Tae Kwon Do 101
I keep meaning to write something about Taekwondo, but then I never quite get around to it. Sometimes it's because I feel like it's too daunting, trying to do a post that covers approximately six months of my life (even if it's only one aspect of it) and sometimes it's because I figure no one is going to read it, so why bother. But I'm going to give it a go, and I expect this first post will likely be quite long and rambling, since I have no clear direction as to where I'm going with this.
I started TKD back in June, 2011, doing an 8 week class at the local community center. I'd been looking for some form of exercise that I could actually stand do stick with, because a couple of years ago my weight reached an alarming high, and cutting back on what I eat was only doing so much. Walking helped some, and so did using the Wii Fit, but eventually that gets pretty boring.
So I actually took a look at the Town Recreation and Leisure Services (or whatever it's called) booklet that we got in the mail and decided to sign up for something, on the premise that if I paid for something, I was more likely to go. First I tried Tai Chi, and that was all right, but it was too mellow, and the same thing every single class, and eventually got pretty dull.
I also tried fencing, which I'd always wanted to, but it turned out not to be my cup of tea at all. I didn't really care for the teacher, and I really hated having people jab at me with long pointy things. I also had gender issues with the fact that women were required to wear chest guards and men weren't, and the jacket and mask were remarkably uncomfortable, and yeah... I dreaded going to class and would look for excuses not to go. I finally just stopped going altogether.
Then there was a new offering in the book for the Spring/Summer 2011 sessions. Taekwondo. I knew that
tryslora had been doing it and loved it, and so I figured I would give it a shot. I'd actually looked for other TKD schools in my area, but didn't find any nearby. I didn't sign up for the first session, though - I'm not sure why. It might be that it didn't work well with my schedule at the time, or I may have just been dragging my feet in fear. I signed up for the session that started in June and ran through August, 45 minutes every Monday evening.
I showed up for the first class, the first adult there, and handed over $20 to get my uniform. I went to the locker room to change, and came back and was taught how to tie my belt. My instructor was younger than I expected, and his assistant was (is) still in high school, I'm pretty sure.
The eight weeks went by really fast, and at the end I asked when the next session was going to start. Master Paul told me it wouldn't be until September, but he was trying to set up his own school, and he would keep me posted.
I didn't hear anything for a while, and when I got the Fall/Winter brochure, I saw that the adult TKD class no longer existed at the community center. Luckily, not long after I got an email saying that he was finalizing things for the school, and that hopefully it would open in late September.
A week or two before the school was set to open, I went to class with
tryslora at her school. It was the first time I'd been to two classes in a week, and it was actually two classes in three days. I was REALLY sore after that, but it was good to get back into things.
On September 27, 2011, Jitae Taekwondo officially opened. I'm pretty sure I was the first (and only) person to show up that day, so I guess that makes me the first Jitae student. For a few weeks, I was the only adult student, which can be pretty intimidating, having the instructor's sole focus. I was kind of glad when other people signed up so it wasn't just me anymore.
I started off attending class twice a week, and have slowly built up to three or four times a week. This week I probably would have gone five days in a row, but I had to work Saturday so I couldn't make it to class. Part of that is because I now have classmates who attend nearly every day, and I'm a really competitive person. I also don't want to miss out and be behind if he teaches something new on a day when I'm not there.
Normally, one tests for a new belt approximately every three months. I tested for my yellow belt on December 17, almost six months (with a six week break) after starting. I passed the test (obviously) and even got a rating of Very Good (versus just Good) on my form and my self defense. It was Master Paul's instructor from the school where he used to train (maybe still does, I don't know) who ran the testing, and it was intense. Master Paul said even the kids who tested were saying they were sore afterwards, and it takes a lot to give little kids sore muscles.
When he tied my yellow belt on me the class following the test, the first thing he said was, "Finally, right?"
Which, I have to say, is part of the reason I love him as a teacher. He has a good sense of humor, and is very good at keeping things upbeat and fun, even while he's beating us up.
Another anecdote I like sharing was when it was just me, Juliet and Master Paul - Juliet is the black belt who was assisting at the community center, and who still comes to help out on Fridays - and we were practicing self-defense, working on the front shoulder grab. While we were doing so, Master Paul mentioned that once you had someone in a wristlock, you could manipulate their fingers. And then a few seconds later, he said, "Here, let me show you one of my favorites."
Of course, Juliet was struggling to remember how to do it, and he decided to let us figure it out on our own after one demonstration, so I spent quite a while with my arm twisted up behind me, but so it goes.
Only in TKD is it totally acceptable to say something like, "Let me show you my favorite way to hurt people" and it's mostly just funny. (The self-defense we learn is about causing pain. I won't deny it. But we're careful not to hurt each other. Just sometimes doing something that involves twisting a joint in a direction it doesn't want to go repeatedly starts to ache a bit.)
