Adventure in Shaolin wk3

Amituofo!

After a week of trying to rebuild my new home, it is time for week 3 of the Shaolin story.

This week a new Laowai (foreigner) arrived. Philip, a new-zealand guy.
He was here last yeaar for almost 2 months and he will stay here for 3 weeks.
He arrived very early in the morning on Sunday relax-day. This Sunday I went to the massage therapist, who also gave my neck a crack this week :(.. (did not really like that and it came kinda unexpected). Further more I did some grocery shopping and went drinking tea in the tea shop with Bart & Philip. After words I went to grab a Pizza :)

Drinking tea with Bart and Philip

Monday did not start out well. This morning at 6.15h I was running but was not really awake yet... I missed a rock on the path and went down pretty hard. I was able to catch myself but my hand got messed up. Big open wound on my hand. The ground was rocky and covered with dirt (and quite some trash) so I hope it doesn't get infected. I ran back to the school, cleaned out the wound, pulled out all dirt and rocks from it, and then went back to training. Still did my core workout but changed the push-ups to fist push-ups, since I now cannot lean on the inside of my hand.
Later that day I finished learning the movements of the new word form, Qi Xing Jian. Also did a lot of Gong Fa practice and paid close attention to Tyson. I noticed Tyson makes large circular movements but breaks them on the end of the movement, which in terms of physics means loosing the power you generated with the circle... Bart uses circular movements and ends the move in the line of the circle. His movements look a lot more powerful due to that.

Ouch, hope that doesn't get infected

On Tuesday I had to take some pain killers again. Done to much yesterday and my hip hurts like hell. Also got stiff again (stiffness and hip pain seems related). I was supposed to start a new stick form today, but since I wounded my hand yesterday that doesn't look like a good plan.
After training block 2 (so after 3.5h of training) my body feels like the end of week 1. Every thing is tired, stiff and sore. The heat, moist level, lack of sleep in the past days, sore body and the open wound on my hand make me feel shitty, not really having a good day today.  I decided to take an afternoon of rest, but in the afternoon I revoked that plan and still did some practice (but on low intensity level).

Wednesday I did take some rest. I really feel depressed at the moment, and the wound on my hand won't close properly. Still did the core workout in the morning. But after that I went to Deng Feng to get some bandages. Kind of a nice challenge to get this kind of supplies without speaking the language. No training today, hope the wound closes.

On Thursday the same regime. Starting to get in a negative mood do to the combination of shittyness.  I didn't come here to sit still and do nothing. And my stomach also got a little upset. Nothing to serious, but doesn't help in keeping a positive mind. I watched Bart and Phillip practicing the stick (gun) form. I don't really mind not learning this one. To much movements in there which I do not really 'feel' and believe are use full. I'll stick to the Gun forms I know.
In the evening I practiced some Qi gong and stretches and that's about it for today.

Bart and Philip practicing Gun with Tyson.

No tiny little thin Wu Shu performance sticks here.. :)

Finally, on Friday my hand wound appears to be closing up, and I had some good sleep tonight. Today I will start training again. The weather is also perfect, since it rained yesterday evening and the temperature has dropped quite a bit. Just what I needed to get in the positive mood again.
I asked Tyson to correct my Xiao Hong Quan, which already goes much better. Qi Xing Jian also starts to feel more natural. Time for some video...
Also did core workout this morning. Next week that will be tuff, because I will increase the repeats in the 3 sets to 15-20-15 on resp. mo-wed-fri. Last week I did 10-15-10 and it was already pretty tough on Wednesday. Later in the afternoon I did some high intensity training and in the evening Qi Gong and stretching. I was completely exhausted at 20.00h already and went to bed early.

Kids training, end of block 1 always ends in some endurance exercise 

Man... On Saterday morning I could feel that I trained hard yesterday, but I do admit I do like this kind of soreness, this is what I came here for :)
After I forced my self out of bed, and managed to open my eyes I started with a good Qi Gong and stretching session. 2nd training block I took it easy. Did some hiking, lots of stretching and some taolu practice. My knees are starting to hurt from all the training so have to watch that a bit as well but I am used to that.
Today Sifu returned from 10 days of film making. So there was a small celebration (with pretty banging fireworks ofcourse :))
3rd block of training I repeated the second block.

Just a nice little temple in the mountains near by our school 

Adventure in Shaolin wk2

Sorry, my stories are taking a bit longer than expected. I started rebuilding my new house and have no internet access... so have to do one story each weekend...

