Thoughts From A Sleepless Soul

Oddly enough, I tend to do most of my thinking in the late hours of the night/earliest hours of the day. It is in these moments that my mind is most clear and I can set the world aside to pray and consider the events of the past day while pondering the possibilities of the day to come. This might also explain why I've been missing morning trainings, eh Sifu? At any rate, tonight this idea comes to mind, the world is a very intricate and beautiful thing. Complex to the core. The most beautiful thing about it is its uniqueness in the grand scheme of things. So far, there is no planet we know of that is like our planet. It was created specifically for us. Not sure what my fellow todais' beliefs are, but for myself, that just solidifies to me just how small I am in this universe, yet am loved specifically by its Creator! It's just so amazing to me. Especially since I don't deserve to even be a speck of His attention. To my fellow todais who are believers I say this, our God is amazing! He is risen! Praise God for His sacrifice. Never forget that :D
To my fellow todais who do not believe or are seeking or not, think about what the ramifications of this are. The Creator of the universe loves you specifically so much that He sent His Son to die for you so that He could show you He loves you and be with you. I mean talk about grand gestures...

It's important to know that I'm not forcing my beliefs on anyone. But, if you would like to discuss this with me. You are more than welcome to do so :) (and if you don't feel comfortable discussing this via the comments, by all means, email, text, Facebook, or talk to me in person. I'm always willing to talk)

Happy Birthday Jenny Lee!

 Recently, I have seen a video on Jenny Lee's surprise Birthday cake. I believe the video was posted yesterday. I could not write about it yesterday because I was celebrating my older brother's birthday! I guess I had two family members born in that same day, huh? If I am late, I am sorry if I could not write about it Jenny Lee. I even wish I could make a video about it but I am working getting the right tripod. If I can get the same tripod as Shi zu Lee and if it fits my Sony Bloggie, I would not have a problem making any videos especially if I want to get certified this year as a Sidai!
 Jenny Lee, if I could be in Chicago I would have been so happy to celebrate your birthday with you. The reason is you created an awesome family. I think Sifu chose the right person and he is really lucky to be with you. I do not aim to respect you on a specific day. I aim to respect everyday as long as I am living. As I live, I want to be a good role model of a real Dragon so hopefully, baby Ken could follow that path. He would not have to be trained in the Martial Arts, but I hope he could reach excellence in everything he loves to do. Thanks for your videos, thanks for establishing Freddie's Modern Kung Fu. Thanks for being one of my family members.

The Flow and FMK

I really enjoy a lot of the discussions here on the blog.  Recently, there have been a few times where being in the flow of life has come up.  I really like this subject, and I think it is very important for us to be able to move with life and adapt to different situations, and to also try to be content whether things are chaotic or monotonous.
As a teenager, I used to focus a lot on being in the flow.  As an adult with kids and a job, it's a lot more difficult.  It can be easy to get caught up in the daily grind of life and just push through each day without taking time to breathe and enjoy the good things in life.

With my training, I have had to shorten my practice and workouts this last week because of an extra workflow.  I seem to get extra work around the holidays, probably because so many people take the time off.  I'm okay with that though.
I have also noticed lately that when I workout, if I don't feel it in my muscles for the rest of the day, I don't feel like I did enough.  I probably shouldn't always base my satisfaction on that though, because I think my muscles heal a lot faster since I have been working out more.
I also got my next CLF videos, so Kang, you'd better be working on it so you can finish the CLF form with me!  I'm going to be working on it.

