Tell me about your first day of training..

[Lynne]

My first Tang Soo Do (TSD - traditional Korean art/Karate - means "Way of the Open Hand from Defense to Offense") class was last Tuesday. I was a guest of my daughter during "Buddy Week." I loved it. I joined up on Thursday and began my official classes on Saturday. The trial class was actually harder than my first official class as I had to do some orange belt (8th Gup) material.

The warm up incorporated 300 crunches and 200 pushups. I had to do modified pushups and will for a long time I imagine. That's ok. I did my best.

We began with wall kicks after the warmup. My nonkicking leg, the one facing the wall, began to hurt before we even began kicking My daughter told me to focus on something so I wouldn't feel the pain as much. That worked great until the instructor corrected someone and we had to hold our leg up. AHHHHHHHHHH! Saturday, we did 240 wall kicks, twice more than Tuesday. Ouch. I think I'm going to be practicing those at home

I had to learn my daughter's highest form (please forgive the spelling and wrong/incomplete phonetics - Ping Yung Cho Dan???). White belts are of the metal element. I think I know why. I moved like a robot. Low block. Punch. Spin around. How? On one leg?!! Step up the middle, mom. What middle? Where's the middle? Prepare. Place your arms how?? We did this three times and the instructor seemed happy as a lark that I made it more than halfway through. I couldn't see it. I felt like a moron. Move like water? How about violent waves! Oh, and doing the form was hard work for this newbie.

Next was learning ahp chagi, the front kick. That was fun. I think kicks are my favorite. Then, we did edon ahp chagi? (running front kicks). My legs gave out/mistimed a kick and I fell. I got up and kept running. Then we did, I think, Tolio Chagi? We were stepping behind and then kicking.

Next were running side jump kicks. We ran down the Dojang and kicked the small focus pad the instructor was holding. It's a weird feeling having both of your legs in the air. You realize for a moment you are flying and have no control. I never did get the twist right for a sidekick as far as I can tell. It was more like a front kick I think. It was fun and I didn't slip on any pools of sweat...

Then we did punching, punching our partner's larger focus pad. We did "regular" (I don't know the name) punches and reverse punches. It's a lot harder than it looks. I couldn't remember to keep bouncing or to yell "Cheop" for breathing. My legs were getting tired and I was losing my coordination. Slide the foot forward, twist and punch. Bounce, bounce, bounce. My daughter told me my instructor kept telling me to say, "Cheop." I never heard him! I was so focused on doing a million things at once that I tuned him out. Now, I know what bamboo sticks are for....

I felt GOOD during class and after class. I didn't puke or faint. Seriously. That's what I feared would happen. I made sure I ate well during the day and drank a lot of water. I know that helped. That was no easy workout.

My biggest compliments were from two of the ladies while we were in the locker room. They told me, "You were really putting a lot of effort into it. Some people are just there." I had tried my very best and it was so nice to see that someone had noticed. My daughter later informed me that everyone was watching me, including Master R, who owns the academy. She said mainly the higher ranks want to help the lower ranks. I'm glad I didn't notice anyone watching me though.

On Thursday, I had several students come up to me and ask, "Are you going to do it, are you, are you? You should." That was nice. That's one thing I love about this school...the teamwork and the encouragement.

Martial Artists are just the greatest They certainly are here, at this site. I appreciate the feedback to my annoying questions

 

[Tez3]

The warm up incorporated 300 crunches and 200 pushups. I had to do modified pushups and will for a long time I imagine. That's ok. I did my best.

Good grief! Our MMA fighters don't do that much in a warm up and they are very fit!

Saturday, we did 240 wall kicks, twice more than Tuesday

It's amazing you managed all that let along enjoy it! It sounds a bit like a Marines boot camp, glad you enjoyed it though am a little concerned you are doing jumping kicks at this point. It would be easier to learn the first patterns too before doing slightly more advanced ones. I teach TSD and MMA and wouldn't have expected quite so much of a beginner but well done!

 

[Lynne]

The warm up incorporated 300 crunches and 200 pushups. I had to do modified pushups and will for a long time I imagine. That's ok. I did my best.

Good grief! Our MMA fighters don't do that much in a warm up and they are very fit!

