Journal of Aaradia's MA Journey

Discussion in 'Training Logs' started by aaradia, Feb 14, 2015.

  1. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    Thursday, September 27, 2018 -

    6:30 - Last half of TCC class - I think, if I remember correctly, I came in while the class was doing the 24. Could be remembering wrong. We did the 32 gim and the 40.

    7:00 - Tai Sifu CLF class - Forms practice and corrections. Formal exercise, Stick. I feel like we did one other form, but am not sure what. I think the staff? Lots of newer mid rank students in the class. Hey, the class is building up again. :) Class ended early - about 7:40. He had to get on a plane EARLY next morning with a group of students and instructors. Going to San Francisco for our GM's Plum Blossom International Federation tournament! Go team White Dragon La Mesa!

    7:40 - solo practice. Small Circle Fast form. Working on corrections from Mondays observation.

    8:05ish - Not really a full lesson, but a mini one. For just a few minutes. My lesson was the observation this week. But my instructor wanted to review the corrections with me. He helped me with understanding the corrections. This is going to be going on awhile. Lots of stuff in that observation that will take a while to get down. I am super enthused and excited about it though!

    After that, back to solo practice. More Small Circle Fast form. I think I did some Ping Kuen too? Only a couple of days ago, but I can't remember what else.

    9:00 - School closes

    2 hours and 30 minutes
     
  2. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    Friday, September 28, 2018 -

    Well, first off, I finally had my appointment with a specialist over my De Quervain's tenosynovitis (the form of thumb tendinitis I have been diagnosed with). He told me that rarely does PT solve the issue solely with this issue. I received two cortisone shots - one in each side - in between the end of the thumbs and the wrists. It came with a numbing agent, which felt WONDERFUL the first few hours. I don't feel like I have pain ongoing, just at certain points of movement. And then some soreness on particularly bad days. But the relief from the numbing agent made me wonder if I have gotten so used to some low level of pain that I didn't even notice it? Because while I wasn't feeling pain, I certainly felt great with the numbing.

    After that wore off, the thumbs were sore, which I was told could happen. Need time to see if the cortisone will help. But I am hopeful. The Dr said cortisone is highly successful in treating this issue.

    Bad news is there is extra concern with tendon tears as a side effect. So, that means some limited duty working out the next two weeks. No sparring or stick fighting. No moving step. I think limited step push hands might be ok. Light power for two person weapon forms. It is a bummer, but if this works, it will be WELL worth it. I have been dealing with this awhile now. So I am hoping this jump starts me healing better.

    Well, then I was lazy and didn't go in until way past my plans for the day. And then I left later after that because as I was about to shut off my computer, the news came that Marty Balin of Jefferson Airplane/ Starship fame died. Airplane is one of my favorite bands. So I read up on it, played a few songs before leaving to work out.

    So, finally.................Geez, what time DID I get there? Rough estimate.

    5:20ish? - Solo CLF practice. Wooden Dummy. VERY light power due to cortisone shots. Ping Kuen. Hand Breaking Fan.

    6:00 - Weapon class - Cane techniques. We went over all of them. Normally wouldn't cover that much in one class, but it was only three of us and we all knew the techniques already. So, lots of detail work on them. I went slower and with less snap in some moves. Again due to the shots.

    6:30 - Techniques practice with Ms. B and Ms. M. We were all not as focused as usual. Went through all moves twice. With a few extra repetitions on moves where one of us had an issue to work out. Took longer than usual though. Again, I haven't been good at tracking time this week for some reason, so a rough estimate.

    7:40ish? - Chatted awhile.

    8:00ish - Two person practice with Ms. M. She has finally learned all the sword side of broadsword vs spear! Yay! We went through the whole form for the first time. Granted, rough, and she wasn't sure of a few moves. And I was limited help because I don't know that side yet. I have gotten to the point where I can recognize that the other sides moves seem right or wrong though. I just can't give much detail. We also worked on Cross Pattern vs Plum Blossom.

    We also did what she knows of the 32 gim a few times.

    I didn't get nearly as much accomplished today as I had hoped, but some days are like that. As long as I don't have too many of those days in a row, it is ok.

    9:10ish - School closes.

    3 hours and 30 minutes


    Saturday, September 29, 2018 - work all day/ rest day


    Sunday,September 30, 2018 - rest day

    2018 Week 39 = 11 hours and 45 minutes
    2018 Total Hours = 505 hours and 22 minutes
     
    Last edited: Oct 7, 2018
  3. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    Monday, October 1, 2018 -

    6:30 - ended up talking to a fellow student about her Tournament experience this last weekend. She went to our GM's tournament. Ended up talking way more than I intended.

    7:00 - Had to skip stick fighting class, due to cortisone shots in thumbs. Two weeks= no combatives. :(

    Solo practice. CLF - Ping Kuen. Having trouble remembering the end sequence. Just mixing up parts and forgetting a few moves. I will need to go over it again next private lesson. Shaolin 5 Animal. Adding a few new moves. Wooden dummy with very light power. Ng Lun Ma.

    TCC - Small circle fast form.

    I have not been very focused the last few workouts. Need to get back on track.

    No instructor training tonight, due to recovery from some of them traveling up to GM's tournament.

    9:00 - school closes. Some casual instructor workouts were going on in another rooom, but I ended up chatting with another student about their tournament experiences.

