Formal Training Week 32

With my wrist injury beginning to heal and my bronchitis gone, I had a much easier time at Equa Do the following week. School had been stressful as I could not write and could barely push my chair, so I was looking forward to a workout, even if I did have to take things slow.

Warm ups were omitted for the most part to avoid irritating my injury but that doesn't mean I was not allowed to train. Instead, Master Eric and Sensei taught me how to use my hard half-cast as a weapon, and then allowed me to do some light sparring. I did not do much, however, as pain began creeping up on me again.
Before leaving Equa Do, I asked Master Eric whether or not the school would be interested in contributing to a local St Baldricks event where I was participating as a volunteer and Chad as a shavee. I was able to get a donation, so my next post on this blog will be about the event.

Misha

Formal Training Week 31 part 2

Following my wrist injury earlier in the week I was unsure whether I should attend class a few days later, but Sensei encouraged it. Despite feeling ill from bronchitis that had been diagnosed the day before and the pain in my wrist, I attempted to train.

When I arrived at Equa Do Miss Linda demanded to know the details of my injury and rounded on Sensei to berate him when she learned he had been the one to buy the boards. I had just managed to convince him that I did not blame him when she did this so it took considerable effort to smooth things over again.

After this I bowed in but found most of the Hapkido techniques too painful in my injured state. All I ended up really doing was practicing one handed cane work on the uninjured side. Even Tai Chi was too hard due to the major role wrist rotation plays. By the time I bowed out I felt horrible and wanted nothing more than to go home.

Misha

Formal Training Week 31 Part 1

It is rare that I attend class on a night other than Thursday but with pressure mounting both at school and home as my graduation from CLC approaches I was still having more panic attacks than usual this week. As a result, I called Sensei and asked him to bring me to Equa Do on Tuesday so I could use some of my fear and frustration productively.

On our way to class we stopped at Lowe's to pick up some boards so I could do a demonstration for the other students, whom Sensei told me were having issues with confidence. After warmups and a class spent working on variations of brush trap strike the time for my demo arrived.

The board was set up on two cement bricks as always but I found it impossible to break. At Equa Do we have a
"Three strike you're out rule" meaning that someone attempting a break has three tries before they must stop and try another time. This is in place to prevent injury.

However, by the time I struck for the third time I was in much more pain than when I have broken in the past, and that board was still intact. I can't really describe it but something about that break just felt wrong to me. I had already ruled out strength and positioning as the issue, so that left the board itself. It turned out on closer examination that this was the case and the board had been cut so that when laid horizontally for breaking it was cross grain. Breaking cross grain is the quickest way to injure oneself so I did a short knife fighting demo instead.

It turns out I did injure myself, spraining my wrist badly. Following difficulty with managing swelling and pain I went to the ER the next day where it was put in a half cast and I was provided medication.

Misha