Post belt test/post seminar

Last night was the belt test. We held it in a church fellowship hall rather than our dojang and I think it worked out very well. It was a bit crowded, but nothing worse than what we routinely go through every time we get all the people who are testing for their next belts or re-certifying.
It was chilly last night but not too terribly bad. Since we were in a church, we could control the temperature with little to no difficulty. We did have to move a piano and some of their props out of the way, but that was done before most of the students showed up. We lined up according to belt rank order and waited for Kwan Jang Nim and Bu Sa Nim. They came in and we did the bow in. It was not that much different from the first black belt test I participated in. I found it interesting that I was less stressed and panicked over this one than I was for the first one. It may be because I was only re-certing. I wasn't actually moving up in the ranks.

After the technique (which I goofed up on multiple times), we did forms, then moved into Ho Sin Sul (self defense), then one steps and sparring. After the sparring, we did the board breaking for our Cho Dan Bo's. It was really neat to see all the family participation. Several of the kids had their parents/grand parents holding boards for them. The really neat thing was that my friend S got to test with her son, A. That was really cool! Our friend, DB was also there, working on his re-cert for his Ee Dan, getting ready for his Sam Dan. Sa Bu Nim's oldest son tested for his Sam Dan last night too. His youngest received HIS Cho Dan last night too. It was really cool! We had twin brothers and another pair of brothers testing last night too. We had a lot of families there!

My boss and a friend from work came out to see the test. They got there in time for the sparring and the board breaking. I didn't personally break any boards last night, but that's fine with me. I wasn't feeling completely "on" last night. I DID do Nahainchi Ee Dan with the second and third Dans. I should have sat down but...I didn't. When they did JinDo, I DID sit out. We broke the bong form into three different groups. That way we could all do the form and not run the risk of hitting each other in the head!! It was also a good way to showcase the Cho Dan Bo's.

This morning we had a sword seminar with Kwan Jang Nim. It was interesting. He taught us two forms--the beginner sword for and the intermediate sword form. He told us that the Master form is 120 moves long. Everything we learned today will go toward learning the Master form. We learned strikes and blocks. Kwan Jang Nim (that means Master in Korean) taught us 8 cuts. There's a center cut, inside high, outside high, inside low, outside low, inside middle, outside middle and I've now blanked out on the last one. EEP!

Tomorrow night is the banquet where they'll hand out the belts for the new Cho Dans, Mr. M the younger is going to get his Sam Dan belt (YAY!!) and the Cho Dans who recertified will get their "official" belts with their names on them. Should be a lot of fun!!

I was asked if there would be pictures from this test. I won't have any because I didn't have anyone except for two people from work there. Hubby was working and the kids were elsewhere. I will TRY to get a copy of the group photo from someone who was there and post it when I get a chance.

50 days until Re-Certification

50 days until re-cert. I did get a chance to work on my forms last night and that was a good thing. The ONLY real issue I had was that my stances were really poor. I don't care HOW sore my leg is (did I mention I have tendonitis in my left hip?), I have absolutely NO EXCUSE for not holding a good deep front stance. For Pyung Ahn Sam Dan, there is a stance that requires you to step into a bent-knee, crossed foot stance. That stance about killed me last night! I had even taken an anti-inflammatory and it STILL hurt!! The boy I was working with had his stances right, but he had a few things to work on too. I wasn't alone with needing minor tweaks to the forms. Bassai was another weak spot for me last night. I was also off on my count for Sip Soo and THAT is totally unacceptable to me! I'm very fussy about my forms and want to do them at 100% accuracy. However, as Master St. James says, "the only room is room for improvement." so I know I was there. I definitely was in that room last night!

I also worked on Bong Hyung Il Bu last night. I got it down, I think. It was a good thing that I got to practice it. I feel a bit more confident in the form. I just need to make sure I get myself to run through it tomorrow too. I have the day off, so I'll work on it for a little bit. I want to make sure I get the forms worked on tomorrow. I do have a meeting at my son's school in the morning, then an appointment with my old cat at the vet's office.
Then it's home to rest again for an hour--I'll have two giggling girls in the house for the afternoon and that'll be fun. I've got to decide what to do with them. I may set them up in my room with movies and popcorn. They'll like that!!

Christmas Eve...

