One of the advantages to Chief taking a personal interest in each of his students is that he spends extra time with each of us whenever possible. A quiet afternoon or a lag between classes always translates into one more sparring drill, or a few minutes of posture work, or a discussion about theory and technique.
The gym was almost empty this afternoon because of the holiday, so my 90-minute session with Chief lasted for 135. We spent a lot of time working with the thai pads - today was the first day that I was allowed to add kicks into the pad work (I'd only ever kicked the heavy bag before), which means that it was also the first day that he kicked me. Ow. I have a lovely bruise on the outside of my left thigh, and I'm a lot quicker to get my legs up to guard now than I was this morning.
Since I need a little time to recover from the two minute rounds with Chief, they were interspersed with the following:
- 5 sets of crunches, 100 of each of 5 types of crunches per set. Yes people, I did 2500 crunches. And that's not including the ones he made me do when I missed a strike, or forgot a combination.
- 50 "girl" push-ups. Hey, at least I didn't have to do any of these.
- Approximately 150 squats. I lost count when I had to do a drill that involved 4 squats, 4 guards / kicks with my right leg, 4 more squats, and then 4 guards / kicks with my left leg. I was too busy trying not to fall over to count.
- 4 1-minute rounds of tricep isolation with the cable weight set to 30lbs.
- 100-ish bridge exercises.
- 1 round of this evil exercise that involves lying on your back at the base of a heavy bag and reaching your legs up to touch the right side, left side, and center of the bag. I have to admit, there was a moment at the end when I thought I was going to puke.
I was absolutely wrecked by the end of the session. My arms and hands were so tired that I could barely grip the pen to sign his book. Since I couldn't see the clock during most of my drills, I didn't know the time and was disappointed in myself for being so tired after only 90 minutes. I felt much better when I realized that I'd been going for 45 extra minutes! Apparently Chief wanted to test the limits of my stamina because he's never seen someone "as big as [I am] with such incredible endurance." I reminded him that the only advantage of being one hundred pounds overweight is that just walking down the hall is resistance training - I have to cart these hundred extra pounds with me wherever I go. Plus, there's that whole marathon thing that I did last year.
Tonight, though, I feel every single one of those extra pounds because holy crap am I sore. It was sort of a blessing when my dinner plans got canceled at the last minute because I'm not entirely sure that I would have been able to walk after sitting at a table for more than an hour.
Still, I wouldn't trade this feeling for anything in the world.
I love that I am using all of my muscles and working my body to its limits; I feel connected both to myself and to some strength beyond myself - the strength that keeps me striking when my arms and legs are shaking with exhaustion. I love the satisfying THOCK sound that the pads make when I strike well, and the sound of Chief yelling when I've landed something perfectly. I love the people at the gym, and the camaraderie of which I already feel a part. I love the challenge, and the constant drive to be better, faster, stronger, to find those limits and kick my way right through them.
I love this sport, and that's what keeps me going back for more.
Lady, you are a superstar! I'm totally impressed... and now a little scared that you might kick my ass ;)
So... what does a superstar like yourself want for Christmas/belated birthday?
Posted by: Firebug | November 26, 2007 at 11:13 AM