Beta

 We presented our beta forms on Thursday. Everyone looks great! I’m always in awe of what people come up with when they create their own forms. Well done to all of you! 

I chose school forms again this year, as I am working on conditioning and strengthening. I chose to stick with forms I already know, and know how they should feel. It gives me a better sense of feeling, and movement, and when something in the form or in my knee doesn’t feel right. In doing this it allows me to better correct what is happening. I was fairly happy with my beta performance, and how everything feels thus far. I received some great feedback, and not being in my center enough. I even managed to do full turn at the end of the stick form, but it’s more of a pirouette at this point lol. I have some exercises to try and get better lift that I will work on. A lot of it is also due to fear, and mental block, scared of coming down wrong or hard and injuring myself again. Rebuilding - physical and mental is my goal this year. 

Push ups- 7580

Sit ups and equivalent time with plank - 7630

Form reps - Hand 185 Weapon 125

AOK’s - 189

Sparring - 145

KM’s - 291

Blogs - 10

Routines

 It’s funny how easily routines can get disrupted. This week has been thrown off a bit for me. Normally I sit with my mom and converse (well I converse) about my week, the latest happenings in life, birthdays, etc. And I write and share my blogs with her. We do this every Sunday. 

This past weekend was a bit jumbled, a bit rushed, and I didn’t get the normal amount of time I usually do with my mom. I didn’t get my blog written with her either. It’s been on my mind and weighing me down for 4 days now. I enjoy this time with her and I feel like it keeps her in the loop of life. It makes me realize how quickly things can slip, and how fast the days go by. I am not going to miss blogging this week, but it’s late for my ‘routine’ and it has made my week feel a bit off. I am getting very busy at work again with the real estate season now, therefore didn’t get a chance on my lunch break to put a blog out. 

Nothing major, a bump, and no big deal, but it’s on my mind. My numbers fell a bit with less time during my work week, but still on par, so I’m proud of that. Number update as of Saturday.

Push ups- 6605

Sit ups and equivalent time with plank - 6655

Form reps - Hand 150 Weapon 101

AOK’s - 164

Sparring - 120

KM’s - 260

Blogs - 9

Great week!

 I had a ‘stay’cation from work this past week. I set a specific To Do and Want To Do list for the week, and I am very happy with the end result.

Monday to Friday - 

- clean the entire house ✅

- lunch date/play date and lunch date/shopping trip with my granddaughters ✅

- pack away Snow Buddies for the year ✅

- 2500 Sit ups and Push ups each ✅ Final number 2580 - added 15 of each at IHC class, and pushed myself for another 25 of each yesterday

- 100 forms ✅ Final number 116 - added at IHC class

- get taxes prepped for the accountant ✅

- make soup ✅

- Clean car ❌ Mother Nature did not get the list

Want to do list - 

- Enjoy my new swing chair and read a book outside ❌ - refer to comment above

- Clean out bathroom cupboard ✅

- Clean out clothes closet, drawers and cupboard ✅

- added bonus - cleaned out the kitchen glasses and mug cupboards ✅

It was a successful week! I am sore from ears to ankles, but a good sore, an accomplished sore. While I feel like I should have a great six pack, I do not. And I feel like I should have lost 15 pounds, but I did lose 3. I do realize these numbers are not sustainable every week, but I wanted to push myself and set a goal. With the success I had this week I believe I can also push for more each week than I have done weekly so far. The PU’s and SU’s were a mix of true form, planks, squats, and wall push ups. I did my best to be present and methodical and not just make it about the numbers. 10 sets of 50 of each, each day, and forms in between. 66 IHC forms and 50 other school forms. 

The week felt masterful. 

Push ups- 5660

Sit ups and equivalent time with plank - 5740

Form reps - Hand 133 Weapon 88

AOK’s - 137

Sparring - 85

KM’s - 227

Blogs - 8

Soups 1, 2 and 3

 Well I have somewhat successfuly made my first 3 soups! 

