# Hello from Orange County, CA



## FeederOfTrolls (Mar 20, 2009)

Hello everyone,

I am a 30 year old Software engineer and looking to get back into martial arts, specifically Tang Soo Do. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my old sensei, from when I was 13 years old, is still practicing and I'm looking forward to attending his classes again. I'm already going to the gym daily for 30 minute workouts so and after a couple of months of that I feel like I'm ready to tackle martial arts again.

So, knowing that I believe that I have two large hurdles that I will have to work past. The first is my weight. I'm afraid that for years I did not take adequate care of my health in the pursuit of my professional career. Now I'm going to reverse that, but by my own calculations I have about 40 pounds to lose to return to my high school weight of 190. Of course, back then I was in track, wrestling, and football so I was exercising a lot and had a ton of muscle. I don't have that kind of time now. I'm hoping someone here will have recommendations about correcting this. 

The second hurdle is flexibility. I'm no where near as limber as I was, but I think I have a means of correcting this. I'm looking into dance warm ups and yoga exercises to develop a little more flexibility. Hopefully that will help.

So, that being said, hello! I look forward to participating in the community here and hopefully getting some advice.


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## 14 Kempo (Mar 20, 2009)

Hello and welcome to MartialTalk ... good luck on your journey, it's been a while, so that journey begins here ... enjoy!


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## IcemanSK (Mar 20, 2009)

Welcome to MT. 

All my best in your return to MT.


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## arnisador (Mar 20, 2009)

Welcome! Good luck!


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## exile (Mar 20, 2009)

Good to have you with us, FT.

The short answer to your dilemma is high intensity resistance training and high intensity cardio. So far as the first goes, find a gym with a power rack, load up the weights on your bench and shoulder presses, and do very, very short range reps at very heavy weights. Not right away, but over time, working in your strongest leverage range, you can (it sounds like, from what you say) work up to fearsomely heavy workouts. For cardio, do interval training. Two fifteen or twenty minute runds a week, where every minute of each run consists of fifty seconds jogging and ten seconds of all out sprint, will do your cardiovascular system and metabolism more good than a moderate jog for an hour every day. Intervals ramp your metabolism up and _keep_ it up, burning fat, long after the effects of moderate exercise have faded. And it takes much less time. It's also much more unpleasant... but nothing comes for free, eh?

For flexibility, work on dynamic stretches à la Thomas Kurz. Practice chambering , to get strength and balance in your legs back. Do slow kicking drills: very slow extensions, freezing in place and holding it in the fully extended position. Most of all, be patient. Give yourself six months to a year to get back 'in the zone'. It took you a long time to get out of condition; getting back in top shape is not going to happen overnight. The most important thing you need for the job is persistence and willpower. If those are there, nothing can stop you.


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## seasoned (Mar 20, 2009)

Welcome to MT.


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## FeederOfTrolls (Mar 20, 2009)

exile said:


> Good to have you with us, FT.
> 
> The short answer to your dilemma is high intensity resistance training and high intensity cardio. So far as the first goes, find a gym with a power rack, load up the weights on your bench and shoulder presses, and do very, very short range reps at very heavy weights. Not right away, but over time, working in your strongest leverage range, you can (it sounds like, from what you say) work up to fearsomely heavy workouts. For cardio, do interval training. Two fifteen or twenty minute runds a week, where every minute of each run consists of fifty seconds jogging and ten seconds of all out sprint, will do your cardiovascular system and metabolism more good than a moderate jog for an hour every day. Intervals ramp your metabolism up and _keep_ it up, burning fat, long after the effects of moderate exercise have faded. And it takes much less time. It's also much more unpleasant... but nothing comes for free, eh?
> 
> For flexibility, work on dynamic stretches à la Thomas Kurz. Practice chambering , to get strength and balance in your legs back. Do slow kicking drills: very slow extensions, freezing in place and holding it in the fully extended position. Most of all, be patient. Give yourself six months to a year to get back 'in the zone'. It took you a long time to get out of condition; getting back in top shape is not going to happen overnight. The most important thing you need for the job is persistence and willpower. If those are there, nothing can stop you.



Exile, thank you very much for this. This is a great response and if I could more than a "thank you" I would.

In regards to the exercising, I had been doing isolation exercises (curls, bench, etc). I'll change that up. I'm already sort of working up to big weights, I'm at 700 pounds on the incline leg press in sets of 10 (and getting pretty high on squats). After that workout, though, I'm sweating like a horse and feeling like I've run 5 miles.

When I was in High School I used to lift Olympic-style with Clean & jerk and Snatch, but understandably most gyms won't allow that. However, I've never encountered an exercise that built strength faster.

Oh, and when you mention a Power Rack, did you mean  the squat rack (with bench) or  a rack with what appears to be a resistance-style weight? I'm guessing the former but I just want to be clear.

I will begin the jogging style you mentioned, I'll make sure I incorporate it into my nightly dog walk (ah, the joys of puppy ownership ). Hopefully my wife won't mind walking alone too much until I'm done and we can continue our walk.

Currently I do a 15 minute cardio exercise that is 50% jog, 50% high incline jog. I'll see if I can't get a different kind of exercise in at the gym... or if I should just do weight lifting at the gym and do the jogging at home. It would certainly give me more time on the weights. 

My wife has taken up dancing as a hobby, so she's always right there to provide stretching advice. I'll look for the Kruz book and see if we can't incorporate that into our bi-weekly stretches.


