Not been training…

I have been missing my personal training sessions. Adjusting to work has been tiring, but most of the time I miss training because I’ve been really busy. Sometimes I had to go 3-4 days without any proper workout or training, not even stretching or qigong.

So when I get back to it I find that my maximum number of reps has dropped, sometimes even by half. You can guess how discouraging that is.

For the record, because I do not have regular access to a gym and weights, my fitness regime is made up of body weight exercises, the Royal Court from Matt Furey’s Combat Conditioning. I was trying to work up to a decent number of reps first before I vary the exercises. Now that my reps have dropped I guess I’m still gonna be on these for a while longer.

Yeah, it’s frustrating. The fitness level DOES affect my training, especially the number of reps I can do for kenjutsu and all that. And at this season when I am trying to progress in my taijutsu, my frustration is like a relentless backbeat pounding away at the back of my mind.

So this is what I am going to do. I’m going to:

1) Do ONE thing a day at least. Even if it is only stretching. Avoid a totally sedentary lifestyle at all costs.
2) Remember that in my first 5 years of my Budo journey, I did push-ups at the most 2 or 3 times a year (yeah, it was that bad). Even if I work out only 2 or 3 times a month now I am still 12 times better off than my first 5 years in Budo Taijutsu.
3) Watch videos – whether they are from the Bujinkan or from other arts. Seriousness and intensity are contagious, so I’ll put myself where it can spread to me and affect my training.
4) Remember that I want to train in Japan someday. I keep reading of yudansha going to Japan and making fools of themselves because they were lacking in the basics. I don’t want to be one of them!

How will all this go? I don’t know. I’ll keep you updated!

Junjie (Shunketsu)
Singapore