Pneumatised!

MM,

Saturday, April 15, 2006

I went to the do jang for the class at noon. It’s a mixed youth and adult class, which makes it interesting sometimes. I was up early on Saturday for some reason, so I thought I should just get some do jang time in.

After class, I went home. (Nathan and I planned on seeing a movie that night. :))

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Nathan and I went to the gym.

I started my workout by doing 20 minutes on the bicycle. Really good work for my quads. 🙂 Then I did the following exercises:

Leg lifts
Pull-ups (aka chin-ups, military and parallel)
Dips
Leg press
Hamstring flexor (called seated leg curls)
Hip adductors
Hip abductors
Chest press
Seated row
Bar pulls (I think this is called the lateral pull-downs; it works the muscles next to the scapulae on the back)
Shoulder fly
Shoulder lift (this is called the shoulder press)
Back extensor

Free weights:
Pectoral fly (lie down with weight in each hand, arms extended; pull hands together at arm’s length in front of chest)
Two shoulder exercises (no idea what they are called; someone showed them to me)
Situps (on a incline bench; worked out the obliques as well by doing double punches during the situp)
Bicep curls
Squats with weights
Push-ups

After the gym, we headed home. We ran 1.19 miles (1.9km) from Bay and Bloor to Davenport at Bay to Yonge at Church, then down Church to Isabella to home. My time was 10 minutes 33 seconds. Next time, for a mile and a half from the gym, we’d have to start at the south-east exit of Manulife Centre, run to St. Thomas at Charles, then north on St. Thomas to Bloor st, then east on Bloor to Bay, then north on Bay to Davenport, then south on Davenport to Yonge & Church, and continue down Church street to home. As the weather was warm, it was a nice day for a run. Though I do have to say it’s quite hard to run after my quads were worn out from the bicycle earlier.

BB,
Cassandrah
Being fit and healthy is not a life goal – it’s a life
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

Finally, I got some exercise this week (and some work done)!

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Nathan and I went to the gym. I skipped out on the do jang. I just wasn’t in the mood and have been a workaholic lately, my mind wasn’t into it. But the gym is easy to do even if my mind is mulling over some things in my head.

Leg lifts
Pull-ups (aka chin-ups, military and parallel)
Dips
Leg press
Hamstring flexor (called seated leg curls)
Hip adductors
Hip abductors
Chest press
Bar pulls (works the muscles next to the scapulae on the back)
Seated row
Shoulder fly
Shoulder lift
Back extensor

Free weights:
Pectoral fly (lie down with weight in each hand, arms extended; pull hands together at arm’s length in front of chest)
Situps and side situps

After, we decided to try out the stationary bikes. The ellipticals were completely occupied and I figured the bike is good for my quads. I did 10 minutes on the bike, which is decent since it’s been a long while last I’ve been on one. The last time was when I was doing physiotherapy for my knee, over two years ago. I stopped doing the bike then because it was really hard to get used to it after knee surgery. Six months after the bike still hurt. As some of you know who have been reading, I have been more into the running and it helps. But I have been thinking that I needed something else to work my quads more. The leg press is fine, but it doesn’t isolate the quads as much. Anyway, I was happy to be able to do 10 minutes on the bike without having to stop and let my leg rest (which is what happened when I was recovering from surgery).

After the gym, Nathan and I walked home instead of running. The bike worked out my quads. I felt the burn in my quads so much that afterwards I didn’t think my knee could handle running, but the walking did the knee and my quads some good. Stretched the muscles out a bit.

