wushuzilla

Training in China

Is the training hard?

Well, what is hard for one person might not be so for another. But I think I would probably respond by saying that any workout can be hard if you choose to challenge yourself and push yourself to your limits. Whether or not you experience a "hard" workout is often up to the athlete as much as it is up to the coach. After all, no coach is going to want to train you if you aren't fully committed to the process, so if you go to China (or anywhere, for that matter) and don't commit to put 100% of your energy in to the workout, then no matter where you are you won't have a "hard" workout. In a similar vein, if you push yourself to the limit at every training session, then you don't need to go to China to receive a "hard" workout -- you can have one wherever you are. I would say that the expectations on the athletes are higher in China, and most people who go to China push themselves because they want to rise to the challenge and not look like an idiot or lazy foreigner, but whether or not the workout is "hard" really depends both on who you are, who is coaching you, and where you are training.

Athletes and Coaches

What do you know about Zhou Jing, the nanquan player of Sichuan?

Besides the fact that he does nanquan and he is from Sichuan, not too much. I think I met him once though ...

Who would you say is your favorite athlete to watch?

This might sound like a cop-out, but I don't really have a "favorite" athlete. To be honest, I find that every athlete, even the ones without a high skill level, has a lot to teach me about wushu. Recently I was watching some athletes in the U.S., and while their skill level wasn't as high as the athletes I train with in China, I really did learn quite a bit about wushu by watching them -- how to analyze movements, how to understand technique, and how to explain my position about specific aspects of wushu. It is easy to get in the "oooh" and "ahhhh" of watching Chinese athletes, but I try to keep the perspective that my attitude when watching wushu should be one of trying to learn as much as I can about wushu. And as long as I watch wushu with that approach then every athlete, whether skilled or not, can teach me a lot about understanding the art of Wushu.

Life in China

Can you use chopsticks?

Yes. I grew up using chopsticks.

Famous Folks

How did you meet Khalil Fong?? Love your blog/vlogs keep up the good work!

We actually have a few mutual friends, but I actually ended up meeting him through his mother. She and I knew each other before I had the chance to talk with Khalil and she asked me to help out with a few projects they were working on.