Stupid shoulder

So on Mondays and Tuesdays I have a job where I wait tables at Don Pablo's. This job is to show that I have a verifiable source of income, the money I make there is practically nothing and I don't usually even have to work. I show up yesterday and the manager asks me to be a host since she knows I don't want to wait tables. I say ok because I will get out of there quicker and do less work and usually make more money. Monday lunches are known for being super slow so I figure to be out of there at about 12:30 or so.

This was a crazy Monday, pretty much the entire restaurant filled up. We are already short handed so everyone is a little busy its was pretty crazy and I wound up having to basically wait a few tables and not get tipped, but its no big deal really. I would rather not have to clean a section and do side work. I wound up getting out of there about 2 pm. Before I leave a girl asks if she can have my shift tomorrow and I of course say sure. I knew that Melissa was going to Gainesville and that would allow me to go up to Winstar to try to make some money.

I went to kung-fu last night and it went pretty well over all I suppose. Sifu was on his way back from a trip to another kung-fu school so 2 of the senior students ran the class. The two guys who were running the class are very far into the system and are very knowledgeable about our style. I have the utmost respect for these two guys and enjoy getting to work out with them. Kung-fu is not something you can learn by watching someone else do it, you have to be shown the techniques and have them done to you so you can feel the tempo and timing and the energy involved. The classes are all one on one, Sifu will pair you with a more senior student and tells you what to work on. Without this approach I would have dropped out a long time ago I am sure.

In the first hour I worked with a newer student. He had done some Wing Chun about 10 years ago and has just started back to class and his wife is also taking classes with us. It is really too early to tell about the guy. A lot of people don't make it very far into the system because it can become a large commitment. When your a beginner you come for one hour on Monday and Wednesdays, that is pretty easy. Then after you advance you should be coming for two hours on class days. You help everyone by teaching a first hour student then in the second hour you work on your techniques.

This is where some people start to fall off the wagon. The two hours a day can start to wear on people and some people don't like teaching. I used to not like teaching and would skip first hour and just go to second hour. I realized later that by not going over the fundamentals in first hour that I was slowing down my own progression. Teaching these techniques to newer students forces you to have a conceptual understanding of them, sure you can do it, but can you explain to someone else how to do it and why it works? Once you get higher into the system you have to have so many classes of teaching before you can advance which I think is important.

There were not a lot of second hour students so I got paired with one of my Si Hing (the Chinese term for a student who is my senior.) After doing all the warm-ups and kicks I got to work on a lot of my stuff and that is always a good thing, because I would also get to work on my stuff in the advanced hour as well. So I basically got 2 hours of working on my stuff and that is awesome. We worked basically the whole hour on my Chi Sao which is a exercise used by Wing Chun students.

Time to hit you with some kung-fu knowledge. All styles of Kung-Fu have an individual aspect that you have to learn and practice and that is what makes it different from other styles of Kung-Fu. In Wing Chun you train your fore arms to override your eyes, that sounds funny but let me explain. You will not always see the punch coming and even if you do it might be a fake. Wing Chun prefers to fight very close up and what that does is any hit has to cross our arms to hit our face or bodies. You train your arms to feel the energy and train your body to work off of that energy. You want the movements to become instinct, you don't want to have to think about them. It is like touching a hot stove and whipping your hand away before you feel the heat, same concept applies here. This is hard to do and requires a lot of patience and drilling but if you do it well enough and for long enough you can do the exercises blindfolded just by touch. I know what your thinking and yes it is really bad ass.

Chi Sao is the exercise to work on that ability we call it sensitivity training. You are positioned with a partner and as you move your hands you feel him try to come in and your body instantly blocks it without you having to think about it. You learn to defend and how to attack and it basically becomes kind of a sparring session in the long run. You are not trying to kill them but they should feel your energy and intercept and vice versa. There are lot of videos on YouTube showing Chi Sao but to the uneducated it looks like slap hands. You can feel holes in the defenses of your partner and you learn how to attack those holes. Wing Chun is known for Chi Sao and it is what everyone associates with the art.

Anyway back to what I was saying, we finished second hour and after that is the advanced hour. No spectators, no guests, no junior students, this is closed door with you, Sifu and the other students at that level. This is where you really start to pick up the small things that will make your Kung-Fu good. Theories and ideas that don't make sense until you have spent some time in the art, but are paramount to being able to use the art effectively. I am not going to go into much detail here but you get the idea.

We were working on knife techniques, someone attacks you wife a knife you learn how to defend yourself and take him down to the ground and neutralizing him so he cant hurt you. This is one of my favorite things to work on because it is very active and if you do it wrong you will know, we use a prop knife but you still know if you do it wrong. I was working on how to tumble after being taken to the ground, you can really hurt yourself if you don't know how to tumble. Some of these throws are made to where it doesn't hurt if you don't roll or fall, you just have no choice. It is a strange feeling but imagine having a stick that controls your body and having someone using that stick to force you to the ground. Some of the throws work off pressure points and it forces you to fall or break the arm but the ones we were working on require more control.

I am not a super athletic person, and have never been known for my gymnastic ability so I was taking these rolls slow so I would do them right. We sped them up and I was doing them from an advanced position and I was landing just a little bit off and landing on my shoulder blade. Well long story short I wound up jarring my shoulder pretty badly and had to sit out for the rest of class. I was needless to say pretty irritated with myself, but hey shit happens. I have a full range of motion but the moment I try to apply pressure in any direction pull or pushing or lifting there is a good deal of pain. I took a hot shower last night and laid on the heating pad hoping to make it better but no such luck.

I didn't think driving would be the best idea for me so I decided not to go to Winstar today. My truck is not the most comfortable ride ever and having to turn and driving in general might aggravate my shoulder. So, just going to relax so I can't do any more damage, hopefully it will be better in a few days. I need to make a trip though so I am planning on going tomorrow because even if my shoulder feels better I will probably skip class to make sure it is all healed up. I must get into the habit of making that drive so I can start making some regular money. I will play in the same game I played in last Thursday at the back room, and will post tomorrow with Winstar results if I make it up there.

Later