Odd Legs

Hard impact shin-on-shin on Monday at kickboxing. Didn't think too much about it after the initial swearing had stopped, busy looking after a couple of new people then working on bokken at kung fu (in a confined space with people swinging bokkens it pays to be focussed on where they all are or something worse than a bruised shin may result). Went through the stick set with T and N afterwards, I think my Sunday solo training in my garden has paid off.

Tuesday morning however I woke up noticing that my leg was hurting thanks to the weight of the covers, which seemed like a bad sign, and indeed on inspection the whole of my lower leg was quite badly swollen - although strangely there isn't much discolouration. Fortunately load bearing doesn't seem to be a problem so I was able to carry on pretty much as normal (to the extent that I went training at lunchtime again - stick, biu jeet, char chuan) but I think it will be a couple of weeks before I can wear anything but trousers or boots without getting odd looks.

Sunshine Shone Brightly

Got through kickboxing without acquiring any new bruises last night, mostly pad work and a bit of syllabus stuff. I'm still having extraordinary difficulty remembering one kickboxing 2-person set from another, a problem I never seem to have in kung fu. Fortunately at the moment we're doing the beginners part of the syllabus so I only need to be shown them once to catch on, at least in the short term.

Taught a bit of bokken/miao dao in the kung fu, then kwok sau thay again. Tried a mantis approach to the sparring with quite a lot of success. The stamping and moving forward but not stepping through seems to fox my opponent fairly successfully - I just need to be careful not to become a one trick pony.

Went through the Chen tai chi a few times after the class, and again this lunchtime at work, when I spent a good hour out in the sunshine going over a few bits and pieces. Definitely better than a desultory trip to the canteen.

Dizzy

I read on the BBC earlier this week that the first week of February is the top week in the year for people to be off work ill - either genuinely or spuriously. And this Thursday's Kung Fu was certainly the smallest for a while. Not that that's a bad thing from my point of view, as I tend to get to work on the intermediate and advanced stuff a bit more when it's quiet - choy li fut and some bokken work.

We also worked on some more difficult kicks, particularly the jumping spinning inward crescent kick. I can actually do it reasonably well now, but when we have to do repeated ones down the length of the hall (about 5 or 6 kicks in a row, which amounts to a dozen high speed spins without pausing) I get so incredibly dizzy it's as if I've done that thing you see on "hilarious" home videos where people put their forehead on a broom and run round in circles, then stagger about a lot and fall over....I didn't actually fall down, but I was having distinct trouble walking in a straight line when going back to the other end of the hall.

Tai chi was yang style to the left, Hsing-I drills and living pole. D said we were nearly at the end of it but in my recollection we're less than a quarter of the way through it - so he must be planning on teaching it in discrete chunks. More photos at the end for the publicity - damn paparazzi!

It's all in the wrist

Two big classes on Monday night with newcomers at both kickboxing and kung fu. In Kung Fu T asked me to teach the Chi Nar wrist locks to the beginners, which I duly did, only to discover, when one of the lads reacted rather more strongly than I was expecting to the fairly gentle lock I put on him that he had several bits of metal work in his wrist as it had been broken in about a dozen places a couple of years ago. Don't think I hurt him too much though as he was enquiring afterwards whether he could come to the Thursday class as well as the Mondays.

Char chuan afterwards, and more bokken.

Metal, Water, Earth, Wood, Fire

Just a small group of us at kung fu on Thursday, and all fairly advanced, so we spent the evening going over some of the intermediate bits of the syllabus in great detail and practising the relevant applications. Having decided that this year I'm going to take training more seriously I was working really hard, and even managed to get a compliment out of T, which is rare indeed!

He and I went through the bokken vs pole at full throttle, in a kind of you'd-better-block-this-like-you're-supposed-to-or-I-will-hit-you kind of way that is really quite scary when weapons are involved - but focusses the mind very effectively. Both sides of the form are fairly well embedded for me now I'm pleased to say.

Then Tai Chi which was all Hsing-I, first the pi chuan (metal, splitting, lungs) and zu'an chuan (water, drilling, kidneys) drills and then the short two-person set we know. Good stuff, but I have very bruised forearms today. Looking forward to learning the other elements in due course.

