JCC 2017 Fitness Goals

Thanks.


No nunchukas for me! I attempted to Bruce Lee many years ago and know what you mean by "painful"mistakes. Those bruises were all I needed to know not to go further. Staff maybe....(as my dream fu weapons are the Chinese Halberd and Guan Dao). Anyway, the schools I am looking at teach blades and fans, works for me. I know they start off with wooden swords. In regards to the reluctance. I think that is good, once I get over that I bet a lot of my fears will be very easy to simply ignore and let die out. I've been kind half writing my take on wuxias so knowing the actually forms will help me not fudge a kung fu style too (though famous wuxia author Gu Long did that all the time!)

 

Master_Lok, are you familiar with pell work? A pell is usually some kind of post or dummy that you hit with weapons. It's a good way to get used to handling a weapon and practicing landing real blows against a solid target, which is quite different from just waving the sword in the air as you see in most katas. We used to make a game out of pell work, marking certain target areas and developing combinations that land with accuracy and power. One of my favorites was left hip, right side head, left side head. Start slow and concentrate on proper form and grip, and let power and speed build with time.

Of course, that's for a training program for those of us who are crazy enough to play full contact with weapons and armor, so it might not be ideal for you. Sure was fun though.

 

Sarge no sir, never heard of pell work. Fascinating. Very sound advice in starting slow and concentrating; mental focus and mindfulness is one of the main things I want most from whatever martial art I begin (and hopefully stick with). The agility, strength and speed will all come.

The start slow is critical for me as I am relentlessly impatient, which is why it would be unwise for me to begin weapons training even within the first year.

 

I think I did minor cross country skiing this morning without the skis. The walk from home to the train station usually takes 10-12 minutes, today over 30 minutes due to the ice and little snow mountains. All without a Taun-Taun (though I'd love to commute on one of those).

Doing the horse stance and other light stretching before I left the house helped with my balance I am sure.

 

I shoveled enough snow to bury a wampa this morning.

 

Sarge inquiring minds want to know: if you did indeed bury a Wampa, did that Wampa only have one arm? Yeah it was crazy by us too: this morning downstairs neighbor was literally flinging snow boulders as if they were foam. I asked him if I could help but he politely declined.

Well, considering I asked for mindfulness as part of my physical routine, I sure will be mindful walking home tonight.

 

You might be surprised. Three years away from skiing, your first outing is bound to be a bit disappointing but you'll have woken up all of the associated neural pathways that were myelinated by practice years ago.

I think you might do better than you expect. Good luck!

 

Obi Anne hope your arm is okay. Glad you were able to get some skiing in and did better than you expected.

 

Plenty of great fresh snow over the past few days, so been out cross country skiing a few times over the weekend, good time.

And we have a blizzard coming tonight, looks like it will bring another foot of snow. So should be able to get out and ski a bunch over the next week.

 

Had a go at a 14" steel bar today. Totally humbled by it. Smashed away for the first 8 minutes but my forearms and grip started failing and I just couldn't get the bar opened far enough... plodded for another 8 minutes and stopped when the skin on my hand tore.

Conditioning is not where it should be... will give my hands a week to heal then do the easier 18" bar for the comp. Might just squeeze into the top 10 but top 5 is out of the question now.

A bit gutted but failure is a learning opportunity. (And a wake up call that lifting heavy isn't enough; I need to do more conditioning work).

 

3 workouts today. Before breakfast I moved a ton of snow. After lunch I moved a ton of snow. Guess what I did before supper...

 

Um, moved a ton of snow?

Your workouts were cubed today, Sarge.

I walked from my job back to the train station this evening (I usually do the reverse in the mornings but wasnt sure about ice etc). That was just what I needed because the commute home was

 

I haven't seen snow since 1999.

 

Today I waited until after breakfast, and moved two tons of snow. I'm on my way out now to... wait for it...

 

Make one of these?

 

I looked at a bike on the weekend, riding to work is the only exercise I have ever been able to keep up (until my bike was stolen). Been a long time to get a new one but I really liked the one I saw. This weekend may be the day to finally replace it!

 

Spoiler

 

Bugger all. 10? There's really no excuse not to ride.

 

I found a pretty sweet bike last year at a church sale, 175 bucks for a road bike, practically brand new condition. Got in some good rides last fall. It'll be another month or so before the weather here is suitable enough for cycling though.

 

You still in Bangor? Probably at least a month. I'm a little west of Fredericton NB, and we're digging out from 30 inches of snow in 24 hours. Also had 60 mph winds, so it drifted like crazy. And we're expecting several more inches starting tonight. I'm ready for some global warming, please.

 

Yeah, I'm near Bangor, and the wind created some crazy snow drifts here too. The last couple days I've pretty much just been shoveling snow. I like snow, but this is a lot of bloody snow.