Thursday, June 28, 2012

Batman's Training Program- Phase 3

This is a continuation from Batman's Training Program- Phase 2. Once again if you cannot do the prescribed training, scale it down until you are able to complete it. Please advance through the previous stages before attempting this one. Please reference previous posts if you have any questions.


Sunday: 
Morning
  • 30 Minute Jog
  • 30 Minutes Meditation
Evening-
  • Clean and Jerk- 8 x 3 Reps (135#)
  • 3 Sets Metabolic Conditioning (1/4 Run, 21 Half Pood KB Swings, 12 Pull-ups)
  • 30 Minutes Flexibility
  • 20 Minutes Sparring
Monday:
Morning-
  • 30 Minute Jog
  • 30 Minutes Martial Arts- Forms or Shadowboxing
Evening-
  • 4 Sets 20ft Rope Climb
  • 20 Minutes Gymnastic Rings (Pick Two: Pull-ups, Iron Cross, Muscle-up, L-Sit, Dips)
  • 36" Box Jumps- 6 x 12 Reps
  • 5 x 50 Crunches
  • 30 Minutes Heavy Bag
  • 30 Minutes Flexibility
  • 20 Minutes Target Practice (Mitt Work, Knife/Dart/Shuriken/etc Throwing, Hitting Moving Targets
Tuesday:
Morning-
  • 30 Minute Jog
  • 30 Minutes Yoga
Evening-
  • 1/2 Mile Swim
  • "Heavy" Deadlift- 5 x 5 Reps (350#)
  • "Light" Deadlift- 30 Reps (155#)
  • 30 Minutes Sparring
Wednesday (Off Day):
Morning-
  • 10 Mile Run
  • 5 Mile Walk
Evening-
  • 20 Minutes Target Practice
  • 20 Minutes Flexibility
  • 20 Minutes Hand Techniques
  • 20 Minutes Leg Techniques
  • 20 Minutes Observation (Watch fights, instructional videos, observe natural movement of people, animals, and objects in motion.)
  • 20 Minutes Meditation
  • 20 Minutes Grappling Techniques
Thursday:
Morning-
  • 30 Minute Jog
  • 30 Minutes Martial Arts- Forms or Shadowboxing
Evening-
  • Squats- 8 x 5 Reps (315#)
  • 40 Minutes Bouldering
  • 30 Minutes Flexibility 
  • 5 x 50 Crunches
  • 20 Minutes Target Practice
  • 30 Minutes Heavy Bag
Friday:
Morning-
  • 30 Minute Jog
  • 30 Minutes Meditation 
Evening-
  • Clean and Jerk- 8 x 3 Reps (135#)
  • 3 Sets of Metabolic Conditioning or 3/4 Prescribed Crossfit WOD
  • 30 Minutes Flexibility 
  • 20 Minutes Sparring
Saturday:
Morning-
  • 30 Minutes Jog
  • 30 Minutes Yoga
Evening-
  • 5 x 50 Crunches
  • Squats 8 x 5 Reps (315#)
  • Push-ups- 5 x 50 Reps
  • 20 Minutes Monkey Bars
  • 20 Minutes Pommel Horse
  • 20 Minutes Heavy Bag
  • 1/4 Mile Swim

Notes:
  • Please read previous posts if you have any questions.
  • If you did this or the previous programming every day of the week without any break, you'd quickly overtrain. So, after I complete all the Phases of the training for you guys, I'm going to post a breakdown of suggested rest periods and de-load stages.
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That's all for today! Until next time, good luck and train hard!

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Korin-sama's Training

At the top of a tall tower, below Kami's Palace, lives the "God of Martial Arts." He's strong. He can read minds. He's also a cat. Goku climbs Korin's Tower in order to retrieve the "Holy Water," which is supposed to make the person who drinks it super strong. It takes Goku a full day of climbing, even with his incredible strength and speed, to reach the top. Once he gets to the top, Korin informs him that he can drink the Holy Water only if he can grab it from the Cat Hermit. Goku fails repeatedly, learning that it took Muten Roshi 3 full years to grab the Holy Water from Korin. Goku eats a Senzu from Korin, restoring his strength, allowing him to continue trying for the Water.

