maandag 26 oktober 2015

Little more running today

Amituofo!

Today was the start of week 2 of running build-up. So instead of 3x5min running with 60 sec breaks, I did 3x7 minutes with 60 second breaks. No pains... so this week I'll repeat this twice more, and than I'll go up again next week to 3x9 minutes. The rest of the time of my lunch I spend doing stretching experiments... I am trying to find easy to do isometric stretches to replace all stretches I normally do in Kung Fu.
Why? Because I feel the isometric stretches have a far better effect then the stretches that I used to do. The trick is quite easy, I'll make some video's later on it, but it is basically: Instead of bouncing in the stretch, like we tend to do in our kung fu training, you go to your maximum stretch, stay there for a little while and relax till you feel that you are not stretching further, and then instead of bouncing in deeper, try to push yourself out of the stretch with the actual muscles you are stretching at that moment. On the last stretch you go to your stretch limit again and relax there for a while, then you repeat this. Do the pushing part 20 times, and do 3 sets in total. You can pretty much do this in any stretch that you do for which you use bodyweight.

Also found a very cool Wing Chun demo video online. It's still a demo but it nicely shows the applications of Wing Chun.


Some more info on stretching can be found here:
http://people.bath.ac.uk/masrjb/Stretch/stretching_1.html

zondag 25 oktober 2015

Beautiful autumn day!

Amituofo!

Beautiful autumn day today. Since we couldn't join flying lessons today it was a beautiful day to spend a couple of hours on training.

Did Gun and Jian practise today.... traded in my 'competition' wu shu jian for a tai chi jian that is a bit heavier and less flexible. Better to train the chi flow and relaxation in movements :)

Here's a nice slow-mo re-cap of my afternoon.... never mind me running out of the video a couple of times ;)


Amituofo!

zaterdag 24 oktober 2015

Back in the flow

Amituofo!

As you might have noticed I have been posting less last week. Thats not because I haven't been training, just had other priorities then blogging.

I have been training every day last week and I am getting in the flow again of daily training. Even in the rain. Actually after a while you don't even notice it anymore...

Coming weeks I will also be spending a little less time on blogging have some exciting stuff up ahead which I rather spend time on then blogging... Training will continue on daily basis ofcourse!

Amituofo!

zaterdag 17 oktober 2015

Busy week

Amituofo!

Last week was a busy week. Lots of interesting stuff happening at work. Took it a bit easy in training last week to see if that reduces the moisture in my knee.

Unfortunately not. I just did stretches on Wednesday and Thursday. No difference, I even had the feeling it was a bit worse. Yesterday we did trained at Kung Tao. Again made no difference....

There is a 'pop' which I feel in the knee, feels like a muscle shifting over a bone or something like that... doesn't hurt, but is a bit uncomfortable.

Today more work, no training. Tomorrow my honey is taking me somewhere as a suprise... so maybe some training tomorrow evening.

Amituofo!

dinsdag 13 oktober 2015

Therapy for the knee finished

Amituofo!

This morning was my last session with the physical therapist. The strength and balance in the knee is ok again. The moisture build up will stay there for a while he expects. Might even be something I will have to get used to :( hope not. But we'll see. At least I can do almost everything I could do before the operation. So I am happy about that.

In the evening it was time for our regular Tuesday training. Sam is not there for the coming weeks and Carl is taking over for these weeks. Training was really nice again. Got some time to work on the other forms now for a change.

All of a sudden it got really cold in our country and my body has some trouble adapting. All my muscles are sore and my stamina went down by at least 20%. Or maybe I am just getting ill... We'll see tomorrow.

Amituofo!

maandag 12 oktober 2015

Running again!

Amituofo!

It took me a while to gather the courage, but today I tried if my knee could handle running again. It was such beautiful weather I just couldn't resist.
The park just invited me for a run :)

I ran an interval scheme of 5 x 3min running + 30sec walking, so a total run of 20 minutes.
After that a half hour of Qi Gong and stretches.
My knee appears to be holding up nicely!

This week I'll try running 3 times. If my knee doesn't object then I can increase the interval duty cycle next week :)

Tomorrow most likely my last session at the physical therapist!

Amituofo!





zondag 11 oktober 2015

Stretching

Today a different type of training... stretching only.
Just to give the muscles a bit of rest after a week of hard work. Doing nothing is no longer acceptable, I want to be working on my kung fu every single day for the rest of my life, so stretching is a good way to take an active break.
The nice thing is that stretching is easy to do while watching the telli.

Also did some Yoga exercise, practising head stance, very good to train balance. Not so easy while watching the telli though :)

Amituofo!

zaterdag 10 oktober 2015

Yeah! Full week of training - check!


Amituofo!

I am very happy to say that I pulled through and managed to train at least once every single day last week.
Yesterday evening we trained with Kung Tao. For the last couple weeks we have been working on the details of Tong Bei Quan, and yesterday was no different.

I skipped exercises that make my knee 'torque' and very deep stances. But we did some Qi Gong - Ma Bu stance duration training- and that went quite well. My knee did not swell to much since Thursday evening.

Today it was a beautiful sunny day and I went for 1,5 hours of training at Kopse hof in Nijmegen. I practised all forms that I normally don't get to train. Got compliments from some people that parked their camper-van there end enjoyed looking at my training session... always nice to entertain people, to bad they did not join me :)

Todays forms:
Wu Xing Quan (or at least the form that I learned under that name, I believe that in reality it is just a part of a far bigger form), Lian Bu Quan, Ba Bu Lian Huan Quan, Zhao Yang Quan, Tai Zu Chuan Quan, Xiao Hong Quan, Zhen Shan Gun and Gui Ding Jian.

Keep training, get better, at whatever your Kung Fu is!

Amituofo!

donderdag 8 oktober 2015

Day off from work - beautifull day for jian practise

Amituofo!


Today I took a day off from work.
This morning I went to the Valkhof park to do 1,5 hour of Kung Fu practise. Started out with Qi Gong and stretching. After that I practised Tai Chi Jian (The Tai Chi sword form which I learned a while ago from Sifu Clemens Kwee), Shaolin Gui Ding Jian (The kung fu sword form I am learning from Sifu Shi Heng Jin) and I practised Yin Shou Gun and Zhen Shan Gun. Was a good session and I
took it a bit easy for my knee.



Hope that I can get a massage this afternoon, cause training everyday does result in a lot of acid build-up in the muscles.

Amituofo!

woensdag 7 oktober 2015

On a roll....


Amituofo!

I start to get into my training rhythm again for the first time since my knee operation. Last week I trained everyday at least once. I don't know if my knee likes it though, it is starting to swell again (no pain, just a little swelling). So I might have to cut back on the amount of stress on the knee just a little...

Today I did knee strengthening exercises again, I want to do that on a 2 day interval. But judging by what my knee tells me today that might be to much.
Tomorrow I will stick to Qi Gong, Tai Chi and some weapons training, which will be a little less strain on the knee. Hope the weather is ok tomorrow, really feel in Jian mood :)

PS. I just found  out that I think I am learning Shaolin Guiding Jian, not Da Mo Jian, which explains all the major differences I see when I compare what I learn to the Da Mo Jian movies on line. Various forms within Tao Lu differ a lot from school to school, so it is not uncommon to learn things different as in the youtube movies, but this one was so different and I ran into Guiding Jian by incident, which is far more, though also not exactly ;), what I am learning.



Never mind that, still a beautiful form :)
I do hope I get a chance to learn the rest cause I heard Sifu Shi Heng Jin had to go back to china for now :(, sure hope he will come back to Belgium.


Amituofo!


dinsdag 6 oktober 2015

More Chi, Train harder! As Shi Yan Ming would say!


Amituofo!

Today I practised Qi Gong, Tai Zu Chuan Quan and Yang style simplified 24 form Tai Chi during lunch break. I also spend quite some time on stretching. Put on my blue satin kung fu pants when I went to the park... really fun to walk in your kung fu clothes amongst tightly (over) dressed business people :) You will see some strange looking faces then :)

In the evening Sam gave another great energetic training. After the usual warm up, Ji Ben Gong and a short 'high intensity' exercise we did some old-school 'hardening', always fun, especially for the less experienced students. We also did Wu Bu Quan, Lian Huan Quan and Tong Bi Quan. Lian Huan Quan is really starting to look good due to the practice we put in it each week. For Tong Bi Quan we're working on the details now.

Also spend some time exercising Wu Long Pan Da, which is a great exercise to learn how to relax your shoulders and be faster with your arms by giving them movement from the hips, rather than from the muscles in the arm.

More training tomorrow.

Amituofo!

maandag 5 oktober 2015

Finally!

Amituofo!

I finally did a good exercise session in lunch time again. I did a short Qi Gong session for warm up. Then half an hour of power exercises for my knee and finally I still had time for 20 minutes of Tao Lu practice and some stretching. Did a couple of reps for Tong Bi Quan, Wu Xing Quan, Lian Bu Quan, Ba Bu Lian Huan Quan and Zhao Yang Quan...Do admit that I had to pauze to take a breath before and between Tao Lu practice a couple of times cause I did it at full speed (or at least made an attempt), could really notice that my stamina is not what it used to be.

Anyway... I hope to repeat this tomorrow, felt great doing this again. Should really just make some time for it, makes the body and mind feel a lot better instantly!

Amituofo!

PS. Starting today you can also leave comments on my posts :)

zondag 4 oktober 2015

Amituofo!

Lazy day today... No practice in the morning like planned. Did boxing ball practice in the evening in stead after visiting my parents, brother and little nephew today.

My body somehow does not feel well. Very little energy, also noticed that during training last Friday. Motivation is also lacking. Must be the lack of Qi gong training lately, lets pick that up tomorrow again.

Amituofo!

zaterdag 3 oktober 2015

Friday training evening again!

I think I spend to many hours behind a desk last week though.. my body did not want to go in 'training' mode, had little energy.
Never the less we did a nice session of sparring training. Which we try to do once a month in Carls lessons.

Saterday morning I did a quick Qi Gong session, and then I had to go to pick up my girlfriend for her Karate tournament. She did great! Ended up at a 4th place, but this was the first time that she wasn't one brick of nervousness on the tatami. So this was quite a victory for her. Tomorrow I will do some training myself again. May be, if Tom is up for it we go practice Duilian Gun and else I'll practice alone... would also be good since I have been neglecting my other Tao Lu lately.

Amituofo!


donderdag 1 oktober 2015

29th of September

Amituofo!

Oops... forgot to write about the 29th of September. This was our regular Tuesday evening.
After a good warm up, we did some sparring (traditional sparring) which was really fun, we do that to little. After that we practiced Wu Bu Quan in detail and finally Sam asked me to teach and practice basic stances and Wu Bu Quan to/with one of our new student.

So when the training was over I quickly practiced Yin Shou Gun and Zhen Shan Gun with Tom (we ended up in the dark, cause of the automatic lighting system).

Some exiting news! Tom & I are quite likely to be going to practice a Duilian Gun form. (Duet form).
This one to be precise:


I hope to share some videos soon...

Coming days I will again be training too little, since I have a really fun study project at work which I really want to spend a lot of time on...

Amituofo!