Tackled

The mats were out today at kids Kung Fu, and the balance beams, so lots of fun and a bit of an obstacle race for the littlest ones. After that we tried teaching a new throw to all three classes, this a fairly crude one that's pretty much like a rugby tackle. 

Not an easy one to do unless you really mean it, which makes it hard to slow it down to teach it. The little kids love the throws, they seem really comfortable being swept off their feet, but the older teens and the grown ups really aren't keen on it at all. And I spend the whole time worrying that I'm going to break my wrist because I just can't help putting my hands out to break my fall. And when you get to my age, you can't be too careful.

Headache

Seriously hot on Friday night at Kickboxing. The aircon was incredibly noisy so we could only have it on during the breaks. I had a headache before we started, and a sore throat, and by the end of the hour I felt really pretty terrible, so bad I didn't even stay to do any extra training after (which means I must have been bad!).  Straight to bed when I got in....

Self Help

Thursday night kung fu was in the small hall, and as it was pretty hot the floor wax had done its usual trick of going slightly tacky so that it was next to impossible to pivot on your feet, which cramped my style a little. After recovering from the rather disturbing images brought to mind when T opened a letter addressed to our club that turned out to be from the "How to look good naked" TV  programme asking if a bunch of us wanted to appear (presumably with no clothes on - we've decided to decline their kind offer) I taught some Chang Chuan to the yellow belts and then some kwok sau thay to the blues and above.

T had to leave on time but I stayed by myself for a while and went through all the single person empty hand forms I could remember.

Then Tai Chi. D is on holiday so N was notionally taking the class but in fact it was more of a collaborative effort / self help group for Pa Kua and Hsing I. Then because I was a free agent for the night (the rest of the family being up north visiting their granma) I went to the pub with a couple of the guys, which is a rare event indeed.

I ain't never going back

Bank holiday Monday meant an enforced lay-off from kung fu, so I was bouncing off the walls by Tuesday afternoon. In an effort to expend some energy I went across to the beginners Tai Chi class that's held in my old secondary school (which I swore I would never set foot in again once upon a time...). Very small class, only four of us in total, so probably a good job I was there.... we went through the short form and some pushing hands.

It's just possible that if the Friday kickboxing class folds I'll start teaching either kung fu or kickboxing out there on Tuesdays after the Tai Chi has finished, so I might become a regular in the place that used to make me so unhappy.

About the author

Doing these catch-up posts whilst the kids are watching some kind of Sponge-Bob Square Pants marathon, which has reminded me who the eldest said I looked like in my gum shield. 

Scary, huh?

Saturday

Three kids classes, and then, since I didn't have to dash off to take the eldest to swimming lessons since she was at ballet instead, T and I did about another hour of work on 2 person sets like Ee Sen Tee, 2 person Choy li fut, Kwok Sau Thay and Mantis 6-punch. So just the four hours practice...

T is keen for me to try harder in the two person work to kind of intimidate my opponent, that is to throw the punches/kicks so that they would actually make contact if they weren't blocked. I'm fine with that when I'm working with him, or one of the other senior students, but I'm reluctant to be too hard on the lower grades 'cos I'm afraid I might scare them off. At the same time I know that if I'm not testing them, they'll get into bad (and ineffective) habits. A fine balance needs to be struck.

Friday

Kickboxing, with my eldest in tow as she can't make the Saturday kids class for a while. Class went OK, I thought, but talking to T later he isn't very happy with the way the class is shaping up, it seems like the women want it to be a "fitness" class rather than learning a syllabus and progressing to more complex moves. This is making the classes a bit boring to teach, I will admit, as it's pretty much the same things every week. We've agreed to think about it over the next few weeks, but it may be that the Women's Kickboxings days are numbered.

Thursday

A bit behind on the blog this week, so I'll try to remember what went on earlier this week. 

Thursday at Kung Fu I got to teach the Orange belts some Choy Li Fut (another first for me), both the "Celebration" set and the 2-person set. 

