torn toenail

padre

Orange Belt
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Early on in last night's class we were doing kicking drills across the room, and an instructor appeared in front of me with target paddles. My response was incorrect, and I tore my left big toenail sufficiently to send me off looking for tape (after completing the drill).

It wasn't too bad, but there was a little blood, so even after a wash-off and tape had me "good as new" I wasn't allowed to use my left foot for much for the rest of the evening (despite mild protest on my part).

Moral of the story: If you have to let an instructor see a little blood, do it at the end of class so you don't miss all the fun. heh
 
A little blood and you needed to stop, man I make them work harder if they bleed.
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The way I figured it, the bleeding had stopped, so I chalked it up to "next time don't f*** up the kick". heh
 
I went to the 12:10 class today, and as class time approached, one of the instructors pointed out that it looked like it would only be me, so I said, "Instructor Kyu was too easy on me yesterday because of the toe. Let's make it a really hard one."

"You want a Really Hard Class???"

"Let's do it. Hard. I can heal up tomorrow."

"OK, today will be really hard!"

About ten seconds later, a scrawny little thing pulled up in an SUV for the class, and I thought, "Poor thing." heh

By the end of the class, we had both essentially collapsed on the mat, exhausted. I was just about as happy as a man lying cheek-down in his own sweat could be. :D

The instructor announced, "Next weekend, you will both come for testing."
 
Nice instructor. I tore my toenail clean off and just taped and was right back at it. It was expected of me. Let's trade instructors....Just kidding.
 
It was certainly an interesting judgment call on his part. These guys (and gals) all seem to take a keen interest in the students' well-being, but this one surprised me.

They (several, enough to occasionally outnumber the students) want to know when something hurts and other relevant bits of info.

I've pointed to specific spots and said, "I feel intense discomfort here when we do [xyz]," and been told, "Oh, you need to be doing [some stretch and/or exercise] daily." So far, each bit of advice has been spot on.

I'd been told by more than one source that martial arts instructors are notoriously bad about various subjects (stretching, kinesiology, etc.), but I think maybe that's been overstated (or just over genereralized, as it may be true of many for all I know).
 
"It wasn't too bad, but there was a little blood, so even after a wash-off and tape had me "good as new" I wasn't allowed to use my left foot for much for the rest of the evening (despite mild protest on my part)."

As a teacher I would have sent you off, had you disinfect with Iodine, properly bandage your foot and then let you get back to it as long as you were not in pain. If it hurt bad, I would have just drilled you harder on the other side.
Remember, a cut leads to bleeding that can spread bacteria and viral infections. I personally clean the mats every night with an anti viral/fungicide/bactericide/mildew stat. I have seen what staph can do and believe me, you don't want it.
 
Seems reasonable.

I performed basic first aid, and he did let me drill the blazes out of the other leg (a bit repetitive after a while, but training can be that way some days anyway).

I'm still sore from the following day's "make up for it" session. heh
 
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