Fighting Fatigue

Good piece of advice: Don't Fight Fatigued!!!

October's tournament was a tough one for me this year. 13 guys in my division doing open hand form, and just as many fighting, too. On top of it all, my band had its CD release party the night before, and I ended up getting about 3 hours sleep. Not exactly a good set-up for competing in the top-ranked national tournament of the year!

I achieved Finalist status in open hand form, which means I was in the top 8, and I'm satisfied with that. At this belt level my school's open hand form is not as complex or difficult as some I've seen. The winner was from a Tang Soo Do school, and had an incredible form; very powerful and clean presentation, and most deserving of a top placing.

Going into fighting, I pretty much knew I'd be out after the first round. New rules extended fighting to 2 minutes or first to 7 points. While I lost 4-7 to the fighter who ended up in 2nd place, I did have one bright moment.

Forgetting that I fight best reactively, the first two clashes went to my opponent as I tried to take off from the line. 3rd clash I began moving around and finally popped in some points. We went back and forth trading punches, and while I landed a solid kick to his chest right in front of the center judge, neither corner judge saw it well enough to award me that particular point.

The last blow I delivered came as a complete surprise, and ended up being the most revealing and valuable lesson of the tournament.

I have this habit of turning away from my opponent. Bad idea, I know, but in this particular case I turned while pulling my head back out of range of his fist. 1/3rd of the way through turning, I thought to deliver a back fist with my left hand, which missed my opponent's head. However, my right hand, seemingly of its own accord, delivered a beautiful follow-through that delivered a solid blow to his chin! That moment is awfully fun to watch on video...

What exactly did that moment reveal??? Simple. I need to return to fighting conventional stance vs. southpaw.

See, my right (operative) leg is really good at delivering repeated, jabbing side kicks. However, when it comes to follow-up with my hands, my left fist is really slow. Sure, my right hand in front is fine for back fist work, but there's just not much else to back it up!

I began fighting southpaw when I returned, mostly because I wanted to guard my operative leg from too much sideways motion. Conventional stance put a lot of pressure on the knee, either taking off forward, or if I was retreating. Since that time, however, my knee has toughened up significantly, so it's now time to reconsider my stance to take advantage of my strong side.

I'm right-handed, and my right leg is the stronger one these days. My first sparring class back I forced myself back to a conventional stance, and it was weird...but very effective! At first it felt like I was exposed, but now I realize the true feeling: freedom. Suddenly I felt like my hands truly did have something to contribute to the party, and it's really liberating.

Two Monday's ago we did something unusual that forced fighters to keep constantly on the move; we fought 2-on-1. This forced me as a defender to constantly try to position myself so one opponent was between me and the other opponent, effectively blocking the second attacker.

It was nuts. It was insane. It was a blur of motion. It was exhausting.

It was...A BLAST!!!

Next opportunity for tournament fighting in 2 weeks. Hope to have better results to report afterwards.

Opportunity

My Karate school is remodeling which presented me with a golden opportunity:

Purchase several 40" X 40" squares of interlocking floor mat squares for $5 each!



Since I have plans to add a major addition to the house, which includes a workout area for Karate, I snagged 25 tiles--enough to make a 16 X 16 sparring area. These premium mats usually go for $20-22 each, so it's an easy choice to make.

As for Karate, things are going fantastic. I'm still enjoying Monday night sparring, and look forward to my first tournament on September 14th. It'll be my first time sparring in a tournament, and first tournament since last November!

Also, my band will be performing an acoustic show in October that'll broadcast live over the Internet. I'll be sure to post a link.

Meanwhile the knee is holding up just great, and I pretty much give it no thought these days.

Be good. Keep smiling at those opponents!!!

Anyone have time for sale???

If I could save time in a bottle...

Just a short note to let you all know that things are proceeding wonderfully.

It's been a fantastically busy summer, lots of great things happening at the moment:

- My band's CD recording is wrapping up, hopefully this week
- Spent a week camping hard-core, canoeing on the Canadian border
- Most significantly: Monday I accepted a new job at my company with a 20% salary increase!
- Loving the hell out of sparring, learning a lot and having a blast working out with so many great fighters.

Tournament season starts in September, so our classes will begin to intensify very soon in anticipation of the first event. I look forward to trying out my sparring skills against unknown opponents after hanging out with 13 or so of the same fighters all Spring and Summer.

Be good, and keep smiling at your opponents!