Sidai Wei: My Experiences with Hernias

Body, Mind & Spirit

I encourage everybody and when i say everybody i mean everybody, students, associates, fans of FMK and the rest of the world to get highly balanced in Body, Mind & Spirit. You can be a true Martial Artist, a Carpenter, a Dancer, a Cook, a Plumber or whatever else but know that you can train Body, Mind & Spirit no matter what your inner Kung Fu is. Know that it brings peace within, feel it! Get your own truth, express yourself with others, exchange ideas, get curious, ask questions, read books, train your body, train your fighting techniques, get creative, learn as much as you teach, be ALIVE! We're not perfect, who is? But not being perfect is not an excuse for giving up, it is a reason to climb the stairs one by one, each steps at a time. You will fall, but you will get up and climb again. You will cry and get depressed but somehow, you will get back up stronger. You got something special inside of you, yeah you, whoever you are, wherever your at. Don't give up on that something special. Don't give up on that beauty no matter what it is. Problems are there for solutions. Life goes in cycles for all of us. And yeah there is the law of the exception meaning you can live something extreme that is completly crazy and that can take a completly crazy dedication to get out of it, but you have to know that life, that life inside of you is build like a rock, it flows like the water, it can crush everything like the wind, and burn like the fire and in time of extreme difficultys your heart can get frozen to protect itself, but it can come back. Scars can go deep, but they are there to tell stories for us to learn. Of course we could all live without scars, but it is what it is. So Body, Mind & Spirit my friend; Body, Mind & Spirit!

My Insecurities and their Side Effects

It's about 3pm in the afternoon right now. I decided to write because yesterday I saw Jenny Lee's video entitled "Kang You Lost Your Brownie Points". I was thinking maybe I introduced myself to her bad side. I believe she saw my blog about a woman at the club trying to pickpocket me. In my opinion, she was a pretty lady and because she tried to pickpocket me, I started to believe that every lady that I think is pretty would do such thing. It was out of emotion and it wasn't the best way to think about the situation. If you watch the video, you are probably end up thinking that I have no respect for women at all. In fact, I never meant to disrespect any women or anyone; but it seems my insecurities are taking me over and starting injecting negative thoughts about women and maybe people in general. Insecurities are basically the ego. The ego as usual keep you from seeing the reality. It always stereotypes, it always categorizes. The ego is racist, sexist; that is why it has to be dropped. I honestly do not want to watch the video anymore. Not that I do not agree with Jenny; it is just that I felt so ashamed to even go so low! I cannot believe that I insulted every woman of FMK unintentionally. I wish I could meet everybody face to face including Shi zu Lee, Jenny Lee, Lian, Ai, Kiew, Ryan and everybody else so I can apologize to be such an idiot! Of course it is not going to change anything but I guess the only I can get my browny points back(lol) is to learn to control my insecurities or maybe get rid of them. I thought my insecurities only affected me but now it's affecting FMK. I better deal with them before it gets out of hand. That's not how a real Dragon is supposed to be!

Hello SIMUI AI!

I wanted to share some very exciting news! As of last night I earned Red Rank as a Zen Fitness Trainer, Simui Ai!

What you didn't know was right before I got tested, I went through some hardcore cardio & upper body training with one of Sifu's fitness clients. I'm talking about 500+ jumping jacks, 50-100 reps of lifting, and etc. Out of all nights, yes, that's when Sifu asked me if I was ready to get tested...and ofcourse I was! If anything, I wish that hour made it on video too! haha I'm not complaining though, because I woke up in no pain today, and feeling GREAT!

This past year has amazed myself on how much I've progressed. When I was testing I kept thinking back to how impossible I thought all the upper body training I'd have to do when I first walked in (Feb. 18, 2012) and here I am now! Thank You Sifu! once again, and to all the Todai's online & in the kwoon for motivating me! I'm excited for what this year has to come for me and the kwoon. I'm sending all my positive energy on here on to everyone else to know you can do it too! (with much patience, hardwork, and dedication I KNOW you can!)

- Simui Ai

Todai's

Todai's, please take the time to watch this update video to keep in mind for all future FMK events.

Video Message to Todai Lian from Jenny.

Video Message to Todai Changpu from Jenny.

Health diagrams

Here are some healthy diagrams that can aid in your nutrition. Remember vegetables are important but so is eating quality grains, proper protein and lots of herbs and antioxidants :)
Stop drinking animal milk it's not good for you!

