The Golden Circumference of Mutant Stackable Crisps

It felt really good to attend class last night. Quite a good show of students led to some vibrant, interesting discussion with our teacher. The subject at hand involved pretty high level stuff. Luckily, everyone in attendance were long term students, so I don't think the details went too far over anyone's head.

I'm feeling it a little now. A slight ache in my shoulders and upper legs/hips. Thankfully, my injured shoulder isn't complaining too much, so I hope that means it had a useful workout, without causing any undue stress.

We've been given homework to try to fathom out for ourselves before next Monday. I have an appointment at David Lloyd gym tomorrow night, so I'm hoping I'll be able to practice some bagua after that. I plan only light exercise today, as I don't want to compromise my enthusiasm with an aching, fatigued body.

Written notes addendum & Tips on motivation

So, I am now keeping semi-regular notes regarding my baguazhang training. Although, over time, these have evolved a little. Now they are less about codifying my knowledge and more about keeping a log of when I've been able to practice, what exercises were harder/easier/effective and other such things. This helps me a little as I struggle with motivation at times.

However, having researched a little on the subject of motivation - especially as it pertains to fitness - I think I have come up with a few tips and/or exercise related motivational hacks.

First of all, I need to do all I can to prevent my subconscious from being able to justify giving up. What I mean by this is, whenever I set myself goals, I always seem to unwittingly include clauses that allow my lazier side to throw in the towel fairly early on.

For example, a common goal I've set myself for more new year's resolutions than I care to mention is:

"Practice bagua at least five times a week"
The problem with this is, it already contains the seeds of its own demise. What happens when, for whatever reason, I'm only able to practice three times in a particular week? Well, that is an opportunity for my lazy subconscious to say, "Well, you've screwed up your goal now, might as well jack it all in!". Putting a time factor in like that is a bad idea. When we see stuff on TV or in health-based media about "Training every day" or "Hitting the gym at least five times a week", it's usually just intended to set you up to fail. When you fail, you start feeling bad about yourself. When you feel bad, you want to buy things to make you feel better about yourself - whether this is a new set of weights, £200 running shoes, a gym membership, or whatever. A happy person doesn't consume as much, so they don't feel as compelled to buy the product that is being offered.

These time-based goals are usually promoted by either fitness coaches or celebrities. What they're not telling you is that those kinds of goals are perfect - for them. They don't have a 9-5 job which takes precedence over their lives every single day. Once they've done a few errands, they pretty much have the rest of the day to themselves. So they have at least a couple of hours in which to comfortably fit some exercise. Most of the rest of us don't have that luxury.

Rather than setting time-based goals, how about removing any time factor from the goals all together?

1). Run a total of 100km 2). Practice martial arts over ten different days 3). Complete a total of 1,000 reps of any one exercise

This way, if my goal is to train over 10 different days, failing to train one or more days doesn't impact my goal - it only means it will take a little longer to achieve. Maybe I am enthusiastic to start and manage three days running? Great! But then, real life does what it often does and throws a spanner in the works. Maybe I get flu? Or family issues take my attention away? I can't train for two days because of this. No problem. When I come back to training, I'm still 30% of the way toward my goal, just as I was before.

Once I achieve the goal, then I set myself another one. Maybe bigger this time. Train over 25 different days or Run a total of 200km. Or, maybe, I just want to keep it simple and keep resetting that goal to the same thin. Train over ten days. Then another ten. Then another.

We're all gonna fail at some time. Real life gets in the way sometimes. That's just the way of things. But there's no need to make it a deal-breaker.

News: Sumo competition will celebrate 130 years of Thai-Japanese relations

Original article: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Sumo-competition-will-celebrate-130-years-of-Thai--30297227.html








JAPAN will hold a full-scale sumo tournament in Thailand next year as part of the celebrations of 130 years of bilateral ties between the countries, Deputy Prime Minister Tanasak Patimapragorn said yesterday.



It would be the first such event in Asia outside Japan, Tanasak said, adding that the Japanese |had rarely held sumo competitions outside of their country.

"Thanks to Japan's good ties with Thailand, they will bring this sport that reflects the Japanese culture here for the Thai people to watch," Tanasak said, adding that preparations were already under way.




Tanasak, who is in charge of tourism among his other areas of responsibility, also said that Thailand and Japan had worked together in efforts to boost tourism in their respective countries.




