Quick July Update

It has been a little while since I posted and a lot has happened, but I will endeavour to keep this short.


In June we entered the 2013 Kuk Sool Won European Tournament. Both Gemma and I received medals for everything we entered which is great.
Gemma was awarded:

• Form - Goh Geup Hyung = Bronze

• Techniques - Joo Muhk Maga Ki Bohn Soo 5, Jeung Geup Sohn Mohk Soo 1 & Jeung Geup Sohn Mohk Soo 6 = Bronze

• Staff Spinning - 1-5 = Bronze

• Sparring = Silver

I won: 

• Form - Goh Geup Hyung = Gold

• Techniques - Joo Muhk Maga Ki Bohn Soo 9, Jeung Geup Sohn Mohk Soo 1 & Jeung Geup Sohn Mohk Soo 6 = Silver

• Staff Spinning - 1-5 = Bronze

• Sparring = Bronze

On Monday 1st July, Gemma and I promoted to Dahn Bo Nim - Black Belt Candidates, and so have begun the final stretch towards gaining our Black Belts.

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Gemma has just been offered a more permanent official position at Violet's Florist which is excellent. She will finally be working in her dream job and I couldn't possibly be more happy for her. My work is still going well.

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We are still doing well with Herbalife. I am at around the weight I want to be now - 10st 3lb, but more importantly I am getting closer to the body I want. I'm even beginning to develop a visible six pack! Haha. I've had to throw out my old pre-Herbalife goal jeans as they are so big that they are uncomfortable.

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Hard year so far

Just like the beginning of last year, this one has been hard as well. It has really tested us.

Gemma was made redundant from her job due to the company closing and has found it extremely difficult to find something else. Because she attends a floristry course two days a week, finding a job which can work around that has been really tough. Then her father was diagnosed with cancer which was devastating.

Last week everything turned around! Her father received the 'all clear' after having the cancer removed and a day later Gemma was offered a part-time job with exactly the hours she needs. The company also want to change her working hours after her college course finishes which makes it even better for her! She starts tomorrow. Then, on Saturday, the Florist where she has been enjoying work experience offered her a Saturday job.

On top of all that, I received a nice lump bonus in my pay packet!

I have had Jury Service for the past two weeks which has been incredibly boring and quite hard going emotionally. Not to mention a little stressful with work due to me being out of the office. Thankfully I lucked out and had very few trials. In the end, I only missed five days of work instead of ten.


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This Tuesday marks our second week of using Herbalife. With all that has been happening lately and finding ourselves very short on time, our diet has really gone downhill; lots of 'convenience' food and processed stuff. Some friends of ours started Herbalife a little before us and had AMAZING results such as losing 10lbs in as many days and a noticeable loss of inches around the mid section. They were also feeling and looking absolutely great!

After a rough start (cursed cow milk! I think I may be a bit intolerant so moved over to soya), we are getting used to it and finding our stride. We're feeling healthier and more energetic. It's also incredibly convenient - A shake for breakfast, then a snack mid morning. Another shake for lunch followed by another snack mid afternoon. Then a healthy dinner with one last snack in the middle of the evening.

We've just bought some new scales as I'm not convinced that our old ones were terribly accurate so I'm not entirely sure of our results so far. The old scales said I had lost 7lbs! In a few more weeks we'll know for sure how well it's going. We also signed up as distributors so that we can share our experience with others and hopefully make a little extra pocket money too :)

If anyone reading this is interested in the products or maybe even becoming a distributor themselves, please do get in contact with us!

Things are really starting to look up now and we are getting stuck in to preparing for this year's European Kuk Sool Tournament. Then we'll be getting ready to grade for Dahn Bo Nim (Black Belt candidate)!

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Brown Belts

On Monday, Gemma and I promoted to Brown Belt. We also received our staffs and our wooden swords. Next year is going to be an awesome Kuk Sool year!

I'd like to wish an enormous thank you to our instructors and fellow students for helping us along this journey.





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2012 Kuk Sool Won UK Tournament

Last weekend we competed in the 2012 Kuk Sool Won UK Tournament, held in Liverpool.

A few of us travelled up together by minibus on the Friday and had a great time. Of particular note was JIKJN's soggy squashed cheese and chutney sandwiches which he shared around.

The Friday evening was the tournament for KSNs and higher so we went along to watch. Gemma and I volunteered to be time/score keepers and had a wonderful time helping out and getting to chat with a few Masters and high rank judges. We even shared some sausage rolls! Haha.

