M Chan
What is Forty Fit-fu? So glad you asked.
This summer the Temple has an 8 week gymnastics class. We thought it would be fun and age denying to work with the coach for the first hour and to try and keep up with the young ones. I at least have a gymnastics background, but poor O. The thought of being upside down and kicking his legs over his head does not come naturally to him.
We don’t have delusions of grandeur. We didn’t think we would be suddenly doing flips, but thought it would be good to work on some basics (handstands, rolls, cart wheels). I’ve been pleasantly surprised at our progress.
Coach Travis Lombardi is awesome. He has me doing back handsprings again, which is something I haven’t done in ages. It felt good. The next day…not so much.
My personal goal is to continuously develop my kung fu knowledge and skill. I am realistic. I know that Grandmaster Pui Chan is super-human, but I Don’t Stop, Believing! we can all improve physically as we get older. (yes, that was an 80’s song reference)
Now that I am 40, I realize so many things about my physicality. I need to warm up more, hydrate more, sleep more, eat less…
Many students start their kung fu career at 40. This is awesome. I often hear people say they need to get ‘fit’ before starting kung fu. However, kung fu can get you fit. There are definitely challenging movements in kung fu; in which having good mobility, flexibility or strength would be beneficial.
So what is Forty Fit-Fu? Simply, how to keep fit for doing kung fu after 40! O and I will be sharing some of our challenges as kung fu practitioners and tips on how to overcome those challenges. We have different viewpoints on this, because he started kung fu a little later in life, while I started at 3.
I’m really excited to be sharing what I have learned with everyone, but especially with anyone who have started to get frustrated with the changes in their bodies after 40. However, I am choosing to age like fine wine…and to drink fine wine as I age. 🙂 (perhaps a blog post on just that sometime)
Join Oscar and I every Tuesday at 7:00pm EST on FACEBOOK LIVE. Ask us questions, laugh at us, cry with us, and just remember we know how it feels to be: “gettin too old for this shit”.
