No More Mat Burn. . . .Here's to Hoping

I thought I had solved my mat burn problem.

After searching through a lot of forums and a few articles, I set out to the store to buy athletic tape and also some first aid tape to wrap up the mat burn on my foot which was still healing. Before Jiu-Jitsu on Saturday, I wrapped my foot up nice and tight so that the mats wouldn't have a chance at making the sore spot worse,  then headed to class.

Throughout the class, I was careful to not let the tops of my feet rest on the mats. I made it through the warmup and drilling (the first half or so of class) without causing another burn or irritating the one I taped. At this point, I was feeling happy with my solution.

The problem came during rolling. The tape stayed on, but I had gotten too close to the edge of the mats without realizing it. I was on my knees, and when I shot in for a takedown, my foot found carpet. In the past, I've never felt the burn until after class. I felt this one immediately. Cue pain and I was sure there was going to be blood involved. I was in the middle of the roll with about a minute left on the clock, so I kept going anyway. When I sat down to watch the others, my foot was starting to bleed, and this burn was bigger than the others.

Darn it.

All my barefoot years of Tae Kwon Do have built up callouses on the bottom of my feet, but the tops of my feet are obviously very soft and wimpy.

I wanted to tough it out because I'm used to going barefoot, but when I keep adding new burns every week. . . I decided enough was enough. I  caved and bought some of these to help protect my girly feet.

These are Toe Sox for Pilates, Yoga, Martial Arts, etc. etc. As soon as they get here and I try them out in class, I'll write a review and post it. I've never liked toe socks before, so we'll see how these do.

28 Days Before the Test - So Much to Do, So Little Time

When I signed in to my blog and looked at my countdown clock, I did a double take.

28 days.

Back in October when my test date was just getting set, I was thinking, "Oh, five months. That's so far away. I have plenty of time!"

Today is February 11th.

.......

Just where did all that time go?

Everything is starting to come together as it should be. I've been reminding myself that there's always going to be things that I need to work on or that I'm not happy with. My perfectionist side has been rearing up the past few months, but I think I'm doing better at pushing it aside and not putting myself down for every single thing that I do wrong.

At this point, I'm concentrating on upping my stamina and fine tuning my forms, basics, and kicks at home. Sparring and self defense are two areas that are hard to work on without a partner, and I have expressed to my instructors that I want to get more comfortable with both so that they become more reactionary. At this point, I'm still thinking and analyzing too much instead of just reacting.

We focused on sparring at Tuesday night's class and Mr. G announced that we're going to be working on both sparring and self defense almost exclusively in class until my test.

If there is one area on my test that I'm the most apprehensive of, it's freezing up and going "deer in the headlights" when I'm asked a question. The combination of being afraid to say the wrong thing and wanting  to have the answer fully answered in my head is not going to cut it. The black belts start thinking of what questions (mostly opinion questions based on previous training, but also some technique "why's?" and philosophical questions) weeks and months before the test, so my instructors have been working with me on answering impromptu questions more quickly and having me just start talking the answer out instead of standing there looking like I don't know when I'm actually just deep in thought.

Four more weeks. *Takes a deep breath* Okay.

Burned Out About Mat Burn

Rant time! Be forewarned.

I now have one gripe about BJJ and grappling in general. My feet are becoming spotted from three instances of....mat burn. We have these thin little puzzle mats and they just tear at my feet. The bruises and occasional cuts and scrapes are not a big deal, but the mat burns on the top of my feet are worse than carpet burns. I'm even thinking now that it's worse than the shin to shin clash during sparring matches at Tae Kwon Do, and that's saying something. I'm serious. At least when your shin is bruised, it doesn't get stepped on or squashed by a shoe or dragged along on the ground at Judo class when you're sitting on the floor trying to stretch and attempting to avoid agitating said burn.