Forgotten Steps

Thursday night kung fu, I got to take the higher group initially and teach them the single person bokken drill. Then a bit of time with the beginners (mostly kids now) working on Char Chui 1.

Quite a few rounds of sparring which made a nice change.

Then a brief run through of Li Pi with T - all my problems solved just by the addition of a forgotten step in 2 places. I must write it down this time while it's fresh in my mind.

Went through bokken vs pole a few times with N, which was just as well because when we went down to Tai Chi D asked us to give a demonstration of it to the rest of the class. After that lots of time working on pole which is always fun, then the 2-person pa kua - starting to get quite reasonable I think, providing I'm paired up with someone who can keep their end up.

Grabbed D at the end to run through the first part of the Chen style that was getting a bit rusty. As we were leaving D asked me if I wanted to start going to the Southampton training days. I'm quite keen except it means using up lots of precious holiday days at work. I'll have to try to figure out how much I can spare.

Shake it baby, shake it

Usually when we train on Monday night we are in the small hall and the belly dancers are in the main room. But last night their teacher was ill and the class was cancelled. So we took our chance and grabbed the bigger hall. Meanwhile a steady flow of trainee belly dancers kept turning up. We managed to persuade one to stay and train with us...and she was a natural! I guess it's not that surprising that a dancer should be well co-ordinated, but she picked up what we were doing in the kick-boxing really quickly. And she enjoyed it so much she says she'll come again. And no she wasn't scantily clad....

Got to teach 2 things I've never taught before last night too - the single person miao dao (bokken) drill and the "mantis grasps cicada"

Sick List

Monday morning started early being woken by the youngest arriving by my bedside to tell me she was about to be sick....so one very quick dash for the bathroom later it was obvious that one of us was going to have to stay at home with her as she wouldn't be going to school. And it was my turn. After a fairly long day of cleaning up (although to be fair she is pretty good at getting to the bucket in time!), I was happier than usual for the other half to arrive home after work to take over while I slopped off to kickboxing and kung fu.

Having done next to nothing except sit by a sick bed all day I had plenty of energy to burn off through both sessions and through the sparring at the end. Taught siu lim tao, biu jeet and stick, then the first mantis 2 person set that I can't remember the name of.

Afterwards went through char chuan and bokken vs pole, then had a long conversation with the hall caretaker about iceroad truckers, which although I've never seen it is probably going to get much more relevant to me when I get sent out to the frozen far north of Canada next winter for work....

Upper Class

Managed to get out at lunchtime and do some practice - quite an intense session with quite a bit of wing chun and a couple of more open forms.

Then Thursday night kung fu - I got to teach the senior students, first taking everyone through choy li fut, then splitting them up and rotating round the different groups. I think I handled it fairly well, the trickiest bit was teaching part of the biu jeet that's really hard to explain (although physically not the hardest part to do, strangely enough). Then afterwards more bokken vs pole with T, this time with me trying the pole part - quite tricky!

Down to tai chi, went through a small section of the sword in fine detail, then practised the

relevant applications. Went through the 2 person pa kua set too. D slipped in the promise of some revision of the tai chi fan in the near future which I'm looking forward to.

On The Rack

Lots of partner stretching on Monday night at both the kickboxing and kung fu. Still feeling it slightly this morning, so maybe I've actually been taken beyond my comfort zone for a change.

Taught some biu jeet for the first time too - another promotion!

Bokken vs Pole afterward, right the way through both parts, it seems to work but now I need to figure out the other side.....

..and home in time for vespers and bandages.

The Mighty Atom Returns

My youngest made it back to kung fu today for the first time since she broke her arm. Just to be on the safe side I strapped up her wrist with some old kick-boxing hand-wraps I've got, which she was really chuffed about. I was concerned she would be a bit cautious and not try stuff out of fear it would hurt, but I needn't have worried - she was full on straight away!

After the kids classes T and I went through some stuff, working on the 2-person choy li fut set and the 2-person butterfly knives. Then T showed me some of the stuff he'd learnt on his trip down to Southampton last Friday - some good wing chun stuff. Also apparently he's discovered that the bokken vs pole that we've been trying hard to revise is in fact only half of the set - so lots more to work on there.

