Earned the first stripe on my yellow belt last night! This is also my first stripe of Black Belt Training Club (BBTC), which is essentially my long-term commitment to Krav Maga.
I’m discovering that I’m in pretty decent shape for a middle-aged former fatty. I can get a round kick up to my opponent’s head level, and my flexibility and stamina are both improving.
Feeling pretty awesome.
I’ve decided to back down to one Krav Maga class per week, since the classes can run past my son’s regular bedtime. Since the Fitness Center at my work had a Kickboxing class on the schedule for today, I decided to do that today and Krav on Wednesday.
I didn’t expect this class to kick my ass so hard. I used it as an opportunity to practice proper form — mostly pivoting on my back foot on crosses and hooks — but I hadn’t taken into account how FAST the moves happen. The cardio sections the instructor put in between drills and combos were my chance to lower my heart rate.
I was pleased to note how many of my Krav habits are automatic now: keeping my hands up by my face, pivoting on crosses and hooks, remembering to exhale (even if I don’t kiai), turning my foot sideways on a side kick, and managing to turn on the intensity when warranted — even if I’m beat and in danger of overheating.
I spent a good amount of time in a cold shower after class, cooling down my core.
I feel good right now, on several levels.
I earned my second stripe today! When I got home after class, my husband joked that I’m a second degree white belt now.
In one more month, I test for my yellow belt. Hope I can work up to ten full push-ups by then…
It all started when… well, technically, I guess it all started when Connor started karate classes. My own martial arts journey re-started when I finally couldn’t take it any longer — I wanted to play, too! — and asked Mr. Turner if he also taught an adult beginner karate class.
Not exactly…
I signed up for the Krav Maga class in June, and started out taking one class per week. The years-ago experience of aikido class made me wary of jumping in with both feet right away. As it turns out, learning Krav Maga is a lot less taxing to my vestibular system than learning aikido — not nearly as much rolling and falling down. There will be some rolling and throwing eventually, but at least now I have motion-sickness patches!
So, what in the world is Krav Maga, anyway?
Glad you asked.
Krav Maga is the martial art practiced by the Israeli military, and translates to Contact Combat. It’s essentially a combination of multiple martial arts— karate, jiu jitsu, aikido, etc. — that together create a practical, effective means of escaping and neutralizing an attacker.
It’s some seriously kick-ass self-defense. It’s also a great workout.
Now, back when I started aikido, I’d blog about my injuries on a weekly basis: pulling my groin, getting mat burn on my knees and feet, feeling unwell due to motion sickness from rolling over and over… and my Mom pointed out to me over the phone that I wasn’t getting any younger, and maybe all my injuries were a sign I should quit. I finally did quit, after a year of training and after earning my first rank. Oddly enough, I don’t think I have any photos of me in my newly-earned hakama, although I do still have it stowed away in the attic.
After a month or so of Krav Maga, I have no thoughts of quitting. It’s too fun! It’s a great workout, like I mentioned, and it takes me out of my comfort zone in a different way than aikido did. I feel less lost, and more like mastery is just outside my reach, rather than completely out of reach.
That’s not to say that I haven’t had some injuries. During my first real class, I repeatedly round-kicked with the top of my foot (instead of my shin) so hard that I busted a blood vessel and gave myself a straight-up hematoma. I totally bypassed the bruise stage and went straight to “Miss Dennis, should the top of my foot be swollen up like this so soon after class?”
Apart from that, though, no problems.
This quarter, we’re learning one strike set and a self-defense maneuver to escape a headlock (and subsequently beat the crap out of the attacker). On Wednesday, we practiced the headlock maneuver by getting repeatedly head-locked by our classmates, round-robin style, fast-paced, no breaks.
This is so fun.
Today, two different people from two completely different aspects of my life told me that I have a “positive energy” about me.
My knee-jerk reaction was to make a snide comment in my head about how I must have everyone fooled. But if two different people both see it — one at work, one at karate — maybe I’m just not seeing myself as others see me.
Truth be told, I couldn’t keep the smile off my face during my second-ever Krav Maga class tonight… even when I gave myself a wicked bruise on the top of my foot from doing round kicks, or when I couldn’t quite figure out how to leverage myself to spin around on the floor after blocking a stomp to the face. So, yeah, I’m having fun. Positive energy.
It’s the guy from work who confuses me with his claim that I exude positive energy. Sure, I make a point to be pleasant in my interactions with others, and I’m a little irreverent by nature… but I don’t exactly see myself as the person who lights up a room when I walk in, or who people gravitate toward, or anything like that.
I guess I really just don’t — can’t — see myself as others see me. If the persona I’m showing is one with positive energy, though, I’ll take it.