April is done, and it is time to take stock of my progress towards the black belt requirements.

Daily training requirements: The forms marathon, april 1st pushup/situp challenge, performing a form at the spruce grove trade show, and preparing for the tiger challenge have all helped me progress and focus on my daily training. Unfortunately, I was also derailed somewhat by some injuries. As a result, my pushups and situps and forms are going well, but kicks took a beating. Looking forward into May and beyond, I will be making some adjustments to my daily training goals. First, the goal of 27400 or 100/day of round house kicks, will be adjusted to include a number of different kicks. This allows me flexibility to decide which kicks are appropriate for me to be repeating more often. Initially, when I had set my goal, I had felt that the round house kick was a key kick and should be repeated more often than others. Since then, I have discovered that I have osteoarthritis in my knees and ankles, and the doctor has sent me to some specialists to help prevent further rapid progress into my hips. Decisions as to what types of kicks I should be practicing more often than others will now be dependent on what is best for my future health. High impact kicks like flying kicks will have to take a back seat. So far I have found that kicks that work strength and centre, like hidden leg, cross step kicks, combo kicks and kicks from horse stance are less painful. I am sure that eventually, I will be able to resume the round house with intensity, but for now, I have pulled back from it because it seems to put some strain and pain on my left knee as I return to the bow stance. Flying kicks, though I had been very pleased with my training and progress in this type of kick recently, results in alot of pain in my knees. This is extremely dissappointing, but I have to resist the temptation to continue through the pain now that I know that I am irreversibly dammaging my joints. I am worried about my cardio vascular strength and stamina because I have had to stop running also. There is now some urgency to replacing this aspect of my training with a cycling program (Cycling and swimming are reccommended replacement activities for running: I hate swimming and I love cycling). This week I plan to put together a cycling program and some intermediate goals. The first step is to pull out the old Peugot 10 speed bike which I had rigged up with a computer that reads revolutions per minute, km, etc etc (the type you can purchase at Mountain Equipment Coop) and set it up on the stationary trainer. Then, referring to the books I just checked out of the library, I will put together a training program for the stationary bike and some goals for road cycling during the summer - like x number of km per week, or x number of road trips by August, or a charity ride like the MS one from Leduc to Camrose. I'm actually kind of excited about this change of plans. I love cycling.

Memorization of Mastery requirement: Done

Personal Requirements: 1000 repetitions of a Loa Gar: The forms marathon, and the public performance this month has resulted in some major progress towards perfecting this form. It's amazing how many layers of details are inherent in this form. Just when I think I have perfected something, a sifu comes along and points out a finer detail. Last week I looked up some videos on the internet, of martial artists performing Lao Gar. Their interpretations of the style, the speed, the actions were inspiring and intriguing. I have completed 386 repetitions of lao gar from Feb to now, and I am confident that I will hit the 1000 mark by the end of August.

Personal Requirement: Public Testing Performance: Specifically, my goal had been to enter the Tiger Challenge. When I found out that it was scheduled for May 2, I contacted Master Brinker to explain that Jill had the badminton provincial tournament in St. Paul, and Janet had the volleyball provincial tournament in Calgary that very same weekend. Both tournaments required overnight stays, and parents were expected to provide the accomodation, meals and transportation. I was, however, encouraged to find a way to make the Tiger Challenge my priority. So I signed up for the Tiger Challenge. In theory, Bert would accompany Janet, and, at 17 yrs old, Jill should be ok under the supervision of her coach. Then I started training for the competition. For me, preparing for the Tiger Challenge pushed me to the next level on a number of fronts. The competitions in the Tiger Challenge mirror the challenges on testing day. What better way to focus, train with purpose, and increase intensity. The Lao Gar form took off for me and my team forms partner. I took time to put thought into board breaks and practice them. A few fight sequences were coreographed. I focused on the cane form as a weapon form for the competition. I identified my weak spots. I got worried. My training became more intense.

Its unfortunate that I did not benefit from actually being in the competition though. But I just couldn't bring myself to put myself ahead of my daughters this weekend. By Sunday, before the competition I came to a decision; this particular weekend, it was more important to me that each of my daughter's have one parent with them to witness and support them as they challenged themselves and tested themselves in the events that they had spent so much time and dedication preparing for. So, as far as this Personal Requirement is concerned, it was not fulfilled as planned. However, I have performed lao gar at the TLC, and I am hoping that this, and future perfomances this summer will satisfy. I will have to run it by Master Brinker.

I will review the other Personal Black Belt Requirements in next week's blog.