Start Your Weekend Right

Okay, so I teased my mom that the next post would be entitled 'Wooden Spoons and Foam Balls' but I changed my mind.  I will explain that title though, since they were some fun training bits and pieces. 

The wooden spoon bit happened at home when my mom asked me to help her run through the white belt self defenses.  Since I had no interest in holding a real knife (even of the butter variety) at my mother, I grabbed a wooden spoon and held it by the business end so that the handle jutted out like a knife blade.  Of course, being who we are, we both ended up dissolving into laughter several times at my choice of fake 'knife.'  (It could also be the fake scaredy cat face she makes whilst DOING the knife defense that was causing the larger part of my own laughter...)

As for the foam balls, that was a blocking exercise courtesy of Mr Saxton.  It was a little like dodge ball, TKD style!  We each took turns standing basically against or very close to the wall while two foam balls were thrown at us in strategic places.  Ideally, we were meant to use our blocking techniques to deflect the balls as though they were fists.  I believe the exercise was meant to not only improve technique, but also speed.  I particularly enjoyed this drill!  Then again, I always enjoyed regular dodge ball as well.

Friday evenings are our weekly sparring sessions.  According to Mr Saxton, he thinks getting beaten up is the best way to start one's weekend.  I'm inclined to agree, even though these sessions actually fall in the middle of my own work week.  It's nice to go and sweat/work off any lingering frustrations and tire myself out in a good way.  I might have mentioned it before, but I'm really pleasantly surprised at just how much I actually enjoy sparring now.  I can even tell that I'm slowly but surely improving!  I got some nice compliments last night, which was awesome.  Even my stamina seemed vastly better than the last sparring session I went to.

Later today, we're going to march in a local parade.  We're going to be representing the school; wearing our uniforms and practicing punches, kicks, and blocks.  It should be fun.  I'm glad to be able to do it, since I missed our big picnic event on Memorial Day due to work.  Now I just have to figure out when I'm going to get some sleep... :-/

Faster Feet

This post has been a while in coming, but sometimes life gets in the way of blogging. At any rate, TKD things are going well.

I've been going to sparring about every other week, not to mention that we also spar during regular classes sometimes. I finally started to feel/see my own improvement within the last week or so. It seems after 27-ish years of walking on my heels (not to mention quite heavily), that I'm FINALLY learning how to be lighter on my feet. It's not going to be any kind of instant success story, but it's a hell of a start! I'm also starting to get the hang of 'focus[ing] but not focus[ing.]' That really just means that I'm starting to see attacks coming and actually respond appropriately and in time, recognize when an opponent is telegraphing their next move, and even (sometimes) tell when someone is trying to fake me out. Interestingly, when someone tries to intimidate me with loud and crazy kiaps, it doesn't faze me at all. I suppose growing up with two loud and crazy brothers may have something to do with this... ;-p.

My test for yellow stripe is Saturday morning. I'm not terribly nervous just yet, but I'm sure on the day I'll be CRAZY nervous. I got some clarification tonight about which board break I have to perform. That and my form are the things I'm most concerned about. I'm fairly confident of my self-defenses, punches, kicks, and blocks. There is an oral portion that involves general TKD knowledge and I have absolutely no idea what to expect the question[s] will entail. If it's the meaning of 'Taekwondo' or the tenets, I think I'll be fine.

WHITE belt rules

Testing is March 24; just over one month away(!). It's going to be a BIG test class, too.

Class last night was a big mix of everything. We covered punches, kicks, and blocks first as usual. Then we sparred for several rounds. Then to cool down we did forms.

Sparring those guys was a bit different than last week at the main dojang. Some of them were still helpful, but... there was one who was kind of a jerk. I'm well aware that I'm going to get hit while sparring, but it's supposed to be LIGHT contact. This guy hit me several times in the headgear much more than even half-strength. And it sure shouldn't have been an issue of control on his part, because he's a high ranking belt. So, I don't know what his problem was. Between being somewhat dazed from the worst of those hits and just honestly still out of shape, I was having a really hard time breathing. I almost asked for a break to go get my inhaler, but I pushed through it instead. After class, Mr Saxton explained more about the best breathing techniques. He also mentioned that breathing would be covered in depth this weekend at the systema workshop. Hopefully that will prove helpful.

