First class we did nothing but push kick defense.  Different ways to defend and counter the push kick as well as what to do when you throw a push kick and it gets caught.

Second class we did some tough pad work and then did a lot of clinch work.  Different combinations to get into the clinch and then lots of work on what to do when you’re on either side of the clinch.

From now on I’m going to do 2 hours of class on Wednesdays and Saturdays… if I can get out of work early enough, I’ll do it on Mondays too.  Time to start stepping it up and getting to the next level.

We finished up doing 100 kicks… counting 1-5 and then down on one leg, then the other, then both again.  For a change, I didn’t feel like I was dying after ;)

I’ve been pretty inconsistent lately about keeping my site updated.  I’ve been getting workouts in, but haven’t been posting much at all.  Well - I’m back and I’ll be updating regularly again.  I had a massive project at work and some other crap come up and I lost some of my motivation along the way with all the stress.  But I see that if I keep letting the stress get to me that I’ll eventually end up back on my old path - somewhere I am not going to go.

I’ve still got a bit over 3 weeks left in my current 9 week challenge.  Realistically I am not going to reach the goals I set out for initially, but I am going to improve and I am going to bust my ass for the next 3 weeks.  Looking forward to Muay Thai class tonight!

After those drills we did some knee drills - learning to come in with different knees after going into a one handed clinch.  Fun stuff… and I didn’t get kneed in the head today, so it’s all good.

We finished off with 15 minutes of some tough yoga-style stretching.   I’d like to get more into yoga for flexibility and core strength - some of those moves were tough!

After class, I went home quick and got cleaned up then went back to Kombat Arts.  They were holding a spar-fest where students from different schools come in and do quick matches between 1 and 3 rounds.  It’s kind of like the entry level Muay Thai matches.  I am going to go in for the next one in 3-4 months and I wanted to see what I’d be in for.

Watching spar-fest was awesome… it looked tough and all the fighters did an awesome job.  Now I want to train harder than ever so I can be ready for the next one.

We spent the whole class doing drills in response to catching a jab from our partner.  We went through different routines, responding to the jab with different combinations of jabs, crosses, hooks, knees and inside and outside leg kicks.  We then did a really fun drill where we threw a jab and a hook with the same hand, then grabbed our opponents head and launched a jumping knee to the head.

It went well - I thought my energy levels would be a lot lower than they ended up being, but then I was really excited to get back to class so that could have been it too.

Saturdays class will be fun.  The school is running a spar-fest with a bunch of other fighters coming in from other schools to fight our guys.  It’s the kind of event that I’ll enter first when I’m ready, so it’ll be good to watch and get a feel for what I’ll be in for.

It feels so good to move again and get my blood pumping.  I haven’t felt like myself at all in the last 2 weeks.  Between the craziness of my work schedule and some other junk, I just was not in a good state.  I had to keep reminding myself throughout that this was a temporary thing and not allow myself to internalize any of these negative feelings.

Now it’s time to push it.  I set some goals for myself and I am going to reach them.  Taking the last 2 weeks off my 9 week challenge leaves with just over a month left.  I’ve hit some setbacks, but I am going to reach the goals I set out for.

I’m feeling really burnt out.  I haven’t been working out and I haven’t been eating the greatest.  Not a lot of crap, but lots of skipped meals and not enough fresh foods.  I’m really feeling it too.  Between the lack of exercise, proper nutrition, lack of sleep and just general fatigue, I feel like I have absolutely no energy left right now.  It’s just after 1pm and my energy levels are crashing hard - a problem I haven’t had in months.  Anyway - the tone of this is getting more negative than I like, so enough of that.

I’m done!  I’m going to collect my bonus for getting the project done and I’m going to get a new snowboard at the show in October.  I figured out that I can spend $250 on a weekday nights pass at Glen Eden and a 5×7 pass at Blue Mountain and be set to get out boarding at least 2-3 times a week this winter at minimal cost.  I’m really looking forward to winter this year - gonna get out as much as I can and work on my freestyle boarding a lot.

Now that I’ve got my free time back I am going to get back to doing a lot of the little things that make me happy.  I’ve got a lot to catch up on around the house, but over the next week I’m going to do the following:

• Go for a midnight run
• Ride my bike through the Lake shore trail
• Go to Muay Thai
• Spend time with my family and friends
• Take Ozzy to the dog park
• Clean my room up
• Watch the new Hatebreed live DVD
• Catch up on my reading and movie watching

Lots to do - but all of it relaxing and centering.  The whole experience made me realize some other things… but that’s for another post.  For now, I’m just happy to be back in the real world - back to Muay Thai class tomorrow night - can’t wait!!!

I’ve been at a plateau for the past 6 weeks - hovering back and forth between 210 and 220 - up and down, up and down.  This morning I finally broke through the 210 mark and weighed in at 209.6.  My plateau did not happen because of muscle gain or my body being in starvation mode.  It happened because I wasn’t active enough and was not consistent enough with my nutrition.

This is the 4th weight loss plateau I’ve been through since last June.  Each time I’d start off thinking “oh, that’s just my body adjusting and holding me back” - but after reviewing what I’d written down each time I found that I was completely responsible for each plateau.  Each time I plateaued, it was my own fault.  I was being inconsistent with either my nutrition or my activity.  Each time I realized that and acted in a more consistent manner, I broke through my perceived plateau.  When I took complete responsibility for my actions, I got the result I wanted.

Inconsistent action gave me inconsistent results.  Consistent action gave me consistent results.  So simple, but so hard to really accept.

Many times in my past I’ve felt like a failure at one thing or another.  It starts out by failing at something specific I was trying to do and then I would take it personally.  Instead of looking specifically at what I was trying to do, I focused instead on myself.  Instead of failing at X, I was a failure.

Sounds like a pretty productive frame of mind huh?

When I started all this over a year ago, I changed the way I thought about failure.  I realized that the whole concept of failure is only as negative as I let it be.  If I fail at something and choose not to learn from it and take it personally, then it’s bad.  If I look at what happened logically, learn from it and adapt then it was a good thing.

Now, whenever I feel myself slipping back to that old thought process, my inner dialogue kicks in automatically and tells me to stop, take a minute to think about what I should learn and then do that next time.  There will always be a next time - I think the idea of a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity is bull shit.

I’m going to map out some routes along the lakeshore trail and go there for my long weekend runs.  It’s such a nice area to run through - better than running through the residential area around my place.