Oversleeping caused me to be a little too tired to make it into the gym today. Normally this would bother me, but yesterday's workout was fairly intense so I decided not to be too hard on myself. I did my normal gym routine yesterday, even though when I got to the gym I had this feeling like I hadn't been there in a few days so I better take it slow. Quickly I came to my senses though and told myself no way was I going to take it easy. That's what I'm talking about when I say the mind is so powerful in these situations. Had I kept the same attitude I had upon entering the gym, I would have spent my entire time in the gym feeling weak and asking myself why I even came in. That same thing I feel can be applied to everything. Go into work with a bad attitude and think you are going to have a bad day and sure enough you are going to find ways to have a bad day. The mind is so powerful in that regard and it is so easy to get caught up in it!
My lifts want great and lately I've been really obsessed with my Bo staff. I never thought I would enjoy the Bo staff because I am a very practical person. I don't like forms I don't like showmanship, I want to learn how to fight with a weapon or with my hands so that if the time ever came I could actually use them. It's a simple concept, but it is also ignorant in a sense. When it comes to the Bo Staff, although I knew it could be swung with tremendous force, the only examples I had ever seen of it was from people doing different forms and routines or spinning it, I never saw a practical example of a fight with it. But, I decided I would go in with an open mind and sure enough the first thing I did when I picked it up was start twirling it in my fingers. Spun it around my back, over my head, in front of me, just loving every second of it. I used it to support my weight and did a nice little Donatello side kick to my heavy bag, it was really a great time. Anything that you can use your imagination with and have fun with to me is the best training tool I can imagine. Just sitting in my yard and spinning it over and over again, dropping it all the time, hitting myself with it occasionally and not even caring at all, absolutely fantastic.
Because I am very interested in forearm training and it is probably the one muscle group that I focus on more than anything, I was a little surprised to see how effective the Bo Staff was at tiring out my forearms. Suddenly I had a realization that this weapon I am having so much fun with, now indeed would serve a very practical purpose. I'm always looking for new ways to improve my forearm training and this was exactly what I was looking for. Although the staff itself isn't very heavy, it is simple enough to make it much more effective by either using a heavier material or adding weight to the ends of the staff. I decided while I was at the gym that I would try the same spins I was learning on my staff with one of those weighted rods they have there. I picked up a 9 lbs rod and started spinning it and sure enough it worked perfectly! I kept spinning it and spinning it and spinning it and sure enough after about 10 mins or so my forearms were on fire. Exactly as I hoped. I don't recommend trying this though if you are just beginning to use a Bo Staff or if you have not spent much time in the gym. Like I said, I am absolutely obsessed with hand and forearm training so I had confidence that I wouldn't injure myself, but even I could feel the strain on my shoulders as well as my hands and even a little bit on my elbows.
After getting off work my roommate and I were in my backyard doing a little training together. I'm not yet sure exactly how interested he is in martial arts, but it is nice to have someone to practice with. I continued spinning my Bo Staff and I am starting to get really confident in my spins. That confidence soon came to a halt though upon pulling out my 3 section staff. I attempted the same spins I had been doing somewhat efficiently and realized that somewhat efficiently isn't quite good enough for the 3 section. While I was twirling it above my head, one of the rods managed to spin downward and hit me directly across the back of my head. I was a little dazed, but it wasn't a major injury. I decided to discontinue spinning above my head and instead spin it in front of me. That too proved to be dangerous when it came down and cracked me on my right knee cap. I believe I hit myself about 4 - 5 times last night with the 3 section and a good 2 times with the Bo. I put a little Jow on all the injuries though which I believed helped out a lot!
I will once again highly recommend picking up some Dit Da Jow if you don't already own some. I had never heard of it before and I don't know how I used to live without it. Tigerbalm is worthless in comparison in my opinion and this is coming from someone who used to use tigerbalm almost every day. I hope to start uploading some pictures of my weapons and my training area and possibly some videos. Still working those details out.
Once I get off work it's back to my backyard again! Hopefully tonight there will be less injuries, although it will make for some exciting stories. As the training progresses the blog might have to be re-titled "The Path of Continuous Injury."
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