Always Be Aware

It is about 3am but I decided to share what I went through. I was at a club today with my brother from Montreal and we met new people. After a couple of chit-chat, we decided to go for a little dance. I did dance a little but take some few pauses. Then I notice a very pretty lady who dance quite well. Since I want to overcome my insecurities with the pretty lady, I decided to talk to her and tell her how impressive her dance moves are. She told me that I haven't seen anything yet. In mind I was saying "ok...". Next thing you know, she started dancing in front of one of my friends. Since I was not facing her, she was trying to get her hands in my pocket so she can pick up my wallet. As soon as I felt it, I quickly grabbed my pocket after that she went away.
If I drank at the club, I am pretty sure I would not notice she was robbing me. Thanks to my alertness and awareness, I was able to avoid being a victim. Now I am wondering, are all pretty girls like that or only the ones at the club? Why would she use her beauty to get money like that from people? Well, I guess it is because she is hired at a corrupted place. How else? Now why did she decide to work at that place? Only her can answer that question. If I know that place is so corrupted, why was I even here? Is it because my brothers and my friends went so I have to? I gave up drinking of course but do I really have to be there? Before giving up clubbing all of a sudden, I rather give these questions some thoughts. If I can answer them one day, maybe I will stop giving these clubs that much of attention. I have to admit, that experience made me doubt pretty ladies a little bit more. I know some guys think they are entitled just because they are with one of the most beautiful girls without even knowing what their intentions are. While these guys can benefit from these relationships, these girls can set them a trap too! Be careful. That's all I am saying.

Training

If training was simply training, it would suck. I've noticed that for almost everybody that has been training for years, they find something special in it. Some will have a philosophical approach about it, some will turn into poets while speaking about it etc.. There's that magic, that mysterious thing that happen when you successfuly finish a workout. There's that peace that comes within. That same peace you can find after you've completed a hard day of work. That same peace you can find after you've helped somebody. That peace... I've started the journey of training years ago to be in shape. I've started it to be strong. And as years went by, it became different. It became a passion. I'm not the most passionate about it but damn i love it. Everytime you felt like giving up, you went through it. It builds you. It builds your body like reading certain books will build your mind. And as a result, everything you do becomes more fun. When you read something about not giving up, it suddenly means something to you. And the beauty about it is that you can share that passion with people. Training is extra large, there is zillion ways to train. How do you train? What is your favorite exercise? Right now i would say my favorite exercises are Front Squats and Lunges with Dumbbells. Let us know about your passion! Thanks and have a great workout!

Concept: Rhythm In Everything

As a musician and martial artist I have noticed a crucial rhythm in everything we do. Rhythm is not only present in everyday life from how many breaths you take minute to the comedic timing of a joke on TV but I believe that it is crucial to survival. Being aware of this rhythm can be a great help with forms, precision of techniques and even breathing. The way I see it is simple. If you can slow yourself down enough to notice the rhythm, you can then become a better part of it. I think in our ever growing fast-paced society we lose sight of this idea. We forget that there is a pattern to how life actually moves. This movement can effect everything from something as small as an individual's mood to something as large as highway traffic. This pattern is so finite that if one person or thing is out of sync, the ripple effect would cause the whole thing to stumble. If we can master or at the very least begin to understand what makes this rhythm work, we can see how we can change it. Rhythm leads to flow, flow leads to patience, patience leads to balance. Allowing this pattern to influence how we train will make us train harder and better than before. Remember to breathe. The basic rhythm of your breath affects how well you can adjust to this idea. I'm still learning this idea but if we all take time to notice and adjust ourselves to this, I bet you'll see a side of the world that you never noticed before. I challenge you all this week to intentionally slow yourself down and notice the rhythm. Please share your experiences with this concept and comment throughout the week! I would love to see your experiences and share with you my own :)

The Difference Between Compassion and Pity

From the perspective of a disabled person.

There is a huge difference between compassion and pity I think. From my experience I feel like someone who is compassionate will see everyone regardless of ability or disability as equal and will assist either when the moment is clear or when the person asks for help. Be that physically or not. The compassionate person is respectful. A person who offers pity and does things with that mindset I feel is doing more harm than good. Out of pity, a person will offer help in a condescending way and will only do it for their own gratification. Whether this is openly obvious or deeply subconscious they see themselves as better than or in higher position than the person they are helping. Now do not get me wrong, it is ok to feel good about yourself for helping someone. But you have to ensure that you did it for the right reasons and if you did not, catch yourself in it and correct it. Regardless of ability or disability everyone is on the same level as people. We are all humans who are trying to survive in a world full of selfishness and greed. We as todai of FMK, and for my fellow believers in the kwoon, must be compassionate not only to those in need but to our enemies as well. What does it accomplish if we as martial arts students, like that of MMA students, stop an attacker as violently as possible and put him/her in the hospital? It shows that we are the same. Is that what we want to show when we rep FMK? No. I have been to many different schools in my life and I have seen many different things, but from Sifu, I see a true martial artist who is concerned about teaching, not fighting. I know that this is hard, but if we exercise restraint on our future attackers, how much better will the reputation of the kwoon be? How much better will your own reputation as a martial artist be? To quote from one of the greatest Marvel superheros of all time, "With great power comes great responsibility." -Peter Parker aka Spiderman. Remember that we represent Sifu and our brothers and sisters in the kwoon in all that we do out in the world.    