Setting the Pace

Mainly Choy Li Fut in Kung Fu, which made a nice change, followed by trying to teach the "two step" bokken set, which initially filled me full of dread as I thought it was pretty sketchy, but actually turned out much better than I'd expected and even got a rare "good" out of T when we showed him what we'd learnt.

A scary stick drill paired up with T that put my knuckles in a lot of danger, then sparring with the padded sticks at the end. For some reason I am absolutely hopeless at stick sparring, I think it's partly that I feel constrained by the limited targets you're allowed to aim for and partly that you're not allowed to use your free hand to grab or block your opponents stick. If it were a real free-for-all I think I'd do better.

Arrived at Tai Chi just in time for D to ask me to lead through the short yang form while he observed. This is a first in Tai Chi, and although it wouldn't make me bat an eye-lid in kung fu, and although I've been doing the yang form for longer than anything else in martial arts, this filled me with fear/paranoia that I was going to get it wrong. Thankfully after the first few moves I managed to relax into it a bit and concentrate on my tan tien a little, so I think it wasn't too bad. It was however at a (relatively) fast pace as I was still a little hyper from kung fu, which was commented on as a bit of a change for most of the tai chi guys who tend to take it fairly sedately. (I wish I knew the long form well enough to try to go through it at a faster pace. I've heard that it can be done in around 10 minutes if you step it up a bit....).

After that I taught one of the new-comers to the advanced class a portion of the sword set (teaching is another first for me in tai chi), then we all went through some drills from "Living Pole" which I haven't done for a long time. Anyway, by the end of the night I was feeling a little more confident about my Tai Chi than I have done for a while.

Punching above my weight

or above my height to be more precise. In kickboxing last night T told me I needed to practise punching a bit higher than shoulder/face height, since most of my opponents would be considerably taller than me. True I suppose, but if I were really defending myself against someone bigger than me I don't think punching them in the head would be my first choice strategy - in fact I doubt very much whether I'd use kickboxing at all, it seems pretty much like a sport to me rather than a serious martial art (not that I don't enjoy it, cos I do...) if I were in a corner I'd probably use some Tai Chi or mantis. Anyway, cue twenty minutes or so of punching high wearing my heavy gloves, so today my arms and chest ache somewhat

Kung Fu afterwards was pretty good, went through some bokken/miao dao drills with the green sashes, then some basic Mantis stuff with the beginners. After the class I finally got to the end of the char chuan set I've been learning. I think it is a most fantastic set, I only hope I can

do it justice with enough practice. A big moment actually, since I think this marks the end of the official syllabus, from now on new stuff I learn will be what takes Master They's fancy/what he thinks is appropriate for me, rather than the standard stuff that

everyone learns if they stick around long enough. I'm thinking of it more as just starting out on the real stuff, rather than having "finished" anything

The Great Outdoors

Very warm for Thursday evening's classes - so hot in fact that some people had called T and told him they weren't coming because it was too hot - honest, if nothing else. The real problem is that the windows of the hall we train in don't open, so it's not only hot but very close.

Chum ku, char chuan, the beginnings of a wing chun 2-person set and then some kwok sau thay in the class, with some bokken afterwards. Talked about what we'll do over the holiday period in terms of classes which usually get fairly small because everyone with kids is away. It looks like we'll just run the Monday night classes through August and encourage those who normally only come on Thursday to swap to Monday just for the month. And I'll take the classes when T is away, which will be a first for me.

The Tai Chi class was in the garden, which was really nice, both for the fresh air and for the fact that there was quite a lot more room than when we're indoors, which given that we went through sword and then pole was a good thing. We also learnt a neat application for part of the Yang form that I haven't seen before involving breaking an arm and then some ribs. Tai Chi's not quite the gentle hand waving that so many people think it is.

Led Boots

Monday kickboxing was my first time for a few weeks, and we went off at a cracking pace, making no concessions at all to the closeness of the weather. My leg felt surprisingly OK, so I was able to get really stuck in. I went through the second set with a couple of the class, although I still think we're not quite at the end (hard to tell though, as it's so long since I last did that particular form all the way through).

