Just One

Yesterday I went to the gym and rejoined it. Cost me over £50 for a month's usage (cheaper if you sign up for 6 months in one go, but I like to Not Be Tied Down) but I thought it an investment wisely laid, mainly as I have my P5 grading in a few weeks.

P5.

A grade that once seemed as distant as my 30th birthday; the end of my school days; or my grandmother not being around. A grade that I believed was only held by badass beefcakes or people gearing up to be instructors at the next G camp.

P5.

Something I know I need to be fit for so I can take the 30+ minutes of full on sparring at the end of the technique based stuff. Something I know I have to devote the next 6 weeks to getting right by practicing in front of the TV (the joys of a HDMI cable and a laptop) and attending class about twice a week.

But...

I also need to boost my cardio and that was an issue I sorted out yesterday. The gym I use has a very friendly guy in there who appears to regard working out and training with the same passion that I reserve for breathing. He recommended the "300 Workout" which I initially thought was based upon pre-historic Spartans in codpieces but turned out was 300 reps, on 5 or 6 machines in as fast a time as you can do.

The workout took about 20 minutes but felt like over an hour. However it was exactly what I needed and while I didn't do it today (as my body felt like someone had been at it with a steak tenderiser) I'm going to do my damnedest to avoid the trap of missing "just one" session, of either training in the run up.

My desired regime is yoga at least 3 times a week. Cardio 3 times and Krav twice. Plus doing dry runs from the P5 DVD my instructor gave me, about 3 or 4 times a week. The sparring on P4 was no harder than the sessions we do at the club, but with the adrenalin and nerves and all the other stress it felt like hell on earth. It was only when I saw the G4s and 5s going at it last December under the eyes of Zeev Cohen that I realised what I'd done was mere prep.

But I digress...

Missing a session through my desire to sup a couple of pints of Guinness; play "Call of Duty: World At War- Nazi Zombies"...again; read a book; watch episode 6 of TV show Banshee...or any of a list of excuses is something that could not only bugger up my chances of passing but actually cause me to get injured AGAIN like I have in the past when I let things slide through laziness or not adhering to some semblance of discipline over my training.

There is something rock 'n' roll about feeling fit enough to just keep going when those around you are grasping their knees and dry heaving. Feeling that you know the moves and can give it your all without wondering if you are just fluking it. Knowing that you are fitter than guys half your age.

Just one time out can become two, then three. And then I'm stuck on 4.