The second session of my Tang Soo Do training was certainly no easier than the first. In the first session there was a lot of explanation and half speed repetition. The second session was full speed repetition from beginning to end. And at one point I thought I was at my end.

The first part of the session includes all of the belt colors lined up and doing some calisthenics: pushups, crunches and jumping jacks. After we finished those I was ready to call it a day, however, this was just a warm up. The white belts which included myself and three other new members were separated from the rest of the belts in order to go over some of the basic movements. We kicked our snap kicks, side kicks, roundhouse kicks and spinning back kicks up and down the training area. My legs were still sore from the first session and this was not helping. About 3/4 of the way through our kicks I felt I may require a few minutes to rest before I passed out. Luckily after we finished the final set of kicks we worked on our “one steps” which does not require as much aerobic movement.

One steps are a series of movements to deflect a strike and deliver your own strike. The one steps are broken into three categories: hand, foot and self defense. The hand movements are comprised of a block and then a strike with either your elbow or with your hand. The foot movements consist of striking your attacker with a kick before they get to you. The self defense movements require you to get out of a hold then striking the attacker. The one steps require focused movement and memorization. I’m fine with the movement part…the memorization will take some time but thankfully everyone is patient and helps you.

I’m writing this 5 days after the second session and my legs and arms are still sore. Session number 3 is tomorrow. Even though I complain that I am sore I definitely feel great afterwards.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 15th, 2011 at 3:21 am and is filed under Daily Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.