It's a Habit: Operation Shodan Fit Week 6 Results

Remember at the very beginning of this phase of training when I said I had read that it would take about 3 weeks to break a habit and start a new one?  Well, continued study suggested that it was more like six.  Now that I've reached that threshold in my own personal training, I have to say I agree.  I honestly don't feel right if I'm not working out on any given day (except for my rest day each week).  The habit has set in!

Here are some benefits I've noticed in these first several weeks:

·  An energy boost--seriously...I can train, work, and otherwise run around all day.  I love naps, but I'm needing fewer and fewer.  I'll still have them on the weekends, though.  Let's not get crazy.

·  Better sleep!

·  More efficient movement--less wasted energy.

·  Fewer clumsy accidents.

·  That great sore feeling--not an achy feeling, but rather an affirmation of hard work well done.

·  Easier focus and problem solving--and I wasn't even having trouble with that!

·  Less tolerance for garbage food.

· And the list goes on!

And, with that, here are the week 6 results:

 

Monday

Classes attended:  8:00 Yoga, 9:00 Judo (pinning focus)

Workouts:  DAY OF REST!

 

Tuesday

Classes Attended:  12:00 Kyuki-do, 5:30 Yoshukai
Workouts:  Forms workout, Tabata sprints
Steps:  10,575
Stairs:  73
Miles: 5.1
Calories:  1,226

Wednesday

Class attended:  5:00 Kyuki-do (Takedown, MMA flow drill, Kali focus)

Workouts:  extended Bo kata workout.  HIIT

Steps:  11,281
Stairs:  75
Miles:  5.5
Calories: 1,353

 

Thursday

Classes Attended:  12:00 Kyuki-do, 7:00-8:30 Yoshukai (Combinations, Bo focus)

Workouts:  Body weight strength training, Open hand forms

Steps:  6,010
Stairs:  81
Miles:  2.9
Calories:  943

 

Friday

Workouts:  Forms workout, nunchaku focus

Steps:  17,595
Stairs:  115
Miles:  8.8
Calories:  2,105

How Do You Do The Math?

So, lately, I spend a lot of time engaged in activities that allow me to do a lot of thinking:  working out, some of the more mundane preparation for the school year, house work...you get the idea.  Luckily, a lot of people have been either actively or passively giving me a lot of ideas to roll around in my head.  What follows are a couple from Kyuki-do Summer Camp last weekend, and I think they are worth sharing...so here goes!

Interestingly enough, two of the most profound life lessons this weekend (and there were several more which are just as good) revolve around mathematics as a metaphor.  The first was a geometric metaphor shared by Master Jeff Kim, and the second was an arithmetic metaphor shared by Grandmaster Ok Hyung Kim.

Just like in grade school, let's start with the arithmetic.

On Monday, I mentioned how our Saturday morning workout with Grandmaster Kim turned from a seemingly simple one to a sweaty, hard-edged blast by the end.  It was beautiful.  Once he had sufficiently worn us out, Grandmaster Kim shared a bit of wisdom with us before we broke for breakfast.  He said in life, we do basic arithmetic every day.  He didn't mean paying bills, buying groceries, or going to the movies.  Instead, he said the way we live life was arithmetic.  We could add, subtract, multiply, or divide.

To illustrate, he posed the following math problems:

100 + 10 = 110

100 - 10 = 90

100 x 10 = 1000

100 / 10 = 10

Simple enough, yes?  This is where the life metaphor entered the lesson.

Addition and subtraction are small scale, and in them lies the metaphor for how we deal with everyday things.  "Addition people" find the positive spin.  Small problems become challenges or opportunities, work is given a game-oriented approach, and everything else is just a little more than the neutral passive.  "Subtraction people" always take a little something away from the sum of their experiences.  Mild complaining, gloom, dullness...these are the symptoms of subtraction.  Now, by saying "addition people" and "subtraction people," I'm using a general description.  I think in everyday we find situations where we make the decision to come out a little ahead, and sometimes we slice away a little from our portion and toss it aside.

