Pick whatever food you want to grow. Then grow it. Repeat again next year, and so on and so on.
Showing posts with label karate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label karate. Show all posts
Sunday, January 16, 2011
I Challenge You!!
Easy challenge though, if you have a yard, or a balcony, or a porch, build a square meter garden. Not enough room for a square meter garden, do a square foot or a hanging plant.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Resolution?
Have you chosen a resolution for the new year? I'd like to suggest awareness.Wake up and look around you. Think about self defense, not necessarily from punches and kicks. Look at the threats around you and decide how you are going to protect yourself.
If you were walking down a street and you noticed that the further you went the more you were in the wrong neighborhood, a neighborhood that would most likely shorten your life, wouldn't you turn around and get out of there?
So take a look at the neighborhood you are walking into now. Do you smoke? Do you have lousy food habits like I did two years ago? Are you sitting on the couch day after day without getting up and being active?
If you are doing those things you are walking into a dangerous neighborhood, you are shortening your time on Earth. You are taking years away from your life, years that your kids could have you and they won't. Trust me, even when they grow up, they will still want you to hang around for a few more years.
Is it worth it to keep walking down that road? Is it worth your life to hang onto those habits? Is a little more nicotine worth the grief of your loved ones? Is taking the easy path, not getting up and getting fit, worth the price?
Wake up, get up, get aware, move towards health and sustainability, change a few habits. You don't have to go insane with it, you don't have to go off the grid and have a sheep farm. Drive a little less, walk a little more, eat a little healthier. Make small changes.
You can't run a race without taking lots of small steps.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Have You Gotten Complacent?
Are you feeling stagnant? Have you hit a plateau? Getting bored with where you are?
Are you doing the same old things and getting the same results?
That's how I was feeling about two years ago. I was doing some pretty good stuff and getting some pretty good results, but I didn't really feel like I was making much progress, in kung fu, in fitness, in life. . .
So I did something about it. Heavily influenced by my wife's F.I.R.S.T. program and Tom Callos' Ultimate Black Belt Test, I put together my own program. I called it the Ten Tigers Program.
It's fairly ambitious, 35,000 pushups and crunches in a year is just the tip of the iceberg. I did the program two years running, and it starts again in March. A few brave folks decided to join me on the journey and change their lives too. For my students, it also included one on one training sessions. It is hard, it is fun, it is life changing.
And it's coming again!
If you want to get up and do something about all that complacency, you have some choices, commit to your own training plan, (feel free to look at the Ten Tigers program as inspiration), commit to doing all the stuff I've already published in Ten Tigers, or come join the fun with us in 2011.
If you are one of my kung fu students, it's easy, come ask me. If you are a martial arts student with someone else, ask them to use my blueprint, if they won't ask them if you can do my program. If you aren't a martial artist at all, you can still do it, it's customizable.
So get off the couch, come join the fun, and change your life.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Fail or Win?
They called it a fail, I call it a win.
Alone at home, he spotted a masked intruder fought him off enough to escape and escaped. Good self defense.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Beware the Headlines!
Lose Weight By Eating Junk Food
All of these are real headlines, but none of them are really what they seem. The story doesn't always match what the headline implies. The goal of these headlines is to get people to read the articles (obviously), but it seems that in many cases the result is that people remember the headlines rather than the actual story.
Go ahead. Click on the first headline. Be sure to read down to the part where the nutrition expert says he does not recommend that you lose weight by eating junk food.
Click on the second one and get "the rest of the story."
Check the third one while you're at it.
Don't automatically believe the headlines, whether they're online, on TV, or coming out of people's mouths.
Master
In martial arts circles, one hears the word "master" a lot. Most of the time it is used as a title, such as; Master so and so will be here this week; or I learned from Master such and such. . .
In some cases that title is thrown around too easily, and in a few cases (still too many) a martial artist gives him/herself that title.
This is all coming to my mind because someday, my sifu will put that title on a certificate with my name, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I've been doing a lot of thinking about it, and have found my peace.
I choose not to think of it as a title.
I choose not to think of it as a noun.
I choose to think of it as a verb.
Master Steven O'Nan.
That is one powerful verb, and one powerful call to action don't you think?
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Lesson Learned the Hard Way
Once the tournament was over, I had lost a legitimate 18 pounds. I feel great at my new weight. I decided to give myself a little treat and indulge in some fast food. I clocked out for my lunch break and drove over to Wendy's.