Saturday, we did 240 wall kicks, twice more than Tuesday

It's amazing you managed all that let along enjoy it! It sounds a bit like a Marines boot camp, glad you enjoyed it though am a little concerned you are doing jumping kicks at this point. It would be easier to learn the first patterns too before doing slightly more advanced ones. I teach TSD and MMA and wouldn't have expected quite so much of a beginner but well done!

Well, I confess I dropped my left leg two times. The instructor was correcting higher rank students and it was taking forever. My leg started to shake and the pain was unbearable. My daughter warned me not to to drop my leg again though because I'd probably have to do extra wall kicks if I got caught. Oh, I feel so naughty...

Funny thing about boot camp...I think you know who the Master of my Dojang is, lol. He used to be in the Marines. I guess it's good he wasn't on the floor when I dropped my leg

I see what you mean about the patterns. After doing wall kicks we were asked to take a forward step, turn sideways and kick, repeat. I never did get that quite right. It didn't feel right but I wasn't corrected on it either (we had one instructor for the colored belts because the demo team was practicing=less instructors). I asked my daughter to help me after class. She said I was doing it wrong, my foot was pointing toward the ceiling instead of sideways. How could something that looks so simple be that difficult!? I'm not sure if that's a side kick or not.

Now that I'm in official classes, I imagine the instructors will correct me if my form is wrong. Most of the time, they have eyes in the backs of their heads. Usually, we have one instructor to about 3-8 students. I don't think there is much chance of me learning bad habits.

I was very fortunate that the instructor was my partner on Saturday. When we were doing reverse punching, I was sliding my foot forward by turning my toes under and sliding on the top of my foot. He caught it and told me to slide on the ball of my foot. Someone else might not have caught that and I would wonder why I had a skinned foot...or even broken toes.

Is MMA Mixed Martial Arts? Grandmaster Byrne and Master Penny Mitchell recently taught a clinic at out Dojang where they focused on Mixed Martial Arts. I wasn't a student but watched every second. I can see how grappling skills would come in handy during self-defense (if someone got in close).

 

[geocad]

What a great memory! Sorry in advance if this gets too long but a little history is required to clarify some of events and what makes it a memory I'll never forget.

I showed up to the Hwa Rang Do (HRD) club at the SRC (Student Recreation Center) at Arizona State University wearing a somewhat political T-Shirt, my long and curly black hair, and mustache and gotee. The instructor gave me the basic class info and asked me to join the class. One of the other students instantly did not like me based on either what I looked like (I had long hair, mustache, gotee, brown skin), my shirt, or a combination of both. This guy turned out to be in the ROTC program and apparently objected to my T-Shirt. He must have been in the club for at least two semesters because he was already an orange belt. (HRD = white, orange, yellow, green, purple, blue, brown, red, half black, black)

The back of my shirt said "US GOVERNMENT OUT OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY." The front of my shirt had the famous photo of the US flag raising on top of Mt. Iwo Jima but instead of a flag being raised it was a huge marijuana plant being raised by the Marines.

I liked this shirt because
A) I'm a former US Marine
B) I smoked pot at the time [college, not during my service]
C) I used to go to Humboldt State University (where I got the shirt - in town, not on campus).

The ROTC guy said something of the sort about me not being a true American and that if I knew what was good for me I would join the service. I asked him what branch he signed with and he said Army. My response was "what's the matter, couldn't you get accepted into the Marines?" I then told him I already served my country honorably and have seen combat first hand (I was in the first Gulf War - 1st. Mar. Div, 3rd AAV, Task Force Ripper...baby! OOOW RAHHH!!! My unit cleared mine fields while under tank, mortar, and artillary fire...OCD I).

Then the guy said that I should know better than to wear a disrespectful shirt. I told him that I didn't think it was disrespectful and that most people now a days didn't even know it was Marines who raised the flag or where it was raised. The shirt was a great conversation starter.

My instructor saw and heard the little debate and said that as long as I wasn't wearing shirts with bad words or naked girls then it didn't matter. He also sided with me when he said that since I am a former Marine and the guys on the shirt are Marines then it's kind of OK. The ROTC guy was pissed off.

Towards the end of class we were doing a sort of round robin light sparring session. When I matched up with the ROTC guy, he started off fast and hard. I got the impression he was not going to be cool so I put him in his place with a kickboxer type low kick that buckled him down to the mat. Prior to HRD I had a little JKD training in Juneau and kick boxing in the service so my kicks were already pretty good, IMHO

The ROTC guy never showed up to class again and I ended up staying with my instructor and the HRD club and academy for the next 5 years until I stopped training during my last semester and focused on graduating.

