Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy

Understanding Kung Fu for life, health and self defense

Matt - a simple hobbit's Blog (75)

Back to routine

It is good to be back home from the beach and ready for a normal week of life and training. Last week was intense. We had a great time with the in-laws, but given our small apartment, I gave up my bed and slept with friends in other places all week. I also normally do my training in our main room while Ava is taking a nap or in the evening, but that was a no-go because two people made their beds on that space. I trained elsewhere and actually got a good amount of time in and was able to reflect… Continue

Added by Matt - a simple hobbit on April 6, 2010 at 10:09pm — No Comments

Modifications

Life is fluid, as is training. I have found that I need to be good at both pushing towards goals with strong determination and also modifying when needed.

I have a few modifications to make in the next week ... some minor - some major. The most immediate modification is due to some of my in-laws coming out for five days. Now ... we live in a two bedroom apartment and three of them are coming to stay. I will no longer have a place to train (nor sleep really :) at home while they are… Continue

Added by Matt - a simple hobbit on March 30, 2010 at 2:17pm — No Comments

My last three days of training ... and completing the week.

Wednesday: P90X Shoulders and Arms - 1 hour. Green Belt Material: double sticks (heaven 6, standard 6, earth 6, roof

6, symbala 6, oneacho 6, and figure 8), stick and knife flow drills

(3-part right side, 5-part right side, 3-part left side, 5-part left

side, puno symbrata right side, puno symbrata left side, hubbub both

sides) and trapping lines - 20 minutes. Stick flow drills (3-part right side, 5-part right side, 3-part left side, 5-part left

side, puno symbrata… Continue

Added by Matt - a simple hobbit on March 12, 2010 at 3:10pm — 1 Comment

Glimpse of my last two days of training ...

Monday: Morning Hike: 40 minutes, P90X chest and back routine: 1 hour. Green Belt Material: double sticks (heaven 6, standard 6, earth 6, roof 6, symbala 6, oneacho 6, and figure 8), stick and knife flow drills (3-part right side, 5-part right side, 3-part left side, 5-part left side, puno symbrata right side, puno symbrata left side, hubbub both sides) - 20 minutes. Empty hand material: (3 part, 5 part, puno symbrata, and hubbud both sides) and all punches: 20 minutes. Kung Fu class at 6:00pm.… Continue

Added by Matt - a simple hobbit on March 9, 2010 at 4:42pm — No Comments

Sophie's eggs and update

My last two weeks have been good training weeks. I missed some plyrometric work-outs but I made up for them with hikes with my daughter in the backpack with friends at Cascade Head and the Oregon Coast Line.

The highlight to share was coming home with another box of Sophie's eggs. It was a Thursday night and I had just finished a back-to-back class. I headed up to Glacial Rock for some meditation following class. When I got home at 10:30pm Carla was reading in bed, nearly asleep. I… Continue

Added by Matt - a simple hobbit on March 7, 2010 at 10:44pm — No Comments

Minor adjustments in the short and long term

This past week I have had to make some minor adjustments to training and life goals. We had a large retreat for middle schooler this past weekend. It was a great time together, but I came back with something wrong with my thumb (intense dog pile moment), patches of poison oak, and sleep deprivation. It was worth it. We climbed a mountain, played lots of hoops, volleyball, and had intense pillow fights. Kung Fu has increased my pillow fighting skills exponentially. Thanks Mr. Bronson.

I… Continue

Added by Matt - a simple hobbit on February 24, 2010 at 6:01pm — 2 Comments

Following Mr. Bronson's lead

As you all know, since the new year we have been training in the new intensive format that Mr. Bronson has laid out for us. The beginning of the new year also marked the time that I achieved my green belt. For prior belt advancements I would take one private a month to get my new material. I would then add this new material to my weekly rhythm and practice each new piece once a week.

Around the new year I was speaking to Mr. Bronson about his our change in intensity during class time… Continue

Added by Matt - a simple hobbit on February 12, 2010 at 12:44pm — No Comments

Great beginning to February

It has been a great week and a half of training in February. I am feeling strong again following that sickness at the end of January. I have been able to practice my green belt material twice a day, and sometimes three times a day (my wife was in a conference in Canada while my daughter was at the beach with my parents ~ so much free time!).

