A new low

Is that the Dow getting smaller? No, that's my ass.

I hit the scales this morning and it said 94.1 kilograms (207.5 pounds.)

This is a freakin' miracle. I can't believe I dropped below 95 kgs.

I've observed that the weeks I have my greatest weight-loss are when I combine all three strategies of a low-carb diet, regular walking AND martial arts training.

Any one facet on its own gives mediocre results. With two, the results are better, but with all three, the results are awesome.

Someone said to me today that I'm looking svelte.

I better look up what that means. :-)

Martial Arts doesn't help me lose weight

A revelation: there's a better way to lose weight

This morning I got on the scales and it read 97.9 kilograms (215.4 pounds), that's the lightest I've been since I can remember, certainly for the last ten years.

I'm still doing Krav Maga, but by ONLY doing Krav my weight dropped to about 100 kilograms and dropped no further.

I came across a weight loss system, which is like many out there, that promotes an eating regime that consists of:

* smallish portions compared to what I was used to

* more frequent meals containing -

* high protein

* low carbohydrates

* plus walking EVERY day for at least half an hour.

I've been doing this eating and walking plan for nearly three weeks now and I've broken below my previous lowest weight which I achieved by just doing martial arts.

I had a similar experience when I used to go to the gym for weight training and aerobic fitness: I'd drop my weight to a certain point and then it would just stop, but I was still considered well overweight for my height and I could never get rid of the blubber of fat around my mid-section, no matter how physically hard I pushed myself.

I've finally learned that most of the weight loss I seek will be achieved through what I put or DON'T put into my mouth. I've learned that my workouts were burning the carbs I was putting in, not the fatty deposits I wanted to lose. By dropping the carb intake, my body now has to get its energy from my plentiful fat supply, and I'm seeing the difference.

I still want the physical fitness and self-defense skills that come from doing martial arts, but I now know that for weight loss, my eating habits have a bigger impact.

I've got the holiday-flab blues

Hey, this guy has been to Queensland too.

One of the downsides of going on a break is all that sitting around and eating and more sitting around and sleeping.

I promptly went back to over 100 kg in weight.

I'm rested, but now I face losing that flab AGAIN.

It's really hard getting back into the swing of things again after doing NOTHING at all for a few weeks.

I hope going back to Krav Maga class will kick start me into regular exercising again, if it doesn't kill me first!

I'll rip yer bloody head off!

They make it look so easy

Before going on a holiday to sunny Queensland, our Krav Maga instructor introduced me to the strategy of escaping a head lock.

The problem for me was that my training-partner was a beefy ex-army guy who only knew one way of doing a head lock: as hard as humanly possible.

Thus began my FIRST EVER trip to a physiotherapist.

I'd never been to a physiotherapist before, so I was a little nervous. I even asked my wife if they ask you to take all your clothes off. Like I should know?!

Anyway, the physio gave me some excellent neck strengthening exercises, which I will need to keep doing if I have any hope of maintaining the art of escaping a head lock.

I didn't want to risk another neck injury before my holiday, so I skipped the class the day before my flight to Queensland.

I look forward to going back to class, but I hope my neck can cope.

New Directions - Krav Maga

Sorry about that

It was only a couple of weeks ago that I quit Kyokushin Karate, but I immediately began researching what other martial arts were available in my local area that also fitted my goals better.

I quickly discovered the world of Krav Maga, the Isreali self-defense system and thought this might be what I was after. I was fortunate to find a local school and tried the first three introductory classes, and I loved it.

We have a good physical work out at the start of class, I'm sweating and puffing, then we learn how to defend against different kinds of attacks and there's lots of repitition so that eventually the moves will be automatic.

I'm so glad I found Krav Maga. It fits into my life, I don't have to fit into someone else's sub-culture.

Not Quitting, Changing Course

Are the injuries worth it?

I finally decided to quit Kyokushin Karate.

The weekly debilitating injuries made me question the point of learning the art.

Why was I getting injured so frequently? It usually happened during sparring, not during the cardio workouts or self-defence parts of the class.

Is sparring something I want to learn? Well, sparring, or more accurately, sport-sparring, is not a sport that drew me to martial arts. It always came back to fitness and self-defence. While sport-sparring would certainly help toughen me up, it doesn't particularly help with self-defence, and the constant injuries were becoming a concern.

The final straw was observing the injuries of the more advanced students, which were worse than mine! That was my future, and I didn't like it.

My son wants to stay with Kyokushin Karate and I support him 100%. For kids, they learn through non-contact and I can see the benefits he's gained already. He's no longer physically intimidated by other kids. So Kyokushin is working well for him. It's like having a defacto big-brother to wrestle with.

I'm still keen to learn martial arts, but in a manner that better suits my goals.

I've found a possible replacement and I'll post the outcome of the introductory classes of a 'style' that I just learned about.

You know I do Karate - because of all that limping

A weapon of mass destruction

A number of students at the Kyokushin dojo I go to are preparing for an upcoming full-contact tournament, and I had the privilege of being their bare-knuckled punching bag.

One woman kept apologizing to me after giving me numerous punching combinations to my solar-plexus.

'Sorry' - Bam.

'Oh, sorry about this' - Bam Bam.

'Does it hurt?' BAM BAM BAM.

Our instructor asked me to keep my arms raised so that she could get used to punching somebody with force, and it would be good conditioning for me. I have the bruises across my rib-cage to prove the beating.

The funny thing is, the most painful injury I had while limping around at work the next day was my right foot. I couldn't bend my toes because of the bruising across the top of my foot.

Hmmm.

'Conditioning.'

Is that what they call it?