November 28, 2007 by jleeger.

I realize that the periodization info seems a bit much…but in the near future I’ll apply the same principles to your daily Bagua practice.

One thing I do want to add, is that periodization should reflect your level of experience with conditioning.  People who don’t have any experience with exercise typically need to stick with a program for 6-10 weeks to see the training effect.  Folks who have trained for 1-2 years consistently can typically see results from a program in 4-6 weeks.

Finally, people who have been training for more than 2 years consistently can see results from a training stimulus in as little as 2 weeks.  In fact, for people with a lot of experience, spending too much time in one training stimulus will lead to over-training in short order.  Most well-trained individuals will not see any additional benefit from a particular training program after 6 weeks, and will start to see signs of overtraining/overuse after 8 weeks.

The workouts I’m posting are really General Physical Preparedness (GPP) routines (Crossfit and those type workouts fit into this category as far as I’m concerned).  After a good amount of time, you’ll want to switch it up.  If it means going out and buying a kettlebell, or a pair of dumbbells, or joining a gym, so be it!

Your body and mind adapt.  And the better they get at adapting, the faster it will happen.  Change it up to keep your body and mind learning and growing!

Next up…REST AND RECOVERY

Posted in Training | No Comments »

November 28, 2007 by jleeger.

Hopefully this post isn’t too deep, or too confusing.  I want to emphasize that, if you are training, you should always try to get the most out of your time.  People spend years going to the same aerobics classes, and end up looking like they did after their first 8 weeks in the class.  They aren’t changing their training stimulus.  I had a ton of clients like this when I was a trainer in VA.  They were in phenomenal shape cardiovascularly, but they still had their “spare tire,” that just wouldn’t go away.

Their body had gotten used to the “aerobics class” stimulus.  It didn’t need to burn the fuel around their midsections.  They didn’t know this, so they continued to go to more aerobics classes…wearing their joints down, wasting their time, not getting what they wanted.

To get what you want, you have to decide that you want it!  Then you have to make a plan to get it.  Periodization is part of that planning process.

Periodization is the breaking down of the sport-training year into distinct phases, each with a distinct purpose, that all build up to the day of the competition.  Usually, we talk about a Macrocycle (e.g. one year, or the time between tournaments), a Mesocycle (smaller increments within a Macrocycle, that focus on the development of specific strength qualities or strength skills - usu. 2-6 weeks), and a Microcycle (which breaks down the Mesocycle into manageable blocks - usu. 3 days - 1 week).

The challenge, at a certain stage in training, becomes maintaining or increasing gains in different energy systems in the same phase.  For example - If you’ve built up your cardiovascular endurance in Phase 1, and want to build Max Strength in Phase 2, how do you maintain your gains in cardio endurance while still having enough recovery time to devote the energy needed to building Max Strength?  Because you’re training for specific strength-qualities whenever you train, this becomes tough.

For an athlete, periodization is very simple.  They have a specific target date by which they have to be at peak-performance levels.  The rest of the year is organized accordingly.

For many MMA athletes, they have no such year-long Macrocycle in which to prepare.  They have to be ready to go at any time (pretty much).  This is the professional conditioning situation that most closely approximates that of the general populace.

Ross Enamait (www.rosstraining.com) has adopted one solution from Mel Siff, which is called “conjugate periodization.”  It involves cycling different strength qualities on different days within a Phase, increasing the overall intensity as the Phase moves on, with all exercises adding up to a cumulative training effect (i.e., all the exercises on different days should complement each other - you don’t want to do leg extensions on Max Strength day and Leg Curls on Endurance day…that’s not complementary).

I think with some serious consideration, this is the best method.  But I think you have to be very careful about exercise selection, and separation of distinct energy systems on different days.

It would look like this:

Monday - Max Strength Training

Tuesday - Proprioception/Cardiovascular Endurance

Wednesday - Endurance Training

Thursday - Proprio/Cardio

Friday - General Physical Preparedness training - obstacles, running + calisthenics, etc.

Saturday and Sunday off.

Even with this breakdown, your max-training day would have to be very focused and very intense to have a cumulative effect over time, what with the full 6 days between training sessions.  It’s almost a little too much recovery time.  However, there is so much nervous system stimulation in a program like this, that you definitely NEED one or two days completely off to recuperate.

One thing to consider, when creating your own training program, is what you’re after.  If most people really stopped and thought about it, they’d see that hypertrophy (bigger muscles), and max strength, have limited applications in their daily lives.  Internal martial artists have to balance this very specifically, since the aim of Neigong is to “move a thousand pounds with one ounce.”

Staying relaxed and loose when you’re constantly training yourself to be tense outside of practice gives the body/mind mixed messages.

As you can see, having your goal clearly defined becomes of primary importance!  As I said at the beginning - you’ll get whatever you really want.  If you don’t decide what you want, you’ll get whatever’s left over.  Seriously consider your training goals, for physical conditioning and Bagua.  Decide what you really want, no matter how insane, and write it down.  Post it on a wall or mirror where you’ll see it all the time.  Make a plan to get it.

I don’t know of anyone practicing at Zong Wu Men who couldn’t gain Tony Jaa’s “light body” skills (at least to a large extent…).  But to do that, you have to be very focused in your training.  You definitely shouldn’t be wasting your time on the WOD’s!  hahah…

If you want the 1-inch punch, you have to devote time to it.  You have to focus on bringing all of your power into a single compressed moment/space.  You need to practice every day, and have a plan that changes the variables of your training.

