Ups and Downs of Home Training

A few weeks ago our instructor gave us a sheet of paper and told us we needed to have it completely filled out by the next belt test, sometime in February. It consists of five types of training routines, each with 22 blanks to check off. The categories are:

• Strength Training- Sit ups and push ups or weight training
• Flexibility/Stretching- 15 mins
• Forms Practice- 20 mins of forms practice
• Kicks- 25 reps per side of at least 3 kicks
• Hand Techniques- one step fighting techniques and other punching/blocking practice as well as conditioning against targets

I get up in the morning and take my dog for a walk, then do 15-30 minutes of Stretching, usually a yoga routine and Strength Training. Sometimes I do as many sit ups and push ups as I can but others I do a more challenging Yoga or Pilates workout designed to strengthen the body. Variety is the key for me, if I get bored I won't do it. Right now I am getting frustrated because it seems like my lower body is getting stronger a lot faster than my upper body. I still can't do that many push ups with proper form-straight legs, on my knuckles. I know I just have to keep doing them and I let myself get frustrated too quickly.

The good news is, I noticed my arm muscles are getting tighter and bigger already. I had my husband measure me yesterday so that I can get a baseline for my fitness level. I don't have a scale and I don't believe in them anyway. I was wishing I had gotten him to do it a month ago because I can already tell a difference. My thighs hardly jiggle any more and I can tell my abs are tighter. Still, I felt a little sad because my thigh measurement now is about what my waist measurement was at my ideal size 15 years ago. The good news is, I didn't work out then, I was just naturally curvy. Now I may never get back down to a 26" waist but I will be stronger and leaner than ever before.

I avoid the kicking practice the most, sometimes I even attempt it and don't complete the 25 reps per leg necessary to get a check mark on my sheet. We do a lot of kicks in class but usually we do only 10 per side and then switch to another kick. Doing 25 in one set pushes me to my absolute limit. I work hard on the roundhouse kick, even though it is an advanced white belt kick and I am working toward my orange belt right now, it needs a lot of work, especially on aiming. A discouraging discovery was made in class on Thursday, I've also been working on my jumping front snap kick. The instructor pointed out that I was kicking at the wrong time. Devastating to realize that I had probably done a couple hundred kicks wrong and I basically have to relearn and retrain my body.

Mama Ninja

My entire life I had been regarded as clumsy. My mother used to jokingly call me "grace." As a kid I spent a lot of time tripping and falling. So I never considered myself as someone who could one day master the jump spinning hook kick.

A few years ago, I joined a gym to get in shape. I had gained a lot of weight from having children and working a sedentary job for four years. There I discovered an amazing class called Nia, a blend of martial arts, dance, and yoga. First off it was fun and the instructor was very patient with my two left feet. So I began attending the class once or twice a week. I gradually found my balance, using my breath and energy to allow my body to move gracefully and powerfully. I knew I wanted my son, who also had a reputation of being clumsy, to take a martial arts class.

Martial Arts classes tend to be expensive so I procrastinated for a while until we found a school near our house that had very affordable prices. It happened to be Tang Soo Do, which I had never heard of before despite its apparent popularity. When I learned that the instructor was also passionate about wilderness survival I knew this was the class for our entire family. But first my son started January 2008. Then in spring my husband started.

It was an exciting day when they had their first belt test, my son got his advanced white belt and my husband, who had worked so hard and practiced every day skipped a rank and was honored with an orange belt.

I observed the class frequently and learned a few tidbits from my husband and son, but I finally joined the class September 11, 2008. The instructor is patient enough to allow my 4 year old daughter to run around while the rest of us are in class. I hope she will join in soon but right now she just doesn't have the attention span for 1.5 hours of class.

Why martial arts? These are my goals:

1. Strengthen and tone my body, increase balance and coordination


2. Hone my mental awareness and concentration


3. Strive for spiritual stillness and enhance my connection to the divine


4. Learn from nature and to live in harmony with it