Friday, May 13, 2022

help me figure this out

Crowdsourcing is not a good strategy when your blog is as unpopular as mine is, but I'm gonna try it, anyway, in the hopes of luring "lurker" readers out.

The situation: I want to get back into doing some kicking and punching.* For that, I want to buy a heavy bag. The one I had when I was younger was a 70-pound Everlast made of canvas. In trolling through Coupang, all I could find in the 70-pound range were heavy bags with a smooth leather surface, and everyone knows that leather is for pussies. You want your knuckles to bleed on the canvas—you want to be leaving little red dots all over the punching bag until your skin scars and thickens as your hands turn into dangerous weapons (even now, I've still got knuckle scars from my youth, but my skin has definitely softened over time). I guess I could buy a leather bag and wrap my hands in strips of canvas cloth to simulate the experience of striking canvas, but something feels wrong about doing that. 

Anyway, finding the right heavy bag isn't the issue. The issue is figuring how where I could use such a bag. I can't use it inside my studio without disturbing the neighbors, both next door and downstairs. Besides, I don't have any room in my studio! Dragging the bag outside and hanging it up, say, in the park next to my building might be doable, but it'd be a chore. The best solution would be to find a private, open space that only I would visit. I'd be able to work out noisily, without disturbing anyone else, and there'd be no surprise visitors or unwanted onlookers. Does such a space exist in Korea? Can it be rented by the month?

That's the question I'm crowdsourcing to my readers. I'll be curious to see what answers I get back. Otherwise, my best bet is to buy a heavy bag and lug it out to the next-door park late at night to minimize the onlooker problem. That'd be a chore, but it's doable.

As for the type of bag: I know there are many options, but a classic heavy bag is what I want. Here's a video by Sensei Seth exploring the range of bags that are available:

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*I don't think joining a martial-arts class would be wise, given my balance issues. There's a lot I still need to work out, post-stroke. Being able to put on and take off my pants more or less normally was an achievement just a few months after my week in the hospital last year, but simply standing and/or hopping on one foot remains a problem. Kicking would be the same way—especially reverse turning kicks—and now that I'm older, it's easier for me to pull or strain certain muscles and tendons. Better for me to practice what little taekwondo I remember on my own, at my own pace, than for me to go and put myself out of commission after only a few sessions in class.




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