Nachi's Log

Discussion in 'Training Logs' started by Nachi, Apr 23, 2015.

  1. Travess

    Travess The Welsh MAPper Supporter

    Good luck with that - Sounds like you've got your work cut out for you!

    A version of one at least - I was trying, amidst the thunder, and lightening (which hit a tree near by) to teach Seyunchin.

    Travess
     
  2. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Oh, I thought it did look like Seiyunchin, so I was curious :)
    Wow, ok, I would probably not stay outside if lightning was hitting around, haha :D That is some hard-core training! :)
     
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  3. Travess

    Travess The Welsh MAPper Supporter

    That's what I said!!! But my wife calls it "being an idiot" - Difference of opinion I guess :D

    Travess
     
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  4. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Hahaha, well, I can certainly see where she's coming from :D (sorry)
     
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  5. Travess

    Travess The Welsh MAPper Supporter

    :eek::eek::eek::eek:

    Travess
     
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  6. axelb

    axelb Master of Office Chair Fu

    My other half has similar comments when I do those sorts of things :D
     
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  7. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Saturday 29.5.

    I wanted to practice Taiji, especially the new stuff we learnt and I hadn't yet a chance to try at home. However, I was feeling a bit hot in the morning and sure enough discovered I had a risen temperature, which kept rising up to 37,9°C in the evening. Since Sett is forbidden from moving, I first did the round of chores, trying to multitask as much as I could, but still took 5 hours. Then I didn't really feel like exercising.

    My muscles ached, especially neck and back and kept waking up during the night due to back pain, unable to find a position that felt comfortable. In the morning, my temperature was pretty much the same, but I decided to take it easier today. Honestly, when sitting down etc. I didn't feel ill at all, even moving around normally was ok. I mowed the grass with our push mower, which is normally Sett's job, burning some 650 kcal (I did measure it as a training, yes :D )
    Since I felt pretty ok afterwards, I didn't even think about skipping
    Online Taiji - instructors
    Since I was the first person to come after the teacher, I appologized in advance, that I am not at perfect health today (37,8°C still), so I will not be pushing myself. I didn't feel weak or anything though, but when I assumed my normal, relatively wide stance, my legs were a bit wobbly and shaking. After doing most of the sequence I knew, I was breathing harder than normal and was all sweaty. Luckily, then we mostly practiced only the first forms or a form again and again, trying to figure out the principles of mevement, so I was assuming higher stances and honestly, whenever the teacher looked like He'd be talking for even a bit, I sad down on the coach behind me. I hope it wasn't too impolite, but I appologized in advance, so I hope it was ok. I also didn't get any corrections today, which, for once, I think I appreciated.
    I was feeling pretty ok after the training, too, except that my neck muslces started hurting again, so I couldn't move my head much at all.

    When I realised I was a bit sick, I got immediately worried about Covid, since I finally started visiting some classes in the last couple of weeks, but I couldn'T figure out where I was in a close contact with someone and since I wasn't coughing, I immediately calmed down. I tested myself later and sure enough the test turned out negatinve.
    What I am most worried about is that next week there is finally the first Taiji seminar that I really want to go to. I will, certainly not go to classes this week, just the Wednesday online one and will hope I get better asap. :/

    I also hope it won't get in the way of my covid vaccine since I booked myself a term on the 9th June. But that is still quite far.
     
