Newbie and feeling like an idiot

[kidswarrior]

....I landed flat on my back. Embarrassed as hell, I did the only thing I could do - punched straight up in the air and kiai'ed. My instructor said, "nice job, but you forgot to cover out." :rofl:

Yeah, that covering out can save your bacon. :lfao:

 

[kalikg]

Judo roll, pop up and be ready to continue the fight...sounds like the perfect response to a fall to me! If you don't call attention to it other people probably won't have noticed; they may even respond with, "Wow, that was an awesome reaction!" or, "Way to recover!" Consider the fall as training...don't think of it as a mistake. Go with the flow and always respond in a martial way...you can't go wrong with that.

Congrats on your new belt and medal! Keep up the good work and remember that you are training with friends who want you to succeed. Now, go train!

 

[That One Guy]

First of all, Keep up the good work. Learning martial arts is learning how to use your body in new ways, everyone does things that aren't quite right when they start, be it falling over or not moving from their center, not snapping their limb back after striking, not keeping their eyes on their target, dropping their guard, you name it. so what if you fall. it'll go away

if you want to get better about balance, try standing on one foot for as long as you can, try both sides. as you get better at it, bring your knee higher, toe pointed down towards the ground. try it for like five minutes every day.

Hi all
I haven't posted for a good long while. Those who know me would not be surprised. I finally got my yellow belt, yeah! I have also participated in an in house tournament, receiving my very first medal! It was for participating. My dojo is very good about making sure everyone goes home with a medal. I know silly on my part, but I have never had the guts to compete for any type of medal. In fact, my school is one the best schools in San Diego. Anyway, on to my question, or thought or embarrassing TMI. See the thing is I am overweight, which no one cares about, in fact everyone greats me with smiles whenever I go and Sensei is always making sure to give me positive words. The problem is that I fall down all the time, in fact I am really good at the falling down part of class. I can fall three or four times in class. My ankle rolls out from under me. It's becoming embarrassing, no one says anything, but I know it is distracting for the class and then I get embarrassed. Which means I don't show up for class for a couple of days. I know that I need to get over it, but does anyone have any suggestions? Right now, I just pull a judo roll and pop up laughing.

I know TMI, but I had to say it.

Jo-zen

:caffeine:

 

[TheOriginalName]

Hey there - i just thought i would add my two cents in here...

But firstly - awesome work on the medal!! Even if it was participation it is a medal of pride - you had the courage to get off the couch and go train and then to put that training to the test. That's one step better than me - so awesome stuff.

Something i picked up in your post was that you say your ankles role out from under you. This is bad because it make you fall...but an added badness (yes, my vocab ain't too good today) is that you run the risk of tearing a ligament in your ankle - which i did not too long ago.

A couple of things that might help:
- As a short term fix get some sports tape and tape your ankles up before class. This will help provide addiontional strenth to your ankles and my stop them from rolling out....it will also prevent you from damaging your ankles if you roll them often.

- When your at home take your shoes off and stand on one foot for 5 mins. Then swap feet. This will help with your balance and also strengthen your ankles. It is what my physio had me doing to assist with my recovery. When your able to do that no problems - put your hands out to the sides and wave them around....just to make it harder. And when your really confident stand on a pillow....that makes life really hard but is great for balance.

But as others have said, make sure you keep training. The absolute worst thing that can come from falling over lots is that your breakfalls will be awesome!!

Best of luck from your mate in MA

 

[jamz]

Heh- pretty much everyone in my beginner's class is overweight. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[7starmarc]

First off, I agree with most other posters:
1. Your falling is probably much more significant to you than others in the class.
2. Your falling is probably because of the effort you're putting into certain things.
3. Keep going, your balance will improve with practice.

Something other things I would like to ask, though.

1. Do you fall at other times, or find your ankle rolling on you?
2. Do you have a history of ankle or other leg injuries, even in the distant past?
3. Is there anything else about you falls you haven't mentioned (brief vertigo, light-headedness, ear pain, etc.)?
4. Is there anything consistent that you are doing which leads to the falls (single leg stances, kicks, etc.)?
5. What style are you practicing? Does your school allow for footwear, if so, what do you wear now, and what can you wear?

 

[llewis823]

I haven't posted in awhile but I am getting ready to test for my yellow. I am also overweight and have flat feet. So I have alot of challenges, too. But I just love martial arts and will not stop for anything. I like the challenge. I like the confidence it gives me. I know the sensei(s) enjoy me as a student because I really try and take it seriously. It sounds like we have a lot in common. I'd love to be "e-mail pals" and share our martial arts journey together since we are battling some of the same obstacles. If you'd like, e-mail me at work [email protected]. Keep up the good work and don't quit!!!

 

[Jo-zen]

My ankles have always rolled, I usually didn't fall when I was younger and weighed less. They seem to act up the most when I gain more than ten pounds. I suspect my body is trying to adjust to the weight. When I workout in the gym, I have the orthopedic inserts in my gym shoes and they help a great deal. I have always had issues with my left ear, (it feels as if I have cotten stuffed deep inside) and have grown used to it. I've gone to the doctor and they have told me to take sudafed.

I'm doing TaeKwonDo, so barefoot. At least when I fall, the mat is there to catch me. And like everyone says, I will learn to balance.

