Health and fitness complication - Living with PKU

I was born with Phenylketonuria (PKU - read about it here). This means, for the first 15 years of my life, I was on a strict, very low protein diet. Until my mid-teens, I hadn't eaten any meat, fish, milk, eggs or bread and could only eat limited quantities of potatoes, mushrooms, beans, etc. I took (very horrible-tasting) supplements and visited the dietician at least twice a year.

These days, the recommendation is that people with PKU remain on this diet their whole lives. As I said, I started a normal diet at 15 and have eaten normally since. I often consider returning to my diet in the hopes this improves my life. Side effects of PHe build up in the body are severe, but I have lived with them my whole life - though it does seem as I get older that these are becoming worse. It is not quite that simple, though. While I was on my diet, my physique was, at most, a stocky 5'7". After a year or so of eating a normal diet, my height increased to the comparatively lofty 6'3" that I enjoy today. Clearly, the increase coming off the very restrictive diet did me some good.

That said, I am still very wary of getting caught up in the body building/protein frenzy craze as part of my health and fitness journey - simply because I know that, for me, there is much more at stake.

Regardless, I'm not going to allow that to compromise my current health kick. I'm 48 now. It is time I got this body into proper shape.

Passed down the generations - A love of chop sockey movies and Asian cinema

Nope, this isn't yet another post about martial arts lineages and authentic kung fu schools. It is simply about my love of cheesy Chop Sockey movies. As my daughter is now 11 and already has an interest in all things anime, I'm wondering if now is the time to try to pique her interest in the old school martial art movies that I so loved in my teens and 20s.

Back when VHS was king, I used to have a huge collection of such movies, and Hong Kong cinema in general. I was lucky enough to have a couple of friends who were also into such movies and we would swap recommendations all the time. So many conversations rattled on arguing who was the best oriental action star and which director's films were coolest.

Maybe I need to start by building up our DVD collection once again. There are a few good movies on various streaming services, but nowhere near enough!

All the motivation

The other day, we were out shopping at the local supermarket. My wife and daughter were walking behind me. I couldn't really hear much of their conversation properly. What I did manage to catch, though, was my 10 year old daughter telling my wife that I, her Daddy, protected her.

I've never been much of a physical specimen. Health and fitness has never really been that important to me. Most of all, I'm definitely no fighter - I have no competitive drive or killer instinct at all.

Hearing that from her, though. That's made me want to train my strength and fighting ability like never before.

There's no greater motivation than family, I guess.

Be careful what you wish for....

Pre-pandemic, if you'd asked me what I needed in order to be able to get my #baguazhang training on track, without hesitation my response would have been an emphatic "more time at home". Now that I actually work from home and have regained the lost commuting hours back into my day, though, I find it harder than ever to work up the enthusiasm to practice. Spending all day indoors, with our lovely comfy sofa within arms reach and all the food, drink and spectator-fodder (internet, films, etc) that I can handle has sounded the death-knell for my productivity.

It's really hard to volunteer to do difficult things when so many pleasant easy things are within reach. At least when I went to work, I was out of the house for maybe 10+ hours a day. Going for a walk, hitting the gym or practicing (outside) just meant maybe 30 extra minutes of my day away from home. No biggie.

There are methods for overcoming laziness, of course...

Now, working myself up to any level of activity is a gargantuan task in and of itself. What I'm hoping, though, is that by sharing methods of shaking off the laziness on here might help me to overcome my self-imposed lethargy.

Watch this space!

#StandWithTaiwan

Taiwan is undergoing a difficult time at the moment, due to China's threats to annex the island. The current lineage holder of our school, Luo Dexiu, is Taiwanese and currently teaches his class in Taipei. If China were to take control of Taiwan, it would not be good for our school. Not only would Luo Laoshi no longer be able to travel to teach his invaluable seminars around the world. But also, China is attempting to standardise chinese martial arts under the banner of Wushu.

Taiwan is of great strategic importance and internationally, the strong desire is that Taiwan remains independent. However, the recent withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan is a display of weakness that has emboldened China. Chinese ships and planes of war are regularly impinging on Taiwanese space and things are very tense, diplomatically.

However, this could end badly for China. Support for Taiwan is growing and becoming more vocal. Even Anonymous have let their feelings on the matter be known.

State of play

These days, I am actually managing to practice every day. Albeit in a very limited fashion. Teacher has given us an exercise to practice. Diligence, apparently, will be rewarded with enlightenment - just repeating this simple exercise every day will not only improve physique in the expected way, but also teach "the mind" something.

I'm already getting a small glimpse into changes that may be occurring. Teacher assures me just to keep practicing and all will be revealed.

