“Kick Me”
August 26, 2010
Remember that scene in Enter the Dragon, about five minutes into the movie, where Bruce Lee says to the young Shaolin student, “Kick me”? (and he says it oh so coolly).
Well tonight, my Sifu said to me, “Kick me”. I looked at him – brain freeze. In my head I went, “Noooooooooooooooo - déjà vu!” and wanted to run screaming away with hands a-flailing because Sifu was surely going to flip me three times and stuff me down the drain pipe or something like that. But there he was, pointing at his right shoulder.
“Kick me”.
*Gulp* So I did.
“You call that a kick?” At that point I was looking around for a hidden camera. Enter the Kuching Dragon, perhaps? (And if you’ve never watched the movie, please, stop reading and go watch it now. Everybody watches Enter the Dragon, Kung Fu or no Kung Fu).
*Double gulp*, so I did again. Quite a few times because I missed a couple of times (so sue me, it’s not everyday that I kick people on the shoulder). And then the Little Mouse ran to his other shoulder and did her little mouse kicks on him. Two ladies flanking a middle aged man, raising their legs at the same time and kicking him without really pulling back. Holy green hornet, the man did not even flinch.
Geez.
So what am I doing kicking a man at 8.30 on a Thursday evening? (Take that kinky thought out of your head or I’ll kick you instead). It started out as a work project. I needed to understand the philosophy of Kung Fu for work, amongst other reasons (busted ankle – had to do something with less impact, like Wing Chun) Ask me no questions and I’ll give you no kicks. Don’t ask. Just read on. Anyway, Sifu and I are part of a well-oiled team at work, and he gives Wing Chun classes, so there I was.
It was research and when I first started three weeks ago, I had four left feet, two right arms, a wooden noggin and I thought I would never get it. Never mind that I did Tae Kwon Do 24 years ago in school and was not too bad at it. In fact, I used to do 180-degree splits front and side and broke a few boards with some kicks. I even had a plastic medal to show from some long-forgotten tournament which I am completely embarrassed about. But as Bruce Lee once said, boards don’t hit back, and I took it up just for kicks (pun intended), as a sport; not for self defence – all of which are exactly what self defence and Wing Chun are not. The bottom line was, for real I-can-use-this-on-an-attacker Kung Fu, I had to re-programme my preconception of Kung Fu and martial arts. Mentally, I had to do back flips, somersaults and brain contortions to get there.
Three weeks into Wing Chun, and intellectually, I appreciate the philosophy of it more with each lesson. It’s turning out to be a beautiful journey of rediscovery. Kung Fu is the corner stone that has reopened for me a deeper understanding of Chinese culture. With that understanding, a deeper appreciation of connections to other cultures, of universal life philosophies and a re-examining of self. Trust me, it’s like peeling a giant onion. And it ends up not just being about Chinese culture but about life in its entirety. Beautiful, ain’t it? Walk it, then you’ll know it.
Right. Back to the Wing Chun dummy (yeah, muggins here). What connected in the head has not transferred to the body quite yet. While the philosophy is really starting to click in the grey matter, I’m pretty sure I look like one of those movie extras who look positively arthritic when they do Kung Fu. And they’re always the first ones to get their asses kicked or killed.
So anyway. “Kick me”, said Sifu.
I did. And learned what it feels like to do a real kick. Well, not a real hard kick. Just a not-for-show no-nonsense kick.
More about Cyn’s adventures (or should I say misadventures?) in Kung Fu soon.
N.B. Cyn does Wing Chun (or Eng Choon) at Kuching’s first Wing Chun training centre here. She also does White Crane Qigong at the same place, which she absolutely loves because she gets to huff and puff and blow a house down (ya, right).
Photograph sourced from: http://s592.photobucket.com/albums/tt3/hottamale6996/.
On the Weight of Two Feet
August 22, 2010
This post is for those who suffer foot pain, but I pretty much think it applies to victims of any other skeleto-muscular ailment.
Running hurts me. It always have. I grew up thinking that pain was a necessary side effect of running. My first run around the school block for Tae Kwon Do class had me all a grimacing wobbly mess, over 20 years ago. But, no pain no gain, right?
So over the next few decades, I bit down and tolerated foot pain so I could have a super active lifestyle of field athletics, gym and jungle trekking. Which was all pretty fantastic except for the constant pain in the feet.
It was much later on that I learned I have collapsed arches. Plantar fasciitis in medical terms. Some people call it flat feet, but specifically, the correct condition for what I have is “collapsed arches”. I didn’t really take notice of it until one day, my feet just stopped functioning. I couldn’t walk. Every step sent shooting pain up both feet. I couldn’t work because work took me to into the far flung reaches of the rainforest in central Borneo. Most of all, my lifestyle grounded to a painful screeching halt because everything I love to became a great big journey of pain. How’s that for drama?