Of the three I have, my left foot is the best. I have a tiny one on the knuckle of my big toe that's not hurting whatsover. The one closer to my ankle is better now and it looks like it's going to scar. The burn on my right foot on my toe knuckle is the worst. I wore an ankle support which covered the one on my other foot, but every time a Band-Aid is ripped off in Judo or Tae Kwon Do, it pulls off more skin on the newest burn.

I'm considering buying stock in Band-Aid's now. I'm going through them quite fast. I've also tried a liquid bandage - the kind that looks like fingernail polish and covers a cut to keep the germs out - but taking my shoes off at the end of the day messed that up and made it bleed. Not good.


I could probably avoid the mat burns more if I sat more on the balls of my feet rather than my heels when I'm in someone's guard, but this newbie is having trouble with focusing on her feet when the opponent she's rolling with is attempting to armbar her.

Anyway, that's my rant on mat burn. It's annoying, but I guess I can't complain. It could be worse. It could be something like Mr. Mc dislocating his little toe and having to pop it back into place during a short sparring match on Tuesday night. Um....yeah. I think I'll take the mat burn.

New Year and New Opportunities

With this being my first post for 2012, I'll update what's been going on in my martial arts' world since the last time I wrote in this blog.

Tae Kwon Do is going well. We had our last class of the year and Christmas party on December 13th. The kids' class and adult class were combined, and we spent around two and a half hours breaking boards, eating snacks, and watching the black belts put on demonstrations. For the board breaking portion, J.M., (one of the blue belts in the adult class) and I assisted the kids with setting up axe kicks and hammerfists for their board breaks. We also did several breaks in between. Of the five breaks I attempted, I broke three. One with a left hand hammerfist, one with an axe kick, and one with a front snap kick. The two that I could not get to work were a two board hammerfist break and an inverted punch. Both, I were told, were because I did not commit fully to the technique and slowed down before I hit the boards.

The black belts also did several demonstrations. There was a self defense demo, a Tai Chi for self defense demo, an escrima stick demo, and then I was asked to do a demonstration of my 8 self defense techniques that I had to have for my red belt test, and will also have to do for my black belt test in March. I was slightly caught of guard with this as no one had forewarned me, but somehow I just knew that I was going to be called upon that night. I stepped on the mats and was told to choose a partner for my demo. I chose Mr. G because I've worked with him the most on my self defense techniques and I was more comfortable working with him on a last minute, not much preparation situation. Anyway, my demo went well and the kids in particular loved watching me toss my instructor around.

Our last class of the year was the 13th. We didn't start up classes again until January 10th. That was way too long for me. I start getting anxious when class is called off or we have an extended break, so I was more than ready to start back when we did on the 10th.

I'm getting ahead of myself though. On January 7th, several of our black belts, blue belt J.M., and I went up to another Tae Kwon Do school and did a five hour long seminar on a variety of topics. I know we covered sparring, groundfighting, hapkido, joint manipulation, and kicks. I was so excited to be able to go and be a part of the seminar. Ms. J.S. worked with me on some techniques on the ground, and it was great to work with new people in a different style of Tae Kwon Do. From my observations, I saw that they are more sport oriented than I am used to, they don't hit to the head (something that we allow), they wear more sparring gear (we wear only foot pads, hand pads, and sometimes a mouth piece), and they have quite a few kid black belts. I'm not exactly a fan of that, but whatever. . .

In other news, my black belt test is still scheduled for March 10th.  I'm ridiculously nervous and a touch anxious about it. It seems to me that there is so much that I need to work on in so little time. So very little time. My countdown clock reminds me of that fact.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. At this point, I've only been to three classes, but I'm loving what I've learned so far. We took a few weeks off for Christmas, I had a test one day, our Tae Kwon Do seminar fell on another class day, and things like that have kept me from having more classes under my belt.