I learned early on to never judge a book by it's cover but that should be a different thread (New Thread: Have you ever been knocked out?). I guess the ROTC guy didn't quite get that lesson prior to my first HRD class.

Thanks Sean A. for the great memories with your ASU HRD club!

 

[geocad]

...Well I never regretted it, the only thing that I regret is that I had to stop for such a long time and now have to start all over again.

I feel the same way. When I stopped training, I always knew I would return sometime after graduating. Instead I started working and traveling and focused on my career. Now I'm starting over at the beginning in a new style because there isn't any Hwa Rang Do where I live (Flagstaff).

I recently started over with Hopkido and Tae Kwon Do. My first day back on the mat was great up until I over did it. As I already stated in a previous thread, "My muscles have amnesia." I over extended my pivot leg during a back kick and pulled or tore parts of my hamstring I took it easy for then next class, missed the one after that and then returned a week and a half after the initial injury. I felt ok so I decided to attend class and take it easy. But when Ryan busted out the kicking pads, my silly ego took over. I blasted the pad and reinjured my hamstring and now my hip is sore too. This all began just over a month ago. I'm still trying to recover.

The lesson learned...Don't think about what you used to do and realize you are most likely not as strong and flexible as you used to be. I'm 38 now.

 

[gungfufreddie]

My first day of training during boxing was indeed a day to remember for the rest of my life. (Western Boxing was were my martial arts origins began.) I was 7 years old, excited as could be, my uncle told me go put some gloves on, you 'n Bobby are gonna spar. At that time I had no idea what sparring was, I was just exstatic to get positive attention for the first time in years. So I put gloves on and my 14 year old cousin slammed me in the stomach. Everybody was laughing and when I got back up I couldn't help but laugh too, and from that point on, I swore that someone bigger than me would never put me down in a boxing match. I aspired to be like the Manassa Mauler, Jack Dempsey. But if you believe in happy endings then I could lie to you and say that no man bigger than me has taken me down since then. But since then I have grown a great appreciation and understanding of infighting in the realm of boxing. But all in all, the first day was pretty much more of a series of jokes to see if could really handle myself in boxing.

 

[TheOriginalName]

Well my first day of training was only last week, so i remember it rather well....... and unfortunately so does everyone else.

So after years of wanting to do karate i finally decided to join a school - so i signed up, got my very first gi and felt like i was on top of the world when i turned up for my first lesson.

And what a lesson - we focused on some basic blocks and stance........ lots on stance, especially the ones where your knees are really really really really bent.......

After 10 seconds my legs where shaking, but i'm the type of person who just wants to push thru the pain..... so i did ....... 5 minutes later i started to see spots....... next thing i know i was on the mats feeling like i was going to chuck........

Everyone was cool about it.... got a lot of "don't push yourself too hard" but when i turned up for my second lesson one of the staff walked up to me and introduced himself and said "so your the guy who passed out the other day"....... at least they all know me now!!

Love my training - don't know how i got by without it!! Also have taken up BJJ to compliment it

Have fun - train hard ......... and keep those hands high!!

 

[trainhard_fighteasy]

My first class of Taekwondo, if I'm perfectly honest, was pretty boooring. We had been to watch a demonstration at the class the week before and me and three of my friends decided to try out the free trial lesson...We didn't really do a lot...a few basic moves and a few punches but I thought I'd keep going and wait for it to get more exciting. Sure enough, a few weeks in a lot of people from the trial lesson had given up and it started to get a hundred times tougher and a lot more interesting =]

Looking back, I'm kinda glad we started easy - I was pretty unfit so it built me up quite well.

 

[Jutt-]

I feel a bit humble posting about mine , compared to everyone's impressive stories , but here goes .....

I toyed with the idea of doing Muay Thai for a while , but one day decided to take the next step and google a quick search to find out classes available in the area.

After arranging with The Dojo to , I went along and had a trial.

When I first got there , I noticed the class wasn't that big , but by the look of the people wrapping up thier hands and all the diffrent equipment , I then ( natrually) felt very much the novice bar one man who was on his second lesson.

