T.J.I.F. (12/25)

No .. I didn’t misspell T.G.I.F. (“Thank God Its Friday”).  I was utilizing the little-known acronym for “Tai Ji Is Fun”.  Which I’m using because today I was able to get some footage of a few athletes training in Taiji.

But first let me start at the beginning of class.

Today I took the bus and as I was walking up to the wushu guan I noticed that the girl from Zhejiang was walking to the wushu guan too.  That seemed strange since usually all of the athletes walk together in formation as a group when they go to training.  Mayb...Read more

Sections and Schedules (12/23)

Today’s class was waaaay better than Monday’s class.  Mainly because I wasn’t feeling quite so gassy (I really need to stop using that word).  I was able to warm up with the group and when they played their palindrome tag game I ran sprints down 2 lengths of carpet until I started sweating.  Then stretching and basics.

I took another look at the schedule during class and noticed that I had remembered a few things incorrectly.  So this time I took some pictures so that I don’t forget what we are supposed to be doing.  Th...Read more

Steam and Gas at Wushu Class (12/21)

(The alternate title for this blog was “Add Oil, Not Gas”, but I liked the rhyme better …)

I’m going to keep this one relatively short since I don’t have videos of photos to share.  And also because I’m busy with work.

Today was my first morning class since training with the Shaanxi Team.  A few things about the morning class I noticed right away:

*Holy Mother of Darth Vader, it is COLD outside at 8:00 AM.  And it was cold in the wushu guan too.  After 30 minutes of warming up and starting basics I...Read more

Wushu Retrospective (Part 5) – 1996-2000: Wushu Friends

Before getting back in to the experience of learning wushu itself, I thought I would take some time to talk about something that had a huge impact on my experience with wushu over the years. In fact, besides my coach, I would say that this is one of the two factors that contributed the most to my development with wushu:

People.

More specifically, I’m talking about the people I have met through wushu over the years, and who have had a big influence on my views on both wu...Read more

The Reason Chinese Wushu Athletes Are So Good (12/19) – Part 3/3

So, we are almost there. But in my book there is one more ingredient that separates many great athletes from the rest of us common folk.

Continued from Part 2

Raising the Bar

Read more

The Attack of QuadZilla (12/18)

I’m not feeling it too much right now, but I’m pretty sure that by tomorrow my legs will be jello-ized.

It was sunny and blue skies today so I thought I would take my new bike out on its maiden voyage to wushu class.  Of course, since it had been so long since I had riden a bike, my legs weren’t quite used that sort of motion and by the time I got there I was already feeling it in my quads.  In fact, the folding bikes in general aren’t really meant for long-distance travel, so biking the 6km to the wushu guan was not t...Read more

The Reason Chinese Wushu Athletes Are So Good (12/18) – Part 2/3

But it isn’t just that coaches in China tend to have those resources, but it is also the resources available to the athlete. No, not the latest Nike Shaolinquan shoes, or the coolest looking silks, but I’m speaking more about resources through which they can develop an understanding of high level skill.

Continued from Part 1

The Model Athlete

Read more

The Reason Chinese Wushu Athletes Are So Good (12/17) – Part 1/3

I used to hear (both from others and inside my own head) the question a lot:“Why are Chinese wushu athletes so freaking good??”The quick answer?In a cryptic nutshell:  ((A i/T) +((C*R)+M))(U+S)But let me start at the beginning …###The Quest For Understanding When you first start wushu you are in a bit of a bubble, and especially for me, since I didn’t have access to all these wushu videos online, I only had the advanced student...Read more

I Was Scouted By The PLA Wushu Team! (12/16)

Well … sorta.

This week the schedule for training changed a bit.  They swapped a few days around, as well as a few of the activities.  This week’s afternoon schedule (the morning is always just wushu training) was supposed to be like this:

*Mon: Wushu

*Tue: Power

*Wed: Rest

*Thu: Running (Sprints)

*Fri: Power

*Sat: Running (Long)

But actually today (Wednesday) they swapped the morning and afternoon, so they didn’t train in the morning and we had wushu...Read more

Training Options in China (12/15)

I received a message through my wushuzilla contact form today asking about training options in China, and more specifically about recommendations on someone who wants to spend an extended period of time training wushu and studying Chinese in China.  I thought I would post up my answer here, since it might help others who are looking to figure out the same stuff for themselves.

Thanks for your e-mail.

You have a few options available to you. It sort of depends on your long-term plans and what sort of personal...Read more