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?

A Pain in the Neck

That's it, RIGHT THERE

While training at the Kyokushin dojo, I strained my neck at some point during the class, but not badly enough to stop.

I kept on the with the class and felt OK, but the next day, MY NECK! I could barely move it.

It was so bad that on the second day after I sustained the injury, I had to work from home because it was just too painful to move about.

I'm really starting to wonder if I can get fit through martial arts if I can't even move after a class.

They call me Bruise

What a whopper - my first karate bruise

My ankle looks worse than it feels.

I didn't even realize it was bruised until the next day and I had no idea how it happened. I think my ankle was kicked while sparring.

This bruise however I'll never forget:

I went to kick someone's thigh, and was checked by his shin. CRACK!

The lump on my shin was there for nearly a month.

It doesn't look bad in the photo, but it prompted me to invest in some shin pads for future sparring.

Kyokushin Karate prides itself on being a pad-free full contact style, but these early bruises make me question how long I'll last.

I'm committed to staying at the dojo for at least a year to improve my fitness, but I'll augment my primary goal: get fit WHILE AVOIDING HOSPITALIZATION.

Slowly losing weight

Getting in tune with my love-handles

Before I started my fitness program for this year, I stood on the scales and it read 105.8 kilograms.

Now I know I've seen it higher than that. In fact, last year, I remember it saying exactly 106.3, which is the same FM band as a popular radio station here in Canberra.

But I after I started my martial arts, it didn't take long for me to reach another popular radio station, 104.7.

Then it was ABC Classic FM at 102.3.

I lingered around JJJ for ages, 101.5, but I got real sick of that and right now I'm swiftly tuning down to QBN FM at 98.9.

I'm not quite there, but nearly. That means, as of this writing, I've lost about 6 kilograms.

I joke with friends that my aim is to reach my favorite radio station, a community station that plays lots of jazz, Artsound FM 92.7.

That would be fantastic.

When I grabbed their banner (above) I discovered to my distress that they also broadcast at a slightly lower frequency too.

I'll save that goal for another time.

Dojo Mojo

My son wants to be a nunchaku whiz, just like Bruce Lee (doesn't everybody?)

I can report back that my son and I attended two free introductory lessons, and we were both happy to continue, so we joined our nearest Kyokushin Karate Dojo.

I suspect my temperament would better suit softer-styles of martial arts (such as tai chi!), but given that my son is determined to go to this particular dojo, there was little point in us going to separate places.

The primary reason my son was keen to join was, apart from his friend being there, the instructor teaches weapons, like the nunchaku and the bo. The instructor knows that kids love the weapons and it's mostly kids who attend the weapons class!

I am concerned about the long term effects of a full-contact karate-style like Kyokushin, because I'm not there to learn to fight, but to get fit, but I'm willing to overcome my fears and do something together with my son.

The martial arts adventure begins!

Why didn't you tell me I looked like a washing machine?

Here I am, impersonating white goods

As someone who spends much of his waking life typing words into a computer, I recently had the uncomfortable truth of my physical appearance displayed before me on screen. My son and I were filming a Christmas comedy sketch and it came time for the edits.

I couldn't believe my corpulent appearance.

Did I really look like that?

I knew for a long time that I was a 'little' overweight, about 20 kgs (44 lbs) overweight.

For my height, I should be around 85 kgs (187 lbs), but I've weighed around 105 kgs (231 lbs) for at least a few years.

But I didn't think I looked THAT bad.

It's amazing what you don't see when you merely glance down, quickly...

Around the same time of our filming just before Christmas, my son said he wanted to join a nearby Karate club because his friend was there and it sounded like fun.

I've never learned a martial art, but I thought to myself, well, why not?

I researched what styles of martial arts are available, and soon realized there's a long history of arguing between practioners about which style is best.

Regardless, the choice comes down to what your goals are. For me it's fun, fitness and self-defence, in that order.

During my research, I enrolled in an online martial arts competition to see how my physical condition will improve over the course of 2008 as I learn to put into practice the online lessons.

I hope to post more details about my progress.

As of this writing, my son and I will be visiting his friend's Karate dojo tomorrow to see if it's appropriate for him to join, and even me for that matter.

One of the difficulties of learning martial arts online is that no one hits back, so I definitely feel the need to sweat it out with some training buddies.