Talanoth

Howdy Rebels! So, last year was a pretty amazing one for me fitness-wise. I got my brown belt, I was more active than I've been since I was a kid (and possibly even more active than that), and I dropped 65 lbs (350 > 285). I was at the dojo 3-4 times a week, yoga 3 times a week, and cardio 3 times a week. Then, in December, I was laid off from my work-from-home job. Budgeting led to some lifestyle changes, but I quickly found a new (office) job. The office job was expected to be temporary, and as such, I didn't put a ton of effort into adjusting my lifestyle to fit it. Both my diet and activity took a turn for the worse, and predictably, my weight started crawling back up and about a month ago, I was back around 310. Also about a month ago, I accepted a permanent position at my company, and with that, I decided I needed to make some changes to get back to my fitness goals. I negotiated working from home one day per week. This gave me one lunch I could cook in my own kitchen, as well as one day I could fit in both cardio and yoga. I also went back to a meal kit delivery service. which I found really helpful for improving my eating habits. I'm back to yoga and cardio 3/week, and even at the dojo more than last year, but my weight seems to have plateaued around 300. The head of my dojo suggested I set some weight goals to meet for my next tests, which leaves me trying to lose 15 lbs by August. I feel fairly confident that activity isn't the problem as I'm exercising on average about 2 hours per day - I need to get back to a better diet. I suspect snacking is one of my issues. My responsibilities at work are still ramping up which leaves me a good bit of slow time at work. As a result, I'm getting bored and snacking to break up the monotony. Generally it's healthier snacks - a piece of fruit (banana, orange, or apple), nuts (cashews and almonds), or dried cranberries, but I suspect that's where a lot of the extra calories are coming in. Otherwise, I'm drinking lots of water, no soft drinks, and having fairly healthy meals. Any suggestions to help get this weight loss going again? Thanks!

The style I study (Cuong Nhu) is a mixed style that lists both Wing Chun and Aikido among our 7 styles of influence. In fact, just last night we were working on blocking with Wing Chun straight punches (using the forearm to block an incoming punch while still driving into the centerline with the fist). Later we working on knife self-defense incorporating Aikido techniques like kote gaeshi. All this to say, you’d hardly be the first to combine them, and in fact the combination is foundational to the style I practice.

Hey Nak - Funny you brought this up since it's something we were working on in class Tuesday night (though in this case, the defender was unarmed while the attackers were armed). But I think you hit on a couple of the big points: keep one attacker between you and the other attacker, and neutralize one attacker as quickly as possible. (Also, in the case of armed attackers, grabbing a weapon as quickly as you can is a big plus). As far as "hot" and "cold," a big part of training is to keep you calm in situations so you can tend more towards cold than hot, no?

For those who are curious, here's our demo from last year where we were both ukes for the same black belt candidate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h8-4HxOEVg&index=2&list=FLArQ5caRoezussXlDF5aXiQ The requirements have changed (to be more flexible) but this should give you an idea of what's expected (and also a sense of height/build difference). Thankfully, I've lost about 50 lbs since this video was taken.

She gets to have another uke, so I probably need to only be uke for half the throws, but this gives us tons to look at. Thank you so much!

This is great, thank you! Our specific requirement is: Two Judo throws from each of four categories: hip, hands, leg, and sacrifice, and, two pins: Judo or Aikido. I'm hearing a lot of leg, maybe some sacrifice, probably not hip? What about hands?

Thanks! This is exactly the kind of info I was looking for!

So, a very dear friend of mine has (tentatively) asked me to be one of her ukes for the demo she's required to choreograph and perform in for her black belt test. Only issue is that she's 4'6" (though a former gymnast and bodybuilder) and I'm 6'4". The requirements are fairly flexible, so I was wondering what some good judo throws are for a small nage/big uke combination, particularly for people who don't do a ton of judo (it's one of the "styles of influence" of our style, but I'm only just getting to the part of our curriculum where throws are introduced). Thanks!

Came here to say much the same as RisenPhoenix. It seems like you're overthinking it. Plenty of people will just jump into an Aikido practice without any prior conditioning, and since you've trained in it before, you'll have a serious advantage in that you'll already know how to fall properly. Don't let planning get in the way of actually doing something. That's the most important part.

