Pek Pongpaet

I’m so cheestastic in this interview by Keisha Howard of SugarGamers.

Popularity: 5% [?]

I’ve been meaning to post something like this for a while now. Of all the Youtube videos I’ve posted, the original Iron Gym video review I posted a year back has been the most popular by far. In an attempt to do more of what works as well as to document some of my workout here’s hopefully part 1 of what might be a series of videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=844VnQ31h5I

Ever since I saw this crazy video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFicccDgjUI
I’ve been obsessed with front lever pullups. I can’t do one yet, but I’m working up to that. My first goal was to be able to lift myself into that position. I’ve gotten that far and now need to work on holding that position with proper posture. As a martial artist I think it’s important to build core strength. Exercises like these are great for that.

Popularity: 9% [?]

If you’ve never heard of Animoto, you should check this out. They let you easily create video slideshows from your photos and videos in minutes. I’ve known about Animoto since way back, but I never really got around to playing with them. For Valentine’s Day, I figured I would use them to put together an awesome video for Kim. Here’s the result:

As you can see, the result is pretty slick. It was really easy to create. You just select photos from you computer to upload, select a song from their selection and animoto creates a unique video based on the music you chose and the photos you uploaded. Their algorithm is dynamic guaranteeing a unique slideshow for everyone. I was pretty pleased with the results. Kim certainly was. You can create a 30 second slideshow for free. A 3-minute slideshow costs $3 – that’s what I used. You embed Animoto videos as is or you can also choose to upload it to Youtube.

My only gripes were that the output was a bit low res and the music selection was weak. For an extra $5, I can get a hi-res version with an ISO file that I can burn to DVD. I don’t know if I’ll go for that. I think they should partner with more music distributors to offer you a larger library of music. The other thing you have to watch out for is that they will try real hard to steer you into getting the “All Access” pass for $30/year. If you only want to get 1 video, click on the small “info” link and scroll down to the “$3 single video” link. They made that really hard to find. However if you plan to use these videos for commercial use, you’ll have to shell out $249/year for their pro license.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Here’s a video clip of last week’s workout with Taylor and Don.

It’s so funny. I never posted anything during the peak of my wushu career. Well, I didn’t even have a blog then but that’s besides the fact. I was too busy practicing to be bothered with sharing what I did with the rest of the world. Now that I’m old and past my prime, it’s amusing that I share my wushu workouts so freely.

Partly it’s because I’m not getting any younger so I figure how I look now is going to be better than how I look in the future so if I’m going to post stuff, it might as well be now. Also, it’s good to be able to look back on this stuff. Not to mention that when you post stuff online, you have to step up your game.

Can anyone tell who’s staff intro I am using?

Popularity: 4% [?]

I’d like to share some of my training tips. Here’s an exercise/game/race that I came up with to help strengthen the body and help with wushu training. I have the kids do it in kids class and the adults seem to like it too. Not only does it help improve basics but also contains some upper body workout as wushu sometimes tends to be very lower body oriented.

The 5 Animals:

1. Seal Crawl. The Seal Crawl is the only exercise that needs any kind of special equipment. It is designed to use the upper body. All we need is a kicking shield which we put on the floor smooth side down. We lay our shins on it and make the legs limp like dead weight and use our upper body to move across the floor. If a kicking shield is not available, we can substitute this exercise with the bear crawl which is basically running on all fours.
2. Frog Jumps. Frog jumps are pretty common in wushu training. If you go to China, you will see that the professional teams do these to improve their jumps. Key here is to go all the way down and jump as far as possible. This is a lower body workout which gives our upper body a quick break before the next exercise.
3. Crab Walks. Crab walks develops speed and the upper body. It’s easier if we fall into the next step instead of lumbering slowly. Again, we alternate between upper body exercises and lower body.
4. Duck Walks. Duck walks are another set of exercises that develop the legs. We can have the arms behind the back but I prefer to have them help make the move more balanced and more natural. Make sure that the buttocks are low to the ground.
5. Spiderman Crawl. Ok, technically this is not an animal style. It’s a superhero mimicking an insect but it’s still a great exercise and very challenging. Crawl as if you were Spiderman crawling up a wall. The torso and hips must be low to the ground. Elbows and knees must not touch the ground. That is the challenging part and will really work the upper body and core strength.

The way I usually do this is to make it a game between 2 teams. Wushu class is usually divided into 2 rows anyways so each team is a row. It’s a relay race where everyone has to do each exercise and when the first person in a row is up again, they go to the next exercise. Before each race the teams agree to a “punishment” for the losing team. Usually it’s monkey jacks or push ups. I also try to level the playing field by pairing up people that are close in skill level or body ability. This also makes it more exciting.

I’m always looking to improve these conditioning exercises so any more “animals” tips are welcome.

Popularity: 2% [?]