When we got home, I practiced some candle begi (sword cutting). I’m getting better. It feels like I should be able to snuff two candles out soon. Such hard work, the sword cutting. It works primarily the biceps, triceps, and forearm muscles. Secondarily, it works out the shoulders (but be careful because you can easily pull the shoulder muscles if your technique is even slightly off – I did this last Wednesday and I was sore for nearly a week!), the stomach, and the latissimus dorsi (back side muscles). The candle begi was good to do after going to the gym because my muscles were feeling toned for it.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

I finally dragged myself out to the do jang. I have had a busy week getting work done, writing like crazy. I thought I needed a change of pace and I was starting to miss the do jang. Yeah, I miss my crazy taekwondo Master when I don’t go in for a while. Much respect to him, and he seems to like me enough. I missed the gumdo class though. I was up early in the morning with very little sleep. (Around the full moon I get the weirdest dreams – sometimes they snap me awake – and I can’t get to sleep again for a while.) So, I fell asleep again in the afternoon and woke up only around 5:30 – too late to make it to gumdo. That’s okay though because I practiced candle begi on Tuesday. If I remember, I’ll practice on Friday.

Taekwondo class was good. We got to practice on whatever kicks we wanted with our partner. I went through most of the kicks I wanted to work on. Still have good technique even though I was away for a while (nearly two weeks). Anyway, I’m hoping I’ll be able to make it to the do jang more often on the weekends and go whenever I can during the week. It’s kind of hard to make a good schedule while I still have to write the reiki manuals. Basically, I need to be in the do jang Mondays and Wednesdays if I plan on helping teach patterns class (which I like doing and frankly am quite good at – teaching and doing them). Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, there’s gumdo class. If I want to keep up with swords I have to be in on those days. But the weekends are going to be a regular thing from May to the beginning of July since I’m supposed to test for my second dan. 😀

After the do jang, I went to the gym to meet up with Nathan. My exercises are listed below. I’m trying to remember the actual name of the machines to make it easier for people if they need to know exactly what I’m doing.

Leg lifts
Pull-ups (aka chin-ups, military and parallel)
Dips
Leg press
Hamstring flexor (called seated leg curls)
Hip adductors
Hip abductors
Chest press
Bar pulls (I think this is called the lateral pull-downs; it works the muscles next to the scapulae on the back)
Shoulder fly
Shoulder lift (this is called the shoulder press)

Free weights:
Pectoral fly (lie down with weight in each hand, arms extended; pull hands together at arm’s length in front of chest)
Two shoulder exercises (no idea what they are called; someone showed them to me)
Situps (on a incline bench; worked out the obliques as well by doing double punches during the situp)

We also tried out the squat cages (the ones with the bar attached that moves up and down). Basically, you hold the bar on your shoulders and do normal squats. Just to get the feeling of the motion, we did it first with just the bar and then added weights. I added 10 lbs to begin with. While I can leg press around 230 lbs, I decided to lower the weight for the bar squats because I wanted to try squatting so that my legs were at 90 degree angles. This turned out to be very good for my quads, which is what I assumed. Now, I’m thinking this will be an addition to my weight training regimen.

After all the weight training, we got on the bikes just before the gym closed. We did 10 minutes just in time. It was good to do the bike again. Although my quads (in my right leg) are still quite sore, I barely felt anything on the bike this time. I didn’t feel too tired – felt like I could easily do 20 minutes next time.

Then we headed home after the gym closed. We didn’t run, as I has my backpack with my taekwondo gear in it. We walked home at our usual brisk pace.

Tomorrow is Good Friday. The do jang is closed so it means no gumdo class tomorrow. BUT… good news is the do jang is open on the weekend. I really have to make myself get up early on Saturday and Sunday again. Need those classes. I’m thinking tomorrow I should try a mile and half run and do some more candle begi. Somewhere in there I’ll get some more writing and work done. 😉

BB,
Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

I have once again been a workaholic as of late – not enough exercise.

I did manage to squeeze in a workout last Tuesday (April 4). Nathan and I ran a half mile, then went to the gym. My time for the half mile was I did 4 minutes 48 seconds.

At the gym, we did some more cardio. I did 10 minutes on the stepmaster. Then we did our weight training.

