My legs and arms muscles are extremely sore. My brain is whirling with Korean words, technique intricacies and exhaustion. This is my first foray into the martial art style Tang Soo Do (pronounced “Tang Sue Dough”).

My son Ryan started taking Tang Soo Do at our local “dojang” about 3 months ago, two days each week. It is exciting to watch him develop his technique from a number of trainers including the Owner/Master. Growing up I watched a lot of ninja movies and I always wanted to learn some form of karate. This was my chance to vicariously take karate through my son. I would be lying if I said I did not push him to take karate to “try it out”. Ryan was willing to give it a try and it appears that he really likes it. Last week he tested for his orange belt and passed.

Escorting Ryan to karate gave me the opportunity to watch what was being taught and learn some pointers on technique so I could help Ryan when he practiced at home. Robinson’s Martial Arts Institute, the studio we have in town, is very family friendly and all of the higher belts are willing to help you learn. Actually, I do not think they have a choice. When Master or another black belt tells someone to do something they do it. Respect is an important aspect of this dojang. After most instructions you will hear a “yes maam” or “yes sir” and everyone bows to the higher ranks. If you whine or complain the result is punishment for the whole class such as “20 more pushups” or more of whatever the persons where complaining about. One class I watched had kids complaining about doing pushups. Each time they complained they got more pushups to do to the point they reached 180 pushups for the session. Master negotiated to reduce the penalty but the kids learned quickly to keep their complaints to themselves.

Having an idea of what I was getting myself into I decided to start Tang Soo Do under a two week trial period. I have the first two days under my belt. The first day I was teamed up with a first time instructor. After talking with him a bit it turns out that he started in a similar way as myself. He brought his kid to the studio for a few months then realized maybe he should start taking Tang Soo Do to get himself into shape. For my first hour I learned the stretch kick, front snap kick, side kick, roundhouse kick and spinning back kick. The spinning back kick and I do not like each other. But my instructor gave me some tips which ended up making it a little easier. We also went over the low block, high block, inside out block and outside in block. There are little particulars about each kick and block which make it a physical and mental game. Physical because you have to ensure your body is doing the particulars and mental because when you review you have to remember the particulars. “Shoulders square.” “Point your foot down.” “Point your foot up” “Turn your hips.” “Widen your stance.” My memory has been failing me for years so I hope I can have muscle memory kick in so my brain memory does not have to.

After the first day was over I probably sweat a gallon. My body felt fine but I knew that it was just playing tricks with me. I would pay for what I just put it through. And when I got home it started to make me pay. My muscles stopped cooperating and they made every effort painful. Taking the milk out of the refrigerator made my forearm and bicep groan. Walking up and down the steps made my thighs and hips burn. Even typing on this computer made my hands scream. It was as if my body was saying, “I’ll make you think twice about doing that again.”

The following day I kept any exercise down to a minimum. Before bed I went downstairs into the basement and slowly practiced what I learned. Even slowing everything down to a crawl made my body hurt but I knew if I did not do this I would forget it. I did a lot of stretching afterwards which seemed to appease my muscles. My next day of training is coming quick. I hope I can remember everything and my muscles do not go on strike.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 11th, 2011 at 3:56 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.