EATING CLEAN FEELS SO GOOD!!!
Yep, I’m at it again! I disappeared for a while but I’m back. So many things have happened since my last post a few months ago. The biggest deal is - my kung fu is progressing quite nicely. I was invited to apply for entry into an elite class and I went for it. Mastering special techniques, writing a letter, going before a peer board review was all part of the intense process but I am happy to say I got accepted. I’ve been to 2 classes so far and it’s pretty insane & incredible. I am so at home in the studio.
The one thing that’s been lacking were my eating habits. With my busy lifestyle, eating junk and fast food quickly became the “norm” again. A few days ago I realized how sluggish I was actually feeling. Despite the hours of training I’m putting into martial arts, the payout has been diminished because I haven’t been fueling my body with premium fuel. What a waste. I decided that enough was enough and I decided to re-commit to proper fueling. If I’m going to bust my butt, I might as well do it all the way and reap the most benefits possible.
I decided to start with a 2 week cleanse. Some herbal supplements 3 times a day for 14 days. I am coupling this with eating clean and as raw as possible. I’m also tracking everything I put into my body on the Lose It! app. I have to admit, it’s only the second day but I am feeling like a million bucks. My guts don’t feel heavy and I have more energy. I’m eating plenty and I’m not even hungry.
It feels so good to be back in charge of my eating. Why do I always seem to forget how good it actually feels?
Oh - and one other thing. I found out that doing karate for one hour burns almost 900 calories!!! WHAAAAAATTTTT?! I chose a good sport!
You know you had a good workout when you almost throw up
No Cure For The Dreamers Disease.: But remember the belt is only there to tie up your Gi! →
White Belt-You are just learning the words. You do not always fully understand them, but you are starting to build a vocabulary. You can sometimes get your point across with a single word, or two strung together, but that is usually by accident.
Blue Belt-You have built up your word vocabulary,…
So true!!! Love it and want to add that every advanced belt needs to always remember that they were once a white belt, too. Everyone starts at the bottom :)
Eating Clean
I’ve been struggling the past few months to eat clean. I’m not gonna lie - life has been so hectic that sometimes the only reliable food source is one with a talk box and a grab n’ go window. Not the example I want to set for my son and definitely not going to get me to my goals. In the past, I’ve beat myself up tremendously for “falling off the wagon”. Not this time. I’m moving on and not looking back.
It seems that when I’m physically active, I don’t crave bad foods. They actually don’t even sound good to me. Now that I’ve been training in Kung Fu, I am craving super foods to fuel my body. It’s so strange how that works. This morning I’ll have some eggs and a banana. Then, mid-morning I’ll have some yogurt and a few almonds. Lunch will likely be a whole grain turkey sandwich. I find that knowing what foods are clean/unclean is not the hard part. I can do that part in my sleep. I know so much about it that I should be a nutritionist. The hard part for me is planning and having the foods readily available and eating every few hours so I never get hungry. Once I get too ravenous, I’ll grab anything in my path and most likely it will not be clean.
Planning & prepping ahead are the keys to eating clean success. Apparently, keeping active is also a key success point for me. I also recently signed up for a local farm to delivery fresh organic fruits and vegetables to my door every week. Now I have no excuses!
Things are to be USED & People are to be LOVED, but the PROBLEM in today’s world is that People are USED & Things are LOVED
Who’s the woman?!
Never before have I heard of or expected such a stringent test to try to get accepted into Kung Fu training. It was a fast paced, jam packed, loooong 45 minutes. Show me this, explain to me why your knee is here, what’s the most important thing about a rising block, why is your front knee bent and your back leg locked in bow stance…..it just went on and on while I showed him each move and repeated…and repeated. Then came the “I’ll show you a form once, then you repeat it as best as you can”. Yep…really fun when you’re trying to repeat the fastest form ever after seeing it for the first time a second ago, not to mention the instructor has been doing this for 20 years! It was nice to hear him say later that no one gets it right - it’s more of a test to see if you’ll give it your best and at least try. I did that - even if I did look crazy.
I’ll cut to the chase. I am officially a student of Michael Babcock’s at the Academy of Kempo Martial Arts. Not only that, but I was asked to join a special class of students that work at an accelerated rate while learning special things that “average students” are not allowed to learn. It’s a class you have to be invited into. To give some perspective, although I have been invited, I cannot join for at least another 4 weeks. I have to train in the standard class until all the students in the advanced class get to know me, get comfortable with me, build trust, and then vote me in. This is due to the intense nature of the training and the fact that you’re learning and practicing truly lethal techniques (i.e. Neck breaking & advanced weaponry). Apparently you have to trust the peers you train with while learning lethal techniques. Who knew?! Ha!
