Thanks, everyone.
Today was very difficult. I couldn't keep up with the speed at which the sensei ran the warm-up exercises. I'm determined to do everything, of course; but today she started us off with jumping jacks, and now my ankles are wrecked! I should have known better - jumping jacks is the one exercise for sure I have to stay away from.
I wonder if there's a video one can buy to do the warm-up exercises? This is an idea, but of course, I'm flat broke, and I'm having to face the fact that I need to spend at least a couple of thousand dollars upgrading my computers so that I can keep working....
I still can't roll. Makes me no good as uke, but the other students are being good sports about partnering with me.
I am getting some interesting comments from the people I partner with. I seem to be picking up some of the moves quite well. One woman I partnered with today said I had a lot of upper body strength which surprises me, considering all I do all day is sit at my computer and type; I also tend to "take root" when I'm uke so my partner has to work hard to get me down!
Oh, and this is so funny; my first partner of the evening was this guy that was easily 6'4", and little me barely clearing five feet, and he had to practically bend himself into a pretzel to get under my arm! But when it was my turn, I must say, it was very empowering to make him tumble!
My next to last partner was this tiny little lady whose arm was so fragile in my hand I was terrified I was going to break something.
The rolling thing is worrying me, though. I need more practise at it - the few minutes we spend on it just isn't enough. It's partly fear; but I'm fairly certain this is a case where my weight in combination with the stiffness in my joints is working against me. I just don't know what to do about it, since there is nowhere I can go to practice.
(Note to Amos - the park? It was a windchill of -26C out there today! Even the dogs are wearing cold weather suits!)
However, I shall carry on. I made the mistake of telling my writerly friends about this little stroke of madness, and at first they were encouraging, and now they are making fun of me.
Today was very difficult. I couldn't keep up with the speed at which the sensei ran the warm-up exercises. I'm determined to do everything, of course; but today she started us off with jumping jacks, and now my ankles are wrecked! I should have known better - jumping jacks is the one exercise for sure I have to stay away from.
I wonder if there's a video one can buy to do the warm-up exercises? This is an idea, but of course, I'm flat broke, and I'm having to face the fact that I need to spend at least a couple of thousand dollars upgrading my computers so that I can keep working....
I still can't roll. Makes me no good as uke, but the other students are being good sports about partnering with me.
I am getting some interesting comments from the people I partner with. I seem to be picking up some of the moves quite well. One woman I partnered with today said I had a lot of upper body strength which surprises me, considering all I do all day is sit at my computer and type; I also tend to "take root" when I'm uke so my partner has to work hard to get me down!
Oh, and this is so funny; my first partner of the evening was this guy that was easily 6'4", and little me barely clearing five feet, and he had to practically bend himself into a pretzel to get under my arm! But when it was my turn, I must say, it was very empowering to make him tumble!
My next to last partner was this tiny little lady whose arm was so fragile in my hand I was terrified I was going to break something.
The rolling thing is worrying me, though. I need more practise at it - the few minutes we spend on it just isn't enough. It's partly fear; but I'm fairly certain this is a case where my weight in combination with the stiffness in my joints is working against me. I just don't know what to do about it, since there is nowhere I can go to practice.
(Note to Amos - the park? It was a windchill of -26C out there today! Even the dogs are wearing cold weather suits!)
However, I shall carry on. I made the mistake of telling my writerly friends about this little stroke of madness, and at first they were encouraging, and now they are making fun of me.