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After studying Chow Gar since 2003 (I think) I have decided to take a 4 month break from the martial arts school. Various reasons led me to this decision, but basically a combination of work worries (many redundancies already, and more to come), the fact that I had been struggling to fin the time to balance fatherhood, work, web design and kung-fu, and also my old ankle injury seems to be playing up again.

I hoe to focus on running and weight training for fitness for the next 4 months. The last time I went to the club, last week, I felt that my fitness levels had improved as a result of the running. So, a home fitness plan is in order.

I guess that at the back of my mind, is the question - in the new year, will I want to return? Only time will tell. I feel that my kung-fu learning had stagnated as a result of my less frequent classes, all my fault really.

Oh, gotta go to work, bye.

Tonight I had a good 1 1/2 hour martial arts session, and it felt good. The running home has improved my fitness slightly, I had more energy in class - well, at least for the first 45 minutes - and generally felt good. Still knackered by the end, but that is to be expected.

I walked home from the station yesterday - I thought that it was Monday (a kung-fu night) so did not pack my running clothes. Only on the way into work I realised that it was in fact Tuesday! But I still walked home, saving £1.30 bus fare, and getting a little fitter - so the credit crunch fitness plan is still on track!

Been busy recently. Too much to do. Managed to run home from the station 3 times. Also walked home once. Today my right ankle got very sore, the one that I broke in 2006. Still struggling to lose weight. Need more sleep. Been following the Olympics, and blogging it too. Inspirational.

Today I almost did not run home. I got changed into my tracksuit bottoms and t-shirt at work, and then hopped on the train. My wife called to say that we needed to do some shopping in Tesco, and that she could pick me up at the station. I agreed, but by the time we got to Tesco I was feeling really tired, and just did not fancy running at all. I wanted to just get in the car and curl up on the sofa.

I have finally increased my exercise. I have started what I am calling my credit crunch health and fitness plan. I am doing the following to save money and get fit at the same time:

1. In the morning, I buy a single bus ticket to the station, rather than a return.
2. I am no longer having my morning Medium Black Americano from Starbucks.
3. I am eating a smaller breakfast - usually sausage sandwich
4. I am running home from the railway station.

Last night I almost attended a whole kung-fu class. Some business at home meant that I was late again though. It was a fun but intensive class. My fitness is still lagging. The class started with the butterfly knife form, which I feel is finally coming together. Need to buy a paid of knives so that I can practice at home though. We then did some light sparring. This is where things started to go wrong for me last night. There were three other students in the class, and each for them seemed to have the upper hand each time we fought. My sparring seems to have gone to pieces, and this started to get to me. I guess that it is no surprise as we do not do so much sparring now, but my fitness and lack of skill / applying technique seemed to show.

My fitness and weight loss has taken a hit in recent weeks. I had two weeks off work, and although I had great plans to up my exercise during this time, the opposite happened. I had a great holiday, actually a staycation, as we cannot afford to go away due to the credit crunch! I missed kung-fu on Monday last week as we went to the beach for the day and I was exhausted in the evening, and my only excuse on Wednesday was that I wanted to relax at home with my wife rather than train. So it was a holiday off work and off exercise.

I did do some more sprints around the park, making it up to 8 sprints, but that was all.

Tonight I did my third sprint circuit on the football pitch on my local park. I failed to time the first, but the second, which was last Tuesday I think, I managed 5 sprints in 12:30. Tonight I did 7 sprints in 17:25. I jogged at an easier pace tonight as my hip was hurting a little from kung-fu last week. New guy in the class tried to crush my hip in a conditioning exercise, then wondered why I was pulling my hip strikes afterwards....

I have managed to gain just under 0.5kg in the last week or so. Got a bit lazy again, and even had some chocolate cake with my coffee last week.

I am making a renewed effort to go along to kung-fu twice a week, tricky some nights as my son is often late to bed on the days he goes to nursery, and those are the days I go kung-fu in the evening.