Any of them will help with your goals, I'd place greater priority in the teachers/community and the space itself than the specific style. Find where you feel most comfortable and as long as its close enough that the distance doesn't become a reason not to train, and that's probably the best option for you.

Oof - Kyokushin's hardcore. I did some Kyokushin body conditioning once, and sorta regretted it for about a week afterwards. That said, probably really good training should you ever find yourself in a fight.

Thanks for the kind words. Black belt is, at a minimum, a couple years off, but I'm enjoying the ride so I have no plans to rush beyond what others will likely push me to do. I also had a really touching moment with one of my Senseis today. We were at the gym for cardio (we've been going together to help keep us motivated) and he told me my recent fitness kick had inspired both him and another member of the dojo (probably my closest friend there) to up their game. He said it helped to feed off my energy/momentum. It's a pretty amazing feeling when people who have taught you (and who you really respect) tell you that you're inspiring them.

It was about 2-and-a-half years ago that my friend (and fellow rebel) started bugging me about joining NF. I've been overweight pretty much my entire life, and I was getting a little disappointed that my martial arts practice (the most regular activity I'd had since I was a kid) just wasn't showing the results I was looking for. After some friendly harping, I eventually gave in and joined the rebellion in January of 2016. After joining, I went through some of the academy exercises, but if I'm honest, I really didn't make any significant changes. I just couldn't find the time to read and research, and I was probably a little (or a lot) afraid of what those changes would mean. I was a Rebel in name only - I paid my dues, but never fought the good fight. This continued until late last month, about 15 months after I originally joined NF. I was on the way to my test for my next rank, which is the precursor to brown belt in my style. Riding up to the test with me were the head of my school, a Sensei who'd gotten me to my current rank, and a brown belt coming to watch and support those of us testing - all of whom are fairly close friends of mine. We stopped at Waffle House for breakfast (I'd already eaten a few hours earlier, they hadn't), and during breakfast, the one Sensei asks the head of our dojo if he thinks I can test for brown belt before the end of the year. My jaw probably would have hit the table if it could have. My goal for brown belt was the end of 2018, not 2017, and to hear someone who knows me ask if I could do it in that time...let's just say I was shocked. This feeling didn't change when the head of our school said that brown belt was unlikely but possible. For the first time in my (adult) martial arts career, my Senseis were setting goals for me that were significantly more aggressive than what I'd planned or expected. The test went well (if I'm honest, it was easy, but that's probably because, even at 39 years old, I was the youngest person in the test). But ever since then, I've started feeling the weight of expectation. The next day, I was helping a dojo-mate move apartments. A few weeks prior I had asked one of my Sensei's who's less than a year younger than me, with a similar build, about how he dropped a bunch of weight before his black belt test. While in the car between locations, this same Sensei gave me the download of a bunch of tips to work on my fitness. Cardio, how to improve my diet, etc. It was becoming increasingly clear that they wanted me to advance, and were trying to help me do it. And so, I decided to accept the challenge. I cut soft drinks (both diet and regular) out of my diet. Started drinking a ton more water. Started cooking more rather than eating out. Snacks (if I had them) became fruit and nuts rather than crap. I cut back on alcohol (liquid calories being one of my big issues). I also joined a gym and took a yoga class (on top of my regular martial arts workouts). I had to keep the additional activity to a reasonable level as I was an important part of a friend's black belt test over Memorial Day weekend and needed to be sure I didn't injure myself (a common result of the few occasions where I really tried to increase how much I was training). For probably the first time in my life, it was like something clicked and the healthy choices were the ones that were becoming the default. I even gave this whole process a name: Talanoth 2.0 (except my real first name instead of Talanoth). And these changes were only further cemented this past weekend when I helped my friend get his black belt. Part of the black belt test is choreographing a roughly 3-minute fight scene that has to incorporate 14 different techniques. So here I was in front of 3-400 people getting beat up by my friend for 3 minutes. It was exhilarating, but it didn't do anything to alleviate the scrutiny I'd been feeling since my last test, it just amplified it. Another important part of this past weekend was the announcement that they are making the first significant revisions to the curriculum of my style in 20+ years, partially with the goal to drop the average time for black belt from 8 years to 5-6 years. Now Senseis were joking about me testing for black belt in a year, when my expectation just a month earlier was brown belt in 19 months. Additionally, I've come to find out from a friend that others have noticed my efforts and asked her about it. And it all comes back to my big why. When I first joined NF, I wrote that my big why was that I wanted to get better in the martial arts. I knew my weight and (lack of) fitness were going to be significant obstacles and that I'd need to overcome them if I was to be at all satisfied with my performance/progress. At the time, though, I wondered if I was being honest with myself. Was that just a cover for me just wanting to be more fit (and attractive) without saying it explicitly (and accepting the vanity that goes along with that)? While I'll concede that it's certainly -a- motivation, I was happy to see that it truly was my martial arts practice that motivated me to change. So, here I am, about a month into my (re)spawn. My diet (apart from a brief break this past weekend for our training camp) continues to improve, and my training schedule is about to get a lot busier. For the first time in my practice, what once felt like a dream (getting my black belt) now feels attainable with the love and support of my dojo (as well as the friend who got me here in the first place). It's an amazing feeling that only helps give me the strength to continue down this path.