On Friday, a group of Japanese sumo wrestlers called on Tanasak at his office inside Government House. The team was accompanied by Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

I fear not the man who sends 10,000 tweets once...

I had occasion to post the following tweet just now:

Only problem is now that I stink of smoke, having (circle)walked past the aforementioned chiminea a few dozen times.

Shower soon, I think.

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?

Antici.........pation!

Manchester Bagua class tonight.

I can't wait!

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!

Bruce Lee, UFC and why the martial arts star is a video game hero

Originally posted on: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/09/bruce-lee-ea-sports-





Bruce Lee, UFC and why the martial arts star is a video game hero

EA has announced that Bruce Lee will be a playable character in its forthcoming UFC sim. But the movie icon has always influenced action game design

The image, of course, is instantly recognisable. There he is on screen, in that familiar jumping stance, his face beneath a bowl of black hair, his shorts in that classic combination of yellow and black. This is Bruce Lee, the martial arts legend, appearing in the forthcoming fighting sim, EA Sports UFC. The star of Enter the Dragon will be available immediately to those who pre-order the title, or he can be unlocked by completing the game at Pro difficulty. Playable across four weight classes, gamers will be able to test Lee's formative mixed martial arts approach against contemporary UFC stars.

EA's marketeers knew that gaming news sites would go nuts for this and they was right – the announcement was everywhere this week. Despite the fact that this complex icon of action cinema died over 40 years ago, his legacy lives on in games. Arguably, it started in 1984, with the launch of Datasoft's platform adventure, Bruce Lee, on 8bit machines like the Apple II, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. The plot, which had the eponymous hero fighting through a wizard's temple to secure the secret of immortality, had little to do with Lee or his movies, but it was released at a time in which home video was making the actor's films easily available to a new generation of fans. And already there was an obvious synergy between Lee's highly choreographed, hyper-kinetic approach to action sequences and the potential of video games to explore and simulate combat.

Big bosses, dirty fighting

In that game, the fighting was restricted to punches and flying kicks, but in Japan a new genre of fighting sims was emerging that would explore martial arts in much more depth. Irem's seminal 1984 beat-'em-up Kung Fu Master made no reference to Lee – indeed, its Japanese title is Spartan X, which is exactly what Jackie Chan's movie Wheels on Meals was known as in Japan. However, the structure of the game – which has the player fighting through several floors of an enemy stronghold – is clearly a reference to Lee's final movie Game of Death, in which his character must battle different boss characters on five levels of a pagoda. Indeed, the whole concept of Game of Death, that a series of seemingly indestructible martial arts proponents all have a weakness that must be discovered and exploited, pretty much set the 'end-of-level boss' structure of beat-'em-up video games for the following 40 years.

Lee is there too in Konami's 1985 fighting game, Yie Ar Kung Fu, which features a lone fighter, Oolong, facing down a range of differently armed enemies. The cabinet art for the coin-op machine features an unmistakably traced image of Lee performing a high kick, while the concept of various enemies coming at the protagonist with authentic weapons, from nunchaku to tonfa sticks, again parallels Lee's movies, in which he sought to bring variety, accuracy and legacy, into his action sequences. 1985 also saw the excellent home computer fighting sim, Way of the Exploding Fist, a monicker that conjures Lee's movie titles and his philosophy of directing inner energy into points of combustive power. The game even used a sample of Lee's high-pitched combat yelp in its loading sequence.

Street fighters

But it is the modern fighting game genre that has drawn most from Bruce Lee's fighting style and iconography. In the Street Fighter series, Fei-Long employs Lee's Jeet Kune Do fighting style and wears his familiar black kung fu trousers and slip-on canvas shoes. Capcom's series also draws on the mystique and almost magical power that Lee portrayed in his movies and martial arts demonstrations; the supernatural moves such as the hadoken are effectively exaggerations of Lee staples like the "one-inch punch". Meanwhile, in SNK's World Heroes series, Kim Dragon is a martial arts movie star, clearly based on Lee, who feels he needs to prove his skill in a real-life tournament. Maxi from Soul Calibur and Jann Lee from Dead or Alive also draw from the Lee mythos in their clothing, fighting styles and attitude.

