You do realize....

A large part of the population of the planet would think we are all nuts

I have been reading many of the posts on MAP that talk about sparing, and applications and training and I find I get rather nostalgic of my days when I spared much more, or worked on applications., got hit, hit, got knocked down and knocked down a few and it was all, IMO, really REALLY cool. And there are likely many of us here...ok most of us here, that love or loved this stuff.

Was reading a training log today and the poster was talking about sparing their coach, and it made me remember the time I sparred one of my Xingyiquan teachers and I was having all sorts of trouble hitting him, and stopping him from hitting me. Then he said "You have to hit me at least once or I don't think we're sparing" So...I hit him, then I hit him again...then he pummeled me into submission and it was the coolest thing ever. Also once spared a Souther Mantis guy, who was also an ex-marine. Using xingyi I knocked him down... and then he popped back up like a weeble and proceeded to dominate the rest of our match. That too I thought was great. Had my taiji shifu knock me on the ground more times than I can remember, and every time I got up smiling or laughing.

Also broke my ankle once in Shaolin Long Fist, didn't know it was broken at the time, but I spent the rest of the class holding a kick pad, jumping backwards on one foot, while people kicked the pad..... and you all know you'd do something similar too..

But after that nostalgia .....it hit me..... anybody other than marital artists and fighters, who heard such things, or read such things, would think we were all nuts

 

It's funny to think about it that way, when we've been conditioned for so long to accept a solid hit or knock down as a good learning point.

If someone isn't hitting hard enough you feel cheated. Try and explain that to an outsider and they often think you're some kind of masochistic.

 

Hey, give me a break...I've only been training martial arts for over 40 years ...or it could be that I knew it before...but now I'm old...so maybe I forgot...or it is entirely possible there has been one to many hits to the head

 

Speaking of nuts martial artists..... the story I mentioned in my first post about sparring with my Xingyi shifu (he was my 2nd Xingyi shifu actually).... at the time I told a karateteka I knew then what happened and he called me a "genuine, certifiable MA House O' Pain maniac"

Well I just discovered that my 2nd xingyi sifu may have classes again, but only for a couple months, and if he is, and if my schedule allows, I will likely be going...guess I am a "genuine, certifiable MA House O' Pain maniac" after all. Only difference here is I do not think I will be sparring with him again since the eye issue, I may be a maniac, but I'm not crazy. I have gotten rather found of seeing....but I would love to train with him again.

 

What? Those bells ringing and that flock of birds overhead distracted me........

 

And just to prove my point further

Spent Wednesday evening in JKD class.
Spent much of Thursday sore and stiff.
Now I am guessing that any normal sane person would tell themselves....good workout last night....I'll take a break today
I get up, do crunches, various standing postures for training Xingyiquan and some Sun taiji
OK, that is not all that strenuous so maybe I'm not too crazy
Nope: sitting at my desk yesterday....getting out of my chair with some difficulty due to stiffness and some pain...in my knees, hands, right arm...... and what do I think.....
Do I think...I need to take it easy..... do I think....I should taka break....Nope
I think, when I get home tonight I need to put on the knees braces and go drill this JKD stuff on the heavy bag.....

However I had to be at a concert for my youngest child yesterday evening...and when I got home it was after 10:00......was this a clue I need to go to bed....nope
I go in to my room, put on knee braces and change to go to my basement to start work on the heavy bag
It is at this point Mrs Xue steps in and asks me where do I think I'm going......
Apparently after 10:00....hitting the heavy bag...... makes a lot of noise....... and hitting the heavy bag is not conducive to sleep...if in fact there are people in the house that what to go to sleep
So I was once again called a martial arts crazy and told to go to bed.....still wanted to go hit the bag and work on footwork though.....

 

I was in a kickboxing class yesterday and a new person was flailing their arms when we were shadowboxing. Like more uncoordinated than I've ever seen anyone shadowbox. They looked very timid about it and I had to stop myself laughing. Not at the person because I've been there. It was more.... I've always shadowboxed and took it seriously and never has it occurred to me until that moment that I'm doing the same thing. I'm just swinging my arms about like an idiot.

 

Semi Pro Boxer came to my Muay Thai class. He's 65kg.
My reaction : Youre semi pro? Can we spar?

I stepped into the ring saying goodbye to everyone I loved.

 

Push hands group this morning. We decided to work on Kao (Shoulder strike) we are all knocking each other around, having a great time uprooting each other and making each other stumble around.....I'm hear a whole lot of "That's so cool" and "great"....and then I hear a thud, one guy got knocked down..... what has his response........he busted out laughing....and what does the guy who knocked him down say...."Great fall"...... yup.....we martial artists are not right in the head.... and I'm ok with that

 

subscribed, this seems like a very interesting