1000 Push Ups Day Five

Push ups done for today. The heating pad helped with muscle aggravation quite a bit.
See how tomorrow goes, its late now so keeping it short.
Sifu Masterson, Silent River Kung Fu, Alberta , Canada

1000 Push Ups Day Four

Today was rough.
It appears I can do three days in a row and the fourth day should be a rest day.
Anyways, thats just an observation. I am now experiencing muscle fatigue and local aggravation in my left arm, specifically the left bicep and the heel of my left palm. Sorry to go into such detail but I am journaling for my benefit and for the next time(not any time soon mind you).
I have to think something to do with my alignment is out if the left arm is giving me trouble. Not sure.
I did solve the palm heel problem by rolling up a sock and supporting my hand with it! Whatever works.
I think I will be firing up the heating pad tonite.
The muscle aggravation is not bad enough that I need to quit, it is just bad enough to suck the enthusiasm out of the challenge! Once again it is the battle of mind over body.
Sifu Masterson, Silent River Kung Fu, Alberta ,Canada

1000 Push Ups Day Three

I finished all my pushups by 7pm. Most of it was done at the gym today. The past three days have been relatively easy only because they have been days off, the challenge is going to be later on this week when I have to go back to work.
The upper body strength is hanging in there, however, I noticed my left arm bothering me near the end of today.
I think changing up the hand positions have helped alot in preventing total muscle exhaustion.
All for now,
Sifu Masterson, Silent River Kung Fu, Alberta, Canada

1000 Push Ups Day Two

Today was better than I expected. I thought for sure I would be extremely sore but maybe it has not kicked in yet.
It was a weight training day, so this morning I did pushups after every set. I had company for dinner so I had to finish up after they left but fortunately it was only 90 push ups to go.
Hopefully I won't be too sore tomorrow.
Sifu Masterson, Silent River Kung Fu, Alberta, Canada

Day One

Day One of my 1000 push ups went well. Had almost half done before I left the house today so it wasn't too bad to finish up when I got home.

On a second note, the tops of my hamstrings are sore. I have to credit Sifu Beckett for that. During the Blackbelt class she had us doing some kicking drills. She really emphasized keeping your supporting leg on the ground, meaning your heel does not lift off the ground as you swing your kick up. Very effective. I am always tight in the hamstrings, especially my left one where my kicks are noticeably different from right to left. I am interested to see what else she has up her sleeve!

Sifu Masterson, Silent River Kung Fu, Alberta ,Canada

Lazy on the Pushups

I have been bad with the pushups this week. I have missed 2 days completely and not completed my 140 on two other days.
Its not that I don't like doing them or I find them difficult, as a matter of fact they have become somewhat easy( in small sets of course). What has happened is I have started to blow them off because they are less of a challenge in my mind and I have focused on other aspects thinking I will do the pushups later. Of course later turns into tomorrow...oh how easy it is to fall back into the old ways!
So to snap myself out of it and put a challenge to myself, starting tomorrow which is Saturday, I will do 1000 a day for a week.( 7days and logging on each day).

Then book a massage!

JC Masterson
Silent River Kung Fu, Alberta, Canada

Conditioning Part Two

Tonight I finished the last class of the "police prep" fitness session.
It was twice a week for 6 weeks in duration.
The results were as follows:
Running/ pushup /lunge course - I shaved 17 seconds off.
Wide grip (palms facing out) chin ups increased by 1
situps - no change

So all in all not bad. If I could keep up the training it would be interesting to see what 3 months and 6 months would do for me. I must say doing it by myself would not be the same. The group of people I trained with had a high sense of comradeship, same as what you would find in any recruit class.
Some things I did learn from the class was the importance of finding your breathing pattern and rhythm for a particular physical task. I also see that some things should be worked on as slow as possible such as push ups and situps for maximum benefit while speed is the goal for sprinting, squat thrusts, stairs, etc.
The unfortunate realization, however, is the human body likes to do nothing. This conditioning class was all about fighting the body and the mind. As you push yourself, your legs and lungs turn to pins of fire and your mind screams at you to stop.
It is pretty cool to see how it does adapt, each week you find you have exceeded your previous limit just a little more.
The last thing we did as a group was a "Pursuit Challenge" One person was the pursuer while the other was the pursuee, then you switch. If you lost your bad guy you had to do 20 pushups, if you caught your bad guy they had to do 20 pushups. Turns out I am faster as a crook then a cop!.. go figure?
Anyways good course..it was fun!
JC Masterson, Silent River Kung fu, Alberta, Canada