After Goku fails to grab the Holy Water, Korin takes Goku's Dragon Ball and throws it out of the Tower, forcing Goku to climb down to get it and then climb all the way back up. This time, however, it only takes the young warrior 3 hours to climb down and back up. Eventually, after 3 days of trying, Goku is able to grab the Holy Water. It is then that Korin reveals that it is just ordinary water and that the training of climbing the Tower and trying to grab the Water from Korin is actually the true secret of strength.

This workout is based on the training methods employed by Korin. It is slightly modified, because climbing Korin's tower is nearly a human impossibility due to the fact that you would need to eat and sleep during the journey and it would take you far more than a day of climbing to reach the top. Given Goku's strength and speed, it's a good indication that it would probably take an in-shape human being 3-5 days of continuous climbing to reach the top of the tower-- a feat of unimaginable endurance.


Korin-sama's Training 

  1. 30 Minutes Climbing
  2. 15 Minutes "Grab the Water"
AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible)


Notes:
  • For the climbing, it is best if you used a rock wall or a tree. Please use proper safety equipment and supervision. If you fall, that doesn't mean you are done. Climb for the allotted time. 
  • "Grab the Water" is an open concept. Mark off a circle with about a 40ft diameter. Get a training partner or two (or three).You can play tag, chase the partner(s) while they wear a flag that you have to grab. Chasing multiple people will mimic the sheer speed of Korin. You don't stop when you tag your partners or grab the flags, because you have to train for the whole time period. If you catch your partner(s), you should rotate who is "Goku" and who is "Korin." 
  • The AMRAP is limited by two things: You and your partners' ability to continue and the amount of time you have to train. Obviously, if you only have an hour to train, you'll only get through one cycle and through half the climb, before you have to stop. 
  • The combination of climbing and sprinting, agility work, and maybe jumping will increase your strength, speed, and reaction time. Especially if you're using the flags, since you can't just get away with touching your training partner, but you'll actually have to grab something. 
How many people visit Korin just to say, "Hi."?
Poor kitty.


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I really love this workout. Didn't think I'd like Korin's training that much, but it's in line with the spirit of most of the Dragon Ball workouts (i.e.- Do a really hard thing for an extended period of time.).

That's all for today! Until next time, good luck and train hard!

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Kami-sama's Training

This has been requested by several people and I've put it off and put it off and put it off. The reason for this being that there's really not much different as far as exercises go during this training and, even if there was, we really don't see any, because (in the manga) it just time-skips almost immediately after Kami says Goku can train there.

However, because you guys keep requesting it (and because I feel empty inside for not having it done yet), I'm going to do my best to lay down a workout or something of the sort. You ready?

Here goes!


Kami-sama's Training

The training consists of five parts: Meditation, Strength, Stamina, Elimination of Wasteful Movement and Learning Your Senses. All parts are practiced simultaneously.

Part One: Meditation

Starting with ten minutes a day, find a quiet place where no one will disturb you and sit with your legs crossed, your hands on your knees, back straight, and your eyes closed. Focus on your breathing and the point just below your belly button. Don't try to breathe too deeply or in a particular way. Just breathe. When a thought comes to you, recognize it and let it go. If you find your mind wandering, don't beat yourself up-- come back to your breathing.

After you are able to meditate continuously for ten minutes, increase the time by five minutes, until you reach 30 minutes a day. You don't have to change anything about the way you meditate: it will just come naturally as you focus on your breath.

Later, when you become more in tune with yourself and your meditation, you can start to include background noise or meditate in places where other things are going on. The eventual goal of all this is to be able to achieve the meditative state no matter where you are-- even in the middle of a fight. No anger, no fear-- just action.

Part Two: Weighted Clothing

This is a slightly controversial issue in the fitness world. There are some good studies for and against the use of weighted clothing. In general, I think it's best to remember that weighted clothes are a tool and not a magical, make-me-into-a-Super-Saiyan suit of armor for you to throw on and feel invincible (too much?). For instance, you can wear a weighted vest during most any activities so that's not really an issue. However, things like ankle and wrist weights can often put too much stress on joints in explosive movements like punching and kicking and can create an improper stride in running, although I imagine something like Rock Lee's weights might be a little easier, since it spreads out the weight a little better. Or perhaps something like this:


They don't weigh much, but they don't need to. 

I'd say it would be in your best interest to start with a weighted vest of some sort with no more than 5lbs in it. Wear it all the time, but especially when you're training. I realize that it may limit your range of motion on things like push-ups and sit-ups, so you can use push up bars or blocks or for sit-ups, you can use a decline bench.  You should wear the same amount of weight for at least 12 weeks, so that your joints can properly adapt to it, before you start adding more. And, when you do decide to add more, I wouldn't add anymore than 5lbs at a time. It's your choice if you want to keep adding it to the vest or wear something like the leg weights pictured above. 

At the very maximum, I probably wouldn't go over 50% of your body weight, but that's going to be one of the decisions that you're going to have to make.


If you take small steps, increase when you're ready, and train hard, of course you'll get stronger.

Part Three: Stamina

Obviously, training with your weighted clothing is going to improve your stamina, because you'll be used to wearing it all the time, so when you take it off, you'll be much lighter than you normally are. However, Goku encountered another stamina-increasing factor while training with Kami: the altitude. The high altitude left Goku with much less oxygen to breathe, so his body would have to adapt to the lower levels by increasing red blood cell density. When he comes back down to the ground after being used to the very thin air, his stamina will be greatly improved. 

This training method of training at altitude is used by prominent athletes in a variety of sports. One that is often cited is MMA fighter Tito Ortiz, who had his training camps at Big Bear in California. However, not everyone lives or can reasonably train at altitude. Thus, people invented nifty things like an altitude training mask:
With the added benefit of making you look like a superhero.

(Update 8/24/2014- Recent studies have shown that the Training Mask does not improve performance, but if you want to continue using the device or feel that it is helping you, do as you see fit.)

The altitude training mask is the least expensive route and I think it looks pretty damn cool, personally. By training at altitude, Goku was able to improve his stamina so much that he was hardly winded during the fight with Tien at all. That, though, wasn't the only thing that helped him, which brings us to...

Part Four: Eliminating Wasteful Movement

This is more of philosophy of combat. By eliminating wasteful or unnecessary movement, you conserve energy by moving less and using only the body parts necessary for an action, retain greater balance, and greatly reduce "telegraphing" of movements (meaning that you are letting your opponent know what's coming by preparing to attack instead of attacking).

To incorporate this concept into your training, when you practice your techniques, think about the muscles and body parts involved and use only the ones necessary for that move. Don't get into a habit of smiling or wiggling your fingers or touching your forehead before any particular technique (you'd be surprised the stuff fighters get into the habit of doing).

Training Methods:

  1. Mindful Technique Practice (Mentioned above)
  2. Focusing on the proper execution of strength and conditioning exercises. Mindful lifting or movement. (Related to Mindful Technique Practice)
  3. Videotaping yourself training and watching it to see any wasteful movements
  4. Point Sparring (Good for learning to move only when necessary)
  5. Hard Sparring/Grappling 

Part Five: Learning Your Senses

You can't always see or hear your opponent. Sometimes you have to abandon one sense in favor of the others and sometimes you might have to just rely on instinct alone. There are several training techniques that you can use to develop your sensory skills.
  1. Low Light Fighting: You and your sparring partner will train in varied low light conditions, such as a completely darkened room with Christmas lights on the wall or outside at night. The low light will play tricks on your eyes, which will force you to rely on other senses and improve your focus. This can be dangerous, so please be careful at first and always use gear. 
  2. Blind Fighting: Wearing a blindfold while sparring/grappling. Same rules apply here as they did for Low Light Fighting- wear gear and be careful. Make sure there isn't anything that someone can fall on and hurt themselves and in both Low Light and Blind Fighting, it is best to have a third person as a spotter to make sure everyone is safe. 
  3. Sensitivity Training: Stand in front of your opponent, arms touching and try to touch your opponent using your arms to feel how they are moving. After a while you can get faster, but go slow at first. If you know any chi sao from Wing Chun, you can do that in this case. 
  4. Rave: Loud music of some sort and a strobe light. You will have to sharpen your focus to it's uttermost to train in these conditions, but if you can effectively fight in the slow-motion illusion of strobe lighting and loud music, you can just about fight anywhere. 
  5. Touch and Go: Have your training partner stand behind you while holding a target or pad and tap you somewhere on your body. Your immediate response is to turn around the strike the target as quickly as possible. You can also do this training with increasingly lighter touches or substitute the touching for soft sounds as a signal for attack. 