Obviously the instructor picked up on this and paired us off in one area of the hall for the whole evening.

I was very nervous , and made a hell alot errors but to be fair it's expected as , after 4 lessions I'm still very very much a newbie in the sport.

I'm now aiming to practise alot more at home , and hopefully get conditioned up so my body can take more classes at another school , as ours only has one a week at the minute.

With my current ability , I often my self anticipating the class eg " probally make 100's more mistakes again etc etc ".

But If I didn't go I'd be letting myself down , as the training makes me feel this good after get home from the session that I end up writing mini essays on forums about it

Hope I didn't bore anyone with that

 

[Ryokeen]

First day... it was at a TKD school... well sort of... to this day I don't know exactly what He was trying to teach me back then...

Anyways,
He had me do the nromal routine like everyone else, and at the time I was a chubby... videogame playing... no confidence kid... so 3 sets of 30 sit ups push ups and jumping jacks... was impossible haha. But I managed to seem like it wasn't.

After that, we began to go through a kata in which he invited me to try to pick up and learn.. which I was able to do... I found my special talent. I pick up physical movements well... and once I get them down, they're down.. mostly. So he was impressed with me. Anyway.

After that we went through the basic kicks and I learned a decent roundhouse and front kick fairly quickly.. Then he invited me to very lightly spar with his eldest son, so I could get a feel for that as well.

Needless to say I didn't do anything because I didn't know anything..
but it was fun nontheless.

But what really got me into the arts... was going up on Jet Li, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Samo Hung, Ect...

 

[Shicomm]

My first training was during a summer seminar wich i was invited to by one of the dojo members.
I was leeching info for months by that time but still the invite came as a surprise.
I was in doubt to go but curious so... i went to the first day

It was an outdoor training and there were quite a lot of people.
The teacher performed some kind of technique and after that everybody paired up.
I ended up with the biggest guy from the group... ( he still is a human tank! )
Not scared at all ( even being very small... ) but i just couldnt figure it out.
I remember very well thinking "it sure worked for him but it's just not possible for me to get the same effect with this huge guy!"

The teacher probably could read my toughts as he just smiled and said that i just had to try.
My mind was still at the setting that 'it couldn't be done' but i tried even so.
After some clumsy moves the guy went down quite good but i felt fooled...
So i asked him if he was just going easy on me.
Guess what... he wasn't ....

My brains then went just nuts... how? why? huh????
The amazement was there... something was going on there and i needed to find out what it was...
The seminar was over in a flash but the curiosity and amazement stayed...
That motivated me to get more and more and....
It's 6 years ago now... it's still a very tough learning process but it's just great

 

[Quiggz]

My story's not impressive either, but at least it's fresh in my mind.

Last night I had my first instruction in Aikido at the school club, and I found it rather enjoyable. Granted we weren't pushed very hard, being as it's a school club, but I felt like I learned a lot and I look very much forward to learning more. It was a good feeling to get back into an unarmed martial art again, and I can only imagine how good it will feel once I become more comfortable with it.

Gotta work the wrists.

 

[Drac]

It seems that I had no sense of balance and couldn't tell my left from my right...

 

[Omar B]

My first day of karate I was 5 or 6 years old and going to private school. They had a deal where after school hours in the open area they had ballet classes they also started up a karate program. I knew not so much about karate but I was there in the class on the first day ready to go. My Sensi walked out in his Gi and it was amazing to me, a real black belt, in a real kartate uniform, just like the movies is gonna teach me!

I stayed with the same Sensi and with Seido karate till I was 16.

 

[jamz]

My first was back in October of last year, myself and 10 other older, out of shape adults. Learning the stances, front punches and front kicks was great, the pushups and mid-body work, not so much.
After only maybe 20 or 25 pushups in 3 sets, I felt it for the rest of the week. The other students said the same.

Nothing really stood out, but interestingly enough, all of the female members of the class (around 5) are still there, and 3 of the 6 male members have dropped out.

 

[Lorak]

My new first class was last night. Now I took Tae-Kwon Do 20 years ago, and progressed to the rank right below black. But left due to financial, reasons, marriage, ect.

My daughter now wants to take karate, so her and I started our journey again last night.

What stands out to me most was how out of shape I really have become. Shamfully I had to bow out of class with 15 min left to go. I really was going to be sick right in the dojo, or have a heart attack if I continued.

