Countdown To My Black Belt Test....

My Tae Kwon Do (TKD) 1st Degree Black Belt test is finally here this Saturday at Karate Charlotte. I have been learning (TKD) now for over 2 1/2 years and can't believe that I am finally ready for the big test. It will consist of a 2 mile warm-up run, two board breaks (a run jump side kick and a back elbow) as well as sparring and my 50 step form called POWER. I don't consider myself a great martial artist but I feel I have benefited from the training. My flexibility has improved through the training but I still don't feel I am as flexible as I should be but overall I am happy with the results.

My workouts this week will focus on keeping myself as ready as possible for the test and will do lots of punching and kicking to prepare in these final days. Today during lunch I put on my 10 pound hypervest on and I brought my Spri resistance tubes and did some resistance kicks and punches and worked on my pistols. I also threw in some side shuffles in middle stance with the resistance tubes and did some burpees and some work on the speed rope to get my heart rate up. I rotated among the exercises with very little rest break and worked up a pretty intense sweat by the time I was done. I always feel great after my workout using those tubes and the vest.

As a side note, I think I have the down movement of the pistol accomplished. It is holding at the bottom is where my trouble is and I know I don't have the strength to push back up either. I will now work on balance and control at the bottom of the movement and also working on getting back to starting position and will keep performing the down movement. It actually helped using the hypervest for my first 5 reps and then doing the other 5 reps sans the vest. I am still happy with my progress with the pistols and will keep pushing forward. I will get this yet - even it takes me a few months! I remember the first time I learned how to do spinning kicks and how I could hardly spin and lift my leg to kick. I looked like a total klutz. Now they are easy and use them in sparring. It just took some time and practice. These pistols seem even more daunting to me than the spin kicks but I am confident that I will get there.