Then Kung Fu, first going through the bokken/miao dao applications with the green sashes, then siu lim tao with the beginners. Then some knocking hands sensitivity training - and about half way through it was like someone had unplugged me - legs and arms felt like lead and I could hardly hold up a guard let alone throw a punch.

Just a couple of missed sessions and I can't hack it anymore! I'm dreading the summer break as even with the best of intentions I know I won't train very intensely by myself, and by the time I've had a month off I'll be useless.

N'Sync

Best training session for ages on Thursday night. Nothing special, I just seemed to be in the groove (or "in the dao" as T might say). Although not completely better, my groin strain is on the mend and I've finally shaken off the last of my cold. We did plenty of bokken during the warm up, then chang chuan, biu jeet, char chuan and a bit of stick work with a beginner.

Then after the class four of us went through the char chuan together. I'd never done it as part of a group before, but we seemed to work well together in really good synchrony. Unfortunately I don't know all of it yet (in fact it looks like I know less than a third of it so far!), so I had to drop out before the end. I think because of its flashy nature, it would be a good form to do for a display. Once everyone else was gone I was still on a bit of a high, so went through li pi and some more biu jeet by myself.

Tai Chi was also good - I've made a conscious decision to try to enjoy it more instead of worrying about it, and it seems to be working. Went through more sword, there's just one section I'm still a bit vague on, then it's just a question of stitching it together. Then some more Hsing I, some Wu-style pushing hands and a bit of chi gung for the solstice. D seems taken with the notion of teaching a kung fu class with me, so it's just a question of deciding where and when now.

The Comeback Kid

Despite finding breathing a bit of a challenge on occasions, I decided to venture to Kung Fu on Thursday night, thinking that the Dan Dien breathing and general "chi" cultivation would do me good. And sure enough after the first couple of minutes I was fine (although I seem to have pulled something in my left thigh - quite how I did that during my days on my sickbed I don't know).

Went over the first section of the Choy Li Fut Celebration set with the Orange sashes, then through some Wing Chun (Chum Ku) with the Blues. We were then supposed to go through some bokken/miao dao with the whole class, but T and I had brain fade at first and couldn't remeber which sequences were in which set until after the class had offically ended (although most people stayed on in the hope that we would recall it eventually). What is it with the bokken sets?

Arrived at Tai Chi just in time to go over a portion of the straight sword set that I've always been a bit rusty on. I really want to find an opportunity to practice the whole set in a vast space so that I can really do it justice. My garden isn't really quite big enough (not to mention I'd probably impale at least one of the kids), but I can't really do it in a park 'cos I'd probably get arrested....

After sword we did some more Hsing I, including a new two person drill for practising "pi". Woke up this morning to find my forearms covered in bruises, which hasn't happened for a long time.

Never Too Late

Despite still being in Birmingham auditing at 6:00, I decided to dash to kung fu this evening, and against all the odds I arrived only about an hour late and in one piece. Straight in to a bit of kwok sau thay, then kicking, sparring and some bokken with T and young J.

Felt much fresher than usual going down to tai chi, presumably because of an hour's less exertion than normal, and had a very enjoyable lesson, doing the long form as badly as ever, then some sword and some Hsing I (also as badly as ever - I enjoy Hsing I but I think it really doesn't suit my body type). For some reason my inadequ

acies didn't seem to annoy me this evening, they seemed vaguely amusing instead. Not quite so the inadequacies I discovered during my audit earlier in the day.....

Left Brain Right Brain

Late getting away from work tonight after a very busy day. So I arrived towards the end of the kick boxing and pitched straight in. But the strange thing was that I only seemed to be able to do stuff on one side (usually we do stuff first with one foot forward then the other, and it doesn't make a lot of difference to me, although I tend to slightly favour a left foot forward stance since I'm right handed). I think it might be that because I'd been concentrating hard at work, then hadn't done a proper warm-up, that only one side of my brain (the left side I'd guess) was tuned in. 

I didn't manage to get into the "groove" properly until part way through kung fu. Taught some Sui Lim Tao to the beginners, then afterwards went through bokken with T like we meant it, then learnt a bit more char chuan which is shaping up to be a really cool form - but it will need lots of

 practice for me to do it justice.

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.