Being Naturally Christian

 Today is my school day but I would like to take some time to rant about an amazing conversation I had with my friend yesterday. We have been sharing wisdom on the Martial Arts for quite some times, and I really wish he was part of Freddie's Modern Kung Fu but unfortunately, I do not think he would have the time to. Nonetheless, he is a very nice person and it is completely impossible to come to an argument with him. If you do argue with him, I am afraid that you are an idiot. Basically, no one has ever expose him to Christianity since he was a kid but he made his research and realize within himself that Jesus Christ is his number one spiritual guide. Yes, he also look into the wisdom of the East as I am doing right now because a Martial Artist should be one of the wisest people who ever lived. Anyway, for realizing the power of Jesus Christ within him, it is in my understanding that he became his own Jesus Christ. I used to be a Catholic myself and then going to church into different denomination of Christianity. Soon, I realize that I was wasting my time. Therefore, I stop going to church once and for all and start looking within myself. I realize that I was never someone who wants to mold himself into a religion. I just want to be my authentic self. Another reason why I stop going to church is that I was forced to be religious. That's the problem of most parents: they do not care about who their children really is as long as the children is their carbon copy. They will impose their ideas, superstitions, all these disease on their kids; to me it is just another form of bullying because the kid does not have a choice but to take these diseases. How can the child escape from it? She has no power over her parents! But sooner or later, they will come out of that mold whether the parents agree or disagree. One of the reasons why a lot of people in the West do not understand Christ is because they were pushed to become Christian. They will go to Church but wait until it is time to go home. I cannot blame them. That is exactly how I felt. I feel like I was never really Christian, Buddhist, Taoist or anything. I am just working hard towards becoming a Martial Artist. A Martial Artist to me never mold himself or herself; he is not bound by any religion. As for my friend here, I respect him for realizing the purity of Christianity not the garbage out there like Catholicism, Protestantism, Jehovah Witness or whatever. I take no pastor, priest, missionary seriously. They are not spiritual; they are just scholars who act spiritual by talking about wisdom but never really live it. In fact, they tend to condemn anyone who does not follow their instructions. They will brainwash their people at their so-called church. If anyone is trying to get me to church, I am sorry but you came to the wrong guy. I believe that my friend understood Jesus Christ more than any deacon or missionary because he just express his Christianity without trying to convert anyone. If you agree with him, that's great. If you do not, that is fine as well. That is how it is supposed to be; not molding anybody else into your belief. That is not natural. Anything unnatural will come to an early end. I will always respect him because he is being naturally Christian.

Todai Ryan's Push-Up Challenge

Todai Lian emailed me earlier in the week and suggested that we should devise some fitness challenges for the Online Todai and all others who want to participate, endeavors that will help us increase strength, endurance, stamina, and/or flexibility while upping our personal bests at various exercises. After further discussion, we figured that any challenges should be able to be met within a 10-15 minute time span each day, so that none of us would have an excuse to neglect it, even on the busiest schedule, and that we should have at least one challenge running that involves no special training equipment, so that everyone who might want to can participate. I promised to come up with something to start us off, a challenge that would include push-ups and stamina. Given the participants that I know right off the hop will be involved – myself, Lian, and Kang – this is what I came up with…

A challenge that blends push ups (chest/ arms) and the stances (legs) of our CLF form. Here’s what I’m thinking:

