When I first saw Jackie Chan hanging upside down and using two teacups to fill a bucket over his head I had two thoughts. The first was: woah. He’s getting super strong. The second was: I need to build that contraption in my back yard STAT.

Since then I’ve trained Gongfu/Kung Fu and other martial arts in a lot of back yards and even a mountain in China. I still love the idea of simple outdoor training gear. Bamboo. Stones. Teacups. Yes, I actually had a master that made us put teacups on our knees and head while balancing in endless still poses. Excruciating. (This is known as (吃苦 | Chīkǔ) “eat bitter”. Eating bitter is essential to deeper development in martial arts and, eventually, weirdly part of the fun.)

Here I’ll share the videos, scribblings and experiences that have inspired me and others on the journey to never lose the thrill, joy, fantasy and mind and muscle-burning reality of the journey to become the ultimate badass^*.

As it is said:

“Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.” – Bruce Lee

^*Of course, by “badass” I mean to become delightfully good at something, not arrogant or egoic. The ego is ultimately quite limiting as one moves into learning internal arts and, hey, just isn’t as cool.