I’ve decided that, with enough research and practice put into this goal, I actually want to develop my own body to be something different. Similar principles, different application.
I want to be me, and just as impressive in my own ways.
Well, I finally managed to drag my best friend with me. Working out with a partner is a lot easier and more fun than working out alone. Especially with weight training.
Also, do a lot of reading before you start weight training. It really helps you know what you’re doing. Well, with any exercise.
Plus, weight training actually burns more calories than an equivalent period of straight cardio, due to calories being burnt throughout the day repairing and growing muscle.
Not worth it, don’t have the time or dependable access to an XBox, anyway. Too frustrating; anger and the darkside cloud my path whenever I play. It just makes me want to wring someone’s neck, instead of being fun.
Basically got it down. With a little bit of practice it will seem as natural as turning the wheel.
Much like Bruce Lee, my personal idol of martial arts skills, I believe that no single system offers a truely complete set of defensive skills, moreso in this day and age where they are used as much if not more so for sport and exercise than for actual defense in violent situations. While I appreciate the sport and exercise portions, and hope to incorporate elements of the exercise of it into my own practice, I believe that the one true original purpose of martial arts is for handling actual combat. One must combine whatever works for you, from whatever information and training you can get. In practice I have studied and practiced Modern Defense, a breakaway school from Choi Kwong Do, which was itself a breakaway school from Tae Kwon Do. It was a great experience, and though I have never had to use those skills in any defensive situation, I feel confident that I at least wouldn’t be an easy wallet for some random mugger.
I hope to be able to study more martial arts first hand, but for the moment I am financially limited to intellectually studying what free information I can find. As such, I’ve found the philosophies of Aikido, Tai Chi Chaun, and Ninjitsu to be very interesting and worthwhile. Also I find the renaissance martial arts as practiced by ARMA to be quite intruiging as well, even though I never expect to be caught in a dark alley by a mugger, thug, or gang with only a good rapier as defense. In terms of sheer physicallity I hope to someday be able to train hard at brazilian jiujitsu, and escrima kali.
Studying the martial arts is a lifelong thing; you can be an expert in one facet, but nobody can honestly claim to know everything there is to know about all of the arts. There’s always more to study, more practice and further perfection of technique to strive for.