Leg lifts
Pull-ups (aka chin-ups, military and parallel)
Dips
Leg press
Hamstring flexor (called seated leg curls)
Hip adductors
Hip abductors
Chest press
Bar pulls (works the muscles next to the scapulae on the back)
Seated row
Shoulder fly
Shoulder lift
Back extensor

Free weights:
Pectoral fly (lie down with weight in each hand, arms extended; pull hands together at arm’s length in front of chest)
Bicep curl
Two shoulder exercises (no idea what they are called; someone showed them to me)
Wrist strengthening
Situps

After, we ran straight back from the gym, which is just about 1 km. My time was around 5 minutes. (Unfortunately, I didn’t save it on my phone, but I remember it comparable to the time I did for a half mile.)

Wednesday night, since I missed gumdo practice on Tuesday, I practiced candle begi (candle snuffing with a sword). It has been so long since I practiced that that it took me a while to get used to it again. I must have practiced between 200 and 300 sword cuts. I have to snuff out two candles on my next sword test, and I needed to practice. It’s damn hard to snuff out more than one candle with a sword. One is easy. The problem when there’s more than one candle is you may actually snuff one out, but then the candle that didn’t go out will re-light the one you snuffed out. Argh! This is more frustrating and difficult that board breaking! Hehe. At least, if you don’t break the board, you still hit the thing. You cannot hit the candle to snuff it out. That’s not the point. Candle begi is a test of how well you control your sword. Cut down swiftly and quickly stop the sword precisely where you need it to blow out the candle. Anyway, I can definitely see how some people eventually can cut watermelons and cucumbers off someone’s abdomen. All I know is right now don’t let me try that on anyone! Anyway, I got good sword cutting practice in Wednesday night even if I missed gumdo and taekwondo all last week. (And yes, I still managed to blow out one candle on its own.) This just means that I have to get to class this week. This weekend is Easter weekend – I’m expecting the do jang will be closed, so I have to go during the week. Tonight is gumdo and taekwondo. I’m making myself go (despite my workaholic brain telling me to stay home and work), and if I don’t, Nathan is allowed to kick me in the butt. 😉

BB,
Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Nathan and I went to the gym. I have been writing most of this week so far, so I decided I needed to get some exercise at the gym.

First, I did the stepmaster. Ended up doing 21 floors in 10 minutes. Then we did the following exercises.

Leg lifts
Pull-ups (again military and parallel)
Dips
Leg press (we started using a slightly different leg press that is a little harder on the quads because you don’t use your glutes as much)
Hamstring flexor (called seated leg curls)
Hip adductors
Hip abductors
Chest press
Bar pulls (works the muscles next to the scapulae on the back)
Seated row
Shoulder fly
Shoulder lift
Back extensor

Free weights:
Pectoral fly (lie down with weight in each hand, arms extended; pull hands together at arm’s length in front of chest)
Bicep curl
Two shoulder exercises (no idea what they are called; someone showed them to me)
Wrist strengthening
Side situps and jack-knives

After we ran 1 mile from Yonge and Bloor via Church Street. My time was 8 minutes 33 seconds. It’s starting to feel like spring 🙂 and the run felt good. Without the cold air in my lungs so much I felt like I could increase my time for the 1 mile again. I should be able to do mile and half easier now and maybe next time I will try to push the speed.

Friday, March 31, 2006

Friday is gumdo day. I’ve missed doing the sword martial art. I have been an orange belt for six months. Mostly because I’ve been too busy to go to gumdo and have primarily been focussed on taekwondo and getting loads of writing and some other work done lately. But Friday I made myself go in. It was easier to do because Nathan went to aikido and I said, “Let’s go to the gym after. I’ll be motivated to go to the do jang if we have to go to the gym after.” Gumdo class on Friday is good because there is more time for the instructor to teach us things and he likes to correct our techniques and point out what we may be doing wrong (i.e., like swinging our sword out to the side too far where it may potentially pull on the shoulder – not good). We worked on our patterns of course. And I got a few more pointers on my techniques. I never think of this as correcting, but rather information that I may not have known. (If only other students would take that perspective when someone tries to help them, but that is another story and rant.) Anyway, like I said I like getting extra tips and information especially if it makes complete sense (as in it will give more power to the technique or make it feel more natural). At 7:30 I had to leave to meet Nathan and go to the gym.

