Week 8 - The Hero Within

The end of 8 weeks already.  I love the passing of time when you get through enough of it to take stock on a good deal of effort.  With a surprising 900 gram loss this week, my 8 week total loss comes to 11.6 kilos.  I freely admit, that outstrips even my highest expectations that were set at around the 8 kilo mark.  Of course that level of progress is not likely to continue much longer if at all.  So in addition to taking stock of what has been done so far, I'm mapping out a new set of goals and expectations for the coming month/s.  Still, it's a great start to work with.

Moving to the more self indulgent phase of the story this week, although this whole blog is pretty heavy on the 'look at me' side of things when you think about it.  Mind you, is that not the basis of the blog medium more broadly?  I guess that is another story for a different blog.  My mind this week has been turning over the concept of what makes someone a hero.  What is it that takes someone from the ordinary to something more inspirational in our minds eye?  I imagine that it is different for everyone.  Hence each person is drawn to different people, past and present, when they search for someone to look up to.

So what are the characteristics most common in the people we see as heroes?  Is it charisma that plays the biggest part?  Or any other personality traits that appeal?  Maybe it is physical attributes or prowess on the highest levels of the global sporting arenas.  Is it success in other aspects of life like business or the world of movies?  I've been giving this a bit of thought over the past few days and whilst it is not an exhaustive list of characteristics, I have come up with a few that certainly appeal to me.

When I was much younger, I don't remember having any heroes that I looked up to.  The first person I think I ever really wanted to emulate, if that aspirational type behaviour is an indication of hero status, was Paul 'The Chief' Harragon.  He was a Rugby League player of some note at the time.  I was preparing for an under 21 provincial match in that year's national carnival against NSW in Rugby Union and for some reason I decided that I wanted to play like 'The Chief'.  This was something totally out of the ordinary for me and not something I had done before or since.  We were comprehensively beaten on the night in all aspects of the game including the scoreboard.  Needless to say, I didn't play in a very Chief like fashion and never tried to emulate either the physical style or persona again.  I think when it came to Rugby, I pretty much did my own thing with regards to playing style.  Even though it was in the context of achieving the goals of a team.

Working hard on the mats

In more recent times, I have come to admire more deeper qualities than simply the physical efforts of any given sporting star on their chosen field of competition.  Having said that, there are some fantastic athletes around that I do hold in very high esteem, through the simple thoughts on how much effort, discipline and dedication it would take to succeed at the highest level.  Sometimes I just contemplate in awe, the sacrifice and damn hard work that they must put themselves through.  When looking closer to home, I find myself paying more attention to the strengths of those around me.  The people I interact with who do extraordinary things, day to day that go largely unnoticed by most and often by me I suspect.  What I have noticed in the short exposure to Martial Arts that I have had, is that what it takes to step onto the mat, let alone compete can make the humblest people heroes in my eyes.

Training with people in such a pursuit as MMA brings you in close quarters to say the least.  It also allows you the opportunity to make deeper connections with them through that common shared experience.  Much as it was in my Rugby days I suppose.  Although I was too young or immature to recognise it.  To my own detriment I see now.  You know what the person next to you is going through and how hard they are working and there is mutual respect as a result.  With that respect in place, you often interact more honestly and directly than would otherwise be the case.  You see each other at your best and worst.  Dare I say, you sometimes dive deeply into the other person's psyche through the raw emotions that come out.  That's not to say that is the case with everyone, because as with all things in life, there are just some people you are drawn to more than others.

What I have found though is that there are small sum of people who are uniquely willing to give of themselves to the betterment of others.  Whether it be giving of their time, knowledge or to coin a much overused phrase, literally in some cases, their 'blood, sweat and tears' (I have seen them all recently), there are a select few whose openness to contribute to the growth of others is quite inspiring.  They set an example to me of something that I can and do aspire to emulate.  It is for that reason that they are also heroes in my eyes.

For is it not those people whose actions we seek to emulate out of admiration that we hold up as heroes?  I'm very comfortable in aspiring to be more like anyone who puts so much of themselves towards the improvement of others.  I guess the real point I am trying to make is that I've been very pleasantly surprised at where my efforts to keep fit and healthy have taken me in relation to the people it has led me to.  Not only have I found an avenue by which I can contribute to the development of others, which is something that (ironically somewhat selfishly) gives me great personal satisfaction, but, I get to do it with others who share the same mind set.  Win win!

*Image this week is a random one and not mine.  Just depicting something like the mat work that I am referring to.

Week 7 - The Good Training Partner

Click Me to enlarge

A surprisingly good week on the scales.  This morning I had hoped to be under 110kg,  Instead I saw 108.7!  Why bother with the 109s when you can just bypass them altogether....The difference, 1.8kg for the goodies.  That's the biggest lost since the carbohydrate balancing, water based loss of week 1.  With that in mind, if I can even stay under 109kg next week, I think I need to be well satisfied.

Total weight lost so far is now 10.7kg.  My image for the post this week is a chart representing that loss over time.  There are 3 lines on the graph.  The blue line is a representation of if I were to lose 1kg per week.  The red line is similarly, a 1kg loss, but based on the previous week's result as a starting point.  The final green line is the actual loss.  There is no way that I should or could maintain a 1kg per week weight loss goal, but, it will be interesting to see how far down the track the lines cross.

