8 of 16 (not to be confused with 7 of 9)

We just finished 8 weeks out of our 16 weeks of physical fitness training for our black belt.  That means we're 9 weeks out from our actual belt test weekend.  It's been a bit of a struggle but we are actually all caught up in our repetitions except for our board breaking.

A few highlights since last I posted:

• Another evaluation: Katy got her color stripe for weapons which means she has them all except the recommended stripe.   
• I did not get the recommended stripe. Nobody did. Not sure if that's because nobody deserved it or that he just wasn't handing them out.  2 more evaluation weekends ahead though.
• I bought a re-breakable board for home use. Unfortunately, only my daughter can use it. I really need an adult trained in board-holding to hold the board for me.
• I need to figure out how to get some real board breaking in for me. Time to enlist the help of another student after class.
• We did a 5 day stint of no junk food. I was craving ice cream every night. I have managed to avoid eating a dessert every single night since then though.
• I've lost 4 pounds in the last couple of weeks.  Yeah, cutting out every night dessert helps. Catching up on all the repetitions increased the amount of time I spend exercising though.  I'm hoping to lose at least another 8 before the test.
• My spin hook kick (I'm doing a 1000 of these before the test) has improved.  However, I still need to work on getting that fast motion at the beginning.  I have a tendency to twist backwards, pause while I spot my target and then do the kick.  I need it to be more fluid.
• My side kick is actually doing better as well. My biggest issue maintaining that balance so that I don't "fall forward" with the kick. This basically means I usually don't lean back enough with the kick to counter-balance the momentum of my kick.  I can do it on occasion but not consistently.
• The kick I struggle the most with is the double-ahp-bar after a fast kick (part of our kicking combinations).  I keep forgetting to just bounce my foot off the ground as I'm starting the first ahp-bar. I usually plant it then kick.  
• We've completed our mentoring requirement. During the last class, Kwanjanim told me that once I have my black belt, I'll be instructing the white belts and I need to learn their curriculum. It's fairly easy to do but at our level, we don't do most of their basic techniques on a regular basis. They are incorporated into the much more detailed forms/techniques/combinations that we perform at our advanced classes.
• We only have 1 more required sparring class to attend. It's been educational and I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to start attending regularly.
• I still hate running.  People tell me that once you do it for a while, you actually enjoy it. Yeah...right.
• My daughter has an official goal of becoming a ninja when she grows up.