Monday: Bow; Drop into horse stance and max-out the hold; Go down to the ground and max out as many regular push-ups as you can do; Attempt to kip-up; Drop into arrow stance and hold for ten breaths each side; Go down and max out on push-ups again; Attempt to kip-up; Drop into deep cat stance and hold for ten breaths each site; Go down and max out on push-ups a third time; Attempt to kip-up; Drop into cross stance and hold for ten breaths each side; Bow

Tuesday: Bow; Drop into horse stance and deliver chambered punches in the manner of our CLF form (aim for at least 20); Go Down to the ground and do a pyramid of regular push-ups, pausing in plank for as many breaths as the last repetition, maxing out on a set you can’t complete, then attempting to work back down to one; Attempt to kip-up; Drop into horse stance and deliver another round of chambered punches like the first; Bow

Wednesday: Bow; Drop into horse stance and max-out the hold; Go down to the ground and work through a training set of 6 push up variations of your choice, resting as plank between, with the number of reps determined by your ability (5 at minimum); Attempt kip-up; Drop into cross stance and hold for ten breaths each side; Bow

Thursday: Bow; Drop into horse stance and deliver chambered punches in the manner of our CLF form (aim for at least 20); Go down to the ground and work through as many sets of push up variations as you can, resting as plank between, with the number of reps determined by your ability (5 at minimum, and if you can do more than 9 sets then you know you need more reps next time you try this); Attempt kip-up; Drop into horse stance and deliver another round of chambered punches like the first; Bow

Friday: Bow; Drop into horse stance and max-out the hold; Go Down to the ground and do a reverse pyramid of regular push-ups, starting with the number you were able to climb to on Tuesday, working down to one and then trying to climb back up; pausing in plank for as many breaths as the last repetition; Attempt to kip-up; Drop into a low cat stance and max-out the hold on both sides; Bow

Saturday: Consider which of the preceding five days you found most difficult, go ahead and repeat that

Sunday: Take a break, review what you’ve done, prepare to do it again the next week adding reps to your sets as needed

This challenge will run for 6 weeks, starting tomorrow. I will film each of my sessions and post them on the FMK YouTube Channel. All participants should either film and share your own sessions or comment under mine to report your success for the day. I will also post a video notice on the YouTube Channel this evening to invite any FMK fans to join in the challenge. So who’s up for it?

The Importance of What You Say... And Who You Say It To

I have noticed, and this has been reaffirmed by Sifu indirectly as well as other sifus and teachers I've had in the past that it is very important to be careful of what you say about martial arts and who you say it to. When passing on wisdom/techniques that you have learned or discovered on your own, I have found that two scenarios often present themselves to me. From these scenarios I have learned that there are certain things you must always be mindful of.

Scenario 1 - The Kwoon

You are in a class setting and a fellow todai (of greater, equal or lessor rank than you) and yourself are paired and practicing a technique. You understand the functionality and reasoning of the technique quicker than your counterpart. In this situation you must be mindful that your are both todais under your sifu. So it is important to always run ideas by him/her first because they are the teacher and you are not. This goes regardless of prior experience. Any instruction you give should be in line with your kwoon philosophy. When dealing with a todai that is lower rank than you, you must keep in mind that they are still newer/less experienced with the kwoon than you are so care must be taken with each explanation. With todai of equal rank, I see it like this. You and that todai are at the same level in general according to your Sifu. Respect should be given with that in mind. For todai who are of greater rank than you, it is important to remember/remind the basics that they learned at your rank and that you are learning now. Simple is often better than a drawn out explanation. Overall it is important to remember that all of you are there to learn from the sifu as well as each other.

