Liberace

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has been commenting on my blog and giving me some great advice in class and at the Saturday training. Friday night I Ho Chuan class was... scary, I think if anyone could run through the middle of that class and make it from one end of the room to the other it would be a talented individual indeed. Sifu Prince thank you for showing me some of the basic staff moves, I love the "nunchuck" move, I have been practicing and practicing that move. Sihing Tymchuk and the signature Liberace move. Sihing told me to make the two handed spear figure eight move work right you have to "Loosen up your hips, work it" Think Limerace. Last year I bought a guitar I have wanted for almost 20 years, the Ibanez Artcore AK - 85 with bigsby bridge. They had one at Axe music, I went to have a look, It was pearl white... I told the guy "That guitar is a little to Liberace for me" But I wanted to play it anyway to see what it was like to play the Artcore, I bought it, that thing could have been covered in sequins and I would have forked over the dough. So as luck would have it I have been learning to "Work my hips" and I think I will two hand figure eighting in now time! Thanks everyone for the work out diet tips as well, cant wait to swap some recipes.

Messing with the Kernel

It's not that I have had writers block or anything, the ideas just keep coming, but coming up with the time to blog is of course one of the biggest challenges. The main idea that has been consuming me lately is that on my journey I have been seeking change. In order to change you have to consume yourself with focus on those things that you want to change, negative things about yourself. Focusing so wholly on what is wrong with your personal chemistry can be disheartening. Thinking back I would say to myself "Ok so your disorganized, even though you often forget to accomplish the things you promised to do, you are always good intentioned and with enough pressure will finish what you start" I think to myself now the only thing I finish once started are things like climbing an ice wall, where I have no choice but to go up or down. Now let talk about pressure... many things motivate different people. When I was talked into being a car salesman, by my brother... I remember Jimmy Piatrarca my sales manager pulling me into his office. He said to me " Did you inherit a lot of money, did you win the lottery? Why can't I motivate you with the promise of a bonus like all the other guys. You make just enough to survive and then stop, you go on holiday!" Jimmy brought to light a great truth about me, I am not motivated by money or material wealth... don't start celebrating yet. I asked myself "What motivates me?" The answer PAIN. I won't begin to achieve my true potential until I am up against a wall and I am about to loose it all. Then I pull out all the stop's kick some butt and deliver like never before. It is however very difficult for those around me to maintain relationships when the boat needs to rock that badly to get things moving. The question I put forward is this "Can you change something so fundamental as what motivates you at your core" For those of you that know a bit about computer programming, at the heart of any program is a kernel, so I am looking at messing with the Kernel.

The confession

     I am not Catholic, but this is probably going to seem more like a confession than a blog... I had a plan, I believed in the plan but life has thrown a bit of a curve ball and my plan is out the window. You see I wanted to succeed at the I Ho Chuan and so I knew I needed to loose weight in order to have a chance of completing the physical components. I went on a very restrictive diet... Too restrictive, it was so few calories I almost passed out at Kung Fu, my head was spinning and my heart was racing, for the first time during warm up I had to remove myself to the back of the class. I consulted my Dr. as well as some other trusted advisers and the result is, I am no longer on the restrictive diet. If I am going to complete the physical component of the I Ho Chuan I will need to train and have that training change my body so I have a chance of completing successfully. I guess I thought the diet was a bit of a card up my sleeve, I was going to loose 65 lbs and sail through the physical components with no problems. I mean wouldn't your pushups get easier if you lost 65 lbs?Now those extra pounds are going to be with me on every push up, every sit up, every mile. Until they just aren't there anymore.



 

I guess this is as good a time as any to let everyone on my team know that I have eating issues. An addiction to bad foods that has left me in poor physical condition. It has been a long fight and I am slowly winning as I adopt better habits and loose bad habits. In 2007 I was as heavy as I hope I ever get at 310lbs, today I weigh 265 lbs but only a couple of years ago I was down to 212 and I felt great. I had used the restrictive diet to achieve the results and it was not sustainable so in the words of Sifu Brinker "Whatever you implement to loose the weight has to be sustainable otherwise whatever you achieve will not be sustainable." I hope that paraphrase is close Sifu Brinker, I didn't write it down.

     The card up my sleeve is out, I have no more secret cards to play I am going to have to do this the hard way one push up at a time forcing my Body to change in order to survive the on slot of 50,000 anythings. I wanted to quit before the I Ho Chuan officially started, I was having second thoughts, the idea of "There is no quitting" made me want to withdraw, I thought to myself "Withdrawing isn't quitting is it? No, everyone will understand. If hasn't started then it's not quitting." I couldn't do it, I am committed no matter what happens. I am drastically behind in my Push Ups and Sit Ups, Ok so I took the first week off. Well not off but I only did 200 sit-ups, 40 Push Ups and walked 7.5 miles. I have some work to do.

Which brings me to my next point, I am the hare, not the tortoise. This is probably my greatest challenge. In business, as I am a business owner, I do nothing then I run like crazy any make a prolific amount of money, then nothing and cycle continues. Since I was a child I was like this, and I convinced myself that I wasn't flighty or unfocused I was just a lateral worker doing lots of things very slowly. I would read10 books at the same time, and not finish a single one. Dozens of projects on the go with no end in sight to new ones. I would not admit to myself that I have a problem following through, finishing what I started. Well I take great solace in the idea that admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery. Since I started Kung Fu I have been changing slowly and it's really freaking some people out. People that were used to who I was, instead of just saying "ya, will do that" I whip out my smartphone and say "What day and time works for you, I have Wednesday morning open" Not only have I been accomplishing more but I have more free time. I am not free of my old ways yet, it seems they are hard to break, my old habits. I will succeed, especially with a great team of people on the I Ho Chuan. As a kid I liked to watch Jerry Lewis, and this one movie in particular called Cracking Up had a skit where Jerry went to a stop smoking agency and signed up. With a 100% success rate he felt good about his chances. Anyway, any time he would go to light up for the rest of the movie a great big guy would show up and punch him in the face, just clean his clock. I may need help like that this year.