OctoberFest

Oct 3, 2010: Jeet Kune Do Workshop with Mickey Lay

Mr. Joel  was gracious enough to invite me to join their Jeet Kune Do workshop with Mickey lay. Mickey is one of Mark Stewart's students in JKD, and he hails from "the lend deown undah". He is a man in his late thirties, Asian, and had a thick australian accent. It was a one-afternoon event, though they also had their exclusive JKD training sessions with him beforehand. We started with some arm stretches, waist rotations, leg stretches and a few plyometric exercises.


Since not all of us were regular JKD practitioners, Mickey had to start with the basics; which comprised of the lead straight punch and kick. I had trouble with the push-off because i was wearing flat-soled shoes against the smooth flooring, and i was constantly sliding across the floor with my rear pushing foot. I shoulda worn rubber shoes, to help with the friction. It was a bit frustrating, i didn't get to achieve the desired effect of extending the range due to slipping. As for the lead kick, it involves clipping the lower leg part before extending. I had a lot of questions i threw along the way, and mr. Ramos and Marc were able to clear up things for me. Like one of their kicks, they use the tip of the shoes/toes as a hitting point. This was similar to our snake kick back in traditional kung fu. The tucking in of the pelvis reminded me of Wing Chun's method of tucking in the pelvic bone- maybe that part of JKD came from Wing Chun, seeing as it was Bruce Lee's first art.

(and yes, i tend to protrude my head forward when i'm in need of air )

Sir Mickey mentioned that he also studied different martial arts, among them was Eagle style kung fu. I was curious about his experience with that and asked him a bunch of questions. He said that he was training in the gym when an elder man walked up to him and let him try a few exercises. Soon enough, he became friends with that man and stayed with him for a while (who, from what i understand, was a former monk) and started teaching him a few techniques. I asked about their conditioning methods, and sir Mickey elaborated some of their hand conditioning; like swinging a kettle for the hands; and their finger push ups--he showed me a technique in which he curled his hands, his fingers close together and struck my left pectoral. We also had this technique back in my school but the conditioning was different. I asked him about JKD's conditioning exercises, and he shared one specific example: they use their knuckles to hit a tiny sheet of metal; small enough to fit a hand. Sir Mickey told me he got this from Ted Wong when they asked him about it.


The workshop wasn't as extensive as Mark Stewart's, but it did provide some good solid base for the basic tools of JKD.

The Tien-o-Meter gives this a 6 out of 10


Oct 16,2010: Philippine Parkour and FreeRunners Association Flow Workshop: The first URBAN JAM

I've been seeing the Discipline and Art of Parkour and FreeRunning since i was in college and i've always wanted to learn some of the stuff they did. Mostly because they were doing the kinds of moves that Spiderman, Ninjas, and Kung fu movies have been doing. My then-Officemate Nicole joined a workshop last year that teaches Parkour--i liked to try it back then, but i wasn't fully determined; only when i have the chance and most of all: budget to do so.

Then came this year; and the same organization that started the workshops that Nicole attended was organizing another one. This time, i had the resources and drive to finally learn Parkour. Nicole sent me the link, and since there was a discount if you enroll with a friend, i just HAD to tap the Tienster™ social network and ask around for fellow interested people. A few people responded, but ultimately, my officemate and Art director Molyn had the green light. She also brought her 2 younger sisters to learn parkour so we both availed of the discounts.

The first meeting was in Quezon Memorial Circle- where my school also trains every sunday mornings. The Parkour course outline comprised of 9 sessions, 2 of which are outdoor urban locations; QC Circle and the Datu shrine in Luneta. The bulk of the sessions are to be held indoors at a gym in pasig.



We started with basic stretching, and something they call QM(as of this time i forgot what that means, but it's essential to parkour fitness). Almost the same stretching routines found in our school, but with 2 new routines i've never heard of--the elbow rolls. In most of my physical sessions, the elbow roll was nowhere to be found; we weren't taught this in kung fu or in jkd. This was something new to me.

The crawling exercises were next(which were part of QM, i think). we were told to stand on all fours and crawl on a straight line,keeping our torsos parallel to the ground. Doing this gave our hands some scratches, and made our shoulders feel the burn. After that, we did some Bear Walks, where we stood on all fours, legs stretched and then walked the same amount of distance as the first crawling drills. This was harder, since the pressure was on the shoulders and calves in mobility.


The Monkey shifts were next, where we were in a crouching position, similar to spiderman, then shift our bodies sideways, planting our arms on the ground, pre-shift. This was a very exhausting drill(well, all of them were) but it made me feel closer to my target capability.

After the conditioning drills, we moved on to a different spot; for every new technique being taught, we had to switch locations so as to maximize the different variety of techniques they can teach us using the diverse structures found in the park.

