Training at work? No more LOL

[charyuop]

I work overnight as stoker in a walmart store, so I thought why not applying some MA work out while working? So I started placing stuff in low shelves doing ma bu (horse stence), when I need to move a case out of the way I use a thrust kick not putting the foot on the floor to improve balance and....sigh...I thought I could walk with with my knees very slightly bent (like Tai Chi steps) to exercise my leg endurance, who would notice?

So after the first night I come home and tell my wife and show her what I had been doing (kick, horse stence and walking). She looks at me and starts laughing...I ask what is wrong??? She stares at me and says she hoped I was kidding. I said no why? She answered you walk like an idiot!
I hoped with the knees slightly bent it couldn't be noticed, but it seems not only it was noticeble, but it looked kinda ridicule...
Hope not many coworkers saw me sigh...

 

[Bigshadow]

She answered you walk like an idiot!

I have been told that as well. I try to walk from the hips, keeping good balanced kamae (smaller steps, back straight, and moving from the hips). Frankly, I don't care what other's think, as I am training.

I do the same when in lines... I move from the hip and cross step or fall into the step without shifting my weight and balance from side to side. I may get funny looks from that as well and I really don't care.

Every day is training in some way or another.

 

[JasonASmith]

I've actually cleaned out a small mezzanine above my work area...
It's barely big enough to do kata, but at least I've got somewhere to go so noone can see me...

 

[charyuop]

I work in the dairy department, when I work in the cooler I can practice whatever I want coz no one is there hee hee.

Bigshadow I do the cross step when I go shopping or at Hastings looking for a movie. I stand in front of the shelves and I move along them through cross steps hee hee....and it's great when the movies are low, cross step in a low stence hahahaahahahahaha.

 

[bushidomartialarts]

i had the same problem. i spent a while delivering stuff and did walking drills until i started walking that way unconsciously.

come christmas, my brothers ran the running gag 'jason walks like a queer, but who's gonna tell him?'

i love teaching karate for a living. i get to practice at work all the time.

 

[Bigshadow]

come christmas, my brothers ran the running gag 'jason walks like a queer, but who's gonna tell him?'

HAHAHA :rofl: I think everyone else walks like that, it is us that walks normal and balanced.

 

[Xue Sheng]

I use to practice Tai Chi stepping at work. Up on the top floor. Ironically I was practicing the Tai Chi Cat walk on the cat walk. It was in the evening and there was no one around.

 

[PeaceWarrior]

Why not train at work? cause your wife thinks youre weird?:whip1: haha, if everybody stopped training because people thought they were weird or crazy, nobody would be doing martial arts!

I, too train while Im at work. Any chance I get. I work in a nursery watering plants, so during the summer I get a lot of time "alone" (kinda) where Im just watering plants. These times I will do horse stance, bow and arrow stance, cat stance, character 2 abduction stance, etc. I also do foot work around the big tree pots, making each tree like a jong (pole in the ground). I also do the things you guys are describing, like moving from my hips, tai chi stepping, duck walking... My job involves a lot of lifting, so I utilize proper alignment and horse stance a lot...I get some funny looks, but who cares? hehe, this is funny...it really goes to show you love martial arts when you spend every spare minute at work training.

How cool!

 

[Xue Sheng]

Why not train at work? cause your wife thinks youre weird?

Good point, my wife tells her family and everyone else that I'm Martial Art Crazy and she can do this in 3 different languages.

 

[charyuop]

My wife used to train Tai Chi forms in her lunch hour and she was stopped. The manager said he doesn't want coz if she gets hurt they are reliable...bah, you can get hurt easily lifting boxes instead of practicing Tai Chi.


But your words made it...I will keep training at work hee hee.

 

[still learning]

Hello, One more thing you could add to your training at work? is learning to walk more on the ball of the foot (forcus) on this! ........Aloha

 

[searcher]

Just remember Murphy's second law, "If it looks stupid, but works is not so stupid."