I'm in a fairly good mood, all things considered. Saturday was w/i. Not too bad. Not great but not bad. I lost .4, bringing my total loss to 43 pounds. In a year and change, not too bad. I can deal with that! Since then, I've lost another couple of pounds. I weigh daily, which I know you're not supposed to do, but I record it for my own mind. I feel like I'm doing SOMETHING right.

On Thursday, during the black belt class, I managed to do something to my left quadriceps (again!). He had us go to a push up position, then you were to bring your right knee up to your chest, push off and run to the opposite end of the room. I couldn't even get into the push up position--that's when my leg went "PING!" and gave up on me. It HURT! He made me sit out the rest of class. So much for my 2 hours that week!! I couldn't even spar because I'd have put too much strain on it. Of course, Saturday I went walking for 3 hours so that was a world of good for it. NOT! Now I'm working on rehabbing my leg. I have to re-certify for my belt and we start the training, the really intense stuff, on January 5th. I want to get into the most excellent shape ever because we're doing a PT test with it!! I have to pass this PT test. You have to run (or walk) a mile, push ups, crunches, I'm assuming there will be jumping jacks too.
I just want to get to the point where I'm not injured. I don't like it! It happened, fortunately, AFTER the black belt test, but before my re-cert, so I'm freaking out!!

I figured out how to teach the Young Warriors how to do an Inside/Outside block. Since you have to chamber, I told them to make like they were hugging themselves. You put your right hand on your left hip and bring your left hand up to your right ear. Then you make like you're drawing a sword from your left hip and you stop in front of your shoulder. I told Mr. M about it and he said that it was a good way to describe it. I'm going to perfect it on my son. He's not that long past Young Warriors and will benefit from the additional work. I'm going to try it on my daughter too. If I can get them doing that correctly, I won't freak out over their forms at the next Gup test. That test is now about a month away--it's February 1st. I want to make sure both kids are ready to go and that they're significantly improved. My silly boy wants me to teach him Sip Soo, but that's not on the plan. The lesson plan is to teach Pyung An Ee Dan, so that's what they're going to work on. Of course, it never hurts to refresh all of our memories on the older forms, so I'll work with them on the KeeCho forms as well. I have to practice my bong form and intend to have it perfected before the end of this break. I can go outside and work on it. The weather is perfect, we have the room out there and I think everyone will appreciate getting outside in the fresh air. That's going to be a goal of mine for the next few months. Whenever the weather's cooperative, we're going to pack up and go to one of the local parks for a workout.

Tuesday-all about challenges

I was right...the scales are absolutely evil to me! I need to seriously watch what I'm eating and if I'm going to snack, it needs to be 0 point foods. If I can just stick with that, I'll do alright.

I have CIT class tonight. There's a black belt class before the CIT class, so I think I may go ahead and use my time wisely by attending said class. I need to be working with the higher dans to make sure that I get my bong form (Bong Hyung Il Bu) done correctly. I also need to start practicing it because that's something I know will need to be done by the next black belt test. March 8th is going to be here before I know it. I'm actually not counting down the days until then because I'm not nervous anymore. I made so many mistakes during my actual test that I figure it's out of my system. I have to go in and practice in between classes now. I'm considering taking classes daily. Mr. M says that it's acceptable since I'm in the CIT program.

I was thinking about a blog I read recently. The writer was talking about practice. When, how, where. One of his blogs dealt with training outside. That would actually benefit many of us who have only trained indoors. It would get us away from the clock watching that we do. I hate to admit it, but there are days when I don't WANT to go to class, that I'd rather watch the clock than do the warm-ups and the actual exercises. I know that the warm-ups are to help me not hurt my body. I need to get past that "clock watch" mindset. That's something I think would be a beneficial goal to set. If I get out of watching the clocks, then I'll be able to have a more efficient training session.

Now, that being said, I need to find a good stretch for the I-T band. I aggravated my left leg years ago by attempting to run when I was 25-50 pounds heavier than I am now. It's acting up again, so I have to take it a little easy. I am going to do the work that is expected, but if I feel a twinge, I'm going to stop and modify the movement to compensate. I really hope that we're not going to do jumping jacks tonight in either class because (news flash!) I. Hate. Jumping Jacks! I really don't like them. (Saturday though, I did 100 of them and didn't stop once!!)

I may stay after CIT tonight and get DB to work on forms with me. I haven't done my forms since Saturday and before that, it was at least a month. I need to do my forms!! I miss them. I like the challenge of improving upon what I've already learned. That is something else I can set as a challenge to myself.