Multiplication and Division are , in turn, large scale.  "Multipliers" have long-term outcomes in mind, and their totals are enormous.  I would imagine that the successful folks out in the world have a lot of "multiply" to them.  "Dividers" end up with significantly less than their portion...you get the idea.  Again, there are days where we are just multiplying all over the place, and those probably stand out as important days in our lives.  And some of our worst days are divide, divide, divide.  Obviously, it take a lot more work to be consistently a multiplier, but imagine the possibilities...

Now, onto the geometry:

If I remember correctly, "The Triad" is a Tony Robbins idea.  It describes a paradigm for reversing a negative trend or reinforcing a positive one.  It looks like this:

The foundation of the triad, physiology, affects our base emotions and biochemical state.  Take a look at these two pictures:

You don't need to be a body language expert to know the emotional content of each picture.  These were the first images that popped up on a google image search of "joy" and "despair."

Our physiology has a definite effect on our emotions.  Think of the days that you just don't feel like coming to class.  It happens to me at least once a week.  I'm either busy with something, not feeling well, tired...name the excuse.  And, I'm still feeling it when I get into class.  However, the first time I'm called to attention, something changes.  Then we start moving around, kicking, punching, blocking, and before you know it, I'm having a ball.  My physiology has been activated in a positive way, and my emotional makeup has changed entirely.  Motion leads to emotion.  Ever dance by yourself with the music turned way up and no one around?  Isn't it fantastic?!?  The mind responds so well to our physical state, it's no wonder our parents, grandparents, and teachers would often say "sit up straight and act like you're somebody!"

The second part of the triad, focus, describes our direct experience of the world.  I won't elaborate hugely on this, but I feel the focus is the arithmetic metaphor.  What are we focused on?  How do we view the world.  A positive focus multiplies positive emotions, and vice versa.  I believe we ignore the implications of this at our own happiness's peril.

The final portion of the triad, language, is the way you control and express your experience of life to yourself and others.  I can't read minds, but I assume (I believe correctly) that because I have a fairly constant inner monologue going, those around me do as well.  What are you saying in your own head?  In my music teaching, there are words that I don't allow in my students' thinking:  stress, control, pushing, effort...these each have a negative effect on the vocal apparatus.  Then, from there the inner language is focused outward.  We all know a few Eeyores in our personal orbits--the rainclouds just follow them around everywhere.  Now, I'm not discounting that some are just dealt some rough cards, but I do know some amazing people that have it rough and are still wildly positive.  Just a thought.

So, this turned out to be a little more in depth than I originally planned, but I feel it was worthwhile.  And so, I leave you with the question that started this post:  How do you do the math?

Kyuki-do Camp Trip Report and OSF Week 5 results!

At around 4:30 this morning, I arrived back in Athens after a 15-hour drive from the metropolitan Chicago area.  Besides the unholy-late arrival time, you can probably already tell the statement signifies adventure...and it does!  I just returned from the annual Kyuki-do summer camp at YMCA Camp Duncan in the metro-Chicago area.  I know I haven't yet elaborated much on Kyuki-do, but I definitely will in future blog posts.  In fact, after the completion of my Yoshukai shodan test, I'll be in continued training for my Chodan (1st degree black belt--using Korean terminology) in kyuki-do.  So, more training, more blog posts!

So, here's what you'll see in this post--because it's going to be a longer one.  The main body of the post will be a fairly complete trip report of my experience at Kyuki-do camp.  At the bottom, you'll see the workout results for week 5 of Operation Shodan Fit.  There won't be numbers this week because I didn't have the striiv at camp for reasons which will be obvious later.  However, there were lots of workouts and many exercises that I have brought home with me for everyone!

The drive up was actually fairly quick.  Mr. Robert Bishop, Mr. Daniel Williams, and I made the trip in roughly 13.5 hours, which flew by because of good conversation and audiobooks.  We arrived early enough to hit a martial arts class at Kyuki-Do Martial Arts of Huntley with Master Rick Bjorquist.  It was a great hour's workout, and I'll tell you this--a martial arts class after a long drive is an excellent way to smack the road haze right out of you.  If you ever have the opportunity to train with Master and Mrs. Bjorquist, jump at the opportunity--he is a high-intensity, technically excellent, fun, and overall high-quality instructor.  So, after an excellent and satisfying dinner at a local restaurant with Master and Mrs. Bjorquist, we settled in at a local hotel to get some much-needed shut-eye to prepare for camp.