If you combine all five of these training methods into your existing training, it will keep you from getting bored in your training and it will develop your skills in varied ways. Goku didn't just get stronger and faster with Kami's training, he learned how to use his body efficiently and how to effectively use all of his senses. 

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That's all for today. Hope you guys enjoyed it! Until next time, good luck and train hard!

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Sendou's Basic Training

A few of you requested that I do a workout based on Takeshi Sendou. It was stated that when Ippo and Sendou met the first time that Ippo had a very strong lower body and amazing balance to be able to deliver very powerful punches, Sendou was able to hit just as hard as Ippo using an even stronger upper body.  Sendou is a fighter who relies fully on his offensive capabilities to the point of outright neglect of his defense. He makes up for this with ridiculous reflexes and instinct, built from fighting in the streets for the majority of his life. This particular workout will focus on Sendou pre-Ippo.


Sendou's Basic Training


Morning

  1. MAX Push-ups
  2. MAX Sit-ups
  3. Overhead Press- 8 Reps
  4. Biceps Curls- 8 Reps
3 Rounds, then

  • Run 3 Miles



4-6 Hours Later
  1. 3 Minutes Shadowboxing
  2. 3 Minutes Mitt Work
  3. 3 Minutes Heavy Bag
  4. Practice the Smash- 15 Reps Each Side
2 Rounds, then
  • Sparring- 3 x 3 Minute Rounds



Notes:

  • This workout focuses a little more on strength-building than some of the other basic Ippo workouts, but that's just more Sendou's style. 
  • You can use a barbell, dumbbells, or kettlebells for your presses and curls, but whatever you do, you should not be able to complete more than 8 reps with whatever weight you pick. 
  • During your mitt work and bag work, it's not really necessary to practice holding your hands up, because Sendou's full-power style is just concerned with putting more and more strength into every punch, so try to focus on that. 
That's all for today! Until next time, good luck and train hard! 

Sendou just hits things... Really freakin' hard.






Saturday, June 16, 2012

And the winner of the Real Anime Training Inspiration Contest is...

jaxblade07!!!!!




Thanks to everyone who entered! It was really close and I really enjoyed all of the videos! After I get jaxblade07 his shirt, they'll be available for everyone.

Hope to have many more contests!! Really enjoyed seeing the entries!

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Strength Training: The Basics

Decided I'd go ahead and throw this one out there for anyone who is just starting with weights. This is not meant to be an exhaustive, all-inclusive undertaking on my part, but merely an attempt to explain the basics of strength training in general.

You can strength train using your bodyweight, machines, and free weights. They each have their place in training and can be used to accomplish different things. Bodyweight exercises allow for greater body control and strength within a lot of different movements, both controlled and explosive. Machines allow for specific ranges of motions and particular movements to be trained that may be hard with free weights or bodyweight exercises. Free weights allow, in general, for the greatest development of "maximal strength;" that is to say, the most amount of weight that you can possibly lift or the greatest amount of force that you can generate.

The point of strength training, as is in most types of training, is to progress. You don't want to lift the same weight for the same number of reps every single week, because you won't get any stronger. We're gonna talk about this in very simple terms. The simplest way to increase your strength is to lift or exert near maximal force during an exercise. The further away you get from that maximal force, the more you're entering into the realm of muscular conditioning and endurance work (which are both important, to be sure, but not the subject of our current discussion).

For example, say that your maximal lift is 100lbs, meaning that you can only lift it once, and you wanted to increase your strength. The number of reps you can perform with lower weights will correspond to certain percentages of this maximum lift. A good range to lift in for muscular strength is 4-8 reps, which corresponds to about 80-90% of your maximal strength. That means you'd be lifting 90lbs for 5 reps or 80lbs for 8 reps. You can do this for about 3-6 reps depending on your level of fitness. Of course there are other methods of strength training, but this is just an example.

