Last Thursday

Neck felt good enough to go to training last night, and since it was the last opportunity I'll have to go to a Thursday kung fu/tai chi combo for a while, I decided to strap up my fingers to protect my painful knuckle and go along to see how I felt.

Last residues of stiffness in my neck disappeared once I'd warmed up and I had a good class, other than the fact that we focussed quite a bit on mantis, where it's quite tricky to get the requisite "hook" hand shape when your fingers are taped together. After kung fu first D came up from tai chi to get my help with a section of char chuan he'd forgotten, then I had a good chat with one of the intermediate guys about plateauing in training and having to work through it to start seeing more improvement.

In Tai chi we worked on the Yang Long form, then some chen and some mi cheong, which I haven't done for ages, but D helped me revise the opening few moves which I've always found particularly tricky. D wanted to talk about me becoming a proper instructor, he wants us plan out my "development", start applying for my CRB checks, getting my first aid qualifications and so on....

Off to the pub afterwards with a couple of the guys because it will be a while before I get the opportunity again, given that I'm going to have to (at least temporarily) give up Thursday's for a while to concentrate on the Wednesday night classes we're starting up in Derby. I'll particularly miss the tai chi guys, since I get to see most of the kung fu lot on either Monday or Saturday at the other classes.

Four Forms

Well, three short Yang forms (two right, one left) and one long Yang form. Also some mi chong, some pa kua, single and two person pole and a sneaky bit of char chuan. So although there was no kung fu this Thursday I still managed to get a fair bit of practice in.

Off to the big smoke for a few days so no more 'til next week though....

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.

Rap it up - I'll take it

Thursday's Kung Fu - T introduced a new routine for doing stance work which was pretty good, similar to chang chuan really. Then I got to do single and 2-person pole with the purple sashes who'll be grading on it soon, and revise Choy Li Fut a few times, then Mi Chong. So basically all my favorite forms in one night! I also went through a two-person double sticks drill with the beginners, which is fun, and only got my knuckles rapped once.

One of the guys who use to train with another part of the school in Bath is going to show me his Double Sai form next week. I've always wanted to learn the Sai's, and didn't know that Wutan had a form for them, so there's something to look forward to for some point in the future, hopefully.

Downstairs to Tai Chi, managed to get a short break between which helps a lot, then short form to the left. Single person sword this week, learnt a few more moves, feeling quite comfortable with it this time (I should be as this must be about the fourth time I've been taught it). Double pushing hands to finish, which was difficult as always - not least because everyone else there is about a foot taller than me.