Looking back.

Last January I wrote about my goals for 2011. Since the year is coming to a close, I thought it might be interesting to re-cap and see how I made out with those.

First and foremost this will be my Shodan year. 
This didn’t exactly pan out, however I have been given a date of February 24, 2012 – so this is close enough for me. Focused training has begun.

Give 100% every class.  
I do try to keep this in mind, and push myself if I feel I might be getting a bit lazy – it happens.

Stance. I will finally nail my open front stance once and for all.
I wouldn’t say I ‘nailed it’, but I certainly think about it a lot less. The open part is OK, but I routinely end up too narrow or too long which obviously needs work. So, the ‘once and for all’ has not been accomplished.

Yoga. 
I never did go to yoga. It was a great idea, but for some reason I didn’t add this to my routine. I really should have – it probably would have resulted in a better update for the next goal I had…

Have an injury free year. 
Well, this didn’t happen either. After I recovered from the tendonitis in my wrist, I proceeded to re-injure my rib, which was very painful and I sat on the sidelines for the better part of a month. Then there were the minor pulls and strains throughout the year – I’ve actually got one now in my right tricep from repeated back-fists in one training session. I thought it was better until last week when I did Empi too many times and tweaked it again during a punch sequence. Thus I’ve been hesitant to really give 100% in the block and punch department – in doing so my overall performance is affected. Sharp hurts right now, which is bad timing, as I need to get ready for my grading! SO frustrating.

Having now reviewed the past year, it appears I’m chock full of good intent but the follow-through seems to be a problem. Although I recognize I have accomplished plenty of things that were not on my list, I’m still a little disappointed. After all, I had a whole year!

Too much information.

Why is it that after I miss a couple classes, the following class is always so frustrating?

I went away this weekend and missed Friday and Sunday classes, when I returned on Tuesday I experienced 1.5 hours of frustration.

• “This is Godan, that should be a front stance, not a back stance.”
• “Is that your back stance? It is way too narrow, move your foot out further.”
• “Is that your back stance? Why is the weight distribution 50/50? It should be 70/30.”
• “Look at your feet, your back foot is slightly at an angle.”
• “Your over-rotation, is over-rotated.” Huh?

I only missed two classes! How did everything fall apart so quickly? I was quite deflated come end of class, so I stuck around and did some kata after everyone left to try to leave on a good note, but even then… “What was the long pause for?”
Aaaaaaaagh!

I understand the purpose of me being there is to learn, and if someone weren’t there to kindly highlight my deficiencies what would be the point? But there are just some days when it seems no matter what I do, it will involve a glaring flaw. Very frustrating.

Some classes you leave on a high, some you leave on a low. For me, Tuesday night was a low.
I hope tonight is better.