tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87815932517633629892012-02-07T13:57:56.050-05:00Yin Style Baguazhang is a difficult art to learn and study, and this fact is particularly true when following the methods of the Lion System. Here is a modest record of my attempts which hopefully illustrate perseverance and dedication amid the demands of a busy, modern life.Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.comBlogger1781100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-54914029080570139832012-02-07T13:57:00.003-05:002012-02-07T13:57:56.064-05:00

For those of you that have been following along with my training, you know I'm doing a project this year involving turning the circle. Specifically, I'm aiming to get 200 hours on the circle in 2012. This post is a short report on how I did with the project through January. For those of you that aren't interested in my personal training, this post isn't probably worth much to you, so you can skip

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-26826454145936293402012-01-06T18:56:00.000-05:002012-01-06T18:56:05.022-05:00

Because of my desire to improve that aspect of my Yin Style Bagua training and the resultant new year's resolution to turn more, I've been on the circle this week far more than what has (shamefully) been average in the last while. That, of course, has me thinking about turning more, and, for the purposes of this blog, that has me thinking about the challenges related to turning. Of course, these

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-12322593598934669182012-01-01T22:44:00.000-05:002012-01-01T22:44:12.291-05:00

I know, it's been a long (read: looooooooong) time since I've posted. Frankly, I haven't been training much. I actually really hurt myself this time, and so I haven't been doing a whole lot since the start of November when I took my right shoulder from aggravated to "doesn't work without LOTS of pain." I'm finally getting a handle on that, mostly. In any case, I decided it's well enough, and it's

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-2093495836814779062011-11-08T21:53:00.000-05:002011-11-08T21:54:25.274-05:00

I almost never do this. In fact, I don't think I've ever done this on this blog before, but this blog post by Sam Harris (of The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, The Moral Landscape, all New York Times bestselling books, and being one of the so-called "four horsemen" of the New Atheist movement fame) is about practical self-defense. It is very good, and anyone interested in martial

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-3977767889376089802011-10-23T23:20:00.000-04:002011-10-23T23:20:03.848-04:00

This is just a quick post to follow up with the rest of the commentary on the Yin Style Bagua Facebook page regarding the Fall Tour workshop in Knoxville this year. More details on a personal level are to come. In the meantime, interested parties should check out the Facebook page and see the photos from our awesome workshop. Knoxville, TN Workshop - Day 2 First circle walking was trained to

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-13498185103042534782011-10-20T22:23:00.002-04:002011-10-20T22:23:33.536-04:00

This is lifted from the Yin Style Bagua Facebook page. Check it out if you haven't already. Anyway, our first day was awesome, as the post indicates! Local fighters and martial artists, come see what all the fuss is about and train hard like a superman! Knoxville, TN, Workshop - Day 1 Isometric strengthening postures were trained to develop improved circulation and muscular strength. Three

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-43800146722443818362011-10-13T20:18:00.000-04:002011-10-13T20:31:51.474-04:00

By this time next week, some of the toughest men and (hopefully) women in Knoxville will be finishing up with dinner and getting ready for an early bedtime after one of the hardest days of martial arts training in their lives. Yin Style Baguazhang International is coming to Knoxville again, for the third year in a row, and the workshop taught by incredible martial artist He Jinbao kicks off

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-29963646763368551492011-09-23T13:16:00.002-04:002011-09-23T13:18:13.109-04:00

Although no one needs an extra excuse to visit beautiful St. Petersburg, FL, this year's Yin Style Baguazhang Fall Tour, 2011 edition, tour stop, taught by He Jinbao, gives us all one more reason to head to the sub-tropics. This U.S. Fall Tour stop this year by YSB, International features the  Lion System at an intermediate level, like the seminar in Knoxville the week before, featuring

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-68749292361501076622011-09-13T22:45:00.001-04:002011-09-13T22:45:51.603-04:00

I hold a special place in my heart and on my blog for the Knoxville, TN, visit of the Yin Style Baguazhang Fall Tour, 2011 edition, taught by He Jinbao! It's home! Our U.S. Fall Tour stop this year by YSB, International features the  Lion System at an intermediate level. In Knoxville, though our training will actually take place in Maryville, just south of Knoxville, we look forward to a great

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-57784771316400817962011-09-13T14:15:00.002-04:002011-09-13T22:33:34.154-04:00

The Yin Style Baguazhang Fall Tour, 2011 edition, is coming to Berlin, CT, near Hartford! Like the other seminars on the 2011 tour circuit, it will be taught by He Jinbao. It makes the fourth U.S. Fall Tour stop this year by YSB, International and features the Phoenix System at an intermediate level, getting into some of the deeper material including the subtle and effective transforming palm

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-79877033329766343442011-09-10T13:59:00.000-04:002011-09-13T22:33:54.928-04:00

The second visit of the Yin Style Baguazhang Fall Tour, 2011 edition, to Haverhill, MA, just north of Boston, taught by He Jinbao, is less than a month away! This third U.S. Fall Tour stop this year by YSB, International features the  Lion System at an intermediate level. Here practitioners will have a great opportunity to deepen their understanding of the foundational system of Yin Style

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-30065196387960691452011-09-07T23:33:00.001-04:002011-09-13T14:18:07.885-04:00

