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.