So to the title of this post.  It's a topic that I have been wrestling with (bad pun I know) for months if I am honest.  It's the balance between giving and receiving in my martial arts training.  I love the philosophy at Synergy where I train.  "Your training partner's safety is your responsibility".  It's more than that too.  It's about looking out that you measure your intensity and concentrate on your technique so as not to injure them for sure.  In addition to that though, I really believe that you are responsible for nurturing their development at the same time.

So what does that mean?  In my mind it means that sometimes you need to put your own learning and development to one side in favour of helping your training partner with theirs.  I can honestly say that being part of someone's progression for me can be as rewarding as breaking through any given barrier myself.  So what am I struggling with?  Inexperience and enthusiasm.

My coach (I know he might be watching this) says that one of the key things is that I recognise the need to be a good training partner and it's great that I have.  What I am finding difficult though is knowing what I need to do when.  Do I go flat out and compete in the activity?  Or do I hold back enough to guide my partner through?  Obviously this is not when we are drilling and just learning or revising techniques.  It is when we are moving more into a live (training) situation to practice what we have learned.  I really struggle with it and feel like I need someone to tell me each and every time just what I should do in this regard.  Happy to do it either way.....just make it easier to know which one damn it!

Loving every minute of my training time and this aspect doesn't detract from that much.  I know in time that because I am aware of it, I can develop this part of my martial arts.  For now, I am working really hard to balance my enthusiasm, inexperience and intensity to get the most out of every session for those that I train with at least as much as I do myself.

Week 6 - The Grind Begins

The Man in the Arena

Nothing terribly notable about this week really.  I managed to drop 500 grams on the scales.  Although half a kilo sounds more when you say it so let's go with that.  Whilst it does represent the smallest loss in a week to this point, realistically, I am very pleased as combined with the big drop last week, it is still just over 2 kilos over the 2 weeks.  Good times!

I also remembered to take measurements this week.  Overall, I had reduced 7.5cm from my chest, 14cm from my waist and 9cm from my hips.  I guess that equals at least one dress size....Maybe I'll fit into that nice floral number now!

That's pretty much it...before I do go though, I will share something that I did with my MMA crowd earlier this week.  It is a quote from Theodore Roosevelt's "Citizen in the Republic" speech at Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

This quote is often referred to as "The Man in the Arena".  I have it stuck up in my office at work and it inspires me daily to just get stuck into life generally.  More specifically it is motivating me in my martial arts training at the moment.  Despite not being the original sentiments of the words, they really speak to me in this endeavour.  The conjure up gladiatorial images of combatants facing off on the ancient fields of combat.  In today's context I cannot think of a better picture to associate with these words than the MMA canvas.  Regardless of the picture it paints for you, it beckons you to get in and have a go!

Week 5 - Take That Obesity!

Weigh in day today.  After what I thought was a surprising weight loss last week, I was hoping that I was just holding close with a small loss if possible was my goal as I felt that perhaps my loss contained a fair bit of water as I do find it hard to re-hydrate after my big Wednesdays of training.  Imagine when I hopped on the scales this morning to find a 1.6kg loss staring back at me!  Even my average weight loss for the week based on daily weigh ins was 1.4kg.  Once again there will be an element of water in that loss and it is the lightest I have been all week, if not by much.  So again this week I set my eyes on maintaining this loss over and above any further significant moves on the scales next week.  In all seriousness, if I crack 500 grams next week, I will be more than happy.

Make sure you re-hydrate!

On the issue of re-hydration, I heard back from my dietician this week after sending her my daily weight records for the week after mentioning my concerns about taking on fluids after exercise.  The example that I used was my weight difference after a Saturday MMA session.  After my session I was a full 1kg lighter.  That, even after having taken in a litre of water, 2 bananas and an orange.  Concervitively I would say that puts me 2.5kg lighter through fluid loss.  Whilst I wouldn't use the lighter weight for record keeping purposes, it is ideal for understanding how much fluid I need to replace after a given workout.

Contrary to the belief I had held, that for every kilo of weight lost in exercise, 1 litre of water should be consumed to replace that which has been lost.  The dietician however informed me that for every kilo, I should consume 1.5 litres of water.  Obviously that doesn't all need to be done at one time.  Rather I would need to add it to the 3 litres I have on days where I don't exercise and consume it throughout the day as a whole.  With that in mind, I will be concentrating more on my water intake to ensure it is spot on and my weight loss is genuine.

In bigger news, my number on the scales this morning was 110.9kg.  Nothing special about that right?  WRONG!  As of this morning, my old nemesis, the Body Mass Index (BMI) can no longer look at me a laugh maniacally as it calls me obese.  That's right, I am now officially, just overweight and not obese.  Whatever theory you hold about the BMI (I have my own as I discussed here - My earlier post) and how much stock you put in it, I can never help feeling somewhat upset when those statistics on the TV come up about how fat we are as a nation and whatever percentage of people in the country they say this week is overweight or obese.  Whilst I know that I still fall into those statistics as they are based on the BMI, I am just so much happier knowing that I am not one of those in the obese column.  Can you blame me?

Needless to say I am feeling pretty good about the results this week.  They were achieved even without my weekly rowing as I have been carrying a wrist injury that forced me to give it up, much to my disappointment.  I guess you cannot have everything.  Feeling good and looking forward to the week ahead.

*NB - My standard disclaimer.  This photo is not of me.  It has given me a bad case of hair envy though.