Idler Shanghai

Over the past few weeks ive been getting treatment for a long term injury I have. Its basically a form or IT band syndrome, usually seen in runners who do to much. The IT band is pretty much a big bit of tendon that runs from the outside of your knee to your hip.

To cut a long story short, overuse of the legs can cause friction leading to inflammation, especially around where the IT band slides over the hip joint. This makes the IT band tight which pulls on the outside of the knee, causing pain.

Ive had physio on my knee before, acupunture, massage, but with little luck - it always rears its ugly head again. But lately ive been getting treatment on the muscles at the hip - as the IT band isnt muscle its connective tissue, meaning it doeant really stretch - so working the muscles around it should be the key. Its been working well and feeling a lot better. My glutes (ass muscles) particularly seem like a problem, and perhaps my Glute medius isnt working properly (from a kick in the ass perhaps..bad joke)

So heres a little stretch I found which hits my ass nicely (hmm..ok), it really loosens me up where i think the origin of the tightness comes from (pic from runnersworld.com)

Heres the part where Im supposed to make a funny joke about having a tight ass or something, but I figured it had already gone through your head.  

Just a quick post to make sure im still alive and posting. Lots of excuses for the break such as losing the login info, trouble loging in, working late and being a lazy ass - all pretty lame as usual.

So heres a nice little vid from the 2009 Surfing Hainan Open, courtesy of Nate from Santa Cruz, not only does he shred on a stick and won the Shortboard Open division, but he can film and edit too! thats multitasking for ya! enjoy

Ive been running round like a blue arsed fly lately because of the surfing contest, but it all went well, got some great waves in Hainan, and finished off some post contest stuff. Finally Ive got some free time, 6days off for the Chinese new year - so ill get back into my regular blogging routine (was it ever regular?)

So heres a nice wee pic of the gang from the 2009 Surfing Hainan Open. You can spot me up the back in green , and Brendan - the guy I worked with to organise and run it. Although I look like Im pulling a muscle flex pose Im actually just trying to get comfortable on the rocks (yeah right!)

Ill post some more pics soon, and some more info on surfing in China.

So this Wednesday Im off to hainan for the surf contest Im organising, Ive been pretty busy lately getting stuff together and finalising everything. The weather has been crap in Shanghai, its raining today, cold and miserable so Im pretty much hangin gout for some time on the beach soaking up the sun. As for the surf, heres a taste of whats predicted:

 Looks like a bit of swell around so im hoping for some decent waves. Will post pics up after the contest to brag and show off my tan.

Ive been away in Indonesia for a wee while, and havnt had a chance to post. But im back now just in time for Christmas so thought id pop up a quick post before all the festive mayhem.

When it comes to grip training, seems every man and his dog has a different way to train the hands. Im not gonna say whats good or bad, as theres different aspects of strength relating to the hand, or any body part for that matter. An interesting method is the thick barbell. Its basically a barbell that is thicker than normal. This means you cannot wrap your hands around it so much, placing more stress on the hands to maintain grip. Some say this takes away from a "crushing" force to more of a "pinching" but any training is better than no training - and if you try it youll probably notice the difference.

Heres a vid from Zach Even-Esh doing an incline bench press with a fat or thick barbell. Great thing about using the thick bar is you can do "normal" exercises and get a good grip workout at the same time, saving a bit of time in the long run.

Ill post some more stuff on grip soon as its kinda essential for martial arts, especially praying mantis.

So in 7 Star Praying Mantis kung fu that i do there isnt a lot of high kicks, but that doesnt mean we shouldnt train them, and its always good to have strong flexible legs. Contrary to popular belief, strength and flexibilty go hand in hand, and you'd be suprised at how flexible bodybuilders are. In simple terms a weak muscle resists stretching more, as the body fears the muscle will be damaged, so strenghtening muscles (particularly in a lengthened or strecthed position) will actually help flexibilty.

Once again Im a lazy bugger, and I have a youtube video to do the work for me. The exercises shown are great ways to increase flexibility and kicking, so have a look. Theres also some other great videos from Elastic Steel, the guy who made this video.

As I mentioned several posts back, Ive been busy working on this surfing event, which is all coming together with only a few minor hiccups. Its looking like it will be a fun event, and I cant wait to get out of the Shanghai cold.

You can find all details at Surfing Hainan's Website with entry forms, FAQ, and stuff.

And the good news is I get a few days off work to hang at the beach. Im off to Indonesia this saturday to organise some surfing stuff to do with prizes and business, so ill try to post on my adventures there.

Ok I admit its Tuesday, but..Movement Tuesday? it just wouldnt sound the same, would it.

So todays exercise is the hack squat. You may have heard of it, but probably never tried it. I can say Ive never seen anyone do it in the gym. Well actually I barely see people doing squats or deadlifts in the gym so maybe that says something.

Anyway, Old George Hakenschmidt was a Russian strong man and wrestler and he invented the "Hack Squat" you can find more info on the guy here.

So the hack squat is kinda like a deadlift with the barbell behind your body. I like it because you can lift a lot of weight like a deadlift but it tends to get the quads(front thight) more than a standard deadlift which works the hamstrings(back thigh) more. I also raise my heels by putting some plates down to emphasise the quads even more. Its also much easier to learn than the deadlift in my opinion, and newbies dont have the problem of hitting their shins, which can happen when deadlifting with poor technique.

This is a great exercise if you dont have a squat rack, and as a supplement to other key leg exercises (i.e front and back squats and deadlifts).

I forgot to take my camera to the gym so Ive pinched a video off youtube to show you how its done. It may feel a bit weird at first, but its an exercise you can quickly learn (in my opinion) just remember the basic rules of keeping a good/safe body position - knees in line with feet, back slightly arched, not rounded, chest out, head neutral.

You can see this guy also stands on plates to emphasise quad involvement. Remember to squeeze the all impotant glutes (i.e your ass) as you lift. You can do it with a standard overhand grip, or switch grip, or basically whatever you want - just give it a go.

enjoy.

A friend of mine in New Zealand (Hayden Parson aka Goose) has recently purchased a new Vio POV camera. He is an avid filmer with several good surf videos out (you can spot my mug in a few), and is pretty well know in the NZ surfing community.

A POV camera is a small pen camera which makes it easy to get some great angles, and apparently the new version has an even wider angle lens so for surfing you get an even more realistic feeling.

This vid is from Gooses second attempt, and a pretty sick one at that. I cant wait to see what he will come out with in the future in some bigger heavier waves.

Will post up new stuff as it comes out.

I came across this video while wasting time trying to get over being sick, not that surfing the internet is a great way to cultivate health...but meh.

The northern eagle claw system is a great system, and Master Leung Shum is one of the best. Eagle claw and 7 star praying mantis made up 2 of the 5 styles originally in the Shanghai Chinwoo (精武）school, and they are both northern systems so there are similarities. Praying mantis has techniques from the eagle claw system, such as using the eagle claw hand to grab and both systems have a few common forms.

My teacher spent some time training with Leung Shum in New York, and Ive got a book he wrote so its only fitting to do a little tribute.