The Boulder, CO, Yin Style Baguazhang Fall Tour, 2011 edition, workshop with He Jinbao is right around the corner now, starting in just three weeks! The Tour stop in Colorado is the second U.S. Fall Tour this year by YSB, International, and it features the Phoenix System at a foundational level. That means that people that are new to the art or that want to expand their training outside of the

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-1613387591171446272011-09-04T22:51:00.000-04:002011-09-05T15:31:57.124-04:00

There is a particular key to training a martial art well, and that key is repetition. In Yin Style Baguazhang, things are no different, and as every practitioner knows, massive repetitions of the basic drills and exercises are expected and required to move forward. Of course, these repetitions cannot be performed blindly if development is desired; there must a be a constant endeavor to improve

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-7384517185072168582011-08-28T23:22:00.001-04:002011-08-28T23:22:33.888-04:00

The San Francisco, CA, Yin Style Baguazhang Fall Tour, 2011 edition, workshop with He Jinbao is less than a month away, and it will officially kick of the U.S. Fall Tour this year by YSB, International. Those people interested in experiencing real baguazhang first-hand and doing so with the lineage holder of a very respectable system in the art should pay close attention to this one. Not to make

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-64799335975924324112011-08-17T22:14:00.003-04:002011-09-23T13:17:58.437-04:00

He Jinbao of Beijing, China, with assistant and translator Matt Bild of Yin Style Baguazhang International are coming to the United States again in 2011 for the annual YSB U.S. Fall Tour of long-weekend workshops (including Knoxville, TN, for my local folks). If you don't know what Yin Style Bagua is all about yet, then you're missing out. These workshops offer a very rare opportunity train in

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-78948807031730605502011-07-25T23:07:00.000-04:002011-07-25T23:07:45.737-04:00

It's been a long time since I've posted. This is because I've begun, hopefully professionally, another writing project that more or less consumes all of my interested-in-writing time on any given day. My apologies to those of you who expected better. That aside, I've been experimenting with another method that beginners can use to really improve their endurance when it comes to turning the

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-28397381098543566182011-06-14T23:23:00.000-04:002011-06-14T23:23:34.746-04:00

Really, this post could be filed under "Ask Dr. Jimberly" since it stems from a question I got out our study group's training session last night, but I figured I'd file it under "training tips" instead. The basic gist of the question was on how to focus training properly to get a lot of benefit. Since this is a topic that we have experimented with quite a bit before seeking wisdom on the matter,

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-63655016167203129882011-04-22T17:15:00.001-04:002011-04-22T17:21:10.021-04:00

As promised about ten days ago or so, I would get around to writing a second installment to an "Ask Dr. Jimberly" post, this time addressing the question of how to go about starting a study group for Yin Style Baguazhang in your neck of the woods. Here's the link to the original post, answering "Why the Lion System?" for those that are interested. Of course, these questions are overlapping to

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-31633335199445263352011-04-19T21:05:00.000-04:002011-04-19T21:05:36.144-04:00

If you've been following the blog lately, then you know I did something of a month-long tribute to the 2011 Beijing Intensive, now at a close, by upping my working out and training regimen to what I termed "Beast Mode." In all, it must have been fairly effective: in the process, I've lost about eight pounds and dropped from 21% to 16.5% bodyfat, according to my scale, which probably isn't very

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-25255623305538253372011-04-13T20:05:00.000-04:002011-04-13T20:05:21.098-04:00

Some time ago, I received an email from someone with the following in it: I started with the lion dvd's several years back as that is what was recommended by ATS, but I am far more interested and physically inclined to the dragon system, so that's been my focus for the last year and a half or so. Also, I am trying to start up a study group in my area - what do I need to do to make such a group

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-72962993171007346052011-04-08T20:31:00.000-04:002011-04-08T20:31:34.025-04:00

It's only been about three hours since my last post (which will challenge you if you're a one-a-day kind of reader). That post was about burnout keeping me from maintaining my Beast Mode status so well over the last week. It also suggested some tips for you to beat and overcome your own burnout issues when training too frequently and too hard gets you down. This is a continuation, delivering on

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-73624367412654451312011-04-08T15:58:00.000-04:002011-04-08T15:58:10.942-04:00

Beast Mode is wearing on me. In fact, over the last week and especially for the last three days, despite doing some decent workouts and training in that time, I definitely cannot call what's going on "Beast Mode" any longer. I hit burnout, which I could have predicted. It's beyond the problem characterized in my last post about not having enough to eat for my training (which I've decided is

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-82708949919819933142011-03-31T22:12:00.001-04:002011-03-31T22:12:32.639-04:00

So... Beast Mode is catching up with me, apparently. I haven't lost the mental fire and have kept pushing myself to do the workouts at my fullest capacity, but honestly, over the last several days, the physical gusto has just kind of been dwindling. This happened one day last week too. I noticed it particularly during last night's conditioning workout (details below) and in essentially everything

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-26495669446131779212011-03-30T18:47:00.001-04:002011-03-30T18:48:16.407-04:00

Beast Mode continues! Much of the workout stuff is the same as the last several Beast Mode posts -- lots of turning and standing, then lots of striking and forms drilling, and then hard-ass conditioning workouts, pretty much every day. It's fun. Our group training session from this past Monday is worth noting, and I'll take this post to finally get around to describing my heavy metal (a.k.a.

