Feeling Good

I'm so happy to be able to do things again without having to stop due to lack of fitness!  I'm still not back to my fighting form, but I'm working towards it.  I didn't stop being fit in a day, I don't expect it to reverse itself in a day either - no matter how frustrating it is.

NOTE: I am working towards it.  As we talked about at the end of special training, it requires work to get anything done.

I continued my work towards that goal this past week outside of class with lifting weights 2 mornings, running on the treadmill one morning for 30 minutes, and then ran 3 miles today before church.  Paula and I made use of some floor space this afternoon to work on kickboxing for 45 minutes as well.

I'm feeling full of energy right now.  As with anything new, it takes the body some time to adjust to doing things differently - just as KJN about how his juice diet is going.  The first few days of anything is going to shock the system.  Ask him that same question after a week and see how he is doing.  I bet you get a happier response :-)

Stick with training and it will stick with you.

Feeling foolish -- I blew it this morning

Hello team,

I fouled up this morning by not recognizing that we had a conditioning workout scheduled. I should have been there -- I have no excuses, other than forgetting to look at my calendar. I feel embarrassed and disappointed in myself, because I know our team workouts are important and everyone who did participate today is giving 110 percent to preparing for our black belt test.

Please forgive me -- and hold me extra accountable for working my hardest for the rest of the way to our testing day. I am committed to playing the game full out, which I intend to prove through my actions and not just these words.

Thanks,
Michael

Conditioning 8/10/13

Today we had conditioning. First we did a walk around the aim high building. Then we ran to sunset. After that we did a cool down by walking in a circle. Then we did bear crawls 5 times down and ran back. After we had a drink then we lined up in a circle and did a dash kind of thing. After one lap of that we did a caterpillar run. Then we went to the benches and did triceps dips and push ups. Then we huddled and ran back to sunset.

~Annmarie :03)

Camping (Warning: Longest Blog?)

So this is pretty late, but it is pretty important (and long). And what it is, is about camping last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with Jae, Kaitlin, Brandon, Grayson, and other families and friends. 

Friday was the day we got there at the Lost Lake camping sight where ironically my family got lost trying to get there. When we got there, my job was to help Jae with a cake she was going to present to all the people with August birthdays.  We had trouble trying to make the wood catch fire but a camper near by helped us by giving us dry wood, which was really nice of him. 

Saturday, the black belts, black belt candidates, and other people who wanted to just tag along with us, went on a run to Lost Lake, stopping for little ones to catch up; at Lost Lake we did planks on planks, bench dips (I think that's what they are called), group squats, some other stuff that I couldn't remember; then had a choice to either walk then sprint to my dad or to run the whole way, I choose to run the whole way. 

We got a chance to stretch afterwards, eat a little bit, and relax before going on a two mile hike loop (which turned out to be more than two miles and was NOT a loop) where the 3/4 of the black belt testing team (one had to stay behind to help watch the tiny, crazy kids not coming) went hiking and the view was AMAZING! I took a photo on my dad's phone and the photo turned out great. We went back down and the descent was really steep and I slipped once or twice (ok, actually I slipped at least five times) but I'm fine, and even though it was hot, I was looking forward to going to the lake and wading my feet in. 

Which I did. Too bad I couldn't go swimming. I didn't have a bathing suit and my mom didn't want me to get wet for certain reasons. Yet she packed Cayden's and Kira's... We rented some boats and got to boat across the lake, which was really nice. I liked afterwards we got to go to the Lost Lake General Store and everyone got some ice cream. I got a ice cream cookie sandwich (Brandon did too) , and it was good on a hot day. 

We went back to the campsite and when we were gonna make the fire, the same man came over to our campsite and gave us dry wood and newspaper again. We were very thankful that someone was willing to help is a second time without being asked. Everyone, with the fire high, roasted some marshmallows to make some s'mores, but all I really wanted was to roast some marshmallows. I was proud of myself when I got a second marshmallow and I got it golden brown. The whole day seemed to go by really fast. I didn't feel tired when everyone went back to their campsites, so I watch a movie and my dad offered me a piggyback ride to see the stars outside. The stars were beautiful, and I have a mental picture of the many stars in the night sky.

Sunday, everyone packed up and got ready to go. I was in charge of my brother, Jordan, and my little sister, while my mom and dad packed up. We went to a restaurant and ate lunch together, then parted. 

The camping trip was really fun, and I wish to go again as soon as possible. : )

(BTW, sorry this is so long! A lot happened and I wanted people to know what we did!)

Did you know?:  The longest Monopoly game ever played in a bathtub lasted 99 hours, which is equivalent to 4 days and 12 hours.

•Serena•

Oregon Food Bank

 Hey, guys. I haven't been blogging much, but today I went to the Oregon Food Bank and remembered to blog about it. For two hours, we (Me and my dad) and five other people at the table took almond cereal and bagged them, weighed them at one-and-a-half pounds, and tied them and put them in a bag. Then, we took the bags and put them into boxes, four or six in a box. Those were to be shipped off to different "pantries" in specific counties in Oregon. The pantries were a store that people poor or in need of food would go to and pick up food in bags, boxes, and cans. This is all for free. All the food that goes bad gets composted, so nothing is really wasted. They also take in things like dented cans, things past sell-by-dates (not expiration date!) and put them in a separate room where they would be repacked, rebagged, and put into different containers with different labels.This was a really cool leadership project, and I would like to do it again sometime, but with a different part of the Food Bank. The Oregon Food Bank also teaches people how to Garden to save money, and how to cook for their families. The results in the end were bigger than expected. We bagged 4788 pounds of almond cereal, which is 3990 meals, or 40 meals per person. That's about 100 people that volunteered! It felt really good doing something like this forpeople in need, and I hope to do it again sometime.

-Brandon M.
P.S- I'm volunteering at testing tomorrow.

                                                     ☺☺☺

New Mexico!

Sorry team that I have not been blogging a lot. I am with my family. The people here don't use electronics unless  they have to. I am visiting my family in the Navajo reservation!! This environment is very different than what I am used to. The people on the reservation are very old fashion. They give you firm hand shakes and say hello in Navajo and the introduce them selfs to see how they are related to you. The kids are very out doors. JD is getting used to being in the sun all day. And the kids have chores to do. My aunties and uncles are very strict. My cousins know better that to disobey. I realized than my family on the Rez is a huge military family and work with in the law enforcement. There is not much electricity in their houses as I cook out side like we were camping. Living on the Rez is a a hard life. There is no fast food and water is your best friend!! The kids that train for sports here don't have the luxury as we do. I don't run on a track I run on dirt road early in the morning when it's not as hot. They have no AC and the kids don't compline that its hot and the gym is not in good condition. But the one thing I like is that the community works together! I am training like karate kid. I am doing my forms in the sand. And doing house stances as low as the fence. I am working hard every day doing chores and black veld training. T-Berg out!!   

Leading the BlackBelt Sat Training

I have to say I really enjoyed applying the good ole days of FitBlast towards a core focused workout....honestly I was sore from doing so much core focused exercises.

Sometimes we don't realize how much of our movement and power comes from our core.....these exercises were really focused on making sure our entire base is built upon a solid core.

I really appreciated everyones willingness to try something and work extremely hard.

Thank you for letting me teach a training!

I hope everyone learned something and had a great time working out!