Scenario 2 - The Outside World

You are hanging out with friends who know you study some form of martial arts and they start to ask you questions about what you study and if you've ever had to use your training before. Some may even ask you to teach them something. Before even beginning to discuss anything you know you must keep this in mind. You know the character of your friends. You know how they will use what you teach them and you know that if they get into trouble from it, they learned what they did from you. You must also remember that you represent your kwoon when you teach on any level. Basically, assess character before instructing. Another thing I would interject, I am all for women being able to defend themselves, however from my experience, women can be just as volatile/unstable as men if not more so. The same level of caution on what you teach men should apply to women as well. If you know that your friends will be able to handle what you show them and you can vouch for their level of maturity, the absolute basics are perfectly fine to teach someone outside of the kwoon. Any and all techniques that you learn in the advanced ranks should only be taught by sifu or yourself with sifu's permission within the kwoon. This is for your safety just as much as theirs. Too many times have I seen fellow martial artists show their girlfriend or boyfriend a technique to defend themselves and ended up with that person misusing it or hurting someone that they did not intend to. Keep in mind that we study martial arts. Military. Even the militaries of our country don't tell you everything that they know how to do or talk about what they have done. For us, it is out of respect for Sifu and our fellow todai that we keep certain things to ourselves outside of the kwoon. Be mindful of this as we promote our kwoon and the martial arts as a whole.

The level of discernment needed to make these distinctions is great. I am still striving towards this and I know I have made these mistakes in the past. As we continue our study and as we learn, we grow in our understanding of these ideas. This is not impossible. It just takes time, experience and strength of spirit to reach that level.

Quote expression

For this week blog post, i decided to have some fun and express thoughts that came out of my mind through quotes, everything i express there goes for me as well, if you got questions, feel free to ask, here they are:




If it's truth, it might hurt

Taking things lightly helps a lot

Never forget the exception

You are very different, you must have a lot to teach me

By staying calm you help yourself a lot

If you think you're tough, shoot yourself in the head and then think again

War is hell

I didn't invent truth, but i can share it with you

Being real is a concept, the fake guy think he's real too

Don't go too hard on somebody that is weak because one day you will find yourself in that position too

It takes a real man or woman to admit defeat

Get high.... highly grounded

I'm wrong? Ok now what can i do to better myself?

I'm guilty of being myself

Truth might sound the same, but it sounds damn good everytime i ear it

The weaker you are, the strongest your spirit will get if you push through that weakness

If you can do 20 push ups, aim for 25

Love the people that surrounds you with detachment, their death will be easier to live with

Respect life, even insects, they have the right to live just like us

Don't debate, exchange ideas instead

Go with the flow and do the best you can, you can't go wrong with that.

More you respect yourself and the people, more the people will respect you

Study both sides of the coin before choosing one

Don't say you will, just do it

Train yourself body, mind and spirit for life until your physical self dies

With balance you can't go wrong

If everything is complicated, take a step back, breathe and go back in the storm

Don't take yourself too seriously but be serious

The more you speak, the more you have chances of contradicting yourself

Don't be too harsh on yourself, but don't use that as an excuse too be lazy

Be aware that at any time mistakes will be made and then accept it

Focus on upgrading yourself instead of shitting on others

Understand with deep comprehension a persons actions and then your judgment shall be lighter

Have fun everyday without exception and that doesn't mean destroy yourself

Life is hard enough you don't have to make it tougher by acting stupid

Talking trash won't make you a better person

You don't have to agree with a person opinions to respect each others

Listen as much as you speak

Stress ahead? Breathe!

For every failure, take your time, understand your mistakes and find the lessons behind them

Be optimistic and stay realistic

It's cool to dream, but wake the fuck up

Everyday work something

Truth go beyond belief

Learning is forever

You have to know fear to know courage

Life is precious and fragile

Fear is instinct, instinct is survival

Control your energy

It is with effort and repetition that goals get reach

Respecting what is different doesn't mean hating on what is the same

We life so we got something in common

Turning Your Career into Your “Kung Fu”

“We are all born with natural talent, if you are in tune with your natural ‘Way’ you will accomplish great things in life.” – Sifu Freddie Lee, Reflections Volume I

Many people believe the term “Kung Fu” applies solely to Chinese martial arts. In reality, Kung Fu is finding your path to true expression. It’s dedicating yourself to truly mastering something. A person at a firm could be practicing Kung Fu every day, while others may not. What’s the difference?

·         Kung Fu practitioners aren’t motivated by external rewards. If position, pay, status, etc. are solely why a person does what they do, it’s not Kung Fu. I’m not saying pay isn’t important because everyone needs to make a living, but it shouldn’t be the reason you are in a certain profession. If you don’t exactly like your job completely, work toward finding joy in it. Just because you haven’t landed that dream career yet doesn’t mean you can’t be fulfilled at work. Take pride in the work you are doing. Even if you work making copies or as a receptionist, treat every task like it’s valuable- because it is.

