Training over the past few days has been pretty good, though compared to the usual scarcity of training in my schedule, considering how much free time I have, just about anything constant is good. Thursday was a fairly heavy day (by my standards), in which I did 750 strikes, some standing and some turning. Friday was comparable, with 850 strikes and twice as much standing practice (same amount of turning). Yesterday was relatively lighter, with only 350 strikes, with about the same amount of standing and turning. Today is looking favorable, though I'm still not done. My striking practice is proceeding apace, and happily I can say that in the last three days I've done no less than 10 minutes per day of turning and 2 min. of standing (1 min. in Lion posture on each side). I've been trying to incorporate more standing into my regimen for some time now, though it has been about as intermittent as the strike-training sessions, which typically constitute the large part of the regimen. Up until now, circle-walking hasn't figured very prominently in the training schedule at all. I'm changing that.
From what I've heard, the stated goal of any serious YSB practitioner, according to He Jinbao and other higher-ups in the organization, is one hour of turning per day. And from accounts I've read from those who have attended any of the seminars, He Jinbao will typically have people spending at least an hour on it on any given seminar day. So, if I'm to get the most out of a seminar once I eventually get the chance, I'll need to be capable of doing that. Which leads me into the main topic of this post: goals.
Short-term goals (next couple of weeks):
1. Finish my goal of 10,000 Inside Pushing Strikes - Even though this is Dragon system material, and I plan soon to take up Lion full-time, I am continuing with this for a number of reasons. Partly, because it is still Yin style, and any Yin style training is arguably good training, or at least better than not training. Mostly, because I am stubborn--I've been working on this goal for some time now, continually restarting it, and I want to finish it. Primarily, as an extension of the previous reason, it's because I set this arbitrary goal as a test of my commitment, not my ability. I knew I could do it, if I only worked hard enough and consistently enough. What I didn't know was if I was capable of working hard and consistently at it. This is meant to prove that to myself. Maybe it's a pride thing. I don't know. But I do know that keeping commitments to other people is easier than keeping them to myself, since we're always willing to cut ourselves a little slack (who's to know?). Knowing this, if I can keep this commitment to myself, then I know I can keep it to someone like He Jinbao, since I don't want to disappoint him with any half-assed efforts and thus waste his valuable time.
2. Improve my circle-walking practice - Like I said, this has never been a particularly constant or prominent aspect of what little training I've done up to this point. That has to change. At the moment, 10 minutes is about as long as I can go before my arms give out. From this point, all of my developmental circle-walking will be with the Lion representative posture. My goal for right now is to continue doing at least 10 min. per day, trying to increase that to 15-20. My walking stance right now is a reasonably comfortable mid-level--once I'm more sure of myself in making certain that my stance is structurally correct I will start lowering my stance to really work my legs.
3. Increase the time spent doing the standing-strengthening postures - As I'm getting back into the Lion system, most (if not all) of my standing will be in Lion. Over the past few days I've been averaging about 2 min., meaning that I spend about 1 min. in the stance on each side of my body. I'm not really going for distance right now, so each session of standing will continue to be 1 min. per side. However, I intend to stand for an increased number of such sessions every day, and I'd like to get that up to 10 min. per day, for the short-term.
4. Start fully training Lion system - This has already been touched upon above, but it deserves its own explanation. Once I finish my goal in doing the Dragon system Inside Pushing strike (as detailed above) I plan to begin working totally on Lion system material, as it is not only the best way to truly begin my training, being the most developmentally strenuous system, but also so that I can be more or less on the same page as practically everyone else practicing YSB, since He Jinbao starts pretty much everyone on Lion so they can get the proper foundation. When I started out in Dragon it was partly because the description of its methods and "personality" appealed to me, but also partly, I suspect, because I wanted to be doing something different from everyone else at the time. Now, however, I'd much rather be in a position to get better feedback from others by virtue of the fact that they have already worked extensively in what I'm doing.
Mid-term goals (next few weeks-months):
1. Tentative training goals - Increase standing time to 20 min. per day. Begin standing in at least two of the remaining 8 Lion postures. Increase turning time to at least 30 min. per day. Begin stationary drilling for the three basic Sweeping strikes (though probably mostly sticking to the first, the Rising Sweeping strike).
2. Secondary (vague) training goals - Improve arm and leg strength, waist strength and flexibility, as well as all-around physical endurance.
