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.

15 Minutes

Keeping things simple and manageable is something we all try to strive for. Life loves to challenge us and that is something that we can never control but we can control how we manage the situation efficiently and effectively. The current lifestyle that we live in doesn't make this easy. Everything has to be done THIS MINUTE, very few practice patience, nothing can be done fast enough, me first and hurry up already! As a society we have some how along the way been influenced and led to believe this is normal and packing as much stuff in a day or when we are on own time is just the way it is. I think some people right now are having a real long hard look at their lives and how we live them. I know I have and honestly it's been a great reset and moment of clarity as the machinery rests and the dust has long settled.

I have really been enjoying this down time and see it as a great opportunity to embrace the challenge and see it through. The overall cause of this down time is not so great though as people are put at risk, people are dying, and things are not so well overall. But I am using it as a time to catch up with my family, complete those long over due projects, and bringing my training back up to speed and where it belongs. It's given me an opportunity to re evaluate how I approach things and how I will chose to live as things come back to normal.

The biggest thing for me right now is to bring in a solid and effective routine to make great changes in regards to my Kung Fu. As I said before I am not good at routine at all, in fact I really suck at it. I have just always taken what I need to do and get it done as it comes to me. But that doesn't work so well when things become busy. It doesn't have to be intricate or erratic, it just needs to be consistent and something that can be maintained and adaptable. All it needs to be is 15 minutes a day to keep things moving along. As Sifu Brinker used tell us, you give me 15 minutes a day, and I guarantee you a black belt in 3-5 years. Of course certain aspects of training require much more time, but that is another point. You can get a lot of Kung Fu training done in this time as it's about the same time we did for warm ups before class. I remember pools of sweat on the mats and taxed muscles in this short period of time for years and a lot of things covered as well. This is what I'm working on very hard and with enough consistency it will become normal, even on those long days at work.

As far as the rest of my Kung Fu goes I am making great progress with many aspects. My forms and stances are coming along well and I have continued work on my dangling board breaks which have become very successful as I feel they are coming from the whole body and not just the shoulders. There is more breaks than swollen hands anyway. I have been working on the right reverse and will be switching it up to a left reverse ridge hand. From there I hope to accomplish some breaks with kicks, but that is a ways off yet. I'm also switching up into some demon training here for the next 2 weeks to give my stamina and strength a much needed boost as I am now comfortable that I have the form down well. I can't switch it up to demon mode if the form sucks because this will for sure cause an injury, form is everything if the intent is to build something strong, so I don't mess with that too much. I'm just really taking advantage of our current situation and see it as an opportunity and now that the sun is out and the snow is gone, the outdoors calls! See you on the screen!

The Quest for Definition

Reaching the point of definition, or the full body snap, with the proper grounding and skeletal alignment can be tricky to say the least. However achieving this is a crucial part of the mechanics to apply a technique utilizing the whole body. There is a lot going on and to be able to be in tune with all of these factors requires a huge abundance of both the physical repitition and sharp mental awareness towards the stances and technics involved. They need to work as one and what may feel very wrong at the time, may actually be right on the mark. But due to the high amounts of repititions that took place, the awareness just hasn't struck yet.

I have been working hard on proper skeletal alignment and grounded execution on Loa Gar lately and have made some really good progress. My techniques are now being led by the hips, completed at the center of my quadrants, and that back foot is now straightening out when I snap those hips and transition through the form. I'm starting to feel that conductor, not THE energy, but the snap that completes the connection, that final second when the technique reaches complete rotation and that back leg and heel is grounded firm, an explosion from the center out. (I think this is what is meant by compressing in our stances) It's weird but it feels weak as opposed to when I throw everything from the shoulder. The thing is, it's not, it's about 14 times stronger than the one arm because the whole body is now involved with proper alignment and timing. Keeping in mind all of this and slowing the form down has really smoothed out my flow and improved my timing. Now I just need to apply this to the rest of the school forms as well because they must move together. I'm also learning the new bow and how that translates into the forms, it's coming.

My weapon form is coming along well and making these new connections has both improved how to handle the weapon more efficiantly and smooth out the timing. To add to this I am far more aware the positioning of the weapon in motion and where it is to insure I reach proper definition at the execution point. For me I use the Lao Gar stance when I train with a heavy weapon because it provides a great counterweight and gives that reach and stability when I am trying to keep the weapon moving smooth and timed correctly, it's also great for transitioning between stances.

The last little while has been great because my attention is fully on my girls and my Kung Fu. I haven't seen much of them over the last few years as a result of my work. Now I can see my wife everyday and hang out with my daughter. Actually right now I'm teaching my daughter to drive. I wouldn't have had this opportunity if I was busy at work and it is one of those things as a parent that you only get one shot at. She's doing awesome but she needs to watch the speed and is already shaking her head at drivers!! She comes by it honestly though as both of her parents drive everything like we stole it. 

My Kung Fu is also coming along very well as I have no distractions and just having the time to concentrate on it and build a routine has been great. With the roles reversed I can bring my routine into my work and hopefully it sticks, I'm not so good at routine, I just do things as they come. The problem is though my focus and prioritization becomes corrupted and suddenly the task at hand takes priority over everything and that is no good. So I'm really working hard to overcome this as a work ethic, focus, and commitment is not the problem. The problem is I need to remember that my best interests come first, not last, and if I can build a real strong routine and hold this mindset in line with everything else as my work returns it should all move together. For someone that is well known to be a troubleshooter in my field of expertise, I sure suck at fixing my own s$#t, but this is what this time is for and when all else fails, I go back to my first posts and hammer that home. See you on the screen.

A Pivotal Moment

I'm sure we have all had an event or a moment in our training at the kwoon that has had a deep impact on our Kung Fu that provided clarity or motivation to just where we were at and what we were doing and where we are going. A moment that answered a question that you didn't even know existed, a beam of light into a moment of darkness or uncertainty, and moment of success that exposed itself through countless failures or misconception, or just a moment that was so very cool to the individual that it inspired evolution or understanding to ourselves as a whole.

At this time many are struggling with the isolation and how to keep moving forward, I get that and understand. Isolation doesn't really bother me too much as I typically keep to myself as it is anyway and have had to train away from the kwoon for years so this is no big deal for me. But I thought perhaps I would send out a challenge/moral booster to others that may help or not. Nonetheless, it's worth a shot.

So here it goes, take a moment to reflect on a pivotal moment in your training that occured and inspired motivation, change, or appreciation. Was there a Sifu involved, a training partner, or someone you didn't even know? Where were you at then, what effect did this moment have on you at that very moment and how did it translate to where you are now?

My moment through reflection was something I really needed at the time. I have always been big on our lineage and almost to the point of relentless on tradition. I'm an old school cat for sure and embrace hard work and challenge. But at that particular time in my training I was uncertain about where I was. I was questioning my skill level and if I was showing enough respect to our lineage and our style. I was wondering if I was holding true the respect to my teachers and my past masters and doing enough to uphold the standard, practicing this gift to the best of my abilities. I was also wondering at the time if we were becoming watered down. Are we losing the potency or our lineage. Am I in the right place?

Then one time in the Kwoon one of our master level instructors was speaking of our lineage and spoke a little about each one of our grand masters, their teachers. Sifu was speaking of one in particular that I admired quite a bit. When I found out that he was part of our lineage I must have researched every thing I possibly could about them prior to this, so I was glued to every word Sifu was saying. But then something beyond extrodinary to me took place. Sifu looked right at me and said that I reminded him of this person, I was bult like him, I moved like him. I was vapour locked and of course my head swelled up a bit, because that was a pretty big deal to me.

But those few sentences changed everything for me. It answered all of my questions and motivated me so much. It gave me clarity and assured me I was in the right place. That moment proved just how pure our style of Kung Fu is and the commitment to tradition is by our instructors and the standard that has maintained at our school.  But there was something much bigger to this that went far beyond me. Think about it for a second, you have a master level instructor, that see's one of his teachers, through one of his students Kung Fu. Thats pretty damn cool if you ask me.


So that's my pivotal moment that inspired me to train hard and remain loyal to our lineage, be mindful of appreciation and respect to tradition and our Sifu's. Protect and respect our school and maintain the art. This is also one of the very things that inspired me to go through the Black Belt code of Ethics, understand it and maintain it, break it all down and practice it, just like our Grand Masters. Continue to work on mastering our style through practicing curriculumn. But most importantly, it made me happy and proud to be a martial artist and carry on just like those before me did.

If anyone is willing to share a moment of reflection that had a profound effect on their training, please do. See you at the Kwoon 

Transparency Through Absence

Well the last little while has been a drastic change for many. Being isolated to our homes can be a little overwhelming and to some degree unhealthy if we don't keep our minds and bodies occupied, thank goodness we are martial artists. Another thing to be very appreciative about is our Sifus'. They are going above and beyond to keep the school moving forward, taking the risks to go to and from the school in the middle of a pandemic to manage and continue to teach the art of Kung Fu and on top of it provide some one on one time. It's all pretty awesome really and speaks volumes to the level of commitment our school has to the art and it's students.

The thing is though, although we are seperated and the Kwoon is shutdown for the time being, I feel the connection to each other is closer than ever. We have a really good opportunity to remain transparent and the discipline of team involvement can still be had through technology. Although my blogs have been late,(which I am about to change today) I am driven to post my forms weekly to show my progress and journal the same, to keep training hard and mindful of what I am doing. I am driven to stay as connected as I can through Kwoon talk and try to awknowledge every post I can to let people know, we are in this together and we are here for each other.....together we stand, divided we fall.

 It's weird but I feel more connected and have probably the strongest connection I have ever had to my I Ho Chuan year and others on the team. I am driven to transparency more than ever and look forward to seeing this most challenging year, one of our best. This is a strong team, probably the strongest I have ever seen. The adaptation to change and the voluntary contributions, each member displaying their own individuality but maintaining the mindset of together inspires me tremendously. I feel obligation and discipline to train hard and maintain my commitments and just pull off a great year of awesomeness. Well done team, train hard, stay positive, stay connected and we shall continue to blow peoples minds right out of their skulls through this teams awesomeness!! See you on the screen!!