Fighting For Liberty

I am officially, a Certified Muay Thai Instructor.

What’s Muay Thai? Some people call it Thai Kickboxing, some in the know call it Muay Lao as it arguably originated in Laos (though it’s the national sport of Thailand and is promoted heavily in Thailand because they gots the cash to do so). Think boxing, but being able to use kicks, knees, and elbows as well. It’s the “art of eight limbs”. Two hands, two elbows, two knees, and two legs (Shins, actually. We don’t kick with feet unless we want broken footsies).

It’s an awesome and highly useful fighting style and I love it. But something about the whole “Certified Muay Thai Instructor” thing kinda bothers me.

See, I’ve been training casually with Muay Thai for the better part of a year or so. I know all the strikes, I’ve got power and speed, have had plenty of sparring time, and I can certainly teach someone the art. That’s not the issue. The issue is, I wasn’t a “Certified Muay Thai Instructor” one day, though I had all this knowledge. Then the next day I completed a 6-hour “official” Muay Thai Cert Program, and the day after that, I’m a certified Muay Thai Instructor.

Honestly, I was a Muay Thai Instructor the day before the 6-hour cert class. The difference now is, I have a piece of paper that says so.

Kind of like a college diploma, only the Muay Thai certification didn’t cost 40K a year, took only a few hours, and I have a decent chance of working in this field successfully. Contrast that with someone’s opportunities after blowing $100K+ and four years of their life to become a 13th Century Byzantine Architectural History expert and I think it works out okay.

David Martial Arts, Me

The test was yesterday. Today? I’m sore. Not in a terrible physical state (though at some point mid-way through the test someone stomped HARD on my foot and it’s red/purple today, swollen and tender.

But … there it is. All new and sparkly on my slimmer waist:

The test was … brutal. Four and a half hours long. Lots of fighting – boxing, grappling, kickboxing, Muay Thai, MMA – we did it all. Numerous times.

And I had a BLAST!

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of having someone standing in front of you that you don’t know, and having carte blanche to beat the snot out of them.

My mindset going into the test was simple – This is MY test. I wasn’t about to allow anyone get in my way, and I didn’t. I was called the “most brutal” at one point (with a smile, not in a “you’re in trouble” kind of way), and I took that as a great badge of honor. I wasn’t the youngest guy there (nor the oldest), but I was certainly one of the biggest, and I made sure I was the one who hit the hardest.

After all the training, broken bones, sweat and sore muscles – two years worth – I’ve reached the beginning, and as that smile on my face clearly shows, it feels good.

David Martial Arts, Me, Uncategorized

Well, it’s tomorrow morning. By this time tomorrow, if all goes well, I’ll be a 1st Dan (1st Degree) with a title of “Shodan”.

This morning’s weigh-in? 234.4, so I’ve kept under my goal weight. Feeling pretty healthy – my back’s a little squirrely and it’s not going to get better taking a three-hour ride in a Jeep down South where I’ll be testing, but a good night’s sleep should take care of that.

Tonight … loading up on pasta, packing in carbs and water as much as I can stand. Tomorrow? Human wrecking ball, at least that’s my plan.

I’ll post an update on Monday! Don’t wish me luck. Luck has nothing to do with it. All I need to do is go kick some ass. :-)

David Martial Arts, Me

“It’s as if a million voices suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced.”

-Obi-Wan Kenobi

Black Belt test is in five days. Weight-wise I’ve been hovering right around my 235, give or take a half pound. Perfect.

I’m healthy. Well-rested. Eating well. My allergies have passed me by this year. The stars have aligned.

I’m getting to the point now where I’m pacing thinking about it. I can’t wait. I’ve got butterflies galore, but I’m trying to keep cool.

What I’m most excited about is that I won’t know a single person down there (that is, nobody from my school other than myself is taking this test), which is like getting a big smooch from Lady Luck.

