Trial Run

Two and a half months into the pandemic shutdown and things have taken a turn in my training. I have a job just waiting for me to go too but until hiring freezes are lifted and other items are brought to a head nothing is happening. These items are completely out of my control so it has been the great waiting game. However, I have my Ironworking skillset to fall back on in times like these but that too has been rather quiet. So this has given me ample time to train and put forward a design that will help my engagement and catch me up on all things Kung Fu. For me anyway this has been great and I'm glad the opportunity came my way. It has provided me with the time to focus on my training and achieve some break throughs along the way. I have had plenty of time to build a discipline and a fairly solid routine....just great.


 That is until earlier this month I pulled a slip through the Ironworkers hall to work on a bridge that started this past Monday. So I'm back to work for a stretch and it is great. Bridges are heavy bull work and I'm grateful that I had all this time to train and maintain my conditioning. But as much as I thought Kung Fu covers all the major muscle groups, I found out that is not necessarily the case. Between ramping up on my training and starting this job, I came home fairly stiff the later part of the week when things became busy.

The good part is I am maintaining my goal of discipline towards my training no matter what and keeping the quality front and center as well. Making that time in the morning to get something done before I begin my day to completing the remainder in the evening. As beat as I was a few nights this week I still went out and trained and made it happen.

I was also lucky enough for Sifu Brinker to find me a time slot that would work for him and I could maintain my weekly one on ones. For me these are critical and I am very grateful that I still have this tool to stay grounded and a source for all my advancements and set backs to remain in check.

I have been working on a difficult challenge the last while that involves some in depth connections and discoveries. I caught myself becoming frustrated and the lack of quality and progression was more than apparent. I was losing the technique and the mental calm that is required to make this work succesful. So I shut this down for the week and will dive back into it starting tomorrow. No sense programming bad habits and the need to remember that two steps back, one step forward is okay. As it has been said: The Master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried.

Mlong Kwuen is coming along well considering we are learning it on line and I'm really enjoying this form so far. It has definately enhanced all of my form work and that is always a good thing. 

My axe form is still coming along well and I am still stuck on a few parts that are starting to smooth out. I have managed to finally get the beast out in the open at a park close to my home and go out later in the evening. I am a little gun shy about swinging it in public due to a situation I had a couple of years ago. Between some petrified parents and a visit from the RCMP, fun wreckers indeed!!! So I am careful where I go to train in public these times. Nonetheless it is great to be training outside and clearing the imaginary battle field. That is pretty much all I have for this week, see you on the screen.  

Defining the Weapon

I had a Sifu during class a quite a while ago tell me, probably like most of us, to relax the shoulders...relax the shoulders. At the time I couldn't feel any tension in the shoulders and I didn't fully understand what she was getting at. I tend to have trouble comprehending some of these things until I can find an analogy or a way to visualize it mechanically. Once I reach this understanding I can apply it to what I am trying to do and successfully move forward. This time around Sifu provided the analogy. She said, "Think of an animal prior to attack or being attacked. They are supple, there is no definition to the muscle structure, they are fully relaxed. That is until they either defend or attack, then you can see every muscle in their body and the speed is lightening quick and a lot of power is applied." I also ran into a quote in one of my Bruce Lee books that I have been reading a lot of lately that reminded me of this as well.

Recollection and Anticipation-recollection and anticipation are fine qualities of consciousness which distinguish the human mind from that of the lower animals. They are useful and serve certain purposes, but when actions are directly related to the problem of life and death they must be given up so they will not interfere with the fluidity of mentation and the lightening rapidity of action.  

These analogies came to me the other day when I was working on the heavy bag and going through my forms. When I am striking or moving, I'm thinking of what I am doing in deep detail and constant checks and adjustments. I am anticipating the attack or defense, so I tend to load things up slowly and then complete the technique to definition and apply full power simultaneously. This effects my transitioning, speed, and timing to a point of feeling jammed or held back like a rubber band. So I applied this mindset by doing my best to completely relax every muscle I could, attempting to move and transition light as a feather, keeping the over abundance of thought out of the equation and leaving the intention and power out until I needed it. 

Well the results were pretty cool as I found I place resistance in almost everything, the anticipation or thought being the main cause. It's not like I wasn't aware of this before or applied the rotation and power at the last second, but I feel now the awareness is more defined, a deeper connection with my Kung Fu. I seem to have improved the fluidity, my speed has increased substantially, I run on intuition rather than focus, and that full body snap is more powerful. I can transition better and I feel a lot more relaxed when practicing and full body execution is definately defined with a great snap. I still have a ways to go and it's not perfected by any stretch but I am aware of the flaws that occur more keenly and this awareness comes into effect even with my weapon now so this is great. Once I get a good handle on this then I can dive into the deep complexity and disciplined reservation of separating form from application, while not thinking about it.....one thing at a time.

I have also been doing a lot of core work to improve my stability and gain more power from my center. Needless to say the core is everything and I have been placing a lot of focus there with all kinds of exercises. I am making good results but the crucial area I failed to keep in check was stretching and I paid the price for that last week, painful lesson indeed.