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-62723446818153810362011-03-25T20:57:00.000-04:002011-03-25T20:57:42.107-04:00

Apparently, rest days are important, even during Beast Mode training. Yesterday's training consisted only of a half an hour of turning, mostly Phoenix with some Lion, and a half an hour of forms at medium pace and power, kind of like amplified learning speed. Yesterday's conditioning was only a grip-training routine and 60 squat thrusts. Done, and done, because apparently so was my body. Today,

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-68004282901821198062011-03-22T23:20:00.000-04:002011-03-22T23:20:03.401-04:00

So much for daily posts! The Beast Mode daily workouts have been continuing, though, and they're apparently going well enough because I've got a classic overtraining symptom: nearly constantly elevated body temperature. Here's some of the stuff I've been up to over the last few days. The general structure of Beast Mode is that I do turning, standing strengthening, and grip conditioning of some

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-84712456499440864352011-03-18T22:58:00.001-04:002011-03-18T23:01:37.624-04:00

First of all, just in case you don't know: the current full moon is occurring at lunar perigee (use Google or Wikipedia or something if you don't know what that means), and lots of hee-haws are calling it a Super Moon and predicting all kinds of calamity that is very unlikely to have anything to do with the lunar perigee, which happens a little more than once a month, just because it coincides

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-67336955275919776232011-03-17T15:14:00.000-04:002011-03-17T15:14:14.737-04:00

As any and all but the newest members of the Yin Style Baguazhang community are aware, this is the time of year during which the annual journey to Huairou takes place for the Beijing, China, Yin Style intensive. Attending this intensive is considered by many practitioners to be something of a Yin Style Bagua pilgrimage, if not at least a rite of passage. Fortunately or unfortunately (who's to say

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-78333587521888636832011-03-09T18:05:00.000-05:002011-03-09T18:05:18.716-05:00

If you've followed this training journal much at all, then you know of my golden rule of training: "Never Zero." To quickly summarize this rule, there is never a day where there is no training performed, even if it's brief or only in the mind. Well... for the first time in a few years, despite doing some mighty difficult things, I had a day with zero. The zero day was quite some time ago, back in

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-173072701289609742011-01-10T19:10:00.004-05:002011-04-09T12:46:34.808-04:00

Suppose you're just starting out on your adventure in training Yin Style Baguazhang, or perhaps you've been at it for a while and want to be sure you've covered the bases. There's not a whole lot of stuff out there, as you've probably found, but there are some things. This post is meant to be a little introductory guide to what you need to get, a little commentary on that and other YSB material

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-56503019292487963732010-12-26T20:58:00.001-05:002010-12-26T20:59:14.706-05:00

Here's another edition of Ask Dr. Jimberly, where I share questions and answers that I get about Yin Style Baguazhang with a wider audience: What's the deal with that "Humongous Godzilla Sword" (read: the Yin Style bagua dadao)? Technically, this wasn't given in the form of a question that I received. This particular query came in another way: an indication that the big saber is to all

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-72538471501267915582010-12-16T15:58:00.000-05:002010-12-16T15:58:01.196-05:00

After years in the education field and in having dealt with organizing and running both lessons and workouts, I am completely convinced at this point that the place your workout or training session should begin is at a desk or table with pen and paper. Your goal is pretty simple: to transform the time you plan to spend working out into structured time, which is far more valuable than other kinds

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-37286805595700798342010-12-13T11:39:00.001-05:002010-12-13T11:39:55.292-05:00

The other day I posted some training tips for training in cold weather, notably after we trained out in some cold. Today, something relatively rare happened in East Tennessee: it snowed and stuck. I took some advantage of the opportunity to test out some of my tips with a short training session outside (and even got a picture for you, although it's posed, from after some of my training). After

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-75729123891400193272010-12-12T12:11:00.001-05:002010-12-12T12:12:34.331-05:00

Since I get questions in my email from time to time about training in Yin Style, and since people tend to be happy enough with my answers, I've decided a nice thing to do would be to put some of these questions and answers up on the blog, maintaining anonymity, so that others can hear them as well, just in case they happen to have the same questions. Now, to be fair, I have to point out that I'm

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-47507513285851936692010-12-09T15:58:00.002-05:002010-12-09T16:00:06.670-05:00

After reading "When Cold......", by George on the Beijing Yin Style study group's training blog, I decided to put together some of what I have to say about training in cold weather, which is, obviously, appropriate for the season for many practitioners right now and will be again soon enough for our Southern Hemisphere friends. Definitely check out George's post on Y.S.Behind Enemy Lines when you

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-24400339802034661252010-12-05T20:59:00.001-05:002010-12-05T21:00:17.275-05:00

One of the absolute most important aspects of finding success in any endeavor, particularly long-term endeavors like those presented by training a martial art, is proper goal setting. I've talked about this before (like here and here, for a couple of examples), and I'm going to mention it again because I've put more thought and effort into the project recently than ever before. One of the most

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-71246088057327626302010-11-19T18:56:00.008-05:002010-12-04T22:51:20.022-05:00

A flat back... I have one. At this year's successful seminar series, in which I was glad to participate in two tour stops, it was made literally painfully clear to me that I have an overly flat upper back, and that I am to work hard to correct this issue. The problem was discovered while we trained Phoenix System shocking strikes, or perhaps more accurately, the problem was made very clear at

