A unique team uniform made of a cotton and polyester spun yarn woven dobby fabric features woven geometric figures.

CenturyFitness.com

From what I understand that most Taekwondo practitioners generally end up grabbing Adidas Black Neck Uniforms as soon as they reach Cho Dan (first degree black belt). This is generally done because they MUST have a blackbelt level uniform and most are familiar with Adidas uniforms already (I mean really…you know someone that owns one if you don’t) and are readily available.

The Century Fitness Dobby Uniform is what I suggest as a superior alternative to the Adidas uniform, but no where near par of the Mooto Extera. As mentioned earlier, the fabric is a woven cotton and polyester material. If I didn’t write this review, I wouldn’t have even known that it was polyester because it has a very comforting light cotton feel to it. Movement flows better than most uniforms in this as it’s light nature essentially is its biggest pro. The dobby pattern is just that…a pattern that doesn’t really show or do anything for the uniform other than provide some decoration.

This brings us to our first Con. Truthfully without the pattern I’d expect this uniform to be priced around $50 or so. Now that I’ve visited their website and reviewed their Basic Student uniform that is also cotton and polyester at $34.99, I’d expect that price. I have to ask is $70 too much for this uniform. The MSRP on the Mooto Extera is $100, and if you’ve read my review of it, you will know I think it is the best thing since head contact. Would I stop coughing up that extra 30 dollars and grab this uniform…

The true answer is maybe/no. Again, the Mooto Extera is an incredible uniform. This uniform is only good/great. If you are used to spending $50-$70 on Adidas or Nike uniforms this is a logical choice as it is better than their basic Black belt uniforms. If you have the extra money, spend it on the Extera and make your self extra happy.

Well kids, I’m back.  It’s been a while.  I’m still training, healthy and working hard.

I’ve been considering picking up Kendo and am going to try a class at a local school in the next week or so.

I originally wanted to try Haedong Gumdo (Korean style of Kendo). Only problem is, THERE ARE NO SCHOOLS AROUND HERE THAT I CAN FIND.

So Kendo it is, I’ll get back to you guys later.

I’ve was asked recently what your supposed to do for self-defense against a gun. The two answers that came to mind were kiss you’re ass goodbye and have a good insurance plan.  The instructors at my school always taught me that treat knives and guns like you would touch something that was on fire i.e. - quick touches/pushes so you don’t get burned. This way they cannot get a clear shot at a vital area.

The program Martial Arts Explorer explored this a little further and looked into a technique for gun defense. They also added several more rules that make this self defense more practically and I think it is something more people need to know.

1) Pose yourself the question “After this person gets what they want, are they still going to shoot me?” If the answer is yes, then you need to defend yourself. If they just want you keys, wallet/purse, or anything on their person, give it to them.  They can be replaced, you can’t.

2) Gage the situation and know if you have to shield. If you have you’re family with you , try to get them behind you and out of the way of the asailant. This hopefully gets them out of the way of any bullet fired directly at them before o during your disarming of the asailant.

3) Be aware of the gun. You are not going to use the same technique to defend yourself from a handgun as you will a shotgun most-likely. Additionally, you may use a different technique for a semi-automatic than you would a revolver.

4) Treat the gun as any other tool of the Martial Arts, with respect. This is as important after as much as before the attack. It makes perfect sense to know it while you are actually defending yourself. Most self defense for guns are designed to place the gun in the hands of those defending. With that knowledge you should NOT have you finger on the trigger of the gun if you are holding it. You SHOULD be pointing the gun towards the ground between you and the asailant.  Once you have control of that gun, you are the aggressor and are in an actionable state legally.  If that gun goes off and shoots someone in the chest you are responsible for taking a life. Also, as you back away from the situation, make sure to slide backwards as opposed to walking backwards because the last thing you want to do is to trip over something and have that gun end up going off or losing control of the situation.

Just a reminder, the first rule is the most important.  If someone points a gun at you and you engage them, a bullet WILL be shot out of the gun. It doesn’t matter if it misses you and yours by 10 ft or 1 inch, however, it is important to know some rules in regards to your protection before and after.

Maybe I should take a topless picture of me flabby and show it next to a 90 day image…or perhaps I’m getting a little bit ahead of myself. I should really call yesterday my first day as it was the first day I adjusted my eating for what I’m up against. Today is day two and it started out with a good training session, albeit early.  At 5:30 AM my alarm went off on my phone for the first of three times. After crawling out of bed and sleep walking to my bathroom I put life on auto-pilot, grabbed a uniform and knee wraps and headed to the school.  Today workout started out with two minutes of Jumping rope…and it was a bitch.

2 minutes of jumping rope used to be nothing to me.  However with the extra liquor weight, and the lack of hard training it might as well have been climbing up a mountain. It almost makes me sick to know that 4 months ago I was doing 5 minutes without a problem and now two minutes is kicking my ass. I did it though and I wasn’t going to be beaten by it.  Tomorrow will be two minutes and fifteen seconds.  The jumping rope will be done 3 - 4 times a week hope fully working up to 6 minutes in 8 weeks.the idea is to increase 30 seconds per week. Ideally, I’d one day like to go up to 15 minutes. The owner of our school equates that to about an hour of running and he tells stories of when he was on the national team jumping rope to entire ALBUMS of music.

The rest of the training was medium intensity. Trained forms kicking combinations and footworks…nothing too too bad. The plan is later today to head out to the Golf range and hit a bucket of balls. After this it is home to the showers and back out to the school for another medium training session.

Wish me luck people.

The past 3 weeks I’ve been readying myself for “The First Annual Deland Drink-A-Thon” or FADDAT for short. So as you can understand my weight and health haven’t been my main concern.  Couple those 3 to 4 drinks a day with less training over the past few months and I’ve realized that I’ve stopped taking care of myself in the way my body was accustomed to and now it is time to get my ass in gear.

So what is the plan you might ask… It’s actually simple, train and take in less calories than I output.  People try and complicate what weight loss is. That is not to say it is easy. My parents both ended up losing about 40 pounds each on a weight watchers diet where my father was allowed 1500 calories and my mother 1200. The problem was after they hit their target goals, the blew back up cus they actually started eating again.

You might ask…Marc aren’t you going to have the same problem. The answer is an assounding YES. But I should lose a good amount off the bat for a few reasons:

1. All those extra drinks in prep for a bing weekend are long gone…my liver thanks me (One of my friends is glad that this entire thing is over…he complained that his blood hurt)
2. I’m starting to beef up my training again so I will be burning more calories
3. My goals will allow my body to feel better, not just my self-vision as most people aim for

Anyway, the plan is to keep up the hard work and not get sidetracked by the usual obstacles people have when athletes start losing weight:

1. Injuries
2. Sickness
3. Depression

My plan for eating is simple.  High on protiens, low on the salt intake. Fats and carbs are GOOD and I will continue to eat them. Just time to cutback on the portions. I may also increase my physical output as I have been meaning to get into the gym to hit the weights. Anyway, everyone wish me some luck.  I’m out!!!