The week continues, and still I have an unbroken (if rather short) string of training days. That sounds kinda pathetic right now, especially, I'm sure, to any hardcore bagua people who might be reading that are used to multi-hour training sessions every day of the week and who have survived seminars and intensives with He Jinbao. Fair enough. I haven't really earned the right not to be pathetic yet.
As far as the training itself goes, there is definitely incremental progress. With every day of standing practice I end up being less easily fatigued while turning the circle. If I omitted the standing and the strikes, I might reasonably expect to make the 30min. mark. Amazing what a couple days of more-intense-than-usual training can do. Unfortunately, it's not quite enough, I don't think. I suspect that if I was going for a truly intense workout, I'd be a lot more sore than I am now. I have yet to test the upper limits of just how much I can do in a day without collapsing, but I am concerned about overtraining. If nothing else, it's a habit picked up from playing video game RPG's: defeat lots of little monsters until your experience level is high enough to comfortably fight the bigger monsters. I am fond of overkill, but it's a ponderous and subtle kind of overkill.
Perhaps in the near future, after maybe a week or two of continuing as I am now, I'll begin designating certain days as "focus" days, wherein I will devote significantly more time and effort to one of the bagua "pillars," such as doing the standing postures, or circle-turning.
On a random note, I've noticed that my left arm is noticeably weaker than my right. It's somewhat annoying.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Still going
It's funny how I can think so much about my training and then when it comes to writing about it...poof. Anyway, today's session went rather well. It was a light day for strikes (250) but still got in what is becoming the standard 10 minutes of standing, followed by 10 minutes of turning. The standing is getting harder, I suspect because I'm getting more focused and really pushing it, to the point where I actually sweat while doing it. I've never concentrated so much time and effort into standing in such a short amount of time, so it's nice to be able to see some slight progress there. As for turning, I think it's too early to tell if the practice of the last few days is helping, but it does seem as though it's a little less taxing than before.
I haven't really been doing much in the way of strikes lately. Part of that is deliberate. On previous occasions I would typically focus on strikes to the exclusion of everything else, but now I'm trying to stress the standing and turning as much as, if not more than, the strikes. I do pay attention to the mechanics of the strikes when I do them, though. I remember how awkward the rising sweeping strikes felt when I first started doing them about 2 years (or more, I forget) back. For a while I couldn't quite figure out how to do them, and tended to practice them using only a weak, lateral force from turning the waist. More recently, after viewing self-taken video of myself doing the strikes, viewing the strikes on the Lion dvd's, and getting some insight from the time I spent trying to work on the Dragon system, I found what I believe is the correct force, involving a coordination of the forces of the waist. It definitely feels very solid, and has a very satisfying snap to it. It'll take several thousand more of them before I'm likely to feel really comfortable and confident with them, but I'm not in any particular rush at the moment.
My training sessions thus far seem pretty meager, but I suppose that's just a testament to how generally weak I am, since even these meager workouts make me sore and sweaty. I also forgot to take into account the changes to my food intake and sleep needs since I began this atypical (for me) physical training regimen. Still, I feel pretty good. And every day that goes by wherein I meet or exceed my training goals makes me more confident and hopeful of being able to persevere and make this practice a habit.
I haven't really been doing much in the way of strikes lately. Part of that is deliberate. On previous occasions I would typically focus on strikes to the exclusion of everything else, but now I'm trying to stress the standing and turning as much as, if not more than, the strikes. I do pay attention to the mechanics of the strikes when I do them, though. I remember how awkward the rising sweeping strikes felt when I first started doing them about 2 years (or more, I forget) back. For a while I couldn't quite figure out how to do them, and tended to practice them using only a weak, lateral force from turning the waist. More recently, after viewing self-taken video of myself doing the strikes, viewing the strikes on the Lion dvd's, and getting some insight from the time I spent trying to work on the Dragon system, I found what I believe is the correct force, involving a coordination of the forces of the waist. It definitely feels very solid, and has a very satisfying snap to it. It'll take several thousand more of them before I'm likely to feel really comfortable and confident with them, but I'm not in any particular rush at the moment.
