As Promised

I said a few posts back that I would post my numbers in order to be totally transparent to the team and fully meet the requirement of tracking your progress publically. These aren't impressive at all considering how much time has gone by. Although the total on a lot of this could be much higher, it's not for two simple reasons: 1) I didn't write down every single rep I did. 2) I didn't do enough reps daily. I still haven't learned Loa Gar completely and this is the form I chose for the year of the horse. I could have estimated sure, but what good is that. I'm lying to me and all of you. Besides our Black Belts are too keen to try to pull this stunt. Because they have all been there and can recognize B.S. This is also a result of "I'm Gonna, I'm trying, tomorrow I'll.....," You get the picture I'm sure. So just because I am publically admitting that I am failing at the moment, this doesn't give me a pass and make it all okay. I need this to be clear to everyone on the team. I am old school and thick skinned so if you have anything to say to me that can help or give me the wake up call I need, please come forward. I welcome it.

 So instead of trying or I'm going to, I AM DOING!! and you are all going to see me catch up and progress because I am not hiding nothing from anyone anymore. You will SEE my completed requirements and numbers every week. You will see my steady progression when I am at the kwoon. I am not wasting another year screwing the pooch, or blaming work or what ever else I can divert my own lack of discipline towards. It sounds like we are finally going to start working on the phase of the project that I was hired to help with. Once this is done, I'm out of there. This schedule is too much to get in descent training, so it must change. I'll pull another dispatch slip where I am working Monday to Friday and that's it.

Just pondering a little on the things that I am at a higher level of mastery with in my life and something occurred to me. I seemed to have found the time and made the effort to practice mastery in other things. Lots of time and effort. Just like many of you have in order to better your careers or education or both, or whatever it is your into. So what's the difference between that and achieving Black Belt. Nothing. It may not seem like it or sound like it, but out of it all, I am remaining very positive and very grateful through all of this. The excitement of this years journey is still alive and well. See you at the kwoon.

• Push ups: 5725/ 50,000
• Ab work: 5650/ 50,000
• Distance: 60 miles
• Weapon form: 32
• Hand form: 0  I don't count nothing until I can do the whole form.
• School forms: 250/ 8000  (1000 of each form) I will break this down next post
• Kicks: 2700/ 50,000
• Random Acts of kindness: 38/ 1000

The Severance of Useless Energy

 Take a moment to assess all the things around you that promote your being "average." These are the things that prevent you from going beyond the limits that you've arbitrarily set for yourself.

I have been trying to memorize Mastery the last little while. I should know it in my sleep by now for the amount of times I have read it and use it for guidance. I seem to relentlessly procrastinate when it comes to my Sihing and I Ho Chuan requirements. Not because I don't care. Not because there hasn't been ample warnings from Sifu Brinker on the damaging effect of leaving them to the last minute and treating gifts as hoops and instead of tools. Is it because I have no work ethic? No. It's simply because my priorities and discipline are off balance at the moment in my training and this is the mindset I've arbitrarily set for my journey to mastery. Hence, accountability and discipline.  Am I going to sit here and complain and moan about how hard it is and how I am just so busy? Am I going to put negative energy out there and blame every possible thing I can think of as to why I am choosing to stay stagnant or mediocre. No. To me this is not only disrespectful to my teachers, the school, and other students. But to myself. What kind of example or message am I sending through this practice? I am basically telling the world through my blogs that it is okay to not try harder and constantly make excuses even though I am signed up to a hard core challenge. I am behind in many aspects of my journey so far. So should I quit? Should I just sit down and cry about it until I wet myself ? Should I quit my job? Tell my family to beat it. Tell my friends to beat it. Pump up a big ball of negativity and walk around in it like a hamster. Not likely. I keep moving along and doing my best to adapt and follow through on my journey. So what do I do to keep moving ahead?

The first step to mastery is the removal of everything in your environment that represents mediocrity, and one way to attain that objective is to surround yourself with people who ask more of you than you would ordinarily give of yourself. 

 At the moment it is difficult to be at the kwoon as much as I would like to be in order to do this. So a great substitute is all of my teammates blogs. This is a very important tool to benefit those that can't attend regular classes. So when you don't blog you are of no help to people that need it and of no help to yourself. Although sometimes late and being a private person, I am blogging more than I ever have because I need help and I want to help others. Even though I don't like it or it makes me feel uncomfortable, I don't think I am special or I need to be allowed to not do something just because I don't want to, or it's hard. If that did happen, I am thankful that I have others on the team that will tell me to get over myself and do the damn requirement. I also read mastery and assess everything around me that is negative or damaging to my training and remove it. I have severed people from my life and have made many sacrifices to keep things in check.  I consult people I hold as my mentors. I ask for help when I need it. I don't hide from everyone or just pretend that I am moving along and everything is just sunshine and roses. I am constantly making adjustments along the way and trying to do my best. I have moments of failure and moments of progress. Some things work and some things don't. When I am at the kwoon I try even harder because I am surrounded by likeminded people and teachers that expect more from me than I would of myself and distance myself from the politics. Each time I go to the kwoon I want to show some progression. The bottom line is commitment, accountability, adjustment, and following through. See you at the kwoon.

Correction is essential to power and mastery. - Stewart Emery

Working out the Kinks

Moving along steady in a scattered but productive process. Shaken documentation and working lot's of hours but it is what it is. Getting in some reps in the morning really helps with the balance of it all. Knowing at the beginning of the day I have something done has really helped a lot in my attempt to balance it all with out tipping way to the spaztic side, whether it be laziness or productivity. I have this large roll of paper that I have written down all of the I Ho Chuan requirements and put it on the wall. I use this for motivation and to help me with my journaling issues. I am going to total up everything that I have done in the last 9 weeks and post my personal goals and numbers. I will include all of my numbers and progress in my weekly blogs to show the team a view of my absence. This way anyone of the team can see where I am and what I'm doing. I want to be as transparent as I can in order to welcome critique and advice as I prepare for grading. As of course I am more than willing to help anyone on the team at anytime, all you need to do is ask.