    Left around 9:20

    2 hours
     
    Last edited: Oct 2, 2018
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  4. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    Tuesday, October 2, 2018 -

    Started off my workout a bit later than usual

    7:00 - Forms practice with Ms. M. Again, bit of not pushing as hard. This time because Ms. M was talking to another student about their tournament experience. I had already talked to this student yesterday about it.

    Butterfly Knives. Really am happy with how much I remember, considering I haven't done this one much lately. The one part that I couldn't get last week, I got it figured out this week. Couple of small hiccups, but really overall it is ok. Formal Exercise.

    7:30 - Ms. R joined us. She had a private lesson at 7:00, so joined us later than usual. Spear, Ping Kuen, Small Five Animal, Sup Ji Jit Fu.

    8:00 - Private CLF lesson. Ms. R joined in for two person stuff at the beginning. We finished the spear vs broadsword together. Good thing! I knew I had some parts wrong at the end of that form practicing solo. With this lesson, I am back on track!

    Then review, corrections, and learned more of Hand Breaking Fan form. LOL! I told my instructor that I thought it stuck in my brain pretty well, and he proceeded with quite a few corrections! But I still think overall my memorization went pretty good on this.

    Then, review and corrections of Ping Kuen. Went over ending as I as all mixed up on it. I think I am back on track for that one as well. :)

    8:30 - Solo CLF practice of things learned in my private lesson. To get it solidified in my brain- hopefully.

    9:00 - school closes


    1 hour and 50 minutes

    Wednesday, October 3, 2018 - Evening shift/ rest day

     
    Last edited: Oct 3, 2018
  5. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    Thursday, October 4, 2018 -

    6:30 - last half of TCC class. I came in while the class was finishing up the 24. Then we did the 40 and the 32 gim,

    7:00 - Advanced CLF class. Yellow and Green sash techniques. Also Yellow sash kicks. In a rare moment of complaint, I would say almost too much yellow sash techniques. I am all for repetition, but jeez, it was borderline a little too much for me! We did the yellow sash techniques over and over and over and over again. Maybe I just wasn't in the right frame of mind for it. But it seemed like we got all the corrections and details in the first 4 or 5 repetitions. We didn't repeat the more advanced ones that much in the previous techniques practice. I admit- I might just have the wrong attitude, but it was just a tad much.

    8:00 - Private TCC lesson. Buddha palm. Not my best showing of this form. It was obvious that I had been practicing Small Circle Fast form lately and not this one. Then double gim, which went ok.

    8:30 - TCC solo practice. Some more Buddha palm to practice corrections from lesson. And then some other stuff, but I can't remember what. Staying away from spear- due to thumb treatment.

    9:00 - School closes

    2 hours and 30 minutes


    Friday, October 5, 2018 -

    6:30 - techniques practice with Ms, B and Ms. M. Went through all techniques twice, except a couple we had issues with and did more. Also, only did yellow sash ones one time, per my request. Because I was a little sick of them from yesterdays class. Ms. M- who was at that class too - was a little sick of them too I think. Not sure when we ended.

    Two person practice with Ms M. Cross Pattern vs Plum Blossom and spear vs broadsword. Then we went through the end of Ping Kuen. We both have just finished learning the whole thing. Not that it is solidified in either of our brains yet! :confused: Then, we went over what she knows of TCC 32 gim. Finished off with some pattern push hands and the stepping of walking pattern.

    9:00 - School closes

    2 hours and 30 minutes
     
  6. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    Saturday, October 6, 2018 -

    9:35ish - a bit late for two person practice with Ms. R. Cross Pattern vs Plum Blossom. We both felt really good about this one today! Definitely improving! Started to have some flow to it. Fewer sticking points.. Spear vs broadsword- that one is coming along too, but not as far along as the other one.

    10:00 - TCC class. 32 Gim. There have been some changes to a few details in this form. And in all the group classes, the instructors have been going over these. Whenever there is a high level test, this happens. There are corrections from our Grandmaster and/ or Tai Sigung. Some corrections to the way the school is teaching it are then passed along to everyone. I like that my school doesn't have an ego about this. Pretend they are perfect. Shows everyone is willing to learn and grow from the top down. Then we went over the last half of the 108 long form.

    11:00- :( *sigh* Per Doctor's orders - no combatives for me today. I had to skip sparring and Advanced Push hands/ moving step class. Because the cortisone shots leave my tendons at increased risk for tearing for a couple of weeks.

    I tried to keep a positive attitude about missing those classes, but it was a bit of a battle to do so.

    So, lots and lots of solo practice today. This was interrupted by.............

    1:00 - 1:30 Stretching class. I told the instructor that my ability to grip the wall hanging thing we do for some of the stretches might be something I had to modify and lighten up on today. Again due to the thumbs. But that I wanted to still go to the class and do what I could. I ended up having a post, which allowed me to hook my arm rather than put pressure on my thumb grip, so I had to do less modifying than I thought. I actually felt some progress today! :) Yay! The instructor has told me she has seen progress in me before, but I haven't felt it. Today I did. I still have a long way to go, but feeling some progress felt great!

    1:30 - Back to solo practice. This listing includes the time from 11:00 to 1:00. Some of these were modified with light power or slower due to thumbs. CLF - Wooden Dummy, Ping Kuen - the ending is coming along better, Ng Lun Ma and Ng Lun Choi - still working on the endings of these as I get the two mixed up, Shaolin 5 animal, Hand Breaking Fan. I wanted to start to lightly get back to three section staff, but there was lion dancing practice going on when I planned to do it, so- not enough room.