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-45518822631012631042010-09-04T21:18:00.004-04:002010-12-04T22:53:27.160-05:00

Since it seems that I've had a bajillion things to do around the yard this summer, mostly involving a fair amount of physical labor, I've had some time to reflect upon how working, meaning hard, physical labor, working out, as in the gym, and training are similar and yet different. As it is easy to get caught up in substituting labor or a workout for training, particularly since both make you

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-28611474327749964382010-08-20T20:57:00.006-04:002010-12-05T14:05:30.138-05:00

Turning practice is difficult, and to follow Yin Style Baguazhang's demanding schedule for maximum development, it is a goal of all serious Yin Style practitioners to turn for an hour a day on every day that their schedule permits (particularly if there's a seminar or intensive coming up!). If you've ever turned, particularly the way we turn in Yin Style, then you know that an hour is a long time

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-78059920727617303382010-08-13T18:14:00.003-04:002010-12-04T22:55:11.525-05:00

My training, usually pretty good, is up. I'm almost always sore, sleeping like a (very uncomfortably hot) log, and evidently rather dehydrated (proved by unquenchable thirst and my first calf cramp in my sleep in over a year). I'm training like a fiend, or at least like how I figure a fiend would train, because of the upcoming fall tour, the Knoxville, TN, stop in particular. I'm trying to take

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-32692377971048448522010-08-03T16:25:00.004-04:002010-12-04T22:55:29.731-05:00

Undeniably, it has been a long time since I've posted anything on here, and what better reason to take up the charge of writing on this blog again than to announce this year's Yin Style Baguazhang International Fall Tour, including its Knoxville, TN, stop. This year's tour promises to be even better than ever, repeating much of the same in the way of organization as last year, this time with

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-73022019333090400382010-02-28T14:54:00.006-05:002010-12-04T22:57:27.089-05:00

So I did a little hunting around and decided to add some links to my link list since the world of Yin Style Baguazhang is growing steadily, and my blog should probably reflect that. The links section is getting pretty far down the right-hand sidebar of the page, but do scroll down and take a look. You might find some stuff that you're interested in or that you haven't seen before. If you've got

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-28091795807580164712010-02-25T17:59:00.010-05:002010-12-04T22:57:54.966-05:00

I feel like I should be into MMA (mixed martial arts). After all, I fit the demographics pretty well, and worse, I feel tremendous passive social pressure to be into it. I just don't get into it. Edited note: This was, at one time, a lengthy and detailed account of what I do get and don't get, do like and don't like, about MMA. After posting it, I went and turned for about an hour, and then I

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-38197711312602787272010-02-18T22:35:00.003-05:002010-12-04T22:58:11.835-05:00

I had a bit of an epiphany while I was driving today, hopefully to further my career (rather to start one?) -- the key to getting good at the martial arts is leaving room to get better, and that starts with realizing that you're not good yet, no matter how good you are. I'm not sure where the idea came from, but I think I got it by thinking about all of the times that I've gone to trainings,

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-71805648492397282572010-02-08T16:09:00.003-05:002010-12-04T22:58:59.912-05:00

To paraphrase Laozi, here is a comment on training Yin Style Baguazhang: When serious martial artists hear of the methods of training Yin Style Baguazhang, they train them ceaselessly. When mediocre martial artists hear of the methods of training Yin Style Baguazhang, they train them occasionally. When inferior martial artists or people in general hear of the methods of training Yin Style

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-47459446868075510732010-02-04T21:49:00.005-05:002010-12-04T22:59:14.314-05:00

I've seen the pictures on Facebook:YSB now, Stockholm... and while I can tell you with certainty that I'm not busting it like MB's busting you, I am saluting you in my own small way. In response to the Yin Style Bagua 2010 Stockholm workshop, now in progress, I've personally ramped up my training from yesterday until Sunday, trying to put in a minimum of time-and-a-half as compared to usual with

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-52087932355761328882010-01-19T14:51:00.004-05:002010-01-19T15:09:03.429-05:00

Maybe it's the weather, or maybe it's something about my cultural approach to training that I just can't shake, but at least a couple of times each year, despite things that I might write (and mean and stand behind) in high-press articles, I get all into researching "other" forms of "complementary" exercise. I'm not even sure why, and after doing it the other day and realizing something, it just

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-51603588231821711492010-01-12T17:31:00.004-05:002010-01-12T17:40:55.467-05:00

I train hard.I got to thinking the other day, though, how much more ridiculous training with the saber would be if going to battle with the saber was a realistic possibility, supposing I was somehow such a soldier as my training with the saber somewhat suggests I pretend to be. Here's some of my realizations:First, it's hard for me to do drills with the saber for a long time. In fact, it's hard

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-58580624721884388402010-01-05T12:03:00.002-05:002010-01-05T12:49:34.921-05:00

I feel like I should start this off with some classic New Year's resolutions words that seem to spell disaster: "This year's going to be different...." Well, hopefully it is. I've been thinking an awful lot about my training over the past month, not least because of my stupid toe that was making doing much training outside of a seated position (yeah, right) quite difficult if not impossible.

