Running out of excuses

Stuck at home, working from home every day, it's becoming a lot harder to make excuses why I'm not training more.

I manage a little here and there, but really with 2.5 - 3 hours less commuting each day, surely at least an hour of that could be spent training?

On the positive side, I am slowly losing weight, mostly I assume because I'm not stuck at work with only a snack machine for company. But this time really should be capitalised upon to help improve my bagua.

With things being so uncertain, though, it is easy to lose interest in things that, while loved, don't seem quite as important as finding supplies and looking after my family.

Anyhow, hopefully this blog will be somewhere I can record my victories in the training department (however minor) and that might then serve as the motivation I currently find myself lacking.

Sacrifices

Just had to ask the question, "If we're supposed to be on a health kick / intending to lose weight, how many times can we have 'one last takeaway'?"

Mother in law rang up offering a communal takeout. Missus agreed then I countermanded with pesky facts.

Now I am in the doghouse

Pah!

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!

Training

Well, new year has been well and truly seen in and so it is way past time to resume bagua training with renewed vigour.

Using '100 days of Bagua" as both an excuse, if validation is at all needed, and more importantlu as a hashtag to make the log of my meagre strivings easier to find (and pigeonhole).

Managed a little last night but a combination of Marlboro and single malts compromised the effectiveness of the routine somewhat.

More obstacles to training

Okay, so it has been ages since I attended baguazhang class. Other than the odd chance here and there to eat bitter, I have done very little in the way of training full stop. That said, the main reason for this lapse is that we are currently looking for a new home. This is taking up a lot of my time. I reconcile myself with the thought that, once we get moved, I will have a garden in which to practice and, hopefully, a spare room that can double as a baguazhang/yoga room (my wife does Iyengar yoga). So, in the long run, I am envisioning my bagua routine to improve by virtue of no longer being confined to a small apartment where I can only really practice jiben shou fa and a few, limited, lines and forms. Imagine having a whole garden to walk a proper circle in! :) So, watch this space and hopefully I will soon be coming to you with tales of extended practice sessions out in the summer heat.

Keeping motivated

Training regularly is much easier in the right frame of mind. Deciding to enjoy the time spent training, for me, involves:

1. No longer focusing on what I can't do or applications I have trouble with.

2. Bear in mind that regular training will bear fruit in time. Even if it doesn't feel like it mid-train.

3. Training is not a chore - it is a simple decision to enjoy it. I find a cup of lapsang souchong helps with that.

4. If you miss a day or can't train for a while, it is not the end of the world. And certainly no reason to stop altogether. Just carry on again when you can.

Just a little reminder for myself, while I sit here on my phone, not training!

Dedication to Tyr

I have made what you might call a resolution to up my training significantly.

I also hope to train wiser and target those areas in which I am currently lacking.

When I think about it, it is such a small thing to include more bagua practice into my day.  The reality of my life, though, is that there is always something else that could also be occupying any time I do give to training.

I guess I just have to accept that I need to prioritise my bagua to ensure I get more training done.  Sacrifices might even have to be made.

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.

Change of routine

As I am babysitting on Friday, this week I attended the Tuesday night Bagua class.  This class is more fighting oriented.  I enjoyed it immensely, but I realised just how much improvement I need - for one, my timing is awful.

Ideally, I would like to be able to attend both classes each week.  For the time being, two evenings in the week where I get home well after Freyja has gone to bed are just too much.  Especially when I am also getting home late one other evening in the week to do overtime at work (gotta pay those nursery fees).  Wonder if I can get a National Lottery grant to pursue my Bagua?  It is an art, after all...

Still, for now, I will simply attend the Tuesday night class now and then.  On top of that, we have Luo Dexiu's seminar soon that I will try to attend as much of as possible.  Then later, hopefully, I can eventually devote more of my time to my Bagua.

http://www.manchester-bagua.org/