Hordfest
White Belt
Hi everybody,
Three months ago I came in here talking about starting my martial arts journey, how nervous I was, etc. and I just wanted to post my experience over the last three months in the hopes it proves useful to others, beginners or otherwise. Also, I feel like it will be good for me to talk about my experience with others. My style is Shuri-ryu karate.
Day 1 (Note that I had a 15 minute private intro with my sensei before this)
It's 6:00, my heart is pounding, thousands of thoughts are running through my head, will I suck, is everybody there going to be a monster who eats white belts for breakfast, will I fit in? It's 6:30, I walk into the dojo. I learn the start of class formalities, it all sounds like gibberish to me (actually Japanese), and then we go to warm ups. We started by doing a countdown from 10 (10 jumping jacks, 10 push ups, 10 sit ups, then 9-9-9 etc. all the way to 1-1-1) which quickly left me panting and sweating (boy was I out of shape). We then do some isometric stretching, but I'm way to nervous to stretch properly so my flexibility is near 0 (I couldn't relax, tendons in my leg ended up hurting for days from poor technique) and we then go into learning some basic blocks. We go over gedan barai (low block) and the sempai shows us how to load up and throw the block and I'm looking at him like, you want me to do WHAT? And I'm supposed to move BOTH hands at the same time?!!! Ahhhhh. We repeat this for chudan barai (middle block) and jodan barai (high block) and by the end of it my head is swarming with information that I know I won't remember. After that I am exposed to the concept of stances. We learn how to hold a proper front stance and horse stance, and of course, sempai makes us hold each one, and after 30 seconds (might as well have been eternity) right before I collapse he lets us break the stance and laughs knowingly at all of us poor white belts. I don't remember what happened after that, but I do remember that as I left that night, tired, sweating, pain all over, I could only think of one thing, I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT LESSON
!!!!
End of Month 3
It's 6:00, I'm mentally exhausted from taking an exam at school, but the promise of karate keeps me fresh. I head into class at 6:30 and after formalities we do work outs, I break a sweat (I'm a sweater) but I'm not tired, I'm warmed up and ready for class. We start by going over Taikyoku ich (our first Kata). I volunteer to lead the class and I perform it fairly decently, aware that we have two students that are less then a week old who are looking to me to lead like I was looking to others my first day.
After class I think about how I've changed and realize how far I've come. I can perform all of my basic blocks with excellent technique, I have an arsenal of kicks, and I can perform the first two Kata of our system. After a couple of weeks I made friends with one of the sempais at our school, a certain Nidan (2nd degree black belt) named Mr Falls, and we train privately twice a week which has really accelerated the rate at which I am learning and throwing techniques. He holds me to a higher standard, which can be quite painful at times, but it builds character and I know it's because he wants to see me progress, as he has told me that teachers love students like me who are willing to put in the extra long training hours to improve. At the end of the month I test for my yellow belt and I'm definitely nervous and excited!
Anyways, that is enough rambling. My point is, Karate, and martial arts as a whole, has been one of the best choices I've made in a long time. My body is stronger, my mind more focused, and my spirit full of energy. Martial arts truly is a life-changing experience and, if you are prospective student reading this, if you are willing to put in the work and time, there is no limit to what you can accomplish!
Thanks for reading!
Three months ago I came in here talking about starting my martial arts journey, how nervous I was, etc. and I just wanted to post my experience over the last three months in the hopes it proves useful to others, beginners or otherwise. Also, I feel like it will be good for me to talk about my experience with others. My style is Shuri-ryu karate.
Day 1 (Note that I had a 15 minute private intro with my sensei before this)
It's 6:00, my heart is pounding, thousands of thoughts are running through my head, will I suck, is everybody there going to be a monster who eats white belts for breakfast, will I fit in? It's 6:30, I walk into the dojo. I learn the start of class formalities, it all sounds like gibberish to me (actually Japanese), and then we go to warm ups. We started by doing a countdown from 10 (10 jumping jacks, 10 push ups, 10 sit ups, then 9-9-9 etc. all the way to 1-1-1) which quickly left me panting and sweating (boy was I out of shape). We then do some isometric stretching, but I'm way to nervous to stretch properly so my flexibility is near 0 (I couldn't relax, tendons in my leg ended up hurting for days from poor technique) and we then go into learning some basic blocks. We go over gedan barai (low block) and the sempai shows us how to load up and throw the block and I'm looking at him like, you want me to do WHAT? And I'm supposed to move BOTH hands at the same time?!!! Ahhhhh. We repeat this for chudan barai (middle block) and jodan barai (high block) and by the end of it my head is swarming with information that I know I won't remember. After that I am exposed to the concept of stances. We learn how to hold a proper front stance and horse stance, and of course, sempai makes us hold each one, and after 30 seconds (might as well have been eternity) right before I collapse he lets us break the stance and laughs knowingly at all of us poor white belts. I don't remember what happened after that, but I do remember that as I left that night, tired, sweating, pain all over, I could only think of one thing, I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT LESSON
!!!!End of Month 3
It's 6:00, I'm mentally exhausted from taking an exam at school, but the promise of karate keeps me fresh. I head into class at 6:30 and after formalities we do work outs, I break a sweat (I'm a sweater) but I'm not tired, I'm warmed up and ready for class. We start by going over Taikyoku ich (our first Kata). I volunteer to lead the class and I perform it fairly decently, aware that we have two students that are less then a week old who are looking to me to lead like I was looking to others my first day.
After class I think about how I've changed and realize how far I've come. I can perform all of my basic blocks with excellent technique, I have an arsenal of kicks, and I can perform the first two Kata of our system. After a couple of weeks I made friends with one of the sempais at our school, a certain Nidan (2nd degree black belt) named Mr Falls, and we train privately twice a week which has really accelerated the rate at which I am learning and throwing techniques. He holds me to a higher standard, which can be quite painful at times, but it builds character and I know it's because he wants to see me progress, as he has told me that teachers love students like me who are willing to put in the extra long training hours to improve. At the end of the month I test for my yellow belt and I'm definitely nervous and excited!
Anyways, that is enough rambling. My point is, Karate, and martial arts as a whole, has been one of the best choices I've made in a long time. My body is stronger, my mind more focused, and my spirit full of energy. Martial arts truly is a life-changing experience and, if you are prospective student reading this, if you are willing to put in the work and time, there is no limit to what you can accomplish!
Thanks for reading!
