Love Those Milestones =)
Feb. 10th, 2003 09:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_gneechDid a handstand tonight -- first one I've done since elementary school. I wish I could say I did it without assistance, but I've got a long way to go before I do that. In point of fact, SiHing held one leg, and one of the other students held the other, and it lasted all of maybe ten seconds. But as with almost everything I'm doing in Kung Fu, it's a start -- and where I am in my training, even starting counts as an achievement.
Another milestone came tonight -- I paid my first "regular" tuition bill. After the second class of this week, I will no longer be in my "introductory" phase. I am no longer the new guy ... I am just "a student." And I love that. :)
The tax papers got mailed off today. The refund is earmarked for that Bowflex Laurie and I have been discussing since 1999. I think that will really help my training take off, because one of the big obstacles I keep hitting is that my muscles aren't strong enough to do the required moves. I've got pretty good flexibility given my size and overall condition -- but I can't hold my stances, because the muscles aren't strong enough to keep me balanced. All night tonight, I kept shifting all around whenever I was trying to chamber a kick.
One other item, while I'm thinking about it. There was an article in Health magazine (I think it was) recently, which said that research has indicated that redheads tend to have a low pain threshold. Apparently, the genetic bits that unlock the genes for red hair also enhance the body's pain receptors. In a nutshell, redheads feel 20% more pain than average Joes (or Janes, as the case may be).
This is hardly news to me; I was diagnosed as having a low pain threshold when I was a toddler, and my mother always gave me the fine and well-thought-out advice that I should tell my teachers that early and often. [1] However, once I saw the folly in that idea, I made it a point to never use the low pain threshold as an excuse. I feel 20% more pain? Well I guess that means I need to develop 20% more willpower.
For the most part, this latter approach has worked; the only reason I bring it up is that I have been fighting pain in Kung Fu more than just about any time in my life, with the exception of when I was crippled by back spasms. I don't mean that the Kung Fu classes are hurting or damaging me -- far from it. But what I do mean, is that when there is pain (from holding a stance for HOW LONG? or stretching my legs HOW FAR APART?), I have to overcome it in order to continue, and that's something I haven't had to do a whole lot in my life.
But at the same time, because of the lowered pain threshold, I think I may actually have an odd kind of advantage. I'm used to pain; I feel it a lot! The same way familiarity breeds contempt, after a while, pain looses its terror for you. It's not like being numb -- the pain is still there and still real -- but you disconnect yourself from it. Normally, the natural reaction to pain is that you become the pain. ("Oh my God it hurts IT HUUURTS!!! MAKE IT STOOOOP!") But after a while, the pain becomes something that's just sorta there, sharing your existence with you. ("Ouch, that hurts, take a breath and relax, stretch some more, ouch.")
Mind you, I'm not volunteering myself for any torture sessions. ;) But I have started to learn how to transcend pain to some extent, and I think that as much as anything accounts for the way I've progressed rapidly for the past three months. I don't stop when it hurts, I just make a little room in my mind for the pain, and keep going.
I do stop when I run out of breath -- I haven't been able to transcend lightheadedness yet. ;) But I'm working on it!
G'nite world. Have a wonderful tomorrow. :)
-The Gneech
[1] My mother does not and never has understood the psychology of schools, even when she was in one. Standing up and saying in your best momma's boy voice, "Teacher, I have a low pain threshold and should be excused when I have a scratch," is one of the top ten surefire ways to make sure that all playground balls are hurled at you first, even by the Quaker children. As for bullies, well, it makes you Most Favored Target.
Another milestone came tonight -- I paid my first "regular" tuition bill. After the second class of this week, I will no longer be in my "introductory" phase. I am no longer the new guy ... I am just "a student." And I love that. :)
The tax papers got mailed off today. The refund is earmarked for that Bowflex Laurie and I have been discussing since 1999. I think that will really help my training take off, because one of the big obstacles I keep hitting is that my muscles aren't strong enough to do the required moves. I've got pretty good flexibility given my size and overall condition -- but I can't hold my stances, because the muscles aren't strong enough to keep me balanced. All night tonight, I kept shifting all around whenever I was trying to chamber a kick.
One other item, while I'm thinking about it. There was an article in Health magazine (I think it was) recently, which said that research has indicated that redheads tend to have a low pain threshold. Apparently, the genetic bits that unlock the genes for red hair also enhance the body's pain receptors. In a nutshell, redheads feel 20% more pain than average Joes (or Janes, as the case may be).
This is hardly news to me; I was diagnosed as having a low pain threshold when I was a toddler, and my mother always gave me the fine and well-thought-out advice that I should tell my teachers that early and often. [1] However, once I saw the folly in that idea, I made it a point to never use the low pain threshold as an excuse. I feel 20% more pain? Well I guess that means I need to develop 20% more willpower.
For the most part, this latter approach has worked; the only reason I bring it up is that I have been fighting pain in Kung Fu more than just about any time in my life, with the exception of when I was crippled by back spasms. I don't mean that the Kung Fu classes are hurting or damaging me -- far from it. But what I do mean, is that when there is pain (from holding a stance for HOW LONG? or stretching my legs HOW FAR APART?), I have to overcome it in order to continue, and that's something I haven't had to do a whole lot in my life.
But at the same time, because of the lowered pain threshold, I think I may actually have an odd kind of advantage. I'm used to pain; I feel it a lot! The same way familiarity breeds contempt, after a while, pain looses its terror for you. It's not like being numb -- the pain is still there and still real -- but you disconnect yourself from it. Normally, the natural reaction to pain is that you become the pain. ("Oh my God it hurts IT HUUURTS!!! MAKE IT STOOOOP!") But after a while, the pain becomes something that's just sorta there, sharing your existence with you. ("Ouch, that hurts, take a breath and relax, stretch some more, ouch.")
Mind you, I'm not volunteering myself for any torture sessions. ;) But I have started to learn how to transcend pain to some extent, and I think that as much as anything accounts for the way I've progressed rapidly for the past three months. I don't stop when it hurts, I just make a little room in my mind for the pain, and keep going.
I do stop when I run out of breath -- I haven't been able to transcend lightheadedness yet. ;) But I'm working on it!
G'nite world. Have a wonderful tomorrow. :)
-The Gneech
[1] My mother does not and never has understood the psychology of schools, even when she was in one. Standing up and saying in your best momma's boy voice, "Teacher, I have a low pain threshold and should be excused when I have a scratch," is one of the top ten surefire ways to make sure that all playground balls are hurled at you first, even by the Quaker children. As for bullies, well, it makes you Most Favored Target.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2003-02-10 07:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-10 09:46 pm (UTC)-=TK
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Date: 2003-02-11 01:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-11 08:08 am (UTC)no subject
An example I've used before--females have less muscular strength than males, on average. And my teen-aged niece can dead-lift me, because she is an individual, not a composite of the three billion plus females on the planet.
It would be worth getting the original research, just to satisfy your (and now my) curiosity on the topic. Perhaps the correlation is close to 1, who knows?
In any event, it sounds as if you are doing well indeed. Kudos!
===|==============/ Level Head
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no subject
But that's not the only example, he seems more affected by pain than I am in many instances, as have a lot of other people in the past....so I guess I'm lucky...or just more stubborn, one or the other!! :)
Mur
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Mur