My training sessions thus far seem pretty meager, but I suppose that's just a testament to how generally weak I am, since even these meager workouts make me sore and sweaty. I also forgot to take into account the changes to my food intake and sleep needs since I began this atypical (for me) physical training regimen. Still, I feel pretty good. And every day that goes by wherein I meet or exceed my training goals makes me more confident and hopeful of being able to persevere and make this practice a habit.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Feeling hopeful...and tired
Had a good workout today, and it has me feeling pretty good about my chances of maintaining a regular training schedule. Overall, I did 10 minutes of standing in the Lion representative posture (whereas in earlier times I would only ever do 2, if any at all), 10 sets of 50 rising sweeping strikes, and managed to turn the circle for 15 minutes (as opposed to the 10 that I was originally shooting for). I seem to have struck a decent balance between the various exercises, whereby I'll stand for two minutes (one minute per side) and then do a set of strikes, followed by turning the circle for as long as I can manage. This varies things up and seems to relieve some of the tedium. I'd probably go into greater detail, but I'm actually really tired, so I think I'll just go to bed.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Training Restart (again)
Once again, it's been quite some time since I last was very motivated to do any training. It comes in waves. Suffice to say, it's all too easy to find excuses not to do it. But, the important thing is to keep picking yourself back up and keep on trying...or so I keep hearing. With any luck, and more than a little perseverence, I'll be able to keep the string of unbroken training days a lot longer this time around. I now have a job again, so I am simultaneously less depressed and flush with cash, with which I intend to get more bagua dvd's. In the meantime, I will continue practicing what I have. I don't even remember at this point what I was doing back in September, but it hardly matters.
My current plan is simple: train every day. Doesn't seem like much at the outset, but it would unquestionably be an improvement. Previously, I'd set certain vague numeric goals for my practice that were somewhat detached from anything concrete. I'd get into bad habits. Now, by focusing primarily on simply making sure I practice everyday, I'll get into the habit of doing so. And once that is achieved, I can simply continue to add more to my workload over time.
Starting out this time around, I've decided to take a suggestion from Jim in Knoxville: train for an hour every day, with ten minutes of standing, 20 of striking drills, and 30 of turning. It was about as much of a workout as I'd guessed, considering how generally out of shape I am. Stood for 10 minutes in Lion Representative, doing two minute intervals (one minute per side). Then for 20 minutes I tried to see how many sets of 50 Rising Sweeping strikes I could fit in, which came out to 6 (300 strikes). Unfortunately, by then my unsuspecting muscles had become worn out, and I only managed 15 minutes of turning (Lion) before throwing it in. End result: took over an hour due to rest breaks, and didn't quite finish anyway. But at least now I have a sort of baseline for myself; something to improve upon in the comings days and weeks.
After I've done this particular workout until it becomes easy, I'll start to add other things to it, such as other standing postures, other strikes, the 1-step, 2-step and 3-step striking drills, as well as some other stuff that isn't strictly bagua, like the (non-yin style) saber dvd's I have.
I've still got a long way to go, but I'm getting there.
My current plan is simple: train every day. Doesn't seem like much at the outset, but it would unquestionably be an improvement. Previously, I'd set certain vague numeric goals for my practice that were somewhat detached from anything concrete. I'd get into bad habits. Now, by focusing primarily on simply making sure I practice everyday, I'll get into the habit of doing so. And once that is achieved, I can simply continue to add more to my workload over time.
Starting out this time around, I've decided to take a suggestion from Jim in Knoxville: train for an hour every day, with ten minutes of standing, 20 of striking drills, and 30 of turning. It was about as much of a workout as I'd guessed, considering how generally out of shape I am. Stood for 10 minutes in Lion Representative, doing two minute intervals (one minute per side). Then for 20 minutes I tried to see how many sets of 50 Rising Sweeping strikes I could fit in, which came out to 6 (300 strikes). Unfortunately, by then my unsuspecting muscles had become worn out, and I only managed 15 minutes of turning (Lion) before throwing it in. End result: took over an hour due to rest breaks, and didn't quite finish anyway. But at least now I have a sort of baseline for myself; something to improve upon in the comings days and weeks.
After I've done this particular workout until it becomes easy, I'll start to add other things to it, such as other standing postures, other strikes, the 1-step, 2-step and 3-step striking drills, as well as some other stuff that isn't strictly bagua, like the (non-yin style) saber dvd's I have.
I've still got a long way to go, but I'm getting there.
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