I have done so many different martial-arts tournaments that I can't even count them. I have trophy's that have over taken my garage, I've given some away, and I've thrown many of them away. I had fun doing tournaments because I liked meeting people and pushing myself, but I am officially retired from tournaments.
Like I said, I liked doing tournaments because I liked pushing myself and they were a learning experience. But what I have come to realize at this point in my training is that I can no longer use tournaments to measure how I am progressing. I can't rely on tournaments to tell me if my forms are getting better, or if my sparing is improving. The judging is simply not fair! The system is broken.
The biggest problem at tournaments is the lack of fair and consistent judging on forms/kata. I have been to tournaments in 5 different organizations, and it is always the same. Judges are either unqualified, unfair, or lazy.
Unqualified judges have no idea what to look for, so all of the scores are inconsistent. They pick one aspect of technique and if the competitor did it, they give them a high score even if the competitor is missing all of the other elements. Other unqualified judges might score the first competitor too high, and then there is no room to go up on the scoring so the true winner cannot score higher. One of my favorite unqualified judge is the one who looks to see what the other judges score and then copy that. The list for these judges is a mile long. I cannot rely on these judges to test whether or not I am doing what I am supposed to because they have no idea what is going on.
The unfair judges are the most common. They are the ones that just want their friends, students, or instructors to win. They will score their favorite high just because they want them to win, or even score a competitor unfairly low because they don't like that person. I've gone to these judges in the past and asked why I did not do so well and they couldn't give me a real answer because they didn't judge fairly.
Lazy judges just don't care. They like the "power" of judging the competitors, but they don't take judging to heart. I watched 6th degree black belts center judge rings and they are not even looking in the direction of the competitor. I've seen other judges give the same score to every single competitor, and it was obvious the competitors did not deserve the same scores. Of course these judges can't be relied on to tell me if I am improving or not because they were not even paying attention.
When I judged Power Tumbling (a part of gymnastics), the judges got a score card. The judges had to make sure the competitors had the required elements, and all of the technical issues were listed on the card. Granted, this didn't help with unfair judging completely, but at least there was consistancy. Plus, the competitors knew exactly what was expected of them. Martial-arts needs to start using something like this for forms competitions.
Sparing has some of the same issues. I commend the Olympics for trying to make it more fair with the electronic scoring devices. Hopefully these can be past down to other martial-arts tournaments as well.
All in all, I am peeved and I am done with competing.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
No Respect
Okay, so I wasn't the best behaved kid in the world, but I was brought up respecting adults. I was not raised in a house where I was required to say ma'am and sir, but I knew that if I talked disrespectful to my parents or any adult my dad would smack my mouth clear off my face. There were kids my age that were bratty, but not very many. Teachers, parents, grandparents, coaches, etc just did not put up with it.
After teaching martial-arts the past 5 years and being around my children's friends, I am shocked how kids treat and speak to adults. There are great kids, very respectful kids, and super polite kids, but there are also the rudest kids out there. I have crazy wild kids, but until recently they never acted like they were my superior. I guess that is the problem that I personally see with many of the kids I come in contact with or watch. They have this attitude that they are some how more important, smarter, or even wield more power than adults. I've always been annoyed by it, but I've blown it off because it wasn't my problem. I had other issues with my kids, until recently. My kids stopped saying ma'am and sir, have hardly said please and thank you, and pretty much stopped with all pleasantries all together. I AM NOT HAVING THAT!!!!
I know part of it is testing their limits to see what they can get away with, but they've hit the limit and keep pushing and pushing past. So of course I got to thinking of what could be causing this. I started to think about what was different this summer than previous school breaks. The Damn TV! When we moved to our new house, the kids got tv's in their rooms and they have been watching a lot of cable since.
Think about those shows pre-schoolers watch. My kids' favorite was always Dora and Diego. Where are their parents? You see the mom and dad every couple of shows and all they do is ask Dora what she thinks is best. Other than that, Dora is traipsing through the jungle without parental supervision. She is doing whatever she wants.
