I needed to take the night off from the gym, but I started my day and finished my day trying to learn my staff forms #1 and 2. I have the movements down on form #1, but am only about halfway through #2. King Tiger has way more curriculum than other schools and I am happy to have so much support from students and instructors who have all been helpful in teaching me. I hope to be able to pay it back to new students in the future.
I somehow tweaked my knee over the weekend and had to dial back my normal Sunday activity. No running today as a normally do, but I still walked over 2 miles. No jump rope either today, but I still did my pushups, sit ups, burpees and slower kicks. I need to stay healthy so I can keep practicing.
Great class on Saturday! I was just reading about how to change an approach to training can move you beyond a plateau. Grandmaster Evins had us do forms with one stick in our hands. It totally changed the way I think about the movements in the forms - not always for the best. I blanked on a few of the moves when I was thinking about the stick hand. It definitely was a change from our normal training routine. I owe a special thank you to Master Cavazos for his continued patience working with me after class. Some of the color belt self-defense had left my memory over the last few months. Thank you for going over it (and over it) with me.
Great class tonight taught by Master Oppie! He gave us a good cardio workout and we had a chance to work on curriculum too. He is a very talented martial artist. Thank you for teaching us tonight. Thank you Master Cavazos for helping me with my one attack sparring. Your patience seems endless.
I went to the gym after work and banged out my reps on the push ups, sit ups, kicks. Threw in some plank and mountain climbers for good measure. Primarily worked legs, which might be a mistake given that I will be in class doing kicks on Wednesday.
I spent my Valentine's Day evening with a full class at King Tiger North. I thought it might be a much smaller attendance given that it was Valentine's Day. Nice to see how committed everyone is to the program. Thank you Master Cavazos for teaching tonight! I always enjoy his classes.
Needed to take the night off from my normal workout to celebrate my daughter's birthday. I am thankful that she came into town to see me and that I could spend the evening with her. It is great to see her grown up, but I miss my tae kwon do classes with her when she was in middle school.
Great Saturday morning black belt class today!. I love working on poomsae and that was primarily what we did in class. It is helpful for me to go through all the forms so I can see which ones I need to work on. A big thank you to Master Cavazos for coming to help me work on my staff forms after class. I appreciate his patience as I try to learn the longer forms. Lots of steps and it is easy for me to confuse the forms when I am learning several at the same time.
Most of the day spent grocery shopping and running errands that did not get finished on Saturday. I did get my workout in before dinner. Hoping it warms up soon so that I can run outdoors again soon.
Got up early on President's day to work on forms. Thanks to Master Cavazos I had videos of the bo staff forms on my phone. Very helpful to have that so I could review later! It was somewhat discouraging to see how bad my stances were in the video though. I did my kicks, push ups, sit ups, etc later in the day
Drove to Richmond to spend time with family. We had dinner with family and I definitely overate on the pasta. It was so good. Feeling like I need a workout, but I don't think it is going to happen until we return home.
It's my daughter's birthday, so we are in Virginia to celebrate it with her. She spent a few hours with us at the hotel before heading out later to celebrate with her friends from college. Another reminder that I am getting older - or at least too old to hang at a bar with college kids. Thankful for an early bed time and no hang over tomorrow.
Drove back from Virginia and did not make it in time for class. Happy to be out of the car after about 5 1/2 hours behind the wheel. Looking forward to my Saturday class.
Arrived back from a trip last night and did not make it to my normal Wednesday class. Decided to go light on the workout and focus on forms and kicks. It takes me a while to work back up to my prior activity level after a few days off.
Went to the gym after work and did heavier weights than normal. I worked chest and back before doing push ups, jump rope, plank and core. I am sure I will feel it later, but I have not been all that active this week and enjoyed having the gym to myself.
Another great class taught by Grandmaster Evins. I still can't believe we have a Grandmaster teaching our class. It is very humbling for someone like me to watch his demonstration of a technique, even slowed down by his standards, move too fast for me to follow. Many thanks to Master Cavazos for helping me after class with Bo Staff forms. I still felt good enough in the evening to get in kicks, sit ups, jump rope, plank and push ups.
Super Bowl Sunday! Spent most of the afternoon working on my essay for tae kwon do. Learned a lot about Korean history. I was able to get in a workout before the game started. Had the gym to myself. I could say everyone else was invited to a super bowl party, but I prefer to look at it as I was the only person in the building who had the discipline to work out right up until kickoff. I tried to mix up the routine. I am still feeling it from the chest and back workout on Friday.
Taking the day off from my workout. Stayed up too late watching the Super Bowl and woke up extra early to get to work. Hoping the day off will give me a chance to recover from the workouts over the weekend.
I got a little behind on my workouts this weekend. I think the key is to do a little at several times throughout the day - the Atomic Habits approach. I can't doo 100 push ups in a row, but I can do 4 sets of 25 throughout the day. I need to re-frame how I am approaching the goals.