Spicy chicken sandwich, french fries, sweet tea. Mmmmmmm.
Afterwards, I started feeling sluggish. This had not been happening while I was religiously eating healthy stuff. Actually, sluggish was not a strong enough word. I felt sedated. I honestly felt like someone had slipped something into my meal.
I guess in truth, they had probably slipped a lot of things into my meal.
So, the pre-tournament diet will become my usual diet. Unhealthy foods will be rare, soft drinks will be treated like the CANDY they are and will be consumed extremely rarely. ( A 20 oz. Coca-Cola has as much sugar as 18 Jolly Ranchers.) I will try to focus my shopping on the outside edges of the grocery store (That's where they keep the produce, meat, and dairy the heavily processed foods are in the middle). I'll read labels, look for wholesome foods and just be aware of what I am eating, and why I am eating it.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
When I Will Retire From Competition.
Lately, with every tournament I compete in, I wonder afterwards how many more I will do. You see, there just aren't many instructors out there competing. There really aren't many school owners out there competing. It all makes me wonder what it seems like to others for me, a school owner/instructor to still be out there competing.
Some may think I have something to prove to others, that I'm out there to make a point. Some may think I have something to prove to myself. Neither of these is the case, and it really doesn't matter what people think. What matters is what I and my students stand to benefit from me competing.
You see, every time I have competed so far, I have learned something about myself, about competing, about running a competition, about training for competition, about my art, and the list goes on.
So I guess the answer is that I will continue competing for as long as it continues to make me a better martial artist, and a better martial arts instructor.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Knowing When to Let Go.
Once, in sparring, my partner grabbed my arms with his hands. He smiled slightly, considering his advantage. I stepped back into a horse stance pulling him off balance, then kicked him in the gut with a lead leg sidekick. It was light contact, so he squeezed tighter. I shuffle stepped towards him, hooking my lead leg behind his ankle and shifted to a bow and arrow stance. This caused him to fall backwards. Still he held on, pulling me down on top of him. Now that I was on top, I freed my right arm and punched him in the side of the head, then freed my left and punched him in the jaw on the other side.
He didn't know when to let go, and so kept getting himself into more and more of a predicament.
Often life throws challenges, hurts, injuries and insults our way. There is a time to hold tight and fight, but there is also a time to let go.
Several years ago, my mother and father paid me a visit. My then fiancee, and now wife cooked them dinner. The reason they had come was to tell me that my Mom had been diagnosed with cancer. They had a plan for how to fight the cancer, but the odds were against her. The only thing in my power to do was to support her in her battle.
As time went on, the cancer progressed, there came a point when my mother knew the battle was lost. She chose to let go of it.
I got married at her house, three months before my planned wedding. My mom passed away a week later.
Part of me still holds on to the grief and pain. Part of me is still angry at that disease that took my mother from me.
Every time I feel that way, and find myself holding on to the anger, I have to remind myself to let go of it.
Anger won't bring her back, and it won't heal me.
I let go of the negative feelings over and over again. I hold on to the love she showed me throughout my life, to the memories, to all that she gave me. I hold on to all I learned from her, and I share that with my wife and children.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Self Doubt
It's Tuesday morning, 4 days before the national tournament, and self doubt has shown its head.
"What if I don't make weight?" "What if I didn't practice enough?" "What if, what if, what if, what if. . .
So then I exercise the rational part of my brain. First I answer the questions honestly. If I don't make weight, I'll spar the big guys, if I didn't practice enough, I won't perform my best. . . All in all it is really small potatoes.
Then I remind myself that the tournament is the FAKE goal. I've already accomplished the real goals. I'm in great shape, I know what it takes to lose 20 pounds, my forms are looking better, I've gained self esteem. . .
The tournament is just icing now.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Pain and Suffering
Sometimes, as a father, I have to witness my beautiful little girl suffer. Sometimes small things, like when the "new Shrek movie" was sold out and she had her heart set on seeing it. Sometimes bigger things like when I had to pull a splinter from her foot. Eventually there will be some really big pains in her life that I can not prevent, or change for her.
Pulling the splinter from her foot was agonizing for me. She screamed, she cried, but she bravely held still while I worked on it. It was really imbedded in there. It broke my heart to be sitting there causing her so much pain as I poked and prodded and pinched and squeezed. I finally got that little sucker out of there though.
If I had left it in, it would have been worse, infection, doctor's office, antibiotics. . . I know that the best thing her daddy could do at that point was to cause some pain and get that splinter out.