(After securing employment)
3. Resume attending local YSB study group (assuming it still exists). Would that the meetings were free, and I suspect they would be, if not for the fact that the group's facilitator has to reserve the space, requiring money. Since I plan to resume training the Lion system, I'm going to need instruction and correction, and that's best obtained with the help of others. It's probably been about two years (or more) since I've last been to the study group, so I'm a little worried at this point as to whether or not it actually still meets. I still remember a fair amount of what I learned there, though I still would really like to get some corrections and advice again. In reading Jim Lindsay's blog I've taken a number of points of advice to heart. One of these is that group meetings and seminars shouldn't be the place where you do the most work. They should be for getting instruction, correction and advice, as well as being able to test applications and the like with other people. The greater part of the training is solo. In the past, however, I was more likely to do the majority of my training at the group itself, for an hour every Saturday morning. Usually I'd be so overwhelmed by how exhausted I was that what I learned was probably minimal compared to what I should have been getting out of it. Lesson learned.
4. Buy the full set of Lion system dvd's. I already have the applications dvd for the Sweeping strikes, so that helps. Also, look into getting a dadao (or reasonable substitute) and a straight sword (in anticipation of the upcoming jian dvd), as well as the YSB saber and (eventually) straight sword dvd's.
Long-term goals (next year or so):
1. Be able to do at least 30 min. of standing per day, including most, if not all, Lion standing postures. Be able (hopefully) to turn for an hour while holding the Lion posture, in a moderately low stance, without lowering my arms. Gain a halfway decent amount of experience with the Sweeping palm strikes (as much experience as can be had in a year of constant training), as well as exploring the other 7 attacking methods in the Lion system. Begin learning some of the forms at the "learning speed", at least enough to know the movements.
2. Attend a seminar. By the time the next fall tour comes around I should have enough money to attend. Hopefully, unlike this year, there will be a seminar in Portland at that time. I'm probably not going to make much substantial progress until I actually have the opportunity to learn from (and be corrected by) He Jinbao himself. I look forward to being tossed around like a rag-doll for the sake of greater learning opportunities.
Some of these, particularly the longer-term goals, will probably change somewhat as time goes by. I remember that it wasn't all that long ago that my goal of doing 10,000 Inside Pushing strikes was a long-term goal. That probably contributed, psychologically, to my inability to actually accomplish it in the last five years that I've been trying to do so, because it was always something that I'd "get around to eventually." That's not gonna cut it. Not this time.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Phasing in the Lion
Yesterday (Thursday) was kind've a bust for training. After waking up early and short on sleep I went onto campus in order to help one of my Chinese teachers sort boxes of paperwork for archiving for several hours. Didn't have much time upon going home, either, considering that Thursday is our game night at the house, when we have friends over to play D&D for several hours. I did manage to get in 100 strikes, but that was about it.
Today, though I started late and didn't really meet my expectations, was a significant improvement over yesterday. I did 750 strikes, bringing the current total up to 4050. I also did some more circle-walking, though this time only for 10 minutes. I've decided to use the more intensive Lion posture while doing circle-walking from now on. Well, Lion for development, and Dragon for more meditational-quality stuff. Lion is definitely harder, considering that both of the arms are held significantly higher than in the Dragon posture. In Dragon, the upper hand is at the level of the face, while the lower hand is at about mid-abdomen, just below the elbow of the upper arm. In Lion, however, the arm held at face level is the lower arm, with the upper arm held curved above the head. It is definitely more demanding. Considering that I could only walk for one third of the time as two nights ago, it may be safe to say that Lion is about three times more demanding. I'm going to have to keep it up, though. Once I'm more comfortable with "turning Lion" then I may start using my wrist-weights to up the ante a bit, just for variety. In the long run, I suspect that the greater benefit comes from walking longer, rather than harder (and shorter).
Also of note today, Diana was commenting on which of her muscles were tired and aching after coming home from work, and I suggested, half-heartedly, that she start doing bagua with me again. Somewhat to my surprise, she actually agreed that it was a good idea. So she suggested that we can do bagua together for 10 minutes a day, starting with her return home after work tomorrow. Years ago I got her the Foundations dvd's for the Phoenix system in the hope that she'd take a liking to it, but unfortunately she's not quite as physically oriented as I am. In any case, for now I'm just excited, and I hope it turns out to be an enjoyable experience for the both of us.
