Then say “Squeeze harder!” “Squeeze HARDER!!”

Invariably, everyone is able to squeeze harder for at least two tries.

So “as hard as you can,” isn’t really….

Thanks for the write up on the goal accomplishment thing. I hope Somer reads this!

Sorry to hear about your shoulder! What did the doc recommend to fix it or rehab it? Sounds like you need to start getting some deep-tissue work in there to break up those old adhesions and get the blood flowing to that area again…

For specific goal attainment, the best thing you can do is to break the large goal down into smaller goals - and be as specific as absolutely possible. Being nit-picky is a good thing, because then you’ll have no way out for yourself. For example, with Somer’s crunch goal. I would break it down into a linear schedule, working up to 300 crunches about four days before her “drop-dead date.” Then she can take a couple of days to back off, and try it again on the DDD. If she’s got about 12 weeks to get to 300, and she starts with 30, she needs to add 23 crunches each week to her max. Break that down and it’s an additional 3 or so crunches a day…doesn’t seem like that much then!

While it’s an aggressive goal, it is certainly do-able. I think the largest part of endurance goals are overcoming the mental aspect…moving through what your mind says it can do.

To help move past those mental blocks, and to give the body a chance to rest, I’d recommend a more periodized schedule - e.g., she should do 10 more one day, 20 more the next (in multiple sets), then go for 3 more consecutively the third day. Rest a day, etc…

Making a wave out of the intensity, by varying reps, sets, tempo, or external resistance (depending on the goal) makes the body adapt much more quickly. Just remember to be specific about the stimulus you’re giving the body. For Somer or Shawn, I wouldn’t recommend doing the workouts with external resistance, since they’re not going for maximum strength in minimum time, but rather maximum endurance over time.

Same goes for the tiangan. Everyone is different in what they can physically/mentally handle and recover from. Some people need more rest between workouts, and some less. But for many, they are capable of much more than their mind will allow.

I know people are reading - we talk about it in class. And though I’m not sure yet how many people are trying to follow along each day, that will come in time. Its just starting.

I really appreciate you doing this, its given me lots of ideas, even though I currently have to modify most everything up here. Outside of class, these days I can really only train on my own at around midnight each night. I usually spend that time doing forms, working on movement, stretching and body balancing stuff. Its not really a workout in the sense of what you are posting these days. I can’t really do anything that would make a lot of noise because the kids are sleeping. On top of that my shoulder has still been acting up lately (finally got an MRI and everything, the doc said looked like it had been broken, plus separated (maybe more than once), then there’s been arthritis and bone growths along with some tendon damage and inflammation) so I haven’t been able to do many push-ups and such these days.

So I know its pathetic, but that’s my excuses these days.

I do use the information in my Monday workouts. You know how those are like, we usually get a great sweat going. Last Monday was inspired by the jump rope WOD. I don’t want to spend as much time in class on just the conditioning part (plus the drills and sparring are great conditioning on top of it all!), so I just did one minute of jump rope. In between the rounds of jump rope I threw in hindu push-ups, bodyweight squats, bicycle crunches, burpees, five point one legged split squats (step to the 12, then the 1:30, then the 3, then the 4:30, then the 6 - that PT one I like) and maybe something else I can’t remember right now.

On a different track, and out of curiousity, in September I gave the students in the advanced class a 3 month goal plan - they are to accomplish certain goals within that time frame. Although some are subjective - like getting better in certain forms for example; Some are objective, such as getting up to 300 crunches or increasing one’s range in the splits. When talking about goals in conditioning training, what, in your opinion, are the best ways to go about it? Especially when the goals are rather far off - for example Somer wanted to get to 300 consecutive crunches, she’s currently at 80 the last time she told me. Another is doing that one tiangan where you are standing on one leg and kicking forward and holding then pressing out to the front with the hands and the back with the leg. Hold for 5 seconds on each point, do 20 reps consecutively on one leg without switching. This is something that’s pretty darn difficult. I tried it and bugged off at about 6 reps per side. Last I heard Shawn got up to 7, but D-day’s only a month away now. So, I’m not sure how’s he going to get there…

Anyways, take heart. The information is appreciated and I know people are paying attention, even if they aren’t writing about it.

On another track, I would love to see situational workouts beyond these great workouts of the day. Something like “Fight Gone Bad” for bagua or xingyi guys, or something like a “Playground Payday” (using things like the monkey bars for pull ups or the benches like I used for box jumps). I love the catchy titles! LOL! I’ve also seen people doing things like a “Daily Dozen” - sort of like the minimum daily maintenance type of thing, I’ve been thinking of doing something like that for my students. Anyways, just other ideas!

So, I’m off for now, but have patience. If you build it, they will come. Or as Kalimar would say: “Have patience young Jedi!”

Later bud,
George