Embracing the 44

So I celebrated another birthday recently.  I love turning another year older.  Things grow dim, start to sag, balance decays, takes long time to rise from the dead of sleep.  I SAY BS ON DAT!

To most people I am weird anyway, but i see each year as another year stronger, another year tougher, another year healthier, another year smarter.  (Oops, that is over the line.)

I wander through my year watching people.  I watch them get older.  Yes, people get into the gym and get into shape.  And I watch them slide back into their aging patterns.  I do not think we get old by doing, I believe when we grow bored, we grow old.

This is why I love the martial arts.  Every day holds challenge, every workout encourages growth.  The students live in wonder and dread for my birthday workout.  I come up with a little challenge for them and they love to walk away grumbling breathlessly.

Here is the latest.



4 rounds for time.
11 Ball Burpees or Regular Burpees
20 Jump Rope or Jumping Jacks
11 Wrestlers or standard situps
20 Jump Rope or Jumping Jacks
11 Kipping Pullups or Ring rows
20 Jump Rope or Jumping Jacks
11 Squats

This workout took me 9 and half minutes.  Quite an easy one.  I did have to substitute ring rows for pullups due to my right arm.  But it is still a challenge.  Give it a whirl and see how you do.  Feel free to sub in exercises.  AND...remember to do all exercises full range.  Cheating the range, only cheats you.

A Burpee?  What is a burpee.  It is where you jump up as though shooting a basketball and then land and do a pushup.  This little exercise is named after psychologist Royal H. Burpee.  Who knew, a psychologist with upper body strength, go figure.  A Ball Burpee is where you hold a medicine ball and do the same exercise.  Balancing for the pushup is a kick in the shins.

Good luck and let me know how you fare,

C

Get a Grip

One of the most important and one of the most overlooked training aspects of martial arts training...is the grip.  We tend to train for strength; pushups, situps, squats and etc.  We train for speed and toughness, but we forget about the grip.

Having a strong grip means we can train longer.  Normally, our grip strength is used for making fist, blocking, holding and manipulating weapons.  Without grip strength we rely on clamping down and using more forearm and upper arm strength to compensate.

Grip strength comes in different forms, there is crushing, pinching and extensor strength.  These three uses of the grip are necessary for long term training.

I find every so often my tendonitis flares up in my right arm.  This causes the grip to fatigue rapidly.  I use grip training to rehabilitate.  I start with a 15lb gripper.  This is really weak.  Average strength for most people is 35 to 40lbs.

As my grip improves, I move up to the next level of gripper.  Grip strength training should be done every day.  Just a few days without training and your grip slides back in strength.  My left hand is still strong and gaining.

So just for reference my grip training is as follows:  50 reps of 30lbs for the right hand.  The left hand starts with 20 reps of 200lbs and then 30 reps of 145lbs.

I recommend grip training for anyone and once you start...keep it rolling.  Anyone can have grip strength, but it takes true dedication to keep it.

Train well,

It is the unsaid part that matters

I spend time in conflict with myself. I train hard to inspire my students and yet I seem to do is elicit comments like "you are scary strong" or even "well....you're Charles." When folk comment on me being atypical, I point out that I am simply normal. It is what I do not say that people should be listening to.

Today, when anyone leads by proper example, we deify them as heroes. We make them greater than ourselves so we can go through life with our comfortable misery and suffering.

When students first join, they are out of shape. Even the ones in shape, are out of shape. They struggle through reps of ten, and then twenty and so on. Students watch me occasionally due reps of 50 to 100 and wish they had my strength. Strength is earned in the first ten reps; once you get to eleven…you are working on stamina. Simple. No tricks.

Then students reach mid level (Brown belt) and they are working towards reps of 40 to 50. Yes, they are training stamina. This is necessary for upper level training. It feels pretty good to be able to keep up with the teachers.

At black belt level, students become disciples. The warm-up is over and now onto serious training. If you have kept up with the progression, the disciples should be hitting reps of 70 to 90. This sounds really cool, but the workouts take 20 to 25 minutes. And with 15 minutes of stretching, and some sparring, some two-person drills, hitting a couple of your 21+forms…well an hour goes fast. And whaddayou mean? Learn new material? OY! You are joking.