Today, though I started late and didn't really meet my expectations, was a significant improvement over yesterday. I did 750 strikes, bringing the current total up to 4050. I also did some more circle-walking, though this time only for 10 minutes. I've decided to use the more intensive Lion posture while doing circle-walking from now on. Well, Lion for development, and Dragon for more meditational-quality stuff. Lion is definitely harder, considering that both of the arms are held significantly higher than in the Dragon posture. In Dragon, the upper hand is at the level of the face, while the lower hand is at about mid-abdomen, just below the elbow of the upper arm. In Lion, however, the arm held at face level is the lower arm, with the upper arm held curved above the head. It is definitely more demanding. Considering that I could only walk for one third of the time as two nights ago, it may be safe to say that Lion is about three times more demanding. I'm going to have to keep it up, though. Once I'm more comfortable with "turning Lion" then I may start using my wrist-weights to up the ante a bit, just for variety. In the long run, I suspect that the greater benefit comes from walking longer, rather than harder (and shorter).
Also of note today, Diana was commenting on which of her muscles were tired and aching after coming home from work, and I suggested, half-heartedly, that she start doing bagua with me again. Somewhat to my surprise, she actually agreed that it was a good idea. So she suggested that we can do bagua together for 10 minutes a day, starting with her return home after work tomorrow. Years ago I got her the Foundations dvd's for the Phoenix system in the hope that she'd take a liking to it, but unfortunately she's not quite as physically oriented as I am. In any case, for now I'm just excited, and I hope it turns out to be an enjoyable experience for the both of us.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Taking it up a notch
Thanks to the inspiring example of another practitioner of Yin style, set forth in his own blog, I've decided that my efforts at training have been underwhelming. The point repeatedly driven home by He Jin-bao in the seminars, as well as the blog's author, is that one must suffer in training to get good. This means going outside of one's comfort zone. As for myself, the amount of striking drills I've been doing seems to be pretty good, though inconsistent. I've only done stationary striking so far, and I'm wondering if I should be practicing the various stepping/striking methods concurrently with the stationary practice or if, going by the progressive nature of the practices, I should wait until I've completed my goals for the stationary drills before moving on. For the moment, I think I'll continue my focus on getting those 10,000 strikes done.
In reading this other fellow's blog, one thing becomes immediately obvious: he spends more time walking the circle than any other practice, sometimes spending more than two hours at a time on it. It is equally apparent (to me) that I've been seriously neglecting this area. Anyway, after reading some of this fellow's exploits I was inspired to up the ante in my own practice, particularly in regard to circle-walking.
It's easy to get both bored and tired walking the circle. It's not easy, so don't ever let anyone tell you that it's not good training. Anyone who has to ask how it could possibly be a good workout or ever be useful for training for combat has obviously never tried it for any length of time. It's as much an exercise in mental focus as it is in physical endurance. You have to command your brain to stay on task and you have to will your body to continue past the point of discomfort until you are physically unable to hold your arms up anymore. Of course, circle-walking can be used for meditational purposes as well as training, though you would use a higher stance and not focus on physical development.
I have never spent a long amount of time circle-walking continuously. Previously, I might have gone for about 15 minutes, tops. Last night, however, I went for 30 minutes, turning while holding the Dragon posture, mid-level stance, changing direction every 50 revolutions, for about 350 revolutions. This was in addition to the 350 stationary drills of the Inside Pushing strike that I did. So by the end of it, my legs, back, shoulders and arms were aching. But it feels really good having done it.
My basic outline for future practice, based on the four pillars of Yin style bagua practice, is as follows:
I. Standing - I need to practice the standing postures more often, each posture for at least one minute on each side. I'll probably start doing the Lion posture, since it's the most demanding and therefore the best for physical development. If He Jin-bao were here to give me advice, he'd probably tell me to stop messing around with the Dragon stuff and just start doing Lion, since that's what he starts everyone on to maximize their physical development.
II. Striking - I need to complete my goal of 10,000 reps of the Inside Pushing Strike, preferably by the 15th. If I go longer than that then I'll be erasing any progress I made a month before. After I finish this I'll either continue doing the Inside Pushing strike with the one-step drills, move on to the Straight Pushing strike, or go back to doing the Rising Sweeping strike from the Lion system.
III. Forms - I'm not going to get into these at the moment. Since the forms are nothing more than the various basic strikes strung together in sequence, performed while moving, I want to get a solid basis in the strikes and their stepping patterns before I attempt any forms.