 

[Jo-zen]

Sure! I would love to be able to talk to someone battling the same issues. Expect an email for [email protected]!

 

[7starmarc]

My ankles have always rolled, I usually didn't fall when I was younger and weighed less. They seem to act up the most when I gain more than ten pounds. I suspect my body is trying to adjust to the weight. When I workout in the gym, I have the orthopedic inserts in my gym shoes and they help a great deal. I have always had issues with my left ear, (it feels as if I have cotten stuffed deep inside) and have grown used to it. I've gone to the doctor and they have told me to take sudafed.

I'm doing TaeKwonDo, so barefoot. At least when I fall, the mat is there to catch me. And like everyone says, I will learn to balance.

Well, weight loss can always help a situation like this, but that's not the end of it. If you've always had "weak" ankles, and only a 10 lb weight change affects you in this way, I might suggest that you may want to look in to doing some ankle work.

A physical therapist or athletic trainer would be the best choice to work with to get you ankles in better shape, but you could do some work on your own. Two factors which may help you are ankle stability and proprioception.

Stability is pretty obvious -- the intergrity of you ligaments and tendons and the strength of surrounding muscles. You can't do a whole lot abouth the connective tissues, if they're lax, they're lax. You can do some work on supporting muscles.

Proprioception is your body's ability to know where it is in space without looking. Some people have a naturally better sense of this compared to others. Also, it can be developed by skill activities (such as martial arts!). It can be dminished by prolonged inactivity and injury (such as a serious ankle sprain or fracture). Proprioception exercises can help alot in this area.

The good news is that many of these activities (strengthening and proprioception) cross over. The bad news is that their hard to explain in a forum and can greatly benefit from some specialized equipment (available in most trainer or physical therapy gyms).

The basic exercise is ankle range of motion -- moving the foot and ankle to make shapes or even letters of the alphabet. Anything more than that, I'd suggest you talk to someone in person. Also, a trainer/PT could assess your ankle stability and might be able to show you some taping techniques if your ankles are really wobbly. They could help provide support even without shoes.

As to your ear, sudafed is a pretty good choice. Fluid accumulation in your ear can throw balance off a bit, as well. Often times, you need to use a decongestant regularly for a short period to allow for irritation and swelling to go down, as well as complete drainage of any fluid that has collected.

Best of luck, and I hope this helps somewhat.

 

[Balrog]

Jo-Zen,

Well the important thing is that you keep getting up after every time you fall! It would be REAL EASY to just give up and go home and watch TV or do other things but instead- you go to class and keep pushing yourself. My hat is off to you!

The mere fact that you SIGNED UP AND ARE GIVING IT AN HONEST GO IS ALREADY A VICTORY! I would rather have 1 student like you than 20 who may be athletic but never push themselves and never strive to be better than when they walked through the door.

I am not super touchy-feely but I call it like I see/read it and you sir/m'am are a motivation to others who are afraid to take those first steps, and remember....The journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step.

Just keep getting up EVERY time and let nothing stop you from going to class and improving, you might be surprised with the result!

Agreed, 100%.

And keep in mind: every time you see someone who "makes it look so durn easy", just remember that person was once a beginner and used to fall on their butt on a regular basis.

Don't look at how far you have to go, look at how far you have come.

 

[Sanchin-J]

Being a big guy myself, I can completely understand your dilemma when it comes to certain techniques. What worked for me was to just accept that no one on this earth is perfect, especially not when they are just beginning to learn. Your balance is going to take time to develop, you've got to get to know your body and how to achieve balance based upon that knowledge. Granted, there are certain arts that larger people sincerely have trouble with, high kicking arts like Taekwondo for instance pose significant problems for us big guys and gals. Still, with a good understanding of your own body, where you need to be in your stance and what you need to do to make the techniques being taught work for you should be all you need to succeed. Then its just practice practice practice.

As for the embarrassment in falling, shake it off, your there to learn and even if you should receive a "snicker" from the peanut gallery, respect yourself enough to ignore it and to remain vigilant in your training. I used to get laughed at once in awhile, but then again, those who used to laugh were surpassed by me in skill and rank because I stayed dedicated and minded to my own training, rather than wasting time ridiculing someone else's.

 

[newGuy12]

FOCUS
You must focus to be most successful! Concentrate on what you are doing when you are doing it. When you kick, focus your thoughts on that kick -- very pointedly.

In this way, you enjoy the motions, the movements, whatever you are doing. Success will come, believe me!

 

[kidswarrior]

I used to get laughed at once in awhile, but then again, those who used to laugh were surpassed by me in skill and rank because I stayed dedicated and minded to my own training, rather than wasting time ridiculing someone else's.

Great point. You beat 99% of the naysayers with sheer persistence. And sometimes those naysayer voices are in our own heads--maybe from family members who don't even live near us (parents, etc.) or maybe aren't even alive anymore (grandparents, etc., who told us what we couldn't do, instead of what we could do). Just...don't...quit.

 

[tad2bad]

Just try to have fun. Don't really worry about what the other people in your class think. Just as long as you enjoy what you are doing then nothing really matters.

 

[JWLuiza]

Exactly. The only difference between a black belt and a white belt is that the BB hasn't quit. Good luck.