However, it is Martial Law in the Tekken series that really exemplifies the profound influence Lee has had on fighting game designers. Throughout the series, Law always has at least one outfit drawn from a Lee movie, including the legendary yellow jumpsuit from Game of Death, which was similarly appropriated by Quentin Tarantino in Kill Bill. Law also uses a number of throws and finishing moves drawn from Lee's action sequences, and even has a son, Forest, who carries on his legacy – a clear reference to Lee's own son, Brandon.

In Tekken too, we see the same fetishisation of martial arts lore and mythology that Lee's appeal seemed to invoke among Western viewers. The characters are ridiculous international caricatures, defined mostly by fighting styles that border on fantasy; they are figures of weird comedy and incongruity as well as violence.

Indeed, this is something most fighting games pull from Lee's canon – the idea that a plot can just be a group of disparate people meeting up for a fighting tournament. Every martial arts game ever made owes something to Enter The Dragon, Lee's multicultural beat-'em-up, with its clandestine fight club, exotic locations, and the central conceit that everyone present has a past to escape and an ulterior motive to fight through. Lee's films, like the best fighting games, combine tension, threat and humour; blaxploitation star Jim Kelly, granite-faced military veteran Chuck Norris and basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, all provided interesting, almost comedic combatants hinting at the bizarre rosters to come in titles like Street Fighter, Tekken and Fatal Fury.

Legacy of Lee

There have, of course, been other semi-official tie-ins. The passable movie conversion, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story; the terrible Xbox brawler, Bruce Lee: Quest for the Dragon; the decent Game Boy Advance side-scroller, Bruce Lee Return of the Legend. But none of these really explored the legacy, atmosphere and style of Lee's movies like the truly great fighting games. To 1970s audiences in the West, Bruce Lee symbolised the 'otherness' of Asia and this is something the likes of Street Fighter, Soul Calibur and Tekken exploit and explore with their own characters, their own themes.

Bruce Lee's addition to UFC is interesting because it paints the actor not as some cult chopsocky star, but as a serious proponent and originator of mixed martial arts. Lee's style took in everything from austere classical systems to street fighting – so of course he should be here, going up against athletes he no doubt inspired.

Really, this shows how adaptable this pop culture legend is and how, like all true icons, Lee can be molded and re-interpreted to fit the tastes and concerns of each new generation.

Celebrity Black Belts

Originally reported at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/worldfolkandjazz/10794872/Willie-Nelson-gets-5th-degree-black-belt-at-81.html


Willie Nelson gets 5th-degree black belt at 81 Country music legend Willie Nelson earns his fifth-degree black belt in the martial art of Gong Kwon Yu Sul at the age of 81


Willie Nelson, who is 81 today, is certainly not letting the grass grow under his feet. The country singer has just received his fifth-degree black belt in the martial art of Gong Kwon Yu Sul.

"Honestly, I was surprised to be getting this degree," Nelson told AP. "I don't know what else is out there. I never thought about anything beyond second-degree black belt."

In a ceremony in Austin, Texas, watched by resident Lance Armstrong, Grand Master Sam Um, who has taught Nelson for two decades, handed him his belt and joked: "He has more stamina than I do."

Nelson added: "I'm pretty healthy at 81. I think a lot of it has to do with the exercise that you do. I think martial arts is one of the best exercises you can do. Mentally, spiritually, physically, everything. I'm sure that's helped."

At the weekend, Oscar winner and fellow Texan Matthew McConaughey inducted Nelson into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame at a blowout concert. He will be playing a special birthday concert at Austin's Backyard arena this evening.

Nelson has been interested in martial arts for some time, telling me in an interview in December 2012: "I have always been interested in keeping fit and doing boxing and wrestling. As a youngster, I loved Charles Atlas, Bruce Lee and Kung Fu. But when I lived in Nashville I switched to doing Taekwondo. Last year, at the age of 78, I got my second degree black belt. And singing is the best exercise – two hours a day will keep you in pretty good shape. I think it's very important to learn from your own body. It doesn't lie to you. If it feels good, do it. If it don't feel good, don't do it."

Stockton martial arts instructor's sentence more than doubled

Originally posted: http://www.redtigerkarateclub.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=13&Itemid=17

Martial arts tutor Paul Monty, who was jailed for four and a half years for child sex offences, has had his sentence more than doubled by the Court of Appeal

A twisted martial arts instructor who subjected two schoolgirls to repeated sex attacks had his too soft sentence more than doubled by top judges.

