Direction From?

   The push/pull of a punch. This opened a whole can of worms for me. Doing thrust punches from a horse stance has felt like a pull for quite a while, but I am stationary. The power still travels from the earth up into my hips then is pulled towards it's objective. There is rotation, there is vector, there is intent, there is release. It feels natural both in body and mind. But then the twist came.....

   Now do it from a slide stepping bow stance. Suddenly I feel I am pushing my power up to it's final destination. So why does this change in stance(s) change anything? I am still using the earth as a base, I am still engaging (hopefully) my six harmonies, my vector hasn't changed, my target has but I am moving towards/away from it. Is it my shoulders, is it lumbar positioning, are my eyes down, has my center risen to my chest, are my hips just doing footwork not transitional power, do I not understand the concept of push versus pull, is my ego refusing to being open to change? So many questions. 

   Dissection. This is how I am describing my approach to this new paradox. I am starting with my shoulders, this is where I feel the problem lays. Am I too tense, too loose, too forward etc. If it turns out that it is, fix it and repeat until it feels as natural as the aforementioned horse stance. If not keep looking until I figure it out. I feel the fix may transition it's way though the rest of my Kung Fu like wild fire, cool.

Push Ups  12235 

Sit Ups  11623

Sparring  650 min

1609KM  1527.09 km

Acts of Kindness  1400 recorded

Hand Form  385

Weapon Form  375

Mastery recited 35

Little Tweak Big Pain

   Most of my pains and aches are old friends, some of them have been with me for a while, but a new one came to visit this last week. 

   While doing some kicks the top mid frontish of my left hip "popped". It hurt right away, kinda like smashing a hammer on your thumb. This was a new one, the pain was very deep, even standing correctly made it throb. Throughout the week it has migrated from my hip to my lower back, guess it is taking a tour of the neighborhood to see if it wants to move in. I have been doing my best to gently persuade it to move on, gentle stretching, heat/cold, massaging it, Tylenol, the standard stuff, and I think it is finally taking the hint and packing up and leaving. So after 4 days of gingerly moving to and fro I am hopefully bidding my newest pain an unfond farewell. 

   Seriously though, this really highlighted a flexibility issue that has been creeping up on me, especially my hips. During Covid there was a hip stretching course I took and it did help with opening up my hips. As is usual for me, once the course was over I moved on, never following through with the benefits that it brought. Time to dig it up from my old laptop and reengage with my body. 

Push Ups  12235 

Sit Ups  11623

Sparring  650 min

1609KM  1496.85 km

Acts of Kindness  1400 recorded

Hand Form  385

Weapon Form  375

Mastery recited 35

Super Fun

   Thursday's IHC. Board (shield) breaking. 

   First we did groups of five. Quick set up, no adjusting of distances allowed, four boards, go. First three boards were in range and felt solid, fourth board was set way to far back, needed a cross step to complete. That unexpected cross step was both a surprise and entertaining (for me). While it wasn't the break I wanted, it mostly felt good. It did highlight how adrenalin effects distancing. 

   In that fraction of a second as I targeted my board while doing a spinning back kick I thought I realized both my error in set up and what needed to happen so I didn't miss the target. Adrenalin said it was 1000 feet away and I needed a BIG cross step, my mind disagreed but it was too late, adrenalin won that battle. So my kick was a few things, not fully in my target area (to the outside and high), not within my intended power range (compressed and short), and just plain old crappy. While I did hit my target, I did not destroy my target, I just tickled it a little. That showed me that adrenalin can be both a friend and foe at the same time. So I need more adrenalin situations to learn to better cope with the "dump" I thought.....

   Well low and behold phase two of the night. The boards are set up for us behind our backs with no hint or idea as to where they are. Just turn and react. Fun on a bun. First pass was just two shields, it happened so fast I don't even remember the combo but I do remember striking both with what felt like satisfaction. damn adrenalin strikes again. I don't even remember the second round, my mind was racing to think of better combinations but then the third round came, oh boy. 

   Four shields held by two people. First off, a great big bow to both Sifu Rybak and Sihing Csillag for their creativity in board placement, it was a total surprise to me when I turned around to see four boards randomly dangling in front of me. In my minds eye I was Joe Lewis, in reality I was Jerry Lewis.

One of the boards was two feet above my head staring down at me with amusement, I could hear it mocking me, taunting me "whatcha gonna do punk?". Only thing that came to mind was an upward knife hand...... what the heck is a upward knife hand? It was kinda a disco move/stance but instead of pointing up my hand in the air with a number one finger raise high it was a knife hand. Interesting choice brain. 

So adrenalin wins again and apparently it has no sense of modesty or style. 

   So I need to work on controlling my adrenalin is the theme of this blog, not my dance moves. 

Push Ups  11795 

Sit Ups  11183

Sparring  600 min

1609KM  1449.97 km

Acts of Kindness  1400 recorded

Hand Form  380

Weapon Form  375

Mastery recited 35

Just numbers from the previous week.

Push Ups  11795 

Sit Ups  11183

Sparring  580 min

1609KM  1414.90 km

Acts of Kindness  1325 recorded

Hand Form  380

Weapon Form  375

Mastery recited 35