Once I was a fat guy with an unhealthy lifestyle and lots of bad habbits like over-eating, smoking, no exercising, etc... This blog is dedicated to a life changing experience that changed all that.
I hope I can inspire more people to get healthy and happy!
Greetz Dan-e!
The history:
One day my girlfriend decided to quit smoking, and I decided to join her in her battle. This has proven to result in a true transformation of my life.When I quit smoking I also started exercising. I started road cycling.... a lot. Of course it took a while to get up to speed, but when I got the hang of it I was cycling 10.000 km on a yearly basis.
The weight literately dropped of my body. What also helped is that I got in the habit of eating 'better'. In the beginning I just stopped eating snacks in the evening. Later I started eating more balanced.
After a couple of years of cycling, and again thanks to a decision of my girlfriend who at the time decided she wanted to do karate (she had done Taekwondo as a kid, and felt she could benefit both mentally and physically from it), another change happened which proved to be an even bigger journey and transformation.
As a kid I always wanted to do Kung Fu, but my parents never allowed me to join such a violent sport (lol, I even made a paper contract for myself that said: "If I would become 18 and still not have a girlfriend, I'd join the Shaolin temple.") Later I got knee problems, I did get a girlfriend (who has proven to be my life long buddy, since we're still together now) and I didn't think about doing Kung Fu again.
But when my girl decided that she wanted to start Karate, I thought: "Well, I am 30 now, my knees survived all that cycling, why don't I give the one thing I wanted so much as a kid a try?" And that's exactly what I did. I send an email to a local Shaolin Kung Fu club (www.vechtkunst.com located in Nijmegen Netherlands), where I met Tin Po Chan. A kung fu teacher who enabled me to start this wonderful journey.
I started out doing one training per week, just to see if my knees would hold up.
Well,... they did. After a couple of months I joined the other school where Tin Po was teaching (in a nearby city called Arnhem) so I could train twice a week, which very soon became 3 times a week.
Tin Po's school was focusing on training fitness and forms (Taolu, which known more broadly as Kata in the Japanese art of karate). I also wanted to learn more about real fighting, so I also joined a Kung Fu club (Mei Hua Wu Xiao) that had more focus on applications and self-defence techniques. So now I was training 5 days a week. I had a lot of fun there, and learned some cool stuff, but after a couple of months I decided that the difference in style, and the training methods used at Mei Hua Wu Xiao were not really what I was looking for. So I decided not to waist Sifu Chris Daniels time and look further.
What also was not helping is that my knees quite often started to act up... and I started to get one injury after another, eventually I ramped down a little and I was now training 2 or 3 times a week again. At this time I got invited to join another Shaolin school in Apeldoorn, which was fun in the beginning, but when I became closer to some people there I started noticing that the teacher there was not who I thought he was. I left his school which ended with a lot of misery which I do not want to spend more then 2 sentences on. Thats a done deal and it caused me to end up in a burn out, overstressed, not being able to work, not training, and due to all circumstances also without a kung fu school.
During the time in Apeldoorn I also trained at yet another Shaolin school in Nijmegen. Because in Apeldoorn training was once a week. This school was "Art of shaolin". Also here I had some fun, and there where 2 teachers there, Poyan and Redouan, which were both really good guys and quite tough teachers. But also there the training was not really what I was looking for (although I do still like to visit them from time to time, just to see how they are doing with their school).
After a while of being school-less, and training once or twice a week in private, I contacted some guys that I met before in a workshop and at a Kung Fu weekend organised in Belgium @ Shi Heng Jin's school. And I joined a school Kung Tao (that was not connected to any federation or such, which made them hard to find).
This has proven to be a good match. A school with a great Sifu: Carl Koppers, who has exactly the attitude I look for in a Sifu. He's is not a tough drill instructor that teaches only moves, but he teaches a mind set... and he tries to give you the vessels, but he allows you to fill them yourself, which is for me the most important thing in a good teacher. A good teacher doesn't tell you how to do it, he shows you the way and then lets you start your journey and helps you along your journey! I'll never forget a discussion I had with him about a snap kick: "I learned it one way, he learned it different, I was explaining the application behind it, his answer was: there are many applications depending on the situation, but do you feel like you get everything out of the kick that you can get out of it?"Next to a great Sifu, my fellow students at this school are also people with the right heart and mindset.