I say somewhat as I have learned a couple of things, most importantly follow the recipe as is. I love to cook, and love to bake even more. My mom was an excellent cook and even better baker and she taught me everything I know. Including a pinch of this and a dab of that. I’ve learned to cook and bake by taste and texture while also somewhat following a recipe, and been very successful with it. There has been some flops, but for the most part success. I’ve found you cannot do the same with soup, at least I can’t yet. 

First soup was Loaded Baked Potatoe - takeaway is don’t go by the ‘rules’ I’ve learned along the way. The soup was good, but not as flavorful as I think it would have been if I’d followed the recipe exactly and used all the spices needed. I also found it to be a bit thick. 

Soup 2 - Chicken Corn Chowder - didn’t learn my lesson from soup 1 and same takeaway. 

Soup 3 - Beef Barley, and in my opinion the best one of the three. And guess what, lesson learned, recipe followed exactly. Flavorful, and perfect consistency. 

While I choose my personal requirements for myself, and choose what I think will be beneficial to me; I did think others would find this one silly when I shared it. But, there was actually some interest, so that was pleasantly surprising, and even a couple of requests to share my recipes. I’ve tried to load the links for the recipes, but it is not working. If you are interested I can copy the recipes I used. 

Haven’t decided on soup 4 yet, but I’ll keep you posted! 

Check In

 It has been an extremely busy few weeks for me at work. RSP and Tax season always come with busy days and extra hours, but this year nothing else seemed to slow down as it usually does. Due to this some of my numbers fell a bit, and I even had to join class online while still at work. The good thing is I am off this week, so I’ll have a chance to catch up and build a cushion. And catch up on things around the house. 

Push ups- 3125

Sit ups and equivalent time with plank - 3200

Form reps - Hand 80 Weapon 30

AOK’s - 121

Sparring (modified) - 65

KM’s - 171

Blogs - 6

Working the Basics

 Part of the progress I’m seeing I believe is because I am focusing on the basics. In the forms I know, I know the stances, techniques, sequence, etc. what I need to do is get the strength back to do everything as it is meant to be done. Some of the moves are coming along slower as I need to build up the strength again. Something I believe helped while healing from injury was not stopping, physically or mentally, but I needed to adjust. Now I’m working on removing those adjustments. 

Many reps again this week, which I am happy about. I am learning new limits and how far I can push them. I am feeling progress in pushing my limits farther each week. Mlong Kuen (sure hope I spelled that right or I’m in trouble lol) is one of the forms I personally challenged myself to properly learn this year. I am behind on this and should be much farther along than I am. Frustrated with this, but determined. Thank you Sihing Burke for taking this on with me, and pushing me. You are a great mentor, and I appreciate all of your help. You will be a big part in helping me to push those limits! 

Push ups- 2500

Sit ups and equivalent time with plank - 2500

Form reps - Hand 70 Weapon 25

AOK’s - 102

Sparring (modified) - 55

KM’s - 142

Blogs - 5

Progress… Finally

 Tuesday - Kicks. Thursday - Forms

This may not seem anything out of the ordinary, and it isn’t. The great thing about this is I did both, as well as my own reps outside of classes. Again, doesn’t seem that special. But to me it was a great positive progress week. I am finally feeling good. I am finally feeling like there is progress towards building back up. I am finally feeling like my old self again. 

I can go in and give it my all. My all doesn’t quite look like it used to…yet. I may not be doing all of the kick reps from my right leg, but I’m doing them. And I feel okay afterward. No more, or very little, short lived swelling. Tired, but not out. It feels like it’s been sooo long, and it has been. Almost two years. And a year and a half before that since the initial injury. I haven’t had a week where I did several reps of kicks one day, and several reps of forms two days later. And my normal weekly reps for both in the in between days.

I know rebuilding, getting the strength and motion back will take time. But it finally feels like it’s actually happening, and actually progressing. It was a great week! 

Push ups- 1600

Sit ups and equivalent time with plank - 1650

Form reps - Hand 41 Weapon 18

AOK’s - 94

Sparring (modified) - 40

KM’s - 115

Blogs - 4