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-19427932814716750522009-12-10T14:36:00.003-05:002009-12-10T14:50:07.096-05:00

I seriously wonder if there is a leg workout out there more effective than the lying step?Monday, at group training, we focused on lying step, building up to and showing the new guys (yea! new guys!) the lying step sweeping form. We did the form a few dozen times, and we took a bunch of drills out of it and some of the others to practice the lying step technique. A few days later, I'm still

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-828066766388116862009-12-06T14:53:00.003-05:002009-12-06T15:13:04.477-05:00

Training in an armchair? What the hee-haw? Before anyone salivates like I'm about to throw out some crazy awesome secret tip for how you can achieve development without having to get out of your comfy lazy-boy recliner (such tips do not exist in real martial arts or development practices of any sort), let me point out to you my predicament and the reality of this. I'm injured in a way where

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-82337058975307116722009-12-02T20:00:00.012-05:002010-03-01T11:34:33.126-05:00

"What exactly is Yin Style Baguazhang?"The following two links provide better information than I can, since they're from the source. You should definitely check them out and share them with all of your friends: About Yin Style Baguazhang and A Brief Introduction to Yin Style Baguazhang, both links courtesy of Yin Style Baguazhang International.I get asked this question more frequently than I'd

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-74823007832936452572009-11-29T15:52:00.004-05:002009-11-29T16:38:15.435-05:00

This is a martial art that I'm training. Martial arts bring up the idea of boot camp, as do the seminars that we go to in Yin Style Baguazhang. Boot camp is a popular notion these days (see over a million pages on Google about "weight loss boot camp," probably the latest craze in the fad-driven weight-loss program industry), and I think folks training in the martial arts like to envision

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-47194084223414223692009-11-27T21:15:00.006-05:002009-11-27T23:20:58.328-05:00

I read something a while back on a forum that was discussing an encounter between some guy and another, one of whom practices YSB. I guess they decided to play patty-cake and see who would come out on top, and YSB guy: not so much. Based on the kinds of things I wrote in my recent post: The Best Martial Art, I'm comfortable saying that I don't really give a crap about how things went there,

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-66855025493315527182009-11-19T21:42:00.002-05:002009-11-19T21:52:09.839-05:00

Hopefully I'm not going to get flamed for this or start some kind of ridiculous trend of sissiness in the ranks of my loyal followers.Due to circumstances somewhat out of my control, the time of day today when I really wanted to work out with my saber left me limited and unable to do so. I did some tracing with it because I can do that in the house without fear of wrecking things, but that's

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-52097667612866883072009-11-16T15:10:00.002-05:002009-11-16T16:08:08.230-05:00

No question in the martial arts world is more likely to bring about a controversy than that of "Which martial art is the best?"There are dozens of sites and forums floating around out on the internet, perhaps most popularly Bullshido.net (which isn't designed exactly around the question but seems to center on it), begging the question and fighting about the responses, often presenting this

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-3489065053262629752009-11-12T21:49:00.003-05:002009-11-12T22:11:50.150-05:00

Finally I get some time for training again after having to have dedicated a hugely inordinate amount of time to work requirements. In that time, I kept myself connected to my training with little sets of this or that, primarily by swinging around my dadao, which I might dare to call the king of martial arts swords (perhaps unfairly? Probably fairly.).Since I did most of my little breaks in five

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-2928001947325761852009-11-05T20:51:00.002-05:002009-11-05T21:00:33.867-05:00

Get a training buddy.You can have one in real life that you actually get together with, but it's not necessary. People tell me frequently how lucky I am that I have my faithful sidekick (who is better than I am) Bradley to get thrown around by. Reality is that I'm only a little luckier than everyone else because of this cool get-up called the internet which in some ways makes the globe a bit

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-50507801461340581842009-11-01T19:31:00.002-05:002009-11-01T19:40:34.117-05:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been working crazy-busy hours trying to prepare for my academic/work demands, and so my training has suffered a little in the meantime. I've been keeping it up with little bits here and there, drills and standing and other quick things in between long bouts with the (rather boring) math book I wrote (but won't be getting published). In the last few days,

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-7618323599547899502009-10-23T21:35:00.002-04:002009-10-23T22:04:59.307-04:00

I'm crazy busy right now. In fact, the only reason I'm typing on this is because I temporarily have a mental block on what I'm working on: preparing to defend my thesis. I've been given the task of preparing the entire defense by November 9, which is barely over two weeks away. I think usually people have the date pretty well narrowed down a few months in advance, so I figure this can only go

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-33612306936326541092009-10-14T16:12:00.005-04:002010-03-01T11:38:44.319-05:00

In an effort to achieve two goals, our study group has decided that we're interested in offering the opportunity for us to come in and discuss some of the principles of Yin Style Baguazhang with friendly local or regionally located martial artists, preferably at their schools. To be clear, let me elaborate.Mission Statement and Statement of Goals:Mission: We, as the Knoxville, TN, study group,

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-78787509338518787622009-10-11T14:49:00.002-04:002009-10-11T15:03:16.569-04:00

Training the martial arts, particularly Yin Style Baguazhang, can be very dry and very challenging at the same time. That's a recipe for making it very difficult to pay the full attention to the practice that you need to in order to develop well. With physically demanding practices that have to be done repetitively a large number of times, it is very easy to "check out" mentally and just let

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-88190090345002877252009-10-04T18:12:00.002-04:002009-10-04T18:28:48.241-04:00