So finally, I decided I wasn’t invincible after all. Superwoman, yes, but woman of steel, no. That was 2002. Since then, I’ve spent a lot of time, money and effort understanding what ails me WITHOUT compromising my love for physical movement.
What’s the point of this story?
Because:
- Our feet bear the brunt of our weight all our life. They deserve special TLC.
- One in six people have some kind of foot problem.
- Active people, especially heavy active people, are more prone to foot problems at some point in their lives.
- Yes, active people can be heavy too. It doesn’t meant they aren’t fit.
- Foot pain can lead to other complications including heel spurs, knee, hip and back problems.
- Foot pain doesn’t mean you have to give up an active lifestyle.
- Get the pain diagnosed and treated. I’ve used special inserts, gone for massages, gotten help on correcting muscle balance, gone for acupuncture, TCM, medicated foot baths and more. Whatever you do, get it looked at because it CAN get better.
Where am I at today?
Recovering from a heel spur on my right ankle. In any one week, I cycle, hike, gym, swim, do qigong and dabble in a few other things. My current therapy includes massages, acupuncture, stretching and foot baths. There’s no question that I have to be extra careful in any activity that I do. But there’s absolutely no reason why anyone has to suffer pain and stop what they love or would love to do. My life revolves around activity, as it always has and I don’t intend to stop anytime soon.
Here’s more information on feet ailments and plantar fasciitis.
Level Up – Fitness for Everyone
November 1, 2009
Level Up is the newest, biggest, mostest fitness hang-out by Kenny Sia in town. Every single blogger in Kuching got invited to sample what Kenny had in store for Kuching gym buffs one sunny Sunday. Yours truly, by virtue of owning a low-key, seldom-updated blog and a more active website, elbowed herself an invite from Kenny. I’d never met Kenny 
before Level Up come up on my radar; I just knew of his blog fame. He turned out to be a very pleasant guy with a nice smile.
My appointment said 12 noon. Having just popped out of a plane the night before, I stumbled in at 11am for two main reasons:
- Another engagement at noon.
- Because of 1., I chose to suck in the aura and calm of Level Up-ness (or whatever you call it) before other bloggers came storming in. I wanted an unadulterated take on the place.
The downside was, I didn’t get to be in the blogger group photo. The upside: I got a more personal, quiet feel to the place.
First off, the place is huge. It takes up a significant chunk of the Everise Building (10,000 square feet, to be exact), behind HSBC and opposite Travillion in Kuching. There are three storeys of gym equipment, weights, cardio machines and group fitness rooms for gym-thusiasts to play around with.
I walked in through the front door, passed the turnstiles and stood in the middle of weight room. The equipment are so new, they almost sparkled. There’s a pleasant feel to it. One or two early bird members were already at it. Second floor – perfectly aligned treadmills and cross-trainers stood at attention in front of four plasma wide-screen TVs. Members can hook up wireless headphones to get personalized volume control from whatever’s showing.
Upstairs were two group-fitness rooms and the management office. The main room is humongous, with an impressive sound system. Pump it up loud enough and you could easily shock people into an intensified cardiovascular state. At the moment, classes include yoga, pilates, Body Pump and Body Combat; the last two with instructors from KL.
Next door is a smaller room, for possible spinning classes in the near future.
Level Up is the manifestation of Kenny’s dream and took two years in the making. Kenny intends for it to be a gym for the every-man/woman. It’s objectives are to be affordable, conveniently located, and with enough machines for everyone anytime.
So, with such an impressive giant, what does that mean for numerous other gyms in town? My personal opinion? Well, a lull in membership for the others is to be expected, but plenty of Kuching folks gym-hop a fair bit anyway. I’d say that Level Up would be a great and convenient choice for people who work in town; and for those who are looking for a standard, affordable workout. Most other gyms are scattered around Kuching. They will have their own loyal following, if they take note of establishing relationships with their clients. In general, people tend to gym-hop when:
- The new place is more convenient
- The new place is cheaper
- They never really liked their old gym in the first place
- They are unhappy with the direction their current gym is going
- Their old gym doesn’t maintain their equipment
- The new gym has better trainers and group fitness instructors
On the other side of the coin, people tend to stay loyal to their old gyms when:
- They have established a relationship with personnel and personalities at their old gym
- They derive a great amount of value from their old gym. This could be mental, physical, spiritual and of course financial values. It’s usually a combination. I’ve been at the same gym for nine years. No plans for shipping out yet. You gotta ask why.
