Dear Friends,
From seminars, to competitions, demo’s and other activities, don’t miss out on the action!
School Closings Holiday Dinner Party Kids Kungfu Party Kungfu Sash Test USA National Kungfu Team member Ching Yin Lee Seminars NO EXCUSES Wushu Kungfu Flying Problems in the Health and Fitness Community The #2 Health Measure
School Closings CMAA will be closed for a winter holiday from Friday December 23rd through Monday the 26th.
Kungfu Sash Test Let’s start 2017 by working hard and making progress in your Kungfu practice! We will be holding our quarterly Sash Test on Sunday, January 8th at 10:30am. If you are not sash testing you are still encouraged to come participate and support your teammates (no charge of course).
You know exactly what we will be testing but if you have any questions, check the Sash Requirements page on the website and feel free to clarify things with me during class. http://www.martialartsalbany.com/kungfu-sash-requirements/
If you are unsure whether or not you (or your child) are ready to test, please speak with me before or during class, via email at AlbanyCMAA@gmail.com or by phone (518) 755-7512. Remember, you will not “get” your sash at CMAA – you will EARN it! There is a big difference. It’s important you (your child) learns the value of their sash- the value of hard work! Let’s stay focused and step up our training so we’re fully prepared for the test! White/Yellow/Green/Blue: $25, Red/Purple/Orange: $50, Light Brown/Dark Brown/Gold/Black: $75
CMAA Holiday Events! This year we will be holding two different events to spend quality time together. The first will be a Holiday Dinner Party for the adults in our Kungfu and Tai Chi programs. The second will be a kid focused party at the school.
Holiday Dinner Party Please joint us at the best Chinese restaurant in the Capital District for our annual holiday dinner party!
With all the holidays and family get-togethers this time of year, we would like to organize a time for the CMAA family to be together outside the school. Please join us for a holiday dinner celebration!
Date: Sunday, Dec. 18th! Time: 2:30pm-5:30pm Location: Ala Shanghai, 468 Troy Schenectady Rd, Latham, NY 12110
Please reserve your spot ASAP as space is limited! The cost is $15/kids (12 and under) and $20/Adults. Please pay in advance by check or cash at the school as we have reserved the restaurant for our group.
*Deadline: Please register ASAP as the party size is limited and we expect to reach capacity!
CMAA Kungfu Movie and Pizza Party!
Event: Kungfu Movie and Pizza Night at CMAA! Movie: Kungfu Panda 3! Date: Saturday, Dec. 17th Time: 5:30pm -8:30pm. Limited: 8-22*
Parents are welcome to drop your children off for the evening to get things done before the holidays (or just enjoy a relaxing night out). Non CMAA students (siblings and friends) are welcome too!
We will have a minimum sign up of 8 people and a maximum of 22. The cost is $25 per child under 13 years old, $15 for individuals 13+. However, additional persons accompanied by a parent acting as a chaperone will be permitted at the rate of $10/child and $10/parent. Students accompanied by their chaperone parent will not count toward the total number of signups.
Please register by Friday, Dec. 16th. However, the earlier your register the better as space will be limited!
USA National Kungfu Team member Ching Yin Lee Seminars CMAA is proud to announce that GOSU Wushu head instructor Ching Yin Lee will be traveling to CMAA to offer several seminars. With over 20 years of training, Ching Yin Lee is a 2 x USA National Wushu Team Member, Pan-American Games Competitor, amateur kickboxer, and internal stylist. Stay tuned for a full description of a weekend of seminars including: Bagua, Xing Yi, Kungfu Animal Styles for Kids, Wushu Long Fist Advanced Combos and Jump Kicks, Kungfu Applications (Techniques, pads/two person drills,etc.) and 4 seperate sessions for Individual Forms Correction/Refinement (group privates)!
NO EXCUSES This man is an incredible mover with a very inspiring story
Wushu Kungfu Flying Just another training session in China, where martial artists practice defying gravity.
Problems in the Health and Fitness Community The other day a student emailed me and asked a question related to a school project. “What are 3-5 things wrong with the community in the health and fitness area?” Well, I thought a lot about it. While there are many good things happening in in the health and fitness community, there are also several things that currently need to be addressed. Let me know what you think? What else should we be looking at?
1. Distorted ideas of body image lead to a misunderstanding of health and fitness. In this day and age from a young age we are exposed to a distorted view of health and wellness. Barbies and GI Joe have become reality when people with good genetics, a lifestyle dedicated toward looking a certain way are now aided by the miracles of science and technology. Take a gifted athlete and put them on steroids and pharmaceutical grade fat burners, and tack on plastic surgery (breast/butt implants, botox, liposuction, etc), add makeup, photoshop and some Instagram filters and you will see a whole new type of physique that misleads the general populations understanding of health and fitness.
2. Many people take a backwards approach to health and fitness. We look at examples of people healthy and fit and set our goals of losing 10 lbs, having a six pack, or developing a certain muscle group and try to reverse engineer the process of becoming healthy and fit. We need to take a holistic approach and say I will focus on performance first. I will eat, rest and train to perform better (become faster, stronger, etc) and let body composition be a byproduct of our efforts instead of setting superficial goals and trying to achieve them as a demonstration of our health and wellness.
3. The community is fragmented and we focus on the differences and instead of focusing on the universal truths that span disciplines. With a variety of specific traditional schools of thought like gymnastics, olympic weightlifting, Pilates and yoga each touting their own validity it's easy to overlook the benefits that all these disciplines have to offer: progression based functional movement.
4. Sensationalized and misleading media provides a huge obstacle toward health/wellness for the general public. The media in an effort to make things sound more dramatic often confuses certain issues by oversimplifying or even misinterpreting things. Fats are bad, carbs are bad, CrossFit is dangerous, meat/dairy give you cancer, etc. The general public is often the victim of sensationalized, oversimplified or even misinterpreted scientific studies which can make navigating certain health issues very difficult.
5. A lack of health and fitness metrics and progressions towards improvements. I speak with many people who exercise by either running, or going to the gym but who don’t have any way of quantifying/qualifying their efforts or who’s method won’t provide them with insight which will allow for improvement. One of the best ways to measure improvement is to identify certain baselines for either speed (how fast you can accomplish something, like a mile or 5K run for example) or strength (how heavy a load you are capable of moving in a certain pattern like bench press or deadlift).
6. BONUS ANSWER: One of the biggest problems in our society is a lack of individual accountability. Everyone’s too busy, everyone has a bad knee or a bad back, everyone looks for pharmaceuticals to do things their too lazy to take care of in the gym/kitchen. It’s seen as unimportant, selfish, or conceited to make a serious commitment to one’s physical health. Everyone should make their health and wellness a priority. It doesn’t have to be their #1 priority, but it can not be overlooked or minimized.
The #2 Health Measure
A little gross but important to talk about and be aware of.
Summary As usual please stay tuned for more exciting action at CMAA!
Best,
Shifu