This year's birthday gift I gave myself was a Bodyweight
course from StrongFirst. I got up at around 5:30am, did
breathing exercises, hopped into the car, and headed east.
It was a 2.5-hour drive to Sonora at the foot of the Sierra.
As for the trip itself, I didn't know what to expect as I
never visited the town or the nearby Yosemite.
Past I-5, both sides of HWY 120 looked typical of California
central valley. Farms, mostly almonds, stretched beyond what
the eye could see. Over time, almond trees gave way to
cattle and yellow grass fields. Shortly after, dark boulders
started to pop up in the grass. The ground was elevated. The
road meandered through golden vales and dales decorated with
dark green oak clusters into the mountains. Road signs
started to sound interesting, e.g., Chinese Camp, Nugget Rd,
etc., reminding me of the Chinese in the Gold-Rush years.
With that thought, I arrived at the CrossFit gym on the east
edge of the town.
It was a big turn-out of about two dozens of students. Many
looked my age and females barely out-numbered males. The
youngest was an 18-year-old boy and the oldest got to be his
dad. Four people were from the Bay Area. Ethnically, all
except me were white. My training partner was Eric, a
friendly local architect whose job involves a lot of sitting
in front of the screen working with automated design
software. We got along right away.
Chief instructor Karen Smith looked about my age, friendly,
unassuming, graceful, and of course strong. She did not
appear very muscular and it was hard to imagine the little
woman in front of me could do a pistol squat with a 24kg
kettlebell on her lap. I later enjoyed talking with coach
Smith during lunch break (she didn't have lunch). She told
me about her recoveries from jetlags, sport-related
injuries, and cancer. I told her about my frustration with
inability to sit on one leg. She was amazing.
It was a grueling day. We started at 9:00am with one arm
push-up details and before noon I was able to assume the
correct posture and do one rep from the bench, thanks to
assistant coach Mike. During the process, I picked up a few
nuggets including the wrist mobility drills and the pike
position with butt off the ground.
The tactical pull-up was not hard for me. But I still learnt
something about the gymnastic hollow position. A strong core
helped tremendously in this drill and pulling up in the
hollow position felt very different from doing it while
folding my lower legs behind.
I did about 25 min of full lotus sitting while having my
snack--almonds, water, and sweet potato jerkies. Meanwhile,
assitant coach Lalo came and we had a nice chat. He grew up
nearby and came back to visit from LA. He was interested in
BJJ and I envied him for living in the Jiu-Jitsu Mecca of the US.
I came for the pistol squat and got what I needed to know in
the afternoon. Coach had us do half a dozen mobility
exercises before the single-leg drills. I knew the QL
stretch for two years but today I learnt how it could help
lowering my butt to the floor while standing on one leg.
One good progression drill was to bend a leg behind the
body, squat on the working leg till the other knee touches
the ground, and push up with the working leg. In the end,
with a 10 lbs kettlebell as counter balance in the front, I
could switch legs while squating on one. I was almost there.
Last, we did hanging leg raises. I had no problem and
worried more about weak grip and falling off the bar.
Later, I surprised myself by being able to do the
dragon-flags on the first attempt. Bruce Lee did it, Maxwell
said it was hard, they showed me what it looked like today
and I could do it! When Eric complimented me, I told him the
secret was not strength but losing weight which meant,
essentially, diet. We had a good laugh.
Driving back was not as pleasant. I was more de-hydrated
than tired after a hot day of training and traffic was heavy
toward SF. But I felt content and a great sense of growth.
Imagining the freedom brought by bodyweight training was
intoxicating. Thank You! I arrived home at about 7:30pm. The
next morning, all the major muscles in my body screamed
pain. I recovered only after two days of rest, which hadn't
happened since the first weeks of BJJ sparring.