Anyway, even though class last night was kinda rough, I'm looking forward to Friday (and Saturday). Maybe they'll go better.

Most Dangerous

I'm sitting here still coming down from one of the most awesome natural highs I've ever had. Why so chipper? Tonight was my first sparring session! It was SO MUCH fun!! I felt like a slow and flail-y dork, but that in no way diminished the fun factor. I even got a few compliments from total strangers at how well I did for it being my first night. One boy, a junior blue belt, just couldn't believe it was my first time and that I'd only even WATCHED sparring once before... that made me feel pretty good.

I wondered if being all bundled up in the gear would be uncomfortable but it really wasn't. Once we actually began the matches, I didn't give it a second thought. I had way too many other things to think about. The hardest thing for me tonight was knowing where, and how, to look. Relatively speaking I'm supposed to be looking in my opponent's eyes or maybe their upper chest. But even then, I'm not really supposed to focus on that. 'Looking, but not focusing.' That way I'm able to pick up his/her motions coming from most any direction. Okay, way easier said than done for me right now!

Even so, I managed to pull out some pretty decent blocks and even score a few points of my own. Some points I think I actually managed to come by honestly and some others were kinda left open to me as gimmes. Most of the people I sparred with were really helpful, which I appreciate.

Right before we got started, Mr Saxton mentioned that the two most dangerous types of sparring opponents are white belts (because they don't know their own strength and even when they think they're hitting lightly hit too hard) and black belts (because eventually they'll hit you back just as hard). I found this to be true because I KNOW I managed contact and even points a couple times quite harder than I meant to. I also missed contact a good handful of times when I wasn't adequately blocked and SHOULD have touched for the point. I gather this is the sort of control you have to learn with time and repetition. Still, I felt especially bad when I hit a junior green belt girl on the headgear harder than I should have. All I could do was apologize and be more careful, but I still felt like a big jerk.

Each match lasts 3 minutes and I think I did maybe 5-6 matches. It's definitely a good work-out because you never let up the whole time, even rotating between partners. I was sweaty and red faced, and I think it's possibly some of the most fun I've ever had exercising! Looking at the whole class, every single one of us looked exhausted but happy. Not a bad way to start a weekend, indeed.

My noon class today also went really well. It was just the two of us adult white belts again, which meant plenty of personalized instruction. I can feel that my forms and most of my self defenses are improving slowly but steadily. The only major issue I'm having is my final white belt self defense, which is a defense for when you're being held at knife-point. Mentally I know all the steps, but when it comes to physically carrying them out correctly... no. I'll fix one issue, and then suddenly I'll be doing something new wrong, that I had just done correctly the last time. I certainly hope I can sort it out before testing in March.

Pajama Party

So... Tonight was a punches/kicks/blocks night and I got my wish that we would focus intently on these for quite a while. Yay! I didn't feel nearly as lost during these as I did last time, so that's a plus. My guarding stance needs work though. I have a problem keeping my front hand up high enough to protect my face. I'm sure all it'll take is someone to make contact with my nose once, and I'll learn my lesson.

Speaking of contact, the second half of class tonight was devoted to sparring. Since I have no gear (there's only extra gear to borrow at the main dojang), I didn't get to spar. Instead I was in charge of time-keeping with the stopwatch. During these three minute increments, I enjoyed watching the guys. It was obvious that they were having a lot of fun. I also noticed that because all five of us have different uniforms, we resembled some demented sort of pajama party tickle fight.

Now that I've seen how CMA's sparring sessions go, I'm more ready than ever to give it a try. Of course that meant ordering myself some gear first, which is what I did as soon as I got home. I got light blue so my gear would be easily distinguished from everybody else's. What I didn't think about was the fact that between my gear and my white dobok, I'll now look ESPECIALLY like a big fluffy cloud. Erg. At least the TKD seems to be helping me get past my weight loss plateau, so I can get less fluffy.

Because of work, my next class won't be until Friday. I'm okay with that though, because it means a noon class at the main studio. I think this is probably how my class schedule will stay for the foreseeable future. I might have to find a way to kill time between the Friday noon class and the evening sparring session though, to save on driving. I'm thinking library and dinner.