Since last I Ho Chuan class my weapon form has progressed a little further and I am now able to start counting form reps. There is still a few transitions and techniques that aren't really running smooth, in fact they suck. You all seen the pause and I should mention there was a whole sequence missed. So I have needed to change a few stances and strikes/blocks but it is coming along well. I started to use my stick in place of the axe to help with the space issues. This also allows me to work on my form with a little less weight and less items to smash to pieces when doing the flying spinning back kick.  This one is really hard to practice anywhere but outside with the long axe. This part of the form is the most complex for me. Height, timing, stability, form and flow are all required here and they all need work. So I am working on height and doing elevators to keep the muscles around my knees strong. When doing these I have used a balancing aid until I can maintain a form of my knees staying over my feet and solid balance. I have also been using the heavy bag so I can actually feel how I am kicking and a target for accuracy. As everything improves I will raise the target.

I serviced my mountain bike so it's ready for some miles. I am hoping to get a chance to grab a chin up bar fairly soon here. As far as everything else goes it's pretty scattered right now. I am attempting to go over everything and break down my strong and weak points. I am hoping from there I can achieve a training balance that will adapt to my life style. I will admit I am a workaholic, but I am also a martial artist with a goal. That goal is to continue the linage of our great school and bring out the best I have in me. See you at the kwoon.

Closer to the mayhem in motion

So lately I have been putting time into my weapon in an effort to create a form that I can perform for the class this Friday and start accumulating some recordable reps. Those of you that are training this year with a long weapon know all to well about the challenges and frustrations involving space to train. Not to mention that right now it's still difficult to get outside. I tried tonight but the ground is mush, so the garage and basement have been working fairly well. So far I have only broken a few things. Training in this confinement has added a better awareness for weapon range to hand placement and I am starting to get more comfortable about practicing inside. I see this as a realistic comparison to real life situations where adaptability was survival. I'm sure no one said, "Yah I'll hack you up in the spring because it's too cold out right now!" or  "Oh sorry man you have to pick someone else to fight in here, my weapons too long"

As of tonight though I have found a sequence that I think will be a good base for this weapon form. Although I had lot's of ideas, combining them into flow and choosing stances has been difficult. I've taken pieces out of other pieces and added to others in order to make directional transitions flow into one another. This weapon is not something you can just hit the brakes on once you unleash the momentum. This momentum which enables the weapon to achieve devastating blows, can also leave you very vulnerable to attack if you don't follow through wisely. Like tying yourself up and exposing your back. Aside from this things are moving along steady. Sometimes really well, other times not so well.
 I am struggling a lot with writing things down. I am getting in some consistent  but scattered reps, but they don't mean squat if they're not recorded. Pretty dumb if you think about it. For someone with very limited time and every minute counts, this tool should be in first place. I guess this goes to the tool vs hoop perspective that I need to quit messing around with and just do it. Do I want to achieve this years goals or do I want to be a failure?  See you at the kwoon.

Improvements and adaptations

I did some more arranging and setting up of the training area I have in the basement this past weekend. I have added some training tools that I feel will help a lot of the areas I need to work on physically. I found a long and heavy length of surgical tubing that I use when throwing kicks. It responds very similar to the bungee chord we use in San Shou class. So this was a cool discovery. I'm pretty excited to have this because I feel it will improve many aspects of my kicks that requires lot's of work and attention.

I found this exercise tool for your improving your grip. You can adjust the spring between 40-95 pounds. I am doing 100 reps per arm @ 50lbs daily. This will develop the smaller muscles around the joints and increase endurance. It will help keep the hands strong when applying hand techniques for solid application and to avoid personal damage. This should also help improve the control and handling of the weapon I chose to train with this year. I want to be 100% confident on this, especially when swinging it around in an accelerated fashion around others and in public. This tool should help.

I am going to install a chin up bar in the near future. I seen some neat exercises with weights that I want to try out. I have also scored some assorted dumbbells that I plan to put to use as well.

I ran another copy of the curriculum and stapled it all on the wall. I had done this previously but took it all down in order to keep one with me. It works really well because it is all spread out in front of you so you can source anything at a glance and make notes quickly. I'm trying to streamline training and time efficiency.

Well that's all I really have for now other than I am working lot's of hours and am struggling with discipline and tracking. I am not using my time very well or getting in the reps I should be. I was approaching a state of being overwhelmed but I have learned to adapt and things are slowly going back to the way they should be. Instead of wasting time and making excuses and accomplishing nothing, I using those same minutes to do something in regards to Kung Fu. If I lose focus on my goals and treat the tools I have been given as hoops instead of tools, I will fail. Period. I have absolutely no intentions of failing my journey again. So I won't. I have put myself in a position this year loaded with options regarding my family and work. If work is interfering with my training I will work under a different schedule, even if it means quitting my current job. Right now I have made a commitment to a person I have a lot of respect for. One of the people that has mentored when I was first starting out and has been a contributing factor to the skillset  I possess today. He specifically hired me to work on a certain project that requires skill. I cannot make a jerk out of him and quit. So I must see this through and adapt accordingly as I have before. However, once my services are depleted, I will move on to a job that will accommodate whatever is required to complete my current Kung Fu journey.
 I have full backing from my family so that's not an issue. So the only thing stopping me, other than work and limited time with my family, is me. See you at the kwoon.