Saturday 25 December 2010

re: Christmas

Okay, so I've been gone a while.

What can I say? Work, life, etc.  It gets in the way and changes your routines and, well, changes everything.  I had a lot of fun in Japan and learnt an awful lot about myself, but that time is now gone and I've got to take stock and move on. 

And I have, don't get me wrong, I have. 

Training wise, I'm progressing, developing.  I'm stronger than when I left Japan, not as fit in a cardiovascular manner, though I can still run and sprint (I'm faster at sprinting) , but my lifts have gotten better and I've maintained most of the flexibility I developed.  Technique wise I'm more thoughtful and my throws have become better as have my entries and my ways of doing things. I am a better martial artist, whatever that means, and more comfortable in my body. 

Far more com0fortable, and the better for that.  That's Fraser, he's been banging on that I'm a big guy and I fight against it and I should embrace it, so I have and... and, yeah, I move well.  Not gracefully, but powerfully, and with a certain amount of unstoppable inertia. 

Why do martial arts?  Do learn to defend yourself.

What's the best self defence?  Looking bigger than the other guy. 

It works and I'm happy and my techniques are developing with that in mind.

Oddly, my hand speed hasn't diminished, and I can deliver stopping force with my left hand (god bless being south paw) and with my right leg.  The lessons Yogi taught me are still bedded in too, that sinking of everything into the strike.  He knows a lot, that man. 

Anyway, why this post?  Yeah, I've been looking, drunkenly, at pictures of myself from a few years ago, back when I was getting poor training advice from a fat man.  Run loads, drop weight, he told me.  Why did I listen?  I do not look healthy in those pictures, and it does not suit me being below 15 stone. I am a big guy, I may as well revel in it.  He gave me the training advice for a marathon runner, not for someone who was learning a martial art (hah, but we have moved on).  I am far more efficient and capable at my current weight, and strong.  Very strong.  Stronger than him, I know.  Strong and coupled with superior technique. 

I do wonder why he gave me such poor training advice.  Was it just him being misguided?  Or was it because he wanted to do me harm?  I'm going to be charitable and go with the former (although he was so fat I wonder why he didn't take the advice he gave me and put the damn spoon down). 

Don't get me wrong, there are certain... personalities in the old club that I miss (and miss talking to, training with, hanging with), but the new club is so much better, so much... more relevant?  I don't have the words currently.  This year will be a good year for us, a year of change as we fully grow out of the shadows of the past (even as the old club attempts to change its ways and becomes more sport orientated, or so I hear along the grapevine).

It will be an interesting year, whatever comes along.

And I'll be ready :)