You know you are doing too much karate if....

 I love reading jokes in the morning. It sets me up for a good mood. If you have a joke to share, please add it in a comment.


You know you are doing too much karate if....

• You find yourself casually standing in a half cat stance.
• You trip, go into a roll and come up in a fighting stance. In church.
• You answer Ussss. To your boss or the cop that pulled you over
• You are introduced to someone and you bow to greet them.
• You tie your bathrobe belt in a perfect knot; then check to make sure the ends are exactly even.
• You accept change from the cashier using a knife hand with the thumb carefully tucked in.
• When you're outside doing gardening you practice with all the neat 'weapons'.
• You look for new accommodation based on the amount of practice space it provides (who needs a bedroom?).
• You find yourself practicing bo techniques in miniature with your pencil during dull meetings.
• You notice you never stand with your arms crossed or your hands in your pockets.
• You find yourself practicing stances while standing in lines. Strangely, most people are standing cautiously far, far away from you.
• You don't use any tools while splitting firewood.

How my husband feels too!

Annual Beach Training

A lot of my 'internet karate' friends from around the world have been displaying their beach training photos on Facebook. They look amazing and fun. Last Saturday was my chance to try at Range Pond in Poland ME. I couldn't have asked for better weather, low 80's(F) with a light refreshing breeze.

We lined up in our typical fashion, upper belts along the edge of the water, and the rest of us, in belt order, behind them. My daughter Justice, who decided that karate was not for her some months ago, jumped right into training, right next to me. The four black belts took turns counting out kihon (basics). Kicking was done idogeiko (moving), so we went in then out of the water. The goal was to try to kick sand (or water) at the person in front of you. Some people were covered in sand, with it even sticking to their cheeks. I skipped out on the run along the length of the beach and back, because my calf is still healing,  Knuckle push-ups were done in sets of five, with five sit ups in-between.

Dojo, finally

First things first. Happy Birthday Mas Oyama! He is the founder of kyokushin and would have been 87 today.

I have been terrible worried about my weight these last few weeks. I have had no access to a scale and I haven't been eating right and no exercise to speak of. I actually looked into the mirror this morning and thought that I looked fatter. 

I think that being laid up has effected my moods. I have been feeling lots of blues lately. I just don't want to do things, even things I like to do and usually look forward to. Of course the blues in my case can be attributed to lots of reasons. The dojo is the place where I can leave all the worries at the door, and when I pick them up at the end of class, they don't seem to be as heavy. I have missed that.

So, tonight I went to the dojo for the first time in weeks. It was kata class, which is generally an easier class, physically. I showed up a bit late, hearing Michelle doing kihon. At first I wasn't sure if it was Michelle, but then I heard her signature giggle. It is infectious. Whenever she gets nervous or she messes up something, she starts to giggle. Make me smile to hear it. I had missed the strikes, blocks and half of the kicks. I jumped in during yoko geri (side kicks). 

Those Nasty "W"'s Retro Post: May 29 2009

I started this blog in January of 2010. I have a lot of journals that I have been keeping about my weight loss and karate. I thought I would share a happy moment that happened May 29, 2009

For those of you do not know ladies clothing sizes, let me tell you there are different categories not just size numbers. Where men's clothes, as is my understanding, go by the number, waist by length, or chest size with a long, short or regular, or even as simple as small, medium, large ect.

Woman's clothing has complexities. We have small, medium, large, and extra large, 2X large and so on, but it depends on the manufacturer. One can wear a size medium in Walmart, and a size x-large in Aeropostle. Then, in the same store, we have, misses, junior, and women's. Now all these sizes pretty much goes by two's and the sizes overlap. Misses, is the regular clothing size, usually you can find sizes like 8-10, 10-12, 12-14, 16-18. Juniors, caters to the teens, goes my 2's like 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19. Womens, signified by a large 'W' at he end of the size number is for fat chicks. We sometimes start at 14W, but usually 16W and goes up by 2's for infinity. Strange thing, junior size 17 is bigger than a woman's 18W. I think closer to fitting like a 20w. A person in a woman's 14w can't necessarily fit into a 16 misses. Hips and proportions are too different so a 14W is still too big.

Fat Story

Recap of this karate girl's weight issues: I have been a big girl all my life. I was born over 10 pounds. Always wore 'husky' as a child. Besides spring baseball, I didn't do much of anything but watch TV growing up. I thinned out some when I was a teen, by thinning out, I mean size 14, which really isn't thin, just smaller than I was.

After my first child, I ballooned up to real fatness. After I left my husband, i lost some weight and went back to size 14. Never did know how much I weighed at my biggest at the time.

New husband, more kids, up to 200. Quickly, i would lose a few pounds with a new diet, slowly I would gain more. New husband goes on deployment to Iraq in 2004, when he comes home, I am over 240.

This Weeks Lesson: Crutches Stink

Last week I had to go help out at vacation bible school. I was in charge of doing the slide shows at the end of the day. I did them last year, and it was fun and easy. This year, was a little bit of neither.  Well not with the crutches. It was very frustrating to bob and weave through dozens of children with them. The worst part, was that I couldn't carry coffee to the office to work on the slide show. By Thursday night, i was walking (hobbling was more like it) without the dreaded crutches. Everything was feeling better and looking good.

I wound up doing more stuff  than i should have. Because I am moving into a new place, i have all kinds of packing and sorting to do. I was doing my best to not do too much. Sensei said I should try and not 'look' hurt. So I worked really hard to lose the limp and was doing well at that. Maybe too well.

Pop Goes the Calf!

Monday night's sabaki class was so much fun. Sensei Kris decided that instead of push-ups, sit-ups and squats that she would make an obstacle coarse. So we hopped, punched, sideways jumped, wove around cones, and rolled on mats for about 15 minutes. 

Instead of the usual sparring, Sensei had the three black belts attack each of us as a gang, as if we were alone. Sempai Ben was the choker. You were to take out his knee and as you were getting away, Sensei Kris would come after you. Front snap kick to the belly and a punch to her head, lead to sempai Scott weilding a knife. Disarm him and and face sempai Harry with his big right hook. You take him down so you can get away.