First up, was the wall climb- this was a means of scaling walls from the bottom going up via the momentum of a run. The technique is to run to a wall, jump, put your foot/feet against the wall to absorb the shock, then grab onto the top ledge and use your arms to pull yourself up, your legs pushing against the wall in a simultaneous manner. This technique was a bit difficult to master at first, but eventually i got the hang of it.

Next was the lazy vault- another common parkour technique, the person swings his/her leg up, using the momentum to cross over to the other side of a fence. The leg nearest the fence is the one that swings up. I could compare it to a medium-level double kick, but in doing this drill i seem to overshoot, using up too much energy. In parkour, some techniques are done in a relaxed way--the lazy vault is usually done when crossing over railings and/or similar structures of height in a diagonal direction. For this exercise, we moved to an area with railings; which was near where we usually train every sunday mornings. The group was pretty big, so i understand it was difficult for the instructors to keep us students in check. Some of the english-speaking students(who i assume were from ateneo) went ahead and tried jump-hop techniques on the side of the railing while waiting for the girls to finish trying the lazy vault.

We then moved to the grassy area near the middle, where most of the exercise structures were in place. monkey bars, push up bars, etc. We went to this half-uprooted tree which had a part in its trunk that was protruding sideways, making it stand like a railing. There we were taught different techniques for passing over this obstacle. I forgot the other names and i only remember one: the Kong. The first technique was passing over the trunk in a spin-like maneouver, which i could compare to a tornado kick, but in a relaxed manner. The next technique was skipping over the trunk by combining the momentum of running, jumping, and pushing of the hands against the trunk. The kong was a similar technique but with more emphasis on a monkey-like flow.(maybe a factor why it was called such)

(photos grabbed from various sources)

After this, we moved to the area with a huge rock. This was ironically the same rock we put our stuff on years back when we were training kung fu in that spot. We trained how to skip over that rock in a freestyle manner. When i first tried it, i did as some others did, used one leg to step onto the rock, planting a hand on top, and then skipping over. Then came the athletic students and sequentially one-up-ed each other, showing off how they did better than their peers. I was kinda envious that they could do these things, and i tried my hand with a medium-level front vault and every pass after that, became a disaster.

I keep overshooting, first, with the jump off, i jump too high and i get a hard time planting my hand onto the rock. Another thing i couldn't get was the technique: i asked the instructors how the technique worked, but they seem to be divided on this, since one side said don't think about technique and the other side said it was subject to preference. I needed a technique in which to base my actions, but since they didn't give a concrete answer, i just made my own way(with much difficulty, i might add). I always landed badly, drawing squeamish reactions from the crowd. I kept landing in such a way that my left hip absorbs the shock instead. This gave me a sore hip the days after.

As for the last drill, we went to the kid's playground, where there were these 10+feet high giant cement books, and they had us try the vertical wall climb. This technique was an upgrade of the earlier technique, because of the sheer height difference. I still had no courage to do that technique since i felt it was still beyond me; so i joined the others with the next technique, the gap jump(not sure if that's the correct term, but thats how i would describe it). This was a move straight out of Prince of Persia; the person starts out from a ledge, jumps towards another ledge separated by a huge gap 9 feet above the ground.

I felt the fear of heights setting in, but i had to remind myself that i've been through worse; i've been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, this should be no problem for me. As i psyched myself up, i started swinging my arms to get my momentum pre-jump, and then just threw my whole weight to clear the gap, and caught the ledge, landing sideways in a crouched position against the wall. I slipped for a moment, but regained my composure.

It was a great experience, trying that out, i felt that i overcame a huge barrier psychologically. As we were wrapping up our first urban jam session, i felt kinda confident and tried my hand with the vertical wall jump. I didn't execute the full technique but i was able to measure that i CAN do it. And maybe i WILL next time :D

The Tien-o-Meter gives this a 7 out of 10


Oct 24,2010: Philippine Parkour and FreeRunners Association Flow Workshop: The first GYM SESSION
A week after the first urban jam, we had our first Gym session at Club Gymnastica, Pasig. I'd been there once before, i tried to scope the place out before when i was still considering if i were to study parkour or not. It was located in between Robinson's Pioneer and SM Megamall in terms of distance; inside the industrial area. It was a huge warehouse-type building with a large area floor mat, and a lot of gymnastics equipment. Perfect for training agility and flexibility movements. Since there were only 3(or 5) of us who wanted to go on the Thursday night batch, they had no choice but to merge us with the Sunday afternoon batch.
I arrived there quite surprised, because there were a LOT of people practicing there. I saw the instructors and put my stuff near them. Saw everyone was barefoot and i assumed that was the house rule while in the mats. I took off my shoes and joined the others in the middle.
They started us off with stretching, and then the QMs(Quadrupedal Movement). This time though, the drills were formatted for a squared venue, which meant we had to do all the drills in all directions, either clockwise or counter clockwise. It felt like punishment, doing the bear crawls(which i hated most of the drills we were taught).