Most of all, your goals should be useful to you, and be in line with your life-values.  If you haven’t figured out what those are…start there.

All of this will lead to a richer experience of yourself.  And richer experience of Bagua.  It all leads to you becoming who you really are, instead of going along with who you think you might be, or who others thing you might be.

Posted in Training | No Comments »

November 28, 2007 by jleeger.

Starting out a new week, let’s do a workout that combines some of the strength-qualities we used over the last two.  Strength qualities, though they are really only one continuous functional quality, are broken out into three (or more, depending on your source) categories: Endurance, Maximal, Explosive

Endurance covers everything from running a marathon to isometrics to doing 12 reps of bench press.  The physiological definition is that you’re using Type I muscle fibers for most of the duration of the movement.  But muscle actually works in this fashion - it recruits the fast-twitch muscles first, till they’re burnt out, then recruits the slow-twitch fibers.  It can take anywhere from 10 seconds to 3-5 minutes to fully replenish ATP stores in your muscle.

Maximal strength is everything from a 1-rep max, to about 8 or 10 reps.  Its focus is really on the Type IIa (fast-twitch muscle fibers that have some endurance qualities, and IIb fibers), but incorporates the Type I fibers as well.

Explosive strength covers everything from starting off of blocks on a sprint (called “acceleration” or “speed” strength), to doing Olympic lifts like the Clean and Jerk and the Snatch.  Explosive strength relies almost exclusively on Type IIb muscle fibers, though some research points to the recruitment of as many fibers and fiber-types (I, IIa, IIb) as possible (another place you’d find the type of static-strength used by Pavel, etc.).

So today, let’s do this:

Warmup - 10 burpees with pushup

Legs

Explosive - 10, 3′ jumps - onto a table, picnic table, or other sturdy waist-height object

Maximal - 8 ea. 1-leg squats, the classic!

Endurance - 1 minute high-knee run-in-place

Upper Body

Explosive - 10 lap pushups (only do these if you can do at least 40 consecutive pushups)

Max - as many as you can  - handstand pushups

Endurance - 30 seconds-1 minute - medicine ball chest passes against a wall, or elevated pushups (hands on a table or high object)

Core

V-ups - bring your upper body and legs up at the same time, try to touch your toes.  Don’t do this if your back starts to arch.  You can modify it by bending your legs at the knees, and curling up with your upper body.

10 Hanging leg raises - hang from something and lift your legs up in front of you.  You can do it with knees straight or bent.

30 second-to-1 minute - Table (back to the ground, hands and feet on the ground,  lift your hips and make a table)

To get some back and external rotation, do this:

Bodyweight rows - overhand grip 10, underhand grip 10

Go through the circuit at least twice, preferably 3x.

Alternately, you can hit your whole body in the same fashion with only three exercises:

Warmup

As many as you can  - Burpees with pushups and jump to pullup

10 -  Pushup on Dumbbells-to-Bent row-to-RDL-to-Squat-to-Overhead Press

20 - Your choice tiangan

Go through 3x…it’ll be just as tough as the first workout, but get the job done in a little less time, with fewer concentrated moves.  It does require dumbbells for the second lift.  That’s called a “compound” lift, incorporating several different lifts into a single continuous movement.

Posted in Training | No Comments »

November 28, 2007 by george.

As I’ve started to try to write some of my thoughts down on this topic, I realize that although I have a good intuitive understanding of what I’m trying to get at in my own training, I am having a hard time conveying this understanding in writing. So as opposed to taking a concrete throw down the laws type approach to my first post on this topic, I will just try to get some general outlines, general ideas and general principles down first. I think opening it up to comment and criticism will help me to more fully form my thoughts on the matter.

I know that I’ve talked about much of this before in class. There are a few basic goals that I personally look to accomplish when I approach a conditioning type program to complement my Baguazhang practice, such as:

• Reinforce good body methods (I have a preference for exercise that will help to reinforce the body method I train)
• Accentuate strength along common and relevant paths of motion (jin training - tiangan for example – I want to become stronger and more aware within my common paths of motion)
• Reinforce weak points in the body and prevent potential injury (strengthen the joints and pre-hab – I’ve had some major injuries in my days and this is now one of the most important aspects of my supplemental training)
• Heal existing injuries and balance the body (I need to address said injuries and the effects thereof)
• Cardio (does a body good)
• Explosiveness / Plyo (I’ve never been a strong guy, but am always looking to improve)

I am hoping that’s a good list at what I’m personally trying to accomplish and what I believe I should help my students with. Naturally, my own interests in the arts do impact my training goals. And as I consider the Internal Martial Arts to be fighting arts, I’m looking to not only improve my abilities, but still look to be able to scrap progressively better into my 40’s, 50’s and beyond.

On a parallel track, here are some general areas of Baguazhang that I try to carry over into my conditioning:

• Whole body movement
• Expanding one’s range of movement, power and mind
• Carrying one’s power and mind throughout the full range of movement
• Spiral power (or twisting I guess, I hate that term for martial arts, I’ll have to explain why later…)
• Balance in motion
• Balance in one’s body and mind
• Reinforcing good habits of motion while making attempts to not introduce bad habits of motion

Alright, enough for now on this, this is an OK outline for me.

Posted in Baguazhang, Training, General Info | 4 Comments »