Be sure it's an RC injury. Almost exactly a year ago, I had an issue with my RC. Started off where my shoulder was sore and I figured I just slept on it wrong. The pain got progressively worse over the course of a week, keeping me from sleeping, until Sunday night when it was so bad it kept me awake despite the hydrocodone and muscle relaxer I took. The next morning it was so bad that I had to move my right arm by picking it up with my left. To go from typing at my computer to using the mouse, I had to crawl my hand across the desk rather than pick up my arm to move it because of the pain (and I have a pretty decent pain threshold). So I went in to my GP in a ton of pain convinced I'd somehow torn my RC (I couldn't point to anything I'd done recently that would have caused it, but the pain was hard to deny). My GP agreed with my diagnosis, but for insurance purposes, they wanted me to see a specialist so there would be less pushback on the MRI needed to diagnose a torn RC. I go to the specialist, and they take x-rays, not an MRI, which I thought was weird, but it turns out to be exactly what was needed. I didn't have a torn RC; I had a calcium deposit in my RC that was irritating the muscles when I moved them, and the more irritated they got the more inflamed they were, so the problem just got worse and worse every day. It's called calcific tendonitis. They gave me a cortisone shot in the shoulder and I haven't had a problem with it since. Just bringing this up because you sound unsure of your diagnosis. Hopefully it's the same thing and you're back to wrestling soon (my arm was 90% better about an hour after the shot).

How far along are you in your martial arts practice? Your needs may vary based on your experience. That said, just this past weekend, one of my Senseis suggested I start doing some cardio work regularly. I think any of the above (yoga, strength, or cardio) would be great to augment martial arts training, but I suspect he's right that cardio is probably my biggest need.

https://www.amazon.com/Art-Science-Staff-Fighting-Instructional/dp/1594394113 The author, Joe Varady, is a master of the style I study, and I've taken a class or two with him before. He's a great teacher (and has an active YouTube presence which I've found helpful for non-bo topics in my studies), but to be honest, I haven't seen this book yet (I think it was just published), though his manuals have been the standard in my style for about a decade. Unless he was one of the ones you'd already seen...

That I am. Stalled out a bit at goal setting. Need to set aside some time to make progress on this.

Ahh, Masters Robert and Elizabeth are great! I'll be at NCSU for our International Annual Training Camp over Memorial Day weekend.

I have a friend who, until a few weeks ago, worked at what is probably the best bar in the city coming over on the 28th for a personal bartending lesson. I mean, I can read a recipe and largely follow it, but getting some bigger picture instruction and help with some techniques and such is gonna really help. In the meantime, I just need to keep making drinks for my guinea pigs er friends. I took an inventory of my liquor cabinet this morning and counted 19 kinds of whisk(e)y. I think I have a problem (though nowhere near as big a problem if I'd drunk all that).

Thanks! I think Sara's put me on the right path for goals. Just need to formalize them. If you had friends at college who were in Cuong Nhu, were you at UF, by any chance?

That's...a bit of a story. Several years ago, a casual acquaintance I'd known through a gaming group was the victim of a home invasion. Her boyfriend at the time was held up, at gunpoint, as he was coming home from work, brought inside the home they shared, while the thieves ransacked their place in front of them. When the thieves started to go upstairs (where my friend's 10-ish year old daughter was), my friend went into complete mama-bear mode, and ran them off, shooting back at her as they left. While she waited for police to file a report and do everything that goes along with that, she sent out a facebook post asking if anyone could help her out by grabbing a gallon of milk so her daughter could have breakfast the following morning. I responded and grabbed the milk for her. What was, for me, a trivial act, was something that she appreciated and remembered for a long time. Fast-forward to about 2.5 years ago. My marriage of nearly 7 years was crumbling, my (now ex) wife had moved out, and I was doing some fairly negative vaguebooking as an outlet for one of the worst things I'd ever gone through. My friend, who I hadn't seen since I dropped off the gallon of milk, got in touch with me and we talked at considerable length. In the process of catching up, I talked about how I was working out at the Y(MCA), but just was bored to tears with my workout, and she mentioned that I should try out the martial art that she was doing with her daughter. She spoke very well of the people there, and as it turned out, the foundation of the style was Shotokan, which I'd studied for 6 years as a kid, so it seemed like a good fit. I started in January of 2014, and as I've said many times, it was the best decision I made that entire year. The people are amazing, supportive, friendly, and fun. We're somewhat known as the "party" dojo of the style (we have dojos around the country, as well as internationally), and in a short time, this group has almost become something of a second family. They encouraged me to run a 5K for the first time in literally 20 years, and they've been such a great influence on my life. That said, these past two years have been a pretty telling lesson in the fact that "you can't outrun (or in my case, out-kick) your fork." While I feel healthier and just physically better/stronger, I haven't seen much weight come off, and I know my weight is going to be a huge obstacle for me progressing in the style. So, if I'm going to realize my goals in my martial arts practice, I need to drop some weight, and Nerd Fitness seemed like a good way to try to do that.

Thanks for the tips! I think for the hydration goal, 2L per day for now should be good (I think I saw that on someone else's challenge). For the exercise goal, would a certain number of classes at the dojo be a reasonable goal, or should it be something outside my martial arts practice? Maybe doing a better job of the exercises my Physical Therapist has assigned to me? As for a life goal...I hadn't even considered anything along those lines. I've been working on my bartending skills, learning new drinks and such, but a goal focused on that hardly seems appropriate here (except for the tenuous connection that liquor tends to have less calories per drink than beer, my usual adult beverage of choice). Thanks again, sarakingdom

Hello Rebels! I signed up for the Academy on Sunday after a friend had been consistently nudging me towards Nerd Fitness for the better part of a year. I'm still very much in the early stages of things here at NF, but at Teirin's suggestion, I wanted to come over here and get something started for the remainder of the current 4-Week Challenge. Problem is, I have no idea where to start. I'm currently working my way through the Mindset module of the Academy (took my pictures, waiting on my tapemeasure (should arrive today)), have a pretty good idea about my big "why," but I haven't even scratched the surface of the other modules, so I'm not sure what sorts of things I should be including in a 4-week challenge, particularly with only 9 days remaining. The only idea I have right now is doing a better job of staying hydrated. I've been having some issues with cramps lately, and I know poor hydration is one reason (and probably the primary one). To give a little background about myself (in hopes that it can inform some suggestions for putting together something for the current challenge), I'm 38, male, 6'4" and 325 lbs. I've been training in Cuong Nhu (a Vietnamese MMA based on Shotokan, Judo, Aikido, Wing Chun, Tai Chi, Vovinam, and Boxing) for a little more than 2 years, and also studied Shotokan for 6 years from age 8 to 14. I've recently been seeing a physical therapist for some knee issues that came up in the past year while I've been pushing my Cuong Nhu training, and while it's helped some, the main benefit it's given me is the confidence that I'm not causing additional damage to my knees by my training. I also just ordered a bicycle last Friday in the hopes to use it for additonal exercise outside the dojo, but it won't arrive until the challenge is over. Any suggestions on some things I can do to get started with the current challenge? Thanks!