Yeah. I rock at this blogging thing. Well, I think we'll restart the blog on a new topic. I have reentered the martial arts thing. Stan and I have had a bunch of conversations about martial arts over the years, my taekwondo experiences, his Krav Maga. He always was encouraging me to get back into it, that I had a passion for it. He was right. I missed it, a lot. The difficulty was my knee. I had surgery on it years ago and it gave me a lot of trouble with traditional martial arts. They like deep sitting stances and that hurts my knee after a few weeks. It took me a long time to find an art that my knee could handle, I needed to go more towards a sport art than a traditional art. So, I read some reviews and decided to check out Pacific Ring Sports in Oakland, a Muy Thai, boxing and Brazilian Jujitsu school. I started last week...

One thing these guys are doing right is their intro period. My first four classes were in small groups with an instructor to help us get settled into the art. They just go through the basics, give one on one support, really help you get settled. It took me a little while to get used to the stance, much more square to the opponent than TKD. The kicks are taking a bit to get used to as well, turning my hips more into it, really laying the hip into it. But I definitely had an easier transition than most due to my background. Tonight I tried my first main class. I was partnered up with a great guy who was happy to give me advice to get through. Dude also has a hell of a right kick. Good power. I also like hitting the hand help pads much more than the heavy bags. The workouts are challenging, fun combinations and great cardio. Definitely going to take me a while to get in shape. So, two weeks into the school i am definitely enjoying it. This might work well. There is one other thing, though... I am not a fan of jumping rope. This is one skill that I neglected to learn as a kid. Not impressed. I am getting better, smacking myself in the feet less, able to keep it going to more than a minute now. This has also been my biggest source of muscle pain, REALLY sore calves. Yes, in a school intended to make me an MMA fighter, jumping rope is my greatest enemy.....