Now that my kids are older they are into shows like iCarly and Fairly Odd Parents. Have you noticed that the parents and guardians in these shows are complete morons? It is re-inforced over and over in these shows that kids are smarter than adults, and adults are too stupid for any kind of respect.
These are just a couple of examples I can think of at the moment. But I am hoping that taking the cable out of their room and giving them quality family time will change some of this behavior.
Do any of you guys see this trend and behavior?
After teaching martial-arts the past 5 years and being around my children's friends, I am shocked how kids treat and speak to adults. There are great kids, very respectful kids, and super polite kids, but there are also the rudest kids out there. I have crazy wild kids, but until recently they never acted like they were my superior. I guess that is the problem that I personally see with many of the kids I come in contact with or watch. They have this attitude that they are some how more important, smarter, or even wield more power than adults. I've always been annoyed by it, but I've blown it off because it wasn't my problem. I had other issues with my kids, until recently. My kids stopped saying ma'am and sir, have hardly said please and thank you, and pretty much stopped with all pleasantries all together. I AM NOT HAVING THAT!!!!
I know part of it is testing their limits to see what they can get away with, but they've hit the limit and keep pushing and pushing past. So of course I got to thinking of what could be causing this. I started to think about what was different this summer than previous school breaks. The Damn TV! When we moved to our new house, the kids got tv's in their rooms and they have been watching a lot of cable since.
Think about those shows pre-schoolers watch. My kids' favorite was always Dora and Diego. Where are their parents? You see the mom and dad every couple of shows and all they do is ask Dora what she thinks is best. Other than that, Dora is traipsing through the jungle without parental supervision. She is doing whatever she wants.
Now that my kids are older they are into shows like iCarly and Fairly Odd Parents. Have you noticed that the parents and guardians in these shows are complete morons? It is re-inforced over and over in these shows that kids are smarter than adults, and adults are too stupid for any kind of respect.
These are just a couple of examples I can think of at the moment. But I am hoping that taking the cable out of their room and giving them quality family time will change some of this behavior.
Do any of you guys see this trend and behavior?
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Back Surgery: What They Didn't Tell Me
It's been awhile since I have blogged about my situation with my goals in both figure competitions and martial-arts.
I've taken the summer off from martial-arts. It's been hard and a bit depressing. I really want to kick a pad, a person...just about anything will do. I miss kicking, I miss doing forms, and I miss the workout, but I told myself I would take time off so that my back can heal. I thought that if I gave my back time that I would be able to come back to martial-arts stronger than before.
Unfortunately that is not the case. Whether or not I took time off from martial-arts, my back was going to get worse. What they didn't tell me before I had my back surgery last year was that there is a risk for developing scar tissue. This scar tissue has caused me to lose flexibility and mobility. I am in a lot of pain, AGAIN.
I spent all of July doing laser treatments and getting injections to help my joints, but this did not work. I went to a pain specialist last week since none of the stuff my surgeon had been doing worked. The specialist told me that since I did initially get better after the surgery before becoming worse, the problem is more than likely scar tissue.
Tomorrow I go in for even more injections. If the medicine relieves some of the pain, then we know that the issue is in the joints. If nothing happens with the injections, then I have to go get another MRI (yay for the wallet -- NOT) to determine if it is really scar tissue.
I'm not sure what they will do if it is scar tissue, but the specialist made me believe that it is tough to remedy.
That is where I am with my training. No heavy lifting, no high impact exercise, no bending or standing for long periods of time, and multiple doctors visits a week has meant that I cannot train for neither martial-arts or figure competitions.
I've taken the summer off from martial-arts. It's been hard and a bit depressing. I really want to kick a pad, a person...just about anything will do. I miss kicking, I miss doing forms, and I miss the workout, but I told myself I would take time off so that my back can heal. I thought that if I gave my back time that I would be able to come back to martial-arts stronger than before.
