November 2008 Archives

Gooses POV

| | Comments (316) | TrackBacks (0)

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.

Eagle Claw's 7 Principles

| | Comments (376) | TrackBacks (0)

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. 

Movement Monday: Disaster Strikes

| | Comments (576) | TrackBacks (0)

CIMG5151-250.jpgSo usually, on a Monday I go to training after work, then I come home and do the Movement Monday. This Monday however, Ive been knocked down with illness, and it seems theres no exercise for me at the moment.

As you can see being sick has taken its toll on me, physically, psychologically and fashionably. However, a day wrapped up in robes and fluffy Lilo hats will see me back stronger than ever next week

And believe it or not I actually do wear that hat around the house - its suprisingly warm

Movement Monday: The Bridge

| | Comments (347) | TrackBacks (0)

CIMG5150-250.jpgTodays movement is another mobility type movement, and one you've probably seen before.

The bridge is often done by gymnasts, and its a great exercise to stretch the shoulders, back, hip flexors (front of hip) as well as the chest and abdominals. Its called the bridge because old russian coaches used to play the card game "bridge" on young gymnasts stomachs...and gullible isn't in the dictionary.Yes it looks like a bridge! congratulations Igor.

Doing it is rather simple: start on your back, try to put your heels as close to your buttocks as possible - this will give you more leverage when pushing up. Put your hands, facing your feet by your shoulders and ears. Then all you need to do is push up into the bridge. If you lack flexibility its gonna be tough, but this exercise will help improve it, so dont give up. Do the bridge for timed holds, starting at 10seconds, then as you get better you can work up to 30seconds - 1 minute.

The goal is to get the arms and legs straight while in the bridge. You can probably see from the pic I need to work on shoulder flexibility a bit more. More bridges for me, woohoo. 

Is it old or is it new?

| | Comments (279) | TrackBacks (0)

meandyjiangun-250.jpgSo I wanted to have a rant about training..specifically about modern methods vs percieved traditional martial arts methods. First of all when I talk about modern methods, Im talking about gym centers, personal trainers and all that jazz. Its not really a accurate name, as things tend to go in cycles in the training and sport performance world, but it will suffice.

So to make a huge generalisation, in a "modern" plan we go to a gym, we lift weights, we get strong, we perform better. In a "traditional" or more specifically a martial arts methodology we do a bunch or kicking, punching, some push ups, sit ups, maybe forms, sparring, wrestling..you get the idea.

Now, common gym training has often followed (well, should follow) what is known as periodisation. Periodisation basically breaks your training into periods. These could be days, weeks, months, and in those periods you can set your training intensity, type of training,etc. Most commonly people use periodisation in quite a linear (or straight) fashion, gradually increasing the load by heavier weights over time.

This can also be seen in kung fu schools - you start with ten push ups, you increase that to 50, then 100 and so forth, with most other variables, like how much rest time you have, staying rather constant.

Now contrary to common belief, traditional martial arts - well specifically kung fu, did have a lot of weight lifting type activities. Not only were traditional weapons heavy as f**k, but they had other tools, such as stone barbells and stone locks (石锁) check out below...   

 

 Now where it gets interesting (well for me anyway) is in the sequencing of training modalities in a training plan,.. in plain english - how you put the different types of training together.

Standard gym procedure is to build a big chest and biceps so you can hit on the hot bird at the bar while half pissed, however, for performance improvement there are other things, such as speed, power, muscluar and cardiovascular endurance and strength.

The usual modern way is do one thing at a time: start with an aerobic base, like running, until you build up some cardiovascular endurance, then move to some hypertrophy (doing reps around 10 per set), then work on strength (less reps) and finally work on your power(faster movements) and move sport specific actions. Each phase may be weeks or even months working from one to the nextin a sequence.

As with all things,  popular belief ebbs and flows, however our bodies still work the same. Currently there is an increase in support for conjugate training (sometimes called concurrent). In simple, training which mixes the modalities up so rather than working on strength for a few months then moving to power, you might do strength on monday, then power on wednesday, or even some together in same training session.

Conjugate training thought says in sequential training, you lose ability in one mode while working on another... makes sense huh? 

Interestingly enough, traditional martial arts training is conjugate in itself - doing a bunch of push ups - muscular endurance, holding a horse stance - isometric strength, punching a bag - power.

So it leaves me to wonder, is the current thinking only now coming round to the performance benefits of a traditional martial arts training plan? Hmmm, Im not the type to claim traditional training is superior to modern advances in training, but dont always believe everything your personal trainer says.

 

 

 

Nothing but the stick day

| | Comments (424) | TrackBacks (0)

If your a loner you probably knew that yesterday was singles day or Guanggun Jie(光棍节), or as my colleague translated it, "nothing but the stick day", I thought this was much better than "singles day"

CIMG4438-250.jpg

I found this article on China Daily which gives a little insight into where the festival comes from, heres the crux:

"Singles' Day is, of course, not an official celebration in China. Neither the government nor any non-governmental organization has named it such. No one can say, either, exactly where and when it was first celebrated. But it's apparent that November 11 was chosen because the date, when written down in Arabic numerals, looks like four single people standing together.