Light workout tonight after work. Can't figure out why I am struggling with the jump rope tonight. I have been doing jump rope for years. May need to focus on my leg strength. Cardio seems like it is improving.
Another great class with Grandmaster Evins! I owe a big thank you to Master Cavazos for coming in before class to help me learn my forms. I could tell his leg was bothering him, but he never complained, and showed great patience with me while we worked on Chil Chang. I am amazed that he can teach me a form in about 15 minutes. He is truly a gifted instructor.
Working on chil Chang that I re-learned last night with Master Cavazos. Seems like it should be easier that I am making it. Not a lot of moves and it is fairly symmetrical. My goal is to get it down this week.
Super busy at work today, so I was not able to get to the gym. I was totally worn out by the evening, so I worked on Poomsae using the videos on the King Tiger app, which is extremely helpful. Still have a lot to learn though.
No class today, so I worked legs at the gym from 8:00 - 9:00 when we would normally have black belt class. Also, did jump rope, sit ups, push ups, -sit ups, plan, etc. Total walking miles today was 3.2.
Great class on Saturday with Grandmaster Evins! Even when he is not feeling well, he still gives the students in his classes 100%. Thank you Master Dege for your help again with my curriculum. I appreciate your patience.
Took the evening off from my normal workout to spend time with the family. Had dinner out and enjoyed a movie at home. will need to double down over the weekend on the workout routine.
Light workout after dinner tonight. Pushups, sit ups, kicks and dumbbells. Will work through the poomsae before bedtime.
Super black belt class with master Cavazos on Wednesday! Thank you for sharing your knowledge of stick and bo staff forms with the class!
Was not very energetic. Stayed up too late watching football playoffs. Continued to work on the forms. Hoping for warmer weather this week so I can run outside.
I hit the gym at work at the end of the day. Noticing my times and reps are not dramatically increasing from by pre-test levels. I am doing more pushups, but not a ton more. Jump rope is about the same, although some days I can do about 10% more. My pull ups have actually decreased due to arthritis in my hands. I will keep working on it all. I appreciate the goals to give me something to shoot for.
I spent the entire day at work hosting a planning session for 20 people in a basement conference room. No windows, florescent lighting. Following the planning marathon, I hosted an after-work event for every who was stuck in the planning meeting. Definitely needed the chance to work out after dinner with the family. Very grateful for my wife encouraging me to go to the gym tonight.
New start to the work week was rough. Dragging my workout gear to the office and back home at night unused. Going to need to block time at the end of the day on my calendar to carve the time out on my schedule.
Was able to get time to work on the curriculum. I realize that I need to do a little every day or I forget what I thought I had already learned. Time in the morning on the app and again before bed seems to help with retention.
Thank you Master Dege for teaching a great Wednesday Black Belt class! It was a good reminder of how you can never practice basics enough. It was humbling to see my technique in the reflection of the windows. I appreciate you giving us the opportunity to improve on the foundation skills of tae kwon do.
Squeezed a workout in after work tonight. Glad to have time to practice kicks and poomsae in an empty gym in my building.
Tough day at work - I hauled my gym bag in thinking I would have time to work out and hauled it back home unopened at the end of the day. Thank goodness for the videos King Tiger posts so I can at least try to learn some of the curriculum in small doses through the app.
Thank you Master Dedge for your help with my Black Belt self defense work in class today. I have a long way to go to learn the curriculum and appreciate the patience of the instructors who were teaching today. I know I can learn it over time.
Beautiful day in Charlotte so I took advantage of the nice weather and did my run outdoors instead of on the treadmill. Clocked 3 miles at 11 minute miles. I need to shave time off of that pace to beat my pre-test time. Felt great to run outside!
Start of the new cycle and I am flying back to Charlotte today. I did get a three mile run using the treadmill on Saturday night and some work on my kicks. Congratulations to everyone who competed the pre-test!
Sunday is my core workout day. Going to be feeling it on Monday, but I need the work after a few weeks of limited exercise and lots of holiday food around the house. New year - new start!
First day back in the office after working remotely for the last few weeks. The long commute does not allow for a lot of extra time in the day to exercise. I am very thankful for all the videos on the school app so I can at least go through the forms at the beginning and end of the day.
I snuck out of the office at the end of the work day and got in a workout. Still trying to get my jump rope time to improve. It is a fine line between getting extra reps in on the jump rope to improve my time and keeping the swelling down on my knees from overuse. Definitely feel better at the end of the day from the workout.
Great Wednesday night class lead by Grandmaster Evins and Master Cavazos! Good cardio workout AND we were able to do a lot of the poomsae plus self defense. I have a long way to go to get better at both, but I enjoyed the class.
Mandatory work dinner put me off track on my workouts today. Will have to make it up over the weekend by doing a little extra.
Great weapons seminar on Saturday! Thank you to Grandmaster Evins for hosting it. I have a long way to go to get better on with the Pilipino stick techniques. I loved the work with the knife attacks. I hope to learn more in the coming weeks.