We then proceeded to the curriculum proper; they made us do handstands, handstand walks, headstands, rolls, jumping rolls, etc.

Handstands: This wasn't something new to me, i'd been doing this in my house and here in my room ever since i had surgery done on my midsection. I miss doing handstand push-ups though, if i'd only continued them, i wouldn't have to feel so burdened now.

Handstand walks: I never practice this, as i am afraid to fall over. But since we were in a mat area, and the floors were reinforced with springs at the bottom, it was okay. i couldn't walk a few steps because i had a hard time balancing with the handstand; i only do the handstand here in my home with the aid of a wall.

Rolling: This was one of the main techniques i wanted to learn, i could use this as an additional slot to my moves set. The instructor explained that this was sort of different from the rolling technique taught in martial arts. We started with basic rolls, and then proceeded to running rolls, then jumping rolls. I had fun learning this since this was one of my most coveted techniques to learn.
(pics from a certain miss kindred pasana?if that's her real name)

The springboards were fun to use, i remember watching the behind-the-scenes footage of Star wars episode I: The phantom menace,the part where ray park(darth maul) uses these to force-jump over his opponents obi wan kenobi and qui-gon jinn. I want to try them sometime when i'm over there at the gym. There were lots of stuff you can practice there, like the bars, the huge trampolines, etc. I'll be looking forward to training more there and enjoying the rest of the course.

The Tien-o-Meter gives this a 6 out of 10.(which turns to a negative the days after :)) )


Hung Fut Training

I've been training in this 400+ years old southern chinese martial art system for over 5 years now. I started when i was 19 years old, in 3rd year college; my schoolmate invited me to join them, because i was interested in kung fu and wushu and i kept watching them train in the football field in UST. When i started training with them, i was a bit disappointed at first because i wanted to learn the high-flying acrobatic stuff that Jet Li does. But when i thought about it, that sort of stuff belonged to wushu and is not good enough to help me defend myself in real combat. So i turned off my desire to fight with flair and kept to the ground instead. When i got my taste of the southern style martial arts, i just grit my teeth with the body pain that came after my first few sessions.

I wasn't the most disciplined student either, i didn't train like i was supposed to, i didn't attend as much. Mostly because of the combination of my own problems at the time, lack of drive, and the impending thesis. Time passed, and lots of new students enrolled at the school; some of them now way better than i am(not to say that i'm good or anything), but the fact that my juniors are now stronger than me, kind of sets a nerve off; a wake up call of sorts. I NEED to get my act together, else i'd be going nowhere fast with my training.

I know that MOST people nowadays discredit traditional kung fu as a "relic of the classical mess", "non-effective", and "non-practical". But based from my experience, and of the experience of my teachers, traditional kung fu still has its place among the best martial arts systems. This might come off as the ramblings of a student who blindly follows a media-fueled tradition, but rest assured, there are a LOT of great exercises and effective techniques not found in Mixed Martial arts and other arts that can be found in traditional kung fu.

For example, in my school. Our number one unique selling point is our conditioning training. We have training routines that strengthen grip, calcifies the forearms, shins, throat and torso; as well as iron palm training, finger thrust conditioning, and many more. We train these 3 times a week(everyday is even better), then forms practice on sundays at QC Circle. Forms practice are also a misunderstood practice method. Forms practice a.k.a. Taolu was formulated to promote muscle memory and improve reflexes. They serve as a manual in which we can select an arsenal of techniques we can use for certain situations. Its like having a dictionary, and selecting only a few of your favorite words as your main weapons.

In our school, we are taught to be open-minded; take in what is useful, like what Bruce Lee said. As for me, i try to study other chinese martial arts styles as well-be it wing chun, shuai jiao, chin na, zi ran men, sanshou etc. because i lacked enough training to be able to use our style effectively. Our style needs a certain level of expertise for it to be useful in combat. This is where our power training comes in. Since i haven't reached any of those levels yet, i'll supplement them with knowledge of techniques instead.

Here are some of the stuff we do back at my school/kwoon:(courtesy of an episode of GamePlan back in the 90's where my Sifus were featured-they were all so young back then lolz)


Yep. Those routines FRIGGIN' HURT. Good thing the chinese were smart enough to invent Dit Da Jow- or else every practitioner wouldn't have proper futures with hands that seem tortured. Its also funny that some modern martial arts have only recently begun to discover some of the things that the chinese have discovered hundreds, if not, thousands of years ago; like in martial arts medicine. And some traditional chinese fighting techniques have found their way in modern martial arts like krav maga etc.(i noticed krav maga has a lot of similar techniques with praying mantis kung fu) Yeah, i know, this might be mixed with a little bias since i'm a Sinophile and i prefer chinese-looking girls; but truth be told, they're one of the most inventive and innovative races in the world.(not in modern times, though. :P)

As of late, i had only begun my real kung fu training. The past 5 years were not very productive, i lost a lot of time to practice, and more importantly, the drive to practice. Understandable though, if we were to compare ourselves with the old kung fu practitioners of day's old, they didn't have all these distractions in their daily lives. They trained, they eat, they sleep, they mingle. They didn't have internet, or the television, or 9-hour work shifts. Not to say that's a valid excuse though.

My long term goal is to be as powerful as my Sifus. They can break coconuts(the green, more solid ones, not the brown brittle ones), they can bend steel with the stability of their throats, they can resist heavy forearm impact, they have iron shins.(they also had decades of continuous training) For now, i'd have to be patient with the little things; i had only recently been able to break the bottom of a beer bottle using iron palm on the top nose, and it was a great feeling--and a realization of what i could possibly be able to do given continuous training.


We'll see what happens in a few months >:)

The Tien-o-Meter gives this a 7 out of 10.

~in other news; i've recently found a new source of inspiration. let's see if it turns out well in a few months too. Not being optimistic though, given my impressive track record with these things.JEEZ. Here we go again. God help me.


Oct 30,2010: Hard Rock Halloween, Meiday Mayhem, Metrowalk
I arrived at IGDA manila's monthly meetup only too late; because i was roaming around the metro. The gameplan was, get a haircut, go to divisoria to buy a shirt, go to UST to train with some college martial artist friends, go to IGDA, and proceed to Hard Rock cafe in glorietta after. As the holiday drew in, there was traffic everywhere. I DID get a haircut though, went to divisoria but to no avail, the shirt i was looking for, i couldn't find there at that time. i travelled to the IGDA meet via the LRT and the MRT, went to Shangrila Plaza to check out the shirt-printing place my friend Ryan recommended. It was there, and i was to get my black t-shirt printed on; but they had no stock design of the superman logo.(i was gonna go to Hard Rock cafe dressed as superboy. It costs 400php to get in, but those in costume can get in for free.) So i had no choice, since i was running out of time, i made the design myself in their booth's pc using the pen tool.

When the print came out, it was wayyy darker than i expected, but it was ok. I was never gonna make it in time for the IGDA meeting; and this day, it was all about ART. I totally missed out, but at least i had the shirt. I met up with my other officemates and friends at the IGDA meeting venue, talked for a few minutes, ate a few. Then me and Luna had to go to Hard Rock cafe; we had some difficulty in getting a cab though.

We arrived there, some costumed X-Men cosplayers were outside, having photo ops with some kids. We went in, got a table and had dinner first. Luna had a spicy chicken burger thingy(i forgot the name) and i tried their so-called "Legendary burger" (Thanks, Luna! XD) and it was indeed LEGENDARY. Was like an inch thick patty on huge buns, with everything on it. Thinking about it makes me wanna eat. Jeez. After eating, we went to the main hall where the program was being hosted by our common friend Niki, who was dressed as a random S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and Oneal who was dressed as guy gardner(complete with MOE hair and a glowing green lantern ring!)

There were a lot of familiar faces, i saw some people from the cosplay community, and some of which i do not want to hang out with :P the event was great, with bands playing, costumed heroes and villains, great food, nice program.

(photo from niki yarte)

Before the event was over, we hitched a ride with Dante's friend Kenji(or Kenchi?) and his girlfriend (they were dressed as the avengers-uma thurman and ralph fiennes)going to Cubao Expo for the Meiday Mayhem party. Luna kept telling me how awesome that event was, and i was intrigued so i went along to see what the fuss was about.

We had a bit of trouble finding a parking spot, but we got in anyways. LOTSA HIPSTERS roaming around. Not surprising though, it IS hipster heaven :)) there were a lot of bands lined up to perform, most of them, if not all, famous. I saw a lot of familiar faces, college friends and former officemate, Shin.

--who got dressed up as the crow.

after a few hours there, i had to go to metrowalk after, my friends were drinking there, among them my friend who had a car and who lives nearest to me; so i could hitch a ride home just in case. I got there, some of them were talking about martial arts(these were the college friends i was supposed to meet early in the day's gameplan). I got home at around 4:30am, and slept the rest of the day, woke up in the afternoon.

The Tien-o-Meter gives this an 8 out of 10.