Sometimes you just have to step up.

It's been almost two months since I came back to training at the temple, and I feel as good about my physical condition as I did after six months of training the first time. Part of it is certainly that I retained some flexibility over my hiatus, but I don't think that can be all of it. I'm doing a few things differently this time around:

1. I always take a *cold* shower as soon as I get home from practice. This was a suggestion that came from Runner's World, and the idea is that the cold water causes the muscles to contract and squeeze out some of the lactic acid so you're less sore the next day. This obviously feels better, but it also helps you recover faster. I've cheated a couple of times and skipped the cold shower and definitely felt a difference, so I think there's real benefit here.
2. I quit drinking on evenings after training. I know that alcohol has an effect on muscle recovery, but I've been surprised at how much better I feel in the morning after just coming home and eating a little something, drinking a bunch of water, and going to bed.
3. I stopped messing around doing little attempts at techniques during the day. I've gotten pretty serious about stretching out and not doing anything if my muscles are cold. I've only had one minor pull this time around, (nothing like the major pop I had in my hamstring the first time, but there was a little bruising), and I think that's partially because I'm not straining cold muscles in-between practices.
4. I'm paying a *lot* more attention to proper technique. If something hurts, I assume I'm doing it wrong and try to watch people to see what detail I might be missing. The best example here is the pain I used to get in my right groin and lower back from the downward kick in caijiow. I used to get horrible pain, and could feel my lower back grinding every time I brought my leg down; After one particularly intense practice where Sifu made me understand what it means to "pop" these pains have simply not come back. I've gotten benefits along these lines in several other basic techniques, which is awesome.

All of this work came together tonight with me feeling strong, flexible, and confident enough to just step up and do Chuji Quantao. I had completed the form when I trained before, but that was several years ago, and this time I've only been taught the first three moves. I've been watching closely during practice, though, and really felt like I could get through it.

Sifu was briefly at the Temple tonight, but Josh ran practice. I've been to one of Josh's practices before, and I really like the way he focuses on teaching details like foot placement and wrist position. After stretching, the group of us working on basic techniques went up through Erqjiau, learning a lot in the process, at which point Josh asked who knew Chuji Quantao. I said that I knew the first three movements, and a couple of other people said the same thing. Two people had been taught the whole thing and will be testing, so when he divided off and asked if there was anyone else who had been taught the form I decided to just go for it and walked over.

Josh had me do the form first, which was unsettling, but I took a deep breath and made a strong start with what I knew. I made it through the entire form, even making some of the subtle balance points correctly, though overall it was horribly sloppy. After the other two students had gone through it as well, he said that we all basically knew the form but needed to work on technique. He went over some transitions and pointed out places where we need to be able to pause and keep our balance, overall spending about 10 minutes working with us.

I though I might explode with excitement when practice was over. We did pushups, situps, and back-extensions which Sifu doesn't seem to do anymore, which was a nice blast from the past. At the end of practice, having just completed the first form for the first time, I was honestly on fire inside; Really just a fantastic feeling of accomplishment and pride.