Wednesday, April 11, 2007

State of da Qbertplaya

No specific lessons or observations to write down lately, much like the time Mo put forth some Thought Points. Here are just some of my recent thoughts:

1. Lately I too have been struggling with a Shaolin sword poking just under my right butt cheek. During wall stretch a few weeks ago, something got pulled funny and the pull has limited my ability to do pubu on that side and some kicks properly. I am always optimistic when I start class that it'll feel okay, but after a few caijiaos on my right side, I then only work the left leg at full range. I wonder if I should avoid doing anything with my right leg as much as possible, or if I should do half-range kicks to prevent an imbalance, or what. Any advice?

2. Last night after we had been doing forms for a while, Shifu came through to put selected people into groups to learn more of the various forms. He picked Jaka and Hannah R. to work on the beginning of erluquan, and because I was standing next to Jaka and I haven't gotten that far in the form, I thought he wanted me to join their group as well, but he told me to get back in line. I experienced a teeny moment of disappointment until he told Joshua to work with me (and just me) on more erluquan, and so I did get a little bit further. Yay! So, yes, Q., be patient...

3. This past Saturday, I tested for yiluquan with a fun bunch of people, including my fellow dorks, Sucheela and Mo. I felt better about testing this time than I did six months ago, but I still couldn't get away without a Shifu comment specific to me! I've been trying not to think too much about whether I'll pass or not. Ultimately, I am satisfied that I tried my best last Saturday (especially with said Shaolin sword), and I'm always working hard in class. I guess we'll find out soon enough on Sunday at the certificate ceremony!

TRAIN HARDER!

5 comments:

  1. I've been through shaolin sword problems a couple of times. In every case the pain has been there nagging if I worked the affected leg at all. The most recent time I did *nothing* in practice with that leg (caijow only with the other leg, gongbu very, very high on the sore leg, no stretches at all, etc.) for a week and used icy-hot every night.

    It took just over a week for things to really get better. I also put lots of extra time into warming up. I find that I'm most likely to hurt myself on the first kick of the day, so I force myself to kick half-height a few times to get a feel for how high I can go without straining anything.

    I say rest it, and I mean rest it completely; See how it feels after a week.

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  2. I've had a crazy weird pain as if my hamstrings were pulling like a taut rope. During those times, I would rub Aspercreme on my hamstrings every night for 7-10 days. It helped a bit but definitely resting it a bit. Also, taking a hot shower after training helps relax my muscles. If I did train, I wouldn't go all out and crazy. But kept training two days a week. Then when it started to subside a bit, train harder! :)

    Don't get me wrong, it hasn't been completely gone away. Every now and then it'd creep back up especially when I haven't trained for a week.

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  3. Sounds to me like you guys are training improperly. If your doing the motions correctly all these injuries shouldn't be happening.

    Try relaxing more through your motions. If you alreayd have an injury then stop taining until it heals, or at the very least do nothing on that leg. I know the feeling of wanting to train hard all day long. Trust me though training with an injury not only makes it heal slower (and sometimes make it worse) but also trains your body improperly. This will lead to lerning the technique improperly and thus lead to more injuries. This vicious cycle will continue until your totally crippled. You'll then spend the rest of your life in bed drinking your food through a straw.

    Ok maybe I'm exagerating but you get the idea.

    Take it easy all
    Peace
    Joe

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  4. If it's been a few weeks, I'd definitely take it easy. When I was having trouble with my hip flexors, I took it easy with the wabatui while I worked on other things (stretching and strengthening exercises outside of class), and it did eventually get better.

    If you like, I can recommend a great chiropractor. He really helped me fix my hips. Also, Heng Jien's brother is a chiroprocator, and Jien thinks he really good.

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