Then Tai Chi, which wasn't my best lesson ever - first the long yang form, which is always a struggle, then the sword form, which I like but I couldn't do properly because there were too many people to do the moves with any kind of vigour. Felt quite down after the lesson, which is pretty unusual for me.

Good excuse

Tuesday is supposed to be my running day - but too busy at work today (honest). So another week passes without any miles clocked.

What's next?

Kickboxing and Kung Fu on Monday night. More hook kicks in kickboxing, they seemed to flow a little easier than they were doing, but to get them right I think I need to do about 4 hours practice every day - maybe I should give up work and become a shaolin monk?

In Kung Fu I got to teach chum ku to the blue belts, which is a bit of a promotion for me, at that level I'm usually only allowed to supervise stuff that they've already been taught by T. Later on we were even talking about me teaching stuff to brown belts when we've got a few new ones.

After the class we went through biu jeet again, think I've got the hang of the changes now. Then I started learning the final set on our syllabus, which I think is called char chuan. I like it so far....

Hooked

Hook kicks were order of the day this morning, in all three classes. And I still can't do them very well.

Dao and Zen

Women's kickboxing tonight, a couple of kids came along who I reckon must only have been about 8. They seemed to have a good time and picked up most of the moves pretty quickly. 

There's quite a number of people who come to the kickboxing now, probably about 20 in total, but they never all seem to come at once - probably a good thing as we might be a bit strapped for space if they did...

Talking afterwards, it seems that T is kind of studying Daoism, in much the same way as I am thinking about Zen Buddhism. I'd love to talk to someone who understands both to explain the differences.

What's Next?

More Bokken (Miao Dao) at Kung Fu on Thursday night, for everyone this time, not just me.

Then Chi Sao, paired up with one of the newer guys. We were actually doing it properly, trying to be " sensitive" to when the other person was about to move rather than just going through the motions. At one point T even had us trying it with our eyes closed. I think I'm starting to get a sense of what it's about.

Then from the sublime to the scary - double knives with T after the class, trying out some strike/block combinations that were, literally, making sparks fly and knocking chunks out of our knives. I think I hit T on the knuckles at one point, which must have really hurt.

Down to Tai Chi, D told us to practise something we'd learnt from Master Wu, so I had a go at Mi Chong, got to go through it lots of times (luckily I had my notes with me). The trickiest bit is still the jumping spinning crescent kick at the end.....

After the lesson D had a bit of a chat with me about where I thought I was going with my martial arts - I think basically he was asking me to become a proper instructor instead of just an assistant. I think I'm generally going in that direction, since I really enjoy the bits of teaching I do. But it seems like a big step, and I don't really have a clue how to set up a class from scratch. So think I'll just wait awhile.

Back on Track

I finally worked up the enthusiasm to go for a run at lunchtime today. After a break of more than 6 weeks it seemed like a bad idea to take A up on his suggestion of a 10k out to the canal, so strapped on the shuffle and ran down to the track to do a few laps. Managed two miles, then did quite a bit of conditioning and stretching - doesn't feel too bad so far this evening, and for a change my nose isn't running as it has done the last few times I've run. So no excuses for not going out again later in the week.

Complete Martial Artists

Kickboxing, then the first lesson post-grading for the Kung Fu beginners, so I got to teach Chang Chuan right from the start for the first time - maybe I've been up-graded too. Also two new people from a Tai Chi class who have been persuaded by D's latest marketing idea that they should try Kung Fu for a few weeks to become "complete martial artists". (must be some kind of good idea, 'cos that's how I started). They seemed to enjoy it although I think they found it pretty exhausting, so I hope we haven't scared them off.Went through the Bokken sets again with T afterwards, still struggling a little with the stab-to-the-heart one but starting to get there. Made my arm hurt again too.

