Training - Week 2 - Day 1

I continued with the private lessons on my days off. They last about an
hour each & are very productive. Taking on a student, especially one who
has a great deal of drive/talent, does me a lot of good. I'm able to work
on my forms in greater detail than regular classes will allow.

We covered the first eight forms (Chun-Ji to Hwa-Rang) with Hwa-Rang being
the one that required the most time. Still, I'm very happy with the
progress we're making with only two days a week. Yes, Gabe has prior
knowledge of these forms but he has been away for quite some time. The fact
he's willing to continue his training despite working second shift says a
lot for his character. As a bonus, I'm getting the experience I need to run
classes on my own (in case I move away from Iowa - I'd never change schools
otherwise).

The last few minutes of the lesson were spent covering one-step sparring.
Basically, you'd call this punch defense. It's a series of
blocks/evasions/redirections that allow one to counter a basic punching
attack. As a side note many of these have limited use against a boxer.
Simply put, they offer little in the way of forward momentum. Redirection
will work - but only to prevent getting hit - not to take them off
balance.

We covered the first ten one-steps. Number 10 has changed since Gabe was in
TKD the first time, so we felt that was as good a place as any to stop.
We'll probably go with 1 - 15 on Monday.

I'd also like to get started on self-defense. There are about two or three
per belt level & they're all taken from the Hapkido curriculum. Most of
this will be easy for Gabe - he's a black belt in Hapkido - so I don't
imagine a great amount of effort will be involved in teaching him. Heck,
he'll probably be able to show me a few things!

I'm having a great time with this, and class, and getting ready for test. I
need to put a bit more focus on my terminology - it's probably where I'm
falling behind the most. I've always done well at it & I don't intend for
that to change now!