November 23, 2007 by george.

Just thought I should give a shout out to all my students and friends who may read this.

I’m thankful for everyone who has and continues to grace my life. Cheers to you all and have a beautiful Thanksgiving!

George

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November 22, 2007 by jleeger.

Alright, as promised, here’s a “focus” workout. Today we’ll call it “Back and Chest Day.”

10 sets of 10 - Bodyweight Rows and Feet-eleveated Pushups

3 sets of 6 - Pullups and Side-to-Side Pushups

Do the pairs back to back (called a “superset”), then rest about 90 seconds between each superset.

Have fun!

Josh

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November 21, 2007 by jleeger.

Hi all,

First off, thanks to George for his response to my last post. I’m happy that you guys are checking this stuff out, and hopefully getting some good conditioning out of it. George’s note has also inspired me with some different workout schemes to introduce.

For today, make it hard on yourself. We’ll call it - The Single Limb Workout

Do each pair of two exercises back to back, three times, without rest. Take a breather, then move on to the next pair.

Pair 1

Single Leg Squats

Single Leg Romanian Deadlift

Pair 2

1-arm Pushups

1-arm Pullup or Side-to-Side Pullups, or 1-arm Hangs for time

Pair 3

1-arm Handstands (feet on the wall please) for time

1-arm Wrestler’s Bridge or Side-to-Side Bridge Pushups

Pair 4

Bulgarian Split Squat (basically a static lunge with your rear foot up on a bench)

V-ups

Then do your core exercises for the day…

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November 20, 2007 by jleeger.

No workout today…not sure if anyone is doing them!  So, just a thought for today.

If you’re working out, and you’ve decided what your goal is (see the training article about practice goals), pick the exercises that give you the most bang for your buck, that are still within your ability level.

What do I mean by that?  The easiest way to sum it up is - multi-joint movements.

By increasing the number of joints moving in a particular exercise, you increase the level neuromuscular recruitment and demand, and, depending on how you do the exercise(s), the cardiovascular demand as well.

What this means is, fewer movements in less time, with a greater training result!

One last note - make sure you’re working in all planes of motion.  Twisting is critical to Bagua, so make sure your workout has some twisting element to it.  That can be through a cable or medicine ball woodchop, or something as simple as bicycle situps.  If you can get a full-body, multi-joint move that incorporates twisting, you’ve hit the jackpot.

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November 19, 2007 by jleeger.

Hi there,

First off, I haven’t heard how anyone is doing with these. Are you using this info?!

Second, I want to stress that everyone should be doing at least two of the low-back exercises in the Egoscue vids that George recommended, every day. Abdominal/lower-back strength, flexibility, and stability, are critical to any athletic endeavor, and Bagua is no different. I do the cat/dog stretch, the “prayer” or “child” pose, the two-point stance, and the crunch-hold.

For today, let’s focus on getting some cardiovascular endurance built up. Take your jump rope and jump for five minutes. Do as many situps and pushups as you can, then jump for another five minutes. Do this five times total. Should take about thirty minutes.

For your rope jumping, alternate your footwork. Try to stay light on your feet and toes, let your knees absorb some of the shock as well - don’t have them locked out!

You don’t have to kill yourself with this workout for it to be effective. Just go at a pace that feels comfortable, and will allow you to finish the total 5 sets.

Let me know if you have any questions.

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November 16, 2007 by jleeger.

I’m going to give you all a couple of days off…I’m heading out of town for a little vacation this weekend, and won’t have access to my computer Saturday or Sunday.

For today’s workout, PRACTICE.

It’s hard to dedicate oneself to practice sometimes.  For me, this mostly occurs when I don’t have clarity about why I’m doing it.  If I’m going back and forth in my head about my reasons for practicing, the deliberation stops me from doing anything.

Take the time to list the reasons you practice Bagua.  Really look at those reasons and get to know them.  See if there’s anything you missed.  Then, rate how fully you’ve realized those reasons in substantive form.  I mean, if you like Bagua for self-defense, how good are you really at self-defense?  Can you use Bagua to defend yourself?

Whatever the reasons, break them down.  Rate yourself on a 1-10 scale.  Then, write out what it would be like to be at a 10.  How would it look, feel, sound, taste, smell?  Go through all the senses.

Finally, what would it take for you to get to that place?  Make a plan.

Now you have a goal and motivation, not just for your daily practice, but for the effort you put into classes as well.

George always says “Have a GOAL for class.”  And it took me a while to understand that.  At first, I’d assign an arbitrary goal, like “be smoother,” or “be connected with whole-body power.”  While those goals were ok, what we did in class didn’t always lend itself to me realizing whatever particular goal I’d set for myself.

