Running + Kung Fu = Tonight's Class

Tonight we started off by doing our White Belt form. If the instructor found any kind of problems, then we had to do 10 squats for each one. He managed to find 5(whether there were 5 or not, I do not know). So 50 Squats later we ended up running 10 "laps" back and forth on the mat. I probably should not have run as fast as I did, but it's ok I lived. 

After the running was done(actually more like sprints) We did some combinations. Starting with:

-Front Backfist

-Reverse Hook Punch

It was pretty fun. While each person was doing their combinations, the other 2 of us had to do push ups. After that we did 20 "laps" of this side stepping thing.

Following the sidestepping, we did stances. Then another combination I don't remember that much.

Overall today was a really physical day. Great exercise the whole class, plus I learned I can walk on my hands for like 5 feet then I fall down :D

Until next time though, Good night!

-Steve

Kind of a weird class

Today the class was not anything even really remotely related to our curriculum. We got into 2 groups of 5 each and blindfolded each other and attacked each other with various attacks.

I ended ups throwing someone which was fun and I managed to get tossed several times by the others in my group.

It was fun, but in all seriousness, I would have rather been doing our curriculum. Today I didn't really learn anything. Hopefully Friday will be better. Billy is going on vacation for a couple weeks I guess. So I wonder who will teach the class. Perhaps Sensei, who knows.

Next week is Christmas and the dojo is closed on wednesday and thursday so I won't have one class next week probably. Unless I go tuesday, but we will see.

Until next time, Good night.

-Steve

A Little late post

Today there was only 2 of us in class so we just did whatever we needed to do.

I learned all 5 of the defenses for Advanced White Belt and I got a paper to help me remember them. They are quite a bit more complex than the White Belt ones, but I think I am making good progress. I just need to practice against the air at home. The one that has me the worst is where I have to step left and punch right, my body doesn't get the power I think it needs from that punch. I also need to work both sides of the defense for if the attacker gets your shoulder. I am pretty solid on the right side, but my left is incredibly weak. Gotta work on that.

I also got some tips on some areas I need to work on a little more with the Form. I need to pay special attention to the transitions between a few of the motions as well as make sure my stances are correct. After that I need to work on my regular 8 stances and get them solid and lower.

After that of course I can work on fluidity. However, I feel the need to perfect all the little things before I connect them. The form is getting there, the defenses not so much yet. I have plenty of time though, so it's not a big deal.

That is gonna do it for tonight, good night everyone! It's 3:15 am here and I am beyond tired.

-Steve

New Stuff

Today we spent a lot of time on our form. It is going really well. After that I learned a couple of the Defenses for the next Belt. It was a pretty cool class, I am gonna be working on getting my Form to be more fluid now since I have all of the stuff done, it's just making it look better now.

I don't really have much to say about it. Was a normal day.

-Steve

With the new Belt comes New Curriculum

Today was forms day. All of us who were present did all forms the whole time. My Instructor seems to be impressed with me and my speed of learning. 

My form is the 8 strikes from No Belt to Advanced White Belt.

It takes all of the movements from the No Belt kata and expands the form by adding 4 more pieces to the form. It is a lot of fun and a lot of work to do. I love it.

I haven't yet learned any of the Defenses, but as a refresher I have been going over the ones I learned to get my White Belt.

-Crushing Hammer(Bear Hug)

-Delayed Sword(Right Shirt Grab)

-Opposing Sword(Left Hook)

-Alternating Maces(2 Handed Push)

-Deflecting Hammer(Right Snap Kick)

I have also learned the last 4 stances as well to add onto the previous stances in succession.

It is a lot of work and is far from easy, but I love it. I have been doing everything to the best of my ability and the only thing I feel I really need to work on is making everything flow better together, but of course I have only been doing this for a couple days now with the new stuff, so I am sure it will only get deeper(something my instructor wants me to get down with a couple stances) and smoother(the other thing he wants me to work on).

Next week we will probably begin learning the defenses, so I will have more new stuff to blog on here about, I can't wait. Until then, Good night!

-Steve

WHITE BELT!

So today I had my White Belt test and I passed!

I am very much excited!

They didn't just give it to us either, it was a lot of work for that belt but it was totally worth it!

After the test the belts were laid out in front of us with ceremonial meaning in the shape of an L.

The L stands for 3 things:

-Learning

-Longevity

-Love

He tied the belt on us as well and while tying mine he asked me if I remember my first class. I told him yeah and he said:

"I didn't know what you would think about it at first, didn't know if you were gonna stick in it. But I am glad that you did, congratulations."

