Thai Kickboxing

Last night, I went to my kickboxing belt promotion ceremony. Two of my good martial arts buddies were also promoting, although we are all at different levels. I have been doing Tae Kwon Do for almost 2 years now, and I just added in kickboxing this past fall, as a supplement to TKD and a good cardio workout. I have really enjoyed it, much more than I thought I would, and it has helped to get me in the best shape I've been in for quite some time. For the belt promotion ceremony, students have to demonstrate the curriculum they have learned so far and are required to do a certain number of pushups, which increases by 5 for every belt level. For me, being so new, it was pretty easy. I just had to demonstrate my white belt and yellow belt combos, do 30 pushups, and break a board with a palm heel strike. My new belt is orange.

This is Karna with me. She had to demonstrate 6 different combos, do 50 pushups, and break a board with a skipping front kick. She earned her red belt last night. Karna and I met and became friends because we were the same level in TKD. Unfortunately, she had to take a time out on TKD for a while because she had a baby a few months ago (her third child), and it's just too much for her to do everything. I know she'll get back into the TKD program again, but I'm disappointed that we won't be earning our black belts together. Karna and I get together and bake before big holidays. Those of you that had that delicious key lime pie at Thanksgiving - thank Karna!

This is Chris. He earned his blue belt last night. He had to demonstrate 4 combos, break a board with a downward elbow strike, and do 40 pushups (although he did quite a few more because he's a show-off). :) Chris is my training partner for TKD. We are both perfectionists and want to do our very best, so we work well together. We also co-teach some of the Little Dragons classes for the 4 - 7 year olds, which is a lot of fun. Our sons are the same age, and our daughters are only a few months apart, too, so they all get along well, and we're often together for playdates. Some people have asked if we're brother and sister. I guess I can see that, when I look at this picture. No need to take offense, Chad, he's a great guy!

Kickboxing is fun and a great workout. I don't have the same passion for it that I have for Tae Kwon Do, though. I'll have to devote a future blog to that (especially since I devote so much of my time to the sport).