Carnivore!

Yes ladies and gents, I have broken. At least temporarily. A serious analysis of my protein intake has led me, after nearly 4 years of peaceful vegetarianism, to rejoin the world of the carnivorous. Or at least omnivorous. Not to say one can't be vegetarian and train, but I'm just not able to support the effort required to do so. At least not right now. So I'm experimenting with the meat eating and we'll see how I feel after a few weeks. I have to say, and it's probably too soon to be true, but I kind of already feel better...I trained super hard and felt really good right up to the end. Might have just been all the great chi, but it might have been the animal flesh...Stupid amino acids...Oh well, at least I now can join the cool kids and train No. 1 soup.

Two, three, kick, turn, turn, turn, kick, turn!

Five kicks! FIVE KICKS! Count 'em, one, two, three, four, FIIIIIIVE. Saturday Sifu pulled me off line to work on erluquan with 30 minutes still left in class. Which meant that even though I had a lot to go over in the part I already know, there was still time to learn the eagerly anticipated 5 kicks. Whoo!

Today however, couldn't have been more different. By the time we got to fanyao in basics, Sifu had slowed us to a halt, going over the arm rotation and the extension again and again. He continued in this way for the following moves, breaking down every piece and doing it very slowly over and over. When we got to yangshen yunshou it was already 12, and Sifu told us to break and stretch, without having gotten to the rest of basics or chuji quantao. Then we did waibaitui and zhengtitui like usual then did both the first two forms and the xiebu, pubu, dingbu cycle twice. By the time we started doing forms on line there were 15 minutes left in class.

After all my bellyaching about wanting to learn more erluquan, it should be a no-brainer that Saturday's class was my more favorite of the two; oddly enough it wasn't. Before I got to go on to five kicks Saturday, Richu, who was teaching me, went through and found all the places where I'm being lazy, that is to say, all my stances. Mabus too high, gongbus with a bent leg, and pubus leaning too far over. And the last several classes I've heard Sifu yell my name out with frightening regularity, usually with the words, "lazy," "sleepy style," "slow down," etc. attached to it. So today was a welcome chance to work on all the nuts and bolts of my basics. I've never had a class quite like it, but it couldn't have been better timed. I can't wait to get a handle on the "choreography" of the five kicks, but for now I'm happy to concentrate my efforts on keeping Sifu from calling my name out again... Or rather, not without "very good," "beautiful," Or at least a "not bad" attached to it....

Attention!

Last night, after a string of non-stop humidity-filled days, the temperature in Temple was, dare I say it, almost tolerable, when I arrived with a few minutes to spare. I changed quickly and spotted some people I hadn't seen at training in a while, which energized me.

I seemed to be cruising along (well, not feeling like I was gonna pass out) until Shifu barked at me to move to the other side, to even out the line. It jolted me into tengkong fanyao, and I tried to be sharper.

Then, when we got into lines to do yiluquan, I started out at the front line at the end, and thought there weren't enough people at the back, so I made a move to fill in, but Shifu again yelled at me to stay where I was and demanded to know where I was going. He said I was training sleepy style.

He might have called my name again at some point during class but I lost track.

It had been a while since Shifu yelled at me for something like this -- not for poor execution of any particular basic or movement, but rather, for something as essential as paying attention. We must listen with Chi!

At first it surprised me to hear him directing his words at me, but in the end, it resulted in me being more careful with how I conducted myself for the remainder of class. When Shifu is paying attention, I end up paying more attention.

Mystery....

Last night I finally solved a mystery. Lately, every time I've finished what I know of erluquan the toes on my right foot have ached like I jammed all of them at once. I never notice myself doing anything to them during the form, but I've ended up with a little limp as I go back to the line. Running through it in my head I couldn't figure out what move I was doing that would jam up all the toes only on my right side. Whenever I was doing the form I would forget to try and figure it out, my mind consumed with trying to remember all the things Sifu has told me to do. Last night though, my toes were so sore they reminded me to solve this mystery once and for all. I thought, maybe something to do with the sweep? I don't quite know how.... maybe from jumping into the pubu? But I never had that problem before... I went through the form step by step and then -- I couldn't believe it. It was the xiebu stance right before the sidekick. Possibly the least demanding part of the form that I know thus far. And I've done xiebus forever; how could this be? But there was no doubt about it. Apparently, when I go down into the stance I am slamming my right foot really hard into the ground, causing the ache in my poor, abused phalanges...

