Under two weeks to go
Testing day is right around the corner. This week will be a good, hard, physical week. Next week will be toned down a bit so that I’m fresh for Friday the 25th.
It kind of seems as though I’ve been turning this into a fitness blog rather than a martial arts one, but I suppose that’s just a reflection of my outlook on the matter. I don’t have a tremendously athletic build, as I have a tendency towards stockiness (having once been over 60 pounds heavier than I am today). So I have to work hard for what I’ve got.
Anyhow, on that theme, today was a lifting day (P90x Shoulders and Arms), followed by a 2 mile run with 3 pound dumbells. I wasn’t sure how far I’d get on my run, so I was very pleased that I made it through 2 miles. On an unrelated (cough) note, my left shoulder and neck are pretty well locked up and are pretty sore right now.
On the martial arts side, yesterday was a good test-prep class. We spent a good amount of time doing One Step Sparring techniques. I was partnered with the head of the TKD program, and there wasn’t anything in particular that I needed to clean up there. He also took a look at my bong forms later in the class and gave me a couple of good tips there. We also went through most of the other forms that I’ll be doing, which was a good review. And, for good measure, we worked escapes from various grabs as well.
I still need a bit of work on Pyong Won (4th black belt form). I’m hoping one of these classes this week involve a bunch of kicking drills — a good ol’ kick the target class. It has been a while since I’ve done a bunch of spinning back hook kicks, 360 kicks, jump back kicks, and the like. Nice thing about being an instructor, I can always lead the intermediates in that sort of class and join in along with them.
Other than that, I’m feeling pretty good about things. I have a couple of essays to write, and I should get on those soon.