Jump rope, running and short katas

Labor Day weekend is here!  My last 3-day weekend for a while... so far, it's been a good one, full of tons of physical activity.  

The power was off at my house last night, preventing me from writing about Friday morning's conditioning class, which turned out to be a blast.  It's been a while since I had my class work with a jump rope, so I designed a workout around it, thinking it would be a good substitute for running.

WOD:

100 double-unders (200 rope swings)
25 weighted step ups
Jump rope (repeat above)
25 weighted lunges
Jump rope
25 squats
Jump rope
25 pushups
Jump rope

I finished in 13:52 (I think -- I promptly forgot on the drive home).   I had no idea how this workout would go for my class, because so much of it depends on skill with the jump rope.  It took a lot of practice -- and buying a nice jump rope -- to get to the point where I can jump rope for 200 swings without tripping or getting caught on the rope.  But it also takes some conditioning.  Jumping rope is no child's play as an adult.  It is an excellent workout -- akin in heart rate endurance to running, swimming and the like.  What's fabulous about it is it works your heart, but uses a different set of muscles from running.

We followed up with some ab work --
Tabata floorwashers
Tabata situps

Good stuff.

This morning, I packed up my Kung Fu clothes, a bag with a hard-boiled egg and a halved apple with almond butter, extra water, my weapons, and headed out to Bull Creek to meet my friend Jenny for the first time in months for a trail run. I had to stop by Starbucks on the way for coffee, because I was too busy to start a pot before I left the house.

It was still dim out when we hit the trail -- and humid -- but nice.  The trail was damp from the rain we got last night, and previously dry parts of the creek had water.  We ran about 1 1/2 miles down to a part where the creek widens up and the rocks are littered with tidepools, then turned around.

The way back is still a challenge for me, but I found my endurance has improved significantly.  In fact, the only times we walked were when the rocks were too slippery to run over.  We returned to the parking lot before 8, and I slammed down the coffee I had picked up on the way.   Then I headed off to black belt class for the first time in, what, 6 months?

Today was the start of MJ's black belt boot camp, which I decided was a perfect opportunity to return to black belt class.  The "boot camp" started at 8:30, and MJ planned to take us through an intensive review of all white-black material.  What a great chance to tweak and work on material that I'm teaching to my students!

I got there way faster than I thought I would.  With not a soul around, I decided to take my time, let the sweat dry off a little, and eat some breakfast.  I sat on the back of my car, eating the egg and half of the apple when some other black belts began driving up.  No one got out of their car, and I took my time eating before finally deciding I would open the door for them and change my clothes.

The black belt boot camp was awesome, first of all.  I was a little nervous about what we would do -- there were AT LEAST 50 black belts there.  I positioned myself right up front so I could hear and see MJ for most of it.  We spent 2 hours working on short katas and sparring techniques.  While I felt confident about knowing the material, there were definitely some tweaks... and in katas I didn't expect.  I would in no way say that I have mastered the material, but it was a joy to be able to come closer to owning it for myself.

MJ spoke to us all about our art and the importance of continuing to work on the material, even material we learned long ago as white belts.  He compared it to running, and how people run and work to improve their form or time, but they don't learn new gaits. He asked us, what about loving doing short katas for the joy of doing them?  What about practicing the forms and moves and improving them, rather than always looking toward something new?  It was definitely something to think about. 

However, I will respectfully disagree that other activities don't add something positive toward the mastery of a martial art. I definitely believe that Crossfit has improved my Kung Fu.  But that's a discussion for another day.