This is where the program changes. We start with Black belt conditioning, six rounds of body confusion workouts. Then we add Weight Vest conditioning. Weight vest starts at 10% of the black belt’s body weight. Does not sound like much, but it is. My weight vest is 60 pounds. No, I don’t weigh 600 pounds…it is the Gi that makes me look fat.

And still, I hear about my atypicalness. No…I’m normal.

Did you see what I did not just say? Then let me say it out loud. Today at work, I spent two and a half hours moving dirt into trenches. That is about 3600 pounds of dirt. Then add in an hour of moving concrete blocks weighing from 60 to 80 pounds. I carry them 60 feet, lift them over my head and throw them up over the eight foot tall trailer wall.

Of course, not everyday is this demanding. Some days, I just climb up and down scaffolding wearing my 15 pound work bags. Filled with every tool I need for construction and destruction.

So…Black Belt conditioning, Weight Vest conditioning and everything else I put my students through, is not so much. Not easy, but not crazy.

On the flip side, I watched my dragon warriors pick up weight that was 20 to 25% of their weight and go through a workout without complaint. My first thought was to snatch the weight away and ping them over the head with it. But, I watched to see what would happen. They made it okay and I am sure they slept well that night.

And this is the dilemma as an instructor. One hand must become heavy and reign in the charging horses before they can harm themselves and the other hand cracks the whip on the stubborn mules who wish to be dragged to greatness. And here I thought leading by example would be easy.

The next time your teacher speaks, listen to what they say and hear what they do not say.

Good training.

Riddle of Steel

We humans have long been involved with the Riddle of Steel since the first looked for the strongest bone club so they could dominate the tribe. And we have always failed at this riddle (well most of us anyway).

Through the dawn of time to even now, we have searched for the greatest sword, the biggest gun and even the ultimate doomsday device. I believe we have three now, OH Great!!! All these folk believe in “Peace through superior firepower.” And they still fail to solve the riddle, or even the last cliché.

And we are all about WAR! War on drugs, war on obesity, war on cancer, war on blah blah blah. All war is, is the act of destroying something we know nothing about. Easy to understand, right.

Now as you sit there, eating your potato chips, meditate on this. We are individuals that are out of balance. We use chemicals to attempt to rectify this. Problem is our choices. The two items we ingest will either nurture us or poison us. Look at them potato chips, read the label. Do you really thick they are nurturing the body; or just fooling the brain chemistry into thinking it is happy. Anyone know what “Malic acid” or “Sodium caseinate” is?

So how does eating crud relate back to the “Riddle of Steel”? We look outside of ourselves for strength, protection and guidance. We will never find the treasures outside, but rather inside of us. Our body will tell us if the stuff we ingest is good for us. We can tell by the quality of sleep, the edginess, by how stuffy our sinuses get, or the lack thereof.

Training in kung fu has developed my body awareness to warn me of when I am poisoning myself, rather than nurturing. It also gives me the strength and stamina to do the following in one day: 5.5 hours of concrete by hand, 3 hours of demolition by hand, and going through three (not one) black belt workouts.

How does your regimen stack up? We are always interested in finding some new way of training more efficiently. When our bodies are finely tuned, we can achieve great feats of impossibilities. When you say something is impossible and do not try, you have failed to grasp the “Riddle of Steel”

Good training and you are always welcome to visit the school,

DarkArashi

Um...mental block

So tonite is supposed to be my writing night.  Exorcising all the demonic stories from my head.  And lo and behold, nothing.

Nada.

Spent the last three days working in the sun, and the heat, lifting heavy things.  Eyes are tired and still blinking out sawdust from all the heavy framing lately.

I will no longer complain about the 300 pound beams I have been moving.  We had four to move that weighed over 600 pounds.  One topping in at 760 pounds.  Most of the movement was simple lift, swing and drop.  Lift, swing and drop.  All this work has reinforced my training.  Proper technique, good breathing and awareness make the work more efficient, never easy.

