I finished my 100th class a few days ago and wanted to provide an update. I continue to go to the class once a week. I’m pretty comfortable during the class, but I’m still learning new techniques and practicing old techniques in each class. The school that I go to doesn’t have too many members, but they all have been pretty friendly and respectful. I did a belt test a few months ago and am now a yellow belt. Despite this, I think that in a real fight, I would still be pretty frightened and attempt to disengage.
Taking these classes has helped improve my confidence and has given me more things to talk about in social settings. I was not interested in viewing any fighting sports growing up, apart from movies, but I watch these types of videos on YouTube.
One thing I still haven’t figured out is how much strength I should use when sparring. When I’m sparring, I feel like I’m not putting in that much strength. However, it always seems like my sparring partner is using a lot of strength. Maybe their 50% is much stronger than my 50% – I’m not sure.
Jeffrey's Thoughts 