There are actually no pictures from this entry. I haven't been
carrying my camera around as much as before and even when I do it's
usually in my bag and I forget to bring it out. Anyway, as I
mentioned before I went back (again) to wushu on Friday evening. After
the previous week's observation of Pat's class I was feeling like I
should get back in to gear with some training so I, as well as Stephen,
joined in on the teen wushu class at Li Fai's school. Li Fai
was actually there too, participating in the class which was being lead
by Liu Yan. Stephen and Pat did much more working out than I did (I
guess one of the benefits to being thin(ner) is that no matter how out
of shape you are, you'll never be as out of shape as someone who has an
additional 40 pounds of fat on their body. But I guess I managed to
hang in okay. A few times my ankle or knee would give me a little bit
of a reminder that I'm not 20 years old anymore so I'd sit out, but I
would try to make use of that time by stretching or doing wall sits. I
got to do a bit of nanquan too. It was a bit embarassing when Li Fai
was using me as an example when talking to this nanquan girl. Yeah, I
have like 10 years of nanquan practicing under my belt (give or take),
but when it's your first day back at wushu after more than a couple
months, the only thing I felt like I could be an example for was a
"Let's see who can throw up the fastest while practicing wushu"
contest. It usually happens like this. At first my muscles
have atrophied and I don't have the core strength anymore ... so all my
waist power and stance work is shot to heck. After a couple months
there is more snap in my footwork and I can generate more power in my
movements, connecting things together, but right now I'm just happy if
I can hold a horse stance for more than 15 seconds. Even wu bu quan is
a major challenge right now, so for the time being I'm really going to
be focusing on building up more core strength and leg strength,as well
as flexibility. That's what will help my wushu the quickest at this
point in the game. I was able to push out a lot of sit ups (5
sets of 20) and back lifts (4sets of 20) at the end of class. That
wasn't too bad considering my complete lack of core strength right now,
but afterwards it hurt so bad that I couldn't even cough without having
an abdominal cramp. After we hobbled out of wushu all we could
think about was food. So we grabbed a taxi to Fat Angelo's off the
escalators and partook of lots of dense carbs. It was just what I
needed. I was severely out of it after that class. I wasn't sore yet
(that would be a couple more days yet) but I was certainly "out of
it". Sort of the feeling you get when your arm is asleep when you wake
up because you slept on it. Then you try to move it around and you
look like Ed Sullivan introducing the Beatles. Hmm .. I wonder how many people reading this will actually know who Ed Sullivan is ... Anyway,
after we ate I went over to Pat and Stephen's (and Boon's at the
moment) to check out their Wii game console. It was pretty fun. We
played some Tennis, bowling and boxing. It helped me get my mind off
my body's lack of energy and also kept me moving, which probably helped
a bit with the soreness. After a few hours of hanging out with
them I decided it was time to go home, so I grabbed a cab down the hill
to Kennedy Town (or "Gi nei dei shing" for you Hong Kongers) and called
it a (very painful) night. Of course, now that I've started
again, I really have to work to make sure I stay consistent. I don't
have to train once a day like I was doing in China, but at least a few
times a week to maintain would be a good idea. If not wushu, then at
least go to the gym to do a bit of strength and stretching work. But
yeah ... I guess we'll see what happens. Right now I just want to
enjoy the process of doing wushu with friends again. After that we'll
see what develops ...
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