I recently watched Ip Man with Donnie Yen and realize the parallels in our lives.  I had a lot of time to train and perfect my techniques.  Now, I must work again, grueling work.  I look for opportunities to test out my training and gain new awareness.  As for fighting the Japanese and being considered the greatest master of Wing Chun...not happening.

And with all this construction work, I thought I had been losing weight.  Pants were looser, but I have gained 11 pounds.  I guess what everyone says is true, I am dense.  I now really appreciate the lower belt workouts.  I no longer finish minutes before them and sometimes coming in last.  The Jade Emperor has cast me from the heavens for being to mischievous.

No matter.  Life goes on and I will continue to spend every minute training, whether I am at work, school, play, or just trying to get out of bed in the mornings.

I'll see you all soon in the workouts.

Take care,

YAY job!

So the other day I was driving by what I call the monolith on San Tomas and Central.  This was the last building, feat of creativity, my last company made into a reality.  We were a small team brought together to solve the problems of high paced schedules and less than competent Architects and Engineers.

I am not saying all of them are bad, but the mean skill level of these professionals leaves a lot to be desired.  I do look at the individuals that care and how they use their creativity to overcome obstacles.  I enjoy watching folk solving new problems; we are like a force of nature.

So...why do we have such trouble making projects work?  Well, it is due to the fact, humans can't manage shit (or crap, or poo, use whatever fecal equivalent that is most offensive).  Seriously, there are a lot of dumbasses still working with manager under their name on their tag.  And for the really good managers out there, I am sure you can point a few fingers of dead weight on your team.

Making these monoliths was my job two years ago.  Small team of 3 to 5 people making sure these erector sets went up without a hitch.  Company tolerated us due to our ability to make said company $50K a day.  We were the first to go when the downturn got bad.  I had offers to do this in: China, New Zealand Australia, Scotland, and Germany.  When I started my job hunt, the market turned into vast wasteland.

I was too overqualified for a drafting job, network support, serving coffee and shoveling out cesspools.

You hear about these morons spending eight hours a day, surfing jobs, re-writing resumes and cover letters.  Well, I was one of them.   My HR friend helped me to understand the new market.  Your resume had 15 seconds to sell you.  I would get phone interviews and they always ended with me being to overqualified.  I sure was not feeling overqualified.

We were taught to spice up the resume and make it all sparkly to capture attention.  I was busy trying to dumb mine down.  Not easy to look overqualified on paper.

Last Job: Turd-eater.

Interviewer:  So you were a Turd-eater?

Me: Yep!

Interviewer:  Any experience managing Turd-eaters?

Me:  Yep, four years worth of managing Turd-eaters.

Interviewer:  Sorry, you are overqualified.  Good luck.

Me: Overqualified?  To eat turds?

Interviewer:  Yes.  We want someone fresh to the business to learn Turd-eating.

Me: Yeah, but I have experience and am willing to work for shit.

Interviewer:  Yes, but if the economy turns, we do not feel confident you would stay on.  Another company may offer you crap to work for them and we can not compete.

Me:  Well, that is a pile of fecal matter!

I recently picked up a job.  Not due to my resume, nor filling out an application.  I was simply helping someone with their network difficulties when they asked if I knew anything about carpentry and building homes.  I now work as a Carpenter's Apprentice.

I think the biggest perk to this job so far is this;  I have received more praise for my work in the last two weeks, than the last 12 years in design work.

See you soon at a remodel near you,

C

Physical Challenge for UberGeeks.

So the wife sends me a blog about an UberGeek getting old. I think getting old is for suckers! Yes, we are all going to age, but getting old is a choice.

Our lifestyle now will determine how well we age, or don't age.

I watch and listen to people run in circles chanting, "Oh, I should, oh i should, OH I SHOULD!!!" And never get anywhere. Then suddenly, they are old and worshipping some physician and kowtowing to Insurance Companies to protect them.

Well, for you Geeks, UltraGeeks and UberGeeks, I have an interactive game for you. It is called Shaolin Kungfu.

HUH?

Yep, been around for 1500 years. We have levels, tests, bonus rounds and weapons. Lots of weapons that Manga artists have yet to dream up.

I see Geeks playing Magic, flipping cards. Dungeons and Dragons, rolling dice. No where do I see any form of strength training or cardio (except during lunch at a tournament. UberGeeks can sure eat!)