A good progression when you can lift more according to the above percentages, is to increase your working sets by 5%. For instance, when you are performing 8 reps with the weight with which you were previously performing 4 reps, you can increase the weight for that by 5%. So, instead of doing 90lbs, you would do 94.5lbs (rounding up or down if necessary) and use that weight until you can do it for 8 reps. After several weeks of this progression, it will be time to test your strength. I'd say a good benchmark would be about 12 weeks. This is for two reasons: 1) It gives you sufficient time to progress using the training program and 2) You'll surprise yourself when you find out just how much you're able to lift.

Testing


When you're ready to test your strength, you'll want to take the the last working set that you did with 4 reps and add about 10%. If you previously lifted 105lbs for 4 reps, you'll want to use a load of about 115lbs for your one rep max.  Here's an example test based on the above numbers:

Warm-up Set: Easy 10 Reps with 80lbs
Set 1: 1 Rep Max with 115lbs
Set 2: 1 Rep Max with 120lbs
Set 3: 1 Rep Max with 125lbs

The reason I have the additional sets is that if you are able to complete the maximal lift, you should attempt the a higher weight. If you fail on your first attempt, be sure to give it another go, but perhaps drop the weight slightly and work it back up.

If you're lifting weights, is always good to have a spotter, so please do so.

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Hopefully, this shed a little light on maximal lifts for those of you not familiar with weight lifting. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments.

Until next time, good luck and train hard!

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Naruto Ninja Movement 2.0- Workout #5

This workout is a little different. It's called 5,000lbs. The basic idea of the workout is you have a group of objects, either the same thing or different things, that weigh a total of 5,000lbs (you could have a bunch of sandbags, a pile of bricks, weight plates from the gym, or even a stack of lumber) and you move it from one place to another 50 Yards away. When all of the objects have been moved, the workout is over. 

Some finer points to consider:
  • You have to carry everything. You cannot drag it or use any tools to move things.
  • You may use any type of carry at any point during the workout: Front Carry, Shoulder Carry, Fireman's Carry, Farmer's Carry, etc.
  • If you do not have 5,000 lbs worth of stuff, you can complete the workout by doing multiple "sets." For instance, after you've moved 1,000 lbs worth of stuff from one place to another, move it back. That equals 2,000lbs. Move it again and that is 3,000 lbs.  I think you get where I'm going with this. 
  • The faster you complete the workout, the better, so you'll have to decide whether you want to carry less, move faster, and make more trips OR carry more, move slower, and make fewer trips. The workout is about the amount of work completed. You get it done on your own time. 

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I know I've been doing a bunch of these workouts recently, but I'll get back on track shortly with some different stuff for you guys!

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Naruto Ninja Movement 2.0- Workout #4

1. 30 Push-ups, Sit-ups, and Squats
2. Running- 10 Minutes
3. 30 Push-ups, Sit-ups, and Squats
4. Climbing Trees- 10 Minutes
5. 30 Push-ups, Sit-ups, and Squats
6. Free Running- 10 Minutes
7. 30 Push-ups, Sit-ups, and Squats
8. Climbing Trees- 10 Minutes
9. 30 Push-ups, Sit-ups, Squats, and Pull-ups
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If you guys don't know anything about parkour or free running, be sure to look it up and go easy if it's your first time. Don't do anything beyond your skill level and always stay safe.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Naruto Ninja Movement 2.0- Workout #2

Naruto Ninja Movement 2.0- Workout #2

1. Run 400 Meters
2. Farmer's Walk- 200 Meters w/30lbs per hand
3. 25 Burpees w/Farmer's Walk Weight (w/push-up and jump)
4. Farmer's Walk- 200 Meters w/same weight
--AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) in 20 Minutes, followed by

1. 2 Mile Run, every 3 minutes, do 10 Burpees
2. 100 Meter Balance Walk


Notes:

  • There is no rest during this workout. 
  • When doing the Farmer's Walk, you can run if you like, but please be careful not to trip. 
  • The burpees with the weights are going to be murder and it's going to slow you down, but just keep pushing through. 
  • Fortunately, the good thing about obstacle courses is that even if you aren't a super strong runner, you can still pick up some time by having overall good strength and fitness, so that's why you really won't see many long stretches of running in these workouts. 
That's all for today! Until next time, good luck and train hard!


Monday, June 4, 2012

Contest update

Well, the contest is over and we have three entries. I will announce the winner mid-June!

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Delay

Had a lot of personal and work stuff this week. Look forward to more content soon!

Sorry, guys!

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