    TCC- 54 Gim, Double Gim, Wind Chasing Fan, Spear, Flute, Small Circle Fast Form, Buddha Palm, some of the 48 combination.

    Stopped working out about 7 minutes before the school closed.

    Shaolin 5 Animal update- been working on about 7 new moves the last couple of weeks. I think I am ready to add a few more. Starting to figure them out from our school's streaming service. I think I am a little over halfway through it? It is about 200 moves total - give or take a few.

    The missing combatives thing really was a bummer!

    3:00 - school closes

    5 hours and 23 minutes.

    Sunday, October 7, 2018 - Rest day

    2018 Week 40 = 14 hours and 13 minutes
    2018 Total Hours = 519 hours and 35 minutes
     
    Last edited: Oct 7, 2018
  7. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    Monday, October 8, 2018 -

    6:30 - started a bit late, because I was talking to a fellow student on the way in from the parking lot.

    6:43 - Solo Practice. Still banned from combatives, so I have to miss stick fighting class at 7:00. But I should be back next week. CLF Solo practice of two person sets - spear vs broadsword and cross pattern vs plum blossom. Ng Lun Ma, Ng Lun Choi, Wooden dummy (very lightly), what I know of the hand breaking fan. What I know of Shaolin 5 animal, trying to add a few new moves. Ping Kuen - this went pretty good. As in I didn't need an instructors help to remember the whole thing. It took some starting and stopping and thinking, but I got through it all on my own! Progress! 3 section staff - VERY light run through with no flowers. Easing back into it. Got stuck on the part I had just learned the last few weeks. Too soon to learn it and stop for several weeks. Will need to go through it with my instructor again. But actually, I remembered more than I thought I would, so that's ok. It is a minor setback. Worth it to be smart about my thumb treatments and proper precautions.

    TCC - 9 dragon spear. It is a ways off, but I think I decided I am going to do this for our school's next tournament tonight. Been mulling over what weapon form to do. The thing is, it is going to be a pain to carry that spear all over the tournament, so I was going to do a smaller weapon. But then I realized I have to carry the spear anyways! Ms. M and I think the spear vs broadsword scores better at the tournament than the hand form. It is flashier. So I have to lug my spear around for my CLF two person set. So, looks like that is going to be it for the upcoming year. It is a long ways off though. Not even sure why I am thinking about it.

    Double gim, Wind Chasing Fan, Buddha Palm, Small Circle Fast Form and 48 combination. I really need my instructor to look at that one. It is feeling like it isn't very good right now.

    Forgot to look at the clock when the school closed up, but based on looking at it earlier and estimating from there...............

    I seem to largely have gotten my focus back from when I was lagging a week or two ago.

    10:05ish - school closes


    3 hours and 22 minutes
     
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2018
  8. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    Tuesday, October 9, 2018 -

    6:30 - Two person practice with Ms. B. Both sides of 2 person staff and Golden Leopard vs Tiger.

    7:00 - Forms practice with Ms. R and Ms. M. Formal exercise, Goof focused session today! Got a lot in! Also, I was happy with my memory on these today. Happy overall actually. Hand forms - Siu Moi Fa, Sup Ji Jit Fu, Small Five Animal, Ng Lun Ma, Ping Kuen. Weapon forms - Staff, Broadsword, spear. (They did stick, but I had to take a break to get water and do something else.)

    8:00 - Private CLF lesson. Started off reviewing and getting corrections on two person sets with Ms. R joining in. Spear vs Broadsword and Cross Pattern vs Plum Blossom. They are coming along. Lots to improve on, but I am happy with our progress. My instructor said a couple more weeks of working on these, then he will start us on the other sides of the forms.

    Then, review, corrections, and learning more of the Hand Breaking Fan form. Learned a big chunk of it. Then review of part of Ping Kuen- before we ran out of time.

    8:30 - practice of what I learned in my private lesson=hand breaking fan. Also a little practice of Shaolin Five Animal - the new part I am trying to learn and a little leading into it.

    9:00 - School closes

    2 hours and 30 minutes


    Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - Evening shift/ Rest day
     
  9. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    Thursday, October 11, 2018 - Had staff development day at work. Which had slightly different hours than my regular shift. So, I got to go into my school earlier than usual.

    First thing is that staff development day had a keynote speaker the first couple of hours. He gives talks all over the world on workplace security, and has Libraries as one of his specialties. He has written many books and was a Police officer. Here is the guy. About Dr. Steve – Dr Steve Albrecht

    It was far better than past keynote speakers. He was really good. And the interesting thing for me was he gave validation (not that I needed it) about the teachings of my school regarding self defense. What he taught about self defense were things I already learned from my school . One extra tip I hadn't learned. Also, at one point he played a video about active shooters. It wasn't produced by him, but he said it was very good. The video had one difference from what my Sifu teaches. To run in a zig zag line away from a shooter. My Sifu teaches to just run straight as fast as you can. So, I went up afterwards and asked him about it. I said what my Sifu teaches, and before I could say why, Mr. Albrecht said one of the main things my Sifu says. That it is harder than one realizes to hit any moving target. He said that both ways had some validity, but he agreed with my Sifu. It was just interesting to me to hear a completely different person teach the same things that my school teaches.

    I can't remember exactly when I got there, but I will estimate..........

