I test tomorrow for 9th gup...eek

[Lynne]

and I felt (notice "felt") comfortable because I knew my material.

I decided to buy the white/yellow belt DVD produced by Master R, the owner of our school. I watched it today because I wanted to refresh my memory on wrist grips (we've only done them two times in class - if I don't know them I will fail). I see that in forms, Master R aims before he punches, that is, he brings his arm up from a hadon makee at the same level the next punch is going to be, whether a middle punch or a high punch.

So, I asked my daughter about it. And she said, "Oh, yeah, you always aim with the opposite arm before you punch. I learned that at white belt." Well, I didn't learn it! So, here it is, the day before my test and I am learning something new for my test. Acccckkkk!

Then, I have to go and think. I asked about combinations like hadon makee with a toro chundankyonkyuk. My daughter said you're supposed to aim with those, too. We have to do combinations on our test. I don't think my brain can handle aiming with the forms and combinations.

On the otherhand, I suppose white belts are not expected to "aim." I haven't seen anyone else aiming. I'm not so sure the yellow belts are aiming.

When did you learn aiming? Was that after white belt?

 

[Chizikunbo]

Hi Lynn,
good luck with your test!

I learned to do this in TKD, but not in any other style I practiced...

 

[Kacey]

Good luck, Lynne! And remember - you need to get up for testing and show that your are a 9th gup - not ask if you're a 9th gup. If you weren't able to pass, you wouldn't be testing - but you still have to show it.

Let us know how it went when you're done.

 

[Drac]

The BEST of luck..Don't foget to tell us how you did, which I'm sure will be EXCELLENT!!!

 

[JT_the_Ninja]

My biggest tip for gup testing: don't worry. You worry, you tense up and might possibly freeze or forget what you're doing. Just try to relax. I don't know your school's testing procedure, but if it's held at your dojang, it's likely your instructor will be giving the commands for the test. So it's basically just like a class.

As for self-defense grabs, the key is just do something. Even if you can't remember exactly what to do, don't just stand there when your wrist has been grabbed. You know, I assume, some basics of getting out of your opponent's grip. If your testing requirements are anything like ours, the most important question is Did you escape from your opponent's grip or not?

In terms of aiming, we only do that for the high punches on gicho hyung ee bu, and then only for yellow belts, so we can tell that they're doing sang dan kong kyuk and not just choong dan kong kyuk. Learn it if it's part of the test, but I can guarantee you won't be aiming with the opposite hand in a fight.

Good luck! TANG SOO!

 

[Lynne]

Thank you all for the encouragement.

Kacey, when I thought about what you said, about being 9th gup, that really helped. For some reason, I was less nervous.

I passed and one of the instructors said we did very well. All the adults passed.

I can't be objective about my own performance, but my daughter said I did the best on wrist grips and one-step hand combinations...the two things I was worried the most about!!! True, I didn't have to think about them because I'd practiced them so much at home. I wasn't about to go into a test and not know them. It's bad enough that you're nervous and could blank.

I ended up not doing the aiming in my forms...it was too much of a mental overload. No one else (white and yellow belts) did the aiming either. I am going to be working on aiming. We have to do it with all of our forms eventually.

Now, I'm excited because I get to learn new stuff

 

[crushing]

Excellent! Congratulations on passing.

 

[Lynne]

Thank you, crushing

 

[Kacey]

Congratulations! I'm glad what I said was of help to you - and thanks for letting me know that it was.

 

[MBuzzy]

Congratulations! You'll find that a lot of the things that take a great deal of mental effort now, get much easier with time.

As I teach the newer people, I always encourage them that by the time they hit 6th Gup, it will all be second nature and you can concentrate on the finer points of the techniques.

 

[agemechanic03]

Hey Lynne, Congrats on the promotion!!!!! Keep training hard and it will start to become more natural. As everyone has said, now the training begins and you can start to work out the details more as you go. Good Luck!!!

 

[Ceicei]

Congratulations, Lynne! You're doing good and keep it up! We enjoy hearing about your learning experiences!

- Ceicei

 

[bluemtn]

Way to go, Lynne! At least you know what you need to work on for the next belt you're testing for, and I'm sure you'll do great then!

 

[Master Jay S. Penfil]

Lynne,
First... Congrad's on your first testing!!!

One thing to remember for each testing. When you are testing for aspecific rank, like in this case, 9th guep, you are not expected to look loke a black belt.

Too many students beat them selves up, trying to perform at levels above their current expected level of knowledge and ability.

It is good to be deeply involved and work hard to achieve all that you can. Take it one day at a time and have fun in all that you do...


TANG SOO!!!

 

[JT_the_Ninja]

Congratulations! You've just taken one small step that'll lead you down a long, indeed never ending, often perilous, but always rewarding path. Just keep at it, and you'll only get better.

Tang Soo!

 

[Jade Tigress]

Congratulations Lynne!

 

[Lynne]

Thanks for the congratulations, the encouragement and the advice. I am listening to the advice

It's good to know that things that are a mental overload now will come more naturally as times goes on. Many things in Tang Soo Do do not "feel" natural at first. I thought the 270 degree turns in forms were insane. Now, they feel natural. E dan ahp chagis feel natural now - I can do them with grace instead of looking like a lame horse.

Thank you, Master Penfil, for reminding me that I'm not expected to have the finesse of a black belt. I am too hard on myself sometimes.

 

[Master Jay S. Penfil]

Hi Lynne,
How we see our selves, and the expectations that we hold our selves too are a balancing act that takes time to understand and bring together as individual practitioners.

If we are not hard enough, we do not progress. If we are too hard, we can injure ourselves (mentally and/or physically).

We sometime think that if we train HARDER (like “JOHN RAMBO”) that we will get better. It is more important to train SMART.

Always listen to your body. If something hurts, ask yourself if the pain is good or bad. Are you sore from a good training session or have you caused some damage to muscles or connective tissues. Was that last kick a bit too high for your own ability level?

I had a student when I was in Arizona that was a bit over weight and spent all day at work sitting at a desk. He was a CPA. We, as a class, would climb Squaw Peak (a mountain in Phoenix) a couple of mornings per week. One Sunday we chose to climb Camelback Mountain. Camelback was higher, and many of the trails were covered with loose dirt, making them slippery. Squaw Peak was almost all solid rock, and easier to navigate.

This student slipped three times in the course of our climb on Camelback and had strained the ligaments and tendons in his left knee without realizing it. The next evening in class we were doing edan-ahp chagi’s down the floor. He landed with his weight back on his heel on one kick and his bone alignment was out of place. His femur and his tibia slid off of their connection points and we had to call him an ambulance.

In speaking with him after he returned to class (three months later) he said that he was feeling weaker than normal that night, and that he should have taken it easy, but that he didn’t want to appear to be a wimp. I explained to him that by not listening to his body, and trying to be macho, he lost three months of training time and experienced a great deal of discomfort in other areas of his life as well.

The moral to the story is:

Always listen to your body and never allow any instructor to order you to do anything that may cause you to have problems.

 

[Drac]

Congrats Lynne..Well done!!!

 

[Lynne]

Congrats Lynne..Well done!!!

Thank you, Drac