The Alpha post - a not so brief introduction.

Hello.

Some of you who know me well know me as the crazy cat fanatic behind www.kennethchia.blogspot.com ... That blog has been rather inactive for quite a while (darn you, Facebook!), yet I've decided today to start a martial arts workout journal today.

First, a bit of background. I am an American-born Chinese male, age 33. I'm about 5'7" tall, and 160 lbs, give or take a pound or two. My first exposure to martial arts was a bit of Taekwondo around age 9 or 10, only at the 1st little yellow stripe... injury and schedules cut that short. Then there was a little bit of chi-gong training at some Shaolin temple off-shoot in Flushing, which didn't last very long due to teenage impatience. Not a very auspicious beginning.

My next experiences were in college, again very brief and not terribly dedicated. There was a little JKD at Progressive Martial Arts Academy, which I was only able to do for 3 months around 1994 before transferring to CMU and leaving NY. There was the Aikido club, which didn't mix well with the heavy harmful binge drinking I did in college in Pittsburgh, with its 7:30am start times. Then there was the Kempo Karate club... fun stuff, but a knee injury from a spirited (read: out-of-control) sparring session knocked me out of it. Not surprising, since at the time, I was the same height I am now, yet 120lbs wearing a wet sweater. Martial arts lay dormant for many years thereafter.

Flash forward to 2002. Years of college, graduate school, and general inactivity have left me pudgy, and sorely in need of exercise and an outlet for aggression. Master Gao Xian, a martial arts trainer and actor from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon had opened up a wushu school in Flushing. My mother suggested I give it a try, and I enjoyed it so much, I stayed with it, for nearly 4 years. I met very good people there, some of whom I still keep in touch with. Those bad knees of mine (made worse by the repetitive low stances, and all the jumping kicks performed on hardwood floors), and some extenuating situations, forced me to leave... but I still remember a few of the old forms.

I wasn't leaving martial arts though... I remembered the JKD I was doing nearly 12 years prior, and thought I'd try out the school again, since I was disatisfied with little to no contact and combat skills with wushu. I was 160 lbs now, not terribly muscular, but infinitely more durable than the scared 120lb weakling that strolled in that long ago spring season. Thus began another long martial arts dedication period, this time at my current training hall at Progressive Martial Arts Academy, under Sifu/Guro Nick Sacoulas. The place has become a second home to me! I currently study Jeet Kune Do Concepts, and several methods of Filipino Kali (Inosanto/Lacoste Method, Sayoc, and Atienza family systems).

I am a very active forum member for the school member's site, frequently posting up class notes both for sharing with students and for my own personal recollection. The notes I post here in this workout journal will be of a more purely personal nature. I put them here to remind me of where I've been, where I have to go, and what I need to do, on my martial arts journey.

And so it continues... read on. :)