The process above approaches the idea of goal from a larger sense, but it can get just as specific once you break it down into the smaller steps needed to get to the big goal.  For me, this helped a lot.

Have a great weekend!

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November 15, 2007 by jleeger.

Today’s workout incorporates a jump rope.  If you don’t have one, you can substitute jumping jacks, or running in place for 90 seconds.

300 revolutions on the rope

“Table” - on your hands and feet, with your back to the ground, thrust your hips up in the air and hold, making a table out of your body.  Hold for 60 seconds

300 revolutions on the rope

Pushup Hold - get into pushup position.  Hold it at each level, high, middle, and low, for 30 seconds.  If you can do this with one arm, go for it

300 revolutions on the rope

Pullup Hold - same as pushup hold…hold as long as you can!

300 revolutions on the rope…are you getting tired?

Abdominal Hold - lying flat on your back, bring up your feet and your head and hold for one minute.  Keep your lower back flat against the ground.  If your low-back starts to arch, stick your hands under your butt to give yourself some assistance.  If it still arches, put your legs on the ground and only elevate your head and shoulders.  1 minute

Do it all one more time.  If you feel good, and want to go for 3 rounds, that’s cool too.

Enjoy!

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November 14, 2007 by jleeger.

Hi!

If you’re doing these workouts, or even just reading them, let me know what you think.  I’m trying to provide some general conditioning, along with some workouts that will offer strength in movement patterns that are Bagua-specific.

George asked about nutrition, periodization, and other training tips.  Diet is the easiest, so I’ll start there.

If you want to eat healthily, eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats.  It’s really that simple.  Try to stock your kitchen with those items.  Get rid of things that have been processed, or that contain lots of sugar.  Don’t buy anything with a cartoon-character on it…at least not to eat.

As far as periodization goes, there are as many schemes out there as there are people, it seems.  I’ve been thinking about periodization a lot recently.  As with almost everything else in the conditioning world, periodization is a technique that arose as a result of athletic training for events that had a particular season.  Many people have been trying to apply this technique to the general populace for years, but it really doesn’t make sense.  Most of us don’t have an “event” or “season” when we need to peak.  We’re training to enhance our general level of fitness, or to help us with certain activities (Bagua).  In particular, we want to do things that won’t hurt us in the short or long term, but that can lend themselves to health and strength into our later years.  The workouts I post here aren’t geared toward any particular goal.  They’re really designed to get you moving and using your muscles on a regular basis.  There is no aim to achieve a 1 Rep Max here.  You are pitted against yourself.  If you want specific outcomes, you need to make your program match that.  If you do have specific outcomes, let me know.  I’ll help define a path for you a bit.  Whatever the case, a good general rule of thumb is to change your training stimulus every 4-6 weeks.

That’s good for now!  More later!

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November 14, 2007 by jleeger.

Alright, time for a more Bagua-specific workout.

For this one, you need a medicine ball, relatively light dumbbell, or you can use a milk-gallon filled with sand or water.

This time we’ll do individual sets of the different exercises in a row, in order to focus on the movement more.   Do each movement in as controlled a fashion as possible.

3 sets of 10 reps each side

Explosive Half-Step  - we’re taking the Half-Step to the next level.  Start in your San Ti Shi stance, hold your weight with both hands at your dantian.  Explode forward with your half-step, and while you do, thrust the weight forward with both hands.  Go deep into this forward half-step, making it almost a full lunge.  As soon as you get to your forward position, explode back, pulling the weight back to your dantian area.  This exercise will work your entire body, and will challenge your balance and explosive power.

Spider-walk - get down on your hands and toes, keeping your body suspended over the ground as low as possible.  “Walk” along the ground for ten steps with each hand.  If you’re really brave, you can do a pushup in between each “step.”

Explosive Sideways Half-Step - same procedure as for the first exercise, but go to one side or the other.  Make sure your feet are pointing in the same direction that your power is moving.  The emphasis on this one is the initial twisting/turning motion that you have to do.

Squat to Overhead Press - take your weight, holding at dantian level again.  Squat down and then explode up with your legs.  Coordinate the timing of this movement so that you’ve pushed the weight overhead at your highest point.  You can make this a jump if you have the knees for it.

Plank - the classic plank.  Get on your elbows and toes and hold it for as long as you can.  Do three sets of as much time as you can.

That’s it!  Hope it was fun!

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November 13, 2007 by jleeger.

For this day you’ll need a pair of trusty (or rusty) dumbbells. Any weight will do. The trick is to keep moving for as long as possible. Keep your breathing light and natural. Don’t try to force anything.

