Muscle Mechanics

I didn't post the last few times I trained because I was in a lot of pain (thank you, head-flip), and I didn't want to spend a lot of blogspace complaining about my feeble climbing up stairs. However, today I was feeling almost normal again and except for going into mabu during zuopan, (something I've never done before, yikes!) I didn't struggle too much with any moves.

What it did get me to thinking about was the subtleties of move mechanics. Firstly, the thing that hurt from the headflip was not my head or neck but my legs. (Ok and eventually my shoulders.... :P) I found it curious that headflips would result in persistent, unbearable soreness in my outer quads. Heng Mo says she got the same pain when she started kip ups, and has concluded it is a result of using the strength your thighs to pull you up out of the headflip/kip up when you don't get enough push from your arms. Whether or not we ought to be experiencing this pain at all (I'm thinking the mechanics require more from my arms than I currently and exerting) is still under debate...

What also struck me was that, with this "injury," I found many moves challenging that I would not have suspected I needed my quads for so much. I knew zuopans and gongbus were going to be killer, but so were cetituis and strangely, gouquan. I have been musing on how quickly our bodies get accustomed to a move to where we don't even recognize all the muscles we are engaging. In gouquan I focus on my hip and never think about the fact that my quads are also working for me. It's good to be reminded that you need muscles for each move beyond what is obvious. And just maybe, sometimes, we are using the wrong ones without knowing it.. :) Either way, I can't wait until they all are working together 100% so that I can land the headflip again.

Stage Combat

As some of you know, I am an actor. Most of us have had physical movement training of some kind so we can be more aware of our bodies while in front of the camera or on stage. Yesterday, while in acting class, something particularly interesting happened. I was doing a scene with a fellow actor in which we were in a argument. Nothing was rehearsed so neither of us knew if the fight would get physical. He is about 6'2" and probably 170 lbs., so in terms of size of weight, he was much bigger than I am. Towards the end of the scene on the first take, the actor lunged at me and put a bear hug around me. Instinctively, I immediately went into a 弓步 (Gōngbù) and did a 推掌 (Tūizhăng). And he was pushed backwards, powerless, like a rag doll. A look of shock spread across his face. He wasn't expecting me to be able to push him off so easily. He tried again and ended up with a similar result. I didn't realize what I had done until the teacher mentioned after our scene that my Shaolin training is really paying off. She saw that I had complete balance and control of the situation because, physically, I was immovable. That physicality completely described the relationship between the characters beyond what mere words can be said. It was utterly instinctual. She loved it. The class loved it. I loved it.

It's not very often that we get to use what we practice at the Shaolin Temple. It's not 1200 A.D. where there are still warring tribes and we must fight to defend ourselves every day. These days, the guy/girl with the bigger gun usually wins the fight. It was really nice to know, that other than being a pretty art form, the training is based on real applicable uses. For me, oh lucky me! I get to use it on stage or in front of the camera every day!

If at first you succeed, try try again

Yesterday I decided that today was the day I was going to do the head flip. I just decided, ok I am going to land the head flip tomorrow. The crazy thing is - I did!

The sad thing is - no one saw me land it but Heng Xu.

I actually got it pretty fast into my attempts. And then did it several times in succession. Then missed it. My head started to hurt; I took a break. I tried to do it for Richu. I missed it. Then when he wasn't paying attention I did it again a couple times. Then Mo arrived. I tried to do it for her. I failed several times. Mo went to change; I did it a couple more times. She came back out. I failed. My head was really starting to hurt. I decided to take a break. I didn't get it again the rest of the night. My neck is going to be pretty stiff tomorrow, methinks.

It reminds me of the whole, if a tree falls and no one is there to hear it does it make a sound, kind of thing. If you do a head flip and no one sees it does it count? Not that Xu is no one mind you, I just wish there had been other witnesses. I'm deciding yes. Besides, I'm going to have to do it a million more times to make it look clean. So everyone will have proof at some point. Anyway hooray for the power of positive thinking!

You can dance if you want to...