The final countdown.

Wow, less than 24 hours to go. I can't believe how this is impacting my life!

Speaking to my school's manager, tomorrow night will be plenty quiet for my test drive.
Unfortunately he's fighting in an out-of-town tournament and won't be there for my first class back, but he wished me lots of luck.

In an eerie coincidence, my knee hasn't bothered me one bit this week. Usually first thing in the morning there's some soreness at the top of my shin, but this week there's been nothing.

Nothing.

I spent 6 hours Sunday squatting and kneeling while replacing a strut on Mrs. Shaft's car.

Nothing.

I spent 7 hours Monday up and down ladders, renovating the band's rehearsal studio.

Still nothing.

It's about time.

6 Weeks: What's going on???

To you reading this latest post, thanks SO much for waiting! It's just over 3 weeks since my last post, and I've been busy as hell. My usually relaxed afternoons and evenings have been just so jam packed I haven't taken time to keep you all updated.

So here's the poop: I am at full ROM. My visits to PT and Dr. K have shown my progress to be excellent; quoting Dr. K, I'm "Way ahead of the game!!!"

So what does that all add up to?

Here's what.

• Exercise bike - forward pedaling with resistance set as tolerated; right now it's the lowest, since I have to troubleshoot wiring of the brake motor!
• Range of motion - Molly wants me to do some extension work, but the difference between good knee and operative is negligible; We've stopped measuring. Just consider me back to full range.
• Stairs - I'm not even thinking when taking steps currently. I can lead equally well with my good leg or my operative leg going up or down, no handholds to balance or anything. Granted, my operative knee still likes to remind me that I have a remanfuactured body part, but I expect that'll last the rest of my life in some form or another!
• Running - With jam packed days full of work, bitter sub-zero temperatures, transporting G-shaft around, Videotape and DVD production, as well as recording with the band, I just haven't had time to start my speed walking program. The exception was today, when I took my parents dog for a walk. Good ol' Maggie was testing me!
• PT - I've been cleared to add ankle weights as tolerated on my straight leg lifts and hamstring curls. I've also been working both legs, since the strength is pretty much equal at the moment and I don't want the good one falling behind. Stair stepping, two leg mini-squats, and one leg mini-squats are the movements of the day. Add exercise ball work for stabilizing core muscles and interesting stuff like one-leg balancing on a mini trampoline, and I've got a big menu of stuff to choose from any given morning!
• Surgery - On my visit with Dr. K February 29th, I heard he'll be strapping me into a machine--I assume something like a KT1000 Arthrometer--to quantify just how good my operative knee is doing. Based on those results, I may be approved to start a favorite Karate exercise, the slow-count kick.
• Running - Yeah, right! Not quite yet, but hopefully this week's weather won't deter me from getting outside to do some power walking, working up to running within the next week or two.

So...I'm feeling great, getting a bit lax on PT--but that's not to say I've been sedentary at all! I'm able to sleep in MY choice of position now, and nightly cramping is pretty much non-existent.

Well, off to watch another episode of Torchwood. Ice those knees, and good night!

Day 15: It's about time.

Sorry if I kept anyone hanging in suspense, it's just been a durned busy week.

Sunday: Ditched the crutches over the weekend, down to just a cane. Wasn't thinking, and stepped up with my operative knee. Hmm. Didn't hurt, but seems too early to even consider doing that by all accounts!

Monday: Back to work. Got caught up, so no stresses there now! Spent lots of time at my desk working that flexion range, and icing down the knee with a large gel pack.

Oh, and stepped down leading with my good knee. Again, it didn't hurt to bend the operative knee, but doesn't seem right I should be able to do that. Another hmm.

Monday night brought another episode of American Gladiators, and another contestant gets awarded a torn ACL. This time it's Adam "The Hebrew Hammer" Levin, taking a sideways tackle during Power Ball in a classic ACL-ripping moment. As typical, he shakes it off for a moment and collapses a few seconds later. They're going to have to seriously train these gladiators to watch what they're doing, it's getting a bit too aggressive out there!

Tuesday: Work decided to catch up with me this day! It's also the last day I used a cane walking. I'm taking things carefully, looking for the non-icy walking paths wherever I go, and will keep the cane at-hand in icy situations, but I'm bearing weight on the operative leg just fine now and walking well.

Wednesday: Took much of the afternoon off to go to PT and do a few things at home.

PT can only be described as amazing. To begin, we measured 120 degrees of flexion.

