Chris Meistre

Deciding to rather have 1.5 hour training sessions was a good thing. If feels like you’re getting a good workout, and you can spend more time on the techniques.

We tried a different exercise routine this evening, and although I thought at the beginning it would not be as intense, it was actually. Not as much cardio as with our other routine, but we like mixing things up every now and then. Otherwise, it gets boring!

This exercise routine was actually taken off Oprah’s website, believe it or not. 20 minute workout for just about every part of your body.

As with our previous session we’re still just carrying on with what we’ve learned so far. Practise practise practise!

We’ve got a nice rhythm going when we do the Kate Dante, and it’s starting to feel more natural performing the moves that felt very unnatural when we started.

So my pretty wife has her guitar lying around at home, and I decided that I want to try and learn to play. So I found an awesome online tutorial at http://guitar.about.com/od/guitarlessons/u/lessons.htm.

Then last night I finally decide I will have my first lesson. I read through the first parts to get to know what the terms are, the head, neck, fret, etc.

The first little exercise is an exercise to practise your picking. Actually, before that it’s how to hold the guitar right so that it feels a bit more comfortable. Well, their comfortable is definitely not my comfortable. Anyways, the first exercise is quite easy. You use your thumb, index finger, middle finger and ring finger to pick at string 4,3,2 and 1 in that order. At the same time trying to keep a rhythm going. I found that relatively easy, but will need to practise it a LOT more.

The next exercise is what is called the Chromatic scale. This exercise is to get your fingers use to pushing down on the strings and hearing how it sounds. You basically start with the 6th string first. You pick at it, and listen to the note. Then you use your index finger to hold down the first fret, pick it and then listen to it again. Then you hold down the 3rd one, and listen again. And so on and so on. You then continue to the 5th string until you’ve done them all. Now this is where the fun started. Being able to hold down the strings without touching any other strings at the same time is going to take some practice.

Holding your fretting hand in just the right place twists your hand in such a way that you can only keep at this for a few minutes at a time. In the beginning I suppose.

Well, let’s see how this progresses!

Towards the end of last year we (Barto De Koning, Bernadette Meistre and I) decided to start up a 4×4 adventure company. The main reason this came about was that together we organised a very successful event for a 4×4 club that we all belong to, and enjoyed doing it in the process. We also saw there was a need for people to go out on 4×4 trails that do not belong to a club. So after a lot of discussions took place, EC Offroad Adventures was formed.

Part of our offering to the people would be to take them on tours of 4×4 trails and our country side. With new laws being passed to control the 4×4 industry, it is very likely that we would be required to go on a 4 wheel drive guide course.

We debated about this among ourselves, as it’s a lot of money to lay out at the beginning of the business’ existence. The main reason for the debate was that nothing of the 4×4 laws have been set in stone, and thus we don’t know if the need for a 4 wheel drive guide would ever really be there. In the end we decided to do it, even if it is just to enrich ourselves as to how to run a tour. This will also ensure our members to 4WDGA (4 wheel drive guides association – http://www.4wdga.com/).

The course starts at the end of January, and will run over a weekend.

We had a longer than usual training session tonight, an hour and a half. We’ve decided to keep it this way, because as we get used to the exercising we can do more cardio and strength exercises beforehand.

We spent a lot of time on the deflections and stances, concentrating on doing it right. Leg movements, arm movements, everything.

The Kata Dante is also going good and I’m sure we’re close to the 15 second time limit for which we have to complete this form.

Ever since starting Kungfu, I also wanted to start Tai Chi. At that stage in my life, time didn’t permit me doing another martial art, and we already incorporated some of those teachings in our lessons.

As I’ve been feeling that the Ninjitsu Distance Learning has been working for us, I thought I’d give Tai Chi distance learning a shot as well. I know that something needs to happen in my life to ground me again spiritually, and I want to start this journey.

Again I needed a partner to make sure we keep each other motivated, and my wife was more than willing to join me. So I ordered a DVD called Infinite Tai Chi for Beginners – by Jason Chan.

I also came across the website www.cloudwater.com which also offers an online course in Qigong and Tai Chi. They’ve got a free 8 part course that I signed up for, and already received 2 parts of that. What I find nice about their training is that they’re not providing a “watch and do” course, but rather, “watch, feel and then do”. Instead of just showing you how to do a move, they show you certain tricks so that you can feel the way that masters in this art feel even though you’re just starting out. It’s worth a try and once we’ve done the 8 part course I’m very likely to subscribe for the complete one.