Wake up call

Doing forms requires that you know the forms and that you can perform them. The forms are, in this order: Kee Cho Hyung Il Bu, Kee Cho Hyung Ee Bu, Kee Cho Hyung Sam Bu, Pyung Ahn Cho Dan, Pyung Ahn Ee Dan, Pyung Ahn Sa Dan, Pyung Ahn SAM Dan, Pyung Ahn Oh Dan, Bassai, Nahainchi Cho Dan, Nahainchi Ee Dan, Nahainchi Sam Dan, Sip Soo and so forth. The forms I Know are all three Kee Cho forms, *all the Pyung Ahn forms*, Bassai, Nahainchi Cho Dan and Sip Soo (which is a fourth Dan form, in case anyone's interested in that piece of trivia!).

Last night, the Dans were instructed to perform Pyung Ahn Oh Dan. I know it. What did I do? Pyung Ahn SAM Dan. AGAIN!!! What the heck is up with my mind?? Ms. S says I'm psyching myself out. I probably am. I was so focused on trying to get the technique part of the class down that I blew the forms, where all the technique comes together. Does this mean that I don't deserve my black belt? Am I not that good, in reality?? I'm now doing some serious thinking about my training methods and what made me achieve my goals.

When I first started out, I did every single form I was learning at work. I needed an outlet to practice and it was a good thing to "show off". It became harder to do that at work because we frequently have visitors and having someone doing kicks and jumps in their cubicle is not a professional thing. I was told to stop (this was a few years ago). When I was at the old place, before all the changes started, we would practice forms at every class. Forms are important, despite what people may think. I've caught flack at work for "Why are you taking martial arts if you can't defend yourself?" Well, first of all, I wasn't taking the classes for defense. I was taking them because I wanted to get fit. Along the way, I fell in love with martial arts and have since decided to take it seriously!

Last night I voiced an objective I have that I've not spoken out loud before. I want to achieve my third Dan by the time I'm 50. I'm 43 now. I earned my Cho Dan last year. I MIGHT be able to test for Ee Dan next year, depending on how hard I train and how I learn the forms and one steps. Once I reach that goal, I will have to wait 3 years before I can test for Sam Dan. I will be 47 if I test next year. I WANT that third Dan. I WANT to get to SA Dan! I want to reach Oh Dan before I turn 60. It's an achievable goal. The thing I have to do is practice. Then practice again. And more practice.

The importance of training

Being as I'm out of the house full time and only go to classes twice a week, I'm finding myself with no excuses as to why I can't remember my forms the way I think I should. I went to class last night and worked out--hard. We worked on one steps (and I actually remember #6!!), then started working on forms. When Master Mac said "Pyung Ahn Oh Dan", my brain heard "Pyung Ahn Sam Dan", so that's what I did. Then I did it again and totally flubbed up. Yep. It's been a very LONG 3 months (or more!). I hate that I blew my forms. I expect that as a black belt, I SHOULD be able to keep a form in my head for longer than a few months. I even screwed up Bassai and that's one of my favorite forms!! Nahainchi Cho Dan? You guessed it!

The lesson here is that I MUST continue to practice, no matter whether I'm affiliated with a school or not. I've got to go outside and push myself to my physical endurance and go past that or else I'll lose what I've learned. I told Master Mac and Ms. S that we need to close the windows or all my forms will fly out the window. I didn't like that. I felt like I was a total goof up.
Since we are keeping notebooks, it's a good thing to write down what went wrong and what didn't. I didn't write anything positive in my notebook about yesterday but I WILL have something positive to write down on Thursday.

Tonight I have a meeting since I'm taking over as Den Leader for my son's Den, but that shouldn't last more than an hour. After that, I can go outside and practice forms and work on my technique. I will have my forms in my head and will be better than I was last night.

Setting goals

I am going to set myself some goals. I have issues with keeping myself on track with water, so one of my goals is to drink no less than 48 ounces of water in a normal day. Today, I've made that goal and have had 72 ounces of water. Not too bad. I think it's okay. That's one goal.

Another goal is to practice my forms daily. I need to make sure that I am doing everything correctly. Yesterday I actually ran through Nahainchi Cho Dan and Sip Soo. Today I have only worked on technique, but it WAS a practice. I practiced high knife hands, cat stance and moving forward in a cat stance. That's a new "game" I've created for the kids called "Ninja walk". You get into a cat stance, where you've created an 'L' with your feet--you put all of your weight on your back foot and have just the toes of your front foot or the ball of your front foot on the floor. The point of it is to be able to spring forward to pursue an attack if needed. If you turn your front foot, almost into a ballet stance, then ROLL as you shift your weight from the back foot to the front foot. This puts you into the correct position to perform a middle chop or something along those lines.
It's another technique that requires exact form. I *finally* have the "ninja walk" down!!

So, today I only worked on technique, but tomorrow, to escape the frustration of the people I work with (very stressful, that group!), I'm going to work on Bassai and then work my way back. I need to practice Oh Dan, Sam Dan, Sa Dan (and do Sam Dan correctly!), then Ee Dan and go backwards to Pyung Ahn Cho Dan, etc. I also need to practice Bong Hyung Il Bu at some point.

First re-cert class-January 05, 2008

The first of 8 weeks' classes is over. I'm wiped out too! This morning has been VERY busy! I got out and went to WW (lost what I gained last week so I'm back on track!). I stayed for 20 minutes of the meeting, then raced out to the car and headed back to Allen. I made it to class with *minutes* to spare. I had my uniform in the car, so that was an easy thing to deal with--just grab and go! I got changed in nearly record time and was a minute or two late to line up, but not enough to freak out. What's really embarrassing to me is that I am an instructor and can't be late as I'm in the front row. The Cho Dan Bo's see me walk in and they must be wondering why I was so late! I've got to refine that process. I can do it.

We worked--HARD--for two hours. My friend Susan brought the coffee, so I was thrilled to pieces with that! I didn't have breakfast, so there were a few points where I got light headed and dizzy. Today's work out was advanced forms and weapons. I hadn't picked up a bong until last night when I was showing the guys at work how we worked with it. I now have to create a work out schedule/log and stick with it. I want to ace that form (Bong Hyung Il Bu). I have to work on the other forms too, the non-weapons forms. I can do Sip Soo well. I should as it's my newest form, but I REALLY need to work with it. We did Sip Soo, Nahainchi Cho Dan and Bassai today. Wait, we also did Pyung An Sam Dan, Oh Dan and Sa Dan. I know where I need to improve and that's something I'll start doing on my own at home. If he expects an hour a day from the kids, he'll get it from the adult in the class too.

I'm excited. I can already see how this is going to work. I am able to get many of my chores done Friday night, so I'll have Saturday as a "free" day after my class. Just need to figure out WHAT to eat that will give me energy and not sit heavily on my stomach when I go to class. I can't take another dizzy day! I ate when I got home and have finished my first 30 ounce glass of water for the day. MORE water! LOL!
I'm in a great mood and I'm sure this is going to carry over into the next week.