I’m serious. Stefan said this to me today during our workout. After I said my shoulder blades and back muscles didn’t know how to do the move he was asking for.
Immediate visions of David Carradine (giant crush from youth) kung-fuing his way across the American West, a taciturn yet wisdom-spouting fighter poet, searching for his half-brother. What’s not to love?
Now that I’m nearly as old as Master Po, it’s strange that I’m, in fact, Grasshopper in the gym and young Stefan is – well, not a Shaolin priest, but certainly my teacher.
Role reversals – weird, but true.
When I can grab the pebble from his hand, will it be time for me to go? (Ok, ok, enough wandering down Kung Fu memory lane; it’s Stefan’s fault, though).
Let’s just say that today, lessons were learned in the gym and I did pass a couple of tests.
Surprising, because I’ve been battling a throat thing and general aches and lassitude off and on for some days now. But I’ve decided to believe it helps to sweat it out. And I did a lot of that tonight. Which is not a news flash.
Stefan is focused on a couple of problems I present to him. One is my posture, which is rounded and out of balance, the result of many years of desk work, for one thing.
So he’s trying to retrain my back and shoulders and hips and abs into a new way of holding me upright. When he moves me into what is the correct stance – whether I’m standing or lifting, it feels wrong to me.
But he’s the Master and I trust him and so I attempt to unround my shoulders, hold my chest up high, and – always – activate those abs.
So tonight’s lesson:
More TRX squats: To loosen up the hip flexors – you feel it, a lot, where the very top of your leg connects to your torso.
Deadlifts: 95 lbs tonight, with an extra 2 ‘cookies’ on either end.
60 lb Rows: Doing this with particular emphasis on squeezing shoulder blades together, sucking in abs.
More reps on the back extension apparatus: I love this thing! The bending over part loosens up my lower back in a way nothing else ever has; lifting your body back up with hands across chest, careful not to hyper-extend the spine, builds strength.
And some other stuff with new technical names – all focused on basically getting me to sit up straight, wake up the deeply-sleeping upper back muscles, and learn what it feels like to be in balance, aligned, with all the moving parts working as they’re supposed to.
Stefan said I did really well tonight – earning me TWO high-fives!
Not a very Shaolin move, I suppose, but I was a pretty happy Grasshopper.
I lived on the Wikwemikong Reserve in 1971. I was a teacher. My Odawan peers gave me an Odawan name: Puck – i – neh (I am doing this phonetically, I never saw it written). It means Grasshopper. This was years before Kung Fu. It was because I wore a lot of green, I loved to dance and I liked grass.
So, you can call me Grasshopper too.
I remember David in his Kung Fu role. he was my hero and I did try to walk on rice paper, but with my big feet never did seem to master the silent walk. So I became content to just dream that I was walking on rice paper, but I did master the patience and phylosophical thinking that he so professed, and hence, time after that, I became John the dreamer or Johnny-cloud-walker by name.
I did not notice you had a round back which I will assume you straightened out in my presence. Good thing for more TRX squats, deadlifts and 60 lb rows, if that can be your answr to your dilemma. In the end grasshopper will become Grand Po (and hopefully with good eyes). Cheers …Johnny-whale-watcher AKA Johnny-cloud-walker.
This is the first time I’ve ever seen the term “kung-fuing,” and I love it. In the movie Jaws, one character mentions that local teenagers have been “karate-ing” a picket fence, but your term is better.
Question: once you have completed the 95-pound deadlifts, are you allowed to eat the “cookies” as a reward?
Bravo for still hitting the gym despite the dagger-throat and related ailments. You’re tougher than I.
#gomamakatgo!