I had gotten very sick two weeks ago.  Some sort of throat infection that resulted in me being unable to swallow any liquids or solids (which included antibiotics).  I spent three days in the hospital recovering.  I hadn’t eaten or drank anything for four days prior to being admitted to the hospital and literally began fantasizing about glasses of water.  I couldn’t sleep because I began to choke and I was bordering on delirious.  It is these types of experiences that change people-or at least me.

Last year I had my appendix removed.  In hindsight not very serious, but still serious enough for me to reevaluate my life and what I wanted from it.  It resulted in me changing a lot about my lifestyle.  Since that surgery I haven’t had ANY fast food of any sort.  Since January I haven’t eaten at any national chain restaurants al la Outback, Applebee’s, etc. except for a weekly breakfast I have with some friends at IHOP where I normally only get scrambled eggs and cheese on whole wheat toast rather than their usual items on their artery clogging menu.

After this latest incident (I guess I’m due a new one once a year if this holds up) I have decided to get very serious about fitness.  Not the usual, oh I do Tae Kwon do, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and workout at the gym somewhat regularly – but rather go back to basics that allowed me to accomplish so much of what I did in the past.  And that is basically to just sign up, commit to, and pay for things that are going to require me to perform.  That means from this moment on, every Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournament, marathon, and triathlon type of event that I can work into my schedule I will.

The first thing I’ve signed up for is the Merrell Down & Dirty Mud Run that is taking place on October 3rd (the day before my birthday) in New York at Pelham Bay Park at Orchard Beach.  I’m doing the 5K since I’ve never done anything like this before don’t want to jump into a 10k just yet.  Basically the description reads as follows:

The Merrell Down and Dirty National Mud Run Series features 5K and 10K off-road courses filled with:

•Military-style Obstacles

•Commanding cargo climbs

•Wild water crossings

•Mud, mud, and More Mud!

•Post-race BBQ and an awesome Tech Tee

So we’ll see what happens.  If all works out this blog will be filled with plenty of new adventures, hopefully absent of me injuring myself which seems all too common.

I had an EXCELLENT week in respect to working out.  I have not missed a workout in the last few weeks and my body looks great as a result.  I have also been dead on with my eating habits, but my weight has remained stable fluctuating between 189 and 192.  I made it two Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class twice this week and Tae Kwon Do once.  I should have made it to at least one more Tae Kwon Do class but to make up for the missed class I went to Bally’s to do cardio instead.  As for split progress on the split machine I’m up to 130 Degrees and that pretty much sums up any progress this week in my pursuit of this year’s goals

It’s that time of the year again where the New Year’s Resolutions are declared.  I don’t care for New Year’s Resolutions.  I find that many people set vague resolutions that aren’t established in a practical way to achieve success or even in a measurable way to really measure success if it was obtained.  I personally go for a practical goals list for the New Year.  I’ve been doing this since 2004 and have been pretty successful at it.  Even though some years I don’t get everything I want done, I do get quite a few of my goals completed which is always a wonderful accomplishment   Below is my 2010 goals list:

1.       I plan on advancing at LEAST three belts in tae kwon do.  The belts are: Blue, Purple, and Red.  If I am able to maintain consistency with attending class I should advance approximately every three months.  Technically if I succeed at this I might be able to advance an additional belt, but I like to give myself room for injury, illness, and just life in general.

2.       I plan to obtain at least my first tip (out of four) for my blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.  The minimum time it should take to achieve this is four months and for the second tip an additional five months.  Now because advancement in BJJ is very difficult and is based upon a variety of factors and not standardized testing or set periods of time, the four month number is only a guideline.  It could take me over a year to get that tip.  But I’m going to try my damn hardest to improve and train enough to earn it within 2010.  If I advance further than that, it will be great, but one step at a time.

3.       CPR and First Aid Recertification.  I could have done this in 2009 but I just didn’t get to it.  I have no valid excuse for not doing it, but this year I will attempt to get it done early on.

4.       Fly 10 Hours.  I haven’t been up flying in awhile.  I’m going to try to get rid of the rust on my wings and start going up a little.  At least 10 hours, hopefully much more.

5.       Be able to do a split.  I’ve had this damn goal on here every year for the last few years.  Hopefully I bang this one out.  It just needs to get done.  It is very important for martial arts.

6.       Go up to 450 vocabulary words memorized.  I haven’t been doing this very frequently for the past year-mostly I was focusing studying for the bar exam and finals and all that.  But now that all that is behind me I’m going to start memorizing additional vocabulary words. 

7.       Drop weight down to 180 lbs and body fat down to 10%.  This shouldn’t be a terribly hard goal actually since I’m not too far away from these numbers to begin with at this point.  The second half of 2009 was a very healthy one for me where I’ve completely cut out fast food from my diet.  This year I’m also aiming to drop those pesky chain restaurants such as Outback, Applebee’s, etc.

8.       Read 20 books (10 fiction and 10 non-fiction).  In 2009 I read 33 books, so this shouldn’t be difficult, especially since I won’t have bar prep or law school as added reading.

One thing that some of you might have noticed is that I no longer am aiming for my green belt in the Japanese Style of JuJutsu I was training in.  The school is an hour away, so it takes two hours round trip to travel to the classes and a steep bridge toll so I decided to put it aside indefinitely.  After I obtain my Tae Kwon Do black belt I will move on to Mauy Thai training and when I obtain my black belt in BJJ (which won’t be for many years) I will take up Judo to supplement the training.  Perhaps after that I might take up a Japanese style again, but I’m not worried about it.