State of My Arts

This past week, the head of our Hapkido program, a 7th dan in Hapkido (who also holds rank in a bunch of other disciplines) approached me about the possibility of testing for 2nd dan in Hapkido in the middle of October.  As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I”m currently prepping for my TKD exam. 

The TKD exam will most likely be around 3 hours in duration.  The components of the test will be: kicking and punching in multitudinous ways; forms (8 Tae Guk forms, plus 4 black belt forms); bong (staff) techniques including 2 forms; Ho Shin Sul (aka self-defense, usually from various grabs); board breaking; sparring; ukemi (rolling and falling); and Question-and-Answer.  I think I got everything listed there.  I think there are 8-10 of us testing, including a few young ‘uns going for junior black belt rank.  Should be fun.

Back to the Hapkido exam.  Nothing is really set yet, so it may not even happen.  In the middle of October, a group of us will be flying out to Portland for a Hapkido seminar.  We tend to go out there once or twice a year.  We’ll fly out on Friday, train that night and all of Saturday, then fly back on Sunday.  Our instructor’s instructor is a 9th dan in Hapkido, and gives us enough to think about in those two days of training to last several months.

Anyhow, I’ll be waking up around 4:00 in the morning that day, flying from Philadelphia to Portland, and then it might be that I hop off the plane and take a promotion exam an hour later.  We’ll see.  As I said, it may not even happen, so I’ll just take whatever comes.  But even if I do test after a 3,000 mile cross-country flight, it probably won’t be as uncomfortable as my first dan Hapkido test, when I tested with a dislocated rib.  Falling was not comfortable that day.

Hapkido

It is now 4 weeks until my 3rd dan test.  Last week I was mulling over what I should change up in my routine to get the most ready for my test.

Well, last Sunday I went through the P90X Plyometric routine — and boy, is that a killer.  I forgot exactly how tough that routine is, since I had only done it once before.  I resolved at the time to do that once a week — though I’m now out of whack with that, as I will relate henceforth.

Last week was as follows: Sunday: P90X Plyo; Monday: Black Belt TKD; Tuesday: P90X Chest, Shoulders, Triceps (lifting), plus Beginner TKD teaching; Wednesday: Hapkido, Intermediate TKD teaching, Advanced TKD; Thursday: rest; Friday: Hapkido; Saturday: Intermediate/Advanced TKD. 

The item missing from that list is lifting on Friday.  I just wasn’t up to it that day.  That was just as well, since the Hapkido class involved a number of hip throws.  The class that night was 4 students, and I was the 2nd lightest of that group.  So I got the easier duty of throwing the female black belt in attendance.  The only tricky thing about throwing her is that I need to squat lower to get my center below hers.  Still easier than throwing the 220- and 250- pound gentlemen.

Today, I opted not to do the Plyo routine.  I felt like lifting, since I hadn’t done that for 5 days.  Today was the Back and Biceps routine.  My biceps are pretty darn fatigued now (mission accomplished).  Usually at the end of the lifting routines, I’ll do the 15 minute abs/core routine.  Didn’t feel like doing that, either, so my guilt-ridden conscience prompted me to go for a short run, somewhere between a mile and a quarter and a mile and a half.

My weight is currently in the 195-ish range (194.6 this morning).  Dropping another couple of pounds would be nice, though I’m running a little low on time to do that barring a concerted dieting attempt.  This week is the weekend of Labor Day, and I’ll be taking a 4-day weekend (from work and training) and eating a lot of unhealthy food.  Then there will be two weeks of regular training, followed by the week of the test.  During that week, I won’t be doing any extra exercise, just TKD classes on Monday and Wednesday.

And I’m sure I’ll be ready to go.

TKD, Training