Unfortunately that is not the case. Whether or not I took time off from martial-arts, my back was going to get worse. What they didn't tell me before I had my back surgery last year was that there is a risk for developing scar tissue. This scar tissue has caused me to lose flexibility and mobility. I am in a lot of pain, AGAIN.
I spent all of July doing laser treatments and getting injections to help my joints, but this did not work. I went to a pain specialist last week since none of the stuff my surgeon had been doing worked. The specialist told me that since I did initially get better after the surgery before becoming worse, the problem is more than likely scar tissue.
Tomorrow I go in for even more injections. If the medicine relieves some of the pain, then we know that the issue is in the joints. If nothing happens with the injections, then I have to go get another MRI (yay for the wallet -- NOT) to determine if it is really scar tissue.
I'm not sure what they will do if it is scar tissue, but the specialist made me believe that it is tough to remedy.
That is where I am with my training. No heavy lifting, no high impact exercise, no bending or standing for long periods of time, and multiple doctors visits a week has meant that I cannot train for neither martial-arts or figure competitions.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
The US Open
Okay, today totally sucked...or maybe I sucked...or maybe both. However you want to look at it, I did not have a good first experience at the US Open.
Traditional Forms competition:
The competitors with points in the NASKA/ISKA circuits automatically scored higher than those of us without any points. I guess it's fair since they are working on being ranked, but I would have liked a fair shot to see how I really compared to those ladies. Though, I would not have scored well against them because the judges preferred Japanese style forms over the Korean style. In my age group, they did not separate the styles except for chinese. So, I started with 2 strikes against me. But it is partially my fault that I did not place. I had one of my worse form days ever. Yes, the judges complemented me on my kicks and precision, but when I watched the video of my form, I would have scored myself low. I am really disappointed in myself.
Point-Sparing:
I got SCREWED!!!!!! I was putting my gear on about 2 feet away from the ring next to my coaches/team. I got up to go check in when I was told that I missed check-in and my division was closed. There was one other girl in my weight class, and apparently they made sure she heard the calls to go check-in, but nobody on my side of the ring did. Her coach made it clear that I was not there and so she was automatically First and would move on to Grands. I told them I did not hear the calls, and nobody near me heard the calls. Center Ref said he called 5 times. Whatever....Thankfully one of my coaches helped to contest and the only solution that made the other coach happy was to have me spar out of my weight class.
I am already 20 pounds lighter than the top of my own weight class, which I think is a ridiculously large weight class to begin with. But now I had to spar girls who outweighed me my at least 30 pounds and were at least 6 inches taller than me with a total reach advantage. All I wanted to do was spar for the experience, so this was my only option because OTHER people don't want to work for 1st place. I may have lost to that girl in my weight class, but at least it would have been fair.
My first fight did not start off so good. The side-kick I was counting on to keep my opponent away was not effective because the girl outweighed my side-kick and her arms were longer than my legs. One bloody nose and really sore face later I yelled at my husband to come coach me. Once I finally got somebody to coach me, I came back from being down by 3 points to winning by 6 points.
The second girl I fought was even bigger and meaner. There were times the center ref called stop, and she would continue pounding on my head. I was hurting. My eye was throbbing and my face was feeling even worse. My husband finally came back to coach me (he was coaching my son), but by then my face hurt and I was too scared to be more aggressive. Still, I only lost by one point.
I was disappointed that the fighting was mostly hands. I guess I expected it to be at the most 50 percent hands and 50 percent feet. But punching to the face (especially my face) seemed to be about 80-90 percent of the fights. As a Taekwondo-ist, this was not fun to do or watch.
I learned some stuff, like I should not do traditional forms and should do creative forms instead, and that I need to invest in hearing aids and a face mask. At this point I'm not sure if I will continue to compete. I'm glad I did the tournament. I can cross it off my bucket list.
At least I can say I got 3rd at the US Open. Not too shabby!
