Xue Sheng's - Old beat up guy returns to training log

Yet another forced training hiatus.... detached retina needed surgery

Also my sparing days appear to be over

 

A haiku

Retina detach
Retina frozen in place
Retina working

Not 20/20 like it was before the detachment and not blind like it was after the detachment but it is better than the 20/70 they expected and it is still recovering...currently at 20/40 with a few weeks left to go before the final numbers.

But I am training again but nothing that jars the eye, not even light aerobics is aloud. I can do taiji, light weight lifting and the stationary bike

 

:happy: I enjoyed that!

Did they tell you that you could never heal well enough to spar again? Was the detached retina from MA?

How old are you, may I ask?

 

Glad to hear you're doing some training again, but sorry to hear about the retina issue .

As awful as it is to say, at least you still have your taiji .

 

The sight will never be normal in that eye again. I have been told to learn to live with it.

As for sparing, it is not so much about not seeing correctly as it is that a good hit in the head could cause another tear

Over half a century

 

Still got taijiquan and all is going fine.

Also got interested in Yiquan and did a little training in that recently and I must say I rather like it

 

Been gone for awhile dealing with things life throws in your way but I'm back training Taijiquan, also doing a little (very little since I only know very little) Yiquan too. I like its Xingyiquan link and feel in some things

 

I find myself back in a familiar place, wanting to train Xingyiquan, but this time I am looking at it entirely differently. This time it is not the addict needing a fix approach of the past, but it is looking at it from where I am physically based on past injuries and current fitness level, which is low due to past injuries. I also find myself drawn to Yiquan, but then that is likely due to its association with Xingyiquan.

Also the only teacher I know of for Yiquan that I would like to train with is 170 miles away and there really are not any teachers closer. As for Xingyiquan, if I am going to advance form my current mingjen approaching anjen level, I need to train with teachers, I know, that are 180 miles away.

But this time, instead of jumping right back in and setting myself op for the inevitable failure I am going to take it slow, and that should be easy since I am old and slow already. Work on fitness first and see if that helps, and of course continue with Taijiquan. But this time I can throw in a little Yiquan since I did recently learn a little, very little actually, so I at least have a place to start and see where it goes.

As strange as this may sound, after years of Taijiquan and year of Xingyiquan (fewer than Taiji by the way) I honestly feel that you will get more in the way of health and fitness from Xingyi than Taiji and I am also beginning to think the same about Yiquan as compared to taiji as well. However this could be due to me simply liking Xingyi better and yiquan being new to me.

All things to take into consideration and think about, but I have time, I’m not going anywhere for a few years yet.

 

Well I am not as good as keeping this journal I guess..

Last night

Taijiquan
Long Form
Fajin Form
Fast Form

Xingyiquan
Zhan Zhuang
Piquan, very slowly, paying attention to absolutely everything, sinking, raising, connections, energy, power. Afterwards, and it was only about 20 times I did Piquan, my abs were sore

 

Last night

5 minutes of wuji standing
5 minutes of bear standing
5 minutes of Zhan zhuang
5 minutes of santi shi right
5 minutes of santi shi left

20 minutes of aerobics
10 minutes on Abs

Taiji fajin form
1/3 Taiji long form
Taiji short Dao form
Xingyiquan piquan slow, with a whole lot of focus
Xingyiquan zuanquan slow, with a whole lot of focus

 

No training last night, darn arthritis in my shoulder is acting up.

I took Xingyiquan out of all training awhile back because I decided I’m too old and to beat up to train it anymore. So I focused on Taijiquan. But after I read the Bruce Lee quote about limitations and started thinking about self-imposed limitations. So I decided to add Xingyi back in, not full tilt, just start slow and do the forms slow so I could focus deeply on what is going on in each posture of the 5 elements; so far I have looked at Piquan and Zuanquan. IT has been incredible and shown me what has been missing form training.

Will it last? Well that depends on the knees and my patients and hopefully both last for a long time.

 

Stupid shoulder.

Only thing done was an analysis of Bengquan

For those that do not know these are the 5 elements of Xingyiquan I am working with. However the person in the video is not me, nor has he ever been my teacher, although I would not mind training with him someday. The gentleman in the Video is Hai Yang and I believe he is base in Montreal


[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQZ3xn-UmjI"]Xing Yi Quan ( Hsing-I, 河北形æ„拳 ) 5 Elements and Linking form - YouTube[/ame]

 

Last night
20 minutes cardio
Review: Piquan, Zuanquan, Bengquan
Work on Paoquan

It is interesting, I took Xingyiquan completely out of my training and I stuck with jstu Taijiquan and I would work on Taijiquan, but little else. Slowly adding Xingyiquan back in and I have more energy during the day, want to exercise more and overall just feel better

 

Once an addict always an addict

I will be smart about it, for a change. In the past I would just jump in, full tilt and... reinjure myself. Going much slower this time. What has surprised me was how the removal and reintroduction of Xingyiquan impacted my day to day life and my attitude in general.

 

That's really good to hear. Yeah, I hate to be told that I'm too old for such n such - makes me want to do it all the more and that's really why I'm training to begin with.

 

One thing I've learnt to do is to incorporate stretching as a requirement before engaging in lifting, bodyweight routines, etc.

That said, I hate stretching. Its the most boring thing on earth but if it allows me more years to engage in what I do like...

 

Nothing last night, to much to do. But I have been reading a few blogs, from a person who shall remain nameless since Mentioned him on another page and the attacks and hostility started with the very first response. And based on recent experience here I am not in the mood for it.

However reading these has made me think I really need to reevaluate what and hen I train.

I cannot jump right back into how I trained 20 years ago because I no longer have that much time and I would likely cripple myself. But I can do more than I have been, however I am going to have to reintroduce things gradually.

But I am going to continue with taijiquan and xingyiquan as part of this.

Something else I realized. I pick something to train and then add to it and I will not let that original thing go, even though it may have been replaced by something that I benefit from much more than the original, and that right there takes up a lot of time. So I need to know when it is time to let go of thing in my workout that are no longer needed.

One of those things that I have hung onto for a long time that I m letting go as a regular separate practice is Yoga, although of late I have not done much of it and I have been feeling real guilty about that. Yoga is a wonderful thing but to train it and do it justice and train marital arts and to that justice to, is to me, under current time constraints, trying to server to masters and that just is not possible. I think, as balltoller recommended, that I will focus on the stretching.... as it applies to the martial arts I enjoy

 

That made me snigger ( +1 for the old geezer stretching thing btw)

 

I will have you know I am NOT a geezer.... possibly an old fogy or a grumpy old man or possibly even a fuddy-duddy.... But I AIN'T no GEEZER