Féinnidi should make attempts to be physically fit and prepared to defend themselves and others. For me this meant joining a local Krav Maga studio, running at least 20 miles per week and a heavy bag.
I used to belong to a gym and I went nearly every day, but only because it was next to my house. I hated it. When I moved I stopped all training and continued to expand the waistline. Sometime in April 2012 I decided to take control and manage my diet. This kind of worked in that I stopped gaining weight and even began to lose a little. It wasn’t enough though, I need to either lose 40 pounds are convert it to muscle and make it worth having..
Since then I have taken up running with a goal of 20 miles per week (have not met this goal). This will grow as my stamina and speed improves…about 30 minutes of running to increase my heart rate is my goal for now. My real change is Krav Maga. For those who do not know this is the hand-to-hand combat system used by the Israeli Defense Forces. My studio is part of the Krav Maga Worldwide and is the version taught by Darren Levine. These classes are simply fun, and each class is 1 full hour full of cardio, strength building, toning, fighting and if its a rough day…puking. I have yet to the last but I have come close. I call this having fun, since for the first time I have enjoyed training.
As a member of ADF I am also a member of the Warriors Guild and working on the training program they offer. It requires keeping a journal, so I thought to share the to-date journal here:
May 2013
April 2012 I woke up and started to change my diet to 1700 calories a day with minimal exercise, starting at 250 pounds I dropped to 219 by the time I got married in October. By April I was back up to 240 due to not sticking to the calorie counting. So in May 2013 I started eating about 1900 – 2100 calories a day and using my elliptical to hit 3 miles about 3 times a week.
June 2013
Monthly weigh in brings me to 231.8 pounds. I have introduced actually running outside using an application called “Zombie Run.” I don’t have much stamina to actually run the entire distance but I am hitting 2 miles walking/jogging 4-5 days a week.
July 2013
Monthly weigh in brings me to 228.6 pounds. For both self-defense and the training I am now part of a Krav Maga studio. The classes I take focus on teaching the offensive and defensive techniques of Krav Maga along with some core and strength training. Coupled with the cardio I am now hitting the triad of physical improvement. By the end of the month I felt compelled to do something every day. The last week of July was spent resting from an injury and preparing to go to a weeklong festival in Canada. NOT doing some sort of exercise made me feel lazy and kinda depressed. So I would say by this point physical activity has become a habit and a necessity to well being. During the month of July I trained at the Krav studio for 8 hours (thats an average of twice a week) and ran/walked a little over 32 miles.
August 2013
Monthly weigh in is 226.6 pounds. The month started out poorly with a trip to Canada followed by three weeks with poison ivy that prevented me from being able to train at the studio. That was followed by a week long trip to Atlanta.
September 2013
Monthly weigh in is 229 pounds. Expected some weight gain with the lack of exercise, not as bad as I expected. Got started on my program again by walking/jogging 3.81 miles on the 8th followed by Krava Maga on the 9th.
October 2013
Fail month. I did not weigh in and I attended the studio just once. However, I did get a heavy bag and started training on that to practice various assault techniques. I also ran my longest distance of 4.23 miles in a single go using Zombie Run.
November 2013
Monthly weigh in is 232 pounds