worthy opponent

[ironymaiden]

i realized i hadn't written about kung fu for a while. due to traveling i've had a spotty attendance record. and i haven't done as much actual practicing on my own as i have thought about practicing on my own.

a part of me compares myself to people who started around the same time as me or after who now know a few more moves. but that voice is surprisingly quiet - i thought that i would hate self/be jealous and cranky/get crazy competitive. but that's not what happens. the atmosphere of the school doesn't stir that up. i don't mind staying in the second row until i get things right.

tonight was my first class in a couple weeks. after an absence i feel apprehensive, self-conscious. but i walk in the door, people smile and say hello, i find myself stretching with my foot up on the beam beside sifu who is doing the same. i slide into my warm up routine without a thought, and drift into my place for the beginning of class. lately sifu doesn't have to call us to order, we're just all there when it's time to start. i don't know exactly how that started happening, i was never present for a discussion, it just feels like the natural thing to do.

today's drills were hard on me. at least now i'm in the place where i see what i am supposed to be getting from a particular drill, and i have enough endurance and muscle memory that i am able to be mindful about my technique without the act of thinking screwing me up. (that's a big deal. generally if i think too much about a physical thing i am doing i fumble.)

i'm still doing very controlled sparring, i-will-punch-this-many-times-while-you-block, now-you-will-punch-this-many-times. a lot more discussion and getting things right happening than speed. rough work for me today since while i like working with M (and her meaty arms don't hurt like skinny gal H's bony ones - thus far i've been more bruised by H's bony arms than by big guy D who totally hits and blocks harder) M is significantly shorter than i am. i know i am more likely to fight someone who is not my size than someone well-matched like C. i just do much better if i'm the smaller one. doing an exercise where i am supposed to be landing blows in the center of a shorter body is a bitch. (i expect in a situation i would just take headshots? strategy stuff is a constant background process that turns up little revelations every now and then but mostly i don't have enough experience yet to come up with results.) it does force me to drop lower into my stance, which is good. as long as i really drop instead of hunching forward, which is useless and unstable. i'm trying to unlearn years of bad habits that came from being the tallest kid in my class. sigh.

i shouldn't bitch too much about the height thing. sifu had us start adding kicks, and i'm not only taller than M but more flexible. so i had no trouble tapping her ribs, while she was straining to hit the top of my thigh. sifu praised me after class for my improved balance and control. so i feel good about that.

i seem to be able to stick to thinking about my own journey rather than obsessive comparison, which in many ways is a new behavior for me. that may be even better for me than the exercise.

Comments

[webcowgirl.livejournal.com]

This sounds really awesome overall.

Kungfu and "situations"

[andrew-the-oga.livejournal.com]

i expect in a situation i would just take headshots

Yeah, maybe if you have a gun, you and poor old GGordon. I presume you mean "a situation in which you must fight for your life" or something. Most people can absorb a surprising amount of punishment to the head without losing their motivation. Causing direct injury to an eye is ideal, but just so unlikely wit a fist or even with the fingertips-- unless you're in close enough for a gouge or fish-hook.

IM(nv)HO, the benefit of martial arts training for self-defense is how it gets you accustomed to being hit (much more important than the hitting) without getting upset. Being attacked by someone with truly murderous intent is a rare experience; the sparring ring prepares us to a degree physically, but the mental preparation the ring offers us is much so more important.

It's so gratifying to read someone's positive experiences of martial arts training! Uechi-ryu karate was just about the only positive thing I had going in my own adolescence, and now I take my three kids to kung-fu three days a week and watch them with admiration. Great to hear you're enjoying it!

[buhrger]

i seem to be able to stick to thinking about my own journey rather than obsessive comparison, which in many ways is a new behavior for me. that may be even better for me than the exercise.
i believe it.

Re: Kungfu and "situations"

[ironymaiden]

true about the head. and i recognize that this is why the first thing we learn is to go for the solar plexus and the side ribs. i expect if i ever use any of this outside of class it will be to startle/disorient an attacker so that i can run like hell.

the eye gouge reminds me of a case i collected records for, where some drunk teen thought he would demo his newly-learned technique by picking a fight with a stranger. kid's technique was good...it's very interesting to read up on the artisans who make glass eyes.

(it's occasionally chilling for me to think about the way a so sau/fu jau combo delivered with speed and power could break someone's neck. i hope i never need to hurt anyone like that.)

what style do your kids do?

[e-bourne.livejournal.com]

That's wonderful. Having confidence in your physical being is a great accomplishment. The height thing is something we shorties envy you for. Roll away those decades of bad habits, enjoy it and ignore our green looks. :-)

Perhaps your expectations are unrealistic?

[andrew-the-oga.livejournal.com]

the first thing we learn is to go for the solar plexus and the side ribs
That seems an odd choice for a critical encounter, given the rarity of professional fighters scoring a TKO during full-contact matches, by striking either target. The money's always in the scrotum, if you must strike the thorax-- particularly if your opponent is well-conditioned, strongly committed to the attack, or both.

combo delivered with speed and power could break someone's neck
Almost any attack delivered with sufficient speed and power to the head can injure the neck sufficiently to debilitate. But where are the dead bodies caused by these attacks? Usually "sufficient speed and power" involves hydraulic tools or long-drop hanging! Seriously, there's a lot of myth and urban legend around martial arts technique, and I'm skeptical of anyone who claims s/he could break the neck of an uncooperative victim with bare hands alone. No disrespect, but I'd suggest you should be skeptical too.

i hope i never need to hurt anyone like that
I hope so too. But if you ever do, I'd suggest you bring both friends and tools. That's how they do it prison-- that wonderful crucible of close-quarter combat-- and those opponents usually succumb to weight of numbers and improvised sharp iron.

Please don't mistake my intention in continuing this line of comment: skill with hands and feet is a beautiful thing, and the commitment of heart and soul which comes with martial arts training guides many a spiritual athlete through a long and healthy life of practice.

I used to tell the story of how "karate saved my life" in a deadly confrontation one terrifying night decades ago-- unquestionably, I'd have been killed, had I not known a particular technique, known it in muscle and spinal cord, below the level of thought or decision. But more significant (I'm coming to realize) is the salutary effect the whole training experience had on my soul from childhood through protracted adolescence; in retrospect, martial arts training was about the only good thing I had going on, the only thing I've carried with me into my current existence.

Taking a hit without taking it personally, that's the wonderful thing about it! Where else can you try your best to hit someone-- to hit them hard, while they're trying their best to do you the same favour-- but in the sparring ring? The days of our lives are planed and sanded and polished to such a smooth contour.

Re: Perhaps your expectations are unrealistic?

[ironymaiden]

No disrespect, but I'd suggest you should be skeptical too.
understood. no teacher has ever suggested to me that it would work that way. it *feels* like pulling someone forward off-balance by their arm with one hand while shoving their chin back with the other would be nasty.

you have it. practice divorces hitting and being hit from anger and fear. but i still have little wuxia fantasies. (where's my wire rig team? i should be flying to the bus stop, dammit.)

[ivy]

Good post. I always feel a little weird coming back after an absence too, but it always seems to be just in my head -- no one else ever minds. And it sounds like you've got a really good school there, and that it's doing well by you. That's awesome.

I find that partners smaller than me are more challenging, since everyone else in my dojo is considerably larger than me. So, the change-up is both good for me and somewhat weird.