It’s done…

Well, Sunday was grading day, and despite an ill timed night out on Saturday, I dragged myself up on Sunday morning with a hangover-deluxe.
Again, my training kicked in and I was able to focus on the task at hand, thank god for that.
To start off the day, we did a short training session consisting of our usual warm-up routine and then line drills performing most of the basic techniques we would be graded on shortly after. This had two purposes, one to give us a chance to rehearse the techniques one last time and two to fatigue us. Why fatigue us you ask? Simple, part of our training requires us to be able to control our thoughts and perform the techniques despite physical exhaustion.

But I’m sure the question on everyone’s mind is how I did. Well, I don’t know, I’m glad it’s not my job to assess my performance. I did the best I could and some things went well, others didn’t. I recon this time around I did show the best commitment I have done in all my gradings to date. Overall I had a pretty good feeling, but my perception is still that of a beginner and I’ll have to wait for my instructor’s feedback. I really do hope I passed, but even if I didn’t, I won’t worry about it too much, because I can always have another go, once I’ve practiced a bit more.

For what it’s worth, I thought our two white belts (also going through their grading on Sunday) did exceptionally well. Some of the techniques they performed were the best I’ve seen from them. Well done guys!

The next step

In class we are currently preparing for our upcoming grading. It’s due next Sunday, which is well timed, since I’ll be on holiday for 2 weeks afterwards and unlikely to train.

So at the moment all our focus really is on refining the techniques we need to master for our grading and practicing katas. I now start to appreciate katas more than I have in the past. I’m not sure why, but I just do.
I’ve dedicated myself to an extra training session with one of our white belts, which should give me the opportunity to practice some of the techniques and particularly my katas. Chon-ji should be at the top of the agenda, so that the white belt can benefit from our session as well, but I will try to put at least as much effort into Do-san and Dan-gun. My intention is to go through each pattern at least 5 times to get the sequences nailed and an additional 3 times paying particular attention to the individual techniques. It will be a long evening… I’m looking forward to it.

Let’s hope it’s worth it in the end and I pass my grading. Fingers crossed.

Emotions running high…and low

This will be a very personal entry to my blog, but I think it’s worth sharing.

I’ve gone through an emotional rollercoaster over the past couple of weeks, with the (anti-)climax occurring on Friday night. I’ll spare you the details, but needless to say it involves the opposite sex, a friend I hold in very high regards. I wanted more than the friendship and she (dealing with the situation extremely maturely, which I thank her for) explained to me that she just didn’t see us working out as a couple. Now despite the fact that I kind of expected this outcome (I chose to close my eyes at the obvious, I always do that and hope for the best), I was still devastated and am currently going through the phase of what another friend of mine referred to as the “emotional shock”. It will take a bit of time, but eventually I will bounce back…

Now what does this have to do with TKD, you might ask. To me TKD is the trampoline that allows me to bounce back. Whenever I’ve had problems in the past year or so since starting to train, TKD helped me a lot in re-focusing my mind. Training to me is a great way to take my thoughts away from the things that trouble me in my life, be it work, family issues or (as it is in this case) heartache.
Usually when I have a major problem in my life, it engulfs me entirely, I struggle to deal with other things, I loose concentration and can be a real pain in the a** to my friends. But whenever I train, I seem to be able to shut out everything else entirely and just focus on the moment. It helps me clear my mind and reset, it allows me to look at things in perspective.
What’s curious is the fact that during these times I seem to really make good progress (or at least I think I do). I feel motivated to push myself harder than usual and surprise myself as to what I’m capable of achieving.

So here is a call to those few people who actually read my blog. Do you have similar experiences when you train? Is TKD, or whatever style you train in, a way for you to escape your everyday life for a few hours? Share your thoughts!

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.

Back to Basics

In yesterdays class I joined the white belts in their exercises, as I’ve been progressing rather well with the requirements for my current rank.
It turned out that this was a good wake-up call. I’ve not practiced my basic techniques (lunge punch, lower block, middle block) for a few months now and I’ve become quite sloppy. Particularly my power generation had suffered.
So, I’ve set myself on practicing these basic techniques to get back up to speed.

Protecting your jewels…

Every man who’s ever been hit/kicked/fallen onto their twig and berries will know that this is one area of the body you’ll want to avoid a blow to. Not only can it cause you the god given power to create life, but it will cause a paralysing pain, literally. Therefore in an aggressive environment it is vital to protect your groin area.

This is exactly what we practiced in yesterday’s training session. The pattern associated with my current belt rank (Do-san) has block/punch just before moving into an upper block (chukyo marki). To see how this works in a combative environment, my instructor set out to kick me in the nether region and I was to block the kick by punching down onto his leg/foot.
As an answer to my question what the best target was to the downward punch, my instructor resorted to his tried and tested method of “learning by feeling”… So, I was to hold up my foot while he tapped (I wouldn’t call what he did a punch) areas all over my foot and along my lower shin. Afterwards I concluded that it doesn’t matter where you hit the foot or the lower shin, because it will always hurt your opponent… a lot!

Once I managed to protect my privates from a stance I was instructed to practice covering while performing a forward kick. This seemed easy enough (or so I thought), but on my first try I quickly realised that I needed to adjust my balance quite a bit in order to stay true to my target. But again (and I suspect this will be an ongoing theme in my TKD career) “practice makes perfect”, and I’m still far from that…Key things worth remembering from the downward punching exercise are covering underneath your groin as much as in front and keep your cover throughout your kick, because that fatal blow can come at any time in its lifecycle.

I’m rollin’, rollin’, rollin’

It’s been a while since my last entry, but I’ve been very busy and didn’t have much time to keep mu blog/log updated. So rather than backtracking all that I’ve done over the past few weeks, I’ll just pick up again from here.

Last night saw me doing one of my favourite pastimes: rolling around on the floor. Usually I do this in a very drunken state, but this time it had a purpose: how not to kill yourself doing a forward roll! It was the first time I’ve done this in a TKD environment, so a few bruises were to be expected.

The main points about the way we learn to do the forward roll are:
a) Keep close to, but not on the spine and cross it about half way through the roll. If you are too far to the side however you will hit your shoulder blade, which is quite uncomfortable. I found this out the hard way.
b) Keep your head tucked in, looking at your belt. Not doing this causes you to hit your head on the floor, which again is very uncomfortable. I found this out the hard way too.
c) And this is the really important one! Always push forward. This is a forward roll, not a downward roll. Not pushing forward enough causes you to fall on your shoulder, which will wind you and hurt a lot. This too I found out the really hard way, and the considerable bruises to my shoulders bare witness to this.

In the end though I did manage to get a few good ones in, but as they say practice makes perfect and I assume that I will have to bear a few more sessions of aching shoulders before I get this one right all the time.

After the rolling around, I did some practice on my kata for this belt level (Do-san). I need to ensure to keep my punches crisp and on a centreline and generally be a bit less sloppy.
Finally I joined in with the white belts to practice some lower blocks (hardan marki)