I am managing to practice this exercise every day. If I am wise, I will try to tag some more traditional bagua practice onto it and soon be the kind of dedicated bagua player that I always hoped I'd be.

That old familiar ache...

Another class last night. Our Teacher is putting a lot of effort into helping us understand the transition from fixed step, through link step to continuous step.

This year, we missed out on the usually annual trip of our lineage holder to do seminars around the world. The Manchester seminar is usually very well attended and full of excellent tuition and displays of incredible skill. However, due to the travel restrictions, this year's seminars have had to be cancelled. Hopefully, Luo Laoshi will be able to hold a seminar next year - and that is something for which I intend to prepare myself.#

While it is quite high-level, both in terms of concept and skill, if I can go some way toward improving my continuous step, I feel this will put me in good stead to learn the most from the seminar. Luo Laoshi is always very generous.

I remember, when training in the mid-90s, things were very different. A seminar would consist of several classes from one school all training together in one hall. The lineage holder would walk in, speak to the senior instructor then look out over the class for perhaps a couple of minutes before nodding, "Good" and then leaving. That's no real reflection on that particular lineage holder, who is still teaching today. It is mostly just how things were done back then.

The first seminar I attended with Luo Laoshi had me almost aghast. Not only did he personally lead the class, but also took time to improve my technique and even demonstrating on me. So different and much more personable than those previous seminars to which I'd been accustomed.

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.

Back to normality?

So, finally classes appear to be returning more or less to normal. Still smallish in size and with limited physical contact, but at least we get to meet with our teacher, socialise a bit, chat and learn more about our cherished art.

Myself, I am carrying quite a lot of lockdown weight now. Last time I weighed myself (a couple of weeks ago) I was heavier than I've ever been. I am presenting quite an impressive gut. To help combat this, as a family we have joined our local David Lloyd. The idea is I can hit the cardio machines between classes. Hopefully, this will improve my general fitness and tone my physique - both very important as I creep up on 50 years on this sphere of woe.

Anyhow, now that more interesting martial arts related things are happening, I hope to revitalise this blog again and cobble together some posts.

36 Songs of Bagua - Songs 1-6

The 36 songs were a mnemonic used to help baguazhang players in their practice. This particular translation I got from a post on the rumsoakedfist.com forum. A good forum on the internal martial arts in which I sometimes lurk.

36 Songs of Ba Gua Zhang:
歌诀一
空胸拔顶下塌腰，Kong Xiong Ba Ding Xia Tao Yao,
扭步掰膝抓地牢。Niu Bu Bai Xi Zhua Di Lao.
沉肩坠肘伸前掌，Chen Jian Zhui Zhou Shen Qian Zhang,
二母须从虎口瞧。 Er Mu Xu Cong Hu Kou Qiao.


Song 1
Empty the chest, uplift the back and drop the waist.
Twist the hip, close the knees, and grasp the ground firmly,
Sink the shoulders, drop the elbow, extend the forward palm,
Look with the eyes through Hu Kou.


歌诀二
后肘先叠肘掩心，Hou Zhou Xian Die Zhou Yan Xin,
手在翻塌向前跟。Shou Zai Fan Ta Xiang Qian Gen.
跟到前肘合抱力，Gen Dao Qian Zhou He Bao Li
前后两手一团神。Qian Hou Liang Shou Yi Tuan Shen


Song 2
Pile the rear elbow, protect the heart with the elbow,
Turn and drop the hand and extend it forward.
Follow to the front elbow to create embracing power,
The front and rear hand join together to gather spirit.


歌诀三
步弯脚直向前伸，Bu Wan Jiao Zhi Xiang Qian Shen
形如推磨一般真。Xing Ru Tui Mo Yi Ban Zhen
屈膝随胯腰扭足，Qu Xi Sui Kua Yao Niu Zu
眼到三面不摇身。Yan Dao San Mian Bu Yao Shen



Song 3
Curve the step and straighten the foot to extend forward,
Walk like pushing a millstone.
Flex the knee, follow the hip and twist the waist the waist fully,
The eyes watch the three aspects (directions) without swaying the body.


歌诀四
一势单边不足奇，Yi Shi Dan Bian Bu Zu Qi,
左右循环乃为宜。Zuo You Xun HuanNai Wei Yi.
左换右兮右换左，Zuo Huan You Xi You Huan Zuo,
抽身倒步自合机。Chou Shen Dao Bu Zi He Ji


Song 4
Training one posture, “single whip” is not enough to be marvelous,
Circling left and right is appropriate.
Changes left to the right and the right to the left,
Withdraw the body with retreating steps creates the proper opportunity.


