How My Body Reacted To Everyday Kung Fu Training – Ch.5

In this article, I am sharing how my body reacted to everyday intensive Shaolin Kung Fu training. When I arrived at Qufu Shaolin Kung Fu School, my body was in good condition. I didn’t have any pain or injury. I was pretty flexible, meaning I could almost do full splits.

1ST MONTH

The muscle soreness was the strongest in the first month of my Shaolin Kung Fu training. I need to admit, I enjoyed it. It felt good to be sore. That was a sign of training hard, giving 100%. This is what I was here for. The only thing that I didn’t like was my flexibility getting worst. I couldn’t do splits anymore. The distance between my thighs and the ground doubled or even on the “bad” days tripled. It gradually got better after two weeks or so. But each intense power training resulted in reduced flexibility and stretching being more painful.

END OF THE 1ST MONTH

At the end of the first month of my Shaolin Kung Fu training, on Saturday, some of the students, including me, took part in the running competition. The day before this event, I felt tired and sick. My head was heavy, and I had cold sweats. I took one morning class off. I fell asleep immediately. Putting my guard down made me realize how exhausted my body was. This additional 1 hour of sleep made a huge difference in how I felt. The body’s ability to recover is impressive.

The next day I was ready and happy to take part in the running competition. It was a long-distance run. The first part of the path was through the humpy hills, maybe around 5-8 km. The second part was running, for most of us, including me – walking, up the stairs to the top of the Shimen Mountain, which is around 3500 steps. All of it without a break.

My legs and throat were burning. My heart raced like it was going to beat out of my chest. The last couple of stairs and… I did it. I won 7th place among girls. There were around 300 participants, of which maybe 20% were girls, meaning there were more or less 60 girls. Among the girls from Qufu school, I was the last one, which left me with not a bad 3rd place.

Tired but happy, I returned to the school with a reward of a big thermos, which proved to be useful in wintertime.

3rd month of Shaolin Kung Fu training – PAINFUL HAMSTRING

In wintertime, after around 2-3 months since I arrived, my right hamstring got tight and sore. My flexibility dropped drastically. You could see that, especially during the Power Stretching classes. Before, when I lay down on my back and lifted a straight leg up, my colleagues could push my leg until it reached my thigh.

Now, however, my right leg could barely stretch to 90° (see the photo below). Going further was equal to an irresistible pain, which triggered the urge to pee, spread inside my organs, and was horribly uncomfortable. What’s worse, the hamstring injury wasn’t only affecting my flexibility. It held an impact on my whole kung fu training. Every move requiring a front kick, which was 70% of my training, resulted in pain.

Only after a really good warm-up I could kick with tolerable soreness. But, that almost never was the case. Firstly, because it would take the time of the whole class, and I definitely didn’t want to lose a training over some minor injury. Secondly, the weather was making this task quite impossible. I had no choice but to squeeze teeth and blaze the pain away. Sometimes, I felt my eyes filling with tears. Sometimes, I sang or made jokes during the class to release the tension and be able to keep going. Either way, I needed to deal with constant pain until the winter was over.

4th month of Shaolin kung fu training – my body broke

On the first day of much-needed rest, I went to the nearby mountain. Climbing didn’t prove to be the greatest idea. I felt nauseous, weak, and dizzy. These symptoms of exhaustion accompanied me already for a few days. But… I didn’t want to admit that there was something wrong going on with my body.

I came back to school and fell down on my bed, staying there till the next morning. I woke up with strong nausea. I couldn’t vomit. I couldn’t eat much either. I spend the whole day in bed. I was covered by blankets and sheets with a warm bottle stuck to my body, and on top of that, I was wearing three sweaters. Still, every minute a cold shiver run throughout my body, until the late afternoon when I started to sweat. I didn’t have any device to check if I had a fever. But, well… 

Three days later I woke up in the middle of the night feeling that my belly would explode. I was unable to throw up. I was scared. The feeling was incredibly uncomfortable. I tried to reach my family and Daniel, who was at that time in Colombia. In Poland was the middle of the day. In South America the beginning of it. It was my sister, who first answered my message. She could only comfort me with words, advising me to go to the hospital as soon as possible.

I stayed awake the whole night writhing in pain. Thinking, this was the worst moment in my life. In the early morning, I talked with Daniel. He came up with the idea to drink water with salt – a good source of minerals. I had a good quality salt left by my dad. After taking the only „medicine“ I had, I went to the toilet immediately. I had strong water diarrhea. IT WORKED!!! The nausea was reduced. I felt better. I went to the hospital at 8 o’clock.

IS BEING STUBBORN WORTH IT?

Used to not skipping any classes, I decided to train. Well, of course, I felt weak and dizzy. But, in comparison with the last few days, I was much better. I decided to keep it easy, not strain myself too much. Still, I participated in all classes. On the third day of the kung fu training, I was feeling much better and motivated. „Finally“ – I thought – „I am getting on my feet“. The consequences of being stubborn and naive, I bear on Sunday, in the middle of the night, when I woke up with strong nausea. On that night, I vomited a few times in a row. In the morning, I was exhausted. But, the feeling to throw up was gone. That day I felt really hopeless. I didn’t know how to heal my body. It lasted way too long.

Nevertheless, on Tuesday, as nothing had happened, I was in the training hall again. I decided to do only light exercises and stretching, and I didn’t go to the afternoon classes.