I just smiled and said thank you.

The test only took about 20 minutes since there was only 2 of us, so right after that we went on to learning the new curriculum. It's awesome. I love Kung Fu. That's it for tonight, good night!

-Steve

Pretty good class

Today we just went over test stuff.

I went over a lot of deflection and block stuff while my instructor hit me with a foam baton thing.

I learned one of the Advanced White Belt Defenses called Chasing the Storm or something. It's for if somone is doing an over head swing with a weapon or whatever. It's pretty neat.

Other than that it was pretty good. My instructor thinks I am pretty solid in my stuff and told me he liked how I was getting my stances really deep. But he also told me not to sacrifice balance to get them deep, so I will have to find the happy medium.

Until next time,

-Steve

Another good day at Kung Fu

Today was pretty average. We opened up with a crazy workout thing. Instructor set this buzzer thing and when it went off we had to do pushups then sit ups then squats then jumping jacks looping it until he said stop.

That was the warm up. We ended up standing in Horse Stance for a good amount of time as well and went over our test stuff.

The warm up was awesome. The rest of class was average.

That's about it. 2 more weeks and I will get to test for White Belt!

Until next time,

-Steve

More Test Practice

Today we did some more work to further refine our techniques for testing. We started with working on our strikes by hitting punching bags. It is surprising how much you can take out on one of those things and it never cares when you hit it.

After that we worked on our forms, I went as far as I knew then had to stand in Horse Stance for the remainder of the form while the higher belts finished off their section of it.

Next came stances, I had to stand in Cat Stance while the remainder of the class went on with their stances.

Then we did Defenses. I more or less practiced Deflecting Hammer on a punching bag. Elbow strikes as hard as I could on it. It was incredibly relieving hitting it so hard. That is the only thing I really have to tweak the most for the test, it's the one defense I usually screw up or don't get completely correctly. After I got it pretty solid, my instructor asked if there was anything else I felt weak about and I said no. So he let me just do whatever for the last few minutes. So I practiced Deflecting Hammer some more on the bag.

Overall it was a good physical class today. Even though I didn't hit anything other than a punching bag.

That's pretty much it for tonight, farewell all.

-Steve

Practice Test

Today we had a practice test. It wasn't too hard, I learned another guy in my class is probably as big a Jet Li fan as I am.

The practice test went no belt form/stances. Then White Belt forms/Stances etc. through the belts. After that we continued basically through our curriculum. The only thing I didn't know were leg lifts which I never learned.

The other guy in the class(Jason) is pretty much on the same page as I. Though all of the No Belts there during the practice test were definitely ready for our White Belts. I can't wait I am really excited!

I am going to go back to watching Hero now(Jet Li) thanks for reading!

-Steve

I was the No Belt teacher for today!

Just as the title says, I was the no belt teacher for today! :D

I taught 2 new guys pretty much everything that we need to know for our tests. The instructor says I am solid in my stances and all my stuff so hopefully that means I am ready for the test.

I found out that the test will be 25 dollars for the belt this time around. 25 dollars isn't too bad however, as I have read about other people paying upwards of 100 dollars for their tests so I can't complain about the 25 dollars.

I feel really confident in my ability to test everything we learned thus far. So I am gonna be fine with that. I am just pretty excited I suppose to finally be taking my first real step into the world of Martial Arts.

-Steve

Good Class

This has been my 8th Class and it was just as amazing as it was when I started!

We have gotten 3 newer people than I since I started and we have our White Belt tests soon(Week of Dec. 1). So far the only real locks on testing is a guy named Jason and I. It seems that we have all of our stuff the most solidly down.

Today we broke up into groups and helped the newer people and refined our own technique. It was a great use of our time and we did an attack circle so that was kind of fun.

We stayed for a little while longer after class too and decided to assist the newer people even more with the techniques. A couple of them are doing really well with learning the techniques a couple others it was their first day and still one more who has been there longer than I needs more work.

Overall, it was a great class, I learned a lot and I can't wait to test for my White Belt!

-Steve

Good Class

We worked on everything from top to bottom of what we are going to have to do for our White Belt tests.

It shouldn't be too bad, the instructor said I am ready to test now. The test is on the week of December 1st. Shouldn't be too bad. I feel I am ready for it now so we will see what happens.

My biggest thing will be remembering the names of everything and knowing what is what. Not doing it, or remembering how to do it, but remembering it so that when a name is called I will know what it is. I will figure it out I am sure.