IV. Circle-walking - I intend to maintain this practice, doing it every day when I can, increasing the time spent doing it until I get to the initial goal of 1 hour per day. Apparently, at the yearly seminars, He Jin-bao is fond of making people spend 60-75 minutes just walking the circle with the Lion posture, changing direction as little as possible. If I can't manage at least that much on my own, then there's probably little point in going to the seminars, aside from getting corrections. Circle-walking can be tedious at times, but overall I definitely do feel better after having done it. I have more energy (despite being physically worn-out) and I feel more fluid in all of my movements, even if it's just walking down the street.
We'll see how well I can manage this.
In reading this other fellow's blog, one thing becomes immediately obvious: he spends more time walking the circle than any other practice, sometimes spending more than two hours at a time on it. It is equally apparent (to me) that I've been seriously neglecting this area. Anyway, after reading some of this fellow's exploits I was inspired to up the ante in my own practice, particularly in regard to circle-walking.
It's easy to get both bored and tired walking the circle. It's not easy, so don't ever let anyone tell you that it's not good training. Anyone who has to ask how it could possibly be a good workout or ever be useful for training for combat has obviously never tried it for any length of time. It's as much an exercise in mental focus as it is in physical endurance. You have to command your brain to stay on task and you have to will your body to continue past the point of discomfort until you are physically unable to hold your arms up anymore. Of course, circle-walking can be used for meditational purposes as well as training, though you would use a higher stance and not focus on physical development.
I have never spent a long amount of time circle-walking continuously. Previously, I might have gone for about 15 minutes, tops. Last night, however, I went for 30 minutes, turning while holding the Dragon posture, mid-level stance, changing direction every 50 revolutions, for about 350 revolutions. This was in addition to the 350 stationary drills of the Inside Pushing strike that I did. So by the end of it, my legs, back, shoulders and arms were aching. But it feels really good having done it.
My basic outline for future practice, based on the four pillars of Yin style bagua practice, is as follows:
I. Standing - I need to practice the standing postures more often, each posture for at least one minute on each side. I'll probably start doing the Lion posture, since it's the most demanding and therefore the best for physical development. If He Jin-bao were here to give me advice, he'd probably tell me to stop messing around with the Dragon stuff and just start doing Lion, since that's what he starts everyone on to maximize their physical development.
II. Striking - I need to complete my goal of 10,000 reps of the Inside Pushing Strike, preferably by the 15th. If I go longer than that then I'll be erasing any progress I made a month before. After I finish this I'll either continue doing the Inside Pushing strike with the one-step drills, move on to the Straight Pushing strike, or go back to doing the Rising Sweeping strike from the Lion system.
III. Forms - I'm not going to get into these at the moment. Since the forms are nothing more than the various basic strikes strung together in sequence, performed while moving, I want to get a solid basis in the strikes and their stepping patterns before I attempt any forms.
IV. Circle-walking - I intend to maintain this practice, doing it every day when I can, increasing the time spent doing it until I get to the initial goal of 1 hour per day. Apparently, at the yearly seminars, He Jin-bao is fond of making people spend 60-75 minutes just walking the circle with the Lion posture, changing direction as little as possible. If I can't manage at least that much on my own, then there's probably little point in going to the seminars, aside from getting corrections. Circle-walking can be tedious at times, but overall I definitely do feel better after having done it. I have more energy (despite being physically worn-out) and I feel more fluid in all of my movements, even if it's just walking down the street.
We'll see how well I can manage this.
Beginnings
It's been quite some time since I've been in the journal-writing habit. I managed to keep up with a LiveJournal account for about 5 years, but most of my other friends abandoned it for Facebook, so I haven't bothered with it in a while. My primary motivation for creating this blog is to keep a record of my martial arts training, mostly as a way to keep me motivated in the training itself.
For some time now I've been interested in a style of Chinese martial arts called Baguazhang. I first heard about it back in 2001, when I was 18 and a freshman in college, through watching Jet Li's movie, "The One." About a year later I bought, on a whim, a book on bagua by Park Bok Nam. After perusing the book, I started practicing...from time to time. Though martial arts have always fascinated me, I've never really had the diligence required to practice it on a regular basis. Most of the stuff in Park's book didn't make much sense to me at the time, though I discovered that when I actually did spend some time practicing things started to make sense almost of their own volition. The more I practiced, the more I understood. Over the course of the following two years I continued to gather more books related to bagua, and I befriended several like-minded people at college with whom I participated in the campus martial arts club.