Speaking of belt, I just bought a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu uniform. I'll have to take a picture of it, but it's a blue Fuji Single Weave and it fits perfectly right out of the bag. Oh my word! That thing is heavy! I put it on when I got it and then when I put on my Tae Kwon Do gi tonight, it felt like nothing. I have an 8.5 oz gi, and it's like wearing a pillowcase compared to the BJJ gi. Another small thing that I've been giddy about is the color. After....what is it now? 9ish years of wearing all white to Tae Kwon Do, just being able to wear something colored makes me ridiculously happy.

Judo. So...here's the new opportunity I mentioned in the title of this post. I had the chance when I was working out my schedule for college to sign up for a Intro to Judo course. I thought it would be a good compliment to my existing base of Tae Kwon Do, since throws aren't our specialty. We do know some throws, but judo has so many more. I'm a week and a half into it, and I'm liking it so far. My muscles are not enjoying it though. We started out with breakfalls and rolls the first week. That wasn't a problem, other than the fact that I'm having trouble with rolling backward. There's just something about throwing your feet over your head that just doesn't click with me. Forward? Yes. Backward? No... I feel that something along the lines of this is going to happen and I'm going to crack my head or my neck on the mats.

On Monday we started throwing each other, and that's the culprit to my soreness. I went to an additional class offered at night and we spent almost an hour and a half throwing each other. There were mats involved and a thick springy floor, but landing awkwardly several times didn't help matters. Afterward, I counted up how many times I had been thrown that night, and it was right at about fifty. Needless to say, I. Am. Sore. Everything hurts. From my knee which I tweaked during one of my not-so-good landings, to my neck, and everywhere in between.

The majority of the others students in the class are guys. They outnumber us about 20 to 8. Martial arts don't attract many girls to begin with, so that wasn't a surprise in itself, but this brings up a couple of points. The first is that I discovered that the guys have a hard time throwing me because of my height. On several occasions I stepped onto the mats only to hear something along the lines of "Oh no. The first person I throw is the hardest person in class to throw...." Never before now (that I can think of) has Shortness + martial arts = beneficial. It's not helpful in sparring when your opponent has a foot of reach on you, and it's certainly not an advantage when working in pairs and you're having to stand on your tiptoes to get the arm around your tall partner's neck for a choke. With this "I'm hard to throw" thing, it's a refreshing and very amusing (to me) change.

Something else that I've noticed in class is that it just so happens that I'm partnered up with another girl. That doesn't bother me. I actually wish that we had more women come to Tae Kwon Do, but that's another tangent that I won't get off on right now. The issue that I had today was that I was all, "Okay! Let's throw each other!" and my mindset was "Getting slammed on the ground is fun! Throw me again! Harder!" This was not the mindset of the two people I was working with today. They were more apprehensive and standoffish, and many times, I had to say "Do you want to try it now?" before they would step up and throw me / I throw them. Behind me, the guys were just jumping right into it as soon as the instructor finished demonstrating the throw. I know, everyone's new at this and most don't have prior martial arts training, but it was a little frustrating. I found myself wishing that I could partner with one of the guys. That's who most of my training partners are in both Tae Kwon Do and BJJ, so I guess I'm more used to the "Okay, let's do this!" attitude.

I have to learn a good chunk of Japanese vocabulary words for the class and by the end of the semester, be able to demonstrate 8 throwing techniques and 5 ground techniques. I've checked out a book from the library on Judo and have been leafing through it, finding the throws that we'll be working on and studying them.

Beginning a New Class - Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Back in June, I wrote a post about my experience in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu when a blue belt visited our class. Since then, I have only had one other experience in groundfighting when a couple of my instructors and I visited our sister class. I enjoyed both classes and in the following months have wished "If only there was a BJJ school nearby with tuition that fell under the category of 'poor college student rate!'" ever since.

Little did I know that there was a class with exactly those specifics.

Oh how I adore Facebook. For all of the multitude of ads, annoying game requests and apps friends send, there is a plus side. While checking my newsfeed for the day, I happened upon an update that one of my friends from college was added to a martial arts group. Intrigued, I sent a message to my friend who also does Tae Kwon Do (at a different school) and found out the details of the class.

