New Student: Training and conditioning outside the dojo.

[MasterPain]

Justice makes good points.

I'd like to emphasize the DECISION part. Instead of trying to quit, decide that your not going to smoke any more. If you give in and have one, forgive yourself, but reaffirm your decision not to smoke.

I know it sounds like semantics, but semantics are important. If they weren't there would be no reason to learn all this pesky language stuff. "Try" implies a possibility of failure, and thereby makes failure more acceptable within your mind.

I hope I was able to convey my meaning.

[JusticeZero]

Better yet from a psychological stance - if you think you will not do X, you have to think of doing X to negate it. Instead, decide "In the circumstances where I would reach for a cigarette, I will instead reward myself with this different healthy behavior." Aim for 100% on that, but it's okay to not reach it while you are learning how to do it. Important in this is of course that you have to learn what circumstances are tied to you reaching for a cigarette, and what you are getting out of the cigarette exactly. If you smoke while talking to people on a "smoke break" you might just have wanted a justification for the short break to talk to people, for instance.

[Ueshirokarate]

From my experience, quitting smoking is no different than doing anything else that is hard/requires significant effort. It is no different than training hard when you don't feel like it, or cutting back on eating despite the fact that there is a chocolate cake staring in your face. In short, you just have to make the decision to do it. I am not talking the verbal affirmation to do it, or even the mental self-talk saying that you want to. What you need to do is actually do it. You can't go back, hesitate, make excuses for cheating, think about how hard it is, use crutches, etc. You just need to decide you are no longer going to smoke and from that moment no longer smoke. I have had to quite twice. The second time, I had a time of severe stress in my life and was not actively training. Both times, it took me to make the decision and I mean really make the decision to give it up. I had plenty of half hearted attempts to "quit" the first time I smoked. These are times when I tried nicotine gum, etc. Each one of these times, I really hadn't fully committed myself to quitting and the crutches were the first clue.

There is martial arts philosophy in this somewhere. But really, it is just me sharing my actual life experience.

[Alaskandude]

Well class was a blast. We went pretty hard on the warm up today, but I made it through it. I definatly noticed a BIG difference by drinking lots of water before class. I was still pretty winded afterwards, but I never got that feeling like I wasnt gonna be able to keep up. Did some kicking, some falls, and we learned a few other new techniques, so that was fun.

Been eating less and started exercising a little bit every time I think about smoking. Its helping, but I have not officialy quit smoking yet. I will get there though.

Edited March 23, 2012 by Alaskandude

[Alaskandude]

Oh yeah, and thanks for all the advice everyone! Much appreciated, and I'll keep you posted on my progress.

[shinobitribe]

Welcome,

I totally relate to what you have posted. One year ago, I was in the same position as you are in. I was smoking and drinking heavily( last few semesters of college:) ). I used break into a sweat just from the stretching. I was 20lbs overweight and struggled to get through a single class and thought why was I doing this. But one year hence, I can say that this was the best decision in my life and I can never dream of going back to how I was. The key to it is perseverance, there will be days when you will not feel like going or your too stiff or had a bad day at work, but just go for the class. After just 8 weeks ,you will notice the difference. Stick to it and in one year maybe you will be saying the same thing to someone else. Keep us updated on your progress. All the best.....