September 3 2013
Today was the first day of school, and the first taste of my mastery program in action during the school year, so far I will wake up 15 minutes early and do all 100 of my pushups, abs and squats, 10 of my pull ups and when I come back from school I will finish with 10 more pull ups, run a mile and finish with my forms. The sparring should be fine as long as I keep perfect attendance which usually I am good at, and kindness should be covered as long as I am looking to be kind in school and at home.
I also am seeing much improvement in my aspects of my fitness. I just timed my mile and got a 5:56 (10-12 mph pace) and I started with a 7:30. I don’t think its a lot about my fitness but also about pacing myself which I am glad I am better at now. It’s also been a lot easier to run a mile or even 2-3 and overall I enjoy running a lot more, which is something I’ve always hated. I can see improvements in my pull ups, being able to do more pullups and chinups because of the pushups I’ve been doing. I also feel like I am becoming a better runner from the squats and my form for pushups have improved because of my ab exercises. I really like how everything ties into each other. I really feel like my body is a well oiled machine all components are individual honed to work together in very great ways, the biology is fascinating.
I also recently have completed the book “Zen in the Martial Arts” and have ordered “Savor” on amazon. I really liked the book, reading it at first a lot of the concepts and ideas seemed very foreign in this day and age we live in where we think very rationally and are skeptical to new ideas but this book has given me new perspective which is amazing. A lot of the chapters I can even take into my everyday life and martial arts training. Many concepts that Sensei Paul I think has covered briefly. Some chapters that really stuck with me were:
Process Not Product, this chapter spoke about the experience and not the end result which is a lot like my black belt and I. I honestly want to get my black belt just so I can get over with it. I love the process and the daily workouts and seeing myself advance. I don’t need any belts or stripes to signify that. I can see my form on punches and kicks improve, and power, speed, flexibility and strength improve as I change. I’ve realized that I improve at a lot slower pace than I used to, not because I don’t work as hard but because it is the nature of becoming advanced at your craft. This does not hinder me however, I still crave for that extra inch of improvement.
Another chapter I liked was Lengthen Your Line, it gave me some insight on newer students that I work with, for example when I was working with Leo I saw he was trying to do some dirty tricks just to get me to tap out, pulling on fingers, stacking me on my neck etc. I am not insulting him, merely interested. Instead of lengthening his own line, he decided to cut mine, another example was working with Tanner, oh by the way all these men are much bigger than me, at least 30 pounds heavier and few inches taller. Anyways while working with Tanner, I saw him trying to muscle me off him all the time, rolling extremely hard to get me off of him and using his brawn to his advantage, thus cutting my line. Again I don’t blame him, but I find it funny how when these bigger men are pair with someone smaller and weaker, yet are still losing, use their superior strength or dirty tricks. I also find it funny how I ended up with scratches and cuts from these men and I’m untouched by my more experienced partners who are much more controlled and rely more on their technique than there brawn. I use the knowledge now to make sure I don’t cut anyones line. I make sure even if I work with someone smaller that I used proper technique and that at any given time, I am not consuming too much energy trying to force something that I can only get because of my strength, this mindset will help me better my technique because I will be using the technique and not my strength.
A simple lesson I learned from the Book was Zen Breathing, every so often - right after a workout, beginning of class or when I need to control my breathing and slow down my heart rate this really helped. Envisioning the thick fog going in and out of me, drawing energy around me, it keeps me very calm and focused. Especially because recently my mind has been wandering at the beginning of class, not being able to focus on the present. Always thinking about past events on which I wanted to change, or future ones I wanted to make where I should've focused on the present and the 2 hours to myself I had and give it my all so I’d get the best from it.
Oh and I also wanted to share a very funny first day of school story. A friend of mine who hasn’t seen my all summer on the first day of school when we saw he mentioned that I was very “Cut” and “Lean” its good to know that I am making gains even if I can’t always see them. That kind of feedback wants to make me push harder and keep moving. School, school is something else I want to push myself harder than I have before as well, studying more, spending more time studying, more time on my homework, more attentive in class, because I will push 100% in all places of my life, I will get A’s in all my classes, I will take AP classes next year and more honors this year or the next, and if I forget what I really am, I will refer back to this. If I slack and drop of my motivation and will to do great in all aspects of life mid year, I will need to refer back and think “What would the best version of me be” and pursue that. There can only be so much my parents, my friends, my elders can do for me, the rest is up to me and I won’t fail because I won’t let myself. I am tired of each year settling for the grades I get, or the classes I end up in. This year I need to change.
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