Instead of training tonight I went with a friend to see the Paul Taylor Dance Company at NY City Center. As you may or may not know my background is performing arts so I always enjoy the chance to see some, even if it means missing some KF. :D We had a lot of fun, but I must admit, I spent a lot of the performance, (which was very good), thinking about the dancing in terms of kung fu. In the various pieces I saw elements of one handed ceshoufans, the staff form sacrifice, modified versions of tengkong fanyaos, head flips, mabus and a multitude of other moves. I have always respected dancers, and even more since I started training because they combine all the strength, flexibility and power of kung fu with the added necessity of making it look graceful and effortless. No panting, no unconscious sound effects, no pained faces. Everything perfectly controlled. I don't think I will ever be a dancer, but kung fu is still, as Sifu says, a way to "express yourself." Tonight definitely left me inspired to train harder and strive for more control, elegance and expression. But not forgoing the fun of some explosive chi sound effects...

The Air Up There

Lately, I've been noticing that my jumps on 雙腿屈膝跳 (Shūangtŭi Qūxītìao) and 騰空後撩腿 (Téngkōng Hòlíaotŭi) are getting higher and higher. For some reason, without specifically training for it, my vertical leap has increased. After doing some internet research, I was reminded how beneficial Shaolin training is.

Vertical Leap Training 1

Vertical Leap Training 2

I couldn't believe how similar those exercises were to some of our forms and stances. It makes complete sense. Shaolin or Kung Fu in general have a need for its practitioner to have a high vertical leap. Without it, some of the moves will always be not as powerful or beautiful. I want my 騰空雙飛腳 (Téngkōng Shuāngfēijiăo) to be able to reach someone's face. And not just be able to reach their knees.

Most of us don't have the benefit of training as a professional level athlete, therefore, most of us will never achieve a 48" vertical leap. But, with the almost 1 year that I've been training at the Temple, I've found that my reflexes, speed, and now my vertical leap has improved. There's no guarantee that I will be able to dunk like Michael Jordan, and like Cheng, I can't wait to see what one more year will do!

Leader of the Pack

Everyone remembers their first time...the first time you lead the line, the first time you don't get sent back to KFK, the first time you learn a form, the first time you teach... :D Yesterday was the second time I ever did a double (1.5 since L2 was only an hour because of movie night) and it was the first time I led the line in both classes. I've led the line in L2 before, I actually don't remember the first time it happened. There's less shifting around in L2 and classes are smaller so I guess it didn't make that big of an impression on me. But today, not only did I lead the line in the Level 1 class the entire time both before and after stretching and was the only one there teaching during forms, in L2 I was at the front the entire time except for a few moves when Randy was in front of me when the lines merged. But when he had to step to the side during jumping, I was in the front the rest of the class.

It was really interesting to compare the different sensations of being in the front in the two classes. Where you are in line in L2 is really no indicator of your speed/skill/experience to those behind you; I was in front of Han which I think fairly proves my point. Whereas, in L1 generally, the leaders are at least the fastest, if not the most advanced. At the very least they're the ones with the chi/fear of Sifu's scowl to jump to the front of the line. And when you're in the front you feel the responsibility for setting the example, and keeping up the chi, and training as hard as possible. It was an interesting contrast. But more interesting that it took until after L2 was over before I realized that I had led twice in one day and how bizarre that was in the evolution of my KF training. None of it really means anything; you have to keep training harder. But it was fun to spend yesterday in a place I never would have imagined myself a year ago. Can't begin to imagine where I'll be next year!

If you were a kung fu move...

...what would you be? And why? I would be Gongbu shuang tuizhang housatui gongbu liangzhang. Because it's a compilation of a lot of different things. And also it is like a move that has one foot in L1 and one in L2; it sounds more impressive/complicated than it really is.

Thanks to Richu for posing the question. :D

Short end of the sock

A while back my socks stopped fitting, or my shoes stopped fitting. Whatever the actual cause I found that my feiyues suddenly rose higher on my ankle than my sock resulting in a discomfortable irritation that evolved into a straight-up injury. Oddly, only on my left foot. Weird. So I started buying taller socks. However I still own about twice as many of my earlier brand and so often have settled for them when laundry is due. Tonight was that night and I was not half-way through my lunbi caijiaos before my left shoe had rubbed my heel raw. It was not going to be a good night.