Also, only in TKD would your Christmas present be getting the opportunity to break things. Our last class before Christmas, we had just learned the side kick, and Master Paul said that we were doing really well. There were only two of us there that night, and he had two boards left over from testing the higher belts the Saturday before.
What I learned was that yes, I was fully capable of breaking a board with my foot, and furthermore, it wasn't hard to do so. It was rather startling. And yes, I got to keep the board.
I'm typing this at work, so I just got interrupted by actually having to do some and now I've lost my train of thought.
I guess what it comes down to is that I'm having a good time, which is not something that I ever thought I would say about something that is, without a doubt, exercise. Usually I don't like being out of breath and sweaty and having my heart pound, but now I wear my limp noodle feeling at the end of class as a bad of honor, along with all of the bumps and bruises that I acquire. (I have, so far, managed to abrade all of the skin off of my right forefinger knuckle punching the heavy bag, did the same to a spot on the top of my right foot kicking the heavy bag, strained my left quadriceps doing jump front kicks where pride overcame sense and I didn't ask Juliet to lower the target when I should have, split open a cut and bled on my dobok, kicked Juliet in the elbow while sparring, twice... several of these all during the same class. It was a rough Friday.)
Over the course of the past few months, I have gotten stronger (my calf muscles are starting to scare me *g*), gained stamina, and best of all, gained flexibility. I was never flexible, even as a child. I couldn't touch my toes. Now I can, at least while seated with my legs in a straddle position, and while standing with my feet about double-shoulder-width apart.
At the beginning of the year, we were asked to make resolutions, one for TKD and one for our outside life. They were supposed to be specific and measurable. My one for TKD definitely is, but the other one is somewhat less so. For TKD, the resolution was to go to class at least three times a week. Probably I'll make more as I go, but that was my initial one.
For the rest of my life, my resolution was to try to be outside the dojang more like the person I am inside it. Because really, I like the person I am in class a lot more than the person I am, say, at work. I don't stress as much (although I do grimace when I feel like I'm messing up). I'm more persistent, more open to trying new things, more willing to push myself beyond what I think I can do, more outgoing, etc. But I'm not sure how to really measure that.
I think I'm going to make a second post of the different skills that we've learned for each belt, more for my own reference than for anyone else. But now that I've made this giant catch-up post, hopefully I'll post more often about various things that come up as they do. Just in case anyone actually cares.
This entry was originally posted at http://eternaleponine.dreamwidth.org/875.html. Comments can be left on either site.
I started TKD back in June, 2011, doing an 8 week class at the local community center. I'd been looking for some form of exercise that I could actually stand do stick with, because a couple of years ago my weight reached an alarming high, and cutting back on what I eat was only doing so much. Walking helped some, and so did using the Wii Fit, but eventually that gets pretty boring.
So I actually took a look at the Town Recreation and Leisure Services (or whatever it's called) booklet that we got in the mail and decided to sign up for something, on the premise that if I paid for something, I was more likely to go. First I tried Tai Chi, and that was all right, but it was too mellow, and the same thing every single class, and eventually got pretty dull.
I also tried fencing, which I'd always wanted to, but it turned out not to be my cup of tea at all. I didn't really care for the teacher, and I really hated having people jab at me with long pointy things. I also had gender issues with the fact that women were required to wear chest guards and men weren't, and the jacket and mask were remarkably uncomfortable, and yeah... I dreaded going to class and would look for excuses not to go. I finally just stopped going altogether.
Then there was a new offering in the book for the Spring/Summer 2011 sessions. Taekwondo. I knew that
tryslora had been doing it and loved it, and so I figured I would give it a shot. I'd actually looked for other TKD schools in my area, but didn't find any nearby. I didn't sign up for the first session, though - I'm not sure why. It might be that it didn't work well with my schedule at the time, or I may have just been dragging my feet in fear. I signed up for the session that started in June and ran through August, 45 minutes every Monday evening.
I showed up for the first class, the first adult there, and handed over $20 to get my uniform. I went to the locker room to change, and came back and was taught how to tie my belt. My instructor was younger than I expected, and his assistant was (is) still in high school, I'm pretty sure.
The eight weeks went by really fast, and at the end I asked when the next session was going to start. Master Paul told me it wouldn't be until September, but he was trying to set up his own school, and he would keep me posted.
I didn't hear anything for a while, and when I got the Fall/Winter brochure, I saw that the adult TKD class no longer existed at the community center. Luckily, not long after I got an email saying that he was finalizing things for the school, and that hopefully it would open in late September.
A week or two before the school was set to open, I went to class with
tryslora at her school. It was the first time I'd been to two classes in a week, and it was actually two classes in three days. I was REALLY sore after that, but it was good to get back into things.
