One...Two....Three...TWELVE?

Now that I've completed my test with my whopping three pushups, I was ready to begin the pushups program. It looked sensible enough, and straightforward enough. The pushups are done in 5 sets, pausing for a minimum of 60 seconds between sets. There was a notation stating that the rest period could be longer if needed.

My level...4 sets of two pushups, then for the last set, do as many as I possibly can, with a minimum of three. I start dreading this. It's embarrassing enough to admit that I can only do three in a row....it will be even more embarrassing if I can't make the three at the end.

But...martial arts is about overcoming fear, right? Or...so I tell myself.

I begin. One set of two. I verbally count off 60 seconds. My cat starts circling around my prone body...as if he is laughing at me. "Hey, what are you doing down here?" he says with his feline eyes. "Its usually me that lies down on the floor."

Second set of two. Count off. The cat retreats to a safer distance. 3rd set of two. I can feel a difference in my arms. Count off. Fourth set of two. My arms are starting to burn. Count off.

Fifth set. Inhale.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight...nine.....ten......eleven.......twellllve...flop.

TWELVE? I just went from three to twelve? I stretch out on my back and stare at the ceiling. I start second guessing my form. I know I don't get as low as I can when I do pushups from the knee.

An idea comes to me. I flip back over on my belly and start doing pushups from the knees. I can do fifteen. I do three more sets of 15, each with a minimum 60 second break in between. My fifth set...I get all the way to twenty.

I'm really feeling it now...across my arms, chest, and back. I grab a bokken and run through some Iaido cuts and Ocho-Ocho patterns with each arm. My left arm feels particularly stiff, but by the time my bokken gets put away, both arms feel more invigorated.

99 practice hours, 98 class hours, and a surprising 88 pushups to go.

If only you could see the stunned look on my face......