All Aboard the Pork Chop X-press!!

[Pork Chop]

ah, so u are learning japanese. how about u join us in korean? we are so much more cool!

i have chinese on my plate next, hopefully sooner depending - girl issue type thing. u know. well, u dont gotta worry about those anymore i think.

My kid's half Okinawan, so I want to speak & read as fluently as possible for him and my wife's family. I went to high school there too, so I been studying a long time.

I know a few Korean phrases. I hear that the grammar's very similar to Japanese. Some parts of Japan speak about 60% Korean as their regional dialect due to their proximity to Korea. You guys don't use as many Chinese characters, which looks nice. Maybe someday I'll study it formally.

Chinese was a lost cause for me. In college I had roommates for Taiwan. Would spend months working on picking up words & improving my pronunciation only to get shot down anytime I tried to use it with another person from Taiwan.

[KTS]

ahhhh! i c. understandable of course. if my kids are half chinese for example, i am very well learning to speak chinese.

i think very highly of what you are doing. it will make your wife's parents very very happy i bet and is just a great thing to do regardless. and, your kids will benefit a lot as well.

and, they can have their secret little language when they dont want whitey to know what they are saying haha.

in taiwan, they use traditional characters to write with, whereas in china, they will use simplified more if i remember that much. i have friends who come from china, live in china, come from taiwan, and lived in taiwan. they are much more qualified to speak on that.

korean uses same sentence structure as japanese. that is, subject-object-verb. and, the languages has many of the same sounds, but korean sounds a bit "rounder" or more "rolling" in its pronounciation if i may generalize. some japanese words are exactly the same in korean as in japanese. ex:tatami = tatami(타타미).

i find listening to music helps add another element to your learning. i think Halcali is a crazy but cool japanese hip-pop type group. namie amuro is good, her album called PLAY i love. almost every song is extremely catchy. and she can sing and dance perfectly without losing a beat - live.

[Pork Chop]

I'm a huge fan of Begin, they're as Okinawan as it gets and their videos usually display everything i like about the culture; I recommend "Sanshin no hana" (flower of the sanshin - their 3 string guitar) and "Shimanchu nu takara" (treasure of the islanders). The movie NadaSouSou is much the same, showing everything from Awamori (sake), to taco rice, to Eisa (drumming), to nightlife, festivals, the beach, the lifestyle, etc.

BTW - namie amuro's Okinawan, but I REALLY don't like her - or most JPop.

Bands I do like:
HY, Afromania (アフロマニア), Rinken Band, Kina Shoukichi & Champloos, Kiroro, The Blue Hearts, Mods, Orange Range, Nagabuchi Tsuyoshi, Sodopp (esp PopRider album), Kawashima Eigo, TRF, B'z, X Japan, Hide, ketsumeishi (ケツメイシ), Yoshida Brothers, The Boom, Diamantes, Spitz, Southern All Stars, Natsukawa Rimi, Judy And Mary, Kachimba1551, Puffy AmiYumi (guilty pleasure), 1 Utada Hikaru song, kinda on the fence about Bennie K, and I like what I've heard of Asian Kung Fu Generation.

Tues 6/16
Went to the mma gym for a pretty good workout, musta done 20 rounds of bags: heavybag, slip bag, double end, & tear drop

EDIT: PS, I'm whitey!? o_O

[Pork Chop]

Okay so i really haven't worked out much for the past few weeks since deciding not to compete. Overall, haven't really been on my game since the kid was born.

Mentally, I'm in limbo.

I feel guilty if I'm anywhere but home & helping out with the kid.
As soon as it gets towards the end of the day I lose any motivation for going to any gym and just want to go home.

I imagine I've packed on quite a few pounds.

Without a goal, I feel pretty lost.

I've been kicking around the idea of trying out other martial arts: switching to boxing and/or Judo, taking up some other traditional martial art, or just doing my own thing with what I already know.

Watching the documentary Fatboy last night, I realized that this might be the perfect chance to finally lose some significant weight. I'm not 100% sure if it's possible without putting in the hours at the kickboxing gym, but we'll see.

In the documentary, the guy was doing boxing and following Atkins strictly but he wasn't seeing any results. He was all banged up and he even gained some weight (sound familiar?). It wasn't until he ate fresh foods and did a more moderate program of weights & cardio that his body finally dropped the weight.

The secret to losing weight may be the consistency gained through a much less "hardcore" approach. I also won't have to worry about maintaining my energy levels late into the night in order to prevent getting my azz kicked. An hour to an hour and a half in the gym should cut it.

The thing I'm going to have to be patient with is that I've slid a long way from where I was in a short time. I'm going to have to be very vigilant in making little changes that add up to big changes over time and not get discouraged when I see just how far I've got to go.

