A few parting words then:
"We are what we think, having become what we thought"
Baghavid Gita

"Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. If you realize you have enough, you are truly rich. If you stay in the center and embrace death with all your heart, you will endure forever".
The Old Boy

"The Universe is just there. That is the only way a warrior can view it and remain the master of his senses. The universe neither threatens nor promises; it holds things beyond our sway.The fall of a meteor, the eruption of a volcano, growing old and dying. These things are the reality of the Universe and must be faced irregardless of how you feel about them. You can not fend off such realities with words. They will come at in their wordless way, and then, then you will understand what is meant by life and death. Understanding this, you will be filled with joy".
Fictional character in a novel

"irregardless"????

Even fictional characters know that's not a word.

Excerpt from www.m-w.com (Merriam-Webster OnLine):

Main Entry: iržrežgardžless
Pronunciation: "ir-i-'gärd-l&s
Function: adverb
Etymology: probably blend of irrespective and regardless
Date: circa 1912
nonstandard : REGARDLESS
usage Irregardless originated in dialectal American speech in the early 20th century. Its fairly widespread use in speech called it to the attention of usage commentators as early as 1927. The most frequently repeated remark about it is that "there is no such word." There is such a word, however. It is still used primarily in speech, although it can be found from time to time in edited prose. Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead.

Recommendation from Excerpt from www.m-w.com (Merriam-Webster OnLine): "Use regardless instead"

slack-jawed, bemused stare( could that be all he managed to extract from that bit of prose?).

As a one-time technical writer, I despise the word "irregardless." People that wittingly use the word should be shot into outer space by means of a rocket shoved up the anus of the offender. We do not need that word or its proponents on this planet.

Thank goodness you weren't a one-time jurist. While I am not fond of the word either, the suggested punishment far exceeds the actual crime.

Geez, I thought this site was about Martial Arts.
You guys are a bunch of armchair Karateka, full of enough hot air to host your own Ballon Festival! Get on to something of relevance for those of us out here who still practice Martial Arts using all of our bodies instead of just our lips.

For the record, I still train 90 minutes every morning Monday through Friday, two 60 - 90 minute evening workouts during the week, and a three hour workout on Saturdays. While I have cut back on my training regime, I am not an armchair anything.

Perhaps you might consider that those of us who have been training for over 2 decades have actually been able to develop our intellects as well as our bodies and have also learned how to effectively manage our time to allow discussion. These skills are something you might want to try and develop while your at it.

Bad Boy,
Oh, we still train, irregardless of what you may think.

Indeed, the well rounded warrior develops all of his/her attributes ( hey Bob #2, is it correct to use warrior for the female?). The older one gets, the more one comes to appreciate the mental component of all of one's endeavors. Not to mention, smart training = efficent training.

Walter,
That's pretty good. I typicaly manage 75-80 minutes in the morning, would do more but I have to cook breakfast for my daughter before driving her to school.

I do 20 minutes of Yoga or Pilates(alternate days), then 35-40 of Zhan Zhuang, and finish with 15-20 minutes of single posture training- some Yang style and some Chen ( I only practice forms in the P.M., and try to spend considerably more time on single posture training even then). Perhaps I am not spending enough time on martial movements. Any suggestions?

I was just making a joke. I was a one-time juror, but I was never a jurist.

Charley

I think it's fine to use 'warrior' for females but I could be wrong, irregardlessly.

I have a suggestion for increasing your training time. Rather than 'driving your daughter to school' buy a car or a bicycle instead.

Ah, an excellent suggestion; albeit, one entirely ignorant of certain weather related phenomena associated with the winter season in Idaho, namely- SNOW & ICE. ( besides, she needs the exercise).

Joe,
I practice gao style ba gua and yang tai chi. Mornings usually start off with dynamic stretching and body training, the two heavenly stem exercises I know, the iron horse plowing (? scoops, chinese push-ups, whatever you call them, I just do them) then an exercise called (I believe) green dragon returns to cave. Next, standing (wuji with some postures mixed in), shifting and turning leading into a cloud hands exercise, linked into gao style ba gua hand basic drills, and leg drills if time and my memory permits. I then walk the circle practicing the palm changes, and if time permits I run through the yang long form I am learning (I'm about two thirds through). Evenings and weekends are for form work (yang tai chi for the moment).