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  8. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    I was still unable to quickly get rid of the cold. I therefore skipped all the inperson classes this week.
    Since in the weekend, there is a Taiji seminar at the teacher's home I was really looking forward, I kept pondering whether to go or not. My muscles and head stopped hurting after a couple of days and I decided to wait till Wednesday morning to decide - so that I don't cancell at the last minute. Thursday evening, I was feeling pretty good, pretty much like normal, though maybe warmer, but I was rejoicing that my temperature has surely gone down. I took a thermometer and to my dismay discovered that it actually rose up to 38,4°C. :( I don't remember ever having a fever like that and feeling so fine. I can usually tell I am ill by my heart rate monitor that shows a hr at around 80-100 while sitting, but now, my lowest HR measured that evening was even below 50, just like normal. Curious. I waited till the morning, but have decided by this point that I would have to cancel the seminar, so first thing in the morning I wrote and email. I usually get a response fairly fast as there are two receptionists taking care of emails, but I never heard anything back today.
    In the day, my temperature got down to 36,7°C, almost normal and I felt pretty fine, so I did attend the online class.
    Online Taiji
    The moment I logged in a couple of minutes late, I immediately heard: "Ah, here she is!" The teacher, as expected, said he heard I was sick or what so how am I. I said I was fairly ok, but still, the fever. I was half worried the teacher would say exactly what he did. They won't be able to fill my place with anyone else, so it dosn't really matter if I still wait and see, if I am still thinking about going. Thing is, I believe I would be able to endure the training, but I feel bad mixing with people when not healthy especially at this time. Ah, what to do. Apparently, from the other comments, there will be at least two more people from our group there, so there would be a group of us at hte same level, which would be great. I will probably still wait it out and see till Friday morning. A slight temperature might be fine, if only I wasn't starting to cough, too :(
    The training went ok. I was a bit rusty as I wasn't training at all this week, but didn't feel tired, my legs weren't wobbly anymore, and I was feeling well throughout, except for sweating quite a bit and breathing a bit harder. Aaah, why do I have to get ill at such a time! Grrrr! :mad: I was so looking forward to this seminar! I keep downing anti-fever and anti-cough drinks, but.... they don't seem to be of a huge help.
     
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  9. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    So.... since the teacher didn't dismiss the idea of me coming to the seminar, I couldn't get it out of my head especially as I was feeling quite alright overall. I thought if I was feeling ok, I'd go for it, but I had better get tested for Covid properly first. I was looking into how to get a PCR test and found out it would be best through my GP, so I called her and she said to come see her, she'd test me with the antigen test. If that is how it works now, I thought it'll be at least quick and I won't have to wait long for the results. My test came out negative as expected and the GP told me I can go to the event I told her about. My temperature wasn't high anyway, so there probably wasn't anything to worry about. I had a slight cough, but really only a slight one, which I think wouldn't count for much.

    TAIJI WEEKEND SEMINAR - TALAVAN
    Since my car is yet again leaking and I haven't really taken my bike out properly this year, I decided to ride there. It somehow took 3,5 hours to get there as I was avoiding the main roads (I have a small bike after after all).
    Friday 4.6.
    I arrived among the last, nearly in time for dinner. I was welcomed by the teacher's lively and sociable 9 yo son who warned me about their mischievous Tibetan Mastiff puppy, who like to jump people, bite their hand and not let go. As soon as I enetered and it saw a newcomer, it jumped me, bit my hand and wouldn't let go.... With my hand covered in saliva, I didn't even dare to shake other people's hands in greeting...

    For dinner our group of around 10 people sat at the two round tables for home-made vegetarian sushi. The young son arrived as well and to his mom's question what he was doing there he'd reply: "I am going to go around and talk to people! I hope that doesn't count as being annoying?" :D Everything that comes out of his mouth is pure gold. We all had to laugh at his antics all the time. Especially when he started about his worries how he'll one day have to find a wife and convince her to be vegetarian. Then he went on to ask me my age. He guessed 18-19, which made me feel rather good, until he continued with his reasoning: "That is because you look like my brother.".... When my neighbor, a man I would say around 60 tried to explain it is not polite to aske women about their age, the kid asked back: And how old are you, then? 70? :D Hahaha, I couldn't anymore.

    After dinner we had a first training. There were a couple people who knew only the first five forms, so first we did five forms to four directions. Throughout, the teacher's mischievous youngest son would make faces at me from behind the teacher. He was making trouble later when we were talking, so I showed him practically, how to use some joint locks on mischievous kids. And showed him a little how to punch at least since he was already hitting me back.... I wonder how I always attract people to tease me. Even kids, now!

    In the evening I was feeling feverish again, but slept through it.
     
    Last edited: Jun 7, 2021
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  10. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    TAIJI WEEKEND SEMINAR - TALAVAN
    Saturday 5.6.

    I was quite sluggish in the morning as well, so I only got up for the official warm-up, not sooner as many did and I used to as well. The teacher was leading the silk reeling today and I decided to take it easy, did it all in a fairly high stance and focused more on the technique and mechanics of it.

