At long last, I returned to the dojo to That Special Gleam in
The first class started as a frenzied conflagration of abdominal and core exercises designed to gently remind my body that I should never allow work to dissuade me from a week and a half of training ever again ever. We quickly jettisoned our core exercise payloads for more interesting exercises with partners… squat kicks, stance training, tension drills… it was a barrel of fun.
Unfortunately, the partner section was mismatched and I ended up with no partner, so I filled in by helping various students tense their stomachs right by wanging them with front kicks commensurate with their need for better tension.
One special young member of our dojo was treated with some assistance to help him realize that he can in fact tense his stomach. He was not very happy with me, but he made it through. I didn’t give him any more cruel or unusual punishment than I did anyone else of that equivalent belt rank… he just made it harder on himself by claiming he couldn’t do something within earshot of three black belts. The nerve of some kids…
We should surely we would receive a respite for the second class, but no such luck. The Shodan test came, time five. We did everything on that test in a rapid fire pace, so intense that several of the black belts took pause or quit doing certain drills. I toughed it out for most everything, however I was in debt by a few three-way kick combinations so I finished those up after class.
This was the first time in a very, very long time that there wasn’t a lot of chatter after class finished. Even the black belts were exhausted, and now I don’t know if I can get off the couch to drag myself to bed.
We’re glad you’re feeling better,
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