New to Hung Gar, requesting advice

[montif]

[Subitai]

If your 43...I say good for you! It is never too late to have kung fu in your life. Better now then not at all eh?

Your legs are hurting? Haha, Welcome to the club!! Drops in the bucket my friend. Keep it up and eventually your abilities will rise and get better.

You're not super old yet not a kid either. It depends on how you've treated your body so far in life up to this point. Were you in pretty good shape B4 you started HG...or are you out of shape and all the sudden, you've been thrusted into allot of training?


Carefull with TOO much stance work too early in your career.
** Give yourself appropriate rest times to counter(and heal) as much as your training. Build up to it and once your stronger you can go alittle apesh!t if you want to. One thing you don't want to do is over train and then start to make a mistake like hurt your knees or some other joints because of improper form or structure. Learn it right and be healthy.

** Are you a bigger person? Like over 6' and perhaps wiegh more than 200lb?
Size can be a problem. Not everyones joints are built the same and most bigger peoples bodies (ie Joints) cannot just be thrusted into Super Low stances just for training sake. AGAIN NOT everyone is built the same or can do the same.
Minor tweeks are adjustments should be allowed. That's how I teach. I favor and good rooted stance and training more the movement through the transitions. Not TOO low, rather what is just right and works. A good goal is to be healthier and stronger. Not to overtrain for macho ego's sake.

Be Safe: Nobody should force you to do what hurts beyond normal training or what is reasonable. IF something feels like its' Unhealthy or hurting your body or joints....Then it probably is. Not saying your school is bad, I'm just trying to help you look after your self and be healthy. You'll be glad you did.

[montif]

Thanks you. It is always something I wanted to do but never found the time for. Fortunately, my school is very credible. More pain to come, huh? lol...ugg. You’re right, I do want to do this the healthy way. Just need to figure out what that is.

I am 5'11 and weigh 190. I have about a 34 waist so I could lose a little more. I would say I am in moderate good shape. 30 - 45 min cardio 5 times a week. I started back in the gym 3 years ago with weights, but staying almost 30 min in the horse stance strength requirement isn't like working your legs in the gym. I mean I don't just sit there in horse stance. I start there, move to bow, the cat, then hanging horse (I think that is what the last one is called), back to horse, then back the other direction. Then move to crane and practice my strikes.

I enjoy working out at the gym, but I want to learn Hung Gar. Yes, I've noticed my recovery time is longer at 43 than it was when I was younger. If I cut my leg workout, how many times a week should I practice while still giving my legs time enough to recover? Is 3 times a week enough practice time to learn the art? I hear of people practicing every day...