"Sweating is how you give your insides a bath."Jean-Claude Van Damme *
I'm not much of a fan of the Damme guy, but I'll give him credit where it's due. Sweating is how you give your insides a bath. It's a way of purging your insides of toxins, bacteria and viruses.
My old boxing coach, Steve Williams, was a firm believer in the value of sweating. So much so, that true to his Native American upbringing, he built a sweatlodge on his his property, using it religiously (pun intended) to remove pollution from his body.
A Native American sweatlodge, similar to the one my boxing coach built. To the Native Americans, sweating helped to purify your body and mind.
I've put that idea to use during Monday's and today's workouts. I'm still fighting a little bit of that strep, so I kept it light. Today's session lasted 45 minutes, but half of that was a much needed stretch.
But once my muscles were good and relaxed, I walked out into the humid noontime Florida sun. The thunderclaps in the distance let me know that a deluge is coming down and threatening to keep me indoors for the next few days. I set out to get done what I could.
I've been wanting to get back to using my kwan dao, but since I know I'm nowhere near healthy enough to swing around a 15-pound polearm, I decided to do some staff sets in my circuit. Today's circuit included four runs each of the Siu Sup Jee Kuen (Small Cross Pattern Set) and Luk Hup Guan (Six Coordinate Staff) from Yau Kung Mun. Between each run, I did a set of five reps with the abwheel and five claw pushups.
I managed to get through it without fainting. Still, as winded as I was, I managed to squeeze in one run of the Mook Yan Johng Kuen (Wing Chun's Wooden Dummy Form).
*Yeah, I know that picture's not that Damme guy! I'd rather look at some model glistening than see him sweat like a pig even if that's what this article is about!
My old boxing coach, Steve Williams, was a firm believer in the value of sweating. So much so, that true to his Native American upbringing, he built a sweatlodge on his his property, using it religiously (pun intended) to remove pollution from his body.
A Native American sweatlodge, similar to the one my boxing coach built. To the Native Americans, sweating helped to purify your body and mind.I've put that idea to use during Monday's and today's workouts. I'm still fighting a little bit of that strep, so I kept it light. Today's session lasted 45 minutes, but half of that was a much needed stretch.
But once my muscles were good and relaxed, I walked out into the humid noontime Florida sun. The thunderclaps in the distance let me know that a deluge is coming down and threatening to keep me indoors for the next few days. I set out to get done what I could.
I've been wanting to get back to using my kwan dao, but since I know I'm nowhere near healthy enough to swing around a 15-pound polearm, I decided to do some staff sets in my circuit. Today's circuit included four runs each of the Siu Sup Jee Kuen (Small Cross Pattern Set) and Luk Hup Guan (Six Coordinate Staff) from Yau Kung Mun. Between each run, I did a set of five reps with the abwheel and five claw pushups.
A slightly different version of Sup Jee Kuen, but you gotta admit, it looks cool in this video.
I managed to get through it without fainting. Still, as winded as I was, I managed to squeeze in one run of the Mook Yan Johng Kuen (Wing Chun's Wooden Dummy Form).
*Yeah, I know that picture's not that Damme guy! I'd rather look at some model glistening than see him sweat like a pig even if that's what this article is about!
I like the sweaty pic too!
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