Last night I went back to training for the second time in two weeks. This marks a big step forward for me and my Tang Soo Do training, as I’ve not managed any regular training since RAR was born. Now that he’s more settled and predictable in the evenings it makes it much easier.
Last week was a real shock to the system. Despite having done a good few gym sessions at work to try and get most of the rust out, I still found it very hard going. One unexpected thing for me was what I’d forgotten. Don’t get me wrong, I knew I was going to forget some things, but to my surprise it wasn’t my forms, it was the one-step sparring! The same things I must have done thousands of times in the last seven or eight years just wouldn’t come back to me. Then there’s the pain…
I was expecting to hurt a bit, and I was quite surprised when I wasn’t really that bad the next morning, just a bit achy. A day later though, wow. The entire front of my body hurt so much I could barely get myself out of bed. Sure, I’m getting older, but this was ridiculous.
Anyway, move on a week and I’m back again. We had a good mix of breaking hyung down to basic combinations, some kicking combos and then some sparring simulations to help people experience what it’s like to have to defend yourself unexpectedly, or to try to hit a target when punch drunk. It was really good fun, and for me personally, good to notice that even in a week my body had remembered a bit more of its previous fitness. I’m still a long way from managing anything evenly remotely as exhausting as a grading, but it’s coming back slowly.
Today the only aches to speak of are some really tight hamstrings, but I can cope with that. It’s really nice to be back in a dobok, back in the dojang, and training with old friends again.