I attended my second class last week and am definitely hooked. As much as I still love my Tae Kwon Do and will of course continue my training (after all, Tae Kwon Do is my first love), it's refreshing to be a white belt again in something for a change after being the ranking student for so long. There's something inherently exciting about starting something new. I don't have to think about belt tests, teaching others....I'm just there to learn...for myself.

BJJ is so different to what I am used to, yet the concepts are similar and familiar. I think it's going to really complement my standing martial art well. We worked on an armbar at my first class and that was a familiar motion to me, as we do a lot of arm bars in self defense at TKD.

The soreness is something new. It's not like I'm never sore in Tae Kwon Do, but the amount of time spent on the ground and fighting for position takes a toll on muscles I don't use as frequently. The first class I went to, I was taught several techniques, but it was requested that I wait to spar or "roll" as it is called in BJJ. Last week, I was able to roll for the first time and slightly pulled a muscle in my back that has since healed thankfully.

The learning curve and mindset is something I'm getting used to. You don't punch or kick your opponent, instead going for submissions, chokes, and the like. My muscle memory and previous experience wants me to go for the punch or elbow, especially when the face is not guarded, but this is not the goal. There's also a whole lot of me thinking "Uh....what do I do now?" as I know only a handful of techniques and figuring out when I can use them depends on getting the other person into the right position. In theory, an arm bar is relatively simple when you're working with a partner who's in position for one. When they're not, it suddenly becomes that much harder.

I'm looking forward to adding more techniques to my repertoire and getting out of the "What do I do now?" stage.

Seeing Improvement

In my training over the past few years especially, seeing marked improvement in my skills has been an area of...difficulty from my point of view. I know in my mind and with my being that I've improved and made progress. My instructors tell me as such also and can see techniques that are better than they were, but there are concepts that give me trouble still. I was waiting for the "Eureka!" moment where the lightbulb turned on and suddenly everything made sense. I was expecting a significant jump from "Huh?" to "Aha!"

Those moments did not happen in the way I imagined them. In fact, my instructors told me as much months ago and explained what would happen.

On Tuesday night, both the kids' class and the adult class were small. It was the week of Thanksgiving and had been stormy all day. I usually help out in the kids' class, but on this night, Mr. M worked with me instead. The topic was snap and power in my forms. I was not generating the power I needed, so he addressed that.

He had me work on getting more hip rotation as I moved in a front stance and then timing my lead foot and hands to stop at the same time. Then, it was a matter of doing both of those things while fully committing to the techniques. He gave me something to focus on, to get the point fixed into my head - every technique must be done as if I was in the middle of my test and my black belt was on the line.

After this, he had me do a couple of my forms with that same mindset. I was breathing hard by the end of each form and Mr. M told me that was probably the best he's seen me do the forms.

The kids' class ended about this time, and I ended up being the only student in the adult class. This turned out great. Mr. M had me do one of my forms so Mr. G could see and then they had me continue doing all of my forms with the same intensity.


Mr. G turned to Mr. M as I finished Pyung Ahn 2, about the halfway point of our color belt forms. He asked him to choose one area that needed the most work in the forms. Mr. M thought for a moment and said "timing." The significance of this (which Mr. G reminded me of immediately) is that for months, if not longer my instructors have been telling me - no, more like chanting at me - that my forms need more power. This issue with power has frustrated me for so long because to have power, you need speed and snap, not strength. Sure, you can muscle through a technique, but you're fighting against yourself and wearing yourself out with tension if you try to force power like that.

Something happened that I didn't really realize until it was told to me. Power was moved down from #1 on the list of things to work on. I continued doing my forms, all the while wondering when that had changed. The difference wasn't a huge lightbulb moment, but there was a noticeable difference in my techniques.

Subtle. Just as my instructors had told me it would be. One day it just. . .works. The recognition of change  was as small as "This feels a little different. A little better." Simple as that. Can I tell you outright what I was doing differently? No. I really have no clue myself! It just worked.

