Always Strive for Improvement

This past weekend marked yet another excellent clinic from Sensei Higashi, the head of Canadian Chito Ryu Karate.  Sensei Higashi visits Nova Scotia twice a year for a 3 day clinic.  I attended a two hour class Friday night, 5 hours on Saturday and another 3 hours on Sunday.

I have always thoroughly enjoyed the information gleaned from these clinics but thought of the classes as a chore due to being overweight.  The problem of being overweight is that you get tired doing the simplest things and 10 hours of karate can be a killer.  When you are tired it is hard to practice well or learn anything.

I installed the MyFitnessPal app on my iPod back in May and, with the help of this little app and some will power, managed to lose 37 pounds over the past 6 months.  That has put a spring back in my step when it comes to activities in which I am participating such as this clinic.

Not only was the clinic not a chore but I enjoyed it thoroughly and since I had more energy I was able to really put a lot into the classes.  I really felt that the more I put into the class the more I was getting out of it.  The key lesson being to work hard at everything you do.  Always strive for improvement whether it is taking off a few of those extra pounds or improving your hip rotation during gyaku-tsuki.  If I can do it, so can you!