Traditional Forms competition:
The competitors with points in the NASKA/ISKA circuits automatically scored higher than those of us without any points. I guess it's fair since they are working on being ranked, but I would have liked a fair shot to see how I really compared to those ladies. Though, I would not have scored well against them because the judges preferred Japanese style forms over the Korean style. In my age group, they did not separate the styles except for chinese. So, I started with 2 strikes against me. But it is partially my fault that I did not place. I had one of my worse form days ever. Yes, the judges complemented me on my kicks and precision, but when I watched the video of my form, I would have scored myself low. I am really disappointed in myself.
Point-Sparing:
I got SCREWED!!!!!! I was putting my gear on about 2 feet away from the ring next to my coaches/team. I got up to go check in when I was told that I missed check-in and my division was closed. There was one other girl in my weight class, and apparently they made sure she heard the calls to go check-in, but nobody on my side of the ring did. Her coach made it clear that I was not there and so she was automatically First and would move on to Grands. I told them I did not hear the calls, and nobody near me heard the calls. Center Ref said he called 5 times. Whatever....Thankfully one of my coaches helped to contest and the only solution that made the other coach happy was to have me spar out of my weight class.
I am already 20 pounds lighter than the top of my own weight class, which I think is a ridiculously large weight class to begin with. But now I had to spar girls who outweighed me my at least 30 pounds and were at least 6 inches taller than me with a total reach advantage. All I wanted to do was spar for the experience, so this was my only option because OTHER people don't want to work for 1st place. I may have lost to that girl in my weight class, but at least it would have been fair.
My first fight did not start off so good. The side-kick I was counting on to keep my opponent away was not effective because the girl outweighed my side-kick and her arms were longer than my legs. One bloody nose and really sore face later I yelled at my husband to come coach me. Once I finally got somebody to coach me, I came back from being down by 3 points to winning by 6 points.
The second girl I fought was even bigger and meaner. There were times the center ref called stop, and she would continue pounding on my head. I was hurting. My eye was throbbing and my face was feeling even worse. My husband finally came back to coach me (he was coaching my son), but by then my face hurt and I was too scared to be more aggressive. Still, I only lost by one point.
I was disappointed that the fighting was mostly hands. I guess I expected it to be at the most 50 percent hands and 50 percent feet. But punching to the face (especially my face) seemed to be about 80-90 percent of the fights. As a Taekwondo-ist, this was not fun to do or watch.
I learned some stuff, like I should not do traditional forms and should do creative forms instead, and that I need to invest in hearing aids and a face mask. At this point I'm not sure if I will continue to compete. I'm glad I did the tournament. I can cross it off my bucket list.
At least I can say I got 3rd at the US Open. Not too shabby!
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Dieting is Not for Me
Ok, maybe I am a quitter and I really hate being a quitter, but I don't think I am cut out to have abs. I'm not lazy, at least I don't think I am lazy, but I just can't diet enough to have abs.
I am starting to think that our body is either designed or trained to react certain ways to food, and that everybody's body is different. I keep reading how protein shakes and chicken breasts fill people up so that they do not get hungry as often. I keep reading how people perform better when they have whole grains as opposed to white grains. But this was not the case for me. I was starving 30 min after eating chicken breasts, 5 servings of veggies, and a cup of brown rice. After being on the diet for a week, I had no energy. I could barely make it through a 90 second sparing match. I was hungry, tired, and lacking any sort of concentration or focus. I was not a happy person.
I gradually added back in "bad" carbs and red meat. I did this gradually because I did not want to gain a ton of weight super fast. But I ended up losing weight anyways. I feel so much better, I have more energy, and I am a lot less moody. So I started to think about how I used to eat when I was a competitive runner. I remember we would carb load before races, and our coach even encouraged pizza parties the night before state meets. This is how my body was trained. It was trained to perform on carbs and fat.
After using "white carbs", red meat, and fatty foods for fuel for so long, I don't think that my body can perform on anything else. It is used to having these foods for energy. Now, I am not making an excuse. I am going to continue to make healthier choices and try to integrate more whole grains and less white grains into my diet. But I need, at least for now, to have food that I like and that my body likes to use.