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## exile (Mar 20, 2009)

FeederOfTrolls said:


> In regards to the exercising, I had been doing isolation exercises (curls, bench, etc). I'll change that up.



My own preference, for what it's worth, is the big compound exercisesbenches and presses, and leg presses on the machine (my back just isn't strong enough for superheavy squats, even with a Manatee and very short reps). For that sort of thing, the power rack reigns supreme. 



FeederOfTrolls said:


> I'm already sort of working up to big weights, I'm at 700 pounds on the incline leg press in sets of 10 (and getting pretty high on squats).



700 lbs is a _very_ good weightbut if you've been doing those with moderately full reps, you can shorten the rep considerably and add another 250 or more lbs right off the bat to your stack. And all of that weight will go to strengthen your quads (as well as promote muscle growth generally).  



FeederOfTrolls said:


> After that workout, though, I'm sweating like a horse and feeling like I've run 5 miles.



Yeah, there's little that blasts your legs quite like a heavy session on the leg press machine!



FeederOfTrolls said:


> When I was in High School I used to lift Olympic-style with Clean & jerk and Snatch, but understandably most gyms won't allow that. However, I've never encountered an exercise that built strength faster.



Those kinds of lifts are extremely demanding, because of the way that penalize you for anything less than full explosive power. I'm also inclined to think, though, that 'time under tension' is an important growth stimulus also, and you can get that optimally, I thing, with a few sets of fairly rapid very heavy weights in the optimal leveral range for your skeletal structure. I've followed the Sisco/Little 'power factor' regime for a long time and have found it very productive....



FeederOfTrolls said:


> Oh, and when you mention a Power Rack, did you mean  the squat rack (with bench) or  a rack with what appears to be a resistance-style weight? I'm guessing the former but I just want to be clear.



It's the squat rack I had in mind. Terrific for doing lifts that would be dangerous to do even with a spotter at the heavy weights that short, strongest-range reps allow. It's a real comfort knowing that should something go wrong and you drop that 365 or whatever you're benching, the weight will crash onto the cross rods, not your chest. 



FeederOfTrolls said:


> I will begin the jogging style you mentioned, I'll make sure I incorporate it into my nightly dog walk (ah, the joys of puppy ownership ). Hopefully my wife won't mind walking alone too much until I'm done and we can continue our walk.
> 
> Currently I do a 15 minute cardio exercise that is 50% jog, 50% high incline jog. I'll see if I can't get a different kind of exercise in at the gym... or if I should just do weight lifting at the gym and do the jogging at home. It would certainly give me more time on the weights.
> 
> My wife has taken up dancing as a hobby, so she's always right there to provide stretching advice. I'll look for the Kruz book and see if we can't incorporate that into our bi-weekly stretches.



Kurz has thought the whole stretching thing through probably more carefully than anyone else. His research on the benefits of controlled dynamic stretching, as vs.  strictly static stretches, is very important, I think, particulary for MAists, where the nature of the body movements is so explosive and abrupt. _Stretching Scientifically_ is his major work to date on this. I think it's probably as good as we currently can get on the topic of flexibility.... anyway, good luck with your program. Sounds to me as though it won't take you all that long to get back in great form, compared with a lot of folks who really haven't had much experience with the iron.


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## David Weatherly (Mar 21, 2009)

Welcome to MT!


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## Tames D (Mar 21, 2009)

Welcome. What part of the Orange Curtain do you live behind?
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 I grew up in OC and most of my family and friends are there.


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## girlbug2 (Mar 21, 2009)

Hello from the OC right back at ya!


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## JBrainard (Mar 21, 2009)

Ave.


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## FeederOfTrolls (Mar 21, 2009)

Exile, once again, thank you. That was very informative!

On another note, I had my first... I guess I don't know what the word is. Training session? I think it went well, though I am as out of shape as I feared. My biggest issue was sore muscles from the past week at the gym. I might have overdone it a bit. The group on Saturday is quite small, and composed entirely of advanced belts, so I'm on an off course from the rest of them. Still, I learn a lot doing my basics and watching them out of the corner of my eye. I think I'll get back in the swing of things quickly. Hopefully my balance will return soon since any kick that required me to pivot left me completely unbalanced. I spent a good hour this evening practicing just the pivot.



QUI-GON said:


> Welcome. What part of the Orange Curtain do you live behind?
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I grew up in Costa Mesa, but currently I line in Laguna Hills. My dojan is in Costa Mesa, so I have commute of about 10 miles to get there.



girlbug2 said:


> Hello from the OC right back at ya!



Heya! Glad to see a fellow South Coaster!


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## MasterWright (Mar 22, 2009)

Welcome, and good luck. Just don't over-do it trying to get back into shape. 

I'm sure that you will be fine, but we don't want you to get discouraged by some injuries.


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## FeederOfTrolls (Mar 23, 2009)

MasterWright said:


> Welcome, and good luck. Just don't over-do it trying to get back into shape.
> 
> I'm sure that you will be fine, but we don't want you to get discouraged by some injuries.



Thank you! I'll do my very best not to debilitate myself. I have a vested interest in that.


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## Hand Sword (Mar 27, 2009)

Best of luck. Welcome!


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## Aikicomp (Mar 27, 2009)

Welcome and happy posting. As far as getting back into shape...slow and steady wins the race.

Michael


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