    5:40 - I think I ran through some things before TCC class, but I can't remember what. I did also talk to my Sifu about my experiences with the keynote speaker. I think I did CLF - Ping Kuen.

    6:00 - I got to go to the full TCC class! Yay! 24, 40 and 32 Gim. Also some Chi Gung stretches and 8 Pieces of Brocade.

    7:00 - Tai Sifu Class. The other regular instructor also helped out with some of the class. Forms practice and details today. Staff, stick, formal exercise, Siu Moi Fa and Sup Ji Jit Fu. Also, 9 star two person. He had the more advanced people team up with those with less experience. I was teamed up with an intermediate student. Frankly, no offense or insult meant, but one who obviously almost never practices. I am actually surprised she joined this class. She isn't a regular and I doubt she will become one. I would love her to prove me incorrect on this assessment. She is someone who went to the school a long time ago, got her ranks, quit, and then came back. So, it was an err, interesting experience trying to do 9 star with her. I imagined what it must be like to be an instructor with a student like that. It was an interesting learning experience for me. How to try to get something across positive when all the basics were----not there. I did the best I could and I did learn some things. Like how to focus on teaching the most important thing and what to save for later. (Or in this case for her actual instructor.) I hope I got some good across in working with her. I don't want to be an instructor, but I do try to approach things like an instructor in my attitude and approach. I don't know if that makes any sense or not.

    8:00 - My TCC lesson got moved to tomorrow. My TCC instructor is going to test in a week, so he needed some lesson time with Tai Sifu and finding a time was hard. So I am happy to move my lesson. Solo practice. TCC - Small circle fast form..............jeez what else? My practices are all running together in my brain. I think I did Wind Chasing fan, double gim, 54 gim, flute. Maybe Buddha Palm? I may have done some CLF too, but can't remember what.

    9:00 - School closes

    3 Hours and 20 minutes
     
  10. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    Friday, October 12, 2018 -

    5:40ish - Solo practice. CLF - Shaolin Five Animal. I should mention that I put this in CLF in my training log as it is part of the CLF curriculum. But it isn't actually CLF. It is just labeled as the all too generic
    Shaolin." My GM learned it from GGM Lau Bun's teachers wife. So anyways, it is one of those idiosyncrasies. Very much like how I mention the CLF internal set of Buddha Palm in my TCC training. Because it is in my TCC curriculum, even though it is a CLF internal set.

    My CLF instructor walked by and gave a good correction while I was practicing.

    6:00 - The TCC class for those with a certain membership. It was just me and one other student. So, Tai Sifu took requests on what we wanted to go over. We chose the 48 combination form.

    6:35ish? - Maybe 6:40. Got a bit of a late start. Techniques practice with Ms. B. Ms. M could not be in today. All techniques 2 times- a few done an extra time.

    7:24 - Solo practice. Again, no two person with Ms. M tonight. Small circle fast form. Again, the last several days are running together in my brain, so I can't remember for sure what else. I want to say Ping Kuen as I know I did a lot of Ping Kuen this week. I am really trying to get the full memorization down.

    8:00 - TCC make up lesson from yesterday. Lots of detailing and working on the first 3rd or so of Small Circle Fast form. Good thing. I was reaching a point where my practices were getting more jumbled and worse- rather than improving things. I needed my instructor to help, which happened here. Just trying to get the nuances of the small circle movements down. It seems like I should just be able to move smaller and it is easy, but it - in practice- is harder than that for me. I am just not a quick learner. After that we worked on Buddha Palm. My Instructor feels I am on track to test NEXT time (not this time in a week) that our GM comes down for testing. That would be around March of next year. We will see how that shakes out.

    8:30 - solo practice. As usual, went over the details and corrections from my lesson with Small circle fast form. I also did a bit of CLF - 3 section staff for the first time in a few weeks. Working on the memory primarily. I JUST learned the whole thing, but had to take a few weeks off, due to the thumb issue. So, I didn't get in critical practice to solidify it in my brain. A little back tracking with this one, but that is ok.

    I feel like I did a little bit of the CLF hand breaking fan form sometime this day too.

    9:05ish - school closes


    3 hours and 25 minutes
     
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2018
  11. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    Saturday, October 13, 2018 -

    9:35ish- Sigh* once again - 5 minutes late. I can't seem to get a grip on this. Two person forms practice with Ms. R. Plum Blossom vs Cross Pattern. Coming along pretty well, but we are both struggling to figure out good pause points in this form. Broadsword vs spear.Also coming along, although not a far along as the hand form. That is to be expected as we started practicing this one after the other one. Just needs more hours put into it.

    10:00 - TCC class. Detailing out of 32 gim and 40.

    11:00 - Sparring class. First time back after having to take two weeks off from combatives, due to cortisone shots in my thumbs. A lot of kicking drills, then some light matches. I made a point to team up with a student I trusted working with. She has a back issue and I had a thumb issue, so we took care of each other and worked through our issues together. :) Then some light matches. Again, I made a point to only team up with people I trusted not go go wild. Normally I can handle it, but being extra cautious as I heal.

    12:00 - Advanced push hands/ moving step class. Push hands was all matches today. I had some good matches today. Particularly good partners to work with today. In moving step class, we had drills for double under hooks and trying to double under hook the opponent from the back. Then some matches.

    My thumbs definitely felt improved today. We will see how they feel tomorrow. That will be a test. How they feel the day after I pushed them a bit. But so far, so good!