There are stories that it originated on Chinese campuses at the end of last century, when college students celebrated being single with a little self-mockery. But now some Chinese have given it a classical Roman origin, saying the day honours a respectable monk during the rule of Claudius, the Roman emperor from AD 41 to 54.

According to the legend, Claudius forbade weddings so that more young people could be sent to his wars, but the unnamed monk defied his order and held weddings for lovers. He was thrown into prison and finally tortured to death on November 11."

Well, there you have it, I personally prefer the original Chinese origin. So in the spirit of mockery, heres probably the most lucky photo Ive ever taken. Guess that calf will be celebrating singles day after that incident.

Movement Monday: The Sumo Squat

| | Comments (813) | TrackBacks (0)

Each Monday Im going to post up a movement I like. Now Im assuming the masses that read this blog..ahem,..the two people that stubbled across it while looking for porn, are not educated in areas like anatomy, physiology and the like, so I'll refrain from using technical terms where possible.

Im not gonna give you a training plan, but just exercises that Ive come across from various places that I use and think are useful and that people might like to try, and possibly include them in their training if they feel they are beneficial

sumo3-250.jpg

Ok, so the sumo squat is named so because, well, sumo wrestlers do it. But dont be fooled, they are amazing athletes and there's muscle under that there blubba'

To do the squat, start standing with feet about shoulder width apart or a bit more, now turn the feet out. Its best to start small and aim for about 45 degrees turnout from your centerline. Now all you need to do is squat down while keeping your feet flat on the floor. You can place your hands on your knees for support, and try to maintain a straight back.

The goal is to increase the depth of the squat while maintaining good body alignment. Take it easy on the amount of foot turnout (external rotation) at the start because if the hips arent flexible enough it can put a bit of strain on the knee, like all things take it step by step.

This is not really an exercise to be done for high repetitions, as its more for flexibility in the groin and is great for increasing range of motion in the groin and hips. I like to do it in the morning for 10 or so reps and maybe 2 or so sets, good for loosening up. There you have it, now give it a go. 

Note: You can do this with weight, but get the movement and flexibiliy down first before adding weight unless you like injuries - also there is a deadlift version of this exercise, but the mechanics are different.

Whats happening with Kungfuology?

| | Comments (3810) | TrackBacks (0)

We started with a bit of bang and then fizzled like a sausage, but that doesnt mean we are throwing in the towel. Ive had a bit of a messy year with the visa debarcle, but things seem to be sorted now. Andy's blog is going well, and although I would have liked to have been at some of those gigs Ive spent more time headbanging to people telling me what I do and do not need for my visa.

Christianandus-250.jpg

Things are looking up, however. Now that I can legally stay in China we have plans for our next few videos, Weve still got some design areas to fix with the main site but Ive got this nice new blog colour (shanghai smog gray), and Ive even created a new category - Movement Monday.

Every Monday I will post on a training movement I like. Some will be warm-up/flexibilty based, some will be strength focused, and others will be more activity movement specific.

Ive left you with a nice pic of me with my Shifu and kungfu brothers (Nate,Shifu Kai,Christian,me). My elder kungfu brother (shixiong) Christian Kubiak just visited us for 10 days and I managed to sneak back from HK just in time to do some training with him. Hes a big guy with very fast hands so its always good to get the chance to train with him. Only problem is he lives in Germany so we only get to train together every so often. Oh well better start saving them pennies for Octoberfest next year I guess. 

Legal alien

| | Comments (214) | TrackBacks (0)

So its been a while since I posted, and as usual I have an excuse, actually a good one. I just returned from spending the last two weeks trapped in Hong Kong. After the HR department lazily took 2 months to not process my visa I had to leave the country, then wait for them to process and send the documents to me in HK, before applying for a new visa then re-entering the mainland.

So if your getting a visa yourself your probably wondering what documents do you need? Ok so it goes like this: First you need a 就业许可证- a working permit permit (nice translation huh), a 通知函 (work letter) then you get a Z visa, after that you get your temporary residence permit, then you get the 就业证 - the working permit, then finally you get your residence permit. Somewhere in there you also need your health check, contract and a whole lot of bullsh*t waiting and people telling you the wrong thing.

Confused? yeah well now you know what I went through. So when in doubt, make sure you get a job with a HR department that knows what they are doing, unlike the masquerading clowns Ive got.

Thumbnail image for CIMG5141.JPG

On a brighter note I did manage to take the chance to get out of the city while in Hong Kong and pop over to Big Wave Bay (大浪湾), unfortunately the waves were not as big as the name would suggest but it was definately worth the ride.

They have surfboards for rent, theres a small cafe on the beach where you can get food and drinks, and the beach is pretty nice. To get there you just take a mini bus or normal bus from Shaukeiwan. the bus line is Shek O, and you can get off at Big Wave Bay rd and walk for 5-10 minutes. Some of the bigger buses will go down to the parking lot for Big Wave Bay. Its only 7 HKdollars, and a great way to escape the city. Just watch out for the odd plastic bag floating around, nasty creatures those. 

About this Archive

This page is an archive of entries from November 2008 listed from newest to oldest.

October 2008 is the previous archive.

December 2008 is the next archive.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Pages