·         Kung Fu is finding a balance. Let’s say you wake up in the morning and love your job. Your career is all you think about. When you’re at work, hours fly by and you get lost in what you are doing. While this is good that you are enjoying your craft, there needs to be moderation. If you’re constantly attached to your work or find yourself putting that in front of your personal life, it may be too much. Kung Fu is knowing when to balance work and home life. Sometimes you need to put the laptop away and make some time for you. That means taking time to take care of yourself. Many people skip meals or eat out and that can do some damage to the body. Don’t forget to take a few hours to distress yourself and make sure you are healthy.

·         Kung Fu is always striving for better. Like a martial artist, one must always keep pushing their limits. Today you might be at the top of your game, but tomorrow you might find that there are new advances in your respective field. Always look for new things to learn in your craft. Kung Fu is the idea that everyone has a lesson they can teach you. Use your mistakes as a tool to get better. Treat every experience as a learning experience.

My Experience with Freeloaders

I have been watching a video of Sifu Freddie Lee "You are all About the Money!" a thousand times and I never stop relate to it. Basically, Freddie makes a good point about people who wants thing for free all the time. They expect a Martial Arts teacher to teach for free just because it integrates the spiritual aspect of the Martial Arts while they are willing to buy pointless movies. It is not hard to find pointless movies out there nowadays. You can find them all in the movie theater and on Bluray. I will give you some examples: James Bond movies, Scary Movie, Tower Heist, The Transporter by the so-called martial artist Jason Statham... movies with racist jokes. What else people are willing to pay money for? Hmmm... Oh watching sports! I used to watch sports myself like soccer. One of my friend encouraged me to watch the UEFA Champions League game between Milan Ac vs Barcelona. I watched a part of it and then left after 60 minutes. In these 60 minutes, I could have done something more important than that! It is crazy how people just get attached these players that they forget about their own values! That is why they undervalue the Martial Art so much. It makes me sick to my stomach to notice such corruption. Gosh! People are pathetic creatures I swear. For Goodness sake, you are not playing the fucking game. Why the hell do you feel so damn proud about a player who scores 3 goals in a row against a team you are not cheering for? Are you playing? No! Your favorite team is not you! Same to the people who cheer for the other team. Do not feel bad about your team because it did not win. You do not need to feel anything. You are not playing so you did not win nor lose! Wake the fuck up already! I know it is better than watching cage fighting of course but please stop paying attention to them because they do not give a damn about you!
 A very important thing Shi zu shared in this video is how he has given so much that he ended up not receiving anything back. I can definitely relate to that.  When you are too giving to people, you are not going to help them at all. They will not appreciate anything you do for them. I had some similar experience myself. There was this guy I used to tutor back when I was in Maryland. He used to come to me to get help solving the problems. I gave him some tips. But he would come to me repeatedly to me so I can do everything for them. I was so nice to the point he left the class right after I finish my own exam. He was asking me help for the problems he could not solve during the exam. In my mind I was telling him: "Bitch what the fuck is wrong with you?? Can't you see that I want to relax after such stress I undergone in the exam? Were that fucking lazy to even do your part? Have you even practice when I am not helping you?" I helped him anyway because I was actually that nice. You know people always say that if you are nice, people will be nice back to you. That is so not true. You can be nice to a certain extent. Sometimes, you have to be an asshole to be taken seriously. That is exactly what Shi zu is doing with FMK. He is not being at fault. He needs to support his family and himself. Do not blame him if he asked something in return. Actually give him props because the  Martial Arts has even less value than video games too if you look how much money the video games industry make. I am now at the point of my life when I am thinking about selling my PS3. I do not know whether or not it is a good decision but I see the irrelevance of it. I am sorry if I wrote with a lot of profanity but I was just speaking from the heart. When you are being real, dirtiness will come into play. Thanks for reading and I hope this get you to think about your own life.

Chin Ups and Dips

For awhile I felt like I had actually gotten worse at doing chin ups.  Today I went to the park though, and I think I finally improved some.  I still didn't go completely all the way down to a dead hang like you are supposed to, but maybe soon I will be able too.
For some reason my baby doesn't like the parallel bars.   He always cries when I go over there.