The more I thought about it the more it made sense, because that's the point in the form when my legs start to feel a little tired and I'm not as controlled as I should be. Mystery solved! At least partway. Now, how to prevent continuing to hurt myself? I've had this problem before, overzealous moves causing me injury. Slapping my foot too hard during kicks, stomping too hard during pubu chuanzhang.... But I've gotten control over these things in the end. This is slightly different since it's a result of being tired more than being too exuberant, but the same rules apply: I need to be more controlled, pay more attention to what I'm doing, and of course train harder!

Breaking in!

No, I'm not the victim of a home invasion; I'm talking about my new feyiues. But we here at KFDU like puns. And for how tough it is to break in a new pair of kicks, it feels like trying to break down a door. My new shoes are black (yes I'm just that cool) and they bring me great joy, but I miss doing the sweep in my super slick shoes....

Maybe there's some way to wear down the treads with something... back in GA the trucker dudes would break in new hats by rolling them up and stuffing them in a glass of water for a few days. Get that authentic, worn down, stuffed-in-a-glass-of-water look I guess... And the hippie kids would break in their hacky sacks (remember those?) by running over them with their cars several times. So I have faith there must be a way to accelerate the breaking in of my shoes.

On the other hand, it was a lot easier to get out of straddle stretch with a little friction on my feet. So maybe I'll just let nature (the nature of my shoes anyway) take its course. I'm sure I'll sweep away the tread in no time. Or five kick it away... last night I learned erluquan up to the five kicks, so it's only a matter of time. New shoes = good luck?

The Green Monster

F the Green Monster. I'm not talking about Fenway Park's Green Monster, as shown above, but the one that rears its ugly head whenever we have a class and there's an itty bitty number of attendees. As Hannah already mentioned, only twenty people trained on Sunday, and hardly any senior students, which made the carpet oh-so-inviting. Yes, I'm talking about that Green Monster, the carpet which seems endless and forever sometimes, especially when you're tired, especially when it's a warm summer day, especially...oh, whatever!

It is clearly a mental game -- the size of the carpet in actuality remains constant, but when our numbers are reduced, the challenge of filling the carpet with our chi-osity seems rather daunting. We are physically capable, but mentally, it can be a struggle, so we must push ourselves, as Quantou once wrote.

Today, Shifu was peeved with our chi in class during basics because people were stopping about midway, so he made us stop and walk around the columns so we could rev up our chi and attack the carpet better. Unfortunately, some people didn't quite get it and continued to stop midway when we resumed, so we had to walk the walk again. Oy.

During forms, I tried to approach the intimidating vastness of the Green Monster by seeing it in a different light. Usually, I do chuji quantao followed by yiluquan followed by what I know of erluquan over and over again -- lather, rinse, repeat -- and oftentimes, squeezing in erluquan can be tough whenever the carpet is full since it takes up a lot of space in both directions.

Today, however, since so few people were practicing forms -- I think as low as ten at one point -- I saw it as an opportunity to go nuts and do erluquan as many times as possible, which was great because I've been dying to get the sweep kick going smoothly. I think I did erluquan as many as five times in a row before I busted out the chuji quantao again. I need to break in my new feiyues! Each time I erluquan-ed it, and practiced the sweep kick three times in a row, I felt happier and happier knocking it out of the ballpark. And I think I did all right....

So, yeah, F the Green Monster (and F the Sox, while we're at it)!

The challenge....

Small classes on Sunday aren't unusual, but today, when I realized we were going to max out at 20 students, I had a bit of a panic. My mom was here to watch and I wanted to be as full of chi as possible, not gasping in short short lines. I know we should try our hardest every day, and I do, but today I tried my extra-hardest. Having my mom there was great inspiration to keep going even when ceshoufans made me crazy dizzy. I've said it before and I said it again, this just shows just how much of training is mental.

