I was passing the barn on my way to the outhouse at my brother’s retreat one sunny morning when my half asleep eyes spied unusual muscle movements on Vidimir’s arm doing his milking chore. There are over 20 milking goats at the property so it takes a good hour and a half to complete the task, which now, with my head tightly screwed into Kung Fu, I perceive as a training opportunity.
Watching this performance it dawned on me why it seemed so hard to milk a goat when I tried it long time ago. I was terrible at it and gave up. Twice. It is no easy body mechanics – just look at the elaborate muscle-tendon performance involved in the seemingly simple job.
Kung Fu students train their grip in many ways so they can literally rip someone’s throat out and inflict other kinds of discomfort (in life threatening situations, of course.) They say the tendons are the true source of strength that can get you going for extended periods of time. The muscles are supposedly just fluff that will run out of power within minutes. It’s the tendons that we need to rely on.
I am thinking of giving the milking chore one more chance next time I go there. Would you try it if you had an opportunity?
PS: The guy in the video is not my brother, he is a ‘brother from another mother’ that lived with my brother’s family for 5 years