Green Dragon is legit

Hi fam, just spreading the word about the green dragon. Most of you are aware that this juice was pivotal in me losing a bunch of weight and maintaining optimal health. The new part is that thanks to constant demand I will now be selling the juice. So far 3 FMK todais have bought individual gallons. And I will be selling individual servings this Saturday at the Sol cafe across the street from FMK. If you are in the hood stop by :) this drink has all the nutrients that we are lacking and is by far the best health supplement I have ever discovered and the best part is its natural!
If you are interested in getting some please contact me. They sell for $49.99 a gallon. Each gallon is about 20 servings good for 3 days :) be healthy family.
Ingredients:
Kale, spinach, cucumber, celery, lemon, apple, ginger, grapes.

FMK Home Videos

I was practicing with some of the newer FMK videos.
I know my kick holds were pretty bad.  I was kind of worried that my kid would knock me over, so I know that they're not very professionally done.  I'll have to work on staying better focused even with close distractions around me.  And in the other video, I improvised a lot because I wanted to try the new weight workout instead of doing the other thing.
I thought that these were pretty fun though.  Thanks for the inspiration, guys!
I should also have another CLF video soon.  I've been working on it.

On Fitness Equipment

Working out at the park is great, but the park in itself is equipment.  It may seem like it was free but actually it is not, we already paid for the equipment with our tax dollars.  The commercial gym is like Barnes and Noble, the park is like the public library. 

Can't afford to buy books, then go to the library, but if you can go to both that would be ideal.  The library will not carry Osho books but you will find them in the bookstore.  Nobody can ever argue that a simple pull up bar is not a useful piece of equipment for fitness development.  Hannibal using those bars, that's equipment!  That equipment was built with tax dollars. 

Training with absolutely no equipment would include no pull up bars, no dip bars, nothing, just your body.  If it's just your body and nothing else, you will have an imbalanced development; you will lack the muscles of the back mainly.  Even climbing a mountain, that serves to be equipment.  Not everybody will live by mountains to climb, so they will build bars to get the exercise. 

Running outside full of pollution may actually hinder your health compared to running on a treadmill at home with cleaner air.  I've train with equipment and with no equipment, I've learned to love both, both is important, we need to be developed on all realms. 

Training in Parkour compared to a gymnastics gym can be very dangerous if you do not know what you are doing.  You can crack your head open doing some of those flips.  The gym can be a safer way to develop yourself to prepare you to be able to perform such stunts in an open environment. 

We can lift rocks as a way to exercise or we can use the modernized development of dumbbell weights or plates.  Rocks may not cost us money but lifting rocks will make it difficult for us to balance our training, as we will not know the true weight of the rock, in order to weigh the rock, we will need to use more technology, the scale.  Rocks will be difficult to grasp and allow us to hit different angles on different exercises.

Also there are MANY people out there who cannot even perform basic callisthenic movements, such as the pushup.  Someone that can’t even perform a pushup will find it very difficult to build the muscle groups associated with that exercise.   Therefore they will benefit greatly from the use of equipment that will prepare their bodies to be capable of performing the basic pushup. 

For example a man who weighs 200 lbs who cannot perform a pushup can work on bench pressing a 45 lb bar in order to develop his muscles to be capable of pushing up his own body from the ground.  

For the elite, callisthenic exercises in itself just is not challenging enough.  Someone who can do a front level for long period of time will find it much more challenging if you had him strap on 50 lb ankle weights and try to do the same thing.  Hannibal for example seems to be superhuman doing certain fitness feats, but have him strap on a 100 lb vest to do the same thing and you will see that he is no longer superhuman. 

A marathon runner who thinks he is so fast, well have him strap on a 100 lb vest and see how fast he is then.  Equipment can serve to either prepare us for the basic body movements of exercise or it can help us go beyond the basics.  We should not turn against equipment nor should we be dependent on equipment.  We need to be proficient with and without equipment. 

Equipment does cost money, but if you have an abundance of money, there is no problem.  It is only when you have no money that you will have to seek for more affordable ways of achieving a high level of development.