    1:00 - Stretching class. Again, feeling like I am making progress in this class.

    1:30 - some rest! 4 hours of non-stop working out - including two hours of combatives. Just exhausted. And I didn't eat enough for breakfast to fuel this long of a workout. Just a bagel with cream cheese. I have to do better next time.

    1:50ish? - rest over. But my workout the rest of the day was definitely at a slower pace. No full speed CLF, just too tired. CLF - Shaolin Five Animal. Hand breaking Fan, 3 section staff. TCC - Small Circle Fast Form, 48 combination

    3:05ish - School closes

    Still working on memorizing the new few moves in Shaolin Five animal. Don't have it down totally yet. So I am not adding more until I get these down better.

    5 hours and 10 minutes

    Sunday, October 14, 2018 - Rest day

    2018 Week 41 = 17 hours and 47 minutes
    2018 Total Hours = 537 hours and 22 minutes


     
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2018
  12. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    Monday, October 15, 2018 -

    6:52 - got a last start today. Solo practice TCC - Buddha Palm

    7:00 - Stick Fighting Class. Yay! First time back in a couple of weeks. The instructor played us all in matches. I got some great tips from him. I still feel like the mouse - in a game of cat and mouse - when playing him.

    7:30 - Solo practice. CLF - Light practice of Wooden dummy. 3 section staff. Took a couple of questions to instructors, but I think I have it re-memorized again? TCC- Spear, Wind Chasing Fan, 54 gim, double gim, 48 combination, Small Circle Fast form.

    Ended with about 20 minutes of stretching.

    Estimate closing time

    10:00ish - School closes


    3 hours and 8 minutes
     
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  13. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    Tuesday, October 16, 2018 -

    6:41 - solo practice. My usual two person partner was ill today. Wooden Dummy. Shaolin Five Animal. got messed up at the newest part. My CLF instructor asked if he could help. He was nearby, but I was so messed up I couldn't explain where I needed help before he had to go to teach his next lesson. Back to watching the streaming video from our school.

    7:05ish? Both my partners were running a bit late to get started. Forms practice with Ms. B and Ms. R. Ms. M and I started with the Bot Gwa butterfly knives while we were waiting for Ms. R. Then the three of us practiced Broadsword, Staff, Spear, Stick. My thumbs were better, but where we were in back of the school was too close to cars to do the 3 section staff. So, onto hand forms. Ping Kuen, Ng Lun Ma and Ng Lun Choi, formal exercise.

    8:00 - CLF private lesson. Ms. R joined the lesson for the two person stuff. Reviewed and received corrections for Broadsword vs spear. My instructor said the details were good, but I need to shuffle back correctly. I was pushing off with the wrong foot. Yikes! and I need to jump higher, farther and shuffle larger. Plum Blossom vs Cross Pattern. We actually didn't do our best today. We did better our last few practices. Got stuck in a couple of places we haven't recently. But overall, still making progress. Talkd to my instructor again about where pauses are and discussed I am having trouble figuring them out. This form just does not have a flow where the usual pauses would apply. He gave some advice.

    Then we went over the Hand Breaking Fan. Received corrections and learned more of it. Then, review and corrections for three section staff. He helped me with one part that was all wrong. Turned out my hand placement was wrong, throwing the move off. I think can do it correctly now.

    8:30 - Practice of that hand placement correction for the three section staff. Practice new part of hand breaking fan. Took a couple of minutes to talk to a fellow student.

    9:05 - School closes


    2 hours and 10 minutes

    Wednesday, October 17, 2018 - Evening shift/ rest day

     
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  14. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    Thursday, October 18, 2018 -

    Well, I realized I somehow did not have a uniform shirt packed! I thought I had packed one the night before. So, I had to go home and get one. So, I missed the last half of TCC class.

    6:52 - Solo Practice. Forget what I did though. Sure it was TCC. I think it was Small Circle Fast form?

    7:00- Advanced CLF class. Taught by the senior instructor. Tai Sifu is playing chauffer to our GM. He is in town for advanced testing and GM seminars this weekend. Techniques and kicks. Blue and Purple sash.

    8:00 - TCC Private lesson. Small circle fast form and Buddha palm review and corrections.

    8:30 - Practiced what we went over in my private lesson to get it down. So, more small circle fast form and Buddha Palm. Then, Flute, double gim, and again- can't remember what.

    9:30ish - Left school

    2 hours and 38 minutes


    Friday, October 19, 2018 -

    For the first hour or so, Advanced testing was going on in the big room. Our GM is down this weekend and there have been tests going all day. Both for regular students and instructors. My CLF instructor tested in TCC and my TCC instructor tested in CLF! :D 3 other instructors from my location tested. So happy for them!

    6:30 - Ms. B was out today, so Ms. M and I started two person practice. Plum Blossom vs Cross Pattern. Starting to fine tune and detail out sections, rather than just run through the whole form again and again. Trying to figure out pauses. Then we did Spear vs Broadsword.

    After that we worked on Ms. M's TCC material. 32 gim. She just learned Da Lu, so we did that for the first time. Then some pattern and competitive stationary step push hands.

    9:00 - School closes

    2 hours and 30 minutes

    Saturday, October 20, 2018 - School is closed. Because our Grandmaster Seminars are this weekend. GM Doc-Fai Wong comes down once a year for seminars. I was all excited to go, because I didn't have to worry about a test or anything. So I could enjoy it. But this year the seminars offered didn't particularly interest me. So, I thought I would get stuff done around the house, but I was a total bum!

