How do you manage!

[red_fists]

This is a question for the Guys that have multiple interests and obligations besides MA.

Best answered by People that are married and have small Kids. ::D:

How do you manage to get a good training time in with all the other commitments in your life.

"Work, Wife, Children, Hobbies, etc.".

From what I can gather many members of this Board are still very young and haven't faced those problems yet.

But no matter how I turn it I still can only see 24 hours in a Day and trying to keep everything running smooth and everybody happy does infringe on training time.

I noticed that my training has take a natural downturn since our little rugrat has turned up.

So how do you Guys manage it.

[jon]

Bah come on Red Fists!
Are you a man or a mouse???
Just ritualy slay all of your family with a large sharp metalic object then quit your job stab your boss and go live in the mountains as a hermit.
You will then have pleanty of time to work on your technique and if you ever wish to test it you only need venture out into public:p



Im sorry i know that was useless and im the last person who even could give you advice.
Still humour can sometimes be the best form of medication, one day if im ever actualy funny i may even prove that point.

[red_fists]

Jon.

Been considering that option, but alas I like my cushy life. :p

I love humour.

Just now I was hacking away at a program when I noticed that my Cubicle Partner looked strange at me.
Without noticing I was rotating/swirling my shoulders to prevent them from stiffening.

Hey, Guys I can do MA training while working.
:D :cool: :D

Actually, I often catch myself doing things the MA way without thinking about it.

Have a good one.

[Mutant]

Simple answer:

We can't manage it....

Thats why we're all single, broke and living in our cars! :D

[Sharky]

I usually end up missing class.

[wushu chik]

First off Red_Fists.....how old's your rugrat??

Mine are 2 and 4, and the best way I have figured out how to do ANYTHING is involve them!!! It's the best and pretty much ONLY way to get around it!

~Wen~

[red_fists]

Hi Wushu-chick.

He is now 18 months old.

Still a bit young to train, plus, I doubt if TCC would suit him. :(

[wushu chik]

My oldest started training at about 9 months old (when he learned to walk, he was kicking and punching!!). It's NEVER to early to start training them, and TCC would be good for a baby! You wanna know why? PATIENCE!!! Never hurts to try!

~Wen~

[red_fists]

Hi Wen.

Thanks, for your Input.

[Skarbromantis]

Dont worry bro, there are many in your shoes, i being one.

With family and work all week, its hard to find time to do anything other than eat and sleep, i train with my stepson, he's 12 so it help's to keep us close , i also make music and am in the studio alot , and still try to spend time with the lady, so i know how you feel.

I try to sneak in some kung fu into what ever i do , watch tv and go over hand motions, do forms on my lunch break, work my stance on the phone with my homies, and still try to put in 1-2 hours a day when ever i can sneak away from everything,
its hard, but all i can say is i try.

Skard1

[JasBourne]

The only way I've been able to keep up my training is to make the commitment to do so. That is, I've talked to my family and explained that my kungfu is a vital element in my life, that it keeps me sane and balanced, so if everyone wants me happy, we're all going to work around the fact that 4 nights a week I train for 1 to 2 hours (depending on the curriculum that night).

Then I do it, even if I don't want to do it.

This is going to sound weird, but I keep a private checklist for each day. It has little boxes for "family time", "personal time", "dog play", "outside world", stuff like that. I make sure that every day, I pay conscious attention to those concepts, and that I do something that engages them.

I try to multi-task, so maybe one day I'll ask the better half to pick me up after training, and we'll go to a cafe for a half hour. I wind down, and we get to spend time by ourselves. Or I'll take the dogs to a park and do my Sil Lum Tao or Chum Kiu forms. That one incorporates training, dogs, and world. :)

I spend so much of my day doing web-related business - on the computer, in phone conferences, basically isolated from "the real world" by an office and a computer screen, that if I don't consciously make an effort to integrate other elements, my life would be "get up, log on, log off, go to sleep".

So, people I work with know that my training time is non-negotiable. I don't care what time it is on the west coast, I do not schedule meetings during my training time. I am not available for "working dinners", "networking meets", "stay late for just this one project deadline" or any of that other ratrace crap.

I guess all this longwindedness boils down to: commitment. Just do it.

:)

[premier]

I'm not sure about teaching TCC to kids. I heard teaching chi kung to kids is a big no no.


premier

[Budokan]

For me, family and my kids come first. However, like Jas I try to multi-task my MA practice with my kids (4yrs and 2yrs). They like to help and "work out" with me, so it's fun and we get some quality time together while I'm able to concentrate on techniques.

More often than not, it's injuries that keep me from the dojo more than anything else. Right now I'm laid up with a sore heel. Don't know if I chipped the bone or just tore the Achilles tendon--I can't really tell and don't have the time (there's that word again!) to go to a doctor and find out. So I'm hobbling around the house using my bo as a walking stick. Works out okay, but the 2yr old has suddenly realized today he can now out run me. Havoc (not hiliarity) often ensues.

