Lupin1

Even though I passed back in March, my promotion certificate just came in, so I got promoted at tonight's class. Don't they look so pretty together? (actually, that's a horrible color combination...) http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o241/rmwedgie/th_belts_zpsf9839a57.jpg

I try to get in a lot of fat as well as protein. That's what keeps you full and helps (me, at least) cut down on the bread and sugar cravings. Although after about a year on it I lost almost all the bread cravings except every once and awhile when I'm very hungry and someone's making toast or something and I can smell it. But usually now the sight and smell of bread doesn't even register as "food" with my brain. Walking through the bread aisle in the grocery store can even be a bit nauseating. I usually do meat and vegetables for dinner (with butter, cheese, sour cream, etc to up the fat where I can). Lunch can be a salad with meat and cheese and a homemade dressing, some lunch meat "roll ups" with cheese and condiments rolled up in the meat, or (usually) leftovers from the previous night's dinner. I usually skip breakfast and just have coffee with lots of heavy whipping cream, but on weekends when I have a little extra time (not today) I'll make bacon or sausage and eggs. Snacks are a little meat, some nuts, raw vegetables, or some fruit. My favorite dessert is frozen mixed berries with heavy cream poured on top. The cream freezes around the berries and it's better than ice cream. I do eat a good amount of carbs still. I'm probably at about 100-150g a day, which is a little high considering I've still got some weight to lose. But I eat a lot more fruit than I should and I won't turn down a potato if it's offered. I usually have a big meal with lots of protein right before working out and I've never had problems with energy. I get hungry by the end of it, but it's not the gnawing, nauseating hunger I used to get. It actually feels kinda good running on fumes when they're quality fumes-- feels light and freeing. After practice I'll have an apple or banana to quickly get some sugar into my muscles and then I'll have some more protein and fat. But I feel like I've got a lot more energy. I never feel myself running out. Grok wouldn't have stuffed himself with carbs before a long hunt-- in fact, he probably would've done most of his intense exercise on an empty stomach. Those are my personal experiences, anyway. Can't stress enough that everyone is different.

Welcome, Angel!

Hey! We missed you! Good luck with your test! We'll be rooting for you!

Everyone deserves to be treated with a certain level of respect. Period. In all contexts of life. Treating others with disrespect is the quickest way for you to lose my respect. A deeper level of respect has to be earned, but a 10th kyu can earn deep respect from me just as easily as a 10th dan. I respect people for the character and their work ethic. Skills and experience are good, but I don't usually respect people just because they're the best at something. I'll respect them because they work hard, treat everyone else with respect, have an outstanding attitude, etc. Those traits can apply to anyone regardless of rank.

Hey. I forgot about starting this topic. So I started this topic a year and a half ago when I was one week into the paleo diet. And I'm happy to say I pretty much stuck with it for the past 18 months (although I'm much more primal now than paleo, and I take the 80/20 rule to be more like 70/30-- I cheat way more than I should). I don't know about "best" diet. I think best diet is kinda like best martial art-- what's best for you won't always be best for someone else. But since I first started, I'm down about 80 pounds. I find it pretty easy to stick to in the long term as I allow for my cheats a few times a week and the types of food I eat are very filling and satisfying for me. I don't usually miss the junk and when I do, I let myself have it and usually realize it wasn't nearly as good as I thought it'd be. I think it's definitely turned out to be the best diet for me.

That's the program I'm going to be going through. I'm excited.

I wear my karate gi to and from class, but not my judo gi. It's just the cultures of the different classes-- in karate almost every one wears their gi to and from class (sans belt-- for some reason we carry our belts to and from class), but in judo everyone changes before and after class... I just follow the crowd... I do have a funny story, though. One day after class I realized I really needed to get gas and didn't have time the next morning to get it, so I stopped at the gas station in my gi and tried to pump my gas as inconspicuously as possible when a giant pickup pulled into a parking spot and just sat there for a minute. I was getting worried because it looked like the kind of truck a trouble maker would drive (I stereotype... sorry...) and I was trying to cover my gi as much as possible. All of a sudden the door opens and our junior black belt jumps out in his full gi with his belt on and runs into the store and I notice his brown belt father and our instructor sitting in the front seats... I laughed out loud.

