Teacup’s Workout

[teacup]

Hi everyone,

The bulk of my training methods come from Frank Rudolph Young’s (FRY’s) books. He taught peak contraction isometrics at angles really putting the muscles under strain without punishing the joints (called them Yogametrics) or angled short movements again loading the most strain on specific muscles by leverage , called Mov-Asanas (moving asanas). Young published, to my best knowledge, three main exercise books and one on diet. For simplicity I shall refer to the source material as follows

“Yoga Secrets for Extraordinary Health and Long Life” - YSH
“Yoga for Men Only” - YFM

My choice of exercises:


Note: I perform all exercises standing, apart from Limbic Supercharger.
Monday-Friday
Morning workout - 1 set per exercise

Calves - Yoga Calf Raise x 10 reps (YSH page 92)
Legs - Psychergo Squat x 15 reps (YFM page 133)
Triceps - Psychergo Triceps x 25 reps (YFM page 115)
Shoulders - Anterior Shoulder Wing x 10-15 reps (YFM page 117)

Evening workout - alternating for as many sets as possible

Chest - Energy Depot x 10 reps (YSH page 120)
Biceps - Biceps Bulge x 10 reps (YFM page 113)
Back - Rude Awakener x 5-10 reps (YSH page 204)

Supplemental exercises, 2-3 times per week

Neck - Thoracev x 2 reps (YSH page 98)
Elbow health - Tennis Elbow Fix x 15-20 reps (YSH page 103)

Internal energy work (daily) - not from FRY
Sinew Metamorphosis - first palm posture x 50 reps
Denie Walters’ Limbic Supercharger from Psycho Blast

Core (6 days a week)
Larry Scott’s Fat Burning Ring of Fire - without equipment
Stomach vacuum - exhaling and pulling in, holding. Not the “exhale and raise ribs” version.

The Limbic Supercharger really increases the tension when I use it, and the Sinew Metamorphosis has improved my gripping strength as measured by progress on my adjustable Ivanko style gripper.

I hope this is of help, will keep you posted on any developments!

[fredhutch]

This is great stuff teacup, keep going and keep us posted!

[teacup]

Thanks Fred

I’ve built this schedule up over the past 6 months or so starting with Energy Depot. Originally this included the Herculiser (YSH pages 33-34) but I found switching to the Yogametrics allowed higher volume workouts.

Couple of things to clarify, with Psychergo Squats I find it best to lean to my weight transfers “shoulders on to knees” if that makes sense? Something about that leverage puts more work into the legs.
Also, Rude Awakener is done with elbows more at upper back height and by pulling with the back, not the arms. I find that counterbalances the Energy Depot nicely.

[Michael]

Do You have these books?

[teacup]

Hi Michael,

I have PDF scan copies of them, downloaded from PDFCoffee. Also have “Somo-Psychic Power” and “Yogatronic Diet”.

IMHO Yogatronic Diet is not as interesting, but Somo-Psychic has some good exercises in it. FRY seemed to duplicate quite a few exercises under different names, but the slight difference in description between the various versions gives a little bit of help in optimum performance of the exercise.

I think there is some suggestion he wrote the Sinkram courses as well, but I don’t know for certain. I think he expressed a mixture of good training ideas, very interesting ideas on the mental/internal aspect and some very far-out ideas (mostly for marketing!).

[fredhutch]

Just as a point of interest, a few years ago Jack Savage put out a manual and DVD titled "Chi Metrics", it turned out to be all the exercises from YFMO, plus a couple from SPP. He divided the exercises into an "A" and "B" workout and you did them alternately. I did it just like that for a couple of months and was well pleased with the results. Sad to say, Jack vanished from the internet a few years ago, I liked his courses and learned a lot from him.

[Deleted]

Mar 12, 2023 14:36:49 GMT teacup said:

Hi Michael,

I have PDF scan copies of them, downloaded from PDFCoffee. Also have “Somo-Psychic Power” and “Yogatronic Diet”.

IMHO Yogatronic Diet is not as interesting, but Somo-Psychic has some good exercises in it. FRY seemed to duplicate quite a few exercises under different names, but the slight difference in description between the various versions gives a little bit of help in optimum performance of the exercise.

I think there is some suggestion he wrote the Sinkram courses as well, but I don’t know for certain. I think he expressed a mixture of good training ideas, very interesting ideas on the mental/internal aspect and some very far-out ideas (mostly for marketing!).

