Peaks and valleys.

I'm going to ease myself back into training which means being at the Kwoon five days a week instead of six lol! This means that I am going to go to a couple San Shou classes per month instead of every week.  Right now I feel like I need that Tuesday off to rest (physically & mentally) while I work back into shape.  The more important reason that I'm not fully committing to this class is highs & lows.  One thing I have a habit of and want to avoid doing is the "big highs and big lows".  This is a facet of my character that I want to "smooth" out.  I have a habit of training like a mad man when I'm motivated and then when I'm not I don't train very much at all.

I really enjoy the class and see tons of benefits to my training.   However I want to be mindful of my training and approach it a bit differently this time. I need to reduce the high's and low's and try to find a consistent balance in not only my training but in life as well.


Mr. Repay

Student Of Silent River Kung Fu

This is tougher than I thought.

When I set my sights on a earning a black belt in Kung Fu I never envisioned that it would be this difficult.  Don't get me wrong, I knew that it physically would be very difficult.  I just never thought about the mental side of the black belt much if at all. The mental side of anything (work, personal etc) is the toughest thing to keep focused.  We all struggle with this and I am no exception.  In fact these past four weeks I have been finding myself struggling with this more than I ever have before.  These past four weeks have been very difficult and I am struggling to grasp why?

I have always enjoyed my training and I have for the most part always looked forward to class and training.  So why have these four weeks since I have gotten back been so difficult?  I think it has a lot to do with getting settled back in to a new job, back to my old life and trying to catch up on the the months that I have missed.  Could it be the shorter days and less sunlight that is having an impact as well?  Could it be that I have I am extra tough on myself for letting myself slide while I was in South Carolina?  What about losing sight and perspective on how my Kung Fu serves me and not it?  I think it's all of these things rolled up into one and it has gotten me down.  So instead of going to class I avoided going and making excuses to myself of things I needed to do that were more important.  Once I made that first excuse for myself the next one became easier and easier.  The hardest thing to do was to convince myself that I shouldn't give up.  I made a commitment to my team and Master Brinker that even if I failed at achieving my goals the one thing we I couldn't do was quit.  Quitting is something that I am not accustomed to and that thought kept resonating in my mind.

I decided on Saturday to go back to class.  Square up what needed to be squared and renew my commitment to my team and my training.  I am very glad that I listened to my gut and went back.  It seems to have filled an empty void that has been gnawing at my very core.

Mr. Repay

First class back!

last night was my first class back and it felt so great to be back in the Kwoon.  As most know, I was away in South Carolina for the past three months.  Training on your own is very very difficult for most and I was no exception.  However now that I am back I am going to be getting back into my routine of training.  That routine and that energy from the Kwoon and my training mates is hard to replace when you are so far away.


Ian Repay
Student Of Silent River Kung Fu.

12 rounds with Iron Mike

Well I have kinda felt like this guy in the past couple of weeks.  I had a very difficult call with a customer and by the time call was completed I felt like I had gone 12 rounds with Iron Mike.

The thing is, it was totally my fault.  I had been having a great couple of weeks and my confidence was a little higher than I needed it to be.  I was overconfident.

Well the result of that "overconfidence" was that the customer exploited every area where I failed to prepare.  He exposed my weaknesses like opponents have done in sparring class.

As difficult as it was to sit there and take it, I learned more than I ever ever had before.  It humbled me and showed me that I am nowhere as good as thought I was.  I learned more from that one call than I could have ever learned from all the good calls I had done in the past three weeks.  I learned that preparation and proper mindset are the most important things.  If I had the proper mindset, I would not have overlooked some of the things I needed to do.  If I was in the proper mindset I would have been better equipped to answer the customers questions.  I can't say enough about the lesson that the customer taught me that afternoon.

Thanks John for teaching me a very important lesson.

Mr. Repay
Student Of Silent River Kung Fu.

Home stretch!

I have one final week of training and then I am back home. I can't wait to get back and get some resemblance of normality again. This week I'm in Montreal and I'm very happy to be back on Canadian soil.

I really miss the kwoon and my training mates. I will admit that my training has been no where, where I need it to be. I have a little resemblance to the Michelin Man lol! Oh well i'll work it off and I am really looking forward to sweating and feeling the pain =)

My first day back home is this Saturday and I am going to take up Sifu's challenge of 1000 sit ups and push ups. I can't think of a better way to kick start my training.

Of note, reading Sihing's Chervenka's blog where he mentioned me and others helped motivate me to write this blog. Writing blogs helps motivate those of us that need a little extra push, thanks Sihing!

Mr. Repay
Student of Silent River Kung Fu

Evaluation

This blog is over a week old and forgot to post in on my personal blog page.

"Tomorrow is a big day for me. Tomorrow I get evaluated in the field and I am a little nervous. These past months have all about learning and getting tested and evaluated. I can tell you that I am looking forward to putting tomorrow behind me.

 I can tell you that I am getting a little tired of being evaluated every single day. However this brings into perspective my kung fu. I know one day I will be grading for my  black belt. One day I will be in front of all of those Sifu's proving to them that I am good enough to earn my black black.  Every day that I am in the kwoon training I know that I am being evaluated. I am being evaluated not only on test days or when it's time to test for a stripe or a belt but I am being evaluated every time I step on those mats. I am being evaluated by how I carry my self in the community, how I represent our school, every day is a day for evaluation.

Tomorrow is a another day, another day of evaluation. I will wake up tomorrow and embrace this opportunity."

Mr.Repay
Student of Silent River Kung Fu

Structure

I have always known that structure is important to my kung fu but also in my life.  I have struggled with implementing consistent structure in my training. I have very big highs and very big lows in my training.  Structure is a way to help smooths these highs and lows and it is something that I have started to implement this past week.  I am starting with something small and will build upon this day by day.  What is the easiest thing to do that takes very little time to do and would be an obvious starting point...?  Push up and sit ups.

I have begun to get back to building my structure by doing my daily requirement of 130 sit ups and push ups as soon as I get up in the morning.  So far I have done this for the past 4 days, incremental progression!

Ian Repay

Student of Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta