Struggling with my body fat percentage

I feel fitter today that I have in a very long time. It's possible that I am the fittest that I have ever been, but I'm still not content. No matter what I do, I can't get below 16-17% body fat. My goal is 13%. I've cut back drinking dramatically and am constantly watching my carb intake, but I can't get below that 16% line for very long. It's as if my body is fighting to stay at this range.

For all my exercising, once in the morning and once in the afternoon for class, you would think it would be easy. I think on the days I workout, I average about 1-2 hours of exercise. Typically, I rest on the weekend. My sleep is good too. I try to shoot for 8 hours or 7 if I get to bed late. That's more than the average person I know.

I also keep losing weight though my goal is to make muscle gains. I am currently around 150 pounds and dipping to the 140's. So if I am not losing fat, I must be losing muscle, but I look more cut than ever and I'm seeing more muscle definition than I ever have on me. I am also as strong, if not stronger than ever.

I'm not sure what the problem is or where my equilibrium is, but I really want to get a little bigger and a little leaner so I can have a hot sexy body. I'm almost certain I'm doing the right things, according to everything I have heard and read, but my body fat readings and weight tell me otherwise... I don't know what to do, but I can't stop until I make my gaol.

Back after a long break

It's been awhile since I have written or posted anything. I kinda fell off the wagon for a short while. I was unemployed for a month and allowed myself to become unfocused and undisciplined. I lost my meditation momentum and started letting my workouts slip. But I'm starting to build up momentum again and am developing my discipline once more.

I started a new morning routine. I have a kettle bell program that I've been on for two weeks. There are 4 workouts per week. Each workout is about 25 minutes long. I started week three this morning.

I'll post more content in the coming days. I also plan on making this blog more personal. I don't always feel like writing about my workouts, but I do always have something to talk about. Good, bad or just confusing, I'll be posting it all here.

Guard Pass to Side Control to Mount

Last night in basics class we drilled the guard pass to side control. From there we drilled how to get to the mount from the knee on belly. That was a new move for me, so I drilled it this morning.

Here are the key points I remember:

1. Once in side control, get your knee under your opponents arm up to his armpit
2. Your hand under your opponents head grab the collar
3. The opposite hand grabs the opponents belt
4. You then pop up to the knee on belly
5. As your opponent attempt to push your knee off
1. Move your hand from his belt to under his arm with your forearm flat on the ground
2. Nearly simultaneously, base out with the hand that was behind his head
6. Walk your hand up past his head as you side your knee off his stomach to his armpit

Monday Morning Drilling

This morning I started getting up at 6am again. I had stopped for a week since I was going to bed a little later. I thought I would be able to stay with my same routine and just start my workout and meditation later, but that hasn't been the case. I need to get up early and make Jiu-Jitsu and Meditation the first thing I do in the morning. That way, no matter what happens later in the day, I will have gotten that done and got my day started on the right foot.

Today I drilled open guard passes to taking the back and open guard passes to the armbar. I also drilled sweeps from the closed guard to the armbar. I went back and forth with that for 30 minutes while listening to the Jocko Podcast #9. Listening to Jocko talk about discipline inspired me to get back to my early morning routine. It's not about finding a time that is convenient to do your workout, it's about making time for your workout, because that is what needs to happen.

Two Times

Today I rolled twice. I rolled once at the noon all-ranks class and again at the 7:30pm basics class. I'm bruised sore and tired, but it's so worth it. I love the cardio I get out of every class. Everything we do is practical and fun. Our warmups are Jiu-Jitsu moves for passing the guard, defending the guard or take downs. There are no wasted motions. Every moment of class is fun and exciting. Even when the sweat is dripping and my body feels like it can't go anymore, I'm still having a blast. An hour class flies by.

I have bruises on both my shins and calves from I don't know what. On my right leg I have a bruise deep inside the calve. That one I know how I got. That's from a knee that came down hard while my opponent passed my guard. I didn't feel it at the time, it just felt like a lot of pressure, but now it feels like a knot deep inside the muscle. I'm going to have to roll that one out.