Something of a breakthrough came at the very beginning of 2005, while I made my first trip to Bellingham, WA to visit my then best friend (now wife), Diana. For some reason, during that visit I was intensely interested in bagua, and read everything I could about it online. It was during this time that I first heard of Yin Style Baguazhang. The lineage-holder of the style, Dr. Xie Pei-qi, and his successor, He Jin-bao, decided to document as much of their martial system as they could on dvd, primarily because it was becoming scarce and they didn't want it to die out. The style itself is named for the 2nd-generation master in the lineage, Yin Fu, student of the founder of Baguazhang, dating back to the late-1800's in Beijing. When I saw the sheer number and quality of the dvd's they produced (and the comprehensiveness of the style) I was impressed, and decided to test it out for myself. So I bought the first two dvd's of the Dragon system (one of eight "animal" systems in Yin style).
The first dvd is mostly about strengthening postures--standing in place while maintaining static upper body postures held with isometric force--and the type of exercise most unique to bagua: circle-walking. Circle-walking is basically just holding the static strengthening postures while walking in a circle, rather than standing, with occasional changes of direction. This practice serves a number of functions, chiefly qigong, meditation, or training for combat.
The second dvd covers the eight striking methods of the animal system, each with three variations. Additionally, there are four stages of practice to the strike training: stationary (to develop power), single-step (performing strikes while stepping in a line or zig-zag, to practice emitting force while moving), two-step (to practice emitting force while moving and changing direction) and three-step (all of the above, though practiced balancing on a straight line).
Each animal system has a set of ten dvd's; the first two are devoted to foundation practices such as the ones outlined above, and the remaining eight are devoted to the forms. Each of the eight forms dvd's correspond to one of the animal system's striking methods (such as the Pushing strike, in the Dragon system), and each striking method has seven forms (one for each of the other 7 animal systems, and reminiscent of their particular "flavor").
In any case, after I got these dvd's (and continued to get more) I set about trying to learn the style. Looking back on how I was attempting to practice it back then, I shudder. It was pretty awful at first, since I have virtually no background in martial arts whatsoever, but over time I began to get a feel for it and learn the proper mechanics. From the very beginning I didn't want to be the kind of person who tries to do every technique at a superficial level and call it good. Rather, I wanted to practice as few things as possible, practicing each until I was certain that my understanding of it was solid before moving on to the next thing. With this in mind I began training in the Dragon system, starting with the very first technique presented: the Inside Pushing strike.
It's been said that to learn a technique you must perform it 1,000 times, and to gain an understanding of it you must do it 2,000 times. I determined that, since I didn't have a teacher, I should make some attempt to compensate by spending more time than necessary mastering the basics. Therefore, I decided that I would do 10,000 repetitions of the Inside Pushing strike (performed stationary) before moving on to the next step. And now for the awful truth: I'm still working on the Inside Pushing strike. After moving to Bellingham and finding work I continued to work at my goal off-and-on, doing a few sets of strikes here and there when the interest found me. But after four years of intermittent practice I had gotten barely 80% of the way there. Admittedly, somewhere between 2- and 3,000 strikes I was beginning to feel that I was getting the hang of it, but by the end of the fourth year I was thoroughly disgusted with the small amount of progress I'd made.
So, starting last year I set a new goal for myself. I would start over. I would do a full 10,000 repetitions of the Inside Pushing strike. And I would do them all within a month. To be honest, I still haven't accomplished this feat, despite having restarted it four times. By now I've probably done a grand total of 20-30,000 reps over the last five years, but I'm sticking by my arbitrary goal. I figure if I can't manage to do 10,000 strikes in a month's time then I obviously don't have the diligence for serious practice. Now, as always, it's a test of motivation. After 10 years I'm still interested in bagua. Maybe now, after all this time, I have enough interest to get serious about it.
So. First thing on the agenda: complete 10,000 strikes. As of the creation of this blog, I've already amassed over a quarter of that, and I can usually manage somewhere between 500 and 1,000 strikes per day. After I finish these, I have several possible options. And what are those? That will have to wait until next time.
