The Cavalier

I'm hopeful I can participate in the upcoming challange that starts on Monday, if I remember what my wife told me.

Well, it's been up for a little over 14 hours as of this writing and I have six backers with 1/20th of my goal funding. I'm more than a little nervous. I want to continue to post about in places but I also don't want to become the spammer others block out. Very difficult balance to strike now that I'm in the midst of it.

One of my life goals has been to get a novel published. Well, this evening (November 6, 2013) I launched my kickstarter project with a thirty day window to fund the printing and distribution of a completed novel. But, there is a catch. The catch is I cannot complete this life goal without help. The only way I can publish the novel is to come up with the project funding and reach my pledge goal on the kickstarter project. I cannot do that without you. Please go visit the kickstarter project found HERE or paste this link in to your browser and check out the details http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1163624572/rise-of-the-herald-the-debut-novel-by-mark-e-malco . Thanks for your time.

I've never been a big fan of Krav but I recognize its value. I'm not dismissing it as a style in the slightest. On the contrary, it has an attitude I like that is akin to the Marine Corps' approach to knife fighting (that translates well into any kind of fighting). The point is, if you get into a knife fight, you ARE going to get cut. Just come to terms with that and your brain moves passed that part on to keeping yourself alive. Fighting in any style is very similar. If you get into a fight, you ARE going to get hit. The best defense against any blow is to not be there when it lands and the easiest way to do that is to avoid the fight in the first place. I've always viewed martial arts as the technique of last resort for a fight, but I want to be the best one in the room at fighting if/when that time arises.

Well, I've been away for a while. In my defense, my day-job got REALLY hectic, busy, and almost out of control. A busy day-job coupled with my fat behind being just plain lazy caused me to fall off the motivated wagon and pop back up to a higher weight than I'd like. What brought me back you ask? Well, shameless self-promotion and the amazing success of my wife's weight loss. Early on I was highly motivated by everyone on this site to workout, lose weight, and had down the right path. Then I injured myself in body-weight workouts, twice. Then I got lazy. Then work picked up and my human nature kicked in. I made Excuses and didn't work out anymore. One of my goals during my one and only six week challenge has been WILDLY successful though, and it is that goal that has driven me back here. Everyone on this site has been fantastic with information, support, and encouragement. You will see this for the shameless plug it is, but I truly do intend to stick with it and carry through. What is this shamelessness of which I speak? My writing. I have successfully completed my novel, it has been edited, and our kickstarter is scheduled to begin November 1. Why is this good? Well, my deal was and is that if I wanted to spread the news here on Nerd Fitness about my book I had to workout again. So, this is my way of creating self accountability, by posting my intentions here. I figure if I stay active here posting my workouts I can earn my way out of shameless plug and into the world of something else that is not shameless plug. The plan is simple to start. Go slow, get back in the swing, don't injure myself. Eventually, I'll be back to doing full-on hardcore workouts again and dropping pounds AS WELL AS publishing books. I am open to your thoughts...

You find a different accountability partner. People who tear your goals down are not on your team. They are on their own team, in my opnion. I will say this though. It is wise to constantly reevaluate where you are in terms of reaching your goals and how big/far off that goal is. Sometimes we have a tendancy to pick unrealistic goals, like being 40lbs overweight, having never run a day, and declaring you'll run a marathon in four weeks. I'm not saying you've done that nor that the above goal of running a marathon is out of reach, just that a more realistic approach using achievable goals is called for. In the above exmaple you'd have to put in steps to, say, lose the 40lbs over 6 months, start walking 3 miles a day by the end of the first month, then add a mile, then move in to jogging 3 miles, then 5 miles, then 10. You get the idea. Realistic, attainable goals you CAN reach and put a line through as accomplished are the key to keeping motivated and on track.

Yes. Imo, true Kung Fu is so incorporated into and with Tai Chi as to be indistinguishable at higher levels. In the beginning it can stand alone though, and by beginning read the first year or two. This timeframe usually weeds out those students who are not serious or dedicated to take it to a higher level. We can have a debate about what portions, types, styles, etc of Tai Chi is relevant/needed in a different thread. The base principal is sound though.

Actualy, Tai Chi has a VERY martial aspect to it and yes, it was taken into battle to great effect. There are two paths with Tai Chi; the martial and the meditative. While the martial aspect contains both, the meditative does not. As legend has it in The Old days Tai Chi masters were the most feared martial artists in ancient China. In our school you (when I was still practicing there) you could easily pick out the students who were working hard at both the Kung Fu and the Tai Chi forms. They are complimentary and at a higher level (4th degree and above) there is no difference as they fuze into one path. At least that's what I've seen in my experience anyway.

Thanks for the kind words Magg45. I hope it helps.