I also have bruises on both my biceps from drilling the spider guard in the basics class. I'm not complaining though. I'm just pointing them out as badges of honor. I have no serious injuries. This is all part of the game. All part of the struggle to learn the art that may one day save my live. In the meantime, it will strengthen and tone my body into a lean mean fighting machine. Well worth the investment.

Swinging the Bell Again

Got back into swinging the kettlebell today after about a 2 month break. I stopped when I started Jiu-Jitsu since I was constantly sore after class. I didn't want to tax my body too much while I was getting used to the new motions. Now my body has adjusted a bit and soreness is not as much of an issue anymore.

Before I took a break I was swinging a 40lbs bell and trying to get myself up to 45lbs. Today I started light with 36lbs and it felt good. I think if I stick to 36lbs I should be able to swing it at least twice a week and slowly build myself back up to 40lbs comfortably.

My goal is to get fit, build muscle and collect as many of the custom onnit kettlebells as possible. The next one I would like to collect is the 44lbs Cyclops.

Defense Soap

I got some defense soap in the mail yesterday. I heard about it on Joe Rogan. It's supposed to help protect you from common funguses and bacteria which you can pickup from wrestling. Apparently, it's a real issue in Jiu-Jitsu. Some people have even died from poorly treated infections.

The soap is supposed to help preserve your skins natural oils and flora, which is your bodies best defense. In class, we were told that you should take a shower within 4 hours of rolling to prevent whatever you might have picked up from "sticking" to your skin. I guess that is the window before the fungus or bacteria can get a chance to really embed itself onto your skin. I also heard someone mention on the Joe Rogan show that you shouldn't shower 30 minutes before class since your skin flora needs time to recover.

I used the soap last night and enjoyed it. I have sensitive skin. If I don't use the right soap, I get really dry skin, so I am really picky about the soap I use. The soap doesn't really smell like anything other than a light oily smell. It doesn't have any perfumes or other flowery fragrances I can detect, but I have a poor sense of smell. It also seems like a really dense bar, so I think it will last while. Otherwise, it did the trick and got me feeling nice and clean.

Gift Wrap to Collar Choke

Last night in class I jumped into a kickboxing class which I enjoyed. The coach is very skillful and I feel that I can learn a lot from him. I also like that in the class, everything was application. Hitting the bags or each other from the very start and ending in some light sparring. I think I'll try that out for awhile.

After that I jumped into Jiu-jitsu class. I was very late to the beginners class since we ran over time while sparring, so I didn't learn any knew submissions, but I did learn new open guard pass which I haven't had time to practice yet. I'll have to make some time for that later today.

This morning I drilled the Gift Wrap to Collar Choke I learned in the noon class the day before. In this video, I had a lot of slack in the dummies collar so I had to pull it out a few times. Also, it's hard to tell from this angle, but the hand that goes behind the head goes with the back of the hand against your opponents head.

This submission can be trained in tandem with the knee slice open guard pass.

Key points to remember.

1. Keep the leg that is over the opponent tight against the belt to prevent him from rolling
2. Once you have your collar grip, release the arm and thrust your hand through the gap
3. Keep your arms tight and flex with your chest to complete the choke

Armbar from the Closed Guard

Yesterday I learned a few new techniques and some improvements to one I already knew. This is the armbar from the closed guard. I knew this one already, but I got it cleaned up during the noon class. I definitely have been doing this wrong, since I was never able to pull it off when rolling. Hopefully I'll have a better chance of working it now.

Here are the points I remember

1. Pull the arm you want up until the elbow is above your navel
2. Reach around to monkey grip the bicep then anchor your arm to your body
3. With your free hand, grab your opponents gi above his shoulder and pull him down
4. Use your leg, from the side of the arm you captured, to turn your body
5. Bite down on your opponents back with your opposite leg to drive him down
6. Release the gi and push his head down
7. Throw your other leg over the head and bite down
8. squeeze the knees together as you thrust up with the hips

The Knee Slice Guard Pass

Last night in class, we worked the knee slice guard pass. This is the beginners version and my application needs work, but that's why I'm making these videos, so I can watch my progression. Also, so I can review later so I don't forget and can continue drilling.

Once I got into side control, I would drill the transition into an armbar if the opponent started rolling into me and taking the back if the opponent rolled away.

Coach brought up a lot of things to keep in mind for this drill. Here are some key points I remember from last night.

1. Stay low with the knees bent
2. Keep one foot in
3. One arm reaches in to make a frame
4. The opposite foot steps past the guard
5. Reach for the closet arm
6. Slice your inside knee over your opens leg
7. Pull up on the arm as you baseball side into side control

Onnit Warrior

Today I received an unexpected gift with my Onnit order. I got a very nice looking patch for apparently reaching the Warrior loyalty status. The patch also came with the following, very nice message:

"By now you are on the path to optimizing your life. You care about functioning at peak performance and have committed to a road less traveled. We define warrior as anyone willing to fight for their own happiness and the betterment of other, and you would not have achieved this status if those two ideals were not a part of your reality."

The sword represents commitments to the warrior way, the lightning bolts symbolize willingness to take action with passion, and the Nordic runes are for Earth and protection.

I know Onnit is a supplement company, and this is marketing, but it means something to me. I know Aubrey Marcus is committed to helping people and his passion is genuine, so is mine. I started getting committed to optimizing myself when I started listening to Joe Rogan. His speech about being the hero of your own movie really inspired me to take action and stop wishing I was a better me, and simply start taking steps in that direction, day after day.

I'm proud to have this patch. It means more to me since it was completely unexpected and it's actually a quality patch. I think this little token is really going to inspire me to stay committed to this path of self optimization. That little quote from the letter could not be more true and I plan to stay on this path for no other reason other than to simply be on it.

Morning Drills: 4-21-16

This morning I drilled getting to the armbar from side control. We worked that as well as specific training and rolling in the beginners class last night. I was moving slowly though since I had ate too much before class.

I like the armbar from side control. It's a quick movement and I feel like I can get good enough at it to pull it off in class. It's also easy to drill since I don't have to set the dummy up.

I also finally figured out how to make short videos of my workouts. These will be good to review my progress later on.

Morning Drills: 4-20-16

Yesterday my wife, son and I took a day off from work. We all just hung out at home and chilled. So I didn't do my usual morning drills or meditation. Instead I played video games with my son, but The Way of The Empty Hand is more than just training.

Once they went to bed at 7:30, I left to Silat class. I will be focusing primarily on Silat and Jiu-Jitsu for a bit. No more cross training in Kenpo. I want to see what the outcome will be of this decision. I really want my Silat to get back to where it was before.

This morning I drilled the kimura, sweeps from the full guard and foot locks. I also practiced another collar choke but I don't recall the name. I need to do a better job at remembering the names of these techniques. Maybe if I buy a video it will help.

I ended todays routine with a 20 minute meditation on appreciation. I'll be headed into the office today, so I won't have a noon workout. Though I intend to go to Jiu-Jitsu class tonight.

Morning Drills: 4-18-16

This morning I reviewed the techniques I learned from Saturday morning Jiu-jitsu. Unfortunately, I had already forgot the sweep from the half guard, but I did remember the butterfly guard sweep. I don't know how often I will find myself in a butterfly guard, but it's good to know at technique from that position.

The butterfly sweep is cool because you roll your opponent over his head as you do a shoulder roll yourself. Since rolling is a little disorientating, it might give you a chance to do a setup or transition quickly into a submission.

I also worked on triangle chokes and armbars from the full guard. Then I reviewed a Gi choke that I had trouble finishing when I was rolling last Thursday. I think I forgot to grab the opponent's lapel when I was attempting it. It's an easy choke to get with very little setup, so I want to drill it more so I can try it in class next time.

That's it. I ended my morning routine with a 20 minute meditation on appreciation.

Sunday Silat: 4-17-16

This morning I went to Silat class. It was a good class. We started off with Jurus on the triangle then switched to watching each other do Juru 1-3. It was interesting to see how each one of us does the Jurus slightly differently. Each person had a slightly different take on each Juru. Each variation was influenced by one teacher or another.

The most interesting point was brought up on Juru 2. I never really liked how we lean back just before elbowing, but the explanation we got today cleared it up. You're not leaning back for the elbow. There are actually two different movements happening. The first motion is a leaning away to pull the opponent in. You're then supposed to lean forward to attack or re-engage. Then there is an elbow motion that draws back then hits. They are not part of the same movement. They are essentially two different techniques.

It's amazing how much there is to learn in each Juru. That little tweak from today really deepened by understanding of Juru 2. It's also going to salvage what I was otherwise thinking was a wasted movement. There is so much hidden in these little forms. I really want to spend the next couple of days focusing on Silat and getting my application back up to where I feel it should be. I think that is what I will do for the next few weeks.

Saturday Rolling: 4-16-16

I did better than I thought I would today. When I first started these classes they were so tough. They still are but now I feel that I can do something. So I'm going to try to start making the all ranks classes more often.

Today the Professor showed us some sweeps before we started rolling. He showed us a sweep from the Z guard and another one from the butterfly guard. The butterfly sweep was new to me, so I have to make sure to practice that one first thing tomorrow morning.

Noon Workout: 4-14-16

Today I worked various random Silat drills. I started with the usual set. Jurus 1-3 and sambuts 1-3. I then worked some drills I recorded on the triangle followed by punching drills on the bag and walking punching drills. I got a good sweat in, but I think that was mostly due to the heat. I need to get more organized so I can get right into the drills and do them back to back. I also need to find a way to setup a camera in the garage so I can video tape myself to try to find corrections...

Stripes: 4-14-16

Last night I got my first stripes at Phenom. It was promotions week at school so I was hoping I would get 1 stripe, but I wasn't really counting on it. It still feels like I walked into the school just yesterday, but they gave me 2. Coach says I earned them. So I'm taking his word on it. I must be making progress. Honestly, I just feel lucky when I manage to work a technique on someone. I forget so much in the heat of the moment. When I drill here at home, there is no rush and no pressure, so I can carefully think about everything I learned in class and review everything I remember. When we roll in class, I just struggle to hold the other guy off as long as I can while I try to work whatever I happen to remember, which is usually 1 move.

This morning I drilled another armbar variation we went over last night. This one starts from the full mount with the opponent trying to push you off with his arms extended. You ride up on the chest until you're under his armpits. Then you pull one arm across as you go into S mount. The rest is the same. Grab the opposite tricep, toss your leg over, bite down on the head as you pitch your knees together and lean back. I also worked in a sweep from the half guard to review.

This mornings meditation was again on appreciation.

Noon Workout: 4-13-16

Spent more time on the triangle today. I am trying to invest more time into Silat since I have noticed my skills degrade in the art and I have always leaned heavily on Silat for my fundamentals.

Today I did Juru 1-3, Sambut 1-3 and Sepak 1-5. I plan on reviewing the miscellaneous videos I have recorded and incorporating the various drills I have picked up into my regular routines.

I completed by noon set with a 20 minute meditation in equanimity.

Morning Drills: 4-13-16

Last night we drilled taking the back from the mounted position, so that is what I drilled today.

To drill it, I would put the dummy on one side and then get into position. It's almost like the S mount except your front foot is flat on the ground. You wrap under the arm and head and pull your opponents head onto your knee. Then you just stay tight as you lean back. If all goes well, you should be able to roll to take the back. The dummy was very cooperative, so it worked each time...

After that, I drilled a cross choke variation for when the opponent is keeping his hands close to his chest and collar. To start, you snake one hand under his arms to grab the collar. You then go into S mount and adjust for a deeper grip. The opposite hand then grabs the other side of the collar for the cross choke.

That's it. I wrapped up the morning routine with a 20 minute meditation on appreciation.

Noon Workout: 4-12-16

Today I switched focus to Silat and ran Jurus on the triangle followed by 3 minute punching drills. I got through 1-5 to complete a 30 minute workout. Then followed that up with a 16 minute heart mind meditation.

Silat is such an amazing art. The amount of focus and emphases on body mechanics is unlike anything else I have found in any other art. My only gripe is that they don't spar. Sparring for me is so important. I need to be able to know that I can apply what I have learned in combat. I also learn a great deal from my mistakes when I get hit. I learn where I leave myself open and what works and what needs more work...

That said, I have been noticing bad habits forming from my time sparring. I focus too much on the hook punch, to the point where I miss other opportunities. I also have picked up several strange habits like, ducking and spinning away when pressed, raising my shoulders and a weird shoulder roll to block a punch when I am late on my defense.

I really wish I had the solution to my dilemma. I honestly feel like I am reaching a tipping point. My mechanics are suffering overall. I need to return to my base on focus on my fundamentals for awhile. So I plan on spending more time this week drilling Jurus, punching and kicking drills.

Morning Drills: 4-12-16

In class last night we drilled armbars. So this morning, in the garage was armbar central. Coach made a lot of good points last night. He went over common armbar mistakes and what to focus on while practicing the drill. Let's see how many I can remember...

1. Stay heavy while in the S Mount
2. Stay up on the ball of your rear foot
3. Control the arm you want and hold the tricep of the opposite arm
4. Don't leave back until the leg is over the head
5. Bite down on the head with your leg
6. Pinch the knees together
7. Point the opponents thumb up
8. Push up with the hips

I think I kept most of that in mind while I drilled on the dummy today.

Morning Drills: 4-11-16

More Jiu-Jitsu this morning. I drilled triangle chokes from the guard, sweeps from the guard and getting to the armbar from the guard. I followed that up with a 20 minute meditation immediately followed up by jurus on the triangle.

This is going to be my last workout for the day until I get to class tonight. I need to go into the office today. So I won't get the chance to workout at lunch.

The weekend was full of junk food and beer. I really need to work on my willpower and turn that stuff down. There is always a healthy option. My goal is to get to 14% body fat. If I want to do that, I need to be more disciplined. Currently I am floating around 16%, but trending down.

Commitment is the key. Eat right, think right and drill your techniques.

Stay the Course

It's hard being the new guy in a Martial Arts school. Especially when you're a total beginner. Learning requires repetition and you're going to make mistakes. Sometimes you may feel like you'll never get it right. Other times you may get discouraged when someone seems to get it effortlessly. You might start to think that it's just not worth the effort. It's hopeless.

From experience, I can tell you that it's best to stay the course. I've had many beginner moments. I've started over a few times in new fighting styles. It doesn't help that I'm a very slow learner. Painfully slow. But at some point, a breakthrough always happens and things start to click. You may not even notice when you start to get better. One day you'll just realize that you're better than the new guy. For me, the magic always happens when I start to notice patterns in the application. That's when the light starts to go on for me.

I recently started Jiu-Jitsu. I have no other ground fighting experience. So where I am at right now is complete and total beginner. My experience in standup really doesn't help. I'm clueless. I've learned a few techniques but still struggle to pull them off under resistance. To be honest, I have moments when I think I'll never get it. Then I remember feeling like that before. When I started Silat. I'm sure it was the same for Kenpo. Now kicking and punching come naturally. I know the same will be true for Jiu-Jitsu in time.

So stay the course. Even if you don't feel like you're making progress. You might just be a slow learner like me. If it's something you really want and you approach training with serious diligences, you will make progress. One step at a time. One day at a time. Put focus and care into your work and you will improve.

Sick: 4-8-16

I'm sick with a cold today. It started on Wednesday night (4-6-16). That's when I first noticed that I might be coming down with something, but I still stuck to my routine hoping that it was allergies. Yesterday it started to become undeniable. For my lunch break, I decided to take a short nap and ended up sleeping 2.5 hours. Today, I really don't feel like getting out of bed.

Oh well. No one is immune to getting sick. I'll try not to spread it around and stay home until I feel better. I don't want to take anyone else out because I want to get a little training in. It's just me the dummy and the bag. Though I don't really have the energy to do that at the moment. Better to rest.

The Morning Drills: 4-7-16

This morning I drilled what Coach taught me yesterday. Which was foots locks and the Kimura. I tried getting to the foot lock while passing the open guard, which is where I always struggle. I'm not very good at getting past it without getting wrapped up. 

Coach taught me the foot lock from a 50/50 guard, but I saw how he would dive into position while the other guy was in open guard. So I tried emulating that this morning. If it works, great! If it doesn't, I am still drilling the mechanics of the foot lock, even if I am not diving in correctly.

I followed that up with some corrections he made to my application of the Kimura. I used to try to bring the arm up to the back of the head as soon as I wrapped it, but he told me it's better to bring it to the guys hip first. That allows me to control the arm more and gives him less power to struggle. Once the arm is near the hip, you raise it behind it and start bringing it up to the head.

That's it. I followed that up with a 20 minute meditation.

Noon Workout: 4-6-16

Everyday at noon, I do my workout of the day. I like to get a good sweat going on this one. Sometimes it's kettle bells, bag work, techniques or running. Today it was Jiu-Jitsu. My school has a noon class and it's close enough to home that I can use my lunch break to get in some matt time.

Today was No Gi. My first time. It disarmed me of some of my moves since I couldn't hold the Gi, but that really didn't make any difference since I was rolling with much higher belts and I'm currently only a white belt. All I could do was defend and try to learn from what my seniors were doing. I did notice that it made it a lot easier for me to slip out of some moves that normally would have tapped me.

I also got introduced to foot locks today for the first time. They are very cool. Needless to say, I couldn't pull off a single one once we started rolling. In time though, it will come.

The Morning Drills: 4-6-16

Every morning I get up and a do a light 30 minute workout to wake up. It's my alternative to coffee. Sometimes it's a walk. Sometimes some Kenpo. This morning it was Jiu-Jitsu. I always try to drill whatever techniques we were working recently in class so they stay fresh in my mind. Today it was defending the back and a few armbars from the guard. 

The armbars are easy to drill. Defending the back is a little harder. I sit in front of the dummy and put it's legs around my waist. Then I have to reach back and pull it's arms up to simulate a seatbelt hold. That's the hardest part. But once I lock one arm under mine and I get a pocket grip on the other, it's easy to hold. That simulates someone taking your back. From there, I just run the drill, trying to focus on each transition and trying to remember whatever was mentioned in class.

Once that's done, I sit down and do a 20 minute meditation from my Headspace app. This morning it was Headspace Pro level 6 session 6. Those guys have really figured it out. I just now noticed how the names of the session and the progression almost give you a sense of leveling up.

Meditation and the Martial Arts

We've all heard the classic tale of Bodhidharma teaching Martial Arts to his disciples to strengthen their bodies for Meditation. The Martial Arts and Meditation have a long history that continues through today. Kenpo has a tradition of doing a brief "meditation" before and after class in a horse stance. Silat, as I am told, also utilizes meditation in the upper levels as part of the curriculum. And although I am new to Jiu-Jitsu, I have already heard mention of meditation in context of the art.

In Kenpo we often go into a meditative horse before and after class. It's a quick break, done at all levels, lasting about a minute to prepare your mind for class or for settling down after an intense workout. There really isn't much meditating going on. You just relax and catch your breath.  That's as deep as it gets and I really don't recall reading much about it in any of Mr. Parkers books, if at all.