I think a lot of folks are hoping for something different for my first real-content post after our seminar, but since we trained in an indoor facility equipped with mirrors, a first for me in training baguazhang, I was able to pause and think for a while about how the mirror was helping my training... and messing with it.Here's what I've decided: mirrors are a great training tool as long as you

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-30231135158217608892009-09-30T14:10:00.002-04:002009-09-30T14:57:23.526-04:00

He Jinbao and Matt Bild just left Knoxville yesterday morning after our first-ever, mostly successful seminar! The intensity of training was maintained at a pretty high level for most of the workshop, even if our attendance was a bit on the low side. All-in-all, though, I'm quite happy with our first stab at hosting those fine folks.As for what was covered, it was a beautiful blend of solid

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-14904315319300894902009-09-13T12:12:00.002-04:002009-09-13T13:19:06.738-04:00

Since Yin Style Baguazhang is such a tight niche within the martial arts, as I've mentioned before, I'm going to try to expand the audience of this blog by posting topics on occasion that relate both to Yin Style and to other martial arts. Nearly ubiquitous in the martial arts are belts, usually of varying colors to indicate level, or some equivalent: I've seen colored shirts, pants, uniforms,

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-52337679768268509702009-09-09T14:02:00.006-04:002009-09-09T14:40:27.519-04:00

The 2009 Fall Tour kicks off here in Knoxville in just a day over two weeks. Yikes! The preparations still to do for the seminar and for my training... what a list! In any case, here's a slightly more detailed version of what's going on, just in case anyone stumbles upon this and is interested. For practical "I'm interested in coming" information, see my previous post on the matter by

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-51510502133796924542009-09-02T19:26:00.002-04:002009-09-02T20:02:07.264-04:00

Someone's going to jump up and down about this, particularly after my recent post about tips for circle-turning practice in which I had a subject heading labeled Do Not Base Your Turning on a Clock, a Number of Revolutions, or Some Other Crap that Isn't Worth a Damn.I hope not to be flamed about this because a timer can be and is a helpful training tool if it is used correctly. Here, I endeavor

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-61779055984914739072009-08-30T19:09:00.004-04:002009-08-30T23:17:14.156-04:00

I know I already mentioned this, but it bears repeating since it's a major goings-on in my training-related life (which is what this blog is about). Yin Style Baguazhang International is coming to Knoxville, TN, in just under a month! (Don't know much about Yin Style Baguazhang? Start here for the YSB International page!)When: The seminar is going to be awesome for four consecutive days:

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-33110819839558174672009-08-28T19:01:00.004-04:002009-08-28T19:47:10.064-04:00

Turning is definitely a cornerstone practice of baguazhang. In fact, as has been mentioned countless times before and bears repeating countless more times, it is fair to say that turning the circle is probably baguazhang's most basic and yet most profound practice. It is easy enough to do, and yet it is very difficult to do well. Because my circle was hit by a truck and then found to be too

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-77572429514715900902009-08-26T22:29:00.005-04:002009-08-26T22:48:33.101-04:00

I've mentioned this kind of thing before, but it bears mentioning again and again. When you train, go train for something specific, in particular to get better at something specific.Here are two examples of exercise-related/training-related goals, phrased in a fairly generic sense:I'm going to work this exercise until I can do it 150 times without stopping!I'm going to work this exercise until

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-55448610676132899142009-08-18T13:45:00.002-04:002009-08-18T14:17:05.420-04:00

The dadao can really wreck your wrist if you're not careful, as can some of the other practices if you repetitively overdo them like I apparently did in London. My left wrist, which I've mentioned a couple of times already, has been unduly sore and less training-worthy ever since I got back. Since I got asked what I've done to help it, since I have helped it a lot, I decided to make a post

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-8643965112405270372009-08-16T12:40:00.004-04:002009-08-16T13:23:56.291-04:00

Yin Style Baguazhang is a tough art to train, as are many, though this one in particular is described as having "rather dry" training methods that make it difficult to learn. It's also a very deep art that requires a serious commitment to become skilled. Because of how its presented in seminars, because of the immense size of the art, or because of the seemingly endless layers of complexity in

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-68740579254147173852009-08-13T19:52:00.008-04:002009-08-16T13:13:00.598-04:00

I figure it's about time I start putting some pictures on here. So... I did a workout today and took some of the process. Since I didn't have a photographer and didn't want to goof around with the timer and all of that, they're all from my perspective. That makes them probably quite a bit different from what you're used to seeing... awesome. I'm definitely the "different" sort of guy. The

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-11530123347253662912009-08-10T22:15:00.005-04:002009-08-16T13:13:11.193-04:00

"Sometimes you've got to think about presentation; you've got to make it look good for people."He Jinbao said that to us while discussing variations on the Nine Dragon Saber form in our seminar in London this summer, and the extra little kick thrown in by Matt was "You've got to think about fire and ice sometimes." Since I don't speak Chinese, I don't know if Matt or JB said "fire and ice," but

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-9065302642782623522009-08-06T22:47:00.003-04:002009-08-16T13:07:26.152-04:00

This post is about supplementing your Yin Style (or any martial arts) practice with a form of yoga called Yin Yoga. Yeah, yeah, I know... supplemental practices! Yeah, yeah, I know... I've mentioned this before! The thing is that this particular branch of yoga is really helpful for putting you back together after hard training, particularly when your joints are aching and sore or if you have

