

Main

Legs

TRX squats (really still warming up) 30 reps x 3 sets

Kettbell Front squats 2 x 24 kg 8 reps x 5 sets (+1 warm up set on lighter weights)

TRX one legged squats 5 reps x 2 sets (each leg)

At this point my legs were well and truly toasted!

Back

Dead-lift

60kg x 10 reps
100kg x 6 reps
140kg x 5 reps
144kg x 4 reps
145kg x 3 reps

Core

Turkish getup

3 x stability training with shoe
3 x 8kg
3 x 12kg

Plank

1min x 3

Cool down

Row 10mins
3 x tai chi 24 form
Full stretch

So notes on this one. Firstly, there is a big early emphasis on the legs. Lots of squatting is an essential part of this plan as:

1) It really gets your metabolism going and I want to loose weight
2) Squatting correctly will help my lower back recover (so far it has been doing wonders)
3) Squats are simply great functional training for martial artists, everything depends on the legs!
4) Kettlebell squats, front squat variations and one legged squats also build a killer core and balance

Then I threw in my first big dead-lift session of the year. Now this was good and bad. Good that I could do it, pain free for the first time. Bad that I am puny compared to pre-injury times. This is natural, but my one rep max used to be in the 220 kg area and I was easily clearing double body weight for reps. Oh well, just have to get back into it slowly and rebuild.

The getup was much better this time, doing the stability training is an absolute must. To do it, balance a shoe on your closed fist and perform the get up, nice and slow. This will absolutely make sure that your form is spot on and wobble free. For a video of a total boss doing a heavy get up see HERE

The final note is make sure you cool down and do a proper stretch. My stretch routine will feature in another post, it is an absolutely essential part of the workout especially when you have injuries.