Weight lifting has come into my training as well and it feels great. Nothing over the top, just enough to build some endurance and exercising the small muscles as they are the most important as they keep the joints from blowing apart. I have adopted a hand grip exercising thing, whatever you call it that I can adjust from 20-90lbs for those soft tissue hand techniques. I practice these on the bag and find that if you don't have strong hands, you'll hurt yourself and the technique is virtually ineffective. I use different hand configurations during push ups as well to not only strengthen the hands, but all the muscles that will be dispatched when applying said techniques as well. So this is going well.

An area which I really really suck at and need to improve and change is writing my training down consistently. I somehow fail to recognize the value, I know better too but still can't seem to penetrate my thick skull. So I had to get tough on myself here and carry my book around with me....everywhere! I have adopted the mindset that this is just like my field progress reports I have to do as a superintendent. If I don't do my reports I have to answer for it. If I don't write my progress down then I never did it. I am not gaining any returns on my investment and failing to pay myself first. I won't have a successful year with out this tool so I better step up my accountability and make it happen.

Lastly my axe form is coming along well but I am stuck in one area in particular that is affecting weapon timing during a stance transition. It's a technical area so those are always fun to troubleshoot, but I believe I have a solution that will be a nice addition to the carnage those two poor suckers are going to experience for getting cute! I'm sure you are all experiencing similiar issues with your formwork. We all know that as your form evolves, so do other problems. However, this is progress and it's nothing that can't be fixed through exploring yourself and your weapon with more practice drills and from reps. All on the quest for awesomeness! See you on the screen.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Two Wheel Therapy

As individuals there is always something that we need outside of our normal interest or occupation, away from family life, the need to remove us from everything. Something that takes us out of the constant and places us in the pause. A reset, another world perhaps, the area between reality and dreams, that serenity or solace, the great escape.

 This doesn't just drop into your lap, you have to find it and that's not always easy. There needs to be some experimentation, the courage to test yourself and search. The courage to maybe even ask for help to find that sign that takes you down that path to find yourself and sort the mess. To make the conversion of inefficient to efficient, contaminated to pure. That place of comfort and security where you can just pull everything out you have going on deep inside and sort it through, tune the machine to balanced awesomeness.

 Whatever it may be it's critical. Because I don't care who you are, you can't do it on the fly or alone always. It will eat you from the inside out and the more you neglect the inventory, the more negative and scrambled mess you will carry and it will mutate into something that will throw a wrench into your personal gears of excellence. That excellence translates into individual awesomeness. But it's not maintenance free. A clean mind is imperative as it runs everything. Okay that was super deep, and perhaps this post may be a little over the top, but I hope the point is there.

For me usually Kung Fu works very well and I can tell when I neglect the gift. But what happens if this isn't working because I'm not running mentally efficient? I'm stuck on something that I can't let go and everything else around me sucks at the moment and I can't think anything through. When that happens I turn to my bike. I'd like you to meet my therapist Purple Death. She's been with me for almost 20 years and it's her 30th birthday this year.

When stuff goes South or my head becomes clogged and heavy, I jump on my bike and we head out to the highway. In this moment, this is where I do my best thinking. This is where my mind calms and the sorting and clarity comes through easily. I'm in my own void I guess. As I ride and think about things deeply. I listen to the roar of the engine, the mechanics of the drivetrain translating the raw power to the rear tire that rips up the asphalt. I am feeling the different temperatures, the smells of nature, the sights of nature. I am traveling just inches above the highway at high speeds, much faster than we are meant to be. There is that edge of risk that my personality needs or even craves perhaps to find that calm and clear the inventory. I'm off in another world and before I know it, I snap out of it and I have just covered several miles, corners and landscapes. Sometimes I pull off of the busy highway and just hit a secondary road and just take it all in, just putting along and it starts all over again. My bike keeps me in line to though. If I abuse her or neglect her, she will kill me or leave me stranded. It's a give and take for sure and that is the ultimate agreement. I take none of it for granted.

So what happens when I can't go out and ride? Well then I have the garage and we hang out and blast death metal. I go through every square inch of her. I can fix or replace any part of her, I get my bike like it get's me. It's critical that she looks and runs her best at all times as well. I owe her this because my bike gives and helps me so much, unconditionally. While I'm diving deep into all of this and the eye for detail is sharp, thumbing through the manuals, installing high quality parts that can take it when I ride it like I stole it, adjustments and tuning so I don't melt her heart and she runs clean....I'm  thinking about things and sorting my head out. It's just another part of the escape.

All of this takes me away from it all and by the time I finish my ride or hang out in the garage, I feel good about things. If I need more, well I just repeat the process because my bike and all of this never let's me down. There's something out there for everybody to make ourselves feel better and deal with things, that reset that's critical to our well being and mental health. That something for ourselves that let's us run in our own individual voids and fulfill the quest for reason and understanding. I hope everyone has some place to go, do what they enjoy and have that tool that makes it happen. I think right now something such as this is very important and if you don't have this type of tool, go out and find it. Ask for directions if needed, grab it and run with it, don't be shy or uncertain, the only thing stopping this quest is you. See you on the screen.