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-45218540083535182472009-08-04T13:56:00.003-04:002009-08-16T13:14:01.590-04:00

One of the training tools that I've been experimenting with since sometime in May (and holding kind of close to my chest) is what I would call a "what and why" training journal. I'm not as good at keeping it as I should be, but that's partially because I have a tendency to become a little o.c.d. with journaling my training. Still, I think it is a very valuable tool to increase ability in an art

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-11180354956530429862009-08-01T17:27:00.005-04:002009-08-16T13:24:19.695-04:00

One of our major goals here in Knoxville, TN, is to grow our group, and we're finding it very difficult. Of course, we want to do it ethically, which makes things a bit harder. Here's a little bit of our group history along with the trials and tribulations we find in growing.A Good BeginningWhen I started training a few years ago, we had a facility and some folks. I think my brother and I made

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-6924760270903738752009-07-30T19:03:00.007-04:002009-08-16T13:34:35.201-04:00

By request, I'm going to address some of what it is that I "got" about the similarities and differences between the sweeping and hooking palms as mentioned in my article. Really, the two palms are quite different, and that's important to note. In actuality, when you look at all of the forms of the sweeping palm and the hooking palm and take a careful look at the striking methods, you'll see

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-89440518901308138932009-07-28T12:38:00.002-04:002009-08-16T13:10:34.137-04:00

For the first post in my second centi, I'm glad to announce I'm published:http://yinstylebaguazhang.com/lindsay_london2009.html.That's my experience in London this summer nearly as well as I can say it. It's pretty clear that getting the opportunity to go to a seminar like that and taking it is really an unbelievable chance that would be awfully hard to pass up!

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-69386644574297500522009-07-28T09:58:00.003-04:002009-08-16T13:09:25.551-04:00

Even though this is my 100th post and should therefore be commemorated with some tale about how I did everything I know how to do in Yin Style 100 times on each side, I have no such tale to tell. I did realize, however, that I'm also currently writing a blog about things that I cook and that since while I was in London, I was staying with Matt and Jinbao and thus got to eat a lot of JB's cooking

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-15746966426223205012009-07-26T22:03:00.004-04:002009-08-16T13:10:20.090-04:00

I can hardly believe it's almost here! Yin Style Baguazhang International is going to be doing a first-time seminar in Knoxville, Tennessee, at the end of September, and getting it organized is really starting to eat up some of my attention, even though I'm not the main organizer. This has caused me to pause and think... and that has caused me to pause and remember... this is an amazing

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-1706160710186521552009-07-24T19:46:00.004-04:002009-08-16T13:14:30.825-04:00

I went out to work out this evening. I decided that my wrist could deal... I just wouldn't let my left hand play much. I started out with the saber, as I usually do, and did tracing in my right. It felt nice but like I haven't done it much lately (I haven't). Then I decided to test my left hand (having no sense or indomitable spirit or some such) and did fifteen repetitions of the exercise.

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-47821837882158563792009-07-23T16:01:00.005-04:002009-08-16T13:24:54.428-04:00

Every person that does something physical needs this book: The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook: Your Self-Treatment Guide for Pain Relief, Section Edition by Davies and Davies. Seriously. Get it. Use it. Love it.I'm not here to be a commercial; I'm here to talk about training. Well, as many of you have read, my wrist is still pretty well wrecked from maybe overdoing it a little bit in London

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-7014072481017430222009-07-22T14:07:00.007-04:002009-08-16T13:35:14.415-04:00

It occurred to me last night that most of this blog is kind of an adventure in describing my trials, errors, and tribulations with training Yin Style Baguazhang, and since it's kind of giving me a slightly authoritative voice (or so I hear), I decided it would be nice to provide some tips for training. None of these will be too fancy, and it will certainly not be a comprehensive list. It's just

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-7390114329478873192009-07-21T14:32:00.003-04:002009-08-16T13:16:08.085-04:00

Last night was great. Our group got together, and things went really well. I started to share some of the drills we did in London, which was an awesome intensive for being able to build solid curriculum for practitioners both new and old, and we were so excited by them that we used up almost our entire two hours working just on a couple of them. That's the kind of old-fashioned, hard, focused

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-9413777989253935962009-07-18T22:40:00.003-04:002009-08-16T13:17:00.227-04:00

Since I've been back from London, I've been doing what little turning I've been doing in places other than on my increasingly famous circle, which is worn into my yard and has been consistently muddy since I got home. I got on it tonight after a long day of not doing much of training value and decided to put into action some of the things that I learned about turning while in London,

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-71198640137338917182009-07-17T13:58:00.004-04:002009-08-16T13:26:22.751-04:00

Oh the excitement! Oh the joy! Oh the enthusiasm! Oh the training that is to come!I did some striking practice today and found out that finally, seemingly at long last, my body works again. I've trained lightly almost every day since I got back from London, but it seemed that while my head and heart were in it, my body just wasn't. In fact, it intended to have no part in the entire affair.

