FWAAAAAAP!!!

I was feeling really poorly a couple weeks ago about my side heel. Really poor. It had been building up little by little until it eventually broke me.  And so I finally just bit the bullet and blogged about it. Sometimes I feel a bit silly blogging about things like that because it can come off as just a bunch of complaining or a "poor me" attitude.  But I feel like the first step for me in solving something is to literally just say it out loud and get it off my chest. And when I finally acknowledged it, I immediately felt a certain amount of relief and a sense of determination to finally move forward, rather than continuing to skirt the issue and pretend all was well.  Once I said it out loud, publicly, I had nowhere to hide.

Although this "simple" step brought an immediate sense of relief, there was ovbiously still more to do.  Sometimes we fail to take any actual steps to move forward, changing nothing, and we often just end up back in the dumps.  Surprisingly, I often find that it really doesn’t take a whole lot to turn things around.  But there needs to be some sort of plan.  Any plan really.  The plan phase is organic and can change and evolve.  So really, to start, anything is better than nothing.  What was important here was not to lose the momentum that was initiated with the acknowledgment.  If I let too much time pass, I'd end up back under that glass rock.  So I made a commitment to myself to simply work more consistently on my side heel by, at minimum, doing at least 25 reps per leg every day.  I know that doesn't seem like much...and it's not really.  But I thought that maybe this would at least develop some daily consistent attention to this kick AND provide the potential to expand and go deeper if the opportunity arose.  So for all intents and purposes, I just wanted to make a simple plan that would promote consistency and sustainability.  

As I was doing these reps one morning, I was offered some advice to just speed up.  I was told that all the pieces and parts are there, I just needed to connect them and the only way I'd be able to do that would be with speed.  So I did.  And all I can say is "holy crap".  It feels like it went from,

"Okay, crane, then pivot, thrust out, don't forget foot position, woah, watch your balance, pivot back, don't forget the crane, careful now, okay back to bow stance, good, reset, get ready for the next, and..."

to

"Okay, SIDE HEEL, BAM!"

I’ve been so timid of my side heel that I thought the best approach was to take it slow and be really meticulous.  Keep things simple and broken down.  But in actuality, that wasn’t keeping it simple at all. Quite the opposite actually.  I was overcomplicating it by continuing to (slowly) analyze each step.  And I don't mean that all the work I've done up until this point has been for naught.  Not at all.  There’s definitely value in doing things slowly. Obviously to start with we have to in order to figure out all the bits and pieces involved.  But eventually you hit a plateau continuing to use that same approach.  And you have to add the next element.  For me, right now, that seems to be speed.  I think until you speed it up, everything is still slightly disconnected no matter how much you think you have it tied together. When you go slow, there is no way that your body can actually do all the components properly in sequence while getting that full range of motion, full muscle application, full extension, full expansion.  You have to kick with speed to make all of that stuff click and come together how it should.

It feels good to have something tangible to be working on that I believe is taking me to the next level with this kick.

But my story doesn't end there.  

With such a huge potential for progress with implementing speed into my side heel, I started thinking about my front thrust.  Although not a kick that I shied away from, I felt like I was still doing it the same old way.  Slow.  Meticulous.  Calculated.  SAFE.  And so I thought..."hmmm...I wonder what would happen if I applied this speed approach there as well."  And once again, "holy crap".  I took a video for "posterity's" sake.  The first comparison is of today and from 2021.  The second is from today and 2023 and is pretty much where it has stayed until now.  Yes, there is still lots to work on, and always will be (if I'm lucky).  But the element of speed is certainly taking things up a notch.  And yes, I know that I should also apply this to other kicks, the roundhouse for instance, but that's for another day.

But again, my story doesn't end there.

Taking this knowledge even further, I'm applying speed to my kicks in my forms.  I'm noticing that my kicks tend to get a bit "safe" in my forms.  I'm not sure why.  Perhaps because there is a lot more going on, a lot more to think about.  But I've decided to stop playing it safe and just go for it.  And I am loving that "fwaaap" sound that many others always seem to have.  It's not very loud...but it's there!  And it's something that I've always wanted for myself but just never thought I would be capable of, yet here I am.

Exactly where I am supposed to be.