Finding the balance

[Spartacus Maximus]

4 hours a week is one of the lowest points reached since re-starting to train. A huge change from the 10-12 hours before.

[Kyonovice]

Married, 2 kids, full time job (made worse by a 5 week shift pattern covering early shifts, late shifts and nights - which knock me out)...

I now try to train at least twice a week at the dojo when I can with my 6 year old son and go to the gym twice a week when I can and swim once a week when the shifts allow me to.

Once my son gets settled into the twice a week training, I hope to be able to take him through some kihon at home as well. So all in all, I do 3 hours a week at the dojo, 2 hours of "gym fitness - weights and a bit of cardio" plus an hour of swimming.

With all that in mind, struggling to understand why I can't drop below 166 pound in weight!!!

[singularity6]

Married, 2 kids, full time job (made worse by a 5 week shift pattern covering early shifts, late shifts and nights - which knock me out)...

I now try to train at least twice a week at the dojo when I can with my 6 year old son and go to the gym twice a week when I can and swim once a week when the shifts allow me to.

Once my son gets settled into the twice a week training, I hope to be able to take him through some kihon at home as well. So all in all, I do 3 hours a week at the dojo, 2 hours of "gym fitness - weights and a bit of cardio" plus an hour of swimming.

With all that in mind, struggling to understand why I can't drop below 166 pound in weight!!!

I'd suggest looking at your diet. I never thought I was a terrible eater, as I avoid fast food, eat a lot of fruits and veggies and almost nothing is fried or greasy. I recently started watching my carb intake, however, and weight started falling off. Pizza and pasta are great... I can eat a 12" pizza by myself fairly readily. When it comes to pasta, I'll boil nearly half a box of noodles and eat them all. Now I'm eating way less carbs, and I think I'm feeling better!

[Shizentai]

I have a full-time job that is sometimes overtime for weeks at a time (ie, I'm in a remote forest for a few months collecting samples night and day, or camping on a beach alone).

I think part of my ability to do my job well is realizing that de-stressing and taking care of my body is part of my work. One great way of doing this for me, is kata. I don't really measure the length of time I am doing kata, but especially if I'm at high elevation field site, I like to run through all of the ones I know nice and slowly when I first wake up. It's hard for my body to thermoregulate sometimes, so I kind of selfishly use kata for this purpose sometimes.

When I am not in the field, I tend to arrive early for class and train for 30 min before, often staying an hour or so after to do mirror work before locking up on my way out. I train 4 days a week.

So if I had to guess, I probably vary from 1 to 6 hours of out-of-class training a week. That's a big margin of error, but I think that's reflective of reality.

[Kyonovice]

Married, 2 kids, full time job (made worse by a 5 week shift pattern covering early shifts, late shifts and nights - which knock me out)...

I now try to train at least twice a week at the dojo when I can with my 6 year old son and go to the gym twice a week when I can and swim once a week when the shifts allow me to.

Once my son gets settled into the twice a week training, I hope to be able to take him through some kihon at home as well. So all in all, I do 3 hours a week at the dojo, 2 hours of "gym fitness - weights and a bit of cardio" plus an hour of swimming.

With all that in mind, struggling to understand why I can't drop below 166 pound in weight!!!

I'd suggest looking at your diet. I never thought I was a terrible eater, as I avoid fast food, eat a lot of fruits and veggies and almost nothing is fried or greasy. I recently started watching my carb intake, however, and weight started falling off. Pizza and pasta are great... I can eat a 12" pizza by myself fairly readily. When it comes to pasta, I'll boil nearly half a box of noodles and eat them all. Now I'm eating way less carbs, and I think I'm feeling better!

Yes, my diet is in need of attention although to be fair I don't eat much fast food now (maybe a kebab once a month when my works team decide to have "dirty refs" - can't be arsed to take prepared food in for our break (if we get one)).

I eat as much fruit and veg as I can, my sugar from non-natural sources is low, I don't eat chocolate, drink skimmed milk etc. My main carb intake is from potatoes which I love (have to have a roast on a Sunday).

I think my main vice is red wine, if I am at home for a period of rest days, I do love to share a bottle of wine with the wife to relax a bit, no coincidence that I didn't drink wine on Monday due to training, was working to midnight last night, weighted myself Monday morning - 75.4kg, weighed myself at the same time this morning...75kg

[sensei8]

Finding that balance can be a tricky thing; that's to be for sure.

Between running a dojo and a MA supply store, my time spent at home with the wife and the kids was minimal; I spent much more time away from home than at home. The saving grace was my wife, Linda!! She's a very strong women; one I've learned a lot from. She was that heart of the family, and knew what it took for me to run a full time business across the board. Then you add into the mix my wife's full time career as a school teacher; compromising across the board, isn't always an easy thing, not that it's meant to be.

The real test for our marriage was the oftentimes spent traveling back and forth to the Hombu many, many times each year; at the discretion of Dai-Soke. This wasn't so bad when we lived in California, but when we moved to Texas, then to Oklahoma, that did take a toll on our marriage, but Linda, was that understanding wife and mother; she fully supported my MA career 100% and never once regretted the life I chose.

When Soke and Dai-Soke passed away, my travels to and from the Hombu were just quarterly, and at my discretion. As Kaicho, I now only appear at very critical and sensitive events. This gives me much more home time with the family!!

Compromising!! That's the key between the wife and husband, and I believe my wife and I have done compromising honor towards one another.

[mushybees]

I work full time, married and have three young kids. I rarely train less than five hours a week in the dojo but at least two of those hours are spent with my two daughters in the class so it's not optimal. Last week with a weekend seminar I did 19hrs but that's really not typical.

[Alan Armstrong]

Everyone here working and raising a family, while still traveling along a martial art path should be congratulated, well done, to all of you.

[singularity6]

I teach full time and I'm married (no kids, yet.) It's been nice this semester... I've been able to make most of our classes (2 hour classes - including stretching/changing time) and also "train" outside from time to time. We do not have enough room in my apartment for forms, but I can do basic punches and kicks in place, as well as body-weight exercises and stretches. When time and weather permit, I've been taking 4+ mile hikes, and I've recently found a couple clearings where I'm able to practice my forms in the woods (mosquitoes and flies really help you train on focus, too!)

[Spartacus Maximus]

Juggling training and a family with young children is really tough, nevermind teaching or running a school. Having a day job on top of all that takes as much cooperation and understanding from the family as it does organizational skills. The most difficult thing to do is finding a time in the day to train or practise something, anything and keep it up. Anything is better than not training at all