At the moment, I am labouring under a cloud. I am stuck in a job I hate with a career going nowhere. Every day at work is like hell on earth. Home is an all to brief respite from the drudgery of a day spent at a company that grinds me down at every opportunity.
Should I be using this, though, as motivation to encourage me to train every evening. Our classes are very fighting/sparring based with lots of applications and two-man drills. But we are occasionally shown the more meditative sides of Gao style baguazhang. I know a few exercises that are purported to reduce stress, so why don't I use these to help combat my crappy workday woes and stresses?
Could be just one more way that my baguazhang training can improve my life. Here's hoping...
Tuesday 21 July 2015
Sunday 19 July 2015
Training
Not strictly training today per se, but suffice it to say that my upper body has well and truly been worked. Upper arms and shoulders caining as I go to bed after having oiled the decking in our garden.
Sounds like a deleted scene from the Karate Kid!
Sounds like a deleted scene from the Karate Kid!
Thursday 16 July 2015
Still no chop-sockey
Despite my renewed attendance at class and the extra training I am getting done, I still haven't seen a decent martial arts movie in ages. I have a real hankering for a proper 1970s chop-sockey movie but haven't got around to watching one yet.
This might be because we have been watching a lot of Netflix recently, and, while there are a couple of decent martial arts movies on there, proper cheesy chop sockey movies are conspicuous in their absence.
Might have to root out my old 'Half a Loaf of Kung Fu' VHS from the cupboard - or maybe some Jimmy Wang Yu. "One Armed Boxer", anyone?
This might be because we have been watching a lot of Netflix recently, and, while there are a couple of decent martial arts movies on there, proper cheesy chop sockey movies are conspicuous in their absence.
Might have to root out my old 'Half a Loaf of Kung Fu' VHS from the cupboard - or maybe some Jimmy Wang Yu. "One Armed Boxer", anyone?
Friday 10 July 2015
Wednesday 8 July 2015
Buying into the Baguazhang market concept
Baguazhang is such a big part of my life that, despite hardly being an avid consumer, I feel the need to express my love of the art through the medium of merchandise.
My wife often complains that I have way too many t-shirts, so bagua themed clothing maybe isn't a good idea for me. Regardless of how much I'd like some more bagua shirts (I have three shirts with our class logo, but that is it).
Books on baguazhang are always a consideration - but I prefer to limit those to just the ones recommended by my teacher, for obvious reasons.
More than anything, though, I find there is nothing I'd thirst for more after a class than some cool chop-sockey movies!
My wife often complains that I have way too many t-shirts, so bagua themed clothing maybe isn't a good idea for me. Regardless of how much I'd like some more bagua shirts (I have three shirts with our class logo, but that is it).
Books on baguazhang are always a consideration - but I prefer to limit those to just the ones recommended by my teacher, for obvious reasons.
More than anything, though, I find there is nothing I'd thirst for more after a class than some cool chop-sockey movies!
Saturday 4 July 2015
Dealing with inevitable lapses and obstacles
Returned to class at Manchester Bagua last night after quite a few lessons missed. A number of things have hampered my attendence - not least of which the closure of a whole train line which increases my travel time home considerably. Now, however, we have a car and the classes are back on!
It really felt like a homecoming. It felt so right to be back in class and I was pleasantly surprised both by how much I still knew and how much strength/technique I'd still maintained.
It was a relatively small class last night, this heat wave here in the UK is, after all, "beer garden weather", as they say. While disappointing to see, that was cool in some respects as it made the class more personal and, of course, made for more one on one attention from teacher for those of us who had turned up.
Now I'm settled into our new house, I have a much better situation for training at home. I have a large living room (which has room enough to walk a decent circle), a spare room (currently full of boxes and assorted stuff - but it has potential), a garage (again full of detruitus, but with enough room left for some practice) and even a garden for when the weather allows outdoor practice/scaring the neighbours.
The garage even has my wife's new crosstrainer (useful for warmups, maybe?) and my new 5ft heavy punchbag. It hasn't been hung yet, but leans provocatively against the garage wall. Soon, then, I hope to have something close to a personal training space. Once I pull my finger out and clear the garage before hanging the bag.
Still, first priority is to reinstill my daily training habits at this new address.
Watch this space!
It really felt like a homecoming. It felt so right to be back in class and I was pleasantly surprised both by how much I still knew and how much strength/technique I'd still maintained.
It was a relatively small class last night, this heat wave here in the UK is, after all, "beer garden weather", as they say. While disappointing to see, that was cool in some respects as it made the class more personal and, of course, made for more one on one attention from teacher for those of us who had turned up.
Now I'm settled into our new house, I have a much better situation for training at home. I have a large living room (which has room enough to walk a decent circle), a spare room (currently full of boxes and assorted stuff - but it has potential), a garage (again full of detruitus, but with enough room left for some practice) and even a garden for when the weather allows outdoor practice/scaring the neighbours.
The garage even has my wife's new crosstrainer (useful for warmups, maybe?) and my new 5ft heavy punchbag. It hasn't been hung yet, but leans provocatively against the garage wall. Soon, then, I hope to have something close to a personal training space. Once I pull my finger out and clear the garage before hanging the bag.
Still, first priority is to reinstill my daily training habits at this new address.
Watch this space!
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