Hello everyone, I have earned my First Dan. I’m still to tired to go ahead an chat up everything that happened, but I’ve got a few videos up on youtube for everyone to see. Here are some of the clips below:
Breaking:
I wrote the first portion about 48 hours ago on Tuesday. Enjoy!
For lack of a better word, I am alert and almost jittery with anticipation of my Red Sun tomorrow. Years of training essentially come to one half of my black belt test that occurs in about 24 hours. Here is the most current lowdown:
The 3 miles of running will be cut in half. 2 weeks ago while sparing I took a good shot to the shin. Normally this wouldn’t be so bad, however, it was supposed to be non-contact so I wasn’t wearing shin guards. Unfortunately, the hit was between where the bone and the muscle meet. That impact and placement is classic for what my doctor says “a not so good time.” In short, being hit like that caused some muscle fiber tears and tendon pulls. Per our chief instructor, I will be running the first mile and a half, and biking the last mile and a half.
After that it is time for the 500 front kicks. NO FUN. I don’t expect to be able to walk when this is done because my hip flexors suck enough as it is…but perseverance right? Got to do it
At this point I will be begging for the 5 minutes of jumping rope. I’m going to use it as a cool down and for lack of a better word, take my time with it.
Those are the hardest parts of the test, and otherwise I should be okay. Only time will tell, but at least I will know what time says in 25 hours.
The issue with the Red Sun is that the longer your run takes the less time you have to do everything else (DUH). The problem with this is, the more you exhaust yourself during the run the harder everything else was. So knowing this, I decided to tough out the run and do the 1.5 full run instead of the interval sprinting/walking. Time on the mile and a half was 13:47. I probably could have done better had it not been for the splints, but I’m pretty happy for that time. This put the 3 miles at 27:34 after the biking.
After this we drove directly to the Taekwondo school (3.5 miles away). Once there I started directly with the 5 minutes of rope. I forgot the interval skipping/kicking plan. I decided to focus in on each thing individually, but I knew I’d save the front kicks to the end. The rope work wasn’t my favorite thing, and I knew that before I started. I just looked at is as a 5 minute cool down. Just a note, we are told that 15 minute of jumping rope is equivalent to running for one hour. I know for me, after about 3 minutes my calves yell, and at 4 minutes they scream. Now I’m not an overly religious man, but I do admit to praying to finish the task before my calves ripped themselves off the bone…they are still attached.
Next was the push-ups. This went as planned. Once you get used to doing push-ups and keep at that level, doing them when called on isn’t to hard. From there I essentially rolled over (avoiding the puddle of sweat) and went straight to the crunches/sit-ups. This two was not a problem.
I followed it up with the punches and high blocks with weights. I was a little worried about my shoulder at that point, but didn’t feel any pain or strain from it. (From those that don’t know I had a procedure to my shoulder 6 years ago – this procedure stops it from coming out of place, and usually fails by the time you are 30 – so far so good)
Next it was sparring time. This was, for lack of a better word, a good intermission time allowing me to test my muscles out and see how they were going. I made sure to throw all my techniques using as many muscles as possible. I could only feel a little tightness with hip flexors, but I was expecting that
I was ready to do the front kicks at this point, but forgot about the 50 round kicks. I definitely wanted to do that before the front kicks. The 50 of them went pretty well considering the fatigue I was feeling.
This ladies and gentlemen is were we get to our main event. The 500 front kicks. I don’t suggest doing this…I take that back. Do it, and then never do it again. It was for lack of a better word challenging. Each 100 I stopped, stretched my hip flexors for 5-10 seconds on each side and powered through them. IT SUCKED. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to do that and everything else again in the future, for my second degree when I test for that. Thank god there is time until then!!!
So all in all the non-running/biking amount totaled 50:04. Not the fastest red sun at the school (48:40), but definitely in the neighborhood.
Well that is about it. Blackbelt test next Saturday, and I’m sure I’ll post a lot about my nervousness for that and how the rest of my training is going. Later peoples.
Earlier today, I responded to a post having to do with an innocent criticism of Taekwondo sparring. In that response I say that there is no art that is supreme over another. It is more circumstantial than anything else. With my impending Blackbelt test, I’ve been asked questions such as “So do you have to be registered with the police” and “So now you can kick anyone’s ass?” The truth of the matter is martial arts in a street fight as self-defense only helps you so much, and to understand why, here are the 4 most typical types of fights and how we are taught to combat them. This also brings into account very few of the legal ramifications of fighting, but TRUE self-defense considers law.
1) 1 person (unarmed) attacks you - As a person that has studied martial arts, and no it does not matter what color your belt is, you are held to a higher legal precedence. First take no aggressive action unless necessary (if a guy throws a punch and wobbles by you don’t necessarily counter-attack him. Wade away and try to get away, if you are followed and must defend yourself, DO NOT escalate the fight. i.e. - If the attacker throws a punch at you and hits you in the arm, and you kick him in the neck killing him, you have used unnecessary force. You should look around to make sure no other people join the attacker. Remember - as by defending yourself, you true aim is to disable your opponent non-lethally and retreat to the authorities.
2) a group attacks you - Everyones nightmare. In the event of taking on a group attack, attempt to disable one member of the group, generally by forcing them to the ground while you control an arm while standing with a sweep, throw or by circling behind them. You should use movements that allow you to move in a circle. The idea is to maintain 360 degrees of visibility, because you never know if someone is going to come up behind you. Your objective should not be to trounce every combatant like Jet Lee would. This really isn’t as easy as it looks, people you knock down have a tendency to stand back up or trip you from the ground. The last place you want to be in a group fight is on the ground because someone is going to come up and stomp on you.