    Except in the evening we had our exhibition! They rent out a place and the top instructors, Sifu, GM and Tai Sigung put on an amazing show. This year was great! Both my instructors performed. I am so lucky to be their student. I am all inspired to get back to training next Monday!

    Sunday, October 21, 2018 - Rest day

    Short workout week this week!

    2018 Week 42 = 10 hours and 26 minutes
    2018 Total Hours = 547 hours and 48 minutes
     
    Last edited: Oct 21, 2018
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  15. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    Monday, October 22, 2018 - (will fill in later)

    I wasn't feeling very good this day.

    6:20ish - solo practice. Bud gosh darn it, I can't remember what.

    7:00 - Stick fighting class. Did drills on incorporating more head movement to avoid strikes. Some slower speed matches. Liked the drills, I confess, as I think I have done before, that the slower speed matches are not my favorite thing. Except when I did a match with the instructor. Got a lot of good info with that round.

    7:30 Solo practice. Thinking about the recent advanced testing last Friday, I got curious about how long my next TCC test will be. I realized, after noticing two students who tested for their first degree had a quicker test than I expected, that it WOULD be a shorter test than senior black fringe. After Senior black, in both CLF and TCC, you test in the current curriculum level and the last, but not EVERYTHING up to that point like in past tests. So I timed myself running through everything for my next test. Except one short form I don't fully remember. (That would be the two person sabre.) Anyways, it was about 40 minutes. I think it may be time to start running through a format once a week. I get bogged down in details, and then have problems flowing through a full test format without stopping to fix details. So it might be good to start working on that now. I will ask my instructor next TCC lesson.

    I think I did some CLF wooden dummy too. And if I am remembering correctly, some 3 section staff.

    No instructor seminars tonight. Usually they get the night off after GM Seminar weekend as most instructors go to that all weekend long.

    9:25ish? - Left school.

    3 hours and 5 minutes


    Tuesday, October, 23 -

    6:30 - 2 person staff practice with Ms. B

    7:00 - forms practice with Ms. R and Ms. M. Got a LOT done tonight! Weren't doing so, but sort of felt like running through a format. Started off with what I know of Shaolin Five Animal with Ms. R only. Then Ms. M joined us and we did Ping Kuen, Ng Lun Ma and Ng Lun Choi, Small Five Animal, Sup Ji Jit Fu, Siu Moi Fa, formal Exercise. Spear, staff, stick and broadsword.

    8:00 - Private CLF lesson. Same format as the last few months. Ran through Spear vs Broadsword and Plum Blossom vs Cross Pattern and received corrections. I need to jump further. Also I didn't realize how far the spear should be past my opponent in some moves. Way more than I realized. Then going through the Hand Breaking Fan form and learning a few new moves. Then review and corrections for Ping Kuen, which I messed up on a lot. Just one weekend off and my memory got bad. Sheessh.

    8:30 - Practiced new part of fan form. Also worked on 3 section staff. Stuck at the end.

    9:05ish School closes

    2 hours and 35 minutes


    Wednesday, October 24, 2018 -
    Evening shift/ Rest day
     
    Last edited: Oct 25, 2018
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  16. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    Thursday, October 25, 2018 -

    6:30 - last half of TCC class.

    7:00 Advanced CLF class. Forms review and corrections today. Formal exercise, Siu Moi Fa, Stick and Staff.

    8:00 - TCC Private lesson. Review and corrections for all my current curriculum level. (Small Circle Fast form, Double Gim, Wind Chasing Fan, Buddha Palm & 9 Dragon spear.) Got through all 5 in the half hour lesson. I am not sure if I just did pretty good today and didn't need a lot of corrections, so we got further. Or if he held back on some corrections to put me in a sort of test format mode to see how that went. I suspect it was a little of both. He did say I did well. Joked about what TCC pill did I take before the lesson, because my TCC was good.

    I am hoping if he is happy with this, that he will start to review my previous curriculum level stuff and detail/ correct it soon. That material will also be in my next test. I am particularly not feeling confident in my 48 combination form and I really want him to look at it and help me improve it.

    8:30 - Practiced a little of his corrections, but also did some CLF. Gosh darn it if I can't recall exactly.

    9:00 - School closes

    2 hours and 30 minutes


    Friday, October 26, 2018 -

    5:15ish - Warmed up with doing Ping Kuen slowly.

    5:30 - TCC class for certain membership. With Tai Sifu. It was only Ms. M and I. Tai Sifu asked if we had any requests for what to go over. We did. Ms. M just learned Da Lu. And I am rusty on it. AND it turns out there were some corrections from our GM in the way our schools have been teaching it. This came out in last weekends GM seminars. So, actually a lot of the corrections make sense. It is some relearning of things for me, which is a bit confusing, but it is all good. We only did one side.

    6:00 - Weapons class. Weapon techniques. Double dagger techniques. Some good stuff in this class!

    6:30 - Little bit of a break. Took Ms. M and Ms B and I a bit of time to get our stuff together.

    6:45ish - Techniques practice with Ms. M and Ms. B. All techniques 2 times. The usual doing a few an extra time if one of us needed it.

