Attention to Detail and Injuries

Last night in class we did fitness testing and I got my yellow stripe. After class, I was discussing roundhouse kicks with my classmates and the consensus was that “roundhouse kicks are hard to get right”. That has been my sentiment from day one and it was nice to see that I wasn’t alone in thinking that.

One of the things that I took away from last night was attention to detail. One of the things that Sifu Playter mentioned to me about my roundhouse was to watch my back foot when coming back to a bow stance after my kick. I have a tendency to have it facing more sideways than forward. The funny thing is that, even after being reminded about it, I was still doing it when we were working on combinations. Even when I thought my foot was facing straight ahead, I would look down and see that it wasn’t. These details are difficult for me to work on in class because I need to be able to slow down and watch my feet and think about what my foot feels like when it’s straight.

The combinations portion of the curriculum didn’t seem as intimidating last night as it usually does. I still have a lot of practice to do but I feel like I am improving. It’s all little details that need improving, like snapping punches, watching my back foot, etc. My plan for the next 10 days or so is to really focus on my stances and combinations.

I’m at the point where I’m really not sure what to do about my shoulder. I have continued to train but my pushups have been limited and I’m already pretty far behind in them. That’s disappointing because going in to the I Ho Chuan, the pushups were the one thing that felt I would have very little trouble with. I had been doing 180/day for a couple of weeks going in. It even feels weird for me to admit to myself that I have an injury. When I think of an injury I think of professional athletes, not people like me. And my injury is originally from falling on the ice, which is kind of embarrassing. I wish I could say I was attacked by a shark or something cool like that, but, no, I slipped on the ice and landed right on my shoulder. I guess the part that I’m uncertain about is at what point do I sacrifice training for healing? Last night it felt pretty good but it’s only certain movements that give me trouble. My plan is to keep going unless I feel it getting worse or if I feel that it isn’t getting better at all either.

Cory Smid

http://kungfucory.blogspot.ca/