Monday, I went to Zumba at church. This was only my second week back after a good month or so break. I'm only able to go to one class a week because the other two classes happen to be at the same time as Tae Kwon Do. I had already paid in soreness for my gusto in doing the songs I was familiar with last week, so it didn't occur to me at the time to not push myself more than normal for the entire hour.
That was mistake number one.
My second mistake was adding Tae Kwon Do practice to the mix after I got back home. I took a shower, changed, and pushed the furniture out of my practice space in the living room. My hips have been feeling really tight lately and I can tell that my stretch is not as good on my roundhouse kicks, so I researched and found a few stretches that would help loosen my hips. After doing several of those, I decided to warm up with my forms. The first five were okay, but the muscles in my legs were starting to complain about the deep stances. There's a position in Pyung Ahn 2 that makes that form my least favorite of all of the Pyung Ahn forms. You have to almost go to a lunge, your back knee hovering a few inches off the ground as you scoop a kick with your arm. I tried to go down, but my muscles decided they had had enough.
After that, I moved on to kicks. I practiced front snap, roundhouse, side, crescent, and reverse crescent in the air, then did some combinations. Finally, I moved on to some shadow sparring, emphasizing being mobile and throwing fluid combinations. After a good five minutes of this, I threw a low roundhouse kick and my hamstring seized up. "Okay, that's enough," I said, and stopped for the night.
When I got up the next day, my thighs were sore and feeling weak. They ached the. Entire. Day. I realized that the multitude of lunges at Zumba plus my extra practice did it.
Well, as luck would have it, Tae Kwon Do class was that night, AND we had several visitors from our sister class work out with us. Mr. R.S., Ms. J.S., a blue belt, a green belt, and a yellow belt. After a quick warmup, the green belts, blue belts, and I started on Pyung Ahn 2. Oh goody. The form I had trouble with the night before.
Anyway, we had to hold stance frequently for minutes at a time because Mr. G and Mr. R.S. decided to pick us apart on the details of the form. My legs were shaking the entire time. Not good. I tried my best to stay in the stance and keep my knees bent, and it took all of my willpower to not drop my hands or come out of those stances. I was relieved when we finished with the form and moved on to something else.
So, lesson learned. Don't push yourself too much when you're starting back in something you haven't done for a while, and don't further antagonize your muscles by trying a bunch of new stretches and practicing extra without giving your body a chance to adjust. Ease into it. Don't try to do too much in one day.
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