Beginning Taekwon Do

I finally decided to start taking Taekwon Do lessons from Eric. My first was last Tuesday.

My first class went pretty well. Eric was planning on doing breaking with some of the more advanced students, and since he had all the stuff there, he did it for the beginning class as well.

We did hand breaks first. I was able to break the equivalent of 1.75 boards (we use special plastic“rebreakables” because it’s easier, cheaper, and saves on wood). However my hand position wasn’t as good as it should have been, and it stung a bit. The next day, I had a bruise on my wrist.

Then we switched to foot breaks. I was able to power through the equvalent of one board with a front snap kick, before my poor technique stopped me from making the next highest rebreakable snap in two. I’ll have to work on my foot position before I can break anything higher.

Everyone got to a point where their kick just wasn’t correct enough to break the board, so we practiced our kicks against a wall for a while.

All-in-all, I left my first class feeling like I’d had a little exercise, but mostly felt fine (aside from the bruised wrist).

Thursday was my second class – and there was quite a difference! We learned “walking stance”, a position that basically means to step W-A-Y forward with your front foot, bend that knee a little, and then keep your back leg straight with your heel on the ground. So if the calf of your back leg isn’t burning from the stretch, you’re doing it wrong!

As an added disadvantage, it appears that my feet just naturally turn out a bit. I kept having to twist my foot so the toes pointed forward, and when I did this, it felt like I was turning my toes IN. And, of course, made the stretch burn that much more.

We were using this walking stance first while punching, then while blocking. Eric would walk us through the preparation for the punch or block and the actual punch/block with a “1, 2, 3” kind of break-down. So he’d say “1” and we’d go to that position. Which in this case involves bending the back leg as well, so at first it’s a nice rest for your burning calf, then it’s a bit strained holding your weight on two bent legs.

We’d have to hold this position while he made sure everyone was doing it right. Then we could go to “2” – bring the back leg up next to the front one and rest the ball of the foot only on the ground. And for the punch, hold one fist straight out, and the other one tucked up under its own shoulder. And then you have to hold THAT while he checks everyone.

Then you finally get to step and punch on “3”. And hold that while he checks everyone.

But the blocks were the worst! Step 2 had a series of complicated things you had to do, and we were all having a bit of difficulty with it. Eric’s students are mostly children, so aside from Kevin and I, there were two kids (a boy and a girl) about 6 years old in the class. They were not getting it very fast.

At one point, Eric decided to go through the whole thing with each person individually. He did me first. And then I had to stand frozen in the final “block” position until he had been through it with the other 3 students. It took at least 2 minutes. I thought my back leg was going to fall off.

And then, a few of us were having issues with doing what we THOUGHT he was wanting us to do, instead of listening closely and doing only what he SAID to do. I think I was the first with this problem, followed by the little girl. After it happened the second time, Eric made us all do push-ups.

Only, he doesn’t just have us “drop and give him ten” – in Taekwon Do, you count to ten in Korean. And he doesn’t explain this to us FIRST – no, he waits until we’re all on hands and feet, arms shaking as we hold it, and stops to explain this. Then he has us do one, and tells us to echo his counting. He may have paused once or twice more as well. All I know is, they were the wimpiest push ups I’ve ever done, because my arms just couldn’t hold out that long, and I wasn’t sure what would happen if I put my knees down. I only dropped an inch or two with each “push”.

I finished the class with legs that felt like jelly, and arms that were also tired. I was dripping with sweat, due to the heat of the gym and the long-sleeved uniform that I was wearing. Okay, so I guess I’m getting that exercise I wanted…

Oh, and did I mention that my cell phone, which NEVER gets any calls, got one right in the middle of class? We’re all standing there, frozen in some punch or block position, and all of the sudden you can hear the peppy little “Vengabus” tune that I have as my ring tone. Eric heard it too, and asked if I needed to answer it – yeah, right, like I’m falling for THAT trap! And then it made its “missed call” alert noise (a VERY loud beep) every minute or so for the rest of class. I’ll have to remember to turn it off next time!

One of the hardest parts of starting Taekwon Do though, is remembering to call Eric “sir”. And it’s not like an every once-in-a-while thing – “sir” is kind of like punctuation. Every sentence ends with it. And if it’s a really LONG sentence, you might want to throw it in somewhere in the middle too. And he periodically says things, followed by “Understood?” to which you have to reply “Yes, sir!” And if I forgot to say “sir”, he’d usually give me a chance to remember it by saying “What?” at which point I’d either hurredly add “sir”, or I’d repeat what I’d said and add “sir” to the end. I’m going to have to get better at it fast, though, to avoid future push ups!

But so far I’m enjoying it. I definitely feel like I’m getting more out of it than the “karate” lessons I took in Medford. There, I’d just show up and do whatever, and they happily accepted my money. Here, I feel like I actually need to practice at home to make the progress I should be making.

And hey – I can already break a board! Pretty cool, huh?