Xue Sheng
All weight is underside
And once again thanks to Brain VanCise and his Blog The Instinctive Edge
this is not the first time one of his posts has helped me figure out training issues.
The only reason for this post is to possibly help someone else that may find themselves in a similar situation and not take over 10 years to figure it out
It seems that I have been working my way back for almost 15 years.
Get injured, recover work my way back get injured again work my way back repeat.
However after the last two injuries that took me out, the whole tree thing and then the foot followed by knee I have not felt like I have ever really got back.
Before the tree fell on me I was training Taijiquan (Yang and Chen), Xingyiquan, Baguazhang and a bit of Wing Chun as well as working on aerobics with a dash of weight lifting and Qigong, heck I was even part of a cross style sparing group and really loving it and it really felt great. Admittedly I was single with no children, working second shift with nothing else to do all day but train. I eventually focused on Yang Taijiquan due to my Yang Taiji sifu asking me to…. And then the tree fell on me.
When I returned to training I was training only Yang Taijiquan but I just could not get my training to feel like it did before. I tried going back to other styles and I tried to say it was age and additional responsibility (got married and had kids). Basically I was old and had no time. I then got to train some Sanda and that old feeling started to return but I did not understand why. Then I messed up my foot followed by tearing the meniscus of the other leg.
Now I am again working my way back and I am still working with Yang Taijiquan and my Yang sifu but I have to admit there are other styles and other things that are tempting me; Xingyiquan (per usual), Chen style Taijiquan, Wudang Sanfeng Taijiquan, Wing Chun and Qigong. Also due to my sedentary way of life during the injury I need to get back to training some aerobics and strength stuff too (damn weight gain). However, it turns out, the whole time thing is actually a real issue so I really do not think I can train all that and do any of them justice, but that is not really the point of this post. The point is why does it not feel the same as it use to and why did it start feeling the same when I was training Sanda? To be honest until a few weeks ago I had no idea other than the old excuses of too old and not enough time.
Well I read something on the web on February 02, 2011 that reset the breaker and turned on the little 15 watt bulb in my brain: Physical, Mental and Spiritual Training!
Which kind of went like “DAMN!!! I am missing the ritual and regiment of it”. I was very ritualistic and regimented in my training way back when and Sanda required the same ritualistic approach (as much as Sanda would deny that) and it was very much regimented. Currently I train that various forms of Yang Taijiquan and I am working on a Total Gym and Exercise bike but I am not at all ritualistic about it nor am I all that regimented beyond get it done today sometime (and generally I do). Get up in the morning and train…maybe. If I miss that train sometime before I go to bed. Train the long form or maybe one of the Dao forms or jian form or a fast form depending on my mood. Do a bit of related Qigong when the spirit moves me. Occasionally sit and meditate…if I feel like it. I am doing something every day but I am not really doing anything because I am pretty much floating through it. I got to tell you (and maybe I’m crazy for thinking this way but then it would not be the first time I was called crazy) but back when I was training Sanda it was refreshing and mighty cool to have my sifu tell me. Throw 20 kicks…. Throw 20 more with your other leg…nope…not so good…go train more...see you next week. Yang Taiji of late. With my sifu I tend to help teach more than actually train myself so I need to stop and work more on my forms. Maybe start a tuishou group in spring, who knows. But I am getting off my, long winded, own topic here.
I started scheduling my training for myself last week and I started rebuilding the ritual of it and so far it is feeling mighty good, not quite what it was but I think maybe after many years of trying to get back, I might be on to something here.
So I guess the bottom-line is if you feel like you training is missing something, it may be the ritual or the regiment or it could be any number of things, but don’t give up keep trying and keep looking and reading and sooner or later you might just figure it out and be glad you didn’t just give up along the way
Enjoy the training
this is not the first time one of his posts has helped me figure out training issues.
The only reason for this post is to possibly help someone else that may find themselves in a similar situation and not take over 10 years to figure it out
It seems that I have been working my way back for almost 15 years.
Get injured, recover work my way back get injured again work my way back repeat.
However after the last two injuries that took me out, the whole tree thing and then the foot followed by knee I have not felt like I have ever really got back.
Before the tree fell on me I was training Taijiquan (Yang and Chen), Xingyiquan, Baguazhang and a bit of Wing Chun as well as working on aerobics with a dash of weight lifting and Qigong, heck I was even part of a cross style sparing group and really loving it and it really felt great. Admittedly I was single with no children, working second shift with nothing else to do all day but train. I eventually focused on Yang Taijiquan due to my Yang Taiji sifu asking me to…. And then the tree fell on me.
When I returned to training I was training only Yang Taijiquan but I just could not get my training to feel like it did before. I tried going back to other styles and I tried to say it was age and additional responsibility (got married and had kids). Basically I was old and had no time. I then got to train some Sanda and that old feeling started to return but I did not understand why. Then I messed up my foot followed by tearing the meniscus of the other leg.
Now I am again working my way back and I am still working with Yang Taijiquan and my Yang sifu but I have to admit there are other styles and other things that are tempting me; Xingyiquan (per usual), Chen style Taijiquan, Wudang Sanfeng Taijiquan, Wing Chun and Qigong. Also due to my sedentary way of life during the injury I need to get back to training some aerobics and strength stuff too (damn weight gain). However, it turns out, the whole time thing is actually a real issue so I really do not think I can train all that and do any of them justice, but that is not really the point of this post. The point is why does it not feel the same as it use to and why did it start feeling the same when I was training Sanda? To be honest until a few weeks ago I had no idea other than the old excuses of too old and not enough time.
Well I read something on the web on February 02, 2011 that reset the breaker and turned on the little 15 watt bulb in my brain: Physical, Mental and Spiritual Training!
Which kind of went like “DAMN!!! I am missing the ritual and regiment of it”. I was very ritualistic and regimented in my training way back when and Sanda required the same ritualistic approach (as much as Sanda would deny that) and it was very much regimented. Currently I train that various forms of Yang Taijiquan and I am working on a Total Gym and Exercise bike but I am not at all ritualistic about it nor am I all that regimented beyond get it done today sometime (and generally I do). Get up in the morning and train…maybe. If I miss that train sometime before I go to bed. Train the long form or maybe one of the Dao forms or jian form or a fast form depending on my mood. Do a bit of related Qigong when the spirit moves me. Occasionally sit and meditate…if I feel like it. I am doing something every day but I am not really doing anything because I am pretty much floating through it. I got to tell you (and maybe I’m crazy for thinking this way but then it would not be the first time I was called crazy) but back when I was training Sanda it was refreshing and mighty cool to have my sifu tell me. Throw 20 kicks…. Throw 20 more with your other leg…nope…not so good…go train more...see you next week. Yang Taiji of late. With my sifu I tend to help teach more than actually train myself so I need to stop and work more on my forms. Maybe start a tuishou group in spring, who knows. But I am getting off my, long winded, own topic here.
I started scheduling my training for myself last week and I started rebuilding the ritual of it and so far it is feeling mighty good, not quite what it was but I think maybe after many years of trying to get back, I might be on to something here.
So I guess the bottom-line is if you feel like you training is missing something, it may be the ritual or the regiment or it could be any number of things, but don’t give up keep trying and keep looking and reading and sooner or later you might just figure it out and be glad you didn’t just give up along the way
Enjoy the training