The plan
So the idea right now is to make small changes that incrementally add up.
This will affect diet, exercise, and lifestyle/routine.

Diet-wise - the big thing is to start by cutting out the alcohol & cigs. I've been drinking a lot since the kid's been born and fell off the wagon smoke wise too. Last week I managed to stay away on the weekdays, now I gotta phase it out altogether.

After that, it's a matter of gradually swapping out my black coffee for green tea, cutting back on going out to eat to a once-a-week thing, eating a healthy breakfast again, getting back to healthy sandwiches, more veggies, more salads, more fruit, making sure I get enough fiber, and drinking more water.

Exercise - in a nutshell: weights & cardio. As I'm not going to be doing serious MA training for a bit, these 2 will have to take a much more prominent role.

Weights shouldn't be a big deal - big movements, enough reps & sets to get a good workout. Go up slowly/conservatively on the weight so I don't injure myself.
May mix in some kettlebells.

Cardio is kind of an issue. The elliptical crosstrainer has apparently ground my hip to a fine powder. Stationary bikes tend to hurt my knees & bore the pizz out of me. At the Gold's I go to, that leaves me a few options: treadmill and stair master. There's a rowing machine at another Gold's that's hard for me to get to, so I don't think that'll be an option.

I've always felt guilty about not being a runner, so I think I'm going to go with the treadmill. Of course, "slow & steady wins the race" will be my mantra. Going to start off with 10 min walking, 5 min jogging at a slowish speed, 10 min walking as my first workout and go from there.

My cardio nightmare has been the biggest thing keeping me from doing anything lately. It was much easier to hit the gym when cardio on the elliptical was a no-brainer.

Lifestyle - going to have to make a few changes. We gotta change our routine with the kid so he can get used to a schedule. I need to make some changes to avoid some pitfalls.

The current routine isn't letting me get to bed before midnight. When I go to bed after 12, I have a very hard time waking up the next day and I usually need more than 8 hours of sleep. If I get to bed by 10 or 11, I need less sleep & feel more rested in the morning. Already talked a game plan with my wife for dealing with the dog & the kid so i can get some sleep.

I hate hearing my kid cry. it's like:
(nails on a chalk board * styrofoam squeaking) ^ 100000.
It really stresses me out.
This is why I've been drinking a lot more, and thus getting back to cigs.
Yesterday I wanted to drink to blow off the added steam of some car trouble, but ordered chinese food instead, which is also not good. Other days, I just play video games - which isn't good for my body considering I sit in front of a computer all day at work.

I think getting back in the gym will help me manage that stress.
I should still probably find other, healthier options for "having fun".

One thing that's really frustrated me is that I've waited all this time for the free-time to start studying Japanese again, but I still haven't even started (at least formally).

I'll be starting up sanshin (Okinawan guitar) classes again July 12th, so that should be something interesting. May start doing Eisa (drumming) again at the same place too. My involvement with all things Okinawan has made me consider Okinawan karate as an option for doing something traditional as a change of pace from muay thai. I've always disliked karate, mostly coz i hate wearing a uniform, but I have some good options for teachers- like my wife's uncle who's on the police force & was a prefecture champion at 18.

Bottom line is that I want some better options for "having fun" than drinking/smoking, video games, and binge eating.

I don't know if this email comes off as pie in the sky or a rant, but I thought maybe organizing my thoughts & putting them on paper/net would help me with some direction.

Plan on hitting the gym after work today for kind of a fresh start. The idea was originally to go this morning before work, but the baby kept me up till after 1am last night and killed that. We'll see how it goes.

[zhugeliang]

like my wife's uncle who's on the police force & was a prefecture champion at 18.

wow, what style does he teach, he in San Antonio too?

Life with a baby can really be stress big time.

[Pork Chop]

wow, what style does he teach, he in San Antonio too?

Life with a baby can really be stress big time.

Actually he's in Okinawa.... or Ishigaki, I forget.
I met him last October when we went to meet her family (and found out she was preggers). Dude looks (and acts) like Hawaiian, Filipino, or mini-Samoan; hardly looks Japanese - scary eyes. I'm not sure what style he teaches, only that he's supposed to be d@mn good at what he does.
My brother-in-law boxes as well, so I got training options when I go visit.
The idea was to pick up a little bit & work the cr@p out of it.
Tried to do the same thing before with Hung Gar a couple times, but it killed my knees.

It's weird, I hate being screamed at by the baby but I really don't have any motivation to be anywhere else.

[Pork Chop]

Quick update:
Weight loss challenge starting with the guys from work.
First weigh in for starting weight is Monday, July 6th.
The theory is that I can have a better showing in the competition if I pack on a few easy to lose pounds by Monday.
Beer & pizza day at work Thursday July 2nd.
Brother's gf's b-day party this weekend.
Starting with a fresh slate on Monday and then gonna go bawlz out.