Oh. My. God.

Am I really progressing this well only two weeks post-op? I thought it a good sign to lose the immobilizer last Friday, but this--this feels HUGE!

We added ankle weights to the 4 directions of leg exercises (straight lifts, adduction, abduction, and hamstring curls), and did an easy 5 minutes backwards pedaling on the exercise bike without resistance.

I talked to my PT about leading with the operative leg going up steps, and leading with the good leg going down. I've read a few times that even months post-op, many people with ACL reconstruction unconsciously guard their knee by leading with the operative leg when stepping down. She put it kindly--bad news, but in a good way. Protocol says not to do those particular movements prior to at least week 4 post-op. Wow.

I'm not sure quite how to take that, except now I have to force myself to guard the operative knee until I'm "officially" allowed to use it in that manner.

Protocol also says 2 visits per week through next week, but my PT exclaimed that she had no further exercises to work with me until we hit week 4. She'd simply be watching me work while drinking tea. Things seem to be going well enough that we canceled tomorrow's session, and the first session next week. Barring anything unusual, I'll only check in with her late next week.

Oh. My. God.

The day later continued watching G-Shaft sparring with a dozen intermediate belt boys. Yes, she's the only girl in her class, and 2nd tallest. This serves her an advantage in 2 ways - she's got reach with punches (once she gets a bit more hip rotation to properly deliver the blow), and being a girl, many of the boys seem intimidated to attack! Just needs a little more work on throwing a punch with conviction, and she'll be a potent point-sparring student.

After all that excitement, I capped off the evening with a vocal recording session. My band has been working on a 6-song "EP" since Spring, and we finally have a lead vocalist to record. Overall, an amazing day--I'll link to the band's web site when we post some music for y'all to listen to.

Thursday: Finally we come to today. I caught up with the staggering blow work delivered me on Tuesday, and maybe I'll have a bit of time to slack off tomorrow afternoon at the office.

Tonight I volunteered at the Karate school's Winter Carnival, the biggest event for recruiting new students each year. I managed the balloon hop race, and that was a blast seeing all the kids enjoying themselves. The last half-hour of the evening was demonstrations by the students, and the ones who brought guests got the opportunity to break boards. G-Shaft was bummed none of her invites came through, but she still has 2 weeks to get a friend in for a trial class--and another chance to bust up wood.

So I sit here in shock and awe. I read about Black Belt Mama's struggles and feel bad she's still in an immobilizer brace, even though she's 4 weeks post-op at this point. I feel somewhat guilty for my progress, but need to remind myself constantly that people are all unique in how they respond to surgery.

So, Hack Shaft old boy, knock off the guilt trip.

Oh, and get on with the push-ups and crunches already!

Hi. My name is...

Allow me to drift a bit off the usual topics of Martial Arts and ACL reconstruction.

The nickname Hack Shaft has a cute story behind it.

Several years ago, my band was having a bit of an identity crisis; we'd left the old name behind, along with the old drummer (who absolutely insisted that HE owned the name, though we were 4-to-1 in majority against him) and needed something new to call ourselves.

So I did what any entrepreneurial punk would and hit up the Internet, looking for the perfect name. I came across a variety of random band name generators and took one for a spin.

The funniest one that popped up was Explosive Nutrition. GNC stores pop into my head every time I remember THAT one!

Hack Shaft just showed up in one list, and kinda stuck in my head. I mentioned it to my co-guitarist at the time, and his first reaction was "Ow!!!"

Anyhow, it's unique enough that I began to use it regularly for home recording and video production. Hack Shaft. I like it.

Oh, and since being called "Hack" in comments sounds a little harsh...my name is Paul.

Ah, that familiar feeling returns.

Rehearsal Saturday went well with the band, and so did the show late last night at a local club. The knee held up well.

Today I tried to go without my usual neoprene support velcroed around the knee, I didn't like it. I could really tell just how much slop there was in the joint just sitting at my office desk! Even with the irritation of occasional Velcro hooks rubbing on the back of my thigh, going with is tons better than doing without.

Black Belt Mama is recovering from her ACL reconstruction currently. Stop by and give her your positive thoughts and good wishes.

I haven't felt any normal 'pop' in my right knee since the adventure began last week. Generally there's a bit of resistance and discomfort while bending the knee, but no pop.

One jumped out of the joint this morning as I was going through some PT exercises.

It's amazing how nice that can feel!