From check-in to check-out, there was always something going on at Kyuki-do camp!  Here's a quick rundown of what went on, and I'll elaborate on some of the things I learned in future posts.

Friday:

After check-in, we started with an insane variant of dodgeball called "ga-ga."  It's sort of a combination of handball, dodgeball, and pitfighting...very intense.  Apparently, the game was invented in Israel, and it is now quickly becoming a summer camp favorite.  Google "ga-ga ball" if you want more info.

After ga-ga, we joined Master Blumreich for a couple of seminar sessions taught by Master Jeff Kim, which are designed to teach goal-setting and leadership for instructors and owners of schools.  The things I learned there will easily fill several blog posts, so be on the lookout for those in the near future.

Before dinner, we had COLOR WARS.  Have any of you participated in a color run?  The idea for color wars sprang from those runs, and the ensuing melee was the brainchild of Ms. Nikki Holden.  Basically, the first portion of color wars was a massive water fight.  Blasters from little single-shot pool toys all the way to battery operated monstrosities got everyone good and wet.  After that, each participant was given a package of colored corn-starch, and we proceeded to sling, smack, and smear the colors over everyone in a grand and glorious color fight.  The results were a more kinetic way to tie-dye shirts.  I'm hoping mine doesn't wash out too much, but we'll see what happens.

After dinner, we had an hour training Kali (also known as Escrima or Arnis), which is a Filipino combat system that empasizes weapon-based combat.  Our class used Kali sticks, also called yantok, which are equal length sticks made from rattan.  The next hour was a blur as we worked a few partnered striking drills, which emphasized some of the basic patterns of the style.

We ended the day with one more leadership seminar with Master Kim, and then hit the hay to prepare for the next full day of training.

Saturday:

Saturday began bright and early with a 6:30 workout with Grandmaster Ok Hyung Kim, the founder of Kyuki-do.  Just like I did with Soke Yamamoto, I will blog a bit more about him later.  But, for now, a little about the workout.  Grandmaster Kim has a fairly simple, straight-forward manner of running a workout.  We started with some simple striking drills, and what seemed at the beginning like a light morning workout turned intense almost without realizing it.  It was a memorable hour with a very special man, and I sweated my tail off for the entirety of the workout.

The rest of the afternoon was comprised of martial arts seminars and traditional camp activities.  Since Saturday was the longest day of training--here's a bullet list of Saturday activities (not necessarily in order) to give you a basic idea of what went on:

·         A Muay-Thai striking clinic, teaching combinations for use at future Kyuki-do black belt testing.

·         A defense seminar against basic strikes and combinations.

·         A grappling seminar focusing of the Kyuki-do pinning form.

·         A seminar teaching the first two Kyuki-do MMA flow drills.

·         Blobbing (jumping onto a big balloon, launching a fellow participant into the water)

·         A climbing tower

·         Swimming

·         Boating

·         Sparring/Grappling with the Masters

·         And more as well--I'm still a little hazy from the ride back!

Sunday:

Friday began with another bright and early workout--a forms workout at 6:00am...perfect for knocking the cobwebs off.  After a fun bit of hang-out time, we had a short review period before a large picnic.  As for the review, I spent time working the Kyuki-do reversal form and 24-count locking form.  To be honest, my chops on both of those is still fairly basic, so I'll forego an in-depth explanation until I know a bit more.

At the picnic (we ate early so we could get on the road), we had bulgogi and kimchee, which are traditional Korean dishes.  I'll tell you something right now--even if you aren't an adventurous eater, any non-vegetarians owe it to themselves to try bulgogi, which is a marinated and grilled beef recipe--I could have completely gorged myself on this stuff.  As for kimchee, I know it isn't for everyone, but I really enjoy it, so if you have the opportunity, snag yourself some of that too!

