I missed black belt class last night because I had relay for life, but I figured that would give me opportunity to talk about my at-college routine!  Its a much different feeling practicing Taekwondo outside the Do Chang.  Where we usually have direction and structure, trying to keep yourself disciplined to do your best technique with no one watching.  It teaches a different type of self control, different to the physical control we learn over our bodies at class; much more of a mental self control.

My usual work out starts with stretches, which I do the same way as at a normal class: starting with neck, then arms, working down to my legs and ankles. A lot of times I'll do this work out on the blacktop outside of my dorm, where I don't feel like I'm going to be getting many weird stares, especially when I'm doing my stretches.  Being able to do about 90% splits can exhibit some concerned looks.  After that, I run through my 12 forms without pause in between, to raise my heartrate and get my body moving.  This is less about technique as it is a warm up.  Then, I'll do kicks for the length of the basketball court, with some hand motions thrown in.

After this I start my technique practice, where I'll run through my take down techniques and step sparring motions.  These are just the basic "mock fights".  I also take this time to run through my forms again, usually my 5 highest, striving for perfect technique.  This is the part that most involves the self-discipline I mentioned before.  I usually end my workout with jump drills and jump kicks in an effort to improve my leg strength.  Working on building up for a 540degree kick, which is a spin and jump kick, where you land with the leg you kick with, making it a difficult technique to master, but it gives me a good goal to work for.

That about sums up today's entry!

Our black belt family!

This is my first actual blog entry about class, so I’m not really sure how it’s about to work.  I guess I’ll start with a quick summary of how class usually works:

When you first arrive at the school, you enter, bow to the black belts, take off your shoes, then enter the “do chang”, bowing when you cross over onto the mat.  This is meant as a sign of respect to the art, countries, and elder members of your school. Very exciting I know.  Roughly a month ago, I received a key to the school, meaning I could go train whenever I would like.  I’ve been going up ~15-30 minutes before class for the past couple weeks just so I can practice by myself, because during class time I’m usually helping to teach lower belts or lead the class as a whole.  It’s a weird feeling, because for the past nearly 10 years I’ve always been one of the people learning, and now that I have the key, I feel much more like a part of the teaching structure than I thought I would.

                Class begins around 6; we bow to the flags, bow to the instructor, and then begin warm-ups.  After 10-15 minutes, we do basic motion practice, which is essentially the foundation we use to do forms, sparring, and advanced motions.  One of Grandmaster Kim’s favorite speeches to give is about how without a solid foundation, it’s impossible to build high without collapsing.  If I have a leadership role on that particular day, I’ll either lead the class in 20 basics, or take a new student to the back to help them understand the fundamentals of punching, kicking, and blocking.  After this, we do forms, which are a series of motions meant to simulate a mock-fight (with no opponents), and are meant to demonstrate the basic and advanced motions in context.

                Springtime is usually a busy time of year for new students, and this year has been no exception.  My branch school has had 4 new white belts in the past 4 weeks, and as a temporary black belt, it is occasionally my responsibility to teach them 20 basic motions, their first form, and 5 sparring techniques so they can test and start seeing progress, which is important for a lot of people.

                That's a basic summary of what I do for each class! Hopefully after this setup, I can start being more specific with what I do.

The Story So Far

This is just going to be a quick overview of my history with Taekwondo.  I started when I was 7 with my best friend, both of us desperately wanting to be ninjas.  At that age, the strong ideals of discipline and self-control are harder to absorb, but being in that position, surrounded by these ideas, definitely shaped who I am today.  I had my temporary black belt when I was 10, but after that found it hard to progress.  Looking back now, I definitely think I wasn't mature enough to take the step towards a full black belt, and to accept the responsibilities that came with it.  By the time I was 12, my interests had changed, and I took a two month break that lasted four years.

My junior year of high school, however, I felt like I was missing something in my life, and I went back to the same school I had attended five years before.  I quickly re-joined, and spent a year and a half retraining to the point I was at before my break, and since then have been learning a lot!

I'm scheduled to test for black belt on May 11th, 2012, finally taking that last step! That is, the last step before I start my journey through all the levels of black belt.  Contrary to popular  belief, the black belt is not the end of martial arts; actually, it's where stuff starts to get good!

This blog is going to be my way of keeping track of my progress over my last month of training and spreading knowledge of Taekwondo!  Looking forward to this, not something I'm used to but I think it will be fun. That about sums up this entry!