My legs hurt, my arms and shoulders ache, my whole body hurts. And I feel good, damn good ! I have been running, and lifting weights for years, but re-joining tae kwon do again and training just 2-3 times per week, has really really toughened my body up, body fat is lower, abs are showing up well now ! And I have unprecedented energy levels, I hardly ever get sick now, or have sinus infections or colds. My attitude is much more positive, I have more confidence at work, I have more self esteem, my kids have more respect for me. I am so glad that I am training again. I've been the t-ball assistant coach, the soccer dad, the parent on the sidelines, I am a better participant than I am a watcher. This is my sport, no my martial art, I cannot stand to sit on the sidelines. Trying to keep up with the twenty year olds does me alot of good ! :) . I can practice on my own, in my home, in my living room, or front yard, this is my gift to myself, and it is my privilege. I can practice with my kids, friends, or just alone and by myself. I am part of the school, yet a martial art is also an individual experience. You will not find the 'playground politics' of the t-ball, baseball, football fields here. Everyone here is treated with respect, and as an equal. No race, religious, or gender preference, no select teams (with the exception that some schools have of a demo team), none of the above bullshit and favoritism that so quickly comes with traditional kids sports teams. I love Tae Kwon Do.
Our school has some of the best young black belt instructors around . They are awesome young people in their late teens, and early twenties, my kids love the instructors here ! They are funny, and make the exercises into kids games sometimes. We have classes available to us 6 days a week, the school has a very flexible schedule for us ! Still trying to get my wife to join, there are some women in the school, but the men outnumber them a little bit .In the children's classes, the instructors to students ratio is very good usually, most of the time it is about 4:1.
For those of you, that don't believe in martial arts training or think that it is for chumps, I have got some news for you. You can take that P90X, and Insanity garbage and shove it. I would challenge anyone who thinks that they are in shape, to take one of our adult classes and 'see how you fare'. In some of our toughest classes, we are doing 175 push-ups, 175 jump front snap kicks, 200 crunches, and 500 punches within the first 20 minutes of class ! (And we train to fight, we can defend ourselves, quite a nice side effect) We build our bodies to be strong, and we train our minds to be tough, and develop our self-discipline through years of training, and enduring pain, and denial. This is not for the timid or the weak. The problem I see with things like P90X or Insanity work-outs, is that people think that they can do them for 90 days and then just quit. Then what ? Everything you worked for goes to hell in 2 months. Martial Arts is a life style, a way of life. Tae Kwon Do literally translates to Tae, 'Smashing with kicking techniques', and Kwon 'Smashing with hand or fist techniques', and the last part as Do ' The Way of' .
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
TaeKwonDoBlackBeltDad - A Breif History
I had finished the last form, koryo, the test had taken more than 90 minutes of non-stop hard sweat drenched martial arts activities, which included white belt thru black belt hyungs, self defense, advanced breaking techniques, kicking combinations, and free sparring multiple opponents at one time. Sweat poured from my body, and I was exhausted, but I felt good, I was in excellent shape, and, my reflexes were sharp, kicks were high, and jump kicks explosive back then, confidence, self esteem, and self discipline were high traits in my character, it was 1988, that was then, but this is now.
Remembering back to those days, at the height of my Tae Kwon Do career, I was a blackbelt instructor, running a branch school with almost 30 students at it's peak ranging from ages of 6-50 yrs old. I was responsible for teaching classes, student belt tests, tournaments, and Tae Kwon do demonstrations. I taught 2-3 classes a day, 6 days per week, while attending and managing college classes during the morning and day. I worked out with weights, I ran, I did stuff, and was exceptionally active and physically fit.
A few years later, I had joined another school that was run by a kickboxer, and decided to have a go at 'full contact kickboxing' (this was back in the early 90's, UFC and MMA had not really caught on mainstream yet). After a few full contact fights, and 'getting my bell rung' once or twice, I'd decided it was probably a really good idea, for me to finish college, and start a career in engineering. I still trained though, instructed sometimes, and was still very active until an ACL tear in my right knee, in my late twenties. Some years later, I got married, and my life changed drastically with my new wife, and step son.