After that, we hit the road for the 15-hour (we hit some nasty traffic in Chicago and Indianapolis), we are now back in Athens!  Kyuki-do camp was an amazing experience, and I hope that others in the dojang will make every effort to attend next year's camp--the hike up is worth it!

Now, for Week 5 results of Operation Shodan Fit!

Monday:

Class attended:  8:00 Yoshukai with 9:00-9:30 Hapkido.

Workouts:  Forms workout, Tabata squats and chair dips.

Tuesday:

Class Attended:  5:30 Yoshukai at Tate.

Workouts:  HIIT!  Light weapons forms workout.

Wednesday:

Class Attended:  5:00 Kyuki-do

Workouts:  Double forms/weapons

Thursday:

Class Attended:  7:30 Kyuki-do at Kyuki-do Martial Arts of Huntley, IL.

Friday:

See above!

Saturday:

See above!

Sunday

See above!

 

So, now that I'm back, it's back to rough and tumble Shodan training--more blog posts coming up!

Operation Shodan Fit: Week 4 Results

It's that time again!

Sunday Class:  2:00-4:00 Yoshukai (w/half-hour Kyuki-do workout)

Monday: 

Steps: 14795
Equivalent Stairs: 171
Miles: 7.5
Calories:  1899

Classes attended:  12:00-1:00 Kyuki-do, 7:00-8:00 Yoshukai with Soke Yamamoto

Workouts:  Afternoon kata/weapons, Bag tabata

Tuesday: 
 
Steps: 10340
Equivalent Stairs: 302
Miles: 5.1
Calories:  1443

Classes Attended:  12:00-1:00 Kyuki-do, 5:30-6:30 Yoshukai at Tate.

Workouts:  HIIT, light Kata/Weapons

Wednesday: (Storms cut out my evening cardio plans.  Did another forms workout to even things out.) 
 
Steps: 2549
Equivalent Stairs: 107
Miles: 1.1
Calories:  461

Classes Attended:  5:00-6:00 Kyuki-do

Workouts:  Morning Kata/Weapons, Sprints/Pushups tabata, Evening kata/weapons


Thursday: 
 
Steps:  11237
Equivalent Stairs: 213
Miles:  5.8
Calories:  1426

Classes Attended:  7:00-8:30 Yoshukai (with semi-knockdown training)

Workouts:  HIIT, Light Kata/Weapons


Friday: 
 
Steps: 10141
Equivalent Stairs: 89
Miles:  5.2
Calories:  1297

Workouts:  Tabata sprints

Overall weight loss:  12 lbs.


Next week, the results will come a little early because I will be headed to Illinois for Kyuki-do Summer Camp!

Soke

"What about Fairfax, will he give me my money?"

"Reznick told you quite a bit, didn't he?  Fairfax will tell you the same thing I have.  We're not authorized to do things like this."

"Who is?  Who makes the decisions?"

"Well, a committee would make a decision in this case..."

"No.  One man.  You go high enough, you always come to one man."

-Payback

It's true, too.  An idea can have its genesis amongst several people, but more often than not, one driven go-getter type is the one who takes an idea and gets it off the ground.  Someone always becomes the spiritual leader behind an idea.

Last night, I had the great privilege to spend a little training time with Yoshukai Karate's "one man," Soke Katsuoh Yamamoto.  If you've seen an earlier blog post, I included a picture of him.  Let me tell you this--he cuts an impressive figure.  On the three previous times I've seen him, he was present almost as a ceremonial figure at tournaments and camps.  He seemed like he'd walked into our world from a different dimension where people lived who would make comic book superheroes look like little boys playing dress-up.  Impressive...very impressive.

Yesterday, I got a chance to see the man behind the figure.  He ran smaller-group sessions focusing on specific rank-appropriate items, and, through a translator, he would give constructive feedback with occasional bits of English thrown into the mix.  He was smiling, telling stories, answering questions, picking up little children, and just having a grand old time.  He was, in that moment, a happy old man who had the joy of seeing his big idea going international...of seeing his dream made real through practitioners of all different ages, sizes, ranks, and types of people.

