Built in a Day

Rome was not built in a day, and nor is a Black Belt.

It is natural for people to look forward, look to their next step, want to know what is down the road. When something is laid out before our eyes it is easy to scan it all and anticipate when you can get through it all, plan a finish date.

some thoughts to share...

Short term goals are important for us. It gives us motivation to continue down a longer road, we are able to measure our progress at close range. The sense of accomplishment is more tangible.
What we need to be careful of(and this is my personal experience)  not to get caught up in the quantity of accomplishments but the quality in what you have before you.

I recall as a colored belt how the stripes I acquired on my belt became exciting! How I looked forward to  my Sifu witnessing where I was at with my curriculum. The stripes seemed easy, I was in good shape, the concepts were basic and I could mimic the Instructors demonstrations... then Blue Belt,... things changed.

This is where I had to go back and really understand the mechanics of what I was taught. Understand and practice the intangible concepts as "flow", "chi", "reaction and recovery", "judgement", etc.
If I was only mimicking what I saw my Instructors do, I could not apply these concepts to my skill set learnt thus far.

I had to go back and revisit my fundamentals and truly understand how my body needed to move, how my body feels when in the right stance, how my footwork might be slightly different then my fellow student beside me, why I would defend in such manner and analysis techniques and forms for their purpose.


What I'm getting at,   be patient with yourself, be patient with what seems to be simple techniques and savour the lessons taught. Take time to reflect after each class and look to understand the purpose of the lesson not just memorize. To be methodical in what you do can take longer...but its OK.


Don't look at achieving a  Black Belt as a race with your peers but rather a challenge to make the time spent of value. Time that counts towards building something solid...not having to go back and spend more time fixing what was rushed through the first time.


This of course, is me speaking from experience. Still fixing details that don't quite feel right. Still fixing bad habits from repeating something slightly incorrectly and now its ingrained in the old muscle memory.
You see, there is no end, just marker points. There is no question you should be aiming for that Black Belt marker point and definitely pushing yourself outside your comfort zone to achieve it.

But  quality in a Black Belt is built from the inside out not the outside in.

If you are a white belt, you are the luckiest person in the Universe! You are starting your martial arts journey and you have no bad habits! Keep that in mind as you move up the ranks...try and keep your training exact as you can. Question that which does not feel right, ask yourself the purpose of your movement and keep not only your physical being challenged but your mental game engaged from an early start.


If only my Future self could have lectured my Past self!:)

The Gift of Focus

Over the years of training in kung fu, one skill I have worked on and continue to work on is the skill and ability to focus on whatever it is I wish to perfect.

This is the time of year I feel excited for those who have put so much work into their goals. It all amounts to concentrated minutes in front of their peers, Sifus,  friends and family.
The hours and hours spent practicing come shining through as they focus on the pinnacle moment.

I admire that and I applaud that.

No matter the outcome, whether its absolute perfection or creative improvising, the Focus in the moment is what I admire most.


Good Luck to the I Ho Chuan team but most of all have Fun!

Get a Grip! or 2

Running on a treadmill is different than running on a track.
Running on a track is different than running outdoors.
Running in the summer is different than running in the winter!


took up running lately, or a least I try and imitate those running people. I thought winter was the down time until I found these little guys.. they just strap on the bottom and away I trudge...

When you run on slushy snow , its like running on a sandy beach..well ...with alot of imagination!

How do I train smarter?

This time of year is buzzing...
In the Kwoon everyone is busy reaching goals and polishing their end product. While others are busy setting goals for the up and coming.
I, as well, have some beastly size goals this year and admittedly, probably more than I can handle but, I have committed myself to them so time to train smart.

We all write down on paper what we want to achieve  but I'm a firm believer in measuring progress if you can.
Record  where you are at with your present skills and write down what you would like to achieve by the years end.
Now the tricky part is the path to get me there. Too often I fly out of the gate, tackle everything in three months then find myself exhausted , bored from the repetition, sore every morning from aching muscles and really not quite sure if I have made any progress.


During class yesterday, I had a quick but valuable conversation with some of the Sihings. They reminded me of a couple of key aspects to goal setting. One is frequency and the other was recovery.
If I want to progress I need to practice something with quality and frequently but also allow the body to recover and rebuild so the next time I train the body has adapted and improved its reaction to the physical stress.


Something like this.....

If the body is put into a situation of overload(physical work stress) its capacity to deal with it decreases. During the recovery period(rest time) the body's work capacity increases to a level greater than the original.
The strategy is not to let the recovery time lapse too much, so as to find yourself starting from scratch again. That being said, not to get back at it again too soon where a person is over-training and defeating themselves.

So here I go...
practice what I preach ,right!

Thanks for the quick but valuable chat, Sihings, Chervenka, Csillag and Tymchuk!!

The mighty little kettlebell

One of my favourite strengthening tools is the kettle bell.
I find its simple but effective for building muscle strength, explosive movement , cardio and most important to me... core strength.

The kettle bell originated from Russia in the 1700s. Apparently it was used as a scale weight for farmers to determine how much grain they had in "poods" (16kg increments) others say it was a cannon ball with a handle on it so it was faster to load in the Russian military.

Whatever the origin, I like how the exercises with the kettle bell use techniques that work more than one muscle group, incorporate body stability and depending on the exercise work explosive movement. This is perfect enhancements for the martial artist, especially working the core muscles and the posterior chain not to mention a strong grip!

We introduced them to the MAfit class recently and I would like to bring them in occasionally to add that advantage, however, I think I will need to get some heavier ones to challenge the male students and leave the "girly" ones for me:)!

Disruption

I am in Whitecourt for the week.
Not a big deal but its always a disruption to my training and routine.
Be adaptable right...

It seems to me that short frequent trips are more detrimental than the out of town for months. When you are gone for a duration of time you can settle into some kind of local routine but these one week trips here and there seem to be more challenging to me..
Easy to start telling yourself,".. I will be back on the weekend, then I will go hard!.."
That becomes a slippery slope.

Science to your fitness

Our core refers to the center of our body. Not just our outer abs but the inner muscle group that connects upper to lower...essentially our torso.  There are groups of muscles deep within that serve  our stability and our transfer of movement and energy from one area of the body to another.
Our core strength interconnects the upper body to the lower body and is our stability.

My plan is to train smarter, expose the science to our fitness and focus on the concepts above.

Join us during the Martial Arts fitness class Saturday morning as we focus on the different aspects of our training.

If you plan on grading next year...up your game....this is for you.
If you don't plan on grading next year.....up your game...this is for you!;)