3) a person with a weapon attacks you - you can not do the following:
If attacked with a weapon we are taught to do one thing, divert that weapon from you as if it were fire. Place your hands palm open up in front of you and make small smack/pushing motions on the wrist/forearm of the person holding the weapon to keep them from using it effectively on you. At the same time you should attempt to disable them by strikes to another section of their body as they try and refocus their weapon.
4) multiple people attacking you with weapons - get away if possible, don’t even play with this one. If you even see the chance for this happening leave wear you are carefully. There is not a single strategy good enough to help you from someone swinging a machete at you while a chain is being swung at you as you are being shot. There are many martial arts that practice having multiple attackers come at you with weapons, but those generally happen 1 at a time from different directions than a coordinated attack.
This post isn’t meant to be legal advice and should not be used as it. Laws are different in any state, but use this as a general rule of fact. If you use your martial art knowledge outside of training, or sanctioned competition, be ready to go jail. It is the similar to having a knife or gun concealed on you. You may or may not be using the tool you have legally, but any situation in which you use it will be heavily investigated. There is no better self-defense that not placing yourself in danger in the first place. If confrontation can be avoided please do avoid it.
I will leave you with your thoughts on a story. Someone in a city near me was walking down the street. Someone he didn’t like was across the street and instigated a fight with this individual walking down the street. The person walking down the street crossed the street to “discuss” what the instigator had said. 1 thing lead to another and a fight took place in which the instigator, after drawing a knife was hurt with that knife. The instigator was sent to jail AS WAS the man walking down the street. It turns out by crossing the street, he legally elevated the situation and was partially at fault for it. Be smart people…defend yourself only when absolutely necessary and if not, look the other way.
I ran over to one of my favorite blogs today to see what the author had brought to table this week. Low and behold it was about how he didn’t care for what he saw in Tae-kwon-do. Click here to check out his post:
My Response:
Please don’t take this as an incidiary rant. First Tae-kwon-do translates loosely to “way of fist and foot,” but a more literal translation is the “way of breaking with hand and foot.” It should be pronounced Tay as opposed to Thai, however, the names of Taiwan as well as Muay Thai (being completely unrelated) have lead English speakers to incorrectly pronounce the name (sort of how Americans say Ae-LOO-min-num [Aluminum] as opposed to the way it is pronounced in Great Britain Alloo-MI-num.Secondly, you are looking at taekwondo in its more “evolved state,” as a true sport. To understand why it evolved into this you must look at the origins of the martial arts.
The styles that form the basis of tae-kwon-do were formed so that peasants could fight off invading foreigners with horses. Combining the knowledge that the legs generate the most power in the body and allow you to jump high if trained correctly, a basis for the art was born.
True Tae-kwon-do centers in on correct techniques for upper and lower body striking. However, in sparring (staying close to the roots of Tae-kwon-do) points are mostly scored by kicks to the chest, stomach, and head. Points can be allowed for punching to the body, however,they must have showed to take the person being struck “off-balance.”
As for what is better in a fight, against anyone, seasoned or not, whoever is smarter will most likely win. As there are those that suggest the smarted thing would be not to fight, whatever to them. You can ravage youTube and find videos of Tae-Kwon-do Vs. Karate | Muay Thai | MMA | Kung-Fu (They are all pretty much interchangable) and you will see both styles winning.
I like to think for practical defense, that a Tae-kwon-do practitioner would look less threatening. (Assuming they are using a more sport related sparring stance without bouncing) They would be less menacing, not instigating by placing their hands in an aggressive stance (how it is seen in court), and might even have a jump on their opponent being ready from this stance. Coupled with the fact that ALL practitioners are taught to counter attack effectively might be enough to help one walk away from a fight unscathed. (Hopefully)
I will be the first to tell you I have heard more stories of TKD practitioners doing stupid stuff, like trying to kick knives/guns out of peoples hands and paying the price for it. When it comes down to weapons, we are taught to handle them as if they are in a sense “fire.” Focus on slapping/pushing away with the arms at all times and subdue the attacker at the same time.
I hope I haven’t rambled too much, but I just want to end saying, there is no supreme martial art. Whoever is faster, smarter, better and/or stronger, should win in a fight, but that isn’t always so. Thanks for taking a look at out sport and I hope some day you decide to try it out.
T-Minus a week and a half until I do my Red Sun and I haven’t ran in a week. Been working with a calf issue and running hasn’t been my friend. I’m thinking I should be set otherwise, however. Kicks are going to be a pain in the butt however I’ll be able to 500 of them. The jumping rope I’d like to leave till the very end…essentially a cool down.
My current strategy is to do as many 2 minutes 8 to 8.5 mph sprints as possible followed by 2 minutes of walking. After that I will throw it down to 1 minute 8 mph sprints for as long as I can hold that pace. I’m hoping that it only takes me 30 minutes to run it that way. After the run I am going to divy up the 500 front kicks with the upper body stuff. (100 kicks, push-ups,100 kicks, crunches, 100 kicks, punches, 100 kicks, high blocks, last 100 kicks). This leaves the 3 minutes of sparring, 5 minutes of jumping rope, and 50 round kicks.
Anyway, that is the current plan. Wish me luck!!!