[BoulderDawg]

Quick update:
Weight loss challenge starting with the guys from work.
First weigh in for starting weight is Monday, July 6th.
The theory is that I can have a better showing in the competition if I pack on a few easy to lose pounds by Monday.
Beer & pizza day at work Thursday July 2nd.
Brother's gf's b-day party this weekend.
Starting with a fresh slate on Monday and then gonna go bawlz out.

Man, you've made this same post a dozen time.

Until you see nutrition as a life style change and not a "Challenge" you'll never lose the weight.

[Pork Chop]

Man, you've made this same post a dozen time.

Until you see nutrition as a life style change and not a "Challenge" you'll never lose the weight.

Your input is appreciated.

PS - the challenge is just to get me excited about kicking my coworker's hiney when i'm doing all those boring hours on the treadmill. If you think it's going to drastically change the way I eat, aside from getting me to drop unhealthy habits I started RECENTLY, then you really didn't read my earlier post.

[Suntzu]

really wish you were here (no ghey sh!t)........

i got this kid, southpaw.... he said he trained with some guy from taiwan in college in san da..... i dont see it...... i'm basically building him from scrath.... i REALLY wanna switch him to orthodox for my sanity....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqVk4kHpnBQ

need some southpaw tips

[Pork Chop]

yeah, just watched that on facebook.
I put together a nice overview of southpaw boxing on boxing scene boxing forums so lemme try to dig that up.
i've picked up a LOT of tricks since moving out here, so I'll beef it up as much as possible for muay thai and san da.
I'll email you with it when i finish, probably later tonight or later this weekend.

[Pork Chop]

took starting weight for the competition last night because we forgot to bring the scale to work. it was 249. got a long way to go.

woke up early this morning at least, so that's a nice little check in the win column. means i can get in 2 workouts today at the very least. aiming to get in some wii fit every night too.

[WinterPalm]

yeah, just watched that on facebook.
I put together a nice overview of southpaw boxing on boxing scene boxing forums so lemme try to dig that up.
i've picked up a LOT of tricks since moving out here, so I'll beef it up as much as possible for muay thai and san da.
I'll email you with it when i finish, probably later tonight or later this weekend.

I'd be curious to see this as well.

[Pork Chop]

WP - I'll get on it, my computer is giving me all sorts of problems lately. Installed a backup internal hard drive a few weeks ago. Now my main hard drive is starting to cr@p out. My system has been stuck in checkdisk mode for 2 days.

Tues 7/7
Day one went well
woke up on time
ate well

mma gym after work
nice new calisthenics routine:
supersets of jumping jacks, burpees (up-downs, squat thrusts, etc), lunges, squats, calf raises, jump turning squats, knee highs, push ups, crunches, bicycles, leg lifts

first time through 5 reps for each exercise (5 reps each leg on the lunges).
Second time through 10 reps, third time 15 reps, and fourth time through 20 reps.
By the 4th time through my coworker and I really were on the verge of passing out.

Didn't help that the gym has no AC and my car said the ambient temperature was 108 when I was driving away afterwards. The gym was 98+ degrees. It was like working out with a blanket on.

3 rounds of shadow.
My coworker couldn't lift his arms or even walk until midway through the 2nd round.

3 rounds of bag work.
Not my best performance. My hip issue seems to be back full force, so I should probably stop kicking for a while.

After the mma gym I got changed and headed over to Gold's.

I did a nice little barbell complex, no rest, just the bar, no weight yet:
clean & press x 20, standing overhead press x 10, squat x 20, bent row x 10, deadlift x 20

I'll add more sets and weight later, first day back, didn't want to overdo it.

went straight to the treadmill
walked about 10 minutes, did a mile at 5mph (12min), and cooled down for a total of about 33~35 minutes.

Went home from there and showered up
After dinner, I played DDR for about an hour and did some Wii fit.
Doubt I burned that many calories (at least according to the machine), but I managed to sweat through my shirt again.
Wii fit said I'd already lost about 7 or 8 pounds.

Went to bed around 9:30.
Woke up a lot through the night.
Overslept by about 30 min, but wasn't bad.
Pretty sore today.

[Pork Chop]

Wed 7/8
Kind of a tough day
by the end of the day i was a big ball of hurt & stiff as a board

after work i went to gold's
did supersets of assisted chin ups and dips
20 plates (118lbs) x 15ea
18 plates x 15ea
16 plates x 10ea
14 plates x 6ea

supersets of kettlebell swings, alternating the order between each arm & both arms
10 each x 3

rode the bike 5 minutes and then 10 minutes - was having issues with the interface. My right quad cramped up pretty bad

went home, showered, ate

in the evening i did wii fit for about 20 min, mostly balance games

couldn't sleep last night