Location: Local Gym, London
“WANT TO TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT?” The ad at the local gym asked. “How does this sound to you, Wing Chun Kung Fu!”
I summoned my inner ninja and made way for my first class. Having walked through the rain I entered the premises rather impressed that the bottoms of my tracksuit pants had not soaked up the puddles I had failed to defeat during my journey.
The newbie that I was, I waited at reception for the instructor. Raising my eyes at each man that entered through the doors, I wondered whether this was to be the Sifu I had spoken to earlier on the phone.
His advice had been, “Just try it out to see if you like it. It's like life. Don't be intimidated by it otherwise you'll never find out what you really want”.
Embracing this ethos, and replacing the Mr. Miyagi image I had when we met, I followed Sifu Gary into a studio that greeted us with seven rather bulked up young men intensely warming up.
As I lined up with the boys, we went through some kicks, punches and blocks all requiring coordination and balance. I thanked my body for not embarrassing me at the outset.
Following this was half an hour of floor work. Here was the shock to the system. In a row, each individual counted for ten press-ups that the class would complete together. One, two, three…. and this continued until each had counted their set of ten for the class. In total this made eighty. (I cheated). Then there were sit-ups, cycles, leg contortions, and a complete list of other strenuous activities to wake up the muscles that had been holidaying with me in
The class finished off with some good looking forms, (like kata in karate), to make us feel like Bruce Lee. A fun and social class on the night and boy did the aches in my body remind me the next day, and for the two days after that too!
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