    We then had breakfast and started the main morning block on nearly three hours (burned over 1100 kcal). I wasn't holding back with the lower stances anymore, I felt better. But the teacher wanted us to focus on breath and do everything slow according to our breath and I think I generally did manage to slow everything down, and I felt like I wasn't overdoing it, so it was good.
    We started with 5 forms to 4 direction, this time the teacher wanted to observe, so I was asked to stand at the front. The two who didn't know any more forms left to form a group and practice by themselves, while we continued with 14 forms, which was what most people here kept working on there. There were some that knew more, but were practicing the basics on these and two much advanced students who generally practiced on their own elsewhere.
    We were given some corrections and I was asked to try forms 6-14 without using hands, only focusing on how the hips move and to try to move them without pause. Everyone was asked to do this in the end, 10x. It was harder than it looked. I wasn't sure about some places, which meant that I probably neglected how the hips move there normally and should work on those. I think this was a really good exercise. Other than that, the corrections I got were mostly about keeping my back straight - I did improve in the past year, but not enough yet. I am holding my bakc straightened at all times, but not everytime it is enough. Usually the teacher only needs to remind me and I can figure out how to straighten in more as opposed to having the teacher help me figure out how to do that. At least something I learned...
    Later me and another classmate formed a group of our own, practising all the moves we learned - up to 33rd form. There was also another classmate of ours, but she didn't remember the newer forms well and deicded to work with the 14 forms group.

    After lunch we did pretty uch the same - practicing first the 14 forms/moves, then the 33. Then it started raining, so we moved into a small gym and practiced group by group with the teacher giving corrections. The mischievous puppy made his appearance again and stole my napkins. He often picks stuff up in hopes people start chasing after him, which usuall yworks. I jumped at him and seized the napkins, but realised he still had the top one in his mouth, the dirty one actually. For me to take it back, I'd have to forcefully open his mouth first and before I was able to catch him and do that, he simply ate the napkin instead and proceeded to try and lick people, who were now in turn doing their best to avoid him....lol

    When the rain ceased, I saw the two advanced people who were taking their time to practice weapons also pick up spears. Since I haven't practiced the bit I learned of that form for months and the teacher mentioned I could work on it today (that was before the rain), I took the chance to observe them a few times to remind myself of all the moves I knew and tried a few times. When one of the advanced offered to help guide me, it started raining again, so I gave up as it was soon time for dinner anyway.

    In the evenings there is usually some talk by the teacher about Taiji or something and since he's been doing this regularly as online sessions on Sundays throughout the lockdown, he picked a topic to talk about and streamed it online at the same time. It was nice, we had bee balm tea so I was downing it nonstop as I got feverish again and fairly thirsty. We went to sleep short after.

    3454 kcal burned today.
     
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  11. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    TAIJI WEEKEND SEMINAR - TALAVAN
    Sunday 6.6.

    Again got up for the morning silk reeling. After breakfast, I was again stood in front of the group and we worked first on the first 5 moves, hten 14, then me and my classmate made a group of our own working on all we knew. We got some corrections when the teacher came around. Also another senior student joined us, who, however, was also unsure in some things, so we put our heads together in solving some problems that arose.

    After lunch we started earlier for maybe a 2 hour block. After a bit of practicing, though, the teacher spent quite some time talking about some principles, so we could relax and only listen. To demonstrate some of it I was asked to make a pair with a guy to try and push against each other in a way to keep our body relaxed and really not use any force, just feeling the push in our heel. I think it worked nicely, though it was only a short exercise. Each of us then got some final or general advice on what to focus on improving now. I should still work on keeping my back straight (that was a matter of course) and as I thought, now that I feel I figured out the movement of the hips a little, I learned to overdo it and move the hips way to much, so I should make the movements smaller, smoother and continuous. Also I feel recently I improved in stepping sideways into the wider stances without clumsily dumping down some weight. I got a lot of corrections to learn to work with my center of gravity some time ago, but not anymore and I feel my legs have gotten stronger and I improved in this :)
    Although for the past week I was resting and didn't practice much I got back into it fast when training for the whole weekend and could feel an improvement - maybe in a sense that I could do the form with more ease and was actually able to slow down a bit, which was giving me trouble. Maybe as I wasn't in full health, I was more sluggish in general :D I am already looking forward to the next seminar in a month.