Now why was I making this so difficult?

Sparring 201 - Controlling the Fight

Mr. G asked me to write a paper on "Controlling the Fight" a couple months ago. Here is what I wrote.

Controlling the Fight

There is not a single key tactic that in and of itself will control, and therefor win a fight or spar. It is a combination of several things and also one’s personal ability to use them well. The physical component of the fight is important, but I believe that the mental aspect is equally important, if not more so.

I’m going to begin with the mental part of the spar.

    First is mindset, which begins before you even bow in to begin. What is your attitude – your sense of purpose for the fight? Are you going to play tag with your opponent, trade a few techniques back and forth, or are you coming in with the attitude of “I’m going to dominate my opponent.”? You need to have the mindset well before you bow in to spar. You need to “flip the switch,” especially if your opponent is better than you. Flipping the switch also has to do with mindset. For me, there's a huge difference in mentality when sparring someone who's just learning to spar than sparring one of my instructors. If I'm sparring one of my instructors, the goal is not to go “tap tap” with my opponent unless instructed to. It’s no longer a friendly game of tag. It’s a fight. My opponent is my opponent, not my friend at that point in time. Best bring your “A” game both mentally and physically.

    Next, is focusing on the fight. Your mind should not be racing a mile a minute, thinking about what could happen, what you should have done, and what your opponent’s every move means. These things should be muted, in the background of your mind at the very most. Thinking slows down your reaction time and interferes your ability to just let your training take over. It also makes you get locked up with your thoughts and distracts you from your opponent. You should be focused, but ultimately thoughtless. Basically, mushin. “Mind, no mind.” Thinking and figuring out your strategy should come before, not during.

    Third, is reading your opponent. Before the fight begins, you should already know how your opponent is going to move by their stance. You should know, if not immediately, within a few seconds the distance that their arms and legs cover and where you must be to barely avoid being hit.

The physical part of the spar,

    Fighting your fight is vitally important. You can’t wait around for the other person to initiate. You run the risk of falling into their rhythm if you’re constantly waiting for them to do something. Strike first, strike fast, and strike hard. Keep the opponent on their toes, guessing what you’re going to do next.

    Next, Be mobile. Don’t stand in one place planted on the heels. Get on the balls of the feet. MOVE, MOVE, MOVE! Vary your steps. Cut angles. Don’t be linear. Don’t make your transitions big. Keep them quick and few and far between.

    Quickness is next. Being able to spot that opening and capitalize on it immediately is key. The opening will only be there for a second, and if you don’t take it, it’s gone.

    Power is not as important as the previous things that I’ve mentioned, but it is still something you must have. Your opponent must respect the power behind your techniques.

    Varying technique is my final point. If you do the same things over and over again, your opponent can pick up on it and adapt to it. You may get by doing the same thing over and over again with a lower ranking or younger student, but when the time comes where you're sparring someone who knows what they're doing, they are going to read you like an open book. You must vary up your techniques. Throw lots of combinations. Even if you have a few go-to combinations, mix it up, because patterns are obvious.

Official Test Day is Set

In my last post, I mentioned that I had a tentative day of March 31st, 2012 for my black belt test. I was under the impression that this would be a tentative date to give me a goal to work toward. Not a set in stone, definitely happening at this time. Obviously I was wrong.

I walked into class on Tuesday night. It was a normal class night, other than the fact that we've moved to a new location that has more floor space than the last church we were at. I began getting ready for class, putting on my uniform and belt. Mr. G then walks over and matter-of-factly states that he talked to Mr. R.S. over at our sister school, and since they are off for Spring Break the week of the 4th, they will come up for my test then.


So my official test date is March 10th, 2012

Okay then!


That means that not only is my test date written in stone, but it also means that my test has been moved where I originally had it on the 31st up to the 10th instead. Oh, good. Less time for me to prepare! With that said, I suddenly feel the need to go spar the heavy bag for the next several hours without stopping. . .