Also interesting, in addition to the class being small, there were not a lot of old-school people training today. It's always strange when I feel like part of the older half of the class, but today it was even more pronounced. These things got me to thinking about how much I've learned and how much there is left to learn and so on. I know, I know, how quickly we get through forms isn't important, but I don't want to feel as though the reason I'm not getting through them is because I'm letting my mind keep me from training as hard/as much as possible. So I've made a little bet with myself to train every possible class (for me that's 4 times a week plus holidays) between now and testing in October. If I win (...against myself....) then I will get..something. The validation of having done it. naturally... aaaand something shiny, like gold feiyues... or maybe a leg stretcher... or LeCreuset cooking pans.... mmm yeah... Nothing like a little personal challenge to break down a mental wall...

That's the gauntlet... that I threw down at myself.... yeaaahhh....

Long time, no chi.

In spite of my best efforts to ignore it, and the wonderful enthusiasm of my fellow dorks, I have been feeling low chi for the past several classes. I don't know if it's work-related stress, lethargy from the heat, or being thrown from my regular training schedule, but I have had a hard time feeling motivated. Last night, finally, the chi returned. I admit I had a little coffee before class, which I'm sure sparked my initial energy, but the anticipated crash never came. Instead I felt awesome all the way to the end. It was a big group, several new/trial people, and everyone was constantly clapping and yelling more chi! etc. I had a great time and it helped me remember how much fun training is. I mean the physical act. I always have fun with the people there and after class I always feel a winner, but lately being in class itself had taken a lot of strength to make it through. Last night was still hard (i.e., erluquan feels so long and I'm like 1/3 through!!), but I was enjoying myself again.

Also, since my mom is visiting this weekend, I knew that the next time I train she will be watching, and that inspired me to train harder. I haven't seen her for over a year, which is a lot for me. We're really close, so I'm very excited to share with her this thing that has become such a big part of my life. I think I'm bringing her Sunday since that seems to be when more people will be there. I can't wait for her to meet all you crazy dorks!

Vote for Zhong!

Heng Zhong aka Rick Seedman, who teaches the kids' classes, is auditioning for cable channel G4's America Ninja Challenge as part of their Ninja Warrior program. Check out his super-impressive audition tape here:

If his tape gets selected by G4 as one of their ten favorite videos, it will appear on their website this Friday, August 3rd, whereupon the top 3 vote-getters will have an opportunity to compete to represent the US in Japan.

Support our Temple brother by checking out the site and voting for him here on FRIDAY, AUGUST 3RD. You'll have to register on the site first to participate.

CHI!!!

Update: From the Ninja Warrior message board -- "Users will be able to vote for the contestant who they would like to see compete on 'Ninja Warrior.' Users may vote beginning Friday, August 3, 2007 at 12:00 p.m. PT through Sunday, August 12, 2007 at 5:59:59 p.m. PT. Voting times subject to change in Sponsor's discretion."

SO THAT MEANS STARTING 3PM ON FRIDAY, AUGUST 3RD...

Update #2: Unfortunately, Zhong's video didn't get selected this time, but we are still proud of our Temple brother and his effort. He is amazing, and we are confident he will return even stronger next time. CHI!!!

Shaolin Kicks

By now, you are probably familiar with our trials and tribulations for learning the sweep kick. Lately, as I've been able to make somewhat full circles (yay!), I decided that my beat-up, well-worn pair of training shoes have been a plus due to their smooth bottoms which allow me to spin around somewhat easily on the carpet. I imagine that a new pair of feiyues with their grippy ridged bottoms would render rotations more difficult.

Saturday, however, I hit a snag, quite literally. My right shoe dragged at one point (probably during fanyao or pubu chuanzhang lunbi zaquan) and ripped, connecting the hole that was at the tip of my shoe with the hole under my big toe, resulting in a gaping hole with a flap. I also noticed that when I did pubu to that side, especially during yiluquan, the lack of any grip caused me to slip even deeper into the stance. Owie!

I imagine I'll have to retire this pair very soon, as I doubt training with a monster opening on my shoe could be a good thing. The dork in me loves it, however, when I've managed to wear out another pair -- it's like a kung fu milestone, or some badge of having trained harder.

PS -- Saturday, I noticed Gombulla had some awesome magenta/pink feiyues on. At first, I assumed he might have ordered them from somewhere, like from this European feiyue website (which is bloody expensive), but then he revealed to me that he dyed a white pair himself. Awesome!