    Throughout the weekend, to my surprise I actually got complimented by the three beginner students. I always feel awkward when being complimented, but it did make me quite happy, obviously! It was so nice of them to go out of their way to say something nice like that. One of the students said he only just started learning here, but he had 10 years of experience in Yang and I think one more style of Taiji. I feel it is such a pity that there wasn't much time after that, for I would love to see a demonstration of a Yang style form to see the differences. Sure, I saw videos, but a live demonstration would be much better and I was curious.

    At around 4 pm the seminar officially ended, so we came pack our stuff and went home. The weather was nice and I was enjoying riding my bike in between the villages, but my joy didn't last too long as I soon started feeling the fever coming back. I stopped to put on some extra layers as to not get cold and this time made it home in slightly over 2,5 hours. When I arrived, though, I felt like just taking a hot shower and going to bed. Indeed, my temperature was 38,8°C... I guess going to the seminar really didn't help. I took something against the fever, took a slightly colder shower that made me shiver like crazy and sweated through the night. Looks like I'll be skipping classes next week as well. Sigh, it's been ages since I last did some karate... Around a month, to be more specific, but feels like ages.
    Also, on Wednesday I was supposed to get my first dose of Covid vaccine, but I can only cancel it now. :(
     
  12. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Wednesday 9.6.

    Skipped classes, skipped vaccination, but I wanted to at least go to today's
    Online Taiji
    We again skipped the silk reeling, only a short meditation and on to working onto the form. The teacher, as is slowly becoming his habit, switched off his camera and put me on the big screen to go through the form as a reference to everyone.
    After, we wer going through some of the newer movements we learned and got several corrections, before working on the last thing we learned last time and added a tiny bit more.
    The class went well, but I am still not healthy and honestly didn't feel that great today. When exercising without stopping for a while, I had to breath quite hard and I was coughing quite a bit throughout. I actually felt much better on the semanar last weekend. I wonder when I'll get rid of this.
     
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  13. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    In the last couple of days my temperature has gone down so that it doesn't seem to go above 37,5°C. However, I started coughing instead, not much when sitting, but quite hard when standing up and moving around sometimes. Which led to the fact that I basically feel the same or perhaps a little worse than with the fever. I feel like just not doing anything, and my parents were a big help, my mom cooked for me and Sett a meal for most of the next week so that I don't have to cook, which now I appreciate greatly. I also managed to get 8-9 hours of sleep in the weekend, so I thought that could help, too.

    Sunday 10.6.
    I felt quite ok during the day when sitting. I did a little work in the garden - some weeding, but not much else today. I wanted to try to go to online Taiji today. We had the instructor class, which is always great and I thought since it is online and more relaxed, if I felt bad, I would just stop, sit down and listen.
    Online Taiji - instructors
    Like that I also wanted to gauge if I could perhaps go and teach the karate classes of one day next week in order to help sensei. I feel bad appologizing again. However, I decided not to, yet. Today, we were just talking most of the class or just trying some forms separately, but I soon was a little out of breath, my heart beating too fast compared to the effort and I coughed throughout the class, completely tiring myself out. I will only do the one online Taiji class next week and keep resting. We have a traditional karate weekend seminar in a couple of weeks and I really hope to get better by then. Well, I hoped to get back into form, but it's already going to be impossible, it seems.
     
  14. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Wednesday 16.6.

    I am slowly starting to feel better. My temperature got nearly normal, even compared to yesterday my cough is better, too, no more (whooping?) cough.
    Online Taiji
    I arrived late due to technical trouble - I was unable to connect my TV as a display, so I only gave up close to the end of the silk reeling. When we finished that and the teacher was speaking, I realised I had probably audio connected to the TV, but I switched the TV off, the result being I did not hear anything. I was just hoping the teacher wasn't asking me to lead the form for now. Well, really hope not.
    We went through the form and stopped at a few of the newer forms, correcting them. We continued with the 34. form, learning the rest. The teacher warned us it was one of the hardest forms to learn - at least when it came to arm movements and that it will be tough to explain online. Well it was hard. I will need to practice.
    As for the form before that - the jumping kick, we only tried without the jump so far as we were learning online and practicing at home. The teacher however explained that when we practice it jumping, we need to land on one foot and step sideways with the other. Looks like I'd better learn the jumping version at home and practice the landing and stepping sideways. I was a bit wobbly, but I think after I practice for a bit, it could be ok. Well, at least on the surface. I can imaging adding the silk reeling and the flow there won't be easy at all.