So I would like to offer the game of Kungfu to all. This is a regime that will challenge everyone, at every level. If you are tired of running in circles and wish to excel, now is the time to join me.

As for this old UberGeek, well I don't want to mention any names but

http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2010/05/it-turns-out-i-had-a-fairly-geeky-weekend.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wwdn+(WIL+WHEATON+dot+NET%3A+in+Exile)&utm_content=Bloglines


Still uncertain? Try this, one pushup for every year of your age. Then come see us.


http://www.ascensionmartialarts.com/


I'll be seeing you soon,

C

ps. Wil call me. It is not to late avoid the "OLD"

Payment plan for greatness

I recently had a chance to train with an old friend in Wing Chun. My knowledge of Wing Chun is limited at best. I had trained in "Wing Chun" long time ago. I was visiting a school and watched the Wing Chun dummy getting whooped on. The instructor taught me some drills, which I taught to my students.

We picked up a Wing Chun Wooden man and preceded to snap off the arms in a few weeks. We replaced them with lodge pole pine logs, thicker and stronger. A month or two later, they also snapped off. Our Wooden man mutated into a cyborg of steel and pipe. These held up very well. What I wasn't taught, was that the wooden arms are for positioning. Necessary Information, espicially when we trained in the Iron Shirt system and Iron Bone.

Now, I had heard that Wing Chun was "watered down". I can see where folk may get this impression when Wing Chun offers only six forms (two are weapons). I prefer to think of this as distilled down to its bare essence.

I had trained with another chap by the name of Si, an Arnis practioner. He only knew three hand combos and the twelve knife attacks. That is all he knew, all he trained and all he ever needed. We had three duels which I "won". When I do spar or fight, the outcome is not about "winning" but how much effort it takes to face an opponent without injuring them. Si took an incredible amount of effort to duel.

I figure if someone can push me to the limits of the my skill, they have a great deal to offer. It doesn't matter to me if there system is "watered down". My training is about challenging myself, not my greatness. I create workouts that are designed to highlight my flaws, weaknesses and bring body awareness.

I guess I have been lucky in demostrating my greatness. Anytime, I have tried has met with catastrophe. Putting that much effort into proving how great I am not, kinda lacks any sense. Effort is for gaining that next millimeter of skill. Once you realize this, you have made your first payment on greatness.

I look forward to my next Wing Chun encounter and will relish each bruise, bump and fat lip in the mirror.

C

Hell Born

I train under the adage "The finest blades are forged in the fires of hell."

I approach each workout with the intent of diving into hell and seeing where I end up.

All to often, I watch people test the waters of Hell with just one toe. And quickly snap back the digit before it is ripped away by the savage currents of hell. Then they run down to StarPete's. Sip their lattes as they talk about knowing kung fu, or yoga, or crossfit, (or just insert your personal hell here.) And they prove it by waving their scarred digit for all to see. They just do not get it.

To be one of the finest, you must dive into hell. You must struggle against the flow and ignore the easy path. You must stand strong as your skin peels back, your eyes bleed, your muscles turn to concrete and your lungs feel like steel wool. You have to force Hell to puke you back out cause it can no longer stomach you.

People are to ready to "dip their toes" in my hell. They just don't get it. Hell is personal. My hell is a cake walk for some people. You have to face your own hells. And here are three concepts for you to face your hell, in no particular order.

FEAR: What do you fear? Injury, looking stupid, failure? Fear is one of the tools to lessen your greatness. It takes true honesty to name your fear. Once you can name your fear, create workouts to face it. In facing your fear, you study it, you learn about it and then...you learn it takes faith to dispel it.

HATE: What do you hate? Injury, looking stupid, failure? Hate is another tool, it clouds your vision. People hate doing pushups. Why? "I will never be able do a hundred every day." Why would you? Do a hundred pushups is a challenge, yes. A discipline, maybe, but they eat up time. I know people that can do 3000 pushups at a go. This also requires the help of three supporters for water and food. Pretty much eats up an afternoon. I can appreciate the skill and dedication, but I have a bajillion forms to do. Study your hate with clear vision and then focus on these areas during your workouts. Learn to love (insert hate item here).

