UBBT 8 Kick off

UBBT 8 Kick off

These past few weeks have been the start of the biggest and longest test I have ever been involved in. 

I kicked off the test like every other UBBT 8 team member with 1000 push ups and 1000 sit ups.  When I looked at the number as a whole it looked HUGE and I honestly didn’t know if I could get them all done in one day as per the challenge. 

However, Sifu Brinker teaches this concept in class called “incremental progression”.  When I first heard it, it didn’t sink in and I couldn’t really relate to it.  With out really connecting the dots between this concept and what I was about to undertake I decided to break up the 1000 repetitions by 10 (my goal was to complete the challenge in 10 hours).  By my calculation, that is 100 of each every hour.  When you look at that smaller number it doesn’t look that daunting… I started the day at almost exactly midnight on January 1^st and did 50 push ups and 50 sit ups and then I went and got some well needed rest (a few to many New Years evening libations).

I sort of slept in and slept off a bit of hang over and really didn’t get started in earnest until about 2:30 in the afternoon.  The first 500 of each went fairly smooth and I was feeling pretty good.  I realized that I needed to break down my 100 reps per hour into even smaller goals.  I ended up doing 50 pushups and 50 sit ups every 30 minutes.  To even break it down further, I would do 25 push ups, switch and do 50 sit ups and then back down for the remaining 25 push ups.  This “incremental progression” soon added up and I started to see my numbers grow.  I also decided that I would record the time of day I did each set and how many I did.  I found by doing this I could really see the “incremental progression” and it gave me something to look back and reflect upon.

The hardest thing about this challenge was the last 100 sit ups and push ups.  My arms where burning my chest was aching and my abs where screeming at me to stop.  About this time I was thinking “900 of each is enough, that was good enough right?” and then I heard my wife tell me to keep going and “you can do it, just 100 more!”.  I realized then and there that with out the support of your family this challenge would be more than impossible to accomplish.  You need to have people around you that believe in you when you don’t and that person is my loving wife Kristy and my two children Scott and Haleigh. 

One other thing that really helped me accomplish this goal was my Kung Fu family and the support that we all gave each other during this challenge.  We all posted our progress on line for everyone to read.  We encouraged each other when we faltering and congratulated each other when we accomplished our goal.  The one thing I looked forward to all day was the post that I wrote when I met my goal.  It was amazing and I was on such a high. I am sure that every other person who undertook this challenge felt exactly like I did when they pressed send on that email.

I now understand what Sifu Brinker was trying to teach us when he talked about “incremental progression”.  I now understand what it means to break something that is so huge into smaller pieces that are achievable over a period of time.  I have taken this learning over the past two weeks and have applied it to my personal life.  There have been things in my past that have plagued me to this day.  I knew that they needed to be addressed but I thought I could never take care of them as they seemed so large.  Well this past week I addressed two of them and have about four more to go.  I am applying my Kung Fu into my life and it feels great.  I have found that through my Kung Fu, life is not easier than it was in the past just easier to manage.  I don’t know if this makes sense but this is what it feels like to me. 

“Out of the Kwoon and into the world”, this has never rang truer to me until now.

Mr. Repay

Student of Silent River Kung Fu

Stony Plain, Alberta Canada