Like Hannibal from the A-Team .... I love it when a plan comes together.

There are times when Kung-Fu is frustrating. When you are on what I like to call "The plateau of despair". It is when for some reason you are plodding along in your training and can't really see any improvement. Normally experts say this is when you should switch your workout and try something new like different excercises. I have felt that way about my sparring and my ability to perform techniques instantaneously. As an Engineer and an avowed geek, I analyze my sparring matches. Pouring over them with detail. I keep a log of all the techniques I try.

I have a top 10 list of techniques I know I can throw automatically without thinking. My instructor recommended getting a sparring diary and doing this and I have tried to maintain it to the best of my ability. What frustrates me about my log is I can never seem to log that many successful attempts and I always end up trying to refine a move and the student I am training with is kicking my ass. I always try and usually fail to get all the moves I am working on...usually no more than 3 moves from a form per class work. I don't know how or why but for some reason during the last class, I was in the zone. Everything I threw seemed to land. I had laser like focus, I saw the openings that the people I was sparring with gave me. I pulled off every sweep I have been working on in the same round. Iron broom, Drop kicks and scissor take downs. I pulled off combinations and followed through. I completely landed a cart-wheel kick without telegraphing it. I usually telegraph my sweeps but for some reason, I didn't that day.



The junior students I was sparring with were asking me what I threw and how I landed it. I was able to explain my reactions even though I wasn't consciously thinking about it. It felt good to make progress and see the one glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel. I guess because I always have people in my school whose skills I admire. My instructor especially, he makes complex moves look easy. When he performs forms it is graceful and powerful. Sometimes it is good to see that I indeed have made progress and the hours that I put in the Kwoon have indeed been paying off.