- It’s convenient. My office is within walking distance to my gym. In a traffic jam, I still get to the gym in 10 minutes. How much more convenient can it get?
- The old gym has better trainers and group fitness instructors
On and off (more on than off), I’ve been a gym buff for about 20 years. I have developed rather clear reasons why I stay or move on from a gym. So Kenny, you’ve made a good head start. The next steps are maintenance and sustainability. Keep on levelling up!
Clockwise from top left: The Level Up reception area; Juice Up is the drinks and juice bar; Kenny Sia, the man whose dream and vision came to be; a view of the ladies’ locker room.
Fit For All Seasons
September 26, 2009
In the eyes of many, only the beautiful and the glam are found in gyms. Why? Because only they look good enough for the gym? Wrong. Because the fashion industry says thin and made up is good and most of us get suckered into that. Come to the gym I go to. I’ve never seen so many shapes of people in one place – round, pear, gourd, lumpy, apple, Spongebob, stringy. You name it. All of them beautiful in their originality.
When we tell people that health is more important than looks, everybody nods sagaciously and agrees. When it comes to the crunch, we all tend to be like lemmings and follow the leaders; and when we think we are too fat too thin too ugly too short too tall, we think less of ourselves and become walking self-fulfilling prophecies of failure.
Looks do not matter. Seriously, they do not. Why worry, fret and spend on something so flitting that few people have in the first place? Being fit and healthy is what counts. If you’re already fit, fantastic. You can always be fitter. Fitness is for life. Don’t stop just because you think you’re too old for it.
Impossible, you think? Why? Is it because being super fit means having to look like a Calvin Klein model? No. Being healthy is about taking care of three things: your physical fitness, your mind and your spirit. That’s holistic health and one of the keys to happiness. I’m going to concentrate on starting a fitness regime in this post. There’s really no big secret to it:
Decide whether you want to be physically fit and commit 110% to it. Why 110? Because most of us, no matter how determined we are, tend to have about 10% slack or down time. Put in 110% and you have 100% commitment. Go the extra mile. It’s not hard. All you have to do is take that first step.
Fitness is a path, a journey. It MUST be part of your lifestyle. If you’re going to treat it like a diet – i.e. a temporary thing, don’t bother. What’s going to happen is you’re going to end up in an exercise-diet-stop cycle and end up nowhere.
Know this: fitness comes first. Looks come last, if at all. It’s better to be big and fit than skinny and unfit. In a study of 5,400 adults, weights and cardiovascular risk were compared. The results showed that half of the overweight subjects and one third of obese subjects were metabolically healthy. That means that these overweight people had healthy levels of good cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar (read more here). This DOES NOT mean that you can now go ahead and be unhealthily overweight. It does mean that you can be fit and big at the same time.
Make time for healthy food and exercise. Make it part of your daily routine. Do it so regularly that not doing it feels strange to you.
Exercise can be anything – walking the dog, running, group fitness classes, taichi or yoga classes, martial arts lessons, tennis, go-carting (I hear it’s pretty intense), swimming, sex. Anything that makes you move your body and gets your heart pumping over an extended period of time. Variety is best; but whatever you do, you have to love it so that you look forward to doing it regularly all week. I do 4 different types of group fitness class in a week, plus swim and jungle-trek (whenever I can). I love all of it. I recently learned how to kayak. Whilst I don’t do that regularly, I love it enough to want to do more of it.
Start slow and build up.
Watch what you put in your mouth. You ARE what you eat.
Minimize sugar. Bad oils give you high cholesterol. Sugar makes people fat.
Don’t starve yourself. Only people who want to look thin starve themselves. There’s something very wrong with that frame of mind to start with. Look around you. Number one, 99.9% of people around you DO NOT look like super models. Number two, many super models are not that healthy. Number three, there are things called Photoshop and make-up to make people look super beautiful in magazines. Get over it. You are beautiful already without having to compare yourself to other people.
Keep at it. Love yourself enough to take care of yourself. Exercise is health insurance. Don’t scrimp on it.
Consider this: people from 5 generations ago never talk about diabetes, high cholesterol and obesity. Why? Because they led an active lifestyle by default. In Borneo, people farmed and hunted a lot. I believe it wasn’t much different in the West. We’ve been so successful at getting ourselves out of back-breaking manual labour that we now have to pay through the teeth to be as healthy as our ancestors. For that matter, most of us don’t even make it that far.
I’m off to the gym.
Photos courtesy of Tigre sin Tiempo and Alternative Wellness.