Silat is a somewhat secretive system. Serak, the mother art of Bukti Negara, is only taught to close friends and family. If you want to learn Serak, you'll have to learn Bukti. Even then, there is no guarantee that you will be trusted with the art of Serak. Even in Bukti, a student is only shown certain principles and applications when the teacher sees that he's ready. Meaning he's already fully grasped the lessons he was previously taught and can apply them. I started Silat in February of 2010 and am just finding out, though not directly, that meditation is part of the teachings at the upper levels. I am guessing it's part of Serak, but it's only a guess...

In the movie Choke, Rickson Gracie talks about reaching a very special stage of meditation during his routine. He talks about clearing his mind and staying in the present moment. He mentions controlling your breath in order to control yourself mentally and physically and in order to understand your fears and emotional stress. At my own school, our Coaches talk about making Jiu-Jitsu an experience for yourself. About leaving all other stresses off then matt and just training for yourself. So being present physically and mentally undoubtedly is beneficial to your practice.

I really believe that any serious student of the Martial Arts should explore the benefits of Meditation in his own practice. It doesn't matter which style you're studying, chances are that it has a history of not only cultivating the body but also cultivating the mind in preparation for combat. The benefits extend beyond self defense and competition. Having a strong healthy body improves the quality of your day to day life and longevity. Having a focused mind that can manage challenging thoughts and emotions will undoubtedly also improve your day to day experience as well as the experiences of those around you.

Personally, I have found that incorporating meditation at the end of my daily routine adds a sort of sacredness to the practice. I like to set an hour aside each day. I start by working on whatever techniques or drills I am doing that day. I go for about 30-40 minutes of intense physical exertion, until the sweat is pouring and I'm breathing hard. Then without allowing myself to cool off, I start my meditation. I've tried meditating before my workout, but both the meditation and workout seem less intense when I do it that way. Something about the rush of a hard workout followed by the calm focus of a 20 minute sit has a synergetic mind altering effect. I feel at peace and completely untouched by whatever drama might be happening at the time. It makes my daily workouts something I truly look forward to and enjoy.

But it's not just sitting with your eyes closed. Meditation is an art. There is a technique for focusing your mind that has been tried, tested and improved for over 2,000 years. You're working on focusing on the breath or some other object of meditation such as equanimity. The key point is presents of mind and concentration. It is not a religious practice it's literally a mental technique of concentration. And just like any other technique, you have to practice it in order to get better. At first, you may fall asleep or repeatedly get lost in thought without any focus, but over time, you'll start to reap the rewards of presents of mind.

A good place to start is by picking up some guided meditations. Headspace has a great app that's free to try for 10 days. It's totally straight forward and free of any B.S.. The book Mindfulness has a great range of meditations to try. You can also checkout some free guided mediations on YouTube. I like Big Mind by Joseph Goldstein.  Dan Harris also has an app, though I haven't tried it myself. Do whatever works for you. Do some research and start. Then share your experiences, I'd love to hear about them.

Train. Even if you're tired.

Some days I just don't feel like working out. It usually happens when I'm tired, sleepy or just drained overall. Sometimes over nothing. I could feel drained from just sitting at a desk all day or crawling through traffic. Other times I'm drained from other workouts. It can be hard to find the motivation to get to class and train. A little voice will popup and say: "Rest, you've earned it". Sometimes it's true, other times, I know I'll regret it.

This is how it goes... I'll miss one night and then the next day something always comes up. The wife will call me and say she needs me to watch Isaac because she's running late. Or I'll have no choice but to work late myself. It always seems to be that something else will come up and I'll be forced to miss another night. Then I'm two down and usually my schedule only allows me 2-3 nights of training at any one school... so I start to fall behind.

I know for a fact that once I start moving, the energy comes on it's own. As long as I am focused on using correct form and am intent on creating a proper attitude, before long the sweat will be streaming and I'll be putting out 100% effort. It doesn't matter if I start slow. As long as I am focused on not half-assing anything, before I know it, class will be over and I'll feel fully recharged.

So unless I'm sick or injured, my intention is to always go to class. Unless something comes up. Or I need some family time. Or laziness wins the battle...