On September 27, 2011, Jitae Taekwondo officially opened. I'm pretty sure I was the first (and only) person to show up that day, so I guess that makes me the first Jitae student. For a few weeks, I was the only adult student, which can be pretty intimidating, having the instructor's sole focus. I was kind of glad when other people signed up so it wasn't just me anymore.
I started off attending class twice a week, and have slowly built up to three or four times a week. This week I probably would have gone five days in a row, but I had to work Saturday so I couldn't make it to class. Part of that is because I now have classmates who attend nearly every day, and I'm a really competitive person. I also don't want to miss out and be behind if he teaches something new on a day when I'm not there.
Normally, one tests for a new belt approximately every three months. I tested for my yellow belt on December 17, almost six months (with a six week break) after starting. I passed the test (obviously) and even got a rating of Very Good (versus just Good) on my form and my self defense. It was Master Paul's instructor from the school where he used to train (maybe still does, I don't know) who ran the testing, and it was intense. Master Paul said even the kids who tested were saying they were sore afterwards, and it takes a lot to give little kids sore muscles.
When he tied my yellow belt on me the class following the test, the first thing he said was, "Finally, right?"
Which, I have to say, is part of the reason I love him as a teacher. He has a good sense of humor, and is very good at keeping things upbeat and fun, even while he's beating us up.
Another anecdote I like sharing was when it was just me, Juliet and Master Paul - Juliet is the black belt who was assisting at the community center, and who still comes to help out on Fridays - and we were practicing self-defense, working on the front shoulder grab. While we were doing so, Master Paul mentioned that once you had someone in a wristlock, you could manipulate their fingers. And then a few seconds later, he said, "Here, let me show you one of my favorites."
Of course, Juliet was struggling to remember how to do it, and he decided to let us figure it out on our own after one demonstration, so I spent quite a while with my arm twisted up behind me, but so it goes.
Only in TKD is it totally acceptable to say something like, "Let me show you my favorite way to hurt people" and it's mostly just funny. (The self-defense we learn is about causing pain. I won't deny it. But we're careful not to hurt each other. Just sometimes doing something that involves twisting a joint in a direction it doesn't want to go repeatedly starts to ache a bit.)
Also, only in TKD would your Christmas present be getting the opportunity to break things. Our last class before Christmas, we had just learned the side kick, and Master Paul said that we were doing really well. There were only two of us there that night, and he had two boards left over from testing the higher belts the Saturday before.
What I learned was that yes, I was fully capable of breaking a board with my foot, and furthermore, it wasn't hard to do so. It was rather startling. And yes, I got to keep the board.
I'm typing this at work, so I just got interrupted by actually having to do some and now I've lost my train of thought.
I guess what it comes down to is that I'm having a good time, which is not something that I ever thought I would say about something that is, without a doubt, exercise. Usually I don't like being out of breath and sweaty and having my heart pound, but now I wear my limp noodle feeling at the end of class as a bad of honor, along with all of the bumps and bruises that I acquire. (I have, so far, managed to abrade all of the skin off of my right forefinger knuckle punching the heavy bag, did the same to a spot on the top of my right foot kicking the heavy bag, strained my left quadriceps doing jump front kicks where pride overcame sense and I didn't ask Juliet to lower the target when I should have, split open a cut and bled on my dobok, kicked Juliet in the elbow while sparring, twice... several of these all during the same class. It was a rough Friday.)
Over the course of the past few months, I have gotten stronger (my calf muscles are starting to scare me *g*), gained stamina, and best of all, gained flexibility. I was never flexible, even as a child. I couldn't touch my toes. Now I can, at least while seated with my legs in a straddle position, and while standing with my feet about double-shoulder-width apart.
At the beginning of the year, we were asked to make resolutions, one for TKD and one for our outside life. They were supposed to be specific and measurable. My one for TKD definitely is, but the other one is somewhat less so. For TKD, the resolution was to go to class at least three times a week. Probably I'll make more as I go, but that was my initial one.
For the rest of my life, my resolution was to try to be outside the dojang more like the person I am inside it. Because really, I like the person I am in class a lot more than the person I am, say, at work. I don't stress as much (although I do grimace when I feel like I'm messing up). I'm more persistent, more open to trying new things, more willing to push myself beyond what I think I can do, more outgoing, etc. But I'm not sure how to really measure that.
I think I'm going to make a second post of the different skills that we've learned for each belt, more for my own reference than for anyone else. But now that I've made this giant catch-up post, hopefully I'll post more often about various things that come up as they do. Just in case anyone actually cares.
This entry was originally posted at http://eternaleponine.dreamwidth.org/875.html. Comments can be left on either site.