I seem to have promised a friend at work that I'll indulge his son's Star Wars obsession by teaching him a few moves that might work with a light sabre. My first bit of fight choreography -next stop Golden Harvest!

Duck and Weave

It was generally back to basics at the kids classes today, the grading was last week but rather than launch straight into learning the next forms we spent time going over some fundamentals. The theme through all three lessons seemed to be working on ducking, so plenty of hard work on the legs - getting down under the kids arms is not easy, even for someone as small as me. 

Ironic really that I've spent all week at work thinking about ducks too. One of the more surreal things we do in the name of aviation safety......

Bokken Elbow

Women's kickboxing tonight, quite a few there again, although we never seem to have a class where all the various people turn up on the same night.

After the class T asked me to stay for a bit to go through the 3 bokken (more correctly "miao dao") sets, which neither of us were exactly brilliant at during the grading. It was good to go through them with T as he really goes for it, which forces me to do the blocks properly, although it's also pretty scary because if he ever did make contact it would be pretty serious. And now my elbow is hurting from swinging a heavy sword around too much.

Reminiscing

Thursday night was a grading for the adult beginners. Around 20 grading in all, going for 3 grades - yellow, green and blue. T used all the students above these grades to help out with the teaching (well, revising) that went on during the evening - I was assigned to the yellow-to-green group, which meant plenty of work on Chang Chuan, the first proper two person set (which I think is called char chui?), Mantis San Sau, chi nar locks and the first stick set.

At the end we went back to the way beginner gradings used to be back when I was doing them, in that we all sat down and watched just those people grading going through their form. A welcome change from the more recent trend of everyone who knows the form going through it together. It's undoubtedly a bit more stressful for the gradees - but as T pointed out afterwards, if you were ever called on to use the martial arts in a real situation, that would be pretty stressful too.

Demonstrated at my grading:

6 empty hand forms

7 weapons sets

8 two person sets

You could also add to that the 6 wushu sets I led in the morning for the kids.

I did a quick total and I reckon if you include Tai Chi and Kickboxing and stuff I've done at seminars I know about 50 sets. So the grading only scratched the surface really! But I think in the final analysis it's not about remembering sets, but about how you move and use your body mechanics and your "chi". So still a long way to go. I'm not sure I want to rush straight in to learning another set for a while....

Grading

Grading Day. For me and both of my girls. A proud moment for me when the youngest got her first sash, and the oldest got her second brown. And then later, I passed my grading too! There's just no stopping us!

Different Flavour

I took my eldest with me to kickboxing on Friday night, partly so that she could go through Nam Chuan with T afterward and also to introduce her to it as it may have to be her main class when her extra ballet lessons start in a few weeks. Being a mum at that session rather than an assistant (although I was still the assistant), gave the lesson a different flavour for me.

Plenty of people there and a couple of new faces. Nam Chuan and some more wushu pole at the end. I think I may have finally got the hang of the 360 jump in that set now, the key seems to be to start the stepping with the right foot and do the last leap on the spot rather than trying to travel down the room. Now if only I were flexible enough to go right down to the floor in the sparrow-splash after it, it might look quite good.

Last Chance Thursday

Thursday was my last Kung Fu session before the grading at the weekend, so I was hoping to spend much of it revising the higher sashes stuff like choy li fut, wing chun pole and so on. That hope was quickly thwarted though by it turning out to be one of the biggest Thursday classes I can remember, with close to thirty there, including half a dozen from the kids class wanting one last practice before their grading on Saturday too. Also a couple of first-timers. So plenty to keep me busy. I did manage to briefly go through Biu Jeet and the knives after it was over though, along with the kids wushu pole set, which was very rusty!

Tai Chi was two-person sword, we got right to the end of it this week, with me actually making a useful contribution for a change, suggesting a small footwork subtlety to D when we were working together that he liked so much he taught it to everyone else. Then we did some Hsing I for the first time for an age, which was good. And a promise of more to come next week...