Preparation for china has started!

Amituofo!

This week I started kicking the training schedule up a notch again. I want to be in top shape when I go to china in a couple of months and I need to loose the 'winter baggage' (about 7 kilos of it).

So I started making time for running and training in the lunch breaks again.
The process of selling my house is almost over now, but we still look for new homes regularly, so that takes up a lot of my 'free' time.

I also feel some struggle coming up at work to get a month off.... something to do with policy and such, and one of my colleges also wants to take off in that month. Double trouble, so lets see how/if we can fix that issue.
Well anyway, it actually doesn't matter if it gets fixed. I'll try for sure, but those who know me a little longer will know that I follow my heart and that I do not really care to much about most policies that other people make up for their convenience and especially not if its there for profit and business only.

I've dreamed of doing this for so long that I would be willing to quit my job for it. I never had an unhappy boss so I'm quite sure I will find something new pretty soon. May be good motivation to start my own company :)

We'll see how it turns out... Anyway I can say that I can't wait to get to China!

PS... you can follow me on Instagram nowadays... I think it is more fun to upload a photo every ones in a while then to waist a lot of training time on this blog. So activity here will be limited to a maximum of once a week for the coming time...

Look for 0AintLifeGrand0 or #Shaolin #Wushu #Kungfu to find my posts...

#shaolin #wushu #kungfu #sanshou new training outfit is in :)

A photo posted by AintLifeGrand (@0aintlifegrand0) on Feb 4, 2016 at 12:58pm PST

Lots going on!

Amituofo!

Hi All, hope your doing well,

It's been a long time since I posted something here. That's because lots has been going on lately.
Exiting news: I sold my house! And I am very busy with finding a new place to live.
(if you know a good cheap place in/around Nijmegen where I can live with my girl and my dog, let me know!) I am also trying to find a piece of land where I can build my own house (with room for my own training place, don't know the Chinese word or that sorry).
More exiting news: I also got news that our dear master Shi Heng Jin is back in Belgium and hopes to start teaching again soon. Can't wait for that!

Even more exiting news... :) :) :)  I just send out an application form to a traditional Shaolin Wu Shu school in China! If they permit me to come then I will go training in China for a full month in May!

In the mean time I have been training of course. Although I do have to admit that due to all my time spend on a new house and such, I haven't been training as much as I would like to, but that will start again very soon as soon as I moved over to a new place.

The training sessions at Kung Tao are getting tougher by the week :) . The intensity is being pushed up, which I really like, and I can feel my stamina and strength going up along with it.

So looks like a good start of 2016.

Amituofo!

Happy new year! Gong Xi Fa Cai! 恭禧发财 !

I hope you all had a beautiful ending of 2015 and an even more beautiful start of 2016.
This year is  going to be a year full of new exiting opportunities!

For me: I will sell my house to start a new adventure with the love of my life who has been by my side for the past 18 years. What exactly we will do is not yet clear, it will be whatever cool thing will end up on our path. Maybe we'll build our own (very special) house, or re-build an old farm, may be we'll travel the world for a bit. I hope that I will be able to do something new in my professional life, and I hope to combine my professional life with Kung Fu a little, but more on that in the coming year. I hope I can fix all the problems on my car which I have been neglecting due to financial reasons last year. And of course for sure I will train more then I did last year.

Past year was filled with injuries for me... my lower back took me out for a couple of weeks, a knee injury took me out for a couple of weeks, knee surgery took me out for a couple of weeks and a bruised rib caused some problems in the last couple of weeks of 2015. Never the less I have been training what- and whenever I could. When my knee was busted I trained sword skills and arm strength, when my lower back was busted I trained Wing Chun techniques, arms and legs, and even after knee surgery I just missed one or 2 classes of Kung Fu, I was back in roughly 2 weeks, 4 days after surgery I already very carefully joined Tai Chi class. I do have to admit that also I sometimes skipped  lunch break practice every now and then or I took it a bit more easy then I could have, and I think that is OK as long as you recognize it and feel shitty about it , because that means you have the right mindset, but still have to work on the right attitude. But I think I did prove that there basically are almost NO EXCUSES for not taking care of your body and mind. It is a mere matter of mindset and attitude!

