Impossible is for the Unwilling

It was hard to find a YouTube version that I liked, but this one is pretty good. Oh Jang This is the pattern I'll be grading on, though I learnt the next one (6) and half of 7 (that was yesterday) because I do extra pattern training on Mondays and Fridays. I like patterns.

You flatterer! Or do you just mean you think I'll hit someone or fall on top of them?!

If you really have to fall on someone try to do it acrobatically

Awesome. Good luck then.

another question... you do taekwondo with your knees?

Best of luck for your grading, TopNotch. You've been putting in the work, so I'm confident you will do great.

Amirsh Do you mean, is Taekwondo particularly hard on the knees? Not so much. There is a lot of kicking, but if you don't do sparring, there is no actual contact and therefore no jarring. Many of the stances require bent knees, but you go down as far as you comfortably can, and generally people have found that practice strengthens the knees and quads and they can go a little further down. There is a bit of jumping (I'm not so good at jumping myself) but not so much. It's mostly in the fitness component (and not all clubs have the same requirements for that) that I use my knees the most - burpees, squat jumps, running.

That was my main aim - all the fancy moves I've watched consist of ridiculously high jumps. I know there's the olympic style which is different from the more traditional form and from what you would see in shows but the main thing is kicking and jumping - you don't see a lot of elderly masters doing that like you would get with other martial arts. At least not from what I've seen.

Amirsh You'll be wanting to look up proper traditional poomsae, rather than freestyle - though that is wonderful to watch
I didn't particularly like this one, but it is an older woman, and you can see she did no jumping at all. This is one of the black belt patterns done by over-30s. I think there is only 1 pattern (though I could be wrong because I've not done them all yet!) that requires any jumping.

Thanks for that. I know I shouldn't but, that looks very close to Karate katas... Yeah I know I'm sorry (joesongamnida). I also can't make the distinction having practiced either of them But it looks nice, The Portuguese woman had a clear advantage - way better balance. The Korean woman looked like she was bored and overall their drill was less inspired. Good for Iran for having a male and female in a joint performance - it's way off topic but before covid 19 the news here took great interest in their Judo team and the hit it's taken because of defections. I know martial arts, especially Judo and Taekwondo are a big deal there. Also (and also off topic) I'm used to Iran as IRN - IRI sounds cuter

Amirsh I think a lot of martial arts have things that are or look similar. I don't know if other MAs do this, but I like the way Taekwondo can have mixed teams in Poomsae because it is all about the performance.

Day 67

Challenges:
Abs of Steel (day 18)
First Thing Water (day 10)
Core Control (day 5)
1 Minute Cardio (day 6)
Ninja (day 28) Today I was precise.
Daily Gratitude (day 17)

Programmes:
day Baseline - Oops, not today. Oh well.
day 4 Express Tone I'm enjoying this programme, the way it's arms then legs so you've got time to recover. Just for fun, I took photos of my arms, both relaxed and flexed, so I could see any difference that the completed programme may make. In a way, it would be funny if someone nicked my phone. They'd scroll through the pictures, and among the usual ones of children and cats (and chickens), they'd come across a group of people in funny white uniforms, holding bo staff and arnis sticks. Then they'd see some of these people proudly displaying medals. Then they'd see flexed arms (and they're not bad)... I'm imagining that my phone would be returned pretty promptly!

DD with EC (#66). Total DD = 67.

Turns out Grading will be tomorrow. There's no point in getting all stressed. I had hoped for another few days but I guess I know the pattern as well as I can right now (that's not to say it can't be improved) so I'll just relax and go with it.

As it's the end of my Pushers' week, I logged week 8 (150/140) on the thread

I have to work a little on making an impression with the photos on the phone but it's a good idea

Good luck

Fremen Thanks.

Day 68

Challenges:
Abs of Steel (day 19)
First Thing Water (day 11)
Core Control (day 6)
1 Minute Cardio (day 7)
Ninja (day 29) Today I was courageous!
Daily Gratitude (day 18)
Power Grip (day 1) I recall doing 2 minutes of this sort of thing for the DD not so long ago. Nearly killed me!! So I figured it was time to build up my grip strength, and here I go.

Programmes:
day 25 Baseline
day 5 Express Tone I dropped down by 1kg for the tricep extensions, so today's results are:
Triceps: 30/30 - 27/27 - 25/25 - 25/25 - 25/20 The weaker left really conked out faster with the last set.
Bicep curls: 34 - 34 - 32 - 32 - 30 My right arm could have gone on a couple more, but not the left and there is no point in getting the stronger arm even stronger by continuing, so I stopped when the left said enough!

DD with EC (#67). Total DD = 68.

Grading today. A very strange sort of grading but we are currently living in strange times. Instead of 3 1/2 hours of grading, everything was compacted into the usual 1 hour of training. We did warm-ups, consisting of running, push-ups, jump squats, and (my personal favourite...) burpees. Punches, followed by kicks (always fun), and then we split off to do our patterns. We didn't do them in front of anyone except a tame black belt (one for each pattern), who would comment and raise points to correct. Mine said that blue belts (that's where I'm at) should focus on strength/power and I needed more power. It was obvious I did Poomsae because my pattern was precise and exact, but I lacked power. I know that; it's something I've been working on. At least my pattern was technically good, if not powerful enough. Once my black belt had left, I started working on that. It's funny though, because grading is always at the end of the term, and I know there are 3 weeks off for me between every term (because I grade on Monday and then there are two weeks of school holidays after that week), and I have a sort of feeling that everything's over, only this time it's not - or, as far as we know, it's not quite. Our people are looking at how we can train if the SHTF.

Although the government's not really doing anything, lots of organizations are closing down, and the children were disappointed tonight when we got a text saying that Girls' and Boys' Brigade were cancelled.

Scouts of sorts? I need to get to Australia someday. Find out how English works there...

Is Australia under corona threat? I kind of lost track on that. Isn't still warm in most the continent?

Congratulations on completing your grading (not sure if you made it or not, but you did it at least)