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The good news: I have passed pre-screening for my belt test, which is being held tomorrow. This will be for the red stripe belt, the last intermediate belt. When I pass the next one, the red belt, I'll start taking the advanced belt classes. (Fiona, by the way, is having her second black belt pre-screening tonight).
The bad news: I seem to have mucked up my hamstring. Again. Or is it a pulled muscle? Whatever: I'm feeling definite pain in the left inner thigh when I walk, much less when I kick. Damn. Ice and heat and Ibuprophen. And crossed fingers. I'm afraid it's really going to hamper me tomorrow.
I asked Mr. Dingmann privately for notes after class. He talked to me about holding too much tension, particularly in the shoulders, during both the self-defense sequences and the form.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pazlazuli has spoken to me about this, too. (Hey, my senseis are consistent!) I need to learn to relax in the pauses between movements so that the fast twitch, the explosive force, can fly out without being constrained. Come to think of it, this is probably why I was having so much trouble with the kicking last night, too. Perhaps it was the pain in my thigh which was making me tense up, and that made me fall out of practically half my kicks. Which was really, really annoying and embarrassing, which made me tense up even more and kick even worse. I realize that I'm continually holding myself to a higher standard on balancing on my kicks than even my senseis expect at this point. It's the perfectionist in me, I guess. I know this intellectually; I know that I should be concentrating more on the pivot of the supporting leg and the proper knee motion in the round kick than I should be worrying about losing my balance. But I hate, hate, hate falling out of kicks, and it is so difficult not to get mad at myself. Even when I know that doing so just makes things worse. I also desperately wish that I can kick higher. And so I keep over-stretching, which means I hurt my muscles and then I'm stuck only being able to kick lower still.
Trying too hard makes things worse. Counter intuitive, but unfortunately true.
The bad news: I seem to have mucked up my hamstring. Again. Or is it a pulled muscle? Whatever: I'm feeling definite pain in the left inner thigh when I walk, much less when I kick. Damn. Ice and heat and Ibuprophen. And crossed fingers. I'm afraid it's really going to hamper me tomorrow.
I asked Mr. Dingmann privately for notes after class. He talked to me about holding too much tension, particularly in the shoulders, during both the self-defense sequences and the form.
pazlazuli has spoken to me about this, too. (Hey, my senseis are consistent!) I need to learn to relax in the pauses between movements so that the fast twitch, the explosive force, can fly out without being constrained. Come to think of it, this is probably why I was having so much trouble with the kicking last night, too. Perhaps it was the pain in my thigh which was making me tense up, and that made me fall out of practically half my kicks. Which was really, really annoying and embarrassing, which made me tense up even more and kick even worse. I realize that I'm continually holding myself to a higher standard on balancing on my kicks than even my senseis expect at this point. It's the perfectionist in me, I guess. I know this intellectually; I know that I should be concentrating more on the pivot of the supporting leg and the proper knee motion in the round kick than I should be worrying about losing my balance. But I hate, hate, hate falling out of kicks, and it is so difficult not to get mad at myself. Even when I know that doing so just makes things worse. I also desperately wish that I can kick higher. And so I keep over-stretching, which means I hurt my muscles and then I'm stuck only being able to kick lower still.Trying too hard makes things worse. Counter intuitive, but unfortunately true.