It has now been 5 weeks since the world record attempt took place and the students are gradually beginning to recuperate fully from the training. Whilst this may seem surprisingly long time, it is not all together unexpected. This kind of serious, concentrated training goes deep into the nervous system and affects the whole body. The recovery time is, of course, smaller when a complete rest is taken, but that would defeat the whole object of training so hard…

 

The balance between rest and maximum training is a hard one, and for professional athletes it is a fine line that takes many years to find. Despite, inevitability, having a numbness in muscles, training is in many ways the best thing for the body after such an event, but only if you can ensure the correct type of training. It can consolidate the development, fine tunes the reflexes and makes sure that the skills you have trained stay with you permanently rather than deteriorating quickly afterwards. Indeed, when you train extremely intensely a curious effect happens on the body. After such exercise you might, logically expect the body to want to rest. However, for those people who are ‘in touch’ with their body the opposite feeling occurs; there is a sensation of your body telling you it ‘hungers’ for training. It is a feeling I relish, and something I always try to ‘feed’…

 

In fact, the day after the marathon I was training (albeit lightly) and have been teaching and training as normal ever since. While students and teachers alike were given the day off on the day after the event many people went to work as usual. And when class restarted on the Tuesday, 9 of the students who took part in the event were there faithfully, eager to build on their progression. It is when I see actions such as this I know that the heritage of the ancient Shaolin is still alive…

 

Sifu