Until next time,

-Steve

Great Practice

Today I worked really hard on my defenses and my lead leg kicks, I did a lot of "excellent work" according to my instructor so I am really happy about that.

My Defenses are:

- Delayed Sword(shirt grab defense)

- Opposing Sword(left hook punch defense)

- Alternating Mace(2 handed push defense)

- Deflecting Hammer(front kick defense)

- Crushing Hammer(bear hug attack defense)

I refined my Lead Leg Side Kick as well. I have to make sure I kick with my heel rather than the ball of my foot. Basically just keep my toes up.

I think I am getting pretty close to ready for my White Belt test I just gotta learn a couple more things and make the stuff I know more perfect.

That's it for tonight, class was good today, we were pretty much all released to do what we need.

Happy Halloween everyone!

-Steve

Great Class

Class today was awesome, went over everything we needed to know and I got a couple of compliments.

I have been practicing all of the stuff I know daily so I have been getting better and better.

I got the sheet of all the stuff I need to know for the white belt test and it shouldn't be too bad. Looks like it will be in a few weeks. I am sure I will be fine though, it's pretty easy.

Until next time

-Steve

Slow practice

Todays practice was pretty slow and low key, we worked on a partner and a speed drill today. Then after that we moved on to working specifically on what we need to know for our tests. My white belt test should be pretty easy but I need to learn exactly what everything is first, by name.

Next class(maybe tomorrow) I am gonna talk to one of my instructors and see if they can give me a hand with some of the stuff.

I have my form down, as well as my kicks, just gotta figure out the defenses by name, since that is my weakest point right now as I have no way of practicing them at this moment.

I feel pretty good in my ability to do everything, just need some quick fixes in my defenses and to see if they can give me some exercises I can do alone at home.

Overall I am pleased however and all is well, time for bed!

-Steve

Defenses

Today we did a lot of defensive stuff including some of the stuff required for my White Belt.

I keep practicing my form and the stances. My horse stance can be held for a good amount of time and is held really low now so I am pretty happy about that, unfortunately our regular teacher was out of town doing some kind of black belt testing, so good luck to him!

I love the school, it's really great and the people there are great. I love Martial Arts so far, one of the best things I could have ever done so far, it's awesome.

Until next time, Later

-Steve

Form, Strikes, Defenses a hard days work

Welcome back to the blog!

I had regular old school today English/Trigonometry. Then I came home and was bored for a little while and couldn't wait for my martial arts class.

I almost didn't make it to class in time, but alas I made it just barely.

Today I learned the form I am going to need for my White Belt. It's fun and I seem to be doing pretty well on it. After the form I learned my strikes.

-Lead Front Kick

-Lead Side Kick

-Rear Front Kick

-Rear Side Kick

-Jab

-Punch

Those are all of them that I need to know so far I guess. I also learned the defenses for White Belt.

-Defense for Push

-Defense for Shirt Grab

-Defense for Bear hug

-Defense for Front Kick

I am learning them all pretty fast(or so they tell me) so who knows what will happen next!

Until next time, later

-Steve

First Class

So my first class was tonight and it went incredibly well!

I loved it!

Horse Stance still is killin' my legs but it will all be worth it in the end I think.

I can't wait to get more into it and learning more things. I learned some of the stuff I will be needing for White Belt and my next class will be tuesday night I can't wait I am really excited about it. The instructor is really cool and seems to be really good so we will see what happens. 

There were only 3 other guys in the class so the class is really small but it was awesome.

Anyway, I have worn out my excitement. See you all later.

-Steve

First Post

Hello everyone!

This is my first blog post. I figure I will use it to say first of all hello and I hope you all enjoy reading my posts.

Today has been a boring day. I went to work for 5 am and then I came home at 10 am.

Tonight I have a "trial" class for a Martial Arts school. But I plan on trying to take regular classes there in not too much time. This blog is primarily for that so I can keep track of my progress.

I have been skateboarding too much as well. My legs are ready to fall off and I feel like I may have damaged my toe a little. It swelled up to be pretty big but I was still able to move it so who knows. I am REALLY close to getting my 360 Flips off of the middle box at the skatepark. 

But enough about that. I just hope I don't hurt myself too bad so that I don't hinder my chances of being able to do Kung Fu to it's fullest.

That is all for now, I may post later tonight after the class to let you all know how it went but until then only time will tell.

Later,

-Steve