Paul Monty, 54, of Elton, near Stockton, was originally jailed for four and a half years at Teesside Crown Court in December last year after he was convicted of a string of sex crimes against the teenagers.

Appeal Court judge, Lord Justice Davis, who today upped Monty’s sentence to 10 years, said he preyed on the girls during the 1980s.

Sitting with Mr Justice Jeremy Baker and Judge Simon Tonking, he said Monty’s victims had “idolised” him as a hero, but he repaid their “adoration” by repeated betrayals of trust.

The Solicitor-General, Oliver Heald QC, attacked Monty’s original sentence as far too light.

And Lord Justice Davis agreed, saying: “We don’t think the sentence of four and a half years begins to comprehend the gravity of all that happened here.

“We have no real doubt at all that this was an unduly lenient sentence.”

He added: “This was sustained and serious sexual offending which involved taking advantage of the hero worship of these two girls.”

Monty had “exploited the adoration they conferred on him”.

Although he did not use brute force to get his victims to comply, the judge said he never needed to because they were so in awe of him.

The women told jurors at Monty’s trial how he tied them to a bed before subjecting them to degrading sex acts.

The judge said Monty’s crimes had a clear element of “grooming” and that both victims were caused lasting “emotional and psychological harm”.

Probation reports disclosed that he had shown “no real remorse”.

Monty was found guilty of several counts of gross indecency, as well as a serious sexual assault, in relation to one of the girls.

The other victim suffered an attempted sexual assault and two offences of gross indecency at his hands.

Lord Justice Davis quashed all the gross indecency counts after accepting that the charges were incorreclty framed and therefore “unlawful”.

However, the more serious charges remained in place and the judge said the sentences imposed in relation to them were far too light.

“The total sentence is now 10 years,” Lord Justice Davis concluded.

Speaking after the hearing, the Solicitor General said: “Paul Monty abused his position of trust and acted in a way that was wholly inappropriate for a teacher, committing sexual offences against young girls who were in his charge and entitled to be safe.

“I asked the court to look again at this sentence as I felt it was unduly lenient.

“Sexual crimes, especially those which breach the trust between a pupil and teacher, should be punished appropriately.

“Today the Court sent a clear message that anyone who violates the trust of children, no matter how long ago, will face the proper consequences.”

Red Tiger Karate - Manchester

This is the Karate class that my friend attends. Last year he got his black belt there. From the conversations I have had with him, I get the strong impression that it is a good club that would be worth a visit from anyone who was looking to learn Karate in and around the North West. http://www.redtigerkarateclub.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=13&Itemid=17

Quotes of inspiration & enlightenment

A young boy traveled across Japan to the school of a famous Martial artist. When he arrived at the Dojo he was given an audience by the Master.

"What do you wish from me?" the Master asked.

"I wish to be your student and become the finest Karate-ka in the land," the boy replied "How long must I study?"

"Ten years at least" answered the Master

"Ten years is a long time," said the boy. "What if I studied twice as hard as all your other students?"

"Twenty years" replied the Master

"Twenty years!" "What if I practice day and night with all my effort?" the boy said

"Thirty years," was the Masters reply

"How is it that each time I say I will work harder, you tell me that it will take longer?" the boy asked.

"The answer is clear. When one eye is fixed upon your destination, there is only one eye left with which to find the way." ~ Text from: Zen and the Martial Arts (1979 edition) by Joe Hyams


"The ideals of the Martial arts and Martial virtues teach us how to balance our mental and physical skills and to find an awareness of our center. While the Martial arts revolve around the art of personal combat, it also demands that its adherents live in accordance with a certain warrior code of conduct and honor..

The Martial arts involve both physical training and mental conditioning. The devotee must train himself both physically and mentally; therefore mental discipline is both a pre-condition of learning the art and also the result of undergoing such training.

The Martial artist who has trained properly overtime is a confident, tranquil person." ~ The Martial way and it's Virtues: Tao De Gung (2003 edition) By F.J. Chu


"In the West, the 'Martial arts' are a fashion, they have become an urban sport, a technique, and have none of the spirit of the way..

True Martial arts take their spirit from Budo rather then from sport. I have nothing against sports, they train the body and develop stamina and endurance. But the spirit of competition and power that presides over them is not good, it reflects a distorted vision of life. The root of the Martial arts is not there...

In the spirit of Zen and Budo everyday life becomes the contest. There must be awareness at every moment - getting up in the morning, working, eating, going to bed. That is the place for the Mastery of self.

~ The Zen way to the Martial Arts (1982 edition ) By Taisen Deshimaru (Roshi / Zen Master)


"The arts of peace and the arts of war are like the two wheels of a cart which, lacking one, will have difficulty standing."

~ Ideals of the Samurai: Writings of Japanese Warriors (1982 edition - trans. Wilson) (Text from: Notes on regulations - written in the year 1620) by Samurai (Daimyo) - Kuroda Nagamasa (1568-1623)


"One who is good at being a warrior does not make a show of his might; One who is good in battle does not get angry; One who is good at defeating the enemy does not engage him"

~ Text from: Tao Te Ching ~ (written in the 6th century BC) ~ Lao Tzu ~

Luo DeXiu London seminar 2013

Taken from:  http://www.palmchange.com

Book & Pay NOW for Luo DeXiu London seminar 28/6/13 - 1/7/13

Very excited to announce that Luo DeXiu will be joining us from Fri 28th June to Monday the 1st July for a weekend seminar of Gao style Bagua Zhang. Luo Laoshr's mastery of the internal arts and his generous approach to teaching have made his seminars a must for internal martial arts practioners. Limited to the first 30 paying students to register as per below instruction.  

Evening of Friday 28th June -  3 hours of Fighting methods
All day Saturday 29th June - 6 hours of Houtian (Post-Heaven) Line 1 - Guiding principles
Morning of Sunday 30th June - 3 hours of Chi kung
Afternoon of Sunday 30th - Bagua wrestling/throwing
Evening of Monday 1st July - 3 hours of Xiantian (Pre-heaven) circle palm changes

For full Description of content and material depth please see the facebook event here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/358953124221667

You must follow the following two steps please in advance to attend this seminar:

1. Pay first by clicking the paypal button on the left and selecting the payment for you. You need to pay 100% in advance.

2 Send an email to  chris@palmchange.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it stating your name,  the seminars that you are attending and when you paid and any other details needed to track your payment - for example if paying through a company or different name - supply details.

 If you have any specific questions please contact chris@palmchange.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Strictly limited to first 30 practitioners - So don't miss out :)
For more info, see:  http://www.palmchange.com

Jet Li sets up business to promote Tai Chi

MOVIE STAR JET LI TEAMS UP WITH IT ENTREPENEUR TO PROMOTE TAI CHI

KUNG Fu movie start Jet Li has teamed up with a Chinese internet entrepeneur to promote Tai Chi.

Li, star of "Hero" and "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor", joined forces with Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, the world's biggest retailer.

Ma recently stepped down as the CEO of the company, saying he wanted to concentrate his energies in education and the environment.

Like Li, Ma is a long time follower of Tai Chi and has used its teachings in his business strategies and his former company.

The duo have opened a school in Hangzhou, Zheijiang Province, eastern China.

A statement from the company said the school would teach Tai Chi and other martial arts under the tutalege of a well-known master.

In keeping with Ma's environmental beliefs, the school is part of a larger building which also houses commercial services. The park is in wetlands.

Story taken from www.martialnews.co.uk

Books to assist with Martial Arts training

Here is a list of books and DVDs.  This is mostly for my own reference, so when I have some spare cash (not that it's likely that'll happen any time soon) or when someone wants to get me a gift, I/they have something to which we can refer.

Anatomy Trains
Excellent book on anatomy which is very useful for internal martial artists.  Especially in reference to fascia, et cetera.

Somatics
Interesting looking book that I hope will help me with my development within internal martial arts.

Gao Style Baguazhang book

I recently purchased this book, "Beginning Bagua".  It is a really good introduction and reference to Gao style Baguazhang.  The text is in plain english and the diagrams and photos are clear and informative.

Beginning Bagua is probably the most down to earth, practical book about Bagua currently available.

It is written with the goal of providing concrete, directly useful information on Bagua. This book covers the basics of body use stepping, static posture training, Qigong, key movements, striking and throwing applications, circle walking as well as how Bagua's intellectual framework applies to martial tactics and to general training.

Much of what you will find in this book is useful not just to practitioners of Bagua, but to martial artists in general.

Beginning Bagua is extensively illustrated with photos of both solo movements, basic exercises, palm changes and martial applications.

Bagua is often presented as mysterious, complicated and difficult. It certainly requires study and practice, but this book provides the keys to make sense of the 'abstract' movements, to see the logic behind them and begin to develop useful skills. This book can save you a lot of grief and confusion!

The information itself is presented in a straight forward way, based on direct experience and written with at least occasional humour.

Beginning Bagua is the first book in a series that will look at aspects of Bagua with increasing detail and an emphasis on practicality.

I'm definitely looking forward to the next instalment!  It is the most-read martial arts text on my Kindle app.

Beginning Bagua

Internal MA 'Epiphanies'.

One thing my Bagua instructor warned me about, almost immediately upon my resuming my MA training, was regarding the progress curve.  External martial arts, he said, has a pretty slow but steady rate of improvement during which you get steadily better and better over time.

Internal martial arts, he said, are different.  You train for ages without really feeling you get anywhere.  Then, all of a sudden, WHAM!  There's a big(-gish) leap in your understanding and ability.  I had one of those epiphanies, I think, during Friday's class.

All of a sudden, something he said (I forget precisely what just now) just resonated with me and I found it much easier to give my stance structure - more strength and structure than I'd had before, to be honest.

I did, however, find that a day out walking around in the cold on the Saturday made me feel like I'd injured myself.  Really, I think a combination of an overworked muscle group and the cold weather made me feel a few aches and pains for some days aferward.

That said, I am better now - so back to full training again tonight.

Daily devotions or going through the motions?

I am currently managing, despite a family to look after and a lazy streak a mile wide, to train at home every night. Okay, so I'm not exactly running through all eight big palm changes or completing all the houtien lines in sequence, but I am managing to do a little.

I am concerned that my less than impressive physique is letting me down in class, so I've mostly been working on strengthening.  Once I am happy with that, though, I assume the nightly training will have become a habit and then I will simply substitute the strength training for something with a little more emphasis on technique.

Considering I know how adept I am at avoiding committing to anything, disliking exertion as I do, I am quite proud of myself.

Better second time around

Back when I was in my twenties (not so very long ago) I used to train in a different martial art.  I studied Lau Gar Kung Fu for around five years or so.  I really enjoyed it and attained my yellow sash (around 6th kup, if I recall correctly).  I still have the certificate.

One thing I found, back then, though, was that I didn't really have the required attitude to be a good fighter.  I was too soft.  Too much of a hippie, maybe.  Or a fragile soul...

Now, some years later I must have grown (or devolved, depending on your viewpoint) as I now feel that I really can enjoy sparring a little more than before.  As such, while I am still not, perhaps, in the prime condition I was back in the 90s, I do feel I have a much better attitude this time around.

I think a lot of people focus purely on the physical side of martial arts and give barely a second thought to the mental side - or, at least, to what attitude they have when they train, or when they spar (if, indeed, they do).

I am going to focus more on trying to develop the kind of attitude and discipline that I hope will help me succeed and get more from my martial arts than the all-too limited time my work and fatherhood allow me to spend on training.  I don't want to sacrifice my family for my training.  Time with them is sacrosanct.

One fine day I'm gonna be the one...

My thigh muscles still ache quite a bit.  Probably down as much to squatting in a swimming pool on Saturday with my daughter, rather than through any tian gan strengthening exercises.

Currently watching District 13 on Film 4.  A good French movie that we saw a while ago.  Lots of free running and some pretty decent martial arts.  To be frank, it is the free running that impresses most in this movie, but the plot is suprisingly bearable, too.  How cool it would be to be fit, athletic and agile enough to perform some of the feats seen in the film.  Then again, my fitness is gradually improving and I am gradually finding that more and more things I thought were beyond me are actually doable.

On the subject of film, I have a pretty healthy world cinema section in amongst my DVDs, so I have seen more than my share of foreign movies - many not even from Hong Kong! ;)  Hollywood rarely does anything for me, these days, so I tend to keep my eye out for foreign movies with potential...

I need to think of what present I want for my birthday- something bagua-related would be cool.  Hmmm...