Paleo Day 11

I was hurting this morning from the roll ups I was doing yesterday, so I sacked doing the plank today.

Morning exercise:

Chest press with kettle bell

Chest pull overs with kettle bell

Breakfast: none (by choice)

Lunch: sausages and eggs

Dinner: peri peri chicken selection of vegetables

Lunch exercise: 

Shoulder press 30x

Vertical rows 30x

One arm rows 30x

Curls 30x

Paleo Day 10

I have felt very tired again today which is more to do with life stress. Anyway managed to still do since good exercise today but was too busy with work for lunch time. That's ok rest is as good sometimes.

Morning exercises:

Plank 2 minutes 50 seconds

Roll ups 30x

Pressups 20x (the plank did me over)

Squats 30x

Breakfast: eggs and bacon and tomatoes

lunch: chicken soup and some biltong

Dinner: mixed root vegetables mash, meat balls and green beans

Still really tired but I'm watching Vikings so no sleep until Valhalla!

Will exercise on the morning but I'm planning a good hike/stair climbing on Saturday/Sunday. Though I might go fishing at the weekend too. 

Paleo day 10

I woke up at 4:30 in the morning and convinced myself it was 6:30. Put the light on got ready to do some reading only too realise it was bloody half for in the morning lol. Anyway so when I woke up I sacked training. 

Plank 2 minutes 40

That's all I managed!

Breakfast: omelette with peppers, mushrooms and tomatoes

lunch: chicken bits and some veg

Ate blue berries too

Dinner: fish with some rice

I know rice isn't strictly paleo but that's what the magic cupboard fairy had.

Trying to go to bed earlier tonight. 21:45

Drank some more water today but sure it's not enough, will do better tomorrow.

Paleo Day 9

Just so you know I'm making my son do the exercise part of this at the same time lol. He is 10 years old and he is going to be an 18 stone monster one day. He is a big lad for his age. I'm proud of him as he held the plank for 1 minute today.

Woke up 6:15am 

Morning exercises:

Plank: 2 minutes 37 seconds

Back raises 30x

Leg raises 30x

Squats 30x

Breakfast: blue berries and biltong

Lunch: stir fry mushrooms, chicken, asparagus, mung beans and plums and garlic

Dinner: sweet potatoes and beef with some carrots

I drunk some beer tonight, but Tuesday is relax night.

Late to bed tonight I'm going to say 22:30

Thoughts today are must get a better sleep pattern! Feeling pretty relaxed but I must get better at consciously relaxing.

Did better with water today. I think still a little low.

More fruit!

Keep it cave man

Paleo Day 8

Up at 6:30 am, I have been thinking about my sleep, I think that needs to become part of this project. That's for another time as I need to do some research.

Exercises morning:

Dead bugs 20x

Roll ups 30x

Plank 2 minutes 25 seconds

Squats 30x

Breakfast: mix of nuts

Lunch: 2 boiled eggs and then a banana

Exercises lunch:

Kettle bells

Shoulder press 20x each shoulder

Rows 30x

Curls 20x

Using a 12kg kettle bell

Dinner: Sliced beef and vegetables

Only drunk a couple pints of water today, probably need to do better but needs research.

Bed time 22:10 I think should go earlier and wake earlier.

Paleo Chile (slight return)

So over time like all humans, I began to fail at paleo. Everyone else is having chips, man that's hard to turn down! Anyway I am reborn paleo. 

I still exercise on a regular basis but of course will be incorporating a more paleo set of exercises. So I have started marching along the coast, up hills, some climbing etc. Essentially using my body to exercise. Including lots of core strength.

Doing the plank, dead bug and the boat. Have managed 2 minutes for the plank.

Also as always kettle bells which I use everyday anyway.

Food wise I'm going with eggs a lot for breakfast. Spanish esq omelettes and boiled eggs as I love them. Sometimes I have fruit. Eating plenty of nuts as I find they satisfy the need to snack!

Anyway the upside is I have been strict for 1 week. And I have lost 10lbs.

Keep it paleo!

Krav Maga

Still Paleo but what more do you need to know (eat good Meat / Fish / Veg / Fruit / Nuts)

Krav Maga

This week we added kicking to our repertoire. With a partner we worked on a front kick followed by a spinning back kick. Luckily my karate knowledge helped a lot here as I already knew how to kick properly (although I am a bit out of practice ;) ). The main point is to get your knee up before you thrust your leg out, this way your thigh can be powering out the kick as the lower leg gives you the acceleration to deliver the kick with speed. We were connecting with the heel as well so quite a lot of power is delivered. Another great part of the power comes from the hips and how they open as you thrust in. I could probably write an essay about kicks luckily my brain has held the knowledge even if my body isn't up to speed yet.

I have added a number of leg exercises to my routine to develop speed and power of these kicks. We have a machine in the gym that enables you to perform knee thrusts with a weight. I need to do more of these. Kicks are one of my favorite weapons as you have much longer reach and your heel is somewhat harder than your little old fist. Plus not so many people are good at kicking, or defending against kicks.

I have also upped my flexibility training doing something everyday. I just follow some of the great videos on YouTube such as this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jO84APlNN9s Which is great as it is what we used to do in my Karate class.

We also practiced spinning back fist / hammer fist... it had some power and I could see how it would do some damage, personally I find it a little bit flashy. Good to train it though.

Then we did some straw man training. Your partner stands with their legs apart and their arms out by their sides. We then got to practice combinations of kicks and punches delivering to the lower leg, upper leg, inside leg, groin, torso, sides etc. This was just very gentle improving technique and practicing hitting the right spots.

This was followed by sparring, this was our first time sparring so it was done with minimal contact. This allowed us to try different combinations, defense / attacks / counter attacks. I was pleased that I got to deliver a Mark Hunt (UFC) classic of using a left jab to disguise my incoming side kick. This worked really well with all of my opponents. I did have trouble dealing with the over hand right so I am studying this week some good defense / counter attacks.

Then the instructor for a bit of fun did a demonstration on disarming a knife / gun from an opponent. This was to give us a taste of some of the future lessons. Very interesting stuff, I will detail this more when we actually learn the techniques.

We then practiced the moves from the previous weeks which form part of the level 1 grading we will take sometime in the future.

Another excellent lesson and I learnt some good lessons about my fighting technique. In the coming weeks they will hopefully help me as the fighting becomes more real in our sparring.

Exercise

• More flexibility
• Lift heavy weights on chest and back day
• Kettle bells (always)
• Work on forearms using dumbbells and hand grips
• Incorporate medicine ball into core strength training
• Clean my bike up ready for March when I start cycling again

I started out Krav with some trepidation about learning something so savage but already I am starting to see there is a lot more to this martial art than meets the eyes. I have read a lot of blogs where people say Krav is not a martial art the same way that Jujitsu or Karate is, but that is simply wrong. It is a very practical self defense system and as all of the learning is done with a partner in many ways you are better prepared for actual fighting situations. For me I just love studying Martial Arts I do not feel heavily for any one in particular. If you train, train hard, learn the intricacies and above all enjoy it while getting a great physical work out, what could be wrong there.

In time I am going to walk into that Jujitsu club near by (if I ever get home from work in time) and have a go at that too.