Anyway, I feel very exited about 2016, I hope you all can deal with all the negativity that is going on the world at the moment and turn it in a beautiful year, I will surely do so!

Best wishes to you all from Neko, Ringo, my little nephew and myself!

Ready to get rid off those extra X-mas pounds, More Chi Train harder!

Amituofo!

I desperately need to get rid off all those extra X-mas pounds.
The pain in my rib has been getting worse for the last weeks, but since a couple of days it is dropping.

However, since I could not jump, run, bend forward, lean backward, rotate or bend sideways, I haven't been doing much training.
On request of Sam I took over Sam's kung fu class last Tuesday, cause he was I'll. I had the students doing some other stuff than usual. Practicing balance, tigerclaw strengthening etc... Was a lot of fun but it didn't improve the pain in my rib (yes of course I did everything myself as well), it made it worse. So that was pretty much all training I did in the last 2 weeks.

Today I feel like I can rotate and bend my body a bit again, so I am going for some stretching and maybe some strength exercises during lunch break again. Hope to get into full-pull training mode soon, since I need to prepare for a one month Kung Fu trip :)

Amituofo!

Expanding horizons: Thai boxing

Amituofo!

Last evening Sam invited a Muay Thai fighter, who also trains kung fu if he can find time between muay thai practice, to give a training in Mauy Thai boxing.
Was really fun, learned lot's of ring fighting techniques. Was really intense, had no breath left at all at the end of the training. And of course we did some rounds of sparring to round it up.

I desperately wanted to fight the trainer, since I think you can learn a lot from people who are more skilled then you, so I asked him to spar the last round with me :)

I gave it my all, but I think I did not event hurt him one little bit :(... He gave me a couple of punches that would have knocked me out if he gave it more then 5% of the effort that he gave now :)

It was really fun to fight with some one who actually trains for fighting matches and it showed me that I would stand a chance against such a guy ;)

so..... More Chi, Train harder! 

But now first let my bruised rib heal for a couple of days.... :(

Almost there!

Next week I will start running 5km as warm up for my lunch training sessions. This week I still am at 3.5km with 2x 200m sprint. As soon as I can run 5km within 20 to 25 minutes again I consider myself fully recovered from knee surgery :) !

My hip/back also feels better, as long as don't sit to much.
My shoes do need surgery I am afraid :)


Lately I am focussing more on Kung-fu practise rather than power training. So lots of running, stretching, Ji Ben Gong, Tao Lu, Qi Gong, stretching and more stretching. I can really start to notice that some previously tight muscles are starting to get more and more flexible. At the same time training my knees has improved my stability and balance quite a bit.

Some Tao Lu desperately need more attention though... Especially the forms we do not practise in Kung Fu class. Xiao Hong Quan for instance really is crappy at the moment, I can't find the flow and feeling in this Tao Lu. This will take some work to get right.

BTW: I want to share the great feeling I get from training and show other people that they can literally make themselves feel super just by getting active on a daily basis. So I am playing with the idea to start the new year good by starting a little business.

If you, or someone you know, would like to get fit(ter), get focussed, calm your mind, become more open minded, and learn how I experience Shaolin mentality and Shaolin Kung-Fu. Then let me know!

Leave a message. 

I will be giving daily classes during lunch hours and if there is interest also before work early in the morning. I'll not be teaching you how to do sports, I'll be trying to teach you how to form a mindset that will motivate you to get healthy, stay healthy, and will enable you to choose your own path and be great! 

Any one can do it, the only thing you need is the right attitude!

So if you are interested, let me know!

more info will follow

Finally!

It is Friday! Yesterday I had to skip training... so today I am extra energized! Let's do this!



Amituofo!