6.23.11 & 6.26.11

This is getting harder to keep up with as school gets progressively more time consuming, especially when karate isn't all that interesting at the moment. Thursday class was pretty easy, we kind of goofed off more than we actually trained. Yesterday, well, yesterday was not fun. Training on a mere 3 hours of sleep was rough and training after a long night of partying was even worse. Made it through it though, somehow. Haha. I did feel the repercussions today though. It's one of only two times this summer that I've felt sore the morning after training. Class was good though. Tough, but good. We spent most of the time doing combinations and then modifying them a little bit after doing them for a while. Then, there were forms. Oh, how I despise forms. Luckily it was a higher level for that I actually enjoy doing and teaching. Hopefully, we'll start doing more interesting things from here on out though, because I can only do forms for so long before I want to start pulling my hair out!

6.22.11

I went to karate last night with the intention of training, especially since I skipped class on Tuesday night. So, when I showed up to class last night and saw that the head instructor wasn't dressed out and looked as if he was about to leave, I was curious to say the least. He explained though that it made no sense for 3 instructors to be there when there were only 3 people in class (besides me and the other instructor, there was one adult and two kids) So, he left and turned over the class to Michael. Another concern came to mind though as I realized that there were two little kids and one adult, which to say that combination of students is impossible to teach is an understatement. We began class though and warmed up as usual.

Then, the best thing that could have happened did. Michael asked me if I would teach the little kids while he worked with the adult! I was beyond excited. I taught kids for almost 7 years and loved it. They are the most fun to teach because you can just let go and have fun. Teaching kids makes me remember my time training when I was their age. I remember all the fun I had and all the friends that I met. It makes me remember why I am so passionate about martial arts and whenever I work with them I realize that training doesn't always need to be serious. There are the obvious times where we must be disciplined, but we should also continue to have fun with it so we keep enjoying what we're doing, which can be applied to anything that you do in your life.

I really hope that I can get more involved with teaching around here. I love training,  but (as I'm sure I've mentioned before somewhere in one of these posts) teaching is where my true passion lies within martial arts. It is the best feeling in the world to pass on your knowledge of something that you love to others and to see them grow and become better because of your knowledge and instruction. This is the main reason why one day I would really love to own my own studio.

I'm going to end on a side note today. As Michael was giving me a ride home yesterday, the little fact that I had not been in class on Tuesday came up. While talking about this, he made the comment "Yeah, I was kind of worried you weren't there. My first thought was 'I hope she's not lying in a ditch somewhere.' And I meant to message you on Facebook when I got home, but I forgot." What I took from this: You know you train too much when people start worrying about your well-being after missing just one class in the past 3 weeks. Hahahaha.

6.20.11

Class was great last night. I about passed out from how fast paced and difficult some of the things that we did were, but those are the types of classes I love the most. Most people hate being in pain or discomfort, and when the cause is anything other than an awesome class like last night's, I tend to react accordingly. When it comes to feeling the physical pain I do from martial arts though, it just invigorates me even more. It's actually a wonderful feeling. I feel accomplished and proud of myself for making it through these types of training sessions. I don't mind being sore or tired if the cause is from martial arts, and it's when you get to this point that you know you love what you're doing. It makes me fall in love with my martial arts training more each and every day, which I never thought would ever be possible.

6.16.11 & 6. 19. 11

Classes have been good. Nothing new there. I enjoy learning the TSD material (to an extent, some of if just doesn't flow for me, but I'm trying to find the positive in it, like that it is helping me become a more well rounded martial artist in general) I like that it makes me think and expand on what I already know. I'm getting back into the habit of constantly thinking about what makes sense and what techniques work together.

I'm still not physically where I want to be, but that's a long term summer goal. As long as I'm where I want to be by the end of the summer, I'll be satisfied. Which I foresee happening without a doubt now since I've recently decided to make some changes in my personal life that will make everything much less complicated and will allow me to start focusing on the things that really matter to me. Karate most definitely being a priority, only next to my education.

Goals for the next month: 1) Focus on training more on my SBD material, which has proven to be a challenge since I'm alone in this endeavor for right now. 2) Getting my lower back checked out/straightened out so that I can prevent any serious injury so I don't hinder my training in the future.