Friday, February 6, 2009

Training in the Rain - Catharsis


"Lord, wash away my iniquities and cleanse me from my sins."
- Invocation during the celebration of Mass

Generally speaking, you will almost never hear me say anything good about any sort of precipitation. I tend to dislike rain, and I have a violent allergy to snow.

But the past few days of rain haven't been so bad for drought stricken LA. It's nice to be able to train and do simple stuff indoors, although I sorely (literally & figuratively) miss my training sessions with Taekwondo coach Scott Dilalla. I stopped by his apartment (all of 2 yards away from my front door), for a quick check-up on my basic footwork & posture, and all seems good.

The rain's preempted my outdoor classes (Tai-Chi & Kung-Fu on Saturday morning, and probably kettlebells on Sunday morning), but for once, I have no problem with that. Having a daily goal of 100 swings, plus GTG pressing and other fundamental movement patterning to do is keeping me plenty busy. And while I've had to spend the last few months over-teaching and under-training, the soreness feels good... almost cathartic.

So what am I doing indoors? The simplest stuff.

- Knee-ups - Trying to keep my upper body totally still and my neck completely relaxed
- Swings - Whether using a 24 kg or 32 kg kettlebell, I'm making a point of doing at least 100 swings at LEAST 1x/day, on top of my other martial arts training
- Primitive Movement Patterning - If I can't stand properly, I can't lift my knee correctly. If I can't lift my knee correctly, I can't kick efficiently. These fundamentals of movement are so telling, so revealing.

The gift of spending time with my family is a long overdue blessing, and I can't wait to just have the chance to chill out and watch Squealie play with the newest addition to his Thomas the Tank Engine collection. He should be walking in the door soon, leaving a trail of rainwater on the rug, and looking forward to playing with his train before even bothering to remove his raincoat. Simple pleasures.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

:-)

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