Sunday, December 9, 2012

Tae Kwon Do is not for Sissies

I have been plugging away at the second book in my new paranormal series for the past few months, and since the heroine happens to be a Cupid with serious butt kicking skills, I've been researching fighting methods that I wanted her to have.

For some reason, Tae Kwon Do really stuck out to me. I finally decided last week to join a class and learn how to do some butt kicking of my own. Now, I am a person who finds most aerobic activity to be actual torture. Why I thought that spending an hour punching and kicking was going to mesh with my mostly sedentary lifestyle is still a mystery to me. My legs and arms were shaking by the time I drove home. It has been five days now, and my muscles are still protesting every single time I reach over my head or climb a stair step. Every. Single. Time. Surprisingly, though, I am looking forward to this week's class. I have been trying to remember everything I learned from the teacher and other students (the majority of which were under 13 and put me to shame), and I think I've even talked my husband into letting me get a punching bag on a stand under the condition that I'm still interested in TKD on January 1st (the storage shed outside now houses my exercise bike, stair climber, and Gazelle--not much room left for storing a punching bag in a few month's time).

The most interesting thing about going to the class has been the new respect I have for my main character. I am now realizing a tiny bit of the work involved in devoting years to becoming a badass. Yeah, I know she's not real, but actually taking the extra step of trying what I'm writing about has been very enlightening, and I think I'll be able to put a more realistic tone on the training and fighting scenes. Now it's time to get researching on that world traveler character...

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