Worked out today and I think I know exactly what I did to my shoulder now. I did my bodyweight exercises and moved in to center punching from a horse stance (not so good, needs work) on the heavy bag. Did two sets of fifty punches and the shoulder felt great, though a little sore. When I hurt it and on Monday I was doing combinations at a moving taget while moving my stance around. I believe I over extended one or more punches trying to reach the bag and the muscles, not being used to this, did not handle it. So, after the center punching I moved to the treadmill for 30 min at 3.5 mph finishing the last 5 min at 6mph. I think I'm going to complete this six week challenge in this format to give my shoulder the chance to fully heal and reset for the next challenge. Thanks for all your support and information guys. It has kept me getting on the mat when I really didn't want to go.

RAWR!!!!.....okay, maybe a lowercase rawr. Did my first bodyweight workout today after the shoulder injury...NO PAIN at all Until........I started working the heavy bag. Put three combinations on it and as I threw my third right I felt a twinge. Took the gloves off immediately and I'm heading to the showers with ibuprofin coursing through my blood stream, but I got a good sweat going and can get back at body weight manipulation again, HURRAY! Still on track publishing too with issue #19 up today. Haven't missed a day on that one since the challenge started so yeah me, lol. On my kung fu material, not so good. Needed hints from my notes for half the stuff I rebuilt. Old brain isn't retaining like the young brain did. Oh well, repetition and muscle memory will eventually get me there.

I'll post a link to some of his concept stuff as it's being developed. If I can get it for a reasonable price I'm toying with the idea of making a small set of 8x10 prints out of the concept art as a stretch goal reward in the kickstarter. We'll see.

Thank you for your kind words. You can do it if you stay focused and chatting daily in these forums will help you do that. Keep at it!

GRATS Zuel. I'm glad you liked what I wrote . I'm also happy to hear you are doing well. Actually losing the weight is one of the most motivating things I've had. When that scale starts tipping in the right direction and 25% or 50% of the goal is reached I feel really energized to keep going. Your two cents are worth a million Thrillho.

(for the study backing up the assertions below please see the link at the end of the article) You have some extra pounds and you want to lose them. The good news is weight loss is one of the simplest concepts to grasp. However, it is one of the hardest to actually put into action successfully. Here are three simple things you can do to give you a better chance to lose the weight. First, write down both your weight loss goals and your action plan. This sounds like a silly thing, but motivational coaches and results oriented individuals the world over have found actually putting the goal on paper increases your chances of success. Not only does writing your weight loss goal(s) down increase your chances of success but also writing down how you plan to attain those goals. Writing down your action plan causes you to think through the process you intend to use to get where you want to go. This makes sure your goal is really what you intended, is attainable in the timeframe you had in mind, and brings up any holes you might not have initially thought about. The next step adds accountability to the mix. Tell a friend what your plan is and how much weight you plan to lose. Tell them how you plan to lose it and how long you think it will take to lose the weight. Many people skip this step because they are embarrassed and don’t want to admit how much they weigh. However, the difference between just thinking about the goals (43% success rate according to the study) is an amazing 21% (64% for those who wrote down their goals, formulated a plan, and told a friend). Nerd Fitness Rebellion Headquarters is a fantastic place to accomplish this second step. Use the six week challenges to get in the habit of documenting your goals. Once you post that thread you have now ‘told a friend.’ We’ll all help keep you on track, in a kindly way with nearly no snark, promise because we’re all here doing the same things you are. If we aren’t currently doing what you’re doing chances are very good many of us have already done it and can offer wonderful advice on avoiding pitfalls and how to succeed. Take advantage of this wealth of information that is contained in the forums here at NFRHQ. Finally, don’t quit if you falter, fail, or flounder in reaching you goals. Only Superman gets everything done every time (and Jesus). You and I, however, are going to fall down. That’s okay, just don’t give up. Falling off the wagon, so to speak, is just the mark of someone walking the path. You step into the thorns from time to time. In some cases you’ll be able to get yourself back on the path, but in others you’ll need help and that is what we’re here for. I’ve successfully lost weight a couple of times, and since I’ve had to do it a few times you could say I have a problem keeping it off, and that is true. To paraphrase Mick ‘Crocodile’ Dundee, “Yeah food and me, we be mates.†I like to eat. I like to eat a lot, and now that I’m over 45 what I eat likes to hang around more. I’m in the process of getting my weight back under 200lbs and I intend it to be for the last time, too. I share this for motivation and personal encouragement as well because when I write things I tend to think through them better and find the holes. I share this because it works. Weight loss is easy to understand as I said in the opening. Take in less calories than your body needs to operate and it will convert the fat stores into energy, thus losing the weight. Simple. Finding a way that you can afford, live with, and manage is the trick. Put pen to paper today, don’t wait until tomorrow, do it now. Write down what you want to accomplish and make a plan. Then, find an accountability partner (or 67k of us J ) and get started. Not tomorrow, not next week, not for New Years. Make today the start of a new day for you and get on the path to losing the weight you want gone right now. For details concerning writing down goals and the power or the written goal see the study done by the Dominican University here.