What does this mean? I am not going to do the figure competition in August. I am going to continue the weight training, eating protein (just adding more red meat, and not eating quite so much), and trying to cut back on bad carbs. Maybe I'll do a figure competition later when I can make changes to my diet without feeling like crap for months.
I am still going to do the US Open, and I am going to focus on more martial-arts competitions in the future. In fact, I just got done kicking paddles in the front yard...I love love love my paddles.
I am starting to think that our body is either designed or trained to react certain ways to food, and that everybody's body is different. I keep reading how protein shakes and chicken breasts fill people up so that they do not get hungry as often. I keep reading how people perform better when they have whole grains as opposed to white grains. But this was not the case for me. I was starving 30 min after eating chicken breasts, 5 servings of veggies, and a cup of brown rice. After being on the diet for a week, I had no energy. I could barely make it through a 90 second sparing match. I was hungry, tired, and lacking any sort of concentration or focus. I was not a happy person.
I gradually added back in "bad" carbs and red meat. I did this gradually because I did not want to gain a ton of weight super fast. But I ended up losing weight anyways. I feel so much better, I have more energy, and I am a lot less moody. So I started to think about how I used to eat when I was a competitive runner. I remember we would carb load before races, and our coach even encouraged pizza parties the night before state meets. This is how my body was trained. It was trained to perform on carbs and fat.
After using "white carbs", red meat, and fatty foods for fuel for so long, I don't think that my body can perform on anything else. It is used to having these foods for energy. Now, I am not making an excuse. I am going to continue to make healthier choices and try to integrate more whole grains and less white grains into my diet. But I need, at least for now, to have food that I like and that my body likes to use.
What does this mean? I am not going to do the figure competition in August. I am going to continue the weight training, eating protein (just adding more red meat, and not eating quite so much), and trying to cut back on bad carbs. Maybe I'll do a figure competition later when I can make changes to my diet without feeling like crap for months.
I am still going to do the US Open, and I am going to focus on more martial-arts competitions in the future. In fact, I just got done kicking paddles in the front yard...I love love love my paddles.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Egg Salad
Today I had an egg salad sandwich. I made egg salad with 3 egg whites and 1 whole egg mixed with a tablespoon of fat free mayo. I didn't eat all of it, I gave about 1/4 to my 5 year old for a sandwich. He devoured it. I love when my kids like things like this. I put the rest on whole wheat. I had some fruit with my sandwich and this seemed to tide me over.
Now I need to find a good protein snack besides more eggs (twice a day is enough for me). I don't feel like grilling or making anything big and I don't have any left overs. Looks like its time for some peanut butter and an apple.
I lifted shoulders, did some lower back, and finished with some abs this morning at the gym. Then I did the stair master (the stair mill was occupied the whole morning) for about 30 minutes. I have tournament training tonight, so I did not what to kill myself on cardio.
I have lost my ability to do taekwondo forms at the gym because kids are out of school, so I have no idea how I am supposed to get in practice for the US Open. I thought about going outside, but the grass in Florida makes pivoting impossible, and the hard ground is hot enough to cook my feet. I wish my gym had racquetball courts.
I'm going to cut my apples for my snack. I'm feeling a little more motivated now that I can actually eat and enjoy myself.
Now I need to find a good protein snack besides more eggs (twice a day is enough for me). I don't feel like grilling or making anything big and I don't have any left overs. Looks like its time for some peanut butter and an apple.
I lifted shoulders, did some lower back, and finished with some abs this morning at the gym. Then I did the stair master (the stair mill was occupied the whole morning) for about 30 minutes. I have tournament training tonight, so I did not what to kill myself on cardio.
I have lost my ability to do taekwondo forms at the gym because kids are out of school, so I have no idea how I am supposed to get in practice for the US Open. I thought about going outside, but the grass in Florida makes pivoting impossible, and the hard ground is hot enough to cook my feet. I wish my gym had racquetball courts.
