Blue Belt Test

Ashli tested for and got her Blue Belt on Monday.  Way to go, Ashli!

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Green Belt

So, Tuesday night I tested for and received my green belt.  For those of you that don't know, having a green belt means that I have to register my hands as weapons in exactly 0 states.  It is still a beginning belt but it is a step towards my goal.  Ashli is still a green belt so I am catching up with her. 

Martial Arts Belts 3

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I Am Coming For You Now, Ashli

Last night I got two stripes on my belt.  I now out rank my four year old daughter, Ally.  The two stripes I have let me know that it won't be long before I test to get my green belt.  Unfortunatly, Ashli is really close to getting her blue belt. So I will have to work twice as hard as her to catch her. 

Hey Ashli,  you hear that?  Those are footsteps.  My footsteps.  Are they getting closer? 

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Back in the Saddle Again

I started Tae Kwon Do this month.  I had previously trained at Korean Martial Arts and Fitness in Manhattan KS in 1998.  Both of my daughters take TKD, we have just paid off the car, I have a love for the fighting arts, and I have something I am working on that is martial arts and writing related, so I thought there is no better time to start back.  Of course my wrist isn't 100% yet, but still, no better time. 

My first class was last Tuesday and boy am I out of shape.  Add to this the Martial Arts Fitness Initiative I started here at work and I have been sore for the past two weeks.  I signed up for my classes at U.S. Tae Kwon Do Academy, the same place the girls take their classes.  I know the teachers, I know the students, and the facility is excellent.  They provide childcare while you are training and offer 4 nights of training per week.  After evaluating me, they accepted the orange belt that I had earned 11 years prior at a school half way across the country. 

The great thing about class is that I feel great afterwards.  I come home and don't really want to sit down and relax but to get things done.  The class is exhausting, but by the time I get home I popping with energy again.  My long term goal for this will be to get my black belt.  My short term goal will be to outrank my oldest.  She is a green belt pretty close to testing for her blue belt. 

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Green Belt in da house!

Yeah she finally advanced.  Her forms looked really nice.  She really surprised me.  

She also had to do her bo staff form and she got to break.  She used an ax kick.  This was the first time that she has broken and the first attempt had her breaking the bottom board only.  On the second attempt she really kicked hard and went right through both boards.  

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What Goes Around

A few months back everyone may remember having a laugh at my wife's expense due to her broken foot.  Well, Earl warned me about karma and I didn't listen. 

July is parents get free classes month at Ashli's Tae Kwon Do(TKD) school.  So I partook of the offer, not being able to resist the word free.  Class was going great until we got to crecent kicks.  *Crecent Kick- Sweeping the leg up in an arch like motion and striking with the outside of the foot.*  We were working on bringing it almost straight up and then snapping it over.  to reduce the swing motion of the leg the instructor held a second paddle up as a visual reference of how far was too far.  I did great with my right leg, but with my left I nailed the paddle dead on.  Not the soft side but the edge.  I hit it just as I was snapping my foot and my foot was still relaxed.  I kicked hard enough that I kicked through the paddle and actually hit my intended target.  It  hurt pretty bad but I continued on.

The foot continued to hurt when I got home and I put some ice on it.  I woke up the next moring with a bruise across the top part of my foot and my toes.  I couldn't really walk on it.  As the day went on everything loosened up  and I was able to participate in the next class.  This of course aggrevated the injury. 

The bruising is now gone, but the top of my foot still hurts if I move it a certain way. It is possible that I broke something but I don't think I will ever know. 

Good one Karma.

*EDIT*

Here is a picture of the bruising

Summer07 038

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Ah. . . Violence

My daughter will compete in her first tournament next month.

 

What is Tae Kwon Do?

There are some good KOs in the video.  To clerify, this is sport TKD.  The purpose is to score points.  TKD as a martial art employees some of the same techniques but is very different and more well rounded. 

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