I still was very active, played sports, and lifted weights, and ran now and then, but I had stopped my martial arts practice, for whatever reasons. Turn the clock forward almost 20 years, to August 2011, I walked back into my instructors dojang with my wife, and two of my children aged 8 and 9. When I greeted my instructor, he had a look of utter amazement on his face. He looked the same, with only slightly more gray hairs than I'd remembered. We soon enrolled the kids into a three month trial yellow belt program. As a benefit of this, he said that as long as two people were in the school and paid for, the other family members could train for free ! His school had always focused on the family, and also on children. Now, was I even more thankful for this. A poster for the school yearly tournament was put neatly on the bulletin board. Amazed, I ask my instructor, "Sir, are you still having the school tournament at the local college in October every year?" he only smiled slightly sarcastically and said, "I have not changed anything in 30 years !" That actually made a lot of sense to me, why change a formula for success ?
The first class, my kids took, my wife and I both showed up, and watched from the back row in the spectators chair. But when, I had entered the dojang, and Master Song with both of my kids in their uniforms, and me in my street clothes, Master Song looked at me, and merely said with a slightly accusing tone, "So, Roger, where is your uniform ?" I stopped cold in my tracks, I said slightly taken aback, "Well, you know I am older now, and I was thinking, maybe I should just start over with a white belt with my kids", with a slight frown, and a shake of his head, Master Song simply said, "No, no, Roger, just bring your old black belt, you will relearn everything quick now", I was practicing martial arts again, almost 20 years later, after I had stopped, and I felt privileged and simply elated to be practicing again, and working out with my kids, was just icing on the cake.
It would not be long, and I would be relearning everything, helping the other black belts with teaching duties, and being an assistant coach again, executing my forms, combination kicking, free sparring, breaking boards and bricks and the entire Tae Kwon Do nine yards.
Remembering back to those days, at the height of my Tae Kwon Do career, I was a blackbelt instructor, running a branch school with almost 30 students at it's peak ranging from ages of 6-50 yrs old. I was responsible for teaching classes, student belt tests, tournaments, and Tae Kwon do demonstrations. I taught 2-3 classes a day, 6 days per week, while attending and managing college classes during the morning and day. I worked out with weights, I ran, I did stuff, and was exceptionally active and physically fit.
A few years later, I had joined another school that was run by a kickboxer, and decided to have a go at 'full contact kickboxing' (this was back in the early 90's, UFC and MMA had not really caught on mainstream yet). After a few full contact fights, and 'getting my bell rung' once or twice, I'd decided it was probably a really good idea, for me to finish college, and start a career in engineering. I still trained though, instructed sometimes, and was still very active until an ACL tear in my right knee, in my late twenties. Some years later, I got married, and my life changed drastically with my new wife, and step son.
I still was very active, played sports, and lifted weights, and ran now and then, but I had stopped my martial arts practice, for whatever reasons. Turn the clock forward almost 20 years, to August 2011, I walked back into my instructors dojang with my wife, and two of my children aged 8 and 9. When I greeted my instructor, he had a look of utter amazement on his face. He looked the same, with only slightly more gray hairs than I'd remembered. We soon enrolled the kids into a three month trial yellow belt program. As a benefit of this, he said that as long as two people were in the school and paid for, the other family members could train for free ! His school had always focused on the family, and also on children. Now, was I even more thankful for this. A poster for the school yearly tournament was put neatly on the bulletin board. Amazed, I ask my instructor, "Sir, are you still having the school tournament at the local college in October every year?" he only smiled slightly sarcastically and said, "I have not changed anything in 30 years !" That actually made a lot of sense to me, why change a formula for success ?
The first class, my kids took, my wife and I both showed up, and watched from the back row in the spectators chair. But when, I had entered the dojang, and Master Song with both of my kids in their uniforms, and me in my street clothes, Master Song looked at me, and merely said with a slightly accusing tone, "So, Roger, where is your uniform ?" I stopped cold in my tracks, I said slightly taken aback, "Well, you know I am older now, and I was thinking, maybe I should just start over with a white belt with my kids", with a slight frown, and a shake of his head, Master Song simply said, "No, no, Roger, just bring your old black belt, you will relearn everything quick now", I was practicing martial arts again, almost 20 years later, after I had stopped, and I felt privileged and simply elated to be practicing again, and working out with my kids, was just icing on the cake.
It would not be long, and I would be relearning everything, helping the other black belts with teaching duties, and being an assistant coach again, executing my forms, combination kicking, free sparring, breaking boards and bricks and the entire Tae Kwon Do nine yards.
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