In that pursuit -- as is my online want - I logged my activities on a blog.
Remember those? I was an active blogger 'bf' -- before facebook.
I called mine 'KickBike & Kettlebell'.
That I have sold the kickbike and will soon part with my kettlebells I thought I'd mark with a name change.
BianGun --https://biangun.blogspot.com/ -- in honour of the North West Chinese whip stick -- a martial art I have embraced.
That it often spelt biangan or bian gun or bian gan should not be cause for botherment as neither of us are likely to speak Chinese.
I know my limitations and rely on Google Translate.
So there I was happy as Larry -- or as happy as Li-liang -- when the more I went down the hitting stick rabbit hole my POV changed.
Where have these things been all my life?
I had to give up kettlebells because I popped a hernia -- but there is more to swinging objects than lifting just heavy ones against gravity.
You can do a lot more with sticks than I initially imagined, and if you add a light weight to their end -- aka equals Indian club -- there is so much more.
The tragedy -- despite our current mode for gym-junkiness -- is that there is a whole tradition of 'physical culture' dating back to the 1880s and further -- which is far more about lifestyle -- and longevity -- than sweating it out at the local fitness gym and sculpting our bods against the horrors of fat.
'Tis a revelation. Injury free routines that can be done anywhere and require the bare minimum of input tools: like a stick and an Indian club.
They also have a meditative component if you wish. Indeed, Tai Chi's popularity, I think, reflects a subliminal yearning for this type of training. It's about movement awareness, balance and focus rather than muscling up.
This has all been said before by a French guy named Georges Hébert ( 1875 – 1957) who is probably noted as an inspiration for Parkour, but you can maybe trace his influence on the design of childrens' playgrounds.
In terms of principle and philosophy, I appreciate its simplicity and seemingly the lack of effort -- or skill -- required to do it.
This also begs the question -- aside from body sculpting -- that our cultural focus on sports and on competition may be a personal burden to all of our growing up.
Competitive sports, after all, are brutally selective. Either you make the grade or you don't.
Then there are the injuries...don't forget those!
So this is how I found myself in biangun mode.I like the biangun tag because it also flags the Chinese habit of performing biangun and other exercise and martial art drills outdoors in local parks.
That's' what I do, and it seems I've already recruited 4 others to my quest.
