Connected!

I can remember back to the days of the UBBT (prior to I Ho Chuan), in its infancy of the team concept it was a little challenging for those out of town workers or shift workers to stay connected to the Kwoon.
Our ways of staying connected to the school have vastly changed in my mind and I think it's great.
Our blogs have been our first and most important way of sharing, but as time went on routine meetings were adopted, then virtual attendance to the meetings became possible for those in special situations, and now  Google Plus communities.
I find distance is not a setback like it used to feel.

I am in Whitehorse right now, but I don't feel the distance.
A good representation of why I feel connected would have to be attributed to the on line challenge Sihing Choy initiated with push ups. Simple but effective. I tune in every night to post my numbers, catch up on discussions and read the blogs of my peers.
I might not be in town for awhile but the connection, motivation and inspiration are all at my finger tips!
Good stuff, I think!

"Abscence  of evidence is not evidence of absence"

I don't know where this quote originated from, it is a philosphy, a principle of law and science and a statement of rebuttle in argument.
That being said, I believe you can apply the quote to your own daily life.
It makes me think before I speak.
 It helps me keep an open mind.

Love the Gadget!

Gadgets, gimmicks, trends or Fads...whatever you want to call it...

The latest is the Fitbit, or at least its the latest for me. I seen a few people sporting the wrist band and finally curiosity got the best of me, I bought one and have been having great fun with it so far.

At work we have a tendency to stay at our desks when we are in the office and just sit and work till its time to leave. Not good, not at all, the human body was not meant to sit in a chair constantly and I pay for it later with tight muscle and joint problems.

Anyways, a few of us at the office have picked up the little gadget and "friended" each other.

The result has been fantastic. 

We set challenges between us , we encourage each other to go for walks in the river valley during lunch and at the end of the day, you just feel better mentally.

Of course,  I have to give a high five to those kung fu people I have spotted with the wrist bands as well!

so yeah, maybe its a fad and the novelty will wear off but the fact that it gets you off your butt and thinking about your physical condition is great.

So nice work "Fitbit" people!

and Breathe!

Sanshou and the Shaolin Fitness classes.
Two very different classes but with a connection.

One class focuses on sparring and the other on your conditioning.

As a martial artist your conditioning and endurance should be your foundation from which you build your martial arts skills upon.
Imagine if you honed your skill and knowledge to perfection. Knowing every leverage point and placement of footwork to deflect and attack your opponent. Fantastic!
...not so fantastic if you find yourself winded and gasping for breathe in mere minutes of engagement.

Let us not forget about our fitness level, the basic conditioning of our heart, lungs and muscles. The internal workings and health of our body will serve us that much better in our pursuit of physical skill if we look after the basics.

To achieve this, we don't need to join a gym or spend 2hours a day running we simply need some cardio exertion at least 3 times a week to maintain a basic level of conditioning. Utilizing our martial arts as a source is perfect. Ramp up the reps of Forms, speed up a set of kicks, drop down for some push ups and you are on your way!

Don't have time for extra cardio with your focus on kung fu training?...no problem..add the Saturday morning Shaolin fitness class, add the Tuesday evening Sanshou class and make sure you put in 110 percent during your class warm ups... now you are maintaining a level of conditioning not to mention the extra kung fu training embedded in those classes!
and for those ambitious people looking to improve their cardio - add a couple of early morning runs and watch yourself emerge into that finely tuned breathing machine!

Girl talk

The dreaded pull up!

For us ladies this is like climbing Mount Everest!
Typically the female body type is not blessed with the upper body strength that our male counterparts are endowed with....and typically we are blessed with the heavy hips. This again, makes lifting our own body weight a challenge, so whats a girl to do?

First off, know the muscle groups that actually work the pull up...

For me, my weakness was engaging the whole back, I found my arms were strong enough but my back worked as independent muscles, quivering in and out! I was good for about 1 or 1 and a half pull ups. 

Ladies we have to strengthen our backs in my opinion. Watch how you do your push ups as well. The upper back should be fully engaged from the shoulders, scapula, rhomboid area, etc. and down thru your lats. Full back engagement also translates , or it should, into an engaged core. So bottom line, the whole upper body group of muscles are locked together (like Lego pieces) to lift as one unit. The lower body is basically dead weight.

So how do I strengthen my back?

 Tonnes of exercises  out there to choose from but I found this particular dumbbell set, for my weak area, was very focused in strengthening my back for the purpose of pull ups. Use a weight size that challenges you, these tiny weights in the picture wont cut it. (no offence random girl in diagram!).

There are plenty of other weight training exercises for the back and plenty on the Internet to introduce you to them. I just found this one helped me a lot.

This Saturday, I'm going to bring in my pull up assist cable for fun...if you would like to try it let me know!

Happy reps and see you on the mats!

Acupuncture

 My hamstring has been a problem for sometime. I have been stretching and heating and icing and massaging but it never really goes away.
I finally got up enough nerve to try acupuncture!...after the treatment he told me to try a short run on the weekend and see how it feels. I am excited to see if there is a difference, but I can understand now, how the acupunture penetrates into deep tissue, have a feeling I should have tried this much earlier!