See, I don’t like going all out on my classmates and training partners. I mean, I do it anyway, but I dislike it a great deal because they’re good people. They’re nice to my kids, they’re fun to train with and talk to. They’re friends.

On the test? Well, I won’t know a soul. I’ll be 150 miles from home. I’m going to let my fists fly with the naughtiest of intentions and I’m going to enjoy every farking second of it. It will be easy to picture my sparring partner a grown man who once beat on my children. This will complete my journey to the dark side as I let the anger flow …

To my future opponent,

This Sunday, know that I am the fully operational Death Star … and your ass is Alderaan.

David Martial Arts, Me

On April 2nd of this year, I was 252 pounds. I started doing the shake thing, working out a bit more, eating smarter, and it’s made a difference.

Weight tracking over the last five days:
4/28: 238
4/29: 238.6
4/30: 237.6
5/01: 237.6
5/02: 236

My goal: 235
Lbs away: 1
Days left: 14

One pound. Black Belt test is in two weeks. I’ve lost 16 pounds in the last month. Out of curiosity, I want to try 50 push-ups with 16 pounds of weight on me, just to feel what I’m missing.

My belts are loose, my pants are loose, my shirts fit better and I’m feeling darn good. There’s still two weeks to go of losing some more and keeping it off (ie: don’t “celebrate” by pigging out on cheesecake once I hit 235). I can do this.

This is the healthiest I’ve been weight-wise in at least the last dozen years. Strange.

What’s helped the most? The shakes, certainly, eating more veggies and fruits that my body can quickly consume and use (I’ve cut out a huge amount of pastas and breads), and eliminating late-night snacking. That’s been the hardest – for as long as I’ve been alive it seems like I’ve enjoyed a post-dinner bowl of cereal at 9:00 or 10:00 at night. Kicking that habit is HARD. But it’s working.

Two weeks to go. Paid for the test. Made the hotel reservation. Now two weeks of solid training and off I go …

David Gettin' Healthy, Martial Arts, Me

… how have I lived so long without you? Picked up a dual-band 2.4/5Ghz Netgear router, got everything (finally) hooked up and ooooooooh I like seeing those connection speeds.

Still have some fiddling to do, but it’s made quite a difference in file transfers and in managing incoming speeds (videos load and play much faster than they did with the old Linksys clunker I had on there).

Kinda crusing with some light workouts here and there. Another relatively light one today during class. I’m just maintaining right now, but that Black Belt test is coming up quick …

Weight tracking over the last five days:

4/27: 238
4/28: 238
4/29: 238.6
4/30: 237.6
5/01: 237.6

My goal: 235
Lbs away: 2.6
Days left: 15

Practiced some self-defense today. My back is fully healed. Yeah, there’s a little tweak here or there from time to time, but if I can hurl someone across the room with a shoulder throw, I consider myself to be doing just fine.

The toe is still bugging me, and it makes push-ups not a lot of fun as I put quite a bit of weight on my bent toes doing push-ups, but it’s nothing I can’t grit my teeth through, however. Honestly, apart from the Brown Belt test I had just a couple of weeks ago, this will be the healthiest I’ve been for a test. I’ve taken one with a fever, I’ve had two when allergies were in full bloom, and I think one where I had a 100 degree fever.

Paid for the test today, all that’s left is to go get the darn belt! Well, AND lose 2.6 pounds so I can say I’ve met my goal.

David Geekness, Gettin' Healthy, Martial Arts, Me

Working on light construction helping out a friend of mine yesterday. So I didn’t eat much and I didn’t drink much. And it shows.

Weight tracking over the last five days:

4/22: 240.8
4/23: 242
4/24: 240.8
4/25: 239.4
4/26: 237

My goal: 235
Lbs away: 2
Days left: 20

My guess is, nourished properly, I’ll be somewhere in the 238s. Still … it was nice seeing a 237 on the scale this morning. I haven’t been this light on my toes in at least the past 12 years.

