Hi

I've been doing Crane Kung Fu for 10 years, but just recently I have stepped up my training quite considerably.

For a while I feel I have coasted along, just going through the motions, but I'm now desperate to get my black sash. Not that I think sash colour is particularly important but it would be a great personal achievement for me. I haven't wasted my training, I suppose like anyone else my dedication has fluctuated, depending on my circumstances at the time, although my Kung fu has remained constant.

In the course of my increased training I've been doing bag work, stretching and also trying to get down into box splits, which I have never been able to do (probably due to lack of application). I've noticed since I started trying box splits that I seem to have a bit of a grinding sensation or popping in my hips, particularly on the left; sometimes it's while I'm stretching, other times it can be if I bend down (doing some innocuous task). Is this cause for alarm, or should I carry on regardless? I'm 35, I did wonder if perhaps I'm too old to be able to get all the way down.

Kev