    Felt relatively ok after training, though I could feel my heart beating harder and breath getting shorter than usual. After class, my temperature was 37,2°C, which showes I am not completely healthy, yet, but this type of temperature is ok for functioning normally in most cases. The only thing that bothers me that the last weekend of June is fast approaching, and with it our annual karate seminar. I really wanted to get fit by then, but I will only have a week, at most, to get myself together and maybe start training a little. It makes me annoyed. I simply don't want to go there and be exhausted after a few exercises and struggle throughout. Unfortunately, this seminar is usually quite demanding. :(
     
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  15. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Monday 21.6.

    There was no online Taiji this weekend.

    I am feeling better, cough less, though I still have my temperature slightly risen and still feel not very energetic. I am thinking about the upcoming karate weekend. I've never missed it os far and it is a great event, but honestly it really is exhausting even when I'm healthy. I have to decide if I am going at the beginning of this week. I decided to go to in-person Taiji and perhaps karate to try. However, these past few days, the weather is very hot and I am starting to think I won't go to the outside karate class after all.
    I tried in-person Taiji first today to see how it goes.
    Taiji
    Got the warm-up together with a friend, who is also a beginning instructor like me. The heat wasn't so bad inside, but not that cold, wither, so I got sweaty all over very soon. I tend to try lower stances than at home in online classes - this floor is so much better! But I could feel my legs shaking after a while. I didn't need to adjust the height, but did tire my legs out somewhat. After silk reeling we did 5 forms to 4 directions and then 14 forms a couple times before working on one of the movements. I was practicing relatively slowly, but felt a bit stiff after not practicing much lately and generally couldn't get into it too much. My back also went out of habit of keeping straihgt, so I got several reminders about that. This was a class for practicing 14 forms, so we didn't go beyond that. I would say that other than being stiff and stuff which can be attributed to not practicing much lately, it went quite ok for me, but I did feel tired.
    It may be also due to the weather, but when I checked my recorder training, I found out my average HR was 150 and max HR 171 :eek: I get why I didn't feel that comfortable and was tired. I mean, that kind of average HR I only got during the toughest karate or crossfit trainings thus far. After thinking not for too long, honestly, I decided the karate weekend is a no-go for me this time. I couldn't keep up with karate trainings, much less a whole weekend of them - around 6-7 hours on Saturnday and 4 on Sunday. No way.
     
  16. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Tuesday 22.6.

    Taiji
    This is the main class I'll be attending now, which is open for all people, no matter how much of the whole form they know. But nearly if not all the attendees are familiar faces to me, meaning they are the people who were attending before - my group and a much more advanced group that knows the whole or nearly the whole Lao Jia Yi Lu. I wasn't expecting to lead the warm-up today as I know the Tuesday morning class was usually attended by one of the senior instructors. But, as soon as I arrived, the teacher said that that very instructor was stuck home as some trains were cancelled and he's from afar so that I will be doing the warm-up. Aaaah, I so didn't want to! This situation is exactly what I was dreading - acting as an instructor in a class where I literally am the biggest newbie :confused:
    I also met a friend from the advanced group whom I haven't seen in a while. He was usually the second choice to do the warm-up if the main instructor was missing. He then commented along the lines of: "oh, looks like you leveled up!". I wish I could just silk-reel somewhere in a dark corner, honestly. As we finished the silk-reeling, we were split into two groups - the advanced and me with another woman as the newbies. Hahaha, this was so awkward :D At least for me, internally. The woman whom I made a group with new about as much of the form as me and let me practice in front of her, which was awkward to me, especially when she mentioned she's been doing Taiji for 4 years (compared to maybe 1,5 for me). She asked me about some step that the teacher corrected for her, so we put our heads together and confirmed the answer with the teacher later. Looks like I wasn't doing a mistake here, as I worried. I only got a single correction today (although multiple times) to keep my back straight. After not practicing much lately I find it harder, but honestly, when we were practicing in front of the mirror and I could see my profile, I was really happy how straight my back was! Or how straight I could get it if I tried. I couldn't have done this a year ago at all! Yet, apparently, it is still not good enough. Well, I'll try harder.