Your routine sounds good. I like the standing posture practice from the form work, and I intend to add that when I have completed learning the new form.

I empathize with you and commend you for caring for your daughter. My son just started college, so I don't have as much daily responsibility as I once did in that department.

As a quick aside to another post, Charley, I knew you were joking. I gues my arid sense of humor prevented you from seeing I was as well.

Good training all,
Walter

The training regimens posted on this discussion thread are great. Let me share mine: I like to start out with 1 hour of zen meditation, then I visualize for about 15 min. or so on techniques and combat drills, then I conduct about 1 hour of deep breathing exercises, 1 hour of yoga, then I stetch for 30 minutes, warm-up jog around the track about 800 m., 1 hour of calisthenics concentrating on push-ups and sit-ups, work my abs with the 8 minute abs workout (so I can maintain my six-pack), stretch again for 15 minutes, run 5 miles, bike ten miles, swim 2 miles, hit the heavy bag and alternate jumping rope as a circuit drill along with the speed bag (1 hour), box for 5 x 1 min. rounds, then I begin body conditioning drills hitting steel plates and shoving my hands in/out of a barrel of iron pellets, run through my forms: Yang, Chen, Wu styles of taichi, Yin Fu style bagua, 5 element xing yi, then I shadow box for 15 min. and run through combat drills, to include ground-fighting techniques, conduct my 9 Palace training drills, standing yi quan drills (assorted postures), then if I find time I like to go to my aerobics class at the local gym and hit the weights (concentrating on certain muscle groups and attempting to attain that cut appearance that is so popular now days, then I hit the tanning bed for 1 hour, shower, and go out for a night of dancing with my girlfriend Gina, who works as a waitress at the local Applebees (have you all ever eaten there, it's Great chow!), then I go home review my martial arts routine and reassess my training good/bad and what I can improve on (nothing . . . !!!), then I do a little Taibo with Billy (great workout if you've never been exposed to this high impact aerobics combined with kickboxing--great stuff), then I like to test my stamina, intenstinal fortitude, and sheer mind over matter abilities--no, not bending spoons with my mind: I like to hold a zippo over my forearm and test my threshold for pain (ala G. Gordon Liddy), I like to do some ankles to the bar, pull-ups (throw some one-handers in there 'wink-wink'), and some spine decompression by hanging from my ankles, I usually like treating myself to some green tea after a good colon cleansing, then I get an iced white choco mocha from Starbucks and treat myself to a good book (usually Tom Clancy, Michael Crichton, Dean Koontz, or a Grisham novel), then before I go to bed I say my prayers (praying that God blesses all our soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and around the world and that all those bad Taliban people get what they deserve), I gently break my crisp sheets and climb into bed--and then . . . . . . . I like to whack it off!!!!!

I think this is forum has an incredible signal to noise ratio. I've learned something every time I've popped in to see what's being said.

I think the discussion of mental and psychological aspects of training is important.

At the same time I really appreciate Walter and Joe sharing their daily routines with us.

As a busy parent who slips workouts in any time I get a chance, it is helpful to see how and what others are doing.

Thanks to all for your contributions.

Gerry

Walter,
Are the Heavenly stem exercises a Taoist version of Marrow washing or more like the T'ien Fan Chang set Park Bok Nam shows in his and Dan Miller's book?

Maddhatta{Sanskrit?},
Is that it? No freestyle bar fighting on the way to the gym?

Joe,
Of the 24 heavenly stem exercises, I practice daily the plucking and moving exercises that Luo de Xie shows on his videos. (I am not yet comfortable with remembering off the cuff the proper chinese names, but hope to be one day.)

I believe that Tim also teaches these. There are 24 in all, I have recently been taught that they are learned when the teacher feels it is best for the individuals development. I believe that Bernie Langan also teaches them. I imagine that those taught by Luo have varying numbers up to the 24.

As I am a new student of Luo's (he has visited my area yearly the last two years and is returning in July, and my first teacher is a student of his) I only know the two. (As previously stated my training was external up unil the last 5 years, with brief excursions into tai chi starting about a decade ago.)
Walter