It gave me a lot to think about.  By sharing his dream, he made us a part of it--he gave us a small share of ownership in his big idea.  And, although that is heart-warming in ways that are hard to really explain, what really stood out to me is this:  we are now heirs to a responsibility.  We have a responsibility, while we are training (no matter how long or short), to do what we can to advance its cause.  If are true to the art and teach well, then those we pass on our knowledge will see the knowledge as worthy of passing on.  If we do that, our art moves forward even if we as individuals do not.

It's an extraordinary responsibility set forth by an extraordinary man.  And, if we soak up what he has to teach while he is still with us, we can pass along a purer Yoshukai to the next generation.

OSU!

Operation Shodan Fit: Week 3 Results

Here's this week's striiv results.  More detailed workout info coming up next week.

 

Monday: 

S:  20,791

ES:  412

M:  10.3

Cal:  2,670

Tuesday:

S: 7,830

ES: 336

M: 3.8

Cal:  1,197

Wednesday:

S:  14,433

ES: 231

M: 7.2

Cal: 1,770

Thursday:

S: 12066

ES: 313

M: 6.1

Cal: 1557

Friday:

S: 21509

ES: 247

M: 10.9

Cal: 2,512

Weekly Totals:

Steps:  76629
Equivalent Stairs:  1539
Miles:  38.3
Calories burned:  9706

Wandering Exercise

Hello all!  I took a couple days off from posting to enjoy the Independence Day festivities, and I hope each of you had opportunity to celebrate a little as well.  Look for a second post late tonight (past midnight) with the numbers for week 3 of Operation Shodan Fit.  Remember how I mentioned it would take about six weeks to build a habit?  It seems to take a little less than that.  If I don't get up and move around right away, I just feel off.

So, I have one more day here on Isle of Palms, and I've enjoyed the exercise aspect of things a good bit.  I've tried to get into the fitness center a couple times, but it's always been packed.  Fortunately, pushups, burpees, chair dips, and other such goodies only require the space around you for a "fitness center," so all is well.

A big aspect of my morning workouts walking/jogging (lately, more running than ever--feels great!) is getting to see different aspects of the area of the island where we're staying.  With so much to look at, it becomes easy to go a little bit farther than usual.  Remember the old workout maxim "Finish the Drill?"  I remember seeing the football players in high school wearing that one, and I remember thinking, "I don't get why that's inspiring."  I'm still a little ambivalent about it--I don't think finishing the drill is necessarily the big virtue, especially if someone's yelling at you and basically dragging you over the finish line.  It's a great motivator, to be sure.  And, I know that coaches, instructors, trainers, and others can get way more out of their charges if they get them pumped up on finishing a drill as a "this is your life" scenario.  But, I prefer this...finish the drill because life is better on the other side.  It's hard when you're in the middle of it, sure.  That last circuit of HIIT can make your lungs feel like they're about to explode, but once it's done, things feel better on the other end.  Even the soreness after a workout is plugged into a "feeling better" calibration.  It's just another "finer thing" in life.  The drill is fun, but the better life part happens afterwards.  And, I find getting stuck on how hard the drill is can sometimes be discouraging.

Every now and then, a mildly intense but not goal-oriented workout can be just what the doctor ordered if you find yourself getting too focused on the drill itself.  Parks and other beautiful places are excellent for this.  The actual time or specifics of your workout can fall away for awhile, and instead of meticulously counting laps, reps, sets, circuits, and so on and so on, you find yourself lost in thoughts, enjoying the mental exercise that's coming with the physical.  I like to have an audiobook on my ipod while enjoying these kinds of exercise.  I get engrossed in both the story and the scenery, and the miles just tick on by.

It's quite a feeling.

Learning to Be Consistent

From my experience, the easiest thing to do in a fitness regiment of any kind, after deciding that you want to get started, is to make a plan.  Depending on what your goals are and your general experience with workouts/fitness, the first attempt at a plan can be fairly grandiose--an intense, well-laid plan.  You start in on it right away, and the first day goes off without a hitch.  This one's finally going to work.  You go to bed exhausted and feeling great, and you're resolved to get up the next morning, go on a jog and get the day started right.