We were incredibly nervous on the Saturday, but did very well. Everyone who entered from Halesworth and Lowestoft schools came away with a medal for everything they entered which is a great achievement. The competition was even tougher than it had been at the European tournament earlier this year, but we had trained hard and received the medals to prove it. Gemma won copper for her techniques (Ahn Sohn Mohk Soo 4, Maek Chi Ki 12 and Maek Cha Ki 11), silver for her Joong Geup Hyung and gold for sparring. I got gold for both my techniques (Ahn Sohn Mohk Soo 4, Maek Chi Ki 14 and Maek Cha Ki 6) and for Joong Geup Hyung. I didn't spar because I was nervous of injuring my collar bone. I've already damaged it once since breaking it. I need to let it heal properly.

We had an awesome weekend spending time with the Masters, meeting old friends and making new ones, and taking part in something we love.

Kuk Sool!





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SNAP!!! part 2

A few weeks after I broke my collar bone we had a Black Belt Club class. I had been healing really well and had a lot more movement back in my arm and shoulder so I participated. I didn't want to miss out as the class was going to be focused on Yoga, meditation and some advanced kicks - all some of my favourite aspects of the martial art!

It was excellent! My collar bone was fine all through the Yoga exercises and the kicks including some quite difficult ones like the jump splits kick and multiple spin kicks... until I attempted a jump double front snap kick. I wrenched my shoulder and had to sit out of the final meditation in agonising pain.

I didn't bother going back to A&E as I had an appointment on the Wednesday any way so decided to wait until then. It was far more painful than the original break, but I soldiered through. On Wednesday, an X-ray showed that I had thankfully not re-broken it and that it was still healing well, albeit at an odd angle. The doctor said the pain was most likely torn tissue or muscle damage and prescribed rest.

Except the following Friday was my grading for brown stripe...

I took part with my arm in the sling, but gave it everything I had. I dropped my stances extra low, focused even more than usual and tried my absolute best - anything to compensate for my lost appendage. I passed and received an extra congratulation from KJN Martin who told me it was "an awesome grading" and that I showed "true fighting spirit". Even if everything was done one-armed, that one arm was spot on!

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It has been a few weeks since then. My collar is getting better gradually, but I am still in quite a bit of pain and it is very sore. I'm still taking part at Kuk Sool, but I am taking it a little easier. We have the Tournament in Liverpool at the end of November, so I need to be ready for that.

Jung shin!





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SNAP!!!

Gemma and I took our first ever Kuk Sool class on Saturday. It coincided with the end of the 2012 London Olympics and since it was to be a 'fun' class, we themed it accordingly. We spent a few weeks putting the plan together with SBN Jon, wrote down the order of events and even bought some toy medals to give out to all who participated.

Classes during the school summer holidays tend to have less people attend as they may have gone away or just want to enjoy the nice weather, so we were shocked and delighted that so many people came.

We started by having everyone jog around, jumping and touching the floor on cue. Then we introduced some 'hurdles' down one length for them to jump over. Next we split the class into four groups and allocated each to a corner with a specific exercise - Sit up 'rowing', push up 'breaststroke swimming', legs in the air 'cycling', and kick pad 'weight lifting'.

After each team had done every exercise, we divided into adults and children to play long jump. Adults don't usually get to play games so it was great to see them have fun with it... until I decided to have a go. I cleared the longest jump to tie with SBN Dave, but when I landed I dropped into a rolling break fall, slipped and heard a very loud crack.

I had to abandon the class and head straight to A&E with my newly broken collar bone where I spent the next few hours waiting to be seen.

So, with my arm in a sling, I'll be unable to train for the next several weeks. I just hope that I'll be mobile enough to at least participate in the upcoming grading in September. I would hate to get left behind. Especially as I know all I need for the grading already.

Gemma continued with the class and done a fantastic job! After the long jump, they returned to their four teams to do a series of relay races, then paired up to tackle a piggyback assault course. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and we had a very positive reaction to the class.

I have learned an important rule of teaching - Do not take part in you own class. I just wish I knew that before hand. Hahaha! Jung shin!





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2012 European Tournament Montage

Gem has done one of her 'famous' montages of some of the footage we got from the tournament:

I think she did a great job and really captured how much fun we have on the day with all the silly faces and smiles.





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