Kyokushin Karate

To say that this class was tough would be an understatement. "Tough" would have been easy compared to this. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

The first thing I noticed was just how hot it was. Now, I live in the South, so when I say it's hot in August you have to believe me. This is especially true because there was no A/C running (probably to save money and make the training more intense). So after signing the "I wont sue you if I get hurt" clause I was allowed to participate. First was basic warm ups, arm stretches, leg stretches, hand and wrist stretches, etc. Then we moved on to about 40 minutes of calisthenics: squats, push ups, crunches, push ups, isometric abdominal exercise, upside down vertical push ups, etc.

I did more vertical push ups than the rest of the class but this was probably a mistake because as soon as I was finished, I started to get very dizzy. At first I figured this was from the inversion but it didn't go away and I quickly deduced that it was caused by my dehydration coupled with heat and intense exertion. I quickly regretted not anticipating the heat and subsequently not drinking enough water beforehand. I continued though the exercises as best I could but I continued to note that my field of vision was growing somewhat narrow and more than a little blurry. But I pressed on.

After this was strike drills: punches, knife-hand strikes, kicks, etc. This lasted for about 10 minutes and it was here that I started to feel my sense of equilibrium starting to falter. I was growing more and more uncertain on my feet and what began as an annoying mild sense of nausea had grown into the fear that I was going to end up mopping the floor any minute now.

Then we sparred. I could barely hold my hands up, my fingers and hands were tingling and partially numb, I couldn't see very well, and I was constantly afraid I was going to hurl on my partner. But I made it though. The sparring was 15 minutes long and divided up into three 5 minute rounds, each round with a new partner. I managed to pick up a second wind and felt notably better while I was fighting than when I was standing still - this was probably due to the adrenaline. Still though, I was pretty pleased with my performance; though I'm sure they took it easy on me since I'm new.

Then we did more push ups.

By the time class ended I was well into heat exhaustion and would have been approaching heat stroke had it went on much longer. I was still sweating though, so that was a good sign that I wasn't in too much danger. I wasn't trying to be a hero, but I just really didn't want to appear weak in front of people who I needed to respect me if I was going to continue training there.

When all this was said and done, it was Gatorade to the rescue. I was able to speak again after finishing the bottle (though not very much, and not very well) and I got to know my class mates a little. More on them in future posts.

Today's lesson: Drink LOTS of water all day up to an hour before class and have a very small meal about 90 minutes prior also.