I’m not going to lie. This first class was brutal. Unlike the kids, there’s no breakdown of the lower level belts and the upper level belts. So, I was thrown right in with a class consisting of mostly black-belted teenagers. Not only am I the only white belt, but the next lower belt is brown, which is only two away from black. I was doing lunges and squats, jumping jacks and sit-ups, pushups and bear crawls, lunge kicks and stretch kicks…and that was just the warmup! The only thing I was excused from was sparring, and that was only until I get my sparring gear. Which means that I’ll be doing that pretty soon too.
For the partner drills, I was paired up with a second degree black belt named Hudson. I was actually at his testing ceremony a month ago when he got his second degree. But the way he kept going easy on me made me I feel like he was underestimating me, thinking that an old man in his first class must be soft and weak. But I’d like to think that I surprised him, especially when I kicked him three feet backwards across the floor. For the drill, one person was holding a blocking mat across his torso, and the other person was supposed to side kick the mat whenever the first person got too close. If he happened to get too close for a kick, then the second person was supposed to switch to punches. What Hudson didn’t know is that I’ve been practicing for several months now with my son. So, this wasn’t exactly my first lesson. I’ve also been putting my new punching bag through the wringer for the last two weeks, both punching and kicking, so this wasn’t my first mat contact either. And so when my right leg made contact with the mat in an absolutely perfect side kick, the force of it pushed him backwards three feet…much like my punching bag and its weighted stand!
You could tell that Hudson was a little more wary after that, bracing himself for the impact. Almost like the other bad guys after the hero knocked the first bad guy stupid enough to approach him out in those movies I watched as a kid. But Hudson didn’t fare much better with my subsequent kicks either. I even switched legs several times keeping him at bay with my left leg too when he’d slide to that side. And he fared even worse with my punches. And I used both to absolute perfection to keep him guessing and pivoting backwards.
After that, I was taken aside to work on my form while the rest of the group geared up to spar. I already knew all of the basic steps since I’d been helping my son with it for the last two months. So, the instructor focused on making minor adjustments to tweak my movements. I was then left alone to practice, and I focused on trying to get everything perfect…each placement of my foot, each hand movement, each pivoting of my body. After all, the next testing cycle is in one month, so I don’t have much time to get ready.
When it was finally over, I could already feel my muscles crying out in agony, especially my legs. But the thing that hurt the most was my groin. I think I pulled a muscle when the instructor tried to force my feet farther apart when we were doing the splits. I’m sure the sidekicks didn’t help it either, because it targets that muscle on your plant foot. I’ll have to find a way to push through, because I’m not letting this keep me from going back. My goal is to get my black belt before I turn 50.