Time for week 2 of Shaolin! : .......

Sunday resting day, and I needed it. Went to a get a massage, Sifu had recommended one to Bart in the past, so we went there. It was a good deep massage very nice for the muscles. After that I said goodbye to Bart and went exploring DengFeng on my own. After 2 hours of walking I literally found nothing that I was looking for :) except bananas. But my hip started hurting so I went back to find the bus station. Later that day I did some laundry (by hand , also good training, in the same sink where the dishes are done, and the fish is cleaned, see the kids in the picture below :))

In the evening a kid got attracted to my "Learn Chinese" app on my phone and all of a sudden I had a private Chinese teacher who kept telling me whole stories... my answer 99% of the time being ' wo3 ting4 bu4dong (I don' t understand).

Then the 'working week started again'. I cannot run or do kicks with the current state of my hip so I decided to bring my upper body and core to shape again with a regular ' build-up' scheme consisting of 3 sets of: various planking exercisers, push-ups, crunches, and bench ups. Did this training I did 3 times a week on the first training block. the other 3 days I did qi-gong practice. The other training blocks I did Xiao Hong Quan practice and Gong Fa practise. But I also took a lot of breaks and watched the kids train. Man they have too much energy. Even after 6 six hours of training they still act like kids on a sugar high (and they don't eat much sugar)! Also noticed how they discipline kids here... old school style, I really cannot get used to that and did not like that. Also seen with my own eyes that it does not work and even has opposite effects. So I don't understand why it is still done this way. Anyway, guess culture needs to catch up about 20 yrs here... During diner I got some more Chinese class from Ie-Ze or however you write my diner-friends name. In the evening there was no training cause the kids had to present what they learned in a demo to Sifu... Sifu was in very late though so only half of the demo's are done...

Tyson and the kids waiting for Sifu to arrive for demo-night...

On Tuesday I started 1st training with Qi gong after a bad night of sleep to to heavy thunderstorms in Xishilipu village. Later in the day I continued Gong Fa and Xiao Hong Quan practice and we started with a new straight sword form, Qi Xing Jian  :)
Later in the evening there was again no training but the second half of the demo's were done.

Wednesday I woke up after a good night of sleep. Starting to get used to my wooden bed :). Did my upper/core workout in the first training block. After that I continued with Gong Fa, Xiao Hong Quan, and Qi Xing Jian. Later that day I went to DengFeng and this time I found all the shops and the bank that I was looking for. I also went to buy tea. That was fun. I got invited to taste various tea's, the owner was selecting some local teas for his shop. Spend an hour and a bit chatting and drinking tea with the 2 brothers who owned the shop (yes, they spoke English pretty well :) ) and after that I bought some tea and went on to finish shopping for some groceries. In the evening I did some more practice. Even with the hip problems I still want to train 6 hours at least... Then off to bed.

"Tea tasting at the tea shop with one of the owners"

Thursday I started with Qi Gong, hip is not feeling so got even though I took some pain killers last evening. So taking it easy today.... Second block of training my hip was feeling better already so I went a bit deeper again. Focussed a bit on the movement dynamics today and I have some things in the movements that I do not quite understand yet (you basically combine 2 circular motions, one on Y-axis of the body and the Z-axis, both come from the hip, but I do not see the added value of the Z-axis rotation). Later in the afternoon, I ran to the hills to do some training there. When I ran out of water I went back and took a little break to watch Sifu teach his class. And after that I continued training. This time a high-intensity training, training my own known TaoLu from holland at full energy level. In the evening training I focused on some Qi Gong and Yoga exercises. My muscles are tired but are getting longer due to all stretching that I do here.

"Sifu training his students"

Friday I wanted to leave early and visit Shaolin Temple. But unfortunately the gate of the school was locked (I realized that in the middle of the night... luckily, I did not get up at 4.30h to find that out). So I'll visit the temple another day. Today is core/upper body workout day again in the first block and luckily on the 3rd day of this schedule the amount of repeats go down a little... cause I am really tired today. During the second block I tried to do some kicks again, since my hip is feeling a little better after all the core exercises. I noticed that on days that I do the core workout my hip feels a little better... do I have a hernia then after all, and not piriformis syndrome? Who knows... In the afternoon I went out to the fields to do training at a quite place. When I ran out of water (which happens quickly when you train on a sunny 35*C day) I went back to the school and did some more training there on my spot on the bridge. Eating is problematic, I am getting sick of eating the same stuff 3 times a day 6 days a week, and the temperatures here are also not helping.
In the evening I practiced all my Taolu on 'qi', did a good stretching and went to bed.

