How (not) to hurt yourself

Last night’s training session had a lot of diversity, none of which contributed to my wellbeing. Quite the opposite actually, I’ve bruised pretty much everything from my lower shins up to my head…

Starting at the bottom, we first did an application of the hardan marki (lower block) against forward kicks. The aim was to evade and block the oncoming kick and trap it by using the folding motion of the block and then taking down the opponent with the opening motion. I found this to be a very interesting application, as it allowed a number of small variations, targeting different areas of the body to be attacked. Our instructor showed us a number of ways to really work the opponents trapped leg, with me as the guinea pig. Hence I’ve got some nice bruises on my shins and my quads are quite sore from an overenthusiastic elbow strike. But as they say, no pain, no gain…

Next up I got a bit more practice on my forward roll, which was working remarkably well. That is, if we ignore the inevitable bump on the head (it was quite a good one actually) on my first attempt.
Going on from this, my instructor thought it would be a good idea, if I learned the forward break fall at this stage as well. It’s not part of my grading requirements, but fits in nicely with the forward roll. So I struggled my way through that as well. It turns out that it’s actually a lot easier, with some external assistance providing you with the spinning force. I need to remember to keep my left leg straight though, when I roll over the right shoulder. I got that wrong a few times and when actually doing the break fall in earnest, this can lead to a world of trouble if done incorrectly.

Finally the low point of the session, as my instructor asked me to perform Do-san, the kata for my current belt rank. I really struggled remembering all the steps and made some serious errors, as I haven’t practiced the form for a few weeks. Taken that my instructor wants to grade us in a month’s time, I really have to put some time back to practice. The way it’s looking at the moment I’ll not only fail the grading, but will make a huge fool of myself as well. I should also revisit Chon-ji and Dan-gun, as I’ve become a bit rusty with these katas as well.