    We took a few more breaks compared to yesterday, so my average HR today was "only" 146 bpm.
     
  17. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Wednesday 23.6.

    Online Taiji
    My group, continuing to learn new stuff. As the school finally opened, there are less online classes, so some groups have been merged for those who want to attend online throughout summer. My group currently doesn't have a specific in-person class, so I am planning to come to these online classes for sure. Our online class has been merged with one more group - slightly more advaced - about 5 forms ahead of us. Some people from our group have decided to go a bit back to review the forms we learned some time ago, so in the end, from my group there were only me and one other guy. And a women without a camera, whom I however suspect is much more advanced and only came to review. Apart from those there were three other people from the more advaned group today, which meant that the form we learned last time - more or less - and one that is rather tricky, we went through several times and actually added a whole other form. The more advanced people were working on details and practicing, while the two of us were learning as fast as wecould, sort of a challenge for us, with a promise we'll continue further the next class. Well, what to say, I will definitely have to spend some time practicing at home if I don't want to fall behind. The new form is a kick, where the only tricky thing it a turn. I think I understand - enough - the mechanics of this form and only need to practice to get a knack for it, while the one we started learning last time is a bit more tricky, I can't get my limbs synchronizet properly, with the timing and flow of the form very much off. I didn't really get any corrections today, and I was honestly hoping the teacher wasn't really watching.
    The form before this one is a jumping kick, which I know from karate, but in Taiji we only learned it slowly so far, without the jump. It looks like we should figure that jump on our own - again, it is not too tricky, but there is an arm movement that is throwing me a little off. That and since we just learned to movement after, I need to pay attention to land on one foot only and step sideways. I can do that, but not in a very elegant and flowy way, yet. I will have to practice this whole jumping still before I find the courage to actually try it in the class in front of the teacher.
    All these kicks are really fun, but I can tell, as we were told, that these form in general are becoming a bit more complicated, I think.
     
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  18. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Sunday 27.6.

    Missed the karate weekend. I am feeling quite ok now, but after nearly two months of karate not up to this kind of strenuous training anyway.

    I finally couldn't resist and got myself a new fitness watch. Polar still, but I upgraded from Polar A370 (the cheapest watch they offernow) to Polar Ignite 2. It has a lot of new functions and is actually even more comfortable. I need to test it in many trainings to come!

    Today I spent 15 mins practicing Taiji in the morning, especially the new forms. They are hard, I suck.
    On the wensite there was no mention of today's onling instructor trainig, but the teacher then sent an email there will be one after all.

    Online Taiji - instructors
    Quite a bit of talking today as well, but we did some exercising, too, I did get a few corrections. Mostly the usual - keep the back straighter, don't bend it at times as I tend to, make the hip movements smaller - something I know I shoudl really work on now. Then some corrections for my new forms, for the kicking ones. I was told I am young so I use that opportunity to learn to do the kicks well, kick high and get flexible etc. I am aware of that and I am looking to do just that. I was also told to not get complacent by comparing to the people in class, as there are quite a few older people, but not many younger than me, so I should aim higher, as per my age, etc. Well, yeah, fair enough, I should wokr hard and try to always get better. Of the four people present at today's class - us 4 regulars here, it seems all of us are going to the week long seminar in August, so the teacher was already planning work for us. My task will be to work on the part of the form I am learning now - all the kicks. And indeed, there is a lot to work on, looks like I will spend the seminar kicking, until I won't be able to lift my legs. Maybe I should start working on conditioning them a bit... It sounded like it'd be tough.
     
  19. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Monday 28.6.

    Taiji

    Was asked to do the warm up (silk reeling) together with a friend instructor in training just like me. After we started with 5 forms to 4 directions, then forms 6-14 and stopped at 14, which we kept drilling for most of the class. It is fairly hard with a fairly hard turn. I always get it corrected and can't get it right. After about 15 reps it felt quite a bit better, but still with much room for improvement. The teacher again asked me to stand in front of the class. I didn't even had the mind to feel bad when I messed up and lost balance etc. I am there for training, too.