Go through the following sequence as many times as you can in fifteen minutes:

Do as many reps as you can, 2-3 shy of failure, of each of the following, without putting the dumbbells down:

Curls

Shoulder Press

Squats

Straight Leg Deadlift

Bent Rows

Pushups using dumbbells as support

Woodchops (take both dumbbells to just outside one knee up and across the body to over the opp-side shoulder)

That should give you a good workout!

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November 12, 2007 by jleeger.

Typically, you’d want to take a day off here and there. But I’m going to keep posting. Good luck!

Get to a park that has a pullup bar, or you can use the edge of your deck (like I do). This next exercise is one of the best I’ve ever done!

Burpee to Pullup - do a standard burpee, squat down, kick your feet out back behind you, do a pushup, bring your feet back up to a squat position, then jump up and grab a pullup bar, do a pullup, as you drop down, go straight into the squat for another burpee.

Jump Rope - 90 seconds

Bodyweight Row or Bent Row with Dumbbells - 2-3 reps shy of failure

Go through this circuit as many times as you can in 20 minutes. Good luck!!!

After that, do the 4-point Stance exercise (here, but you can do it without the Sissel pads - http://www.sissel-online.com/exercise/four-pt-stance_sitfit_vert-hor-ext.php) followed by Static Crunches (do a normal crunch till your shoulder blades leave the ground, and hold for 20-30 seconds).

Do each of the abdominal exercises 5 times.

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November 11, 2007 by jleeger.

Day 3

Since we’ll take a day off tomorrow, we’ll increase the intensity a bit here on Day 3.  Today, go as slow as possible on each of the movements, but focus on allowing your breathing to remain natural.  If you take ten seconds for one complete rep, you might need to take four or five breaths during that time.  Of course, as you continue through the workout, your breathing will become more rapid…

One other note - never go to failure.  Your body and mind are highly sensitive feedback mechanisms.  If you push yourself to the point of failure, you are literally training your body to fail.  Stop your set two or three reps shy of failure.

I’m going to start putting a target-rep after exercises, to give you something to shoot for.  Today’s exercises are intense.  If you can’t do a 1-leg squat freestanding, do it using an open door, grabbing the door handle, letting the non-working leg go to the side of the door.  Remember to sit back as much as possible during this exercise.  1-arm pushups are also challenging.  If you can’t do them on the floor, do them with your hand on a low coffee table or chair.

Do the as many reps as you can of following exercises, 4 times through, with as little rest as possible:

Single leg squats - 6 ea leg

1-arm Pushups - 6 ea arm

Handstands, or Handstand Pushups - 30 second holds, or 6 reps

3-Way Situps (up to the front, and then once to each side) - 10 ea direction

Superman Hold - 1 minute holds

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November 10, 2007 by jleeger.

Ok, if you did WOTD 1, you know where you stand, and what you need to get better at.  For most, pullups and handstand pushups will be the most difficult exercises on that list.  The only way to get better at those is to practice daily.  Don’t try to do maximal sets, just do a few whenever you think about it.  Pavel Tsatsouline refers to this as “greasing the groove.”

For today, we’ll create a more challenging workout using some of those same exercises.  This workout should take you about 15 minutes, but should get your heart going, and give plenty of challenge to your muscles.

5 Rounds

Do as many reps as you can of each of the following

Pushups

Bodyweight Row (if you don’t know what this is, go to Google Images and Google it.  If you don’t have anywhere to do this, replace it with Chinups)

Split Squats (also called Static Lunges - your feet don’t move)

Curl Ups (like a situp, but really focus on curling your whole torso)

Post your reactions!

Josh

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November 9, 2007 by jleeger.

The Workout of the Day will always be something you can do at home, with little or no equipment other than your body.

Today, to get a sense of where you’re starting from, do as many consecutive repetitions of the following as possible:

Situps

Pushups

Bodyweight Squats

Handstand or Handstand Pushups

Pullups

These exercises are the most basic (and some of the most difficult) exercises out there. Every exercise or movement known to man is based on these fundamental movement patterns - Squat, Push, Pull, Twist/Bend, Walk/Gait. We hit all but the walk/gait in the above exercises.

Write the numbers down someplace, or post them in a reply to this blog. If you do the Workout of the Day every day, those numbers will increase over the course of the coming months…

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November 9, 2007 by jleeger.

Hi Everybody!

George has allowed me to post on the blog.  I’m going to put up a “workout of the day” for everyone.  I’ll also post miscellaneous training/conditioning stuff.

Comment, write back, work out!

Josh

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