So felt Shame in not completing. Shame in gaining so much weight, Shame in being so out of shape for realitivly young 40 years old, Shame in having to bow out with my daughter watching (not that she really noticed). But I felt it for myself inside.

Some might get discourged at that. But for me it just re-enforced all the more Why I need to be there, why I need to get in shape, and how bad my desk job and seditary lifestyle has effected my health.

Not a great first time story, and much diffrent from my first dojo experience when I was 20 years younger. But there you have it.

 

[Lisa]

My new first class was last night. Now I took Tae-Kwon Do 20 years ago, and progressed to the rank right below black. But left due to financial, reasons, marriage, ect.

My daughter now wants to take karate, so her and I started our journey again last night.

What stands out to me most was how out of shape I really have become. Shamfully I had to bow out of class with 15 min left to go. I really was going to be sick right in the dojo, or have a heart attack if I continued.

So felt Shame in not completing. Shame in gaining so much weight, Shame in being so out of shape for realitivly young 40 years old, Shame in having to bow out with my daughter watching (not that she really noticed). But I felt it for myself inside.

Some might get discourged at that. But for me it just re-enforced all the more Why I need to be there, why I need to get in shape, and how bad my desk job and seditary lifestyle has effected my health.

Not a great first time story, and much diffrent from my first dojo experience when I was 20 years younger. But there you have it.

Actually I think your story is great and probably reflects many people, however, not many would admit to the things you have. Congratulations on your courage and good luck with your training.

 

[Diesel Noi]

Well my first day of training was awesome, my firts ma was kung fu and I remember being excited, and when I finished my first class, was in heaven `cause it was really something I wanted to do. The pain and soreness the day after, I didn`t care `cause I was in love with ma. That was 22 years ago, I`m 28 now, and I still remember this journey with love. Now I`m learning a new ma and I`m reexperiencing that feeling all over again.

 

[kenpoquilter]

My first day was almost a year ago. As a 40 year old mother of two...not your typical 'first timer' I suppose.

I never studied martial arts as a child or teen. I wasn't very physically active, even as a kid. So, 40 hits and the body starts to fall apart and the doctor says 'you gotta do something'.

There I sat in the dojo waiting room thinking to myself, with two kids with active schedules, a full time job, a busy family life, a house to run, how am I going to fit in something for me. I watched my daughter practicing her kicks and as I handed her a bottle of water it hit me. Why try to fit in another thing on our schedule, why not just do karate lessons...

I had become good friends with my kids' Sensei, so I felt a bit foolish about starting. I chatted with his wife a bit about it, she had taken classes too, and another mom told me she would start if I did.

So, in April of 2007, I jumped in with both feet and haven't looked back.

That other mom no longer comes to classes, but some other moms have joined in. I've progressed pretty fast, our dojo is small and classes include a lot of individual attention. There have been weeks where I have spent 6 hours in the dojo and more time at home. I've landed on my bottom more times that I want to count, felt like I was born with two left feet a bunch of times, been more frustrated with my physical ability than you can possibly imagine...but I've also competed in a couple tournaments (but I think that's more my daughter's territory), learned complete forms in one class, helped out with the little kids classes and with the lower ranking students in my own class...there's good and bad...mostly good.

I'll keep doing the tournaments, my daughter gets a kick out of seeing her mom out there competing and I like having mom/daughter time with her. My son comes and goes with karate lessons, he is into ice hockey. I can't seem to convince my husband to start.

As for the doctor, he's happy that I'm doing something. I've lost some weight, toned a lot of muscles (many I didn't know I had or needed), bruised a bunch too. Clothes fit better, stairs aren't intimidating...I'm glad I did it and hope to be able to continue this for a long long time...

 

[tshadowchaser]

My very first day of training in a school was the schools first day so the instructor lined people up by the order they had signed up. We started with basic excersises and stretching, then into the first kicks, and basic blocking. The instructor would tell us what the block was then give the Korean name for it. That was about all my first class accomplished.
My first class in the 2nd system I joined was somewhat different. I was given over to a 10 year old who showed me the blocks and worked me hard at them. I learned how to do the front kick the way that system did it ( no or little knee snap a pure push kick). then I fought everyone in class a few times ( yes this was their way of saying welcome to our system and to see if I would make it there).