Haha. That's awesome! I'm going to a three day training at the end of the month for teachers on legally dealing with belligerent students while keeping yourself, other students and the attacking student all safe. We're gonna start with how to talk them down and prevent it from becoming physical and then we're going to work on some techniques for (safely, legally) stopping and restraining kids if they do get physically violent. I'm never expecting to have to use it, but it's very good training to have.

Way to go! Keep it up!

It might be worth it once a week if it's something you really want to do. Like you said-- see how it goes. Just don't sign a contract right away.

My two current dojos are right in my town. One's a five minute drive and the other one's a five minute walk (though I usually drive since walking home through that part of town in the dark is a risk I don't want to take). The furthest I've gone was a 45 minute drive each way when I lived out in the middle of the desert for two years. I only went there for about a month before the gas and time started to add up too much (added to the fact that it just wasn't a very good school) and I started just working out on my own at home.

Great job! Remember it's just a first test. Your instructor understands that and he certainly isn't going to expect someone to be perfect their first time out. I have no problem believing he's seen worse. I'm sure he's been around the bend enough to know when someone's ready despite testing mistakes. Congratulations! Keep up the hard work!

If your style doesn't have a camo belt, that would awesome. Be like "you're camouflaging your true rank to keep the others guessing-- like a ninja". My instructor tried that line on me when I was in middle school and came back after a several year gap. He made me wear a white belt until I got up to my previous rank (yellow belt-- which in our kids' program is the fourth belt) but he would tell me I'm a ninja yellow belt masquerading as a white belt to throw everyone off. I LOVED it.

Awesome, Bob! Quality and quantity are a good combination.

I never considered that before. That's a really, really good idea. I can see that solving a lot of problems.

At the end of every Judo class right after we bow out, we all clap for each other right before we put away the mats. I like it. It's a nice little gesture and a good blend of the east and west-- the bow followed by the clap.

Welcome! Looking forward to hearing more!

Internet. Make a Facebook page. Get on Google Maps. Make a professional-looking webpage with lots of pictures and information. When most people are looking for a school, that's the very first place they're going to look.

Awesome! Congratulations! Internet high five!

What I'm gathering from what Bob is describing is that the kyu rank is not only asking the Dan grade to spar, but doing it in a challenging way-- like an "I'm going to take you down" sort of way. In my opinion, that changes the whole situation. A kyu rank asking a dan rank to spar in order to learn from him/her is perfectly fine and even laudable in my opinion. But anyone asking anyone to spar as an unfriendly challenge-- regardless of rank-- is a no no to me. I don't think that sort of attitude has any place in a modern martial arts school and the kind of schools that do support that attitude are not ones I would patronize. If I were a school owner and saw an interaction like that at my school, I would speak very seriously to the kyu student first and lay down that we don't do things that way here-- we're a team here to help each other learn. If he/she can't handle that, they need to find another school. For the dan grade, I would tell them next time something like that happens, don't give into the pressure. They did the right thing in the beginning by refusing-- they should have kept that up and if the kyu rank wouldn't drop it, seek the support of an instructor. Basically-- I would give both a warning. If the same thing happened again, we'd have problems.

Good luck! Make sure your instructors know about your injury if they don't already.

Welcome!

*My Isshinryu Sensei.

I'd say just be careful not to hurt yourself going that hard that fast. Make sure to give your body time to rest and recover. You don't necessarily have to take it slow, but listen to your body. You're not going to get any better if you end up injuring yourself and have to stop while you heal. Be smart. Good luck! Welcome to the forums!