on-line journal thread...

[circusgirl]

had a nice 2-hour karate session. THis is a FUN way of doing cardio. Interesting,due to having done tkd my kicks are higher than most of the lower belts' kicks, BUT my hand techniques are not as good technically. They are VERY good technically compared to a lot of tkders I have seen. This was the change of emphasis I wanted. We did applications of kata as well as part of an advanced kata - interetsing to see how real defenses/attacks are stylised in the kata... the instructor likes the class to see the kata moves are not just "figure skating for martial artists". Glad I went.

 

[circusgirl]

rest today. zzzzz.

 

[circusgirl]

DE squat day. Had a good hard workout. My back and traps feel like jelly now! On one-legged squats, lifting to weight at all other than bodyweight, still heavy! I'm skipping DE bench day this week as my triceps and chest are still sore from Tuesday.

Feel good, now time to eat some chicken salad mmmm.

 

[circusgirl]

karate today. Woken up at 7am by feline alarm clock. Had whey shake, went back to bed, after feeding kitties...

 

[circusgirl]

2 hours of karate today. Learned Heyan Shodan (first pattern in shotokan). It's a lot more advanced re hand techniques than the first few tkd ones - then again, there are no kicks. I'm starting to see how karate prioritises the hand techniques more, especially to begin with. I'm lucky, as I've spent 2 years doing allthose kicks already, now I can concentrate on the details of the hand techs and my stances.

The stances are slightly different from tkd, back stance is less exaggerated, and you don't keep the back leg ramrod straight in long stance.

Tomorrow- DE bench day. I am going to do the workouts from the 9 week prog in sequence - if I miss a day, I just start the "new" week later, on Tuesday this week.

Turns out the powerlifting "club" doesn't have specific training times, although you can book one of the staff from the gym who also compete in the club (there's at least one female competitive PL on the staff) to check your form and technique over every so often. The "club" is more an organisation for weights enthusiasts to exchange email and do competitions, however I can get on their mailing list if I join in October when the students are back and ask questions there.

I'm glad I trained today, I felt lazy, but refused to give in to the lazy-ass-gene....

ME leg day on TUesday, HIIT Wednesday before my 6-hour train journey south, nothing Thursday as I am away seeing my phd supervisor, Friday I have more karate as I'll be back, ME bench on Sat, karate on Sunday, DE leg and bench following Monady and Tuesday....

I'm starting to really look forward to training after work ends in the evening.

 

[circusgirl]

did ME squat day. Got up to 62.5kg on the good morning. My form still needs some work. Main problem is actually maintaining tension and form on the way down. Did requisite abs/back exercises, abs now slightly sore, "good" sore though. happy.

 

[circusgirl]

haven't updated this in a while - 2 hours of karate today. Feel good. Tomorrow - DE leg day. I think I'll make sure I have 100% correct form on the squats before I do the explosive lifts though, given my current problems with bench.

I will be able to do a DE bench day on Friday as there is no karate, they are all scooting off to Glasgow for a grading. This will complete week 2 of the 9-week programme.

When I don't get all 4 workouts into a week, I'm just doing the remaining workouts from that week on the next available training day. This means that the 4-day trainnig week is actually more like 4 adys over 8 or 9 for me as I have karate so often too. For example, Tuesday I didn't work out as I was expecting an important phone call...

Feeling good, feeling fit and healthy.

 

[circusgirl]

squat doctor day today. Got one of the experts in the gym to critique my form - soooo many problems, especially forward leaning, not pushing the knees out, not pushing the glutes back enough.... time to get the broom handle out in front of the mirror at home.

karate tomorrow and Sunday, bench day Saturday.

 

[circusgirl]

shit, there is no karate tomorrow, oh well, I think I'll wait until Sat to do bench anyway, so I can also practice squat form with gym's broom handle (yes they have one for this express purpose!). Will do cardio on the treadmill (yawn! I never thought I'd get to ahte the treadmill so much) tomorrow.

 

[circusgirl]

woohoo! Broke my bench plateau today. I concentrated a LOT on form for a few sets with just the bar, doing them slowly and keepnig track of arm position, bar position etc. I also got a much better grip on pushing with my legs - something I hadn't been using as much as I should have before, and realised after rereading some stuff on here that I hadn't been bringing the bar down far enough. Despite this I managed 1 rep at 40kg unassisted (first time I have managed this) and 42.5kg with a tiny bit of assistance. Next goal - 42.5kg next week without needing assistance. Also need to concentrate on hitting the lats and chest hard to strengthen them.

karate tomorrow. So much more fun than cardio. Life can be goooooood..... diet is getting into shape too, low-GI carbs and protein-rich stuff and moderate veggie fat, had some steak today though, mmmm. Once I've got the hang of eating clean I will add some ALA.