Pneumatised!

Another busy week…

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

I went to the do jang for gumdo and taekwondo class. I’m starting to realize how much the horse stance in gumdo hurts my knee. Since I have torn cartilage on the medial side of my knee, the gumdo horse stance aggravates it a bit as it puts too much pressure on that one side (instead of balancing it evenly on the knee joint). I took gumdo class anyway. I’m actually kind of torn between whether I want to continue pursuing it or just stop it for the sake of my knee. Plus, I’ve been wanting to learn tai chi sword and am considering trying some classes sometime (assuming I can find a good tai chi school downtown that teaches swords). Funny enough, taekwondo doesn’t hurt my knee as much because the stances are different (the pressure on the knee joint is more even). As well, I have to admit that taekwondo is my first love when it comes to martial arts. So, gumdo or taekwondo? Taekwondo wins.

Of course, I took taekwondo class as well. It was, of course, another cardio kicking class.

After the do jang, I went to meet Nathan at the gym. When I got there, he was still on the elliptical machine, so I decided to do 10 minutes on the elliptical while Nathan finished up. Then, I did the following exercises.

Leg lifts
Pull-ups (aka chin-ups, military and parallel)
Dips
Leg press
Hamstring flexor (called seated leg curls)
Hip adductors
Hip abductors
Seated row
Bar pulls (I think this is called the lateral pull-downs; it works the muscles next to the scapulae on the back)
Shoulder fly
Shoulder lift (this is called the shoulder press)

Free weights:
Situps (on a incline bench; worked out the obliques as well by doing double punches during the situp)
Bicep curls
Squats with weights
Chest press (with bar)
Shoulder strengthening exercises

After the gym, we headed home for food and rest.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

I went to the do jang again. This time I took three classes. The first one was patterns class. I actually got to practice patterns instead of teaching it. I practiced all my patterns including the black belt one. Then we practiced the one-step sparring techniques. The second class was a regular taekwondo class. We did some warm-up kicking and then practiced some combination kicking techniques (e.g., hop-step roundhouse, roundhouse, double roundhouse, tornado roundhouse, spinning hook kick). After that class was a half hour extra training class. We ended up doing techniques we felt we needed work on. I decided to practice some counters (i.e., counter-attack techniques), side kicks, and back kicks. Still lots to work on, but after more than two hours of training, my knee was starting to get tired. (I ended up putting some ice on it afterwards when I got home.)

Thursday, May 18, 2006

I went to the do jang for the third time this week. 😀 I took gumdo and taekwondo class again. Gumdo class is pretty much the same each time, we do the same drills, then practice kyogum and ssang-soo.

Taekwondo class was tough. I figure it’s because it’s closed Friday to Monday due to the fact that the Master is going to be away (he’s the coach for the Ontario women’s team) at the National Championships in Nova Scotia. He’s probably assuming us students aren’t going to be training much when he’s gone and decided to work us hard in Thursday’s class. Ouch! The younger colour belts were collapsing onto the floor thirty minutes into the class. Ah well… it’s good for us to be pushed every so often. There was loads of double kicking and lots of speed kicking.

After class, I took some time to mull over what I need to do for the black belt test. We have to make up our own one-step sparring techniques – I have to make up five since I’m testing for second dan. Those testing for second dan and up have to make up our own pattern. So, I was mulling over that. I don’t mind actually because I was thinking of making up my own pattern sometime (just to see if I could). But anyway, Master Kim said he was going to talk about that at the next test training class (next weekend). I guess I don’t have to worry too much about that yet.

As I mentioned, this weekend my do jang is closed so no crazy training. I should get some gym time in and hopefully some running in. Ah… I miss the running sometimes (and I used to hate running when I was younger), and it’s actually pretty good for my knee.

Official countdown: seven weeks one day left.

BB,
Cassandrah
Your local black belt
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