    Taiji solo (kicking) practice
    After the class finished, there was a meditation class. This class started online and I attended a few times, but today, everyone moved to meditate on the terrace and the large gym was completely emptied. I decided to use that chance to drill and practice the newest forms I learned that are quite hard and at home I do not have enough space to practice them withuot adjusting etc. And it was simply too great an opportunity. I first chatted with a friend for about 15 mins, then practiced forms 25-34, five of which are kicks. I focused on those, practiced some kicks separately, practiced some karate kicks, too, cause I just felt like it and it went well. I am pretty sure my legs must have gotten a bit stronger lately! I also did some stretching in between kicks, and tried Sanseru kata once (it was awful, though). I didn't try for quite some time, but I am determined to get back to it. I was happy there was finally enough space and no neighbors for me to practice the flying kick. I haven't tried it too many times, yet, but I fingured out (well, more of less) how to synchronize the kick with the arm movement and how to land on one foot and step sideways. I could tell I still made some progress because when I tried on the other side, I sucked. I still want to practice the other side from time to time to. I hate to be able to do some technique with only one leg and not the other.
    I didn't go too fast at any point, I always took a little while to rest or to stretch, but still, my HR stayed very high and I got a ridiculous max HR at some point as well. It is true that after all the kicking I was breathing hard, although I didn't feel like I pushed myself all that much. I guess not going to the karate weekend was a good decision.
    After this practice of mine, I completely wore myself out. I wanted to do the whole form one last time, but I stopped soon after I started, I just couldn't. I was too tired and it was awful. No reason to push it. Went home compeltely tired and completely sweaty.

    Time: 2:03 (including 15 min break when talking to a friend)
    Max HR: 188 (really no idea how I got to that)
    Average HR: 143 (still fairly high considering it includes the break. My HR was much higher durign my solo training, stayed in the 4th HR zone nearly all that time)
    Training benefit: Tempo training+
    Kcal: 1066
    Cardio load: 215 (very high)
     
  20. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Tuesday 29.6.

    Taiji
    A morning class open to students of all levels, although most of the students are those who are about to learn or know the whole Lao Jia Yi Lu, so a rather advanced class. I also go there with two other women who are at a similar level to me, so we usually practice by ourselves. Today there was supposed to be a senior instructor, so I was really looking forward to the class where I won't have to be nervous as I lead the warm-up, but would find myself a nice cozy corner and do my stuff without worry I mess up. And it really happened just like that, it was really nice, we did the silk reeling slowly, in a meditational way.
    The only downside was that apparently, I was the only student present who didn't know the whole form, so I didn't want to hold the others back and when we did 14 forms a couple of times and it looked like the instructor wanted to go through the whole form once, but wasn't sure about what to do with me, I readilly offered I'd go with them and leave whne I don't know the movements.
    The teacher wasn't in the room, but he arrived briefly and discussed with the instructor who then told me I am supposed to go practice by myself for now (which I was going to do). The teacher arrived just as I started and gave me one task to focus on today - as he said "to get rid of the back". Well, my crooked back. I still think it is fairly straight when I practice and focus on that, but the teacher saw when I am stepping sideways etc., I tend to relax my back to reach further (relaxing is good and all of course, just that if I relax my back, it is not straight at all, so I dare not do so). But I was mostly focusing on keeping my back straight in the main positions, not during transitions, which was my task today. I practiced by myself, trying hard to do as I was told, but it wasn't as easy. When the teacher stopped by the next time, he had my stand in some stances to see how flexible I was in my hips, he probably saw me turning my knees the wrong direction which I tend to do, and which can be because I am not flexible enough but try lower stances. He asked if I could do the splits, which I can't, though I am relativelly close. I probably passed his positioning test, though, so I think I will have to focus on keeping the knees in the correct directions, too.

    It was again awfully hot today. I was also a little tired from last evening, and all that put together, I returned home rather tired again.

    Time: 1:04
    Max HR: 168
    Average HR: 142
    Training benefit: Steady state training+
    Kcal: 572
    Cardio load: 108 (very high)

    Recovery status: very strained - what my Polar says and well, from how I feel I can agree. This past month of not doing much has left me this tired from just Taiji.
     
    Travess likes this.

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