Missed it by *this* much!
February 2, 2008 by Bob Patterson
Due to lost mail we did not receive notification of the Cho Dan Board of Masters’ Test. Naturally, my instructor found this out last night from Master C.
So I call her back and she asks me if I can be ready by Saturday. Sadly, I had prior engagements and even if I did I cannot be ready on that short of a notice! (can you say panic attack?!) In fact, while we’ve maintained fundamentals, we’ve hardly practiced that which I’ll be tested on since I passed the school black belt test back in December.
The good news? Master C. is going to work something out for us. So sometime in February I’ll test. Better still, I’ll have some time to get things back up to speed again.
So, starting tonight all training is centered on review, review, review! When I got home from work I knocked out what I lovingly call 100’s. I got the idea from Mokuren Dojo a few weeks back. Though I’ve modified it from what Pat does, here’s what I try to do once per week:
100 push-ups
100 leg raises
100 lat pull downs
100 squats/calf raises (light weights)
I use this routine to replace one of three at-home workouts. It sucks at first but once you get started and keep rolling it’s over in about 20 minutes. It also gets your cardio up if you do it fast with no rest. When I started this I could not do more than 30 push-ups at a time. Now I can do 50 before having to move on to the next exercise.
After the 100’s I reviewed all forms from Il Jang to Koryo. I have a little game I play when I practice forms at home. I cannot move onto the next form until I do the one I’m on almost perfect. Namely, it’d have to pass a promotion test or look good at a tournament. It’s harder than it looks and sometimes I’ll forget a step and get stuck on one for five or six tries. Tonight went good until I got to Koryo. I ended up with a brain lock on the first leg grab/strike to the knee.
Forms where (and are) my weakest link–mostly owing to performance anxiety. Doing this little drill really paid off. At the school black belt test I did all my forms arguably the best I’ve ever been able to do in a test setting. So, it’s worth a try if you have the same problem.
~BCP
