I got to mondays class early and went to train in the other hall. I spent most of it warming up concentration on my neck, back and shoulders (being careful given my healing injury). I than went on to stretch / warm up my legs and small joints. After warming up I did saam bo gin, kau dau sau, 9 hands, mo ying sau and bic sarn.
I didnt do these fast or with a lot of power but nice, slow and easy - working on the lines, seeing how my body / injury took to it. I also helped another student who came in early with some of his techniques within saam bo gin and saam jin yui sao.
Back to training - Southern Mantis Class
I am glad to be back in class and training, i missed it like mad and am even more intent on training to rehabilitate my injury, get stronger and concentrate on other things (must do more stretching and more leg work…as well as get back into meditation and softer internal exercises…oh…and more, lol).
Class started with the warm up movements with some stretching. We than worked on the chow gar mantis steps on both stances and forwards bad backwards. These included walking steps, cross steps, cross over steps, knee raises, and mouse chasing steps. So far so good, not too umcomfy on the injury except for if i overly round my back press my elbows forward and down…so control that till its comfortable and feels like a nice stretch.
Trained saam bo gin twice - Its been a while and there was only so much tension I could put in without feeling a little pain. My saam bo gin didnt feel connected. By that I mean I didnt feel like i was performing the form as one unit / one body all in unision. I may have commented on this before but today I felt like my body parts were separate from one another. However it got better, I concentrated and put the effort into it. A lot of effort into gripping the toes / stance, stomach, fingers, keep good form and posture.I was beginning to ache and feel it - felt good.
I’ll list what I trained and some quick notes on my progress with it. There were a few exercises that were difficult for me to do but I trained them as best and as strong as I could. It seems you cant make up for 2 months not training and making up for an injury in one lesson 
…darn it. I found it frustrating but at the same time very humbling. Felt like I was starting from the beginning again and I felt very weak….but you know what….didnt phase me, I just see it as a way to get better and build a better foundation. I did the best I could and I will keep doing it till I get stronger again.
Doy chong - Round on left stance and a round on right stance. The lines used here werent to bad so I felt comfortable doing this. It was only when I had to block that it was a little uncomfy. My left arm also caved in a lot easier than before and my lasting power had diminished quite a bit. No biggie I felt it working and I tried to concentrate on syncing the movements with the waist, ribs and locking the stance (i.e. not using the body to pull back or make myself stronger).
Diu sau doy chong - It was pretty much the same for diu sau doy chong, except the raising dui sau motion I could only do slow and easy. Pushing out with any power still troubles me but I can put a little in. This was done on both left and right stances. Given all this I can concentrate more on my technique and getting the form right.
Chy sau - Burned out way too quick and arm was burning, shoulder, body, waist, stance. You name it i was feeling it. My left arm felt very weak and tired but I carried on and went slow and concentrated on keeping good form, stretched out, breathing, locking stance, using ribs and building the power up. Was hard but I felt it working and stretching.
Chee Sarn Garp Mantis Press ups - I couldnt do this. I tried but the pressure on my shoulder - well I couldnt hold myself well and trying to do the press up, my left arm couldnt hold it, didnt feel connected to my body. I tried slowly, but it felt bad on my lat and neck. Instead, I went on my knees and tried to do the press ups as well as just holding myself up and just moving the elbows in as far as i could comfortably. This was very frustrating! Sifu asked at each exercise if i was ok and not to do it ifit was uncomfortable.
The gow choy chong came next. I could do this ok but the power was still lacking in the left arm. My conditioning hasnt left me but its not as good as it used to feel. I put as much effort and power as I could and after my hands were a little shaky. Havent felt that in a long time. This chong was done with single steps and mouse steps.
2 man drill with attack , arm lock and take down - both sides. Did this drill but without the take down. Getting taken down to the ground wouldnt do me very good so only peformed part of it. The drill involves a thrown punch for your partner to react to. Punching with my left wasnt as fast , heavy or controlled as I would have like it. But it was a lot better than it has been in the last 2 months.
poon loong kerk drill - We trained a leg take down whilst on the floor to a standing partner from the poon loong kerk applications. I could only do a few of these from the ground as the techniques made my neck and left side ache. Even being taken down, i felt it pull on my left side - which was a small sharp pain. So again 
, slow, easy and carefully….arghhh, you see the frustration!
Finished off with training yui kui san sau, pai kui san sau and some other san sau. My left felt uncomfy and I couldnt put the power or speed behind it, so I trained it slow, easy and with good form.
I didnt train the grappling / sparring (not given go ahead and I know I cant right now ), so I watched whilst doing some warming down exercises and stretching. Sifu stretched my left arm and massaged my neck. Stretched my arm in such a position that it really worked on the tricep and lat and shoulder. Slighlty painful but felt very good and loose afterwards. Glad to be back training!
). Now I try to do something everyday in terms of training. Doesnt matter how small or big or long it is, as long as I do something I am pleased with myself.