Nice log teacup. I looked the books up on archive.org (you can download the diet book, and "borrow" the others to read on the site reader). Once I saw them, I remembered the book and the author. Cool stuff!

[teacup]

Hi yogalete,

Thanks very much.
I hope you find the books useful, they certainly provide a different view on training methods.

I’ll have to check archive.org it sounds like a used resource 👍


Hi Fred,

The Jack Savage DVD sounds interesting, the FRY books don’t really set out a program so Jack must have decided this would be helpful.
Didn’t he publish a lot of materials on Hikuta? I’ve read DOK Lee’s book, interesting idea of training the startle reflex as a defensive strike but I can’t see it as a total system, just as a supplementary training method.

Having said that, Erle Montaigue produced training methods called the Bagwa Twitch teaching how to build a reflex palm strike on the startle reflex. Steve Morris also worked on that idea, transforming the startle reflex of putting his hand on the hot stove into a fast punch to break a nearby glass milk bottle!

[fredhutch]

As I recall, at the very end of YSH, FRY does have an interesting program in which you use the same exercises five days a week, if I remember correctly you were to do sets of multiple reps on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and then on Tuesday and Thursday you used the same exercises with so much tension that you could only do one repetition. That's how I remember it anyway. This idea could be adapted to other forms of resistance training.

I could write a book on Hikuta. Suffice to say for now that it shares many similarities with other arts, such as Guy Savelli's Whip technique, the softer styles of Iron Palm, and the Chinese "cotton fist". Kenichi Sawai, who was a true master, shows the hikuta fist in his book "Taiki Ken: Essence of Kung Fu", which is one of the most valuable martial arts books ever published, he lets slip some real secrets in there, if you pay attention--and most people don't!

[teacup]

Hi Fred,

My apologies you are quite right, FRY did include a program on pages 212-213 of YSH, thanks for spotting it.

Hikuta- well it offers a useful approach to a “stun and run” style of self defence, I see the similarities with the Erle Montaigue “Bagwa Twitch” in that both are suggested for law enforcement unarmed defence rather than “street scrappers”.

The fist placement is actually quite comfortable, I use it when training James Demile’s 3 and 1 inch punch, mostly hitting against the free hand to measure impact. Try Erle’s Taiji fist (dog fist) for a variation on the theme.

Kenichi Sawai knew his stuff, and he had the humility to learn from Chinese martial artists at a time when the official Japanese view of China was (as Bruce Lee’s films put it) “the sick man of Asia”.

[teacup]

Addendum

Last night I was working my chest and biceps in the usual manner when I found the Biceps Bulge started to put strain on the back of my neck.

Switched it for Biceps Bulge 90 (YFM page 114) for the last few sets, good deep ache in the biceps and no neck stress. I’ll see how this goes for a few days.

[teacup]

Ok, neck ache seems to have eased off so I will bring the Biceps Bulge 45 back in to the schedule. As a precaution I will switch back to the Biceps Bulge 90 if I’m starting to get tired and find I’m using the back of my head for leverage.

FBROF - Fat Burning Ring Of Fire - I like it but my left oblique is a bit sore (not in the good way) from overly pushing it. I’m happy with the vacuum, drawing in with effort not just “exhale and lift ribs” and I’ll see how keeping the FBROF for the lower abs goes. Be good to tighten them up.

[teacup]

So far sticking with the vacuums and not returning to FBROF. Taking a lead from Pavel’s Hardstyle Abs by placing fingertips against the core to help focus the muscles. So far it has helped improve my engagement of the lower abs in vacuums, hopefully see a difference soon.

[teacup]

Well, time for another update.

Taking note from current discussions around Maxalding I will substitute Psychergo Squats with thigh flexes, one leg at a time on basis of 2-5 second reps for 10-15 reps aiming for maximum tension. Been a bit tired recently with a lot on at work so I’m hoping the Maxalding principles of conservation of energy should help.

Thanks to Brothersteve for posting that article on page 5 of the “What if it all comes down to flexing” thread 👍

[teacup]

Made another change in the vacuums. Hands clasped ahead in the traditional yin-yang salute with palm gripping fist, then I can really pull the stomach in much further. I end up sort of leaning back a bit as if starting a sissy-squat, so my thighs get some extra work.
The depth of the vacuum is increased this way, not that I dislike the previous version but I’m still fine-tuning!