    7:25-7:30ish - Two person practice with Ms. M. Started with Plum Blossom vs Cross Pattern. The room was crowded after that, so we did 32 gim and then, when the room cleared out, did spear vs broadsword. Had to get an instructor to help with the end of that one. Our angles were off. The instructor fixed it. :p Then we did one side of Golden Leopard vs Tiger. Well, that started off not so good. My partner hasn't done it in awhile. We have been focusing on our new materials. I have been doing it with others. It got better and came back to her, but it took a bit of work. We agreed we have to mix in a little of our older materials most every practice from now on.

    Then we went over Da Lu again. And then some pattern push hands practice.

    I would post a video clip of Da Lu, but so far I haven't found a decent one to post. I'll keep looking. Da Lu could be considered a min two person form, but my Sifu calls it more of a two person drill. It focuses on developing the other 4 energies (of the 8) of Tai Chi Chuan that are not in pattern push hands.

    9:00 - School closes

    3 hours and 30 minutes


    Saturday, October 27, 2018 - work day/ rest day.

    Sunday, October 28, 2018 - Rest day

    2018 Week 43 = 11 hours and 40 minutes
    2018 Total Hours = 559 hours and 28 minutes
     
    Last edited: Oct 28, 2018
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  17. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    Monday, October 29, 2018 -

    6:33ish - TCC - 9 dragon spear. CLF - solo practice of spear side of spear vs broadsword and Cross Pattern side of Cross Pattern vs Plum Blossom. A bit of stretching. Hand Breaking Fan.

    7:00 - Stick Fighting class. Matches. Slower speed ones as usual lately. We did stick vs stick ones, then some stick vs unarmed. The stick person could only use the stick, but the unarmed person could use self defense fighting. I.E. targets we don't use in our usual fighting rules for sparring. Light power. Then, same thing, self defense style light and slower sparring with both of us unarmed. Sort of weird for stick fighting class. but the instructor was, I think, trying to get us to see the connecting between the different fighting. He had us making a lot of connections to bridge in to other moves. It was cool because it allowed us to do more of our techniques in CLF than our sparring allows. I.e. joint locks, more targets, etc. We had the face cage on still, so we could target the face. And we had the open gloves, so we could do things like palm strikes and grabs (Chin Nau's). Class ran a bit long.

    The stick fighting instructor is now running Saturday sparring class too. And he said he would be having people doing this type of sparring in that class. Working our way up to faster and more power with more experience.

    7:35 - Solo practice. CLF - Wooden Dummy, three section staff and Ping Kuen. Started a little Shaolin Five Animal, but didn't get very far with it today. TCC - Double Gim, Buddha Palm, Small Circle Fast Form & Wind Chasing Fan. Mixed more stretching in throughout the practice session. Did some of 48 combination form, but ran out of time before I could finish it.

    10:02 - School closes

    It was a good solid productive practice session today. :)


    3 hours and 29 minutes
     
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  18. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    Tuesday, October 30, 2018 -

    6:30- Two person staff practice with Ms, B.

    7:00- No forms practice with Ms. M and Ms. R. Ms. R couldn't make it, so I talked to Ms. M and we took this week off. I needed some solo time to work on other stuff. Primarily, I am gearing up slowly in my brain for my next test. So, I am now running myself through a format for my next TCC test once a week. Today was it for this week. Second time I have done it. I did every form except the two person saber, I need my instructor to review it with me as I don't remember it well at all. Took 41 minutes. Everything did not run smoothly, but it wasn't too bad for the second time. The not smooth part reinforced I need to be doing this.

    See, I tend to get bogged down in details and corrections, then get flustered when HAVING to do the whole thing and not stop and fix things along the way. I need to practice both ways. In general, really not just getting ready for tests. But I don't always as much as I should.

    I started at 7:07 - so..............

    7:48 - A bit of time assessing how the format went. Going over it in my mind. A bit of stretching as well.

    8:00 - Private CLF lesson. Review and corrections for Small Hand Breaking Fan form. Also learned the last part of it! I made my goal of learning it fully by the end of October. Then, review and corrections for Ping Kuen. Then same for 3 section staff. We didn't get very far in the three section staff before time ran out.

    8:30 - went over new part of Fan form to get it ingrained in my head.

    9:00 - school closes

    2 hours and 30 minutes


    Wednesday, October 31, 2018 - Happy Samhain! Evening shift/ rest day.
     
  19. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    Thursday, November 1, 2018 -

    6:30 - Last half of TCC class. Can't remember what we did. More focused on things that happened after that class this being Saturday I am writing this.)

    7:00 - Advanced CLF class - Techniques and kicks corrections and review. I think it was blue and Purple level. I have to go look at a curriculum manual to make sure though.

    8:00 - TCC Private lesson - Started to review and get corrections for a form from my last curriculum level. But one that I could possibly have to do in my next test. And one that I am not feeling is looking/ feeling right about lately. That would be the 48 combination form. We got a bit past a quarter of it only, because there was tons of detailing and corrections! It was awesome! It was the type of lesson I love. Some of the details were some corrections our GM gave in general when he was down for seminars and tests recently. Some were just advanced details of some moves. Keep in mind my current instructor didn't teach me this form. So, he reviewed a tournament version of it (for a tournament), but he hasn't actually seen me do this whole form or go over it with me. When one changes instructors, they always seem to have a new take on ones stuff.

