...or the class does anyway!
Turn on the TV and it's financial misery this, economic meltdown that, and quite frankly it's no wonder people are more stressed and less happy than they should be.
So I thought I'd share a brief tale that might raise a smile.
Our regular instructor is away on his honeymoon so classes are being taken by some of the senior black belts in his absence.
It's always fun training with different leaders. Different approaches lead to different insights and, as everyone has their own little obsessions about particular things, you become a more rounded student as a result - so long as the information is not conflicting.
Anyway... Miss Jackson (hello if you're reading!) took the class on Friday with the main focus on grading work as we have a grading this coming Saturday.
But to keep us on our toes and inject a bit of invisible fitness training, she included a 'buzzword' of coffeetime. When she yells this, all of the class have to stop what they're doing, run to the back of the hall, do 10 pressups, run to one side and do 10 situps and 10 squat thrusts at the other side before returning to line.
It was getting towards the end of the session so limbs were beginning to tire and Miss Jackson yelled coffeetime for the fifth or sixth time.
I sprinted to the back of the hall, turned and started to form pressup position as I was going down. Now the hall we train in is not a purpose-built dojang. It's a YMCA building that's used by loads of different community groups for everything from gymnastics to table tennis and a youth club.
The crucial thing is the floor. It's basically laminate wood. And that makes it quite slippery.
So here's me racing down to the bottom of the hall, hands down and legs stretching out ready to do pressups. Except my feet don't stop. And then my hands started to slide back with them... I am the puppy in the toilet roll ads...
And I land flat on my face. I'd hoped that no-one had seen - or heard. But they had. I could hear my fellow classmates giggling (and we're all adults) next to me, and Miss Jackson too. And so was I.
I got a grip soon enough and carried on with the routine - but at least it brought a smile to everyone's faces.
Mine might have been red - but hey, a little laughter's never a bad thing, is it?
Jx
Tags: Jinxi TKD Leeds TAGB Laugh Fun Training