Anywho, as you can tell, I am super excited and am already feeling my groove come back. I have such a passion for this! I am elated that being in the advanced program allows me to wear a special black uniform instead of the standard white gi. Only a girl would care about that ;)
I also wanted to mention that my boy had his first tip test tonight and earned 2 new stripes on his belt. Next month he’ll be able to test for his yellow. He’s taking to it like a fish to water. He was also invited to join the kids advanced class. I’m one proud mama!
“Everybody was Kung Fu fightin’!”……….
Yay for fresh organic produce delivery! Thanks Full Circle Farm!
Kung Fu update
Last night I had my second full lesson and another “interview”. Tomorrow, I will test on everything I’ve been taught and will either be accepted into the school or told to go on my merry way. Given last night’s activities, I’m more than confident that tomorrow night I’ll be telling of my acceptance in the school and hopefully getting my first belt. (Back to white is a new concept for me - but everyone has to start somewhere. LOL!)
Mr. B, the main instructor, keeps a notebook on each student. He documents what was taught in every lesson and he evaluates the student on many things like: speed, accuracy, self confidence, strength, flexibility, balance, etc. Seeing that I haven’t trained in so long and am out of shape, I fully expected to be in the poor to fair category on many of the items. Last night he reviewed my notebook with me and there isn’t anything in the poor/fair categories! I’m not bragging, I’m just sharing my shock in the fact that most of my items were in the top of the range. I guess martial arts is a lot like riding a bike. It just comes back to you.
Pete has never really seen me in “action”. he and JJ stayed for my lesson last night and afterwards he said “you really kicked butt”. I’m advancing pretty quick so Mr. B is giving me more and more to learn. Last night I learned some wrist grab escape techniques as well as how to throw a charging attacker to the ground and smash his head with my knee. I also learned how to escape a choke hold, then cause enough damage to escape in the event that scenario ever arose. Let’s pray it doesn’t.
I love this school’s teaching style. They are very positive and they explain every move, why you do it, and they allow you to practice in a real life scenario.
Now, I must practice, practice, practice, despite my legs feeling like jello…..
I have Butterflies…
T-9 hours until I have my kung-fu eval. The school we have Jordan in is private and the adults have to be “accepted” in. You can’t just come in and say “I wanna learn kung-fu”. There’s an evaluation process which includes an interview and some testing. They want to make sure the people they train are in it for the right reasons and not just looking to learn how to hurt someone. They also choose carefully to ensure personalities mesh and the culture of the dojo remains intact. The instructor told me only 1 in 4 adults who apply make it in.
That being said, tonight is my evaluation. I’ve already had my interview and passed it. Now I’ll be shown certain stances, blocks, kicks, & punches and be expected to repeat them. I think I may even have to break a board or something.
My closest friends and family know how passionate I am about martial arts and the history of it in my life. Yes, Chris, this includes my broken-knee-cap-from-doing-the-splits incident. That’s a story for another time, though. Many of my co-workers & acquaintances have no clue about this part of my life because I rarely talk about it. I’m not one of those “look-at-me-I-am-so-tough-and-can-whip-your-butt” type people. To be honest, I’ve only used what I’ve learned in real life a few times and it was purely for self defense. I view martial arts as a lifelong study of an art form and love it for the respect, self-confidence, and discipline it instills in people. I like the challenge that comes from never being able to fully master the art.
Although Kung Fu is new to me, there are many fundamentals I’ve learned in the past that carry over. Even though some time has passed since I’ve trained, I still have a lot of confidence in my abilities. My heart jumped the first time Jordan was told to get into Horse Stance. All the memories of having to be in Horse Stance until my legs were shaking and felt like butter came rolling back to me. Watching the instructor call out “flying front kick”, “back punch”, “reverse punch”, “roundhouse”, seems to bring a familiar comfort to me - as weird as that sounds. The only way I can describe it is that it feels like I am home. Last night as I watched JJ practice, I was imagining myself practicing and it made me feel happy.
I was on the fence about beginning training again. You know, as you get older, life gets busier and us women tend to put our families needs above our own. There never seems to be enough hours in the day. Anyone who practices martial arts knows that if you want to get better and advance, it takes a lot of time. Well, I was putting off starting although my heart really wanted to do it. One day we were at Jordan’s practice and Pete said “you need to start - we’re not leaving here until you sign up”. Later I asked him why he was pushing me and he said he sees a light in my face when we’re in the dojo and he can just feel how passionate I am about it. He says he knows I belong there and I feel that way too.
Now, hopefully Mr. B feels the same way after my eval. Wish me luck!
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