Something In The Air?

I'm not sure if it's something in the air, something in the water, something in the weather patterns, or something in the acupuncture needles, but this last week I have been as enthusiastic and energetic about training as a rock. I've been dog-dead tired which is very unlike my usual can't-sit-still self. What gives?

I had acupuncture on my shoulders last Monday and a lot of stuff was released because of it. I carry my tension, stress, and emotion in my shoulders. Considering that I had been doing such for most of my life, there's a lot of junk packed into my shoulder muscles. After my treatment I looked and felt like I hadn't slept in a week. Needless to say training was not a high point in my things to do list and what was a high point was sleep and lots of it. It could very much be that I was going through a detox.

I have another acupuncture appointment tomorrow and I am doing something a little different this time to see if it helps. Right after my acupunture treatment I am going down the street for a Rieki treatment. I figure that acupuncture will loosen a lot of tension and past energy the Reiki will serve to remove it. I shall see how the combination works.

There is another thought for me to consider and that is that I am in a lull in my training. I can't be on my game all of the time and this lull is part of the whole process. During this lull I have been doing something for my daily training, but I want to do all of it and I get frustrated when I don't have the energy and gumption to complete all of my daily requirements. Argh!

So what to do other than go to acupuncture and Reiki tomorrow? Well accept that this is where I am in the moment and like all moments this too shall pass. Patience Grasshopper, patience.

Sherri Donohue
Silent River Kung Fu, Stony Plain, Alberta

Tracking

Tracking, tracking, tracking it feels like all I am ever doing now is tracking. Tracking what I eat, tracking how many sit ups and push ups I do, along with the number of reps I do of a certain form. I am even tracking how much water I have been drinking each day.

I know tracking all of this stuff has great benefits on my training, and I have been seeing the results already. Tracking helps you stick with it, because when you can see your numbers increase it is a sense of accomplishment. Especially on those days when you are just sick of push ups and would not mind just skipping that day, but you don’t because you know you will be angry with yourself since you won’t be adding to your total you will actually be taking away from it.

I believe so much in the benefits of tracking that we are doing that I introduced a fellow employee that had just started taking a martial art to the idea of tracking the number of times he does something. He now tracks every push up he does in a day and adds that to his total. He has said that it is a very excellent motivator and he is enjoying it, he never thought he would enjoy push ups.

So let’s keep on track (sick pun I know)

Greg Wiebe

Stony Plain, AB, Canada

www.silentriverkungfu.com

3 Months, 6241 Pushups Later...

I decided this year to take my weight, measurements, and pictures every 3 months to see my actual progress during my UBBT challenge. I didn't do this step last year because I was too caught up on my "stuff" and was kicking myself in the end because I was such a bonehead. There were differences in my physique, but I had no concrete data. Hence the change this year.

It's the 3 month, 6241 pushup, 7323 situp mark and I shall post the differences from January's readings:
Weight: -2 pounds
Chest: +1/4 inch
Ribcage: +1/4 inch
Waist: -3/4 inch
Hips: -1/2 inch
R arm: same
L arm: -1/4 inch
R Leg (quad): -2 1/2 inches Upper thigh: -1/2 inch
L leg (quad): -3 inches Upper thigh: -1 1/4 inches
Waist/hip ratio: 0.78, which is down 0.01. Desirable for us females is below 0.8.

I'm happy with my results especially when I see WHERE the big changes are. If I focus solely on weight or waist measurements, I'm missing the big picture and that is why I take the measurements I take. Now to actually see the numbers, it brings it right home.

Here's the cool thing: am I doing training in Kung Fu for weight/fat loss? NO, I train like I do because I love Kung Fu and I want to get better/stronger/faster/more agile at it. The weight/fat loss is a consequence of my training not my focus.

Tis a great day and I have a demonstration to train for which means doing the form for the gazillionth time, sore muscles, my tongue hanging out because I'm out of breath, and keeping myself out of boredom, but it's all worth it when I know it's a job well done and I can actually now see the results.

Sherri Donohue
Silent River Kung Fu, Stony Plain, Alberta

Move Over Oscar!

Over the weekend there were a few events that took place at our house: Dennis having a sinus cold, time change (that I wish would go away), me eating too much starch, and my reading about Liz's experience of all her stuff coming up in the Ashram in India in her book "Eat, Pray, Love". Yesterday I woke up in a MOOD, more than owly enough to punt Oscar the Grouch out of his trashcan so that I could move in. In times like this Dennis would tell me to go back to sleep and find the alternate universe where I am stuck at, take me out and leave Snagerella behind. Even though I had morning Kung Fu class I felt it better that I take me and my grouchiness back to bed for more sleep. I slept until noon: very unusual for me. Translation: I needed the sleep.

Even though I had intentions of torching, training, baking bread, roasting coffee, and making soy milk in the afternoon, I ended plunking myself in my comfy chair and finally getting out of my bathrobe at 5:30 pm (or was it later?). Again very unusual for me. I'm usually high energy and need to recognize when I need to park it and relax to recharge. Yesterday I did just that and I needed it. I still baked bread, roasted coffee, and made 2 batches of soy milk with Dennis's help. Still by 8:30 pm I was bushed and slept like a rock. I was tired, huh?

The result? I woke up today being "me" again having "the best day ever." Could I have done that without resting and relaxing yesterday? Probably not. What about my Kung Fu training that got missed yesterday? I'll catch up and my training today will be higher quality than what it would have been yesterday should I have trained. I must say that I will have a much better attitude about it.

This morning I was listening to a video by James Malinchak (ABC Secret Millionaire) on 3 Lies to Achieving Million (I insert black belt, dream, whatever) and the one tidbit that stuck was that if the fish are sick, don't treat the fish, treat the pond. Good point, who in my pond is toxic? It could be family, friends, or even closer, me. This made me think about yesterday. Could I have been cleaning my pond from my own polluting? I think so.

Oh, and Oscar, you can have your trashcan back.
Sherri Donohue
Silent River Kung Fu, Stony Plain, Alberta