When I got to the gym, I did some cardio on the elliptical. I did 0.98 miles in 10 minutes. Then I did the following exercises.

Leg lifts
Pull-ups (again military and parallel)
Dips
Leg press
Hamstring flexor (called seated leg curls)
Hip adductors
Hip abductors
Chest press
Shoulder fly
Shoulder lift

Free weights:
Pectoral fly (lie down with weight in each hand, arms extended; pull hands together at arm’s length in front of chest)

The gym closes at 9 p.m. on Fridays, so Nathan and I didn’t have time to do a full workout – next time.

Tomorrow there’s another black belt meeting at the do jang. I realize this is supposed to help us help the Master with the running of the do jang, but frankly it’s his do jang and he can do what he wants. I think it’s nice he wants our opinion, but I wouldn’t really argue with the things he does. He’s a good guy. There are issues that come up that I suppose he likes to have us help him with, so I suppose it’s a good thing we have these meetings. However, they do take up time and for those who know how meetings can be like… well, yes, it happens sometimes too for martial artists – we aren’t perfect people. This time we are having training too. We haven’t had black belt training for awhile, so I’m expecting this to be good. Need some traditional martial arts training.

Now, get this… tomorrow is April Fool’s Day. Yeah, that’s right, it’s April Fool’s Training Day. Hehe… you “normal” people must think us martial artists are well… fools! Whatever. It’s who we are and who I am. So deal.

Blessings,
Cassandrah
(who has a lot to say, but not enough time to say it all because she does sooo much)
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

I went to the do jang last night. Our track suits are finally in, so yay! I picked up mine. Cool. I need a track suit to go running in and I needed a new spring jacket. It’s black with my do jang crest on the front and red lettering on the back.

I took the 7 p.m. class and then took the half hour crazy kicking class after. I was so tired for some reason. My knee was bothering me a little. It’s strange but sometimes it’s easier just to do cardio kicks rather than the traditional martial arts style. 🙁 Overall, though I prefer the martial arts style because it’s about proper technique and not just speed. You can build speed after you get the techniques right. I’ve seen many people who have speed, but shoddy technique.

Today is a beautiful spring day. 😀 About time. I feel more awake and I need to get work done. Thus, I’m stuck at home working, but have the cats curled up beside me. Hehe… it’s actually a nice life.

BB,
Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

Saturday, March 25

Nathan and I went for a run. I have been needing to go for a run for a few days now. We planned on running the mile and a half route, but by the time I got to one mile I was crapping up in the side. I hate those. It was stupid really. I ate and drank – not plenty, mind you – about half an hour before running. For me, I don’t exercise well until about two hours after ingesting food or drink. My cramps was all my fault. I should have known better. But I did run a good mile before giving up totally and I wasn’t even that tired – I was just barely warming up. My time for a whole mile was 8 minutes 36 seconds. After the mile I had to walk the rest of the way home. Walking with a cramped side, it took me just under 12 minutes to cover a half mile. It occurs to me that running I cover the same distance in a third of the time it takes to walk. Not bad – it means that my running pace is quite efficient. That’s something to be happy about. 🙂

Sunday, March 26

Nathan and I headed out the gym in the afternoon. We walked there because I had just eaten only about thirty minutes earlier – I was not about to repeat the same thing as the other day and get side cramps. We did our weight training circuit – see the exercises below.

