[vitovito]

I went looking for the same thing and found it hard to separate the philosophy (and, with certain martial arts like wing chun, the internal politicizing) and history of the art from the practice of it. I found I wanted something deeper to be there, and there wasn't.

I occasionally row, and instead I did boxing for a while, and with both my focus was on form and mechanics over physical conditioning (yes, there's lots of form in boxing). The "exercise" is a natural outgrown of the deliberate practice.

I didn't work up enough physical conditioning that they let me spar, but I intend to go back for it.