I'm going to cut my apples for my snack. I'm feeling a little more motivated now that I can actually eat and enjoy myself.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Such a Bad Bad Girl
I was down to zero energy, I was hungry, and I was gaining weight. I have to admit I was ready to just give it all up. I can't live like that for 3 months, and I was really sad that I lost my flat tummy. Before I started I had a flat tummy, it was squishy, but it was flat.
So, I decided to eat! I'm not going crazy or anything. I am still sticking to whole grains and making sure I get plenty of protein, but I am also eating a little more sugar than I was. Everything I researched said to cut out sugars and processed grains such as white bread and white rice. As with any diet to lean up, I read that I needed to eat low fat foods. This means lean protein such as chicken and fish, and of course nothing fried. Well, this wasn't working for me...obviously!
The first thing I did was to cut out the protein shakes and actually eat! This alone has given me a little more energy. Maybe I am getting too much fat, maybe I am eating too much sugar, but I feel a lot better.
I hate chicken and fish for the most part! Don't even get me started on turkey burgers...YUCK! So today I decided that I am NOT going to limit my protein to these sources. I am going to eat some chicken, but not for every meal. Fish will be a once a week thing I choke down. But I am going to eat ham sandwiches on whole wheat, real hamburgers made with beef, and steak...yes real red meat steak. I'll have bacon after I compete, not a big deal, but other meat I need.
If I am going to train, I am going to need carbohydrates. Maybe its just a Paula thing, but I need them to function. I was dying last week at taekwondo without having bad carbs in my system. I know that on most low carb diets people get moody and lose focus and concentration. I was totally lacking brain function as well as body function. I was training, but I was losing endurance and speed. Not a good thing when you are training for sparing matches.
Here is my new plan. I am going to eat my protein to build muscle, I am going to stick to whole wheat bread, but I am going to allow myself to have rice and pasta occasionally. I may need a couple crackers to help me through a taekwondo class, so I am going to eat them, but first I will make sure I eat the good carbs. Fruits and veggies are never an issue. I eat those all day long and enjoy them. So first protein, then produce, then good carbs. After I eat the good stuff, I'll eat to fuel myself without going overboard.
Tonight I was really bad though. I had pizza. Let me tell you, the pizza was delicious! I enjoyed it :-) Now back to dieting...
So, I decided to eat! I'm not going crazy or anything. I am still sticking to whole grains and making sure I get plenty of protein, but I am also eating a little more sugar than I was. Everything I researched said to cut out sugars and processed grains such as white bread and white rice. As with any diet to lean up, I read that I needed to eat low fat foods. This means lean protein such as chicken and fish, and of course nothing fried. Well, this wasn't working for me...obviously!
The first thing I did was to cut out the protein shakes and actually eat! This alone has given me a little more energy. Maybe I am getting too much fat, maybe I am eating too much sugar, but I feel a lot better.
I hate chicken and fish for the most part! Don't even get me started on turkey burgers...YUCK! So today I decided that I am NOT going to limit my protein to these sources. I am going to eat some chicken, but not for every meal. Fish will be a once a week thing I choke down. But I am going to eat ham sandwiches on whole wheat, real hamburgers made with beef, and steak...yes real red meat steak. I'll have bacon after I compete, not a big deal, but other meat I need.
If I am going to train, I am going to need carbohydrates. Maybe its just a Paula thing, but I need them to function. I was dying last week at taekwondo without having bad carbs in my system. I know that on most low carb diets people get moody and lose focus and concentration. I was totally lacking brain function as well as body function. I was training, but I was losing endurance and speed. Not a good thing when you are training for sparing matches.
Here is my new plan. I am going to eat my protein to build muscle, I am going to stick to whole wheat bread, but I am going to allow myself to have rice and pasta occasionally. I may need a couple crackers to help me through a taekwondo class, so I am going to eat them, but first I will make sure I eat the good carbs. Fruits and veggies are never an issue. I eat those all day long and enjoy them. So first protein, then produce, then good carbs. After I eat the good stuff, I'll eat to fuel myself without going overboard.
Tonight I was really bad though. I had pizza. Let me tell you, the pizza was delicious! I enjoyed it :-) Now back to dieting...
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