Know Your Limits

It's been about 2 months since I restarted Taekwondo classes and I am feeling wonderful. I'm down 18 pounds to date, and am regaining my flexibility. That being said, I am starting to feel so much like my old self that on Monday on targets being held by my Master, I attempted to do a jump spinning roundhouse kick. This is an intermediate kick that requires a good amount of flexibility and a strong core and legs. I executed the kick perfectly but pulled a muscle in my thigh on the landing. The pain was excruciating and I barely made it to the end of class on my feet (Thankfully when I attempted this class was almost over).

So my point is to know your physical limits. You always want to push yourself to the limit, but if you push past them it will result in injury which could be permanent. Thankfully I didn't permanently injure myself on Monday, but it could have just as easily been a tendon torn, or an improper landing and a resulting bone break which would have been far more detrimental.  Bruce Lee always said to work to the point of muscle failure. While this may be a good practice for a trained athlete training to be the best, when you are just starting out you want to start small and stretch stretch stretch. Advancing in skill, endurance and flexibility takes a lot of time and work. This is where dedication pays off. Make small goals for yourself for the short term, and in the long term you will be successful.

Regaining Control When Your Life is Spiraling Out Of Control

Any hobby, system, sport or activity takes dedication if you want to be good. The martial arts though are something that requires a certain level of dedication beyond the regular right from the get go, even if it's just a recreational hobby, or something you do in your spare time to learn to protect yourself. You can't expect to be good at defending yourself over night, just like you can't expect to make the varsity basketball team if you've never played basketball before. However the problem with the martial arts is not that you want to be the varsity basketball equivalent right out of the box, it's that you want to feel confident that you can defend yourself if need be from an attacker quickly. Martial arts takes years of hard practice to learn well, and many more to master. However you can learn to defend yourself in a much shorter time if the basics are focused on. Once you've mastered the basics there's not much need for more, defense wise.

Some people start taking martial arts classes because they were attacked and they want to be able to handle themselves if that type of situation ever happens again. I know personally I met a lady in my Taekwondo school about 5 years ago who was raped and beaten by her ex-husband. I'd like to keep her anonymous so for this blog we'll call her Kate. Kate was the kindest person you could possibly want to meet unless you were a man and you touched her. Then you would receive a violent outburst followed by tears. I know from experience when, after class I placed my hand on her shoulder to guide her forward so I could squeeze between her and the shelf where we all placed our shoes before class. She went rigid, turned around swinging hard at my face slapping me, screaming and then collapsed onto the floor in tears. I wasn't even aware of what I'd done that caused that reaction, but after my next class my instructor brought both of us into his office and she apologized and explained a little to me about her past. She had a couple other adult students she'd confided this information in as well previously.

Me and the few of the other adult students previously mentioned felt terrible for her and wanted to help her feel comfortable in her own skin again. We sat her down and talked to her about helping her get over her fear and gaining some confidence. We wanted to do an extra private class with her 2wice a week that involved entire focus on defending against large male attackers (yes I was the large male attacker practice dummy for these exercises). She was resistant at first to our proposal, but after a few weeks she had started gaining more confidence and trust in us and approached myself and the others who wanted to help and asked if we would help her. We then spent the next 3 months, 2wice a week, privately drilling her with different defensive sparring combination's, breaking from larger assailants holds, and pressure points to use if someone ever had her pinned down. Some of these classes were very traumatic for her and caused her to break down several times. After a couple of months of this though, she seemed different. She held her shoulders back when she walked and entered the studio with a smile and her chin up. She had gotten past her fear through hard work and dedication. She found the focus and confidence she needed for her to feel in control of herself again. It didn't happen over night and it was not easy. The phrase "I worked through my heartache and sorrow with blood sweat and tears" had a new meaning to me and I'm sure it did for everyone else in our private little class we had going. Kate didn't stay at our school all the way to black belt, but she dedicated herself fully mind and body to regaining control of her life, and so I'd say that even though she stopped training with us, she was a full on success story of my teacher's school.

No 6 week woman's self defense course is going to cover the randomness that a real life situation provides, and taking an 8 week Karate class at the YMCA once a week is never going to prepare you in the slightest for a real defensive situation. Learning to properly defend yourself takes a lot of hard work, and dedication. Kate was just one amazing example of how the martial arts can help a person. Maybe the portion in your life that's not in control isn't your emotions from being attacked by a rapist. Regaining control of eating habits is something I've struggled with my entire life. It could be gaining the dedication to do a good job at work, school, or whatever else you are involved in. My point is, is that the level of dedication needed in the martial arts, will bleed into the rest of your life rounding you out. Have a great day, and if things feel out of control in your life, remember Kate.

Flexibility in the Martial Arts

All martial systems require flexibility to some degree although some put a great emphasis on it than others. Taekwondo requires an incredible amount of it. There is a large focus on using your legs. Kicking and kneeing are some of the Taekwondo practitioners most powerful weapons. For this you need extremely strong legs and a strong core (abs, back and obliques). There is about a 30/70 split on hands vs. leg techniques. Hands and arms are used for blocking and quick counter strikes, but the legs and knees are used for powerful damage causing attacks that are designed to inflict large amounts of pain and damage. These are some images depicting some of the Taekwondo foot techniques.

Taekwondo For Health Update and Setting Goals

Last night was the first time since I've restarted Taekwondo classes that I felt like my old self. I did drills and sprints with the rest of the class and even set the pace for my group in a line drill a few times through. In one month I've gone from almost vomiting after each drill and exercise to running speed drills with the rest of my class in a fairly intense workout. I still have a long way to go as far as losing weight is concerned, but seeing these kinds of results really can boost ones confidence.

I'm hoping I can be ready to compete locally by the fall - winter of this year, and regionally by spring next year. Setting goals that are not weight-loss related is important. I've always found that if I set goals for getting better at Taekwondo (or whatever activity you are working at) helps keep me motivated far better than if I say "OK I'd like to lose 20 pounds by next month". If you give your everything to whatever physical activity you are pursuing and strive for greatness is said activity, then you'll also find that weight-loss is a wonderful byproduct of this mentality.

Workout recovery

With any workout you need to make sure you give yourself ample time to recover. Your muscles require a couple days every so often to rebuild. That aching soreness you feel after a couple days of hard workouts is from repeatedly tearing down your muscles by pushing them. Martial Arts classes are no exception. I go to class 4 times throughout the week and then rest on the weekends. Now I'm not saying to be completely inactive for the rest period, but if you are weight lifting or practicing martial arts or anything that severely taxes your body take a few days and do something a little lower impact, like walking, or taking a leisurely swim. These are things that still boost your metabolism while allowing your muscles to heal.

It's important to remember in the martial arts that you are not just healing your muscles, but your ligaments and bones too. After a couple sparring classes you may have some surface fractures to your shins and insteps, or knuckles, too shallow to feel like a break, but causing you a little pain anyway. If not taken care of these can progress to larger fractures or full breaks, but if allowed to heal they'll callus the bone and make your fist or foot or whatever appendage stronger and a more deadly weapon for your overall goal of being a marital artist.