 

[ArmorOfGod]

I am going to have to take a different view point in this and say it is a bad idea to be doing horse stances and kicks at work. First there is the obvious point of getting hurt on the job and having to explain that you were doing a spin kick (for example) when you got hurt. Every job I have heard of would terminate you automatically for "horse play." I was a union shop steward years back and I could not get someone's job back in a situation like that.

Then, there is the more pressing issue of working with people who would want to prove something by challenging the guy doing forms and kicks on aisle 9 after store hours. If you are doing all of that at work, wether you want to admit it or not, you are showing off and putting yourself at risk from punks and trouble-makers.

It's best to be careful and keep it at home or appropriate places like the dojo or gym.

AoG

 

[jks9199]

I am going to have to take a different view point in this and say it is a bad idea to be doing horse stances and kicks at work. First there is the obvious point of getting hurt on the job and having to explain that you were doing a spin kick (for example) when you got hurt. Every job I have heard of would terminate you automatically for "horse play." I was a union shop steward years back and I could not get someone's job back in a situation like that.

Then, there is the more pressing issue of working with people who would want to prove something by challenging the guy doing forms and kicks on aisle 9 after store hours. If you are doing all of that at work, wether you want to admit it or not, you are showing off and putting yourself at risk from punks and trouble-makers.

It's best to be careful and keep it at home or appropriate places like the dojo or gym.

AoG

I generally agree... But I'm also going to disagree. There are ways to train at work or while waiting in line or doing everday activities. Using side kicks to push boxes back on the shelf -- probably not a good idea. But, using a good stance and proper body alignment to lift those boxes... Yeah, that might work. Making it an unconcious habit through lots of practice to be in a balanced position... That might work. I encourage students to "fidget productively" by practicing small elements of techniques, like wrist turning or closing fists, or to recognize and use stances in their normal activities without being carelessly obvious about it. (Doing a crane stance... bad idea. Front stance or a higher horse stance... not so bad.)

Being discrete about working some practice into your daily activities also will keep the challengers from knowing what you're doing.

 

[IWishToLearn]

To heck with what your co-workers think! Practice practice! Hehe. I'm an inventory control manager and I have a tendency to practice my neutral bow and footwork all around my inventory room when I'm pulling items. I'm locked in the cage all day so I might as well put it to use. The best part is I've actually picked up a couple more students as a result.

 

[charyuop]

Wow wow wow you must have misunderstood me when I mention kicks. It is really nothing big. When I need to move a box on the floor which is in my way or an empty box from a cart I do a thrust kick. Basically I estabilish balance, lift my leg and kick/push the box. Nothing extremily strong and powerful, but when the kick/push/thrust (call it the way you like it) is done I retract the leg without putting the foot down. It is basically en exercise for the balance more than an exercise for the kicks.

I don't understand what is so wrong about the Horse stance. Basically the difference between squatting down like all other co-workers do and the horse stance is the feet being flat on the floor and a bit wider(of course a use of completely different muscles :ultracool ). So you are telling me that if I have to put a product on a lower shelf and I squat down it is ok, but if I squat down keeping my feet flat on the floor is not ok?
Moreover I remember last year they showed us a video for safety at work and the person in the video encouraged workers to pick up boxes bending the legs instead of bending the back...they can't fire me for doing what they told me to do.

 

[terryl965]

You are differently a better man than me

 

[Xue Sheng]

There have been a lot of times I felt like training kicks at work... Most unfortunately that was almost always accompanied by the desire to beat the living daylights out of the annoyance in front of me

I have trained slow Tai Chi kicks at work and I see no problem with it. But what I think means nothing to your employer.

 

[Cthulhu]

Back when I worked in retail, I'd use the tiling pattern on the floor to practice my footwork when we weren't busy.

Cthulhu

 

[Miles]

I am fortunate as I work in an office building-I walk 9 flights of stairs daily. Better than a cup of coffee to get going.

I have an office and at lunch, I can close the door and stretch or do forms. Another MT member usually joins me and we get thru all the under-black belt forms or sometimes we work on Kali or Ju-jitsu.

Miles