歌诀五
步既转兮手亦随，Bu Ji Zhuan Xi Shou Yi Sui,
后掌穿出前掌回. Hou Zhang Chuan Chu Qian Zhang Hui.
去来来去无而致，Qu Lai Lai Qu Wu Er Zhi,
要如弩箭离弦飞。Yao Ru Nu Jian Li Xian Fei.


Song 5
Once the foot turns the hand should follow,
The rear palm penetrates out and the forward palm returns.
Coming and going never with two in the same position,
Like an arrow leaving a bow.


歌诀六
穿时指掌贴肘行，Chuan Shi Zhi Zhang Tie Zhou Xing,
后肩改做前肩承。Hou Jian Gai Zuo Qian Jian Cheng.
莫要距离莫犹豫，Mo Yao Ju Li Mo You Yu,
步入裆兮是准绳。Bu Ru Dang Xi Shi Zhun Sheng.


Song 6
In piercing out, the palms should be straight, moving closely alongside the elbow,
Rear shoulder attacks and front shoulder succeeds.
Do not leave space and don’t hesitate,
Walk forward between the opponent’s legs.


These are posted here for my benefit, as much as anything. But nice to refer to now and again.

Netflix and Prime Video - The greatest threat to diligent martial arts practice?

Recently, I've been doing pretty well with my baguazhang training. Despite being unable to attend class due to lockdown, I've been training at home pretty regularly. Aided to a great extent by my teacher generously spending a lot of his time creating videos to help us get the most from our training at home.

A threat to this progress, though, is the fact I have discovered a wealth of chop-sockey movies on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Despite having discovered this treasure trove only a matter of weeks ago, I have already gorged myself on such classics as "36th Chamber of Shaolin", "Five Deadly Venoms" and several Jackie Chan movies.

To be frank, I've surprised myself. Watching so many classic martial arts movies has me feeling like a teenager again. In contrast to training at home which, usually after about twenty minutes, has me feeling like a decrepit old man.

Positive post for a change

While I've been very quiet over lockdown (there's really no excuse not to post when I'm stuck at home, anyway) I am, at least, managing to practice every dfay at the moment. This is despite a shoulder injury and my usual, lazy nature. My biggest motivation though, is perhaps that I'm trying in vain to counteract my working from home weight gain.

My weigh ins recently have been pretty shocking. Most of the weight seems to come from my torso/gut, so I've been concentrating on that. In myself, though, I feel pretty good and healthy-ish. Just need to trim myself down before all that inevitable rich Yule-feast food.

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.

Are written notes any use in martial arts?

While I'm stuck in lockdown and public classes are closed, I've been thinking about "codifying" my baguazhang knowledge (for want of a better word).

All those techniques, principles, drills and such are sometimes hard to call to mind and I wondered if writing a series of annotated lists would help me to organise my knowledge better?
All this knowledge in my head, would it be better recorded or more use carefully scribed into a nice little, thematically-appropriate notebook?
Would having those lists to refer to actually improve my practice to any meaningful degree?

Would they make me a better and/or more knowledgeable martial artist? More so than a reading a book written by someone else?

Well, looks like this weekend (i.e. the next opportunity for free time) we may find out!

What's important to me?

Its kind of a weird feeling when you're doing some impromptu jiben shou fa (basic hand movements) at 11:45pm of an evening, cos you just realised you haven't done any baguazhang so far that day.

That was me last night before retiring to bed. It's weird when I try to understand what it was that motivated me to do that. Is doing bagua every day so important to me now? Is it more about self-knowledge - knowing that missing one day by accident will give me more of an excuse to miss other days by design later on?

Maybe even I am getting some kind of perverse delight in selected parts of my body aching throughout the day?

Recording it makes it seem more real...

I've set up an impromptu training log on Twitter to record my practice. The twitter account is called "Eating Bitter" (see what I did there?) Hopefully, this will motivate me and give me something to refer back to when I need to feel that I'm actually achieving something. You know how you train and train and train yet don't seem to be getting any better? Well, this is meant to remind me of the hours(!?) I'm putting in.

Additionally, it will free this blog up to be more of a place for commentary about the martial arts world and/or my musings about how hard it is to get motivated/fit training into a busy, modern lifestyle.

The new normal

My "new normal" for training is in my living room, dodging my cat and referring to videos from my teacher in a class Whatsapp group.

What's your new normal?

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.

It begins again...

#tuesdayzero

Naughty, naughty...

I've been away from class way too long. Injuries, family incidents and assorted other responsibilities have kept me from my weekly bagua.

I've still be practicing at home on occasion, but the quality of my "bagua sandwiches" is beginning to suffer.

Next week, we start again. This time with feeling!