I’m gonna celebrate with cake and cookies! WOOHOO!!! Or not …

David Gettin' Healthy, Martial Arts, Me

Broken toes suck. Generally, I don’t feel it – just walking around, sitting down and typing or driving it doesn’t really bother me. But if you twist in just the right way, yikes. Pain. I hope that little reminder goes away by the 16th of May because I’d hate to yelp on a Black Belt test because of my widdle tootsie. Not very … uhhh … Black Belt-y, that is.

So after Tuesday’s Brown Belt test I took a few days off to recover and re-nourish. Friday I went running up a steep trail here in town, yesterday I was running wire and playing with electrical all day, so I’ve had two solid days of plenty of activity, and it shows.

Weight tracking over the last five days:

4/21: 239
4/22: 240.8
4/23: 242
4/24: 240.8
4/25: 239.4

My goal: 235
Lbs away: 4.4
Days left: 21

Three weeks.

Right now, weight-wise I’m right about where I was right after that excruciating Brown Belt test. I’m not thrilled with the last five days being even weight-wise, but it was bound to happen since I had to take some time to recover. At any rate, just over four pounds in three weeks is a great target for me. The goal here is to be active every day. If I can maintain that, this weight will fall right off and I’ll be in a nice happy place come test-time.

Let’s do it!

David Gettin' Healthy, Martial Arts, Me

So here I go, blogging about martial arts, computer games and stormtrooper humor, and my wife hops on and busts out this crazy-good essay.

I feel shame.

It’s okay though, I’ll keep running with the geek stuff, someone’s gotta do the hard work around here!

Today is the day after the 1st degree brown belt test. Broke my toe, and it’s all swollen and purple and gross. My back isn’t in great shape, but it’s not bad either. I could do a light workout today and I’d be fine (though I’m sure the pushups would be rough). All in all, a smashing success as I’m generally healthy and feeling good. I’m all set for the black belt test in just over three weeks (holy cow … just over three weeks!?!?)!

As I anticipated, weight loss was a little accelerated yesterday due to the ridiculous physical exertion during the test. So …

Weight tracking over the last five days:

4/17: 242.2
4/18: 241.4
4/19: 241
4/20: 240.8
4/21: 239

My goal: 235
Lbs away: 4
Days left: 26

HELL YEAH! Dropped under 240! Granted, yesterday’s activities had me dropping two pounds and I’m fairly certain much of that was just water, so I’m expecting a few days of wiggling up or down by a quarter-pound or so, but once my post-test rest is over and I’m back to training, that last four pounds should shed well before the test. Then I’ll set a new goal. But I don’t want to look ahead.

Yesterday was interesting. The test was 2 1/2 hours and my mindset going in was one of optimism. Still, I found myself being adversarial toward both my teacher and a fellow student who I was sparring/grappling with. Skipping ranks is nothing to take lightly so I feel I’ve something to prove here, and I believe I did. I saw anything I was asked to do as an obstacle I wouldn’t fail to overcome and I wanted my strikes, kicks, grappling, and even push-ups to be cleaner, stronger, and faster than my partner with a higher rank.

At day’s end it was a great feeling. There’s one step left now, and it’s going to be quite an experience …

David Martial Arts, Me

1,100 push-ups
100 each of 10 different hand-strikes/punches for a total of 1000.
100 each of 10 different kicks (some jumping, some spinning) for a total of 1000.

Plus self-defense techniques, grappling/sparring, katas/forms.

The test took 2 1/2 hours total. It was a crazy fast pace as there were just two of us. I earned that 1st degree brown and did very well. Broke a toe, which wasn’t fun, it’s all purple and weird looking, and I’ll just have to deal with it going forward. Otherwise, smashing success. My back held up fine and hopefully I won’t be too sore tomorrow.

Basically, I’m looking forward to 3+ weeks from now when I’ll have the opportunity to go get that black belt!

David Martial Arts, Me