[Mantis_Hand]

I don't have kids yet but I'm still really short on time to do anything that isn't a major responsibility. I try and balance my regular 9-5 job, a three nights a week part time job, a night when I get together with friends, a night when I lead the training with two of my KF brothers -- the rest of the time is spent in the gym and chilling with my fiancee.

I try and tie m training into my work out, which I do at a local gym. I'll do my usual weights routine after I do some initial stretching and then afterwards do the serious stretching and maybe some forms if there aren't a lot of people around. You have no idea how distracting it can be every time someone stops and asks "Hey! Where'd you learn your karate?"

Oddly, being the young guy that I am, I'm looking forward to training my kids. Whether or not they'll be into it is beyond me, but my Sifu's son has been doing it since he could walk so that's promising.

[ewallace]

I cut time here and there. At work I have a high-wall cubicle in the ****hest corner of the building. No one really bothers me all day. I keep a dumbell and some high-resistance hand grips under my desk. This lets me get my forearm and bicep work out of the way so I spend less time at the gym after work. I have a paper target pinned in the cubicle wall with a small "X" marked on it that I use as a target for air-punching. I also do some footwork drills as long as I don't make too much noise.

A lot of times I work thru lunch and leave 30 minutes early...about 4:30. I then haul ass to the fitness center at my apartment and do an hour of cardio and 30-45 minutes with weights on days I use weights. This is before my wife and daughter(15 mos.) get home, which is around 6:45 pm.

Sometimes this isn't possible so I wait until my daughter goes to bed between 8:30 - 9:00 pm. Then I hit the fitness center.

On days I have class, which is Tuesday & Thursday, I eat right when they get home and then head to class.

[Arhat of Fury]

Life is chaotic, I do not have children but many other obligations/addictions(weightlifting exct...)

I only need to follow 2 rules in my life to have a good, focused training session.

1) leave all baggage at the door
2) before training begins, get into a meditative state and clear your mind, If you have to think- think about something happy. This will enable you to lift your burden of stress and not have your workout disturbed by lifes pressure.

I know its always easier said than done but I wanted to share what helps me.


Amitoufu,

AOF

[Royal Dragon]

I systamatically distracted my family by getting them all involved in important activitys that leave me home alone to get some practice in.

My daughter does gymnastics 4 hours a day, 4 days a week, and my fiancee I got hooked on Kempo. She does not go enough though, so I needle her about the tiny little pude on her tummy, and that usually gets her out of the house and going to her kempo class.

Then I go through my routine of warming up, conditonig basics and forms.

It's a perfect plan except for the fact that 9 months out of the year I work a really hectice and life draining seasonal job that leaves me too exaughsted to traing alot. But once the season is over, I'm pretty much free to endulge (like now :D )

I also act as my daughters conditioning coach, which helps our relationship alot.

Royal Dragon

[rogue]

In my 40's, two kids 7 & 5, and a wife who's still drop dead gorgeous.

I manage to lift weights(full body) 3 days a week, correction make that 3 nights a week usually a little before 9 PM for about an hour, after Mrs Rogue gets home from her hour+ session of lifting and aerobics. Darn is she fine!
I hit karate around 3 times a week for 2 hours a session but I'll sometimes knock that down to 2 sessions a week if family needs me.

Here's an average night,
Pick up the kids, start homework with eldest, eat dinner, wife goes to workout or starts next nights dinner, finish homework with kid, cuddle & watch toons and play with the younger, on lifting night wife gets home, play with kids, 9PM put kids to bed and then go workout. Around 10 stare at wife and watch Combat Missions. On karate night I get to class at 7PM.

Weekends are mostly for the kids and we'll find something to do as a family.

I manage to train but it does get harder.

[red_fists]

Thanks, for all the replies.

Here is my standard schedule.

I got Japanese Lessons 3x a week:
Mon. & Wed. Evening + Saturday morning. (07:00pm ~ 08:00pm

Leave for work at 07:00am get home around 06:30pm (unless at Client's site or very busy than anything after 09:00pm)

Wife & Son get home about same time, I play with Son while Wife prepares Supper.
On School nights off to School. Others Supper with Family, after Supper till about 08:30 Family time, after that Bath time for me and son.

After Son is asleep, both me and wife work on our respective Web-Pages and update other Important things (Creche Diary,etc), do other Hobbies.

Weekend:
Sat:
morning Japanese School
afternoon 01:00pm~ 03:30pm Kwoon.
(Wife takes Lesson after mine)
Evening FAmily time.

Sun:
morning TCC practice in the Park, while Wife cleans House (actually been kicked out)
Wife & Son later arrive at park we go for a stroll and home for Lunch.

Often I do some more training on Sunday afternoons in the Park.
That's anout it.
FYI, Japanese Apartments are VERY smal, Kwoon is only open on Saturday, Japanese Sports Clubs are way overcrowded and only open at 10:00am. :mad:

[ewallace]

I wish my wife would kick me out so she could clean. I pretty much have to kick her to get her to do any housework. How do you fix a dishwasher :)