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-26415960018974918992009-07-14T23:49:00.003-04:002009-08-16T13:19:55.843-04:00

So I'm officially easing back into training, which means that I've admitted to myself that I cannot physically train as hard as I was before and during the London intensive yet and have decided that the situation will not hold me back entirely. I pushed myself last night, however, and tried to have a more vigorous training session and almost undoubtedly injured myself -- my hamstrings and leg

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-79786305638336444402009-07-10T13:26:00.003-04:002009-08-16T13:20:52.917-04:00

Something Jinbao said in London has been sitting in my mind a lot, particularly as I work out the soreness/injuries that are keeping my training far sub-optimal (thanks to point cutting, the Lion posture, and a touch of Phoenix stuff, I still can't supinate my left wrist without fairly sharp pain and doing things like the dishes is kind of agony -- darn, I can't really do them...). He said that

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-87562611294085983982009-07-07T17:08:00.001-04:002009-08-16T13:21:36.380-04:00

I made it back from London, remarkably enough in one piece. It was quite a trip... definitely too much to detail here in any salient or appropriately brief way, but it is at least fair to say that it has made and will continue to make an absolutely tremendous difference in my training and ability to use the art.In fact, I'm itching to put my new understanding to use in some serious training, but

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-44137444005559037392009-06-05T10:53:00.005-04:002009-08-16T13:25:42.066-04:00

Since when did doing things like taking a saber to the UK get so ridiculously expensive? Holy pants! I just found out (and I'm glad I found out ahead of time) that taking the good ol' dadao to Londontown would run me $300 each way on the plane. HHHHHWwwhat? The conversation I had with the lady at the airline convinced me that logic cannot triumph over policy:Me: "I need to take a bag with me

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-92102378094240762342009-06-04T22:46:00.005-04:002009-08-16T13:25:56.796-04:00

I've had a few recent confirmations about some progress being made on my part with the dadao, which is good news. A corollary to that is that I'm now competent enough to tell that I'm sloppy as all hell with it (sloppy beats clumsy?). It's exciting after all this time to have some confirmation of improvement, though. I've kind of got this lasting mental block that I suck royally with the thing

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-26985606838432894072009-05-29T17:06:00.003-04:002009-08-16T13:23:37.495-04:00

Not that I have the power, but I dub the month-long period from roughly May 15 through June 15 in this part of the world the Month of Thunderstorms.Every time I get a chance to do some rocking outdoor training, it seems a thunderstorm rolls in. This has been going on for about two weeks now, sometimes more than once per day. The weather reports are, of course, no use for planning because the

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-63129313873683813592009-05-22T09:25:00.003-04:002009-08-16T13:27:26.920-04:00

"I'm not the smartest or naturally the best, but I have the best heart. That's how I got to where I am." -He JinbaoThat's what Jinbao said to the group after he wondered aloud if I was smart enough for this art a few years ago in the dawn of my training. Later, he told me that I "have a lot of things messed up, but my heart is good," which, looking back at it now, seems like a decent complement

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-85684969826747171992009-05-12T23:37:00.003-04:002009-08-16T13:28:47.799-04:00

Following the clever titling protocol of a friend from high school (note what month it is!), I'm engaging in (continued) Mayhem in my training. I'm also, apparently, cool all of a sudden, my saber having earned me a little notoriety and neighborhood celebrity. The neighborhood kids (actually in my mom's neighborhood, where some of my working out has been going on a -- while my brother was in

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-26733716857196319042009-05-03T19:22:00.001-04:002009-08-16T13:29:34.697-04:00

I went out for my daily saber workout today, and at the beckoning call of my wonderful wife at the perfect moment of "I'm not sure I can hold onto this thing anymore right now," I turned my attention after a while to "Number 2," my trusty little saber-toothed saw. We have an area of brushy crap in our back yard that's trying to climb and wreck our majestic holly tree and is choking a couple of

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-24141918531944645402009-04-29T16:39:00.007-04:002009-08-16T13:35:00.842-04:00

Damn it. My adviser found me. All this time, I thought I was cruising along in the "no news is probably good news" category, having not heard from him in a few weeks and awaiting his direction on what to fix next, but I was actually bobbing around in the "I haven't had/made time to look at your stuff this whole time" box. Now that he's looking at it, I'm back to awesomeness: my academic

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-18880130539837850692009-04-28T09:31:00.004-04:002009-08-16T13:31:26.710-04:00

I've used a lot of tape lately. As strange as it may seem, as crappy as I still am with it, my muscular ability to cope with the saber is growing significantly faster than the coping ability of the skin on my tender mathematician hands. I had been getting blisters, some quite bad, some that tore the skin off before I knew I had them. Now I'm getting callouses, but I'm also rubbing my skin

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-930624954763838102009-04-16T15:28:00.004-04:002009-08-16T13:32:53.279-04:00

Word on the streets is that my peeps are worried about if I'm getting stronger yet. Those peeps should rest assured that I'm working on it, day by day, and hopefully will have something to show for it despite the hee-hawing I could do about having a dissertation to write, correct, rewrite, correct, and rewrite a few more times in the intervening months and some kind of apparently serious

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781593251763362989.post-55829628158417140252009-04-11T17:00:00.004-04:002009-08-16T13:34:15.777-04:00

Since my main partner in crime has been half a world away, I've had to turn off my "testing it out" engine almost completely and sink into total visualization to achieve my applications designs. This isn't too far from normal, really, since we really put a strong emphasis on visualizing what we're doing and how to make it work, including, when we really try, a subtle tactile understanding even

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05685966252909916056noreply@blogger.com0