"Practising Gong Fa on the bridge, here I am starting a double punch from the behind leg, through the hip, to the fists)

Saterday was not a good day. Started out with Qi Gong. Can do ' tree-standing' exercise now for 60 breaths... (started out on 60 seconds), so is about 5 times as long. So that was fine, but my body doesn't feel good today. Completely stiff and my hip is acting up pretty bad. Since we have no training from Tyson on I decided to try and find the little temple Bart was talking about on a track in the hills near the school. It was a bit busy with Chinese hikers, who all want a picture with the Laowai but aside that it was a nice trip. Made some cool mountain pictures to :)
3rd Training block I trained Taolu. It is bloody hot today, and the humidity went up to 70%, in contrast to last weeks 20%. Last training I focussed on stretching, and qi gong. And that was the end of the week again.

"Posing, eagle stance, in the mountains :)"

Do have to admit that I am starting to feel pretty homesick and am getting a bit depressed from that (miss my girlfriend, miss my ' regular food', feel shitty that I cannot train to my max, get really annoyed with certain Chinese habbits), but hope that' s just temporary.

Amituofo, or as Ie-Ze would say "Peace"

Adventure in Shaolin wk1

The flight to China went pretty smooth... I arrived in Hangzhou on schedule and after clearing customs and a little search for the domestic flights terminal I was on my way to Zhengzhou. Got a little delay on my flight to Zhengzhou due to bad weather conditions but the taxi that the school arranged waited, so that was no problem. KLM has quite OK airplane food btw. Be aware, I do not have an expensive taste, but I actually liked it.

When I arrived in Zhengzhou I had a fun suprise. I was looking for a taxi driver with a Mr. Derks sign, but instead I noticed a western looking white guy. It was Bart, a guy who I trained with in Arnhem and Nijmegen a couple of years ago.
He turned out to be coming to Shaolin Temple Traditional Wushu institute for a couple of years in a row already and he was now here for a couple of months. Bart can speak mandarin which can come in useful here...

We drove from Zhengzhou to DengFeng (or Xishilipu village actually) and a little later we went to DengFeng to get some dinner. When we returned I went to bed. My bed took some getting used to because it was literary a wooden board with a blanket on it, no matras or such...

After a good night of sleep I woke up at 5. According schedule (on the internet) but apparently far too early because I was the only one awake... Around 5.45h the first school kids started coming out and a couple of minutes later Sifu came out somewhat agitated at the kids that they were not yet training. Not much later everyone was 'kicked'  out of their bed and training started. After an hour of running, push ups, Ji Ben Gong (basic kicks and such) and stretches the training was over, not to intense, good warming up for the rest of the day. I already noticed that the kids here behave like school kids, just as in our western schools... if they get a change to do nothing they will :)

Now time for breakfast. Not to bad, rice with (over)cooked vegetables and some fried bread sticks. Second block of training started after breakfast. I noticed that there is lots of attention for movement dynamics and body structures, little less for 'stances' and 'accuracy' of movement which you see in modern Wu Shu.
Legs and hips are getting tired after this second block of training. After the training we had lunch and a long break. Then the 3rd block of training started. Roughly 3 hours later it was over and immediately after we had dinner. Do have to say that all 3 meals tasted the same. Sifu gave me the tip to use much less energy when training, he predicted my legs would be ruined within a couple of days.

The last training block Tyson (our coach) asked me to relax, to give my legs a chance to adjust. So I practiced Qi gong and Tai Chi and did half an hour of stretching. Legs are tired as hell so was not a bad choice...

 Average look after training

IeZe (or however you write his name)
my chinese teacher during meals 

Tyson, our mysterious teacher. He learned himself english with books of riddles, saying and phrases... resulting in a 'master yoda' a like way of talking.

The day after this first training day the pain in my muscles was not to bad... better as what I expected. We started the day with running again, a lot further this time. After that some stamina and power training on the highways and in the ditches aside the road.

Second training was less fun :(, sore muscles finally kicked in. Never the less I trained the full block. But did a bit more Gong Fa (basic concepts) and lots of stretching. Started learning some Taolu (forms) aswell.
3rd block of training I went on to train on my own. My hip feels pretty ok till now. Last training block I again took it easy, mainly qi gong and stretching.

