Stretching

The first thing I have noticed is that I am no where near as limber as I once was, and that level of limberness was no where near where I wanted to be. Let's just put it this way, I'm surprised I can even walk without pain judging by my stretching exercises. My good friend Mr. Smalls commented on my earlier post explaining this pretty well, go ahead and scroll down to his comment to see what he had to say.

With that being said, I have been stretching a bit each day, even if I have not had the opportunity to actually work out or practice. I have utilized a frame of thought that was taught to me by Master Scott Yates, always sweat before stretching. I remember him explaining during one class on a colder Saturday morning that we should imagine that our muscles are like dry pasta. If you try and bend or stretch the dry pasta, it will do nothing but break and crumble, but if you make the pasta hot and wet, it will stretch and bend much more easily. So before I begin a stretching regiment, i ensure that my muscles have blood flowing through them to avoid injury. Running in place or doing a 100 or so jumping jacks is a good way to get started.

I will try and share individual lessons given to me by my instructors, and will try to credit them for their lessons.

First Night

Well my first night of my journey is complete. I decided to go all the way back to basics. After a good warm up and stretch (the word stretch might be stretching, it was more of me seeing how far I could possibly move my joints -- not very far in case you were wondering) I decided to go way back to basics.

I worked on my horse riding stance for a good 10 minutes, until the burning in my thighs was pretty much overpowering me. I went through a few reps of low blocks, center punches and high blocks. I reviewed the two basic white belt level Tang Soo forms, kichu hyng il bu and kichu hyung ee bu. My front stances wold start to angle off a little bit, and without the visual reminder of a full length mirror, i relied on the tv screen reflection to check myself. I will need to check my front stance better in the future, keep my front knee bent and my back foot back and to the side. Remember to imagine standing on the two diagnal corners of a rectangle with both feet facing forward. Mental notes needed.

I also tried on my old uniform, a little tight around the waist, I will have to work on that too i suppose.

Off until tomorrow, where I will review what I did today, and possibly add another hyung.

Since I worked on Tang Soo Do tonight, I will leave you with a ...
TANG SOO!

Obligatory intro post...

Let us begin this journey with a little information regarding myself and what I am hoping to accomplish with this. I have trained in the martial arts since the age of 9, off and on for the past 22 years. I began in the art known as Tang Soo Do, under a well respected and internationally known Master. I trained hard, while balancing the everyday wants and needs of a preteen and then teenager. I obtained my 1st Dan in the late winter of 1993, but unfortunately never advanced to 2nd Dan. Part time jobs, school work and girlfriends soon replaced Tang Soo Do. Between the ages of 17 and 18 I dabbled a little bit at a few schools, trying to rekindle my love of martial arts, but that is as far as it went.

Fast forward a decade. For my 29th birthday I was graced with a wonderful gift. My family had put together a trial membership at a local Tae Kwon Do school. 3 months of paid training, uniform and all. Tae Kwon Do is very closely related to my original, more traditional art of Tang Soo Do. I was in heaven and made it to as many classes as possible between the duties of employee, husband and father. But after three months, when the 'free' part of the membership expired, so did my training. I just could not afford the tuition.

I have decided to train at home, on my own as I always have through the years, but to do it as more than just a hobby. I want to embark on a journey to rekindle my love, to bring back the centerness of mind, to bring back the discipline in my life. Using many tools on the internet (ie youtube videos, school homepages, hyung examples, etc) I will train myself. This blog will document my journey, sometimes daily, sometimes more than once a day, sometimes (more than likely) a little less than daily.

I invite others to join in my journey. Training in martial arts should not depend on one's ability to pay a tuition at a school. It should not depend on any influences of our 21st century society. It is a personal journey. One of mind, spirit and body. I hope this can be an inspiration to others, and that others may follow suit and embark on their own journey.