The next morning, it's raining--maybe a little drizzle or serious "cats and dogs" rain.  Then the mental excuses start moving, and before you know it you're back in bed for "just one more hour 'til the rain stops."

The plan has died, and a few months later, the cycle begins again.

For Operation Shodan Fit, I had a little extra incentive when I got started--I got the mess beaten out of me at summer camp.  I think I fought well, and those who saw it agreed, but I knew that I needed some serious training to be able to handle more fights like these after a black belt test (the fights come at the end).  It's a pretty nice incentive.

So, the prospect of getting my tail handed to me again was enough extra purpose to find the x-factor in my fitness plan:  consistency.

I have a feeling this may be the lynchpin for a lot of people's fitness plans, and it's a healthy outlet for the stubbornness that I (and most of my favorite people) have going for me in other avenues of my life.

Is it simply willpower that allows us to be consistent in our fitness efforts?  Maybe it is, but I don't like the idea that those who aren't yet consistent are weak-willed and lazy.  It's just hard to break a cycle--particularly one that feels so nice and easy while it's killing you.

I've found a few tricks to help myself in this process:

1.)  Keep the process public.  The blog and talking about this with karate friends and other loved ones has been huge.  People are more than happy to support you when they can see the fruits of your labor and follow you in the process.  Plus, since they're going to be asking about my workouts, it gives me a little extra reason to put some nice numbers up on the board to talk about.  It's the bragging-rights process video games have taught us in the last 10 years or so...achievement unlocked!

2.)  Keep it simple.  We've heard this time and time again...the old KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) formula...it's kind of like the endorphin-crazed cousin of Occam's Razor.  By this I don't mean the workouts need to be simple--they just don't need to involve a lot of thinking to implement.  With some good planning, HIIT, weight-training, cardio, etc. can all be conceptually simple enough to just go out and do them.

3.)  Mix it up.  Here's another big one--staving-off boredom in the gym, dojo, or on the road makes the process so much more fun.  That's one of the big reasons I started doing "stair days" after a few days of more traditional jogging/brisk walk cardio.  The stairs were fun to do, and after a while, the numbers of reps and sets just started to climb.  Of course, the next day, my calves would scream at me like I cut them off in traffic, but that's also part of the fun.

4.)  Keep records.  "Everything that's recorded improves, and everything that's recorded and reported improves exponentially." --Peter Drucker

These are just a few of the things I have learned about consistent fitness so far--enjoy the day, and I'll be slinging words through the interwebs at you tomorrow!

Like a Rock

There have been some unexpected benefits to working out so much in the last 2 weeks.  While I was enjoying a brisk walk this morning here on Isle of Palms, I thought a while about the one that I didn't expect:

I've been sleeping like a rock.

I honestly haven't slept this well since I was 18.  My senior year of high school, I had several free periods, mainly because I was joint-enrolled for english, economics, and political science.  So, since those classes didn't meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I had a lot of spare time on my hands.  I would leave campus every now and again for lunch, but most of the time, I'd find a nook somewhere in the school and sleep.  I must've looked like a wino sacked out in a doorway.

As a got older, my overnight sleep became more and more erratic--basically, I went from being an unbelievably heavy sleeper to an extremely light one.  I would wake up for anything--a little light, slight noises, you name it.  It would also take me around 30 minutes to actually fall asleep.  Now, I hit the bed and the next thing I know, it's morning.

Glorious.

Just thought I'd mention it--because that little surprise benefit wasn't something I expected, but it was definitely something I needed.

So, in vacation news, we arrived at the house on Isle of Palms and have been settling ourselves for a week of R&R.  Although we made this trip last year, I missed out on the great walking/running/bike trails throughout the island.  It's definitely a great pick-me-up in the morning, and I think it's going to be a lot of fun exploring.  Before too long, we'll head to the Fitness Center, which looks pretty large, and see what's available.  Maybe there will be an aerobics room or something of that nature for a forms workout.

I'll have more coming as the week progresses.  Hope everyone is well!