Next night my body was really sore and the 'wooden board' 'matras' was not really comfortable any more. Did not sleep much this night. Next morning my body was really sore... I discovered muscles that I didn't know they existed.
First training in the morning now consisted of running again, but this time to some restaurant... here we did some exercises on the nearby stairs, frog jumps on the stairs, on legged jumps, etc. 2nd training we had private lessons from Tyson again. These lessons have the same daily structure. First stretches, then some Ji Ben Gong, then Gong Fa practise and dragon steps and then Tao Lu practice. 3rd and 4th practise of the 3rd day were a disaster. My body is objecting and everything is sore and tired.

4th day my hip started acting up, which is really shitty because here all movements come from the hips... Tyson told me 5-6 hours training is really the max I should do... when my body has adjusted I could do more. So I skipped the 3rd training block and went for a walk exploring the environment. 

In the evening I was invited to come and drink tea with Sifu and a couple of his friends (producer and some crew of a movie they are going to make).
The rest of the week was pretty much the same regime. Hardly slept, woke up tired, muscle pain eased up a little. 3rd and 4th block I trained fairly relaxed. Never the less the pain in my hip got worse, and by friday also my finger went numb... which was not good, would I have a hernia instead of piriformis syndrome in my hip/back then? Also started taking some pain killers.
Saterday I took some rest to give my hip a chance to recover, but I have a bit of a depressed day this day... would this already be the end of my training here? Sure hope not....

Later on the day Sifu took me out for a ride and we went to a building site where he was building a new school. The old school will be making place for tourism in the coming years and on this place he will have a new school. Very cool to see and very cool to see how proud Sifu was of his new place with the beautiful view on the mountains.

(not the view from the new school... but still pretty nice view of the mountains near by the school)

First week was a week with some ups and downs. Basically trying to get familiar with the training regime, finding out how far I can push my body and my hip injury... Lets see how next week go's

Amituofo!

Returned from Shaolin!

Amituofo!

After 29 hours of travelling I returned yesterday from my trip to Shaolin.

It surely was an experience of a lifetime. I learned a lot about kungfu, about myself, about my life and about chinese habbits, good and bad ones :)

In the coming week I will be writing 4 articles, one for each week I spend in training at the Shaolin Temple Traditional Wushu Institute.

So if you want to read my story then make sure to come back this week.

Amituofo!

Flying to DengFeng tomorrow!

Amituofo!

Very exciting day up ahead. Tomorrow I am doing what I dreamed of since I was a little kid. I am flying to Deng Feng for a month of intense Shaolin Wushu Kungfu training. My hip is still not healed... So I hope I can pull through and not end up in a hospital.

Anyway... Even if I get injured I can always practise something while I am there. I expect blogger to be blocked by the great wall of china... So this will be my last post this month.

Hope you come back in a month to read about my shaolin adventure.

Zaijian!

Last week! Checking if everything is ready.... and preparing to leave

Ni Hao!

My last week before my Kungfu Journey has started. This week is all about check check double check.
Check if I have everything I need to take to China as clothes, suitcase, money, translator apps, maps, tickets, etc...

Last week I was taking rest from training, only doing stretches and some very mild exercise. This has paid off well. My hip is feeling a bit better, and I hope that if I continue like that for this week that then the pain will have dropped quite a bit when I leave for China.

I found a great website to learn some basic Chinese words by recommendation from a college of mine. ChinesePod.com. Should have started with that months ago :)

Anyway I at least will be able to say where I am from and ask 'how much does that cost'
I also know how to say 'I can't take anymore' ;p and 'I wan't to drink some water'
So cannot go wrong :)

Amituofo!  

Counting down for Shaolin trip!

Amituofo!

Only a couple more days before I leave to train in Shaolin!
I am getting a bit nervous to be honest... going to a far away country on my own without speaking the language. I guess it will be alright, but it is quite exciting.

My hip injury is far from over. I suspect I am suffering from piriformis syndrome, the muscles in my buttocks are pushing on the sciatic nerve. I am visiting some doctors coming week to hope they can still do something before I go to China. But anyway I'm sure will learn a lot there, even if I am injured and not at my best.

For now I'll focus on yoga and stretches and give my bode a rest for the remaining time towards my trip.

I will place one more post here just before I leave. Hope to see you back then.

Amituofo!

Chilling... Watching big bang theory.... And doing a relaxed stretching session to relieve some hip pain while were at it.... #shaolin #kungfu #wushu #lifestyle #traineveryday #yoga #mindfullness #activemeditation

A photo posted by AintLifeGrand (@0aintlifegrand0) on May 23, 2016 at 11:14am PDT