I also tried some Wing Chun classes, since I now miss some practical self-defense again. And after trying a couple of schools I decided that we don't have a school in the neighborhood that suites me good. Although I did like training at Tao Wing Chun , it was just not a perfect match for me. The other schools in the neighborhood I didn't really like... I found a sifu online, Nord Kung Fu , which I really like. But since he teaches on the artic circle that is not an option for now.... we'll see what Wing Chun brings in the future, for now I'll read some books, watch video's and do exercises in private.
The current:
Now a days, I truly found a life's journey in Kung Fu, and I am now taking lessons once a week at Carls school. And next to that we organize a sort of open training for members of Carls school on another day of the week.Together with my friend Sam, who is one of Carls senior students, I travel once per month to Belgium to learn Da Mo Jian (Straight sword form) from Sifu Shi Heng Jin. Shi Heng Jin has the best Kung Fu of all teachers I know (he's from Henan himself, and has many many years of shaolin wu shu experience). And until a couple of weeks ago I regularly train in private when ever I can and feel like it. I am now also practicing Tai Chi at a Pack Mei Pai Kung Fu school, under Clemens Kwee.
And since recently I started practicing Qi Gong (in private, from a book)
About 2 months ago I decided that I want to go to China next year (2016), to train for at least one month and up to whatever my financial, work, and relational situation will allow, in a traditional Shaolin school in Henan. (that means 6-8 hours training per day!)
Since my decision to go to China next year, I decided I need to be prepared for the rigorous training routines there. So since 1,5 month I started training everyday (except sunday).
I therefore now take a 1 hour lunch break at work, in which I run to a nearby park, run for 2-3km, and then do a set of exercises. On days that I don't train in the evening I train fitness/strength/stamina/flexibility during this hour. And on days that I train Kung Fu in the evening I train Qi Gong, Wing Chun and flexibility during the lunch break. In the fitness training I try to keep things fun by changing routines, from 'gym' routines like: burpees, pushups, situps, etc... on days that other people join me for a work out, to custom made routines where I use Ji Ben Gong (kung fu basics) exercises to create a high intensity work out when I work out alone.
Next to that I practice Kung fu at our open training on Tuesday evening, on Thursday evening I practice Tai Chi, on Friday evening I practice Kung Fu at Carls school, on Saterday morning I practice Tai Chi, and if the weather is nice I practice Kung Fu in private in the afternoon.
On Sunday or any other moment that I feel good or have time left I try to find a nice spot in nature and I practice whatever my mood is like, mostly Kung Fu, but sometimes Qi Gong or Tai Chi when I feel to tired.
I also am trying to improve my eating habits even more. I try to eat meat only once in a while. I do not eat too much carbs. For lunch I eat soup and a banana on cold days, and salads or fruit & yogurt on warmer days. In the evening I eat a simple carb and veggie meal (sometimes with some meat or fish). I really like this way of eating, since I never get hungry and I feel the fat drooping off of me and I get all the necessary nutritions from the veggies and nuts and such. In the weekend I allow myself to eat whatever I feel like. So it is really not hard to keep it up.
The future:
No one can tell what the future brings. I know feel that Kung Fu gives me everything I need, as long as I practice I am happy. A good side effect is that feel my need for 'material' things dropping every day. I still love my car (see other blog), I still love my guitar, and I still love my Kung Fu equipment. But I don't feel the need to watch television (don't even have a subscription anymore), have no need for a high tech phone or expensive electronic gadgets, and I do not worry anymore about the future in work or habitat or those kind of things.I have as goal to keep doing my exercises like I do now. But I want to do more stretching and flexibility training in the morning and evening. I just need to find a way to get out of bed earlier, which has been my life long weak point.
This blog I will use as my future training and Shaolin adventure log.