For some time now I've been interested in a style of Chinese martial arts called Baguazhang. I first heard about it back in 2001, when I was 18 and a freshman in college, through watching Jet Li's movie, "The One." About a year later I bought, on a whim, a book on bagua by Park Bok Nam. After perusing the book, I started practicing...from time to time. Though martial arts have always fascinated me, I've never really had the diligence required to practice it on a regular basis. Most of the stuff in Park's book didn't make much sense to me at the time, though I discovered that when I actually did spend some time practicing things started to make sense almost of their own volition. The more I practiced, the more I understood. Over the course of the following two years I continued to gather more books related to bagua, and I befriended several like-minded people at college with whom I participated in the campus martial arts club.
Something of a breakthrough came at the very beginning of 2005, while I made my first trip to Bellingham, WA to visit my then best friend (now wife), Diana. For some reason, during that visit I was intensely interested in bagua, and read everything I could about it online. It was during this time that I first heard of Yin Style Baguazhang. The lineage-holder of the style, Dr. Xie Pei-qi, and his successor, He Jin-bao, decided to document as much of their martial system as they could on dvd, primarily because it was becoming scarce and they didn't want it to die out. The style itself is named for the 2nd-generation master in the lineage, Yin Fu, student of the founder of Baguazhang, dating back to the late-1800's in Beijing. When I saw the sheer number and quality of the dvd's they produced (and the comprehensiveness of the style) I was impressed, and decided to test it out for myself. So I bought the first two dvd's of the Dragon system (one of eight "animal" systems in Yin style).
The first dvd is mostly about strengthening postures--standing in place while maintaining static upper body postures held with isometric force--and the type of exercise most unique to bagua: circle-walking. Circle-walking is basically just holding the static strengthening postures while walking in a circle, rather than standing, with occasional changes of direction. This practice serves a number of functions, chiefly qigong, meditation, or training for combat.
The second dvd covers the eight striking methods of the animal system, each with three variations. Additionally, there are four stages of practice to the strike training: stationary (to develop power), single-step (performing strikes while stepping in a line or zig-zag, to practice emitting force while moving), two-step (to practice emitting force while moving and changing direction) and three-step (all of the above, though practiced balancing on a straight line).
Each animal system has a set of ten dvd's; the first two are devoted to foundation practices such as the ones outlined above, and the remaining eight are devoted to the forms. Each of the eight forms dvd's correspond to one of the animal system's striking methods (such as the Pushing strike, in the Dragon system), and each striking method has seven forms (one for each of the other 7 animal systems, and reminiscent of their particular "flavor").
In any case, after I got these dvd's (and continued to get more) I set about trying to learn the style. Looking back on how I was attempting to practice it back then, I shudder. It was pretty awful at first, since I have virtually no background in martial arts whatsoever, but over time I began to get a feel for it and learn the proper mechanics. From the very beginning I didn't want to be the kind of person who tries to do every technique at a superficial level and call it good. Rather, I wanted to practice as few things as possible, practicing each until I was certain that my understanding of it was solid before moving on to the next thing. With this in mind I began training in the Dragon system, starting with the very first technique presented: the Inside Pushing strike.
It's been said that to learn a technique you must perform it 1,000 times, and to gain an understanding of it you must do it 2,000 times. I determined that, since I didn't have a teacher, I should make some attempt to compensate by spending more time than necessary mastering the basics. Therefore, I decided that I would do 10,000 repetitions of the Inside Pushing strike (performed stationary) before moving on to the next step. And now for the awful truth: I'm still working on the Inside Pushing strike. After moving to Bellingham and finding work I continued to work at my goal off-and-on, doing a few sets of strikes here and there when the interest found me. But after four years of intermittent practice I had gotten barely 80% of the way there. Admittedly, somewhere between 2- and 3,000 strikes I was beginning to feel that I was getting the hang of it, but by the end of the fourth year I was thoroughly disgusted with the small amount of progress I'd made.
So, starting last year I set a new goal for myself. I would start over. I would do a full 10,000 repetitions of the Inside Pushing strike. And I would do them all within a month. To be honest, I still haven't accomplished this feat, despite having restarted it four times. By now I've probably done a grand total of 20-30,000 reps over the last five years, but I'm sticking by my arbitrary goal. I figure if I can't manage to do 10,000 strikes in a month's time then I obviously don't have the diligence for serious practice. Now, as always, it's a test of motivation. After 10 years I'm still interested in bagua. Maybe now, after all this time, I have enough interest to get serious about it.
So. First thing on the agenda: complete 10,000 strikes. As of the creation of this blog, I've already amassed over a quarter of that, and I can usually manage somewhere between 500 and 1,000 strikes per day. After I finish these, I have several possible options. And what are those? That will have to wait until next time.
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