It is about time to set up a private class to have Sifu Bronson fine tune my new material again.

Added by Matt - a simple hobbit on February 9, 2010 at 6:14pm — No Comments

January in Review

I am still partly in denial that it is February already. Time flies. It was a great month of training. My first three weeks of January were strong and fulfilled my goals. My last week I had the in-laws in town and I got sick (the in-laws were sick when they came). I had to tailor my week of training to be super slow flow drills and take a break from the weights, cardio, and plyrometrics. The sickness did give me more time to stretch. It also help me make time to get organized. I was able to… Continue

Added by Matt - a simple hobbit on February 4, 2010 at 3:52pm — 1 Comment

Green belt material

I was able to get the final pieces of my green belt material from Mr. Bronson today in a private class. I think he had a lot of fun with showing me the Jit Sao trapping. :)

I needed four more of the trapping lines. I hope to begin training these daily as I have with the rest of my green material. You may say to yourself, "Daily? That Datt Myment is over the top" This may be true, but - yes - daily. In order for me to ingrain new material I have found that I must give it attention… Continue

Added by Matt - a simple hobbit on January 27, 2010 at 7:59pm — No Comments

A slight adjustment with training

As we have embarked on this new way of training, I have decided to morph my weekly training outside of class just a bit. I no longer try to fit in hubub or joint locks outside of class for the moment. I am going to use the extra time to put towards my new green belt material. Here is my goal for a good week of training:

Monday: Chest and back, core, punches and empty hand flow drills. Kung-Fu class.

Tuesday: Plyrometrics, kicks.

Wednesday: Shoulders and arms.… Continue

Added by Matt - a simple hobbit on January 14, 2010 at 6:25pm — 1 Comment

the end of 09 and the beginning of 10

2009 was an amazing year for growing and learning. Here were some of my goals ...

Jan. 09 I was a Orange Belt. My goal was to become a Green Belt by Jan. 1, 2010. I achieved Green belt right before Christmas!

In Jan. 09 I was enrolled in a Higher Education degree program. I had eight classes left to finished the Masters program by 2010. I graduated with honors Dec. 14th 2009.

In Jan. 09 I committed to climb 5 mountain peaks in the year of 2009. I climbed Mt.… Continue

Added by Matt - a simple hobbit on January 12, 2010 at 2:09pm — No Comments

Strong week

It was a week for hard training. I decided to try to take it up a notch in anticipation that I may have a green belt test coming in the coming month. Here is my training in review.

Monday: Chest and back. Core. Punches. Empty Hand flow drills. Hubbud.

Tuesday: Plyrometrics. Kicks. Class (where we focused on kicks quite a bit!) Hubbud work before class.

Wednesday: Shoulders and arms. Core. Stick and knife flow drills. Class. Hubbud work before… Continue

Added by Matt - a simple hobbit on December 12, 2009 at 7:11pm — No Comments

week in reflection

It has been another good week of training, though Mr. Bronson reminded us all that we still have room to work on our stamina and strength last class with monkey slides and Bronson push-ups. Here is my week in review.

Monday - stretching following a 12 hour drive home from Montana

Tuesday - Back and chest, core, punches, and empty hand flow drills, Kung-fu class, worked on joint locks before class

Wednesday - Noon hoops at Linfield, knife and stick flow… Continue

Added by Matt - a simple hobbit on December 4, 2009 at 4:53pm — No Comments

Holiday Experiment continued

I posted last week on the other mountain warrior website that I am going to conduct an experiment over the holidays in terms of eating and exercising. I am going to exercise more than I normally do and say no to sweets. I normally do eat well, but also tend to try to respect others who make sweets for us over the holidays by eating them. That pile is getting way too big. So far so good, but the past week I met a worthy challenger. This Thanksgiving while in Montana, there were pies galore. I… Continue

Added by Matt - a simple hobbit on December 1, 2009 at 3:06pm — 1 Comment