We all have to go through some pain sometimes. A good workout leaves sore muscles. There is some pain when stretching muscles. There is also pain when stretching our boundaries, when stepping out of our comfortable box. It takes courage to get out and try something new. I think it is even harder to watch someone you love do the same, even if you know it is the right thing for them at that time.
Sooner or later, someone will call my daughter a dirty name, some friend of hers will hurt her feelings, some romantic interest will break her heart. As her daddy I will not like seeing her suffer, but I will let her suffer, I will be there to help her through it, but I will let her learn from her suffering. I will not take away the lesson that comes with it.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
My Personal Tournament Results
Improved my diet.
Lost 7-8 pounds.
Trained harder.
Had fun.
Reconnected with old friends.
Made new friends.
Saw the results of my hard work.
Watched my friends/students face their own challenges and come out smiling.
Good tournament.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Watch Out For Snakes
We went camping at Natural Bridge State Resort Park for the 4th of July weekend. The park is great, wonderful trails beautiful campsites, the place is kept very natural which is what we like.
We were camping in bear country, in fact, very near the place where a bear attack happened just a few days before our trip. So we took the first step of self defense: awareness.
We learned about how to not attract black bears, what to do if we saw a black bear, and what to do if approached by a black bear.
We didn't see any bears.
We did see what we thought at first was possibly a copperhead, right near our campsite. As it turns out that one was more likely a northern water snake.
Copperhead
Northern Water Snake
That snake, however, reminded me about awareness, we'd been so focused on bear safety, I hadn't been thinking about snakes. So I started being more careful about where I walked, and where I looked while walking, and spotted this one.
So the lesson that I was reminded of was one I preach a lot. Awareness. Wherever we are, whatever we are doing, we should try to be aware of, not paranoid about, but aware of the threats we are most likely to face. We should be aware of how to minimize those threats and protect ourselves. By the way if you didn't click on that last link, you really should, it will help you be aware of the threats we face in the USA.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Climbing the Ladder
My daughter is 2 and a half. Now that the weather has warmed up, we've been spending more time at the local parks again. The changes in her coordination since last fall are pretty amazing to see.
Last spring, she would only climb up on the playground equipment with help. By last fall, my help was no longer needed, but having me there as a safety net was necessary for her to try climbing.
This year, she has started climbing the obstacles on her own while I watch from a short distance.
She did find one obstacle that was a bit much for her though. She climbed up on the first step, and then back down.
Up again.
Down.
Up one more time.
Down again.
Then she had pulled her courage together and climbed up the ladder, as the arch of the ladder pulled her into a different position, however she was unable to figure out how to continue on. She looked around, then called out, "Daddy help me, Daddy I need help."
I ran over and put my hands around her waist and helped her to the top.
Cute story isn't it? It also struck me as an outline for any time we attempt new challenges.
We start off with help and instruction from someone. It might be a person there with us, or a video or a book, but we start with help. After a while, we can do it on our own, but it is nice to have a safety net, someone to give us corrections. Eventually we gain confidence and try newer and bigger things.
What we have a tendency to forget a lot of the time, is how to call out for help. Too often we realize we are in over our heads and we forget that it is okay to ask for help.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Act Before the Emergency
Start your self defense now. Don't wait for the emergency. Sure there are things you can do if you are attacked. There are the punches, the kicks, the knees to the groin, and so on, but why wait for the emergency to defend yourself. Develop habits starting now that will prevent the emergency. Develop habits like avoiding known trouble spots, anger management, communication skills, and kindness. Do a good job with these and you may never have to use the emergency measures.
Start your self defense now. Don't wait for the emergency. Sure there are things you can do if you are attacked. There are things like chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgery, and so on, but why wait for the emergency to defend yourself. Develop habits starting now that will prevent the emergency. Don't smoke, maintain a healthy weight, protect your skin from the sun, eat your fruits and veggies. Do a good job with these and you may never have to use the emergency measures.
Friday, May 14, 2010
You Would Think. . .
Once, in a conversation with a friend about communication, my friend said, "You'd think he'd have figured that out a long time ago." I responded, "Why would you think that, did you tell him a long time ago?"
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Earth Day Fair
Don't forget to go check out the Earth Day Fair in Franklin this Saturday.
Don't forget about our Project Based Leadership Training this Saturday.
Don't forget Ten Tigers workout Saturday.
Don't forget I'm not answering my phone on Sunday.
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