Today marks my first full week of being back on the mat in probably 12 months.

That would be 12 months too long!

I almost feel as though this post won't do justice to the week I just had because while I sit here, for the life of me I can't find the words to describe just how incredible it feels to be back.

It's funny how the little things are bringing me so much joy...things like seeing my dobok's hanging on the washing line again sparking memories of times gone by when between my ex-husband and I, we would always have a washing line filled with them from early morning training sessions and evening classes.

Those memories are really cherished because those early, tough, TOUGH years of training really shaped the woman, and martial artist I am today.

For a long time, I'd been caught up in wanting to go back in time...to feel the same feelings I felt when I was competing and co-operating multiple martial arts schools but it's just not possible.

Trying to recreate the past kept me stuck and held me back from finding a new future for my training and that's where my focus really needed to be.

Mr Chang is gone now.

My old instructor / ex-husband and I are not on speaking terms...there IS no going back to learn from those instructors who shaped my formative training years.

Not sure why it took me so long to work that out.

Well, other than that fact I'm as stubborn as hell and wouldn't give up on the idea even when it was costing me dearly.

BUT I did get my head right, made peace with it and began focusing on what my training COULD look like....in the future.

I found the perfect club at Martial Fitness Australia with Allan being the perfect instructor for me and where I want to go with my training.

I'd seen Allan around the traps at tournaments for decades and also I knew the people he was friendly with inside our TKD world, I knew these were quality people...so I had a good feeling.

I did a private session with Allan at the end of last year and just knew I would be happy at his club.

The term kicked off last week but the 2 weekday evening classes had to be cancelled due to the weather so I had to hold my horses until Saturday.

OMG.....I LOVED every second of that class.

There are a good number of adult black belts training in my classes which is a godsend and pretty rare to be honest so that just added to the enjoyment from day 1.

Just 2 TKD sessions for me this week, my hip pulled up pretty sore after Saturday and wasn't quite right for Monday's class so I didn't get back until Thursday night.

I'm going to be extra careful in these first few weeks, there is no rush (who even am I???) to get to every class.....I'm back and I"m staying back so if I need to take an extra recovery day to avoid doing more damage to my hip so be it.

This week I also lifted 4 days and pretty much left it at that.

No cardio this week...it's all about managing my training load and not overloading my hip unnecessarily as I get back into the groove.

In class today we spent most of the session practising armbars and while I REALLY wanted to kick and sweat it did remind me that Allan offers BJJ at the club and that prompted me to make the decision to get back into BJJ as of next week.

I started BJJ about 7 years ago but I was running my TKD school at the time and it wasn't easy for me to get to classes regularly so I had to let it go, now I have the time to train I'm going to make the most of it and get serious about learning and grading in BJJ as well as my TKD.

Rest day for me tomorrow then the plan is to get to BJJ at lunchtime Monday then TKD the same evening....I'm excited to get a bigger week of training in for next week.

I'm keeping my body in working order with regular massage, the spikey ball, foam roller and band work...it takes discipline to keep that up when it's not very sexy or exciting but I do notice when I'm slack...my hip is definitely much worse without it.

That's about it for this first post back....I'll keep you posted on my foray back into BJJ next week!

M x