Wednesday, June 3, 2009

I know Kung fu.... Well.. sort of.

OMG, I had forgotten how much FUN martial arts can be.

I haven't taken martial arts of any kind in a couple of years, so I was expecting nothing. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my muscle memory for some of these movements is still functioning.

Also pleased with myself in that I did WAY more than I thought I would be able to do.

I've decided, after looking over the different styles of kung fu available, and after discussing it at length with the teacher of "Sifu" (pronounced SHEE-foo) that I am going to go after the Nan Shen style. It's the basis for all of the cat-based styles (Tiger, Leopard) and THOSE are the basis for the Dragon style.

Guess why I chose that style. ;) No, no.. not just for that.. I actually had it recommended to me for my body-style, and for my goals.

NanShen is technically considered a "masculine" style, but it's the one that's best overall for smaller, more powerfully built people (like me); and also the best for quickly getting my ass back into shape. Kung-fu, overall I've noticed, is a very graceful style. I'm hoping eventually to be able to call some of that grace my own.

I started tonight with the basic warm-up.. and I'll be sticking with just the basics for a good while, I'm betting.

First there was the stretching and warming up the joints. This is important to do for ANY work out really.. with the added bonus of the fact that stretching will help me to greatly improve my flexibility.

Then it was on to squats, leaps, and basic movements for arms and feet. One of the things that this style in particular will do for me is to make me incredibly light on my feet. Of course, right now I feel like a clumsy child trying to dance in mom's high heels..

Yeah.. not so pretty at the moment.

Add to those things:
100 sit ups
100 push ups (of which I did a whopping 50 ..woot! Hey, considering I didn't even think I could do 15, this is a huge deal.)
100 leg lifts (revese crunches... the ones where you lay on your back and use your lower abs to lift your hips off of the floor, and lift your legs straight up)

and then the first of many stick-forms. (Stick forms are movements you do while holding a short "stick".. will help with toning arms and shoulders, increasing flexibility, and fluidity.)


So I'm home now after my very first class. Tired, sore, accomplished.. and wanting more.

No comments: