Tournament Time

This weekend, Alpha Martial Arts hosted an in house Tae Kwon Do and kickboxing tournament.  Both kids and I competed, and Bec took 2nd place in her form (where she actually competed a level above her actual belt level).  Both kids made me very proud.  I competed in traditional forms and two different sparring events.  As I mentioned in a previous post, my stamina is by far my weakest area, and that tends to show when I spar.  Needless to say, I was very excited when the tournament was over and I had sparred about 10 matches and I wasn't sucking wind at the end.  I don't know if it was because I was more relaxed, since I knew everyone I was sparring against (it was only for Alpha students), or if the week of P90X really made that much of a difference.  Whatever the reason, I felt very good throughout the tournament, and that is the first time that has happened.  My last tournament, I sparred TWICE, and after the second match I could honestly hardly stand up. Definitely some improvement, and that is the goal.

I saw a lot of other things this weekend as well.  Seven women competed in the kickboxing competition, and every one of them looked fantastic.  Everybody cheered and supported everyone else, and everyone looked very strong doing all the exercises.  They represented the Alpha kickboxing program superbly, and I couldn't have been more proud.

My friend Ashley competed with me in several events.  Our forms differ primarily in that I tend to have more power, and she tends to have better technique, but she has closed that power gap substantially.   I've trained with her for several years, and it has been really great seeing her constant improvement.  We've sparred many times, and did again this weekend.  Even though we know each others' strongest moves, I still couldn't escape a beautifully executed axe kick/round house kick combo in one of our matches.  She always pushes me, and she is a great martial artist.

Another friend, Erika, has been off the charts in her physical improvement in the past year.  She very nearly withdrew from this tournament, but ended up competing in the kickboxing event and sparring.  She has lost over 50 lbs and is definitely one of the strongest students in the kickboxing program.  And as luck would have it, I had to spar against her this weekend.  She has been sparring for maybe 2 months (not that you could ever tell from watching her), and  I have been sparring for several years.  She was the underdog, and she knew it, but she didn't let that get in her way.  I did not hold back in our match, and at the end of it, I had beaten her by literally a couple of punches.  As her confidence grows, she is going to be scary good in the ring.


Jacob is younger (8th grade), and I had to spar him a couple of times, one of which was for the grand championship in point sparring.  Again, on the surface, he was outmatched by a more experienced opponent, but that didn't stop him.  He displayed great technique, and it was very difficult to get in on him to score any points.  In the end, we actually sparred to a tie, and the final, sudden death point could have easily gone either way, but the judges awarded me the point.  I hear compliments about Jacob's sparring ability all the time from other adults in the class, and I agree, the kid can spar, and he is only going to get better.

Ever is an adult in the class I don't know very well and have never sparred, but I had to spar him a couple of times this weekend.  I don't think he has been doing martial arts for more than a few months, but he sparred very competently and looked like he was having a great time doing it.  He is a very humble and gracious opponent, and he is going to be very good when he gets some experience.

I saw two sisters spar, one of which was half the size of the other one.  A clear mismatch, but the older sister got just enough points to win, then let her younger sibling get some shots in herself even though she could have easily dominated the match completely.  It has been good to see the older daughter mature over the course of the past year.

For me, one of the most rewarding aspects of being an instructor is watching people improve, and seeing how happy they are when they actually realize and can admit to themselves how much they have improved.  And there was a TON of that on display at the tournament this weekend.  I think everyone learned something about themselves and got to know some new people as well.  The support and camaraderie among the members there is simply overwhelming and addicting, and I love being around it.  Congratulations to all on their great performances this weekend!

The Geek Clock

So my mom showed me a picture of this clock today.  As an engineer (in degree only), this stuff fascinates me, but embarrassingly I could only figure out about 4 of them without a cheat sheet.  And with the cheat sheet, I still had never heard of some of these.  I heard a great joke though (if you're a geek).  An infinite number of people walk into a bar.  The first one orders a beer.  The second orders half a beer.  The third, a quarter of a beer.  The bartender says "I get it", and pours two beers.  (yeah, if you're a geek, that's funny).

State of the Union

For some reason I feel obligated to do a post about tonight's State of the Union address.  Yes, I had it on tonight.  I probably watched about two thirds of it before it made its way to the background.  I'll be the first to admit I'm no Obama fan, but I wanted to watch the speech just because I figure it will be big news for a day or two, so I should probably see for myself what was said.

Now, before I get too into this, I will say that my political views lean pretty heavily republican.  That said, many of my best friends are dyed in the wool democrats, and I love a RATIONAL exchange of ideas with these people.  I'm not into overly generalizing about "the other side", and I respect a well thought out argument, even if I disagree with the conclusion.  I tend to keep my political views between myself and my closest friends that I know won't take what I say or think personally.   I know some people are very passionate about their views, and I'd rather not let opposing political views trash an otherwise great friendship.  I imagine I'll have more political posts in the future here, though.  Just realize...these are my thoughts.  If yours differ, that's cool.  I promise not to call you an elitist tree hugger if you promise not to call me a Palin loving, gun toting redneck.  Agreed?  Good. :) 

So, my take on the speech?  No opinion. :)  One thing that I've noticed in general recently is that Obama seems to be more open (in voice at least) to republican ideas since the last elections, and I have to give him credit for that.  He was elected in 2008 and seemed to think he could do no wrong, and over the course of two years, he has shown that yes indeed, he could do copious amounts of wrong.  But I notice a change in his attitude now.  Yes, I still disagree with much of what he stands for, but he seems more humbled now and seems to realize that he isn't going to get everything he wants.  Others must like what they are seeing, as his popularity is steadily climbing after being in the gutter for much of the past year.

The SOTU is hyped as a big, political pep rally, and I think that's true, but I think it also tends to make people take stock of what they stand for politically.  I imagine a lot of lawmakers tonight are very motivated either to help Obama keep his promises or to make a liar out of him.  Here's hoping that some succeed on both sides of the aisle.  

Tiger Moms

I read an interesting article in Time today about differences in traditional Chinese parenting and Western parenting.  In a nutshell, it says that the Chinese work their kids extremely hard and are what we would consider to be "overly strict" (just a generalization of course).  Western parents are, well, not typically like that.  On one hand, the Chinese style is producing mega-smart kids (Shanghai test scores bury the US in every category), and the Chinese economy is roaring, while Western parenting is producing wimps, to put it mildly (again, just generalizing).  It is interesting to think of the line between letting kids learn and still enjoy their lives and producing smart kids who may be missing out on a lot of the things that children do as children.  I certainly don't know where that line is, but hopefully my wife and I will raise smart kids who know how to have fun.   

The book mentioned in the article is Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom by Amy Chua.  I haven't read it, but apparently it has evoked some pretty strong responses from people who have.

P90X is the devil (and I mean that in a good way)

I'm trying to get back into a fitness routine...for myself.  I think like a lot of people, we get in ruts sometimes, where we skip a day for something, which then becomes a couple days, then a week, and pretty soon you realize that you've lost a lot of the gains you may have picked up from the last attempt.  I teach a fitness kickboxing class several days a week, and although I know I should be setting a good example, I've fallen into this same rut I see so many other people fall into. 

Don't get me wrong, I don't think I'm terribly overweight, and in general I'm happy with my definition.  My issue is endurance.  I have fast twitch muscles.  I swam competitively for over ten years, through high school and college, and even when I was in my best shape, I couldn't go much more than 100 yards in the pool before I was completely spent.  My endurance has always been my weak area, and when I haven't worked to improve it consistently, well, things can get ugly, and this is very evident when I spar.  I'd like to improve my endurance, and I've started another go of it today.

I've seen most of the P90X workouts, and they are brutal.  I incorporate lots of those exercises into my classes because they are very effective, and so many of them are body weight exercises.  Anyone who has the discipline to stick with this routine for 90 days (and of course doesn't die in the process), is virtually guaranteed to come out of it looking and feeling better than when they started.  Today I'm starting at day 1, and I intend to go through 90 days of it and see how I'm feeling by May.  The first workout focuses on chest and back.  Imagine every variation of pushup and pullup you can think of, and then do them for about 45 minutes.  My arms are spaghetti, and that is exactly how they should be right now.  Let the fun begin!

The first post

And so the blogging adventure begins.  I imagine most people have some profound thing they put as their first post when they start a blog, but I'm not one of those people. 

I'll start (and end) my first post by saying that I teach kickboxing.  This is a picture my son drew of me several years ago doing my thing: