Mdgwrites Guest Writers, Taekwondo Training Tips

Video Interview: How to Practice Your Martial Art at Home

Steve and Melanie talking technique

Are you a martial arts technique nerd like me who needs some motivation to practice at home?

Check out my video interview with Steve Grogan, creator of Geek Wing Chun, Inc., and frequent contributor to Little Black Belt. Steve and I discuss his book The Lone Warrior: a Guide to Home-Based Wing Chun Training, which is a great resource for people who can’t always make it to the mat. I found a lot of applicability to my home taekwondo practice and commonalities that any martial artist can use. 

Click here to see the full video, including me rolling my eyes HARD at the :21 mark (watch to find out why). 

Click here to learn more about Steve’s book The Lone Warrior.

Mdgwrites Challenges, Confidence, Inspiration

Thinking Big? Start Small…

Scene from my Sunday afternoon

This morning my Master sent me a video breaking down the 540 kick, which I had set a goal to learn this year. No prompting, no explanation, just a video as a little nod to my practice. It was a step-by-step tutorial that built the kick one piece at a time. It didn’t explain the full kick all at once or contain a lengthy description. It was simply one step at a time. I watched the video and mentally filed it away for the next time I was in the dojang.

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Mdgwrites Challenges, Class Diaries, Confidence, Taekwondo Training Tips

It’s Not Failure. It’s PRACTICE!

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I belong to a fitness Facebook group. The other day someone wrote about his mindset regarding failure. He decided to regard failure not as a loss or as something negative, but as practice and a learning experience. Didn’t quite hit the mark on a deadlift? Practice–maybe there’s something off with your technique. Gave into temptation and had the donuts in the office break room? Practice–now you know to bring a healthy snack to fight the mid-morning munchies.
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Mdgwrites Taekwondo Training Tips

A Black Belt Takes a LesMills Body Combat Class

bodycombat-kick-shoes
Good lock of the kick, but y’all need to turn your hips and point your toes down…then again, what do I know. I’m just a black belt.

Two years ago I wrote a review of the ballet barre class my gym introduced in early 2016. I’ve since gotten the hang of it, have become pretty proficient in the moves, and have seen some improvement in my core and leg strength. I usually did a little barre and swimming on the side while I took 5-6 taekwondo classes per week.

Now that my taekwondo training has dwindled to next to nothing, I need something else to keep me in fighting shape. About 2-3 months ago I started taking Body Combat at my gym. Body Combat is one of the latest parts of the Les Mills gym class machine, which now includes 16 different branded classes that are taught at gyms across the world. There are certain “versions” that are released every few months, which keeps both the certified instructors and participants on their toes.
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Mdgwrites Class Diaries, Inspiration

Back in White

peek-through-a-hole-carlos-caetano

Tonight was my first taekwondo class in about a week and a half. I took off two Fridays ago to spend time with my parents and it seemed like a good idea at the time to skip the entire following week. As I’ve said in previous posts I was burned out. I needed a break from taekwondo, even though it was more of a mental break than physical.
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Mdgwrites Class Diaries, Taekwondo Training Tips

Adult Swim

old taekwondo
Elvis’s back stance is way too wide and he needs to keep his knife hand fingers together, but we’ll give him an A for effort.

I haven’t written a plain old “class diary” in a few weeks, and I can’t think of a better night than tonight’s debut of the adults only class. This may not sound like a big deal to those who belong to a mega-dojang, but we are a very small school. A new student (especially and adult) is an addition to be celebrated, and we ache from absences and drop-outs.

NOTE: This is intentionally a longer post than usual. I’m including details from tonight’s class in case any of my fabulous readers are martial artists and wish to use these techniques in their home dojang.
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