I came to class with low chi and even coffee did nothing to get my engine running. And my attempts at head flips were even worse than usual. So when my shoe started acting up I was ready to write off anything better than struggling through the first hour so I could get to the changing room and put on the socks I wore at work. (tall and wool, not the most ideal for training, but at least they covered my ankle) As it turned out, I guess I didn't look as bad as I felt, or my ankle distracted me from over thinking my movements, because Khalid, who was teaching, asked me to demonstrate not one but TWO moves during basics. And it was two moves I never felt particularly good at, but I guess my mechanics at least were on point. While the rest of class was still pretty rocky, I used that confidence to help propel me to the end, by reminding myself, that even on the lowest chi days you can still move forward.

Top Ten

Reasons tonight's class rocked:

- Big class -- over 30 people! Last night's L2 was also big -- 16. Is this a sign of a shift into spring training with larger classes? Either way it was fun filling the temple.

- Xu and Yue leading the lines. Somewhere in the middle I noticed that Xu and Yue were in the front of both the lines. I don't really get into gender politics much, but I still appreciated that I trained in a place where two unobtrusive petite girls are leading us down the carpet hardcore. Even cooler is the fact that it took awhile for me to notice. I love that we all just train hard and don't make a big deal out of who's a boy and who's a girl, who's old or who's young, who's been training the longest, or anything like that, everyone just trains.

- Sifu opened a window. That means spring is officially here no matter what the calendar says!

- Lots of chi. I felt Sifu was really urging us on today and that everyone went with it. Maybe it was wanting to represent for the several trial people in class, maybe it was just the air flowing through the window, but there was great energy tonight I thought. And I was glad. I trained muay thai this morning (7:30 am!!) and was worried I would feel tired, but I felt great and had lots of fun.

- Heng Gui. as always, a joy. :D Hope he's around for awhile.

- Working on head flips before class. Still a ways to go, but I'm getting less bad. That's comforting.

- Everyone stretched together! As mentioned in an earlier post, wall stretch has all but disappeared lately. Recently I was in a class of 25 and EVERYONE was stretching alone. Tonight Xu immediate got all the new/trial people together for a group stretch and that precipitated much more communal stretching. At least two groups of us were doing wall stretch and I think I saw several other people pairing up for stradlle and front splits, and cetitui stretch. I felt like we were more the old Shaolin community and less the sort of eerily silent group of people stretching in the same room.

- Richu saying Marcho de Mayo.

- Finding a new muscle emerging on my quads. New musculature is always interesting and inspiring.

- Coming home and having time to make cookies. Assuming I post this now. Thanks for a great class everyone!

Whoa, Nelly!

Monday afternoon I decided to take a few days off from my OCD training schedule and get a little work done on my so-called "real" life. Sensing this hubris, the Shaolin gods smote me with a thrown back. So whether I had wanted to or not, I didn't return to training until Thursday night.

It felt great to be back, I was full of pent up energy, and ready to go hardcore. About halfway through warming up with kip-ups though, my back pain reasserted itself and I knew that unless I wanted to really lay myself out, I'd have to work at containing the exuberance I felt.

This was quite a challenge; lots of my favorite Kung fu dorks were there including the long-absent Heng Gui! As we all know, he has through-the-roof chi so his return made class even more energized.

It was a strange feeling, instead of having to dig out the energy to go full-chi the whole class, I was getting constant reminders in my lower back to not extend quite so much, or explode quite that hard. I now understand a small part of your pain Qbertplaya, in having to pace yourself when your physicality can't match your chi. It's hard!

The fact that I had to do that though, was a good indicator that I CAN pop and extend and go strong all class. Finally, when trying (unsuccessfully) to do 5 kicks with slightly less vigor, I gave up on reining in the chi and went for it. I'm paying the price today, (training L2 is getting about 60/40 odds right now) but it was worth it to take advantage of such a fun class.