Leg lifts
Pull-ups (again military and parallel)
Dips
Leg press
Hamstring flexor (called seated leg curls)
Hip adductors
Hip abductors
Chest press
Bar pulls (works the muscles next to the scapulae on the back)
Seated row
Shoulder fly
Shoulder lift
Tricep extensor
Back extensor

Free weights:
Pectoral fly (lie down with weight in each hand, arms extended; pull hands together at arm’s length in front of chest)
Bicep curl
Two shoulder exercises (no idea what they are called; someone showed them to me)
Wrist strengthening
Situps

Now considerably more time had elapsed since I ate, I did some cardio using the stepmaster machine. I did 21 floors in 10 minutes. After, we headed home by walking to Yonge and Bloor and from there running one mile. I’m glad to say I wasn’t cramping up nearly so bad as the other day. There was slight cramping, but not enough to make me want to stop running. I also slowed down a little bit just to be sure I did cramp up badly again. My time for the mile run was 9 minutes 12 seconds.

Now, some good news. I received a few days ago an email from my do jang saying that our track suits have arrived! Yay! I will now have a lovely new track suit to go running in. It will help keep me warm and hopefully be more comfortable to run in than my old high school soccer sweat shirt. It will also be stylish too. The front will have a small crest representing my do jang, World TKD, and on the back it will say “World TKD” in red lettering. The track suit is black. Cool! Tomorrow I’m going to go pick up mine. It’s been in for a few days. Of course, they arrived on a day when I couldn’t go to the do jang as I had to other places to be. Go figure.

BB,
Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

I went to the do jang for gumdo and taekwondo. After taekwondo, I headed to the gym to meet Nathan for our weight training workout.

Leg lifts
Pull-ups (again military and parallel)
Dips
Leg press
Hamstring flexor (called seated leg curls)
Hip adductors
Hip abductors
Chest press
Bar pulls (works the muscles next to the scapulae on the back)
Seated row
Shoulder fly
Shoulder lift
Tricep extensor
Back extensor
Stomach curls

Free weights:
Pectoral fly (lie down with weight in each hand, arms extended; pull hands together at arm’s length in front of chest)
Bicep curl
Two shoulder exercises (no idea what they are called; someone showed them to me)
Wrist strengthening

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

I went to the do jang for taekwondo. I ended up helping the red belts practice all their patterns. After, I did the regular class. My knee was acting up for some reason, so I decided it was best to skip the half hour “crazy kicking class” (yes, it’s really called that) and go home and get some rest. There is no point in stressing out my knee and I probably need to go for a run again soon.

BB,
Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

Nathan and I went to my friend’s special hapkido training class at Deep Impactx. It was a good training session. We practiced some front falls and back falls. We also practiced some hapkido kicks, which are slightly different from taekwondo kicks. The kicks in hapkido are focused more on attacks to the lower body. Then we did a few hapkido self-defence techniques. We also did some breathing exercises and a little bit of meditation before and after class.

My friend is an excellent teacher with a background in a variety of martial arts from taekwondo to aikido as well as many different weapons techniques. To anyone interested in learning some practical self-defence, I would definitely recommend taking one of these classes. (Just click on the above link for more information.)

BB,
Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

I went to the do jang finally and took gumdo and taekwondo class. There was only six people in gumdo class which is nice because it’s easier to concentrate and see the teacher. I haven’t practiced swords in awhile so it was good for me. After I took taekwondo class. The last time I was in was exactly two weeks, so of course I go to class and my Master feels like making us spar. But… I wasn’t too tired for it. My knee was bothering me a little bit, but not too much. This time I could kind of ignore it.

After I left the do jang I headed to the gym to meet Nathan.

Leg lifts
Pull-ups (again military and parallel)
Dips
Leg press
Hamstring flexor (called seated leg curls)
Hip adductors
Hip abductors
Chest press
Bar pulls (works the muscles next to the scapulae on the back)
Pectoral press
Seated row
Shoulder fly
Shoulder lift
Tricep extensor
Back extensor
Stomach curls

Free weights:
Bicep curl
Two shoulder exercises (no idea what they are called; someone showed them to me)
Wrist strengthening

Side situps and stretching

It felt good to get some cardio and some weight training.

BB,
Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame