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?
Thursday, 16 July 2015
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!
Wednesday, 10 June 2015
Shameless promotion (www.manchester-bagua.org)
Just had someone ask me about my martial arts training.
We had a nice chat about internal martial arts, Tai Chi, Xing Yi and Baguazhang.
But I found it rather hard to stop myself from saying something like:
"Hey, why don't you come to our class. It's great! You'll love it. Come on... Come to our class this Friday!"
Thankfully, I just about managed to preserve my dignity and prevent myself from blurting it all out.
That said, he is still sitting across from me. Got about an hour to last til we finish work.
Maybe this is what televangelists feel like? Gotta spread the Bagua-love whereever I go!
Speaking of which! - www.manchester-bagua.org
We had a nice chat about internal martial arts, Tai Chi, Xing Yi and Baguazhang.
But I found it rather hard to stop myself from saying something like:
"Hey, why don't you come to our class. It's great! You'll love it. Come on... Come to our class this Friday!"
Thankfully, I just about managed to preserve my dignity and prevent myself from blurting it all out.
That said, he is still sitting across from me. Got about an hour to last til we finish work.
Maybe this is what televangelists feel like? Gotta spread the Bagua-love whereever I go!
Speaking of which! - www.manchester-bagua.org
Tuesday, 9 June 2015
More obstacles to training
I could list for you the many things that have prevented my training as regularly as I'd want. There are plenty to choose from. Finally having moved house and having a new home to mould to our taste. Having a crazy, three year old daughter (soon to be 4 - on June 23rd!), the current disruption to the trains (a whole line being closed, causing the once hour long trip to class to be closer to two).
However, really, it comes down to my attitude letting me down again. I need to refocus and make myself attend, no matter how awkward getting to class might actually be. Now I have a car, too, gives me even less excuse not to attend.
Add to that the fact that we now have a crosstrainer and a heavy bag in our otherwise-unused garage, and I have very little reason not to train at home every evening either. The very thing I've been telling myself will be the key to improvement in my Baguazhang.
So, after tonight (cos I am falling asleep while typing this) I am back to training every night and attending every class - no excuses.
It is all too easy to let the excuses take over and keep you from your goals.
I am taking control of myself again and redirecting my path away from laziness and a flabby gut.
Tuesday, 24 March 2015
Dug this article out from ladt year...
Flight attendants learn martial arts to control unruly passengers
http://gu.com/p/3tjhz
Wednesday, 18 March 2015
Update
Okay, so house move and all the pressures that go with that along with a decent sized cyst has prevented me from attending baguazhang class as much as I'd like. Really, now I have a new home, with a large living room, spare room, empty garage and decking in the back yard mean I can't really use not having anywhere to train as an excuse anymore. As such, I am working a little practice in when I can.
So looking forward to Luo Dexiu coming to do his seminar toward the end of next month, too. He is always so generous and accessible that I never fail to improve my understanding by leaps and bounds when I train with him.
Can't wait...
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