This week began my foray back into the world of martial arts. Although I only ended up doing two kickboxing and one karate class, those on top of my normal workout has made this a very rough week. I ended up not working out at all on Friday due to my body feeling like I had been run over by a truck. I decided to take three days to rest. Today I feel much better, not exactly 100%, but I have more energy than I have had in a long, long, long time. I am dancing and kicking around the house like a stark raving fool!
Over the past three months I have progressed from strength training 2 to 3 times a week to now 4 or 5 times a week with a mile jog as a warm up. I have to remember to say jog, as I am only at about 4.5 MPH pace and although that feels like a run for me, most people would consider that a jog. And this week has only been an average of half a mile as the kickboxing classes have been kicking my ass, but more on that later. After my jog I now work a different body part starting with the chest, then the back and shoulders, followed by the arms, and finally the legs the last day of the week.
I started out doing 8 to 12 reps on the bench with 110 pounds, and this week I moved up to 160 pounds. That is 10 and then 8 reps followed by another 11 at 150 lbs. All other exercises have increased as well, but not quite as much. Also I should point out that I do abs every day and that has increased from 80 pounds to 120 and I notice the biggest difference in the fact that there is a solid layer of muscle now hiding behind my belly. All in all I am happy with my progress at this point even if the scale seems to be here just to taunt me, but I keep focusing on the positives; the biggest being how much better I FEEL. Quite a difference from the fool who threw his back out wrapping christmas presents.
In any case, I guess I decided that I was not punishing myself enough, so I signed up for Shuri Te Ha Karate which is a mixture of Shotokan and Kyokushinkai Karate and Nihin Ryu jujutsu. Along with these classes he also teaches traditional Japanese Kickboxing which complement the classes very well as it is basically an hour of going through all the Kihon (Basic Techniques) in a fast paced and heart pounding manner geared to strengthen and prolong endurance. These classes have pushed me to my limit on both occasions and are a ton of fun. Right now I actually look forward to them more than the actual Karate classes.
Sensei Tim was in a car accident recently so he asked to cancel the first class I was to be a part of, but I did get to take part in the second class, well sort of. See I love the fact that I am getting in on the ground floor here. I feel like a big enough fool as a 6' 4" 300 lbs 37 year old behemoth flailing around in what feels like way to small of a room for me and any other human without the added pressure of others my age leaping from wall to wall like trained ninja, but it also has its drawbacks. I am the only one in the adult class so far, so since I had my kids there for the younger class already, sensei asked that I join in. So now as I tower over these kids a third my age I can see the fear in their eyes as I come lumbering towards them kicking and flailing like some giant sweat flinging panicked elephant.
It has been interesting though to notice how easily it all comes back. When I make a mistake, I instinctively know I am making it and can work to correct it. The biggest problem is that I have almost no endurance at this point, so it gets hard to work on technique when I get worn out so quickly. But that will come in time, and if pushing through the humiliation is not enough proof that I am in this for the long haul, well then you are probably a racist!
4 comments:
Very impressed.
At first it seemed like the countless other times you were trying to get back in shape. A week or so of playing around with some excersizes, and a lot of begging for other people to pat you on the back to keep you motivated.
This time around it didn't happen. Instead you found the desire to do something for yourself, inside yourself.
And with no ego stroking from anyone else, you're still going strong at what, 14, 15 weeks?
That kind of devotion proves something.
On top of that, you actually went out in public, and joined an actual martial arts school. Something you had given up and had no intention of returning to decades ago.
You didn't join with anyone else. You didn't need any coaxing. It was all on your own, and all for yourself.
Now one of the coolest aspects of it is that you are the first student. You get the 100% attention. You get to participate in how it grows, right along with how you grow as a martial artist.
In addition to all this coolness, the past 6 months or so has seen you return to other "non-work-related" activities that distinguish you as an individual, such as music, with your guitar playing, and art, with things such as the Draw a Blank site and the Dragon Cross book cover.
Having said all that, here are two additions:
1) I noticed when swithing from workout machines at an old apartment, to a bench with free weights, the actual weight being lifted was way off. I don't know why, but if I could lift 200 lbs on a machine, I was only able to lift 150 lbs doing the same excersize with a barbell.
2) I've heard and seensome evidence that leads me to believe it, that when you strenuously excersize while not dropping the weight, you could be doing more harm than good, because your heart is already strained from the effort placed on it by an overly large body. You can really overwork it, and even give yourself a heart attack with all the excersize.
I'm no expert, and I'm no doctor, but I tend to believe that skinny and weak is better than fat and strong. And of course, lean and fit would be ideal.
The guy I work with said he didn't have the heart attack he got last year until after he started excersizing. He hadn't dropped any weight yet.
He also hasn't learned his lesson.
He's now been on a workout routine for almost six months and though he's gotten stronger, he's put on another 40 lbs.
I think it's only a matter of time till he drops again.
Totally agree with the statement about machines, as there are little stabilizer muscles that are not being used, but I am not to worried about than actual weight, more the increase than anything else. I am only now focusing on diet as I needed to get into a routine first. As far as the heart attack waiting to happen, I am not too worried about that as there is no heart disease history in my family at all. Everyone has died of the Diabet'us or Cancer. So I am more worried about loosing a foot or two.
I am starting to focus on Diet now, but not to the point that I let it affect my workouts. I am doing the same thing there in trying to find something that works for me. One big thing is that I have replaced a lot of my red meat with fish. Last night was Swordfish instead of steak, and it was actually really good. Good enough that I didn't care about not having steak. So it is all the little things like that that I hope will make the difference. Just like doing my workouts at lunch. It is the first time I ever tried that, and just happened to be the perfect fit for my lifestyle right now.
I will add, that even though I am not too worried about heart attacks and the such, I am paying attention to my body. And keep a feeler open for chest pains and never push myself beyond what I am capable of doing. That is why I took the three days off. My body needed some time to recover before I hurt myself. The hard part is coming to terms with the balance. It is good to push myself, but I have to realize my limitations to stay safe.
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