DESPAIR: What causes you despair? (you guessed it) Injury, looking stupid, failure? The most common battle cry of despair is "I'll never be as good as you." I should hope not Eyore. I would hate to think I am wasting my time training you to be as great as your potential. Despair is the loss of hope according to the accepted definition. I like to think of it as a smokescreen covering up our faith and our spirit. As long as I have a heart, I have hope. Contemplate the areas of your life that require so much energy and leave you depleted. How can you modify these? A true warrior has already determined the outcome of the conflict before they draw their blades. More often, changing our attitude about work, family, friends and etc, is the way to go. Sometimes, we just have to remove the cause.

Hell is not to be feared, not to be hated, nor even despaired. It is to be defied.

By now you have figured out Hell is about the loss of self. My workouts are designed for me to fail. In failure, I can truly see the three agents of hell and learn what caused me to tumble. Covered in Hell Vomit, I then crawl away from the workout and go to StarPete's. Mocha and an apricot croissant never tasted so sweet.

Plus, I get the entertainment factor of the "toe dippers". "I know kung fu!" They just don't get it.

Time for you to go "get it".

Good Luck!!!

Gotta lub da Newbies.

Newbies are a great source of inspiration, learning, and yes, amusement.

Watching their legs shake like a newborn Colt after holding Horse Stance for a record breaking 15 seconds.

Trying to swing the dreaded Nunchuks as far away from their bodies as possible.

and yes, sparring.

I give a great spiel about how sparring is not deathmatch combat, but rather an exercise in strategy. Everyone nods in agreement and then...the clobberfest begins.

The newbies grab, elbow, claw, stomp and when I see the kitchen sink go flying by, I yell "TIME!" They drag themselves away from the carnage saying things like, "I thought I was in shape", and "I gotted stomped" and etc.

I stand there with my instructor's face impassive, but giggling hysterically on the inside. There will be tales at the water color how they valiantly fought with every ounce of their skill against that savage black belt. I can see their perspective, but what I saw was their own struggle against themselves.

Black belts will often face lower ranks at half speed or even quarter speed to practice new strategies. We realize that anyone we face in a "fight" will defeat themselves quite easily. We do not have to do much, maybe a little stank eye to make our opponent more edgy.

When I look at newbies, I see myself. I see the first time I suffered in Horse Stance, the first time I sounded the musical key of G off my elbow with a Nunchuk. And of course, the first time I sparred. At the time it was not funny, but I can now see the humor in my actions, and reactions.

A long time ago, I had the opportunity to train with the Grandmaster of the Shotokan system. Grandmaster Oshima told us then, "One should always train with the eye of a Grandmaster, and the heart of a White Belt."

I took this to mean that every day, I should learn something. Everyday, I need to challenge myself in some way. And wonder what if the school is attacked by Ninja. Yeah, I know you think this. I don't mind saying though. I'd lay some chopsocky on them that would make anyone think twice about attacking a kungfu school.

When we approach each day with the mindset of a white belt, we expand our horizons. If we shield our self in our cloak of greatness +5, we stop growing and begin to stagnant. I prefer being the beginner, nowhere but up from there.

Good sparring to you,

DarkArashi

my anniversary

Today, marks my anniversary or maybe I should say birthday.

It was one year ago today, that I was laid off from my "real" job.

I had explored a few options from networking to nanotechnology. Nothing seemed to pan out. And to make matters worse, I am too over-qualified to do anything else but design buildings.

The one area that is doing well, is martial arts. I have been growing personally by being able to more focus on my skills and training. I also have a growing student base. So many students, I had to jump from room rental to building rental.

I know quite a few people who also have been laid off. They sit back, waiting for things to turn or their ship to come in. I realize things will change, I'm just impatient.

I remember the words of my old Sensei, "The time is now." I strive to live up to those words, train everyday, learn everyday and sometimes, just be.

So my words of wisdom to everyone is simply, "What can you do right now?" For work, for training, for just being.

Do not wait for 2010 to happen, rush out and grab it by the throat.

Good luck
DarkArashi