    I wish I could explain it, but it would be hard to explain without showing it. It had to do with small tweakings of moves I have known for years. Things like how to better utilize whole body movement with just a little adjustment in positions and timing of the movement. It is the sort of stuff that is peeling back the layers of an art and delving yet deeper. There ALWAYS seem to be deeper layers and that is part of what I love about martial arts. :)

    So, my mind was blown in a really good way! It was an awesome lesson!

    8:30 - practiced what I learned in my TCC lesson.

    9:00 - School closes

    2 hours and 30 minutes


    Friday, November 2, 2018 -

    6:30 - Techniques practice with Ms. M and Ms. B. Got a slow start because there wasn't room in our usual place. And so we went down a bit out back. But that was behind a parking row and the cars were very busy. Things cleared out after a bit and we could go to behind the school and practice more uninterrupted. I was a bit off. Making weird memory mistakes- more than usual and ones I don't usually make. Eh, I have learned some days are off like that. I don't worry unless I have several in a row like that. The thing is to not give up and still do your best. Even if your best that day isn't up to your usual best.

    After that it was two person practice with Ms. M. LOL- it was her turn to be a bit off. She was getting stuck more than the last few practices. Again, some days are like that. Cross Pattern vs Plum Blossom and Spear vs Broadsword. Also, both sides of Golden Leopard vs Tiger, which went far better than last week.

    After that we did the form for her TCC curriculum level - the 32 Gim. Then we practiced Da Lu with the details Tai Sifu gave us in advanced TCC class last week. Still just one side. Hopefully, we will be ready for the other side next time. Then some Pattern.

    9:00 - School closes

    2 hours and 30 minutes

     
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  20. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    Saturday, November 3, 2018 -

    10:05ish - Five or so minutes late to TCC class. Came in the middle of 8 Pieces of Brocade. Then continuing the detailing out of the 32 gim. Then detailing out the 24 combination form. I worked on the new details given to me in my last private lesson doing this form. As well as what the instructor of the class was saying, but mostly the new details from my private lesson.

    11:00 - Sparring class. Well, Tai Sifu isn't teaching this class any more. But the instructor is the one who teaches the stick fighting class. He is one of my favorite instructors for teaching combatives classes. We started off with some hanging bag kick work. Then some drills with a partner. I was matched up with well, sort of an annoying partner. But the class was good in spite of that. The issue I had with this partner is she isn't very committed to practice. She is a beginner level, but was quick to tell me in the past that she isn't a beginner. She told me all about how she isn't one, and studied at another location for years, but had other commitments etc.

    I don't mind working with beginners, but it is annoying to work with one who is just not growing because she doesn't practice and rarely goes to sparring class. An example" we took a water break, but she was extra long in getting back for the next drill. I had to wait because she was off in a corner taking selfies of herself showing how tough she was in sparring class! Yet she quit early a couple of rounds later. Quit the class and went back to playing on her cell phone. She also just stopped in the middle of a light round and started stretching. I was like "don't drop your guards and stretch in the middle of a round!" If you are injured, tell your partner and give a time out, but otherwise don't do that!" :mad: The point is, when someone is being lazy and not pushing themselves, it affects MY training being partnered with them.

    Anyways, We were doing rounds holding the big kicking shield bags. Rounds of kicks, then punches, then everything...... She quit after the first round. I looked at the instructor like "aw come on man, did you see this?" He came over and held the bag for me.

    So the other thing about those rounds is my thumbs felt good lately, so I decided to test them I hit the kicking shield full power for the first time in ages!!!! It felt GREAT!!! Now my Physical Therapist had told me that one does have to test an injury once in awhile to see how it is doing. So I did do so under his instructions. Maybe I did a little too big of a jump, admittedly.

    I did gas the last round. It was a reminder that you gas hitting full power in a way that you don't when hitting lighter power. But it was important to see where I am at - the good and the bad.

    So my thumbs held up for that, AND the class afterwards. Started to feel sore a few hours later. They are sore now, the next day. But NOT terribly totally sore. I am making slow, agonizingly slow, progress. but it IS progress.

    12:00 - Advanced Push Hands/ Moving step class. It was just me and my two person partner, Ms. M today. So, we did what is called the Hu Yuen Chou workout. He is a GM, long passed away, in my lineage. It was a 10 minute push hands round one one side, then the other side, then a 10 minute round of moving step. Now this was a "light" version of it. As we did stop and ask for instructor help with moves in the middle of it. And Ms. M is beginning level at push hands, so I wasn't going all out, which was fine and I still learned. (See, with regards to my complaint in sparring class? I don't have an issue working with beginners at all, just ones going half-arsed committed because it affects my training.)

    Then we did some drills.

    1:00 - I skipped stretching class. The regular instructor was out today. I only go when she is teaching it. Because she does a lot of specialized stretches, while the other instructors do basic ones. I know how to do basic stretching on my own.

    So I took a bit of a break, as I usually do after all classes on Saturdays. It is 3 to 3 and a half straight hours of classes.

    1:35ish - solo practice. CLF - Hand Breaking Fan.3 section staff- focusing on certain sections I am having trouble with., Shaolin Five Animal, Ng Lun Ma and Ng Lun Choi. TCC - that first quarter or so of the 48 combination form - focusing on details from last private lesson. Small Circle Fast form.

    3:28 - School Closes.

    4 Hours and 48 Minutes

    Sunday, November 4, 2018 - Rest day


    2018 Week 44 = 15 hours and 47 minutes
    2018 Total Hours = 575 hours and 15 minutes
     
    Last edited: Nov 4, 2018

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