Patty's Workout Journal

[PandorasVise]

Thanks Lynne! I have come so far from the frumpy fat housewife I once was!

Oh yeah that wasn't the second round. They stopped it because I really hurt her and she ran off. I got a half point for kicking her. After that fight se was supposed to fight for third place, but she couldn't continue to fight.

[PandorasVise]

If you cause damage that one stops fighting for less than 15 seconds, like her running off, then it is a half point. I just need one point to win. So if she is down more than 15 seconds, thats a whole point, or if I serious hurt her twice, is a whole point

[ldematto]

Wow~ You look fabulous Patty~!

[PandorasVise]

Thank you!

[Boss Man]

Why are two people with different coloured belts fighting each other? Surely it should be people with the same coloured belts, as that would cause a skill imbalance.

[PandorasVise]

Skills are unbalanced. I am the underbelt and probably only half way to her belt. I was the only girl there that didn't have a black belt. In the US champs I was also the only girl without a blackbelt. Turns out I have a weird talent for hitting people. I was invited to fight becasue I am the US champion, which I was even lower of a belt then. This fight was actually a really big deal in the karate world, because you can only fight if you were invited. I was so very nervous because of lack of experience. It was second full contact fight, and I kind of got thrown into the US Champs at the last minute.

Some fights have people with the same level of belts fighting each other. Like upper and lower belts, but not necessarily the same belt.

I have been thinking on posting the fight for first place. I got knocked out within the first minute. I am still proud of what I did. I was seriously outclassed as fighter. She had been in karate since she was a small child from what I heard.

[Boss Man]

You say underbelt, I'm not entirely sure what you're referring to.

[PandorasVise]

yes an under belt is any one who is a lower belt rank. Since all martial arts uses different colors, some people describe what rank they are by "kyu'. For example, when you get your first grading in kyokushin ( style) you receive your orange belt, or 10th kyu and then it counts down to 1st kyu which would be your blown belt with a stripe. The lower the number, the higher the ranking, until you get to black belt and then it is the opposite, and instead of kyu they call it dan. I was a yellow belt so I was 6th kyu and was fighting a black belt, 1st dan. She was ranked 6 gradings higher than me.

Some tournaments split up divisions by belt, so the 10th thru 5th kyus fight each other and 4th though black belts fight. Some fights go by weight and age divisions too. Because there aren't as many women fighters as men, we generally do not have an age division. Some tournaments are open weight. When I fought in the US Open, I fought against a woman who weighed about 40 pounds more than me, because it was an open weight fight.

Becasue this was a world tournament, people were invited only if they held titles. I did, and it was weighted division. I was in the heavy weight (God, I hate being heavyweight, but I think that is what I am supposed to be) 160 pounds and up. I was about 175 then.

Side note, we have a big bunch of fresh people that joined up a couple months ago, most are men. So I go to class and one guy, John, was all smiles. He said he watched it and he now knows he can hit me harder. So Sensei Kris was encouraging him on all night to really hit me when it is time to spar. So when we sparred he really did go hard, harder than I am used to when in class and I almost told him it was too hard. I am 10 years older than him and he has a brown belt in another style. But at the end, he couldn't breathe and was holding his side. Sensei then told him that she forgot to mention that when he hits me hard, that I hit hard back.

[PandorasVise]

2nd video. This one I was seriously outclassed as a fighter. I think I was stronger but she had better technique. Even if I didn't get knocked out, I think I would have lost.

http://www.kihonwasa.com/2011/03/someti ... d-out.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Boss Man]

Next time she'll get head her head kicked in. I think you owe her that

[PandorasVise]

I like that

[Boss Man]

Knock her block off is also another one

[PandorasVise]

Fight update! I lost but it was a good loss. I got hurt a couple weeks ago, just above the knee from a kick, then a couple days later I got kicked again, same spot so hard that I fell on the mat and actually couldn't catch breath while tears poured down. I have never cried in the dojo.

Turns out fight was against the girl I lost to from first semi-contact match. In that match, I fought and five minutes later fought her. I was her only fight. Still it went into over time for a 3-2 split decision in her favor.

I knew going in that I would win if I just didn't get leg kicked. Problem was that it was lead leg so I would have to fight south paw. I kept, instint, switching back to righty. It went into overtime again. We would have had another extention but 5 seconds before the end of the round, she found weakness. leg buckled and I could hear shouts of AGAIN AGAIN from her couch and she did really hard. So it came to a decision again this time she won by a half point.

I so would have won if I had leg. I am proud of what I did. So much fun and cant wait to do it again. Realized too that only fought black and brown belts since fighting. All of which are way over ranking. Cool http://www.kihonwasa.com/2011/05/i-went ... arate.html

[Boss Man]

The main thing is to just be proud of yourself. You started doing this quite late on in the day, as many get into it into their teens and early twenties, maybe even before they're 10.

The one thing is to never doubt yourself and never think you have reached a peak standard. If you have you have, but you have not been doing this long enough to settle for a what is will always be scenario, because I believe you can progress and continue to move onwards with this.

The Leg scenario showed you are human of course, but also that you in fighting terms, could have been seen by some as showing weakness and this might be an indication, that your mental and / or emotional strength, may need to step up another notch, to build more confidence.

Though this is an honest observation, I'm not tearing a strip off you for your actions, as I'm sure the Leg hurt very badly .

I'm proud of seeing someone like you make this change in your life. You were just someone, but now you're a trophy winner and you've fought in a world championships. You're a good Athlete Patty, so don't ever be too hard on yourself okay, because you've become a very good rolemodel and an inspiration to others.

You'll progress, there's no doubt about that, but certainly there may be a little room to rethink your mental approach, regards how you think about certain aspects of a fight, or how you approach the start of a fight, because the opponent is beatable, so if there's ever a moment where you start to let differences, experience etc, dictate how you view opponents, then don't let it affect the mindset, because the barriers you create are a valuable asset and strength.

Easy for me to say, as I'm not a part of that world you're in, but I can rationalise things enough to find clarity in the circumstances.

You've done a great job all in all though, so learn from this experience but don't ever stop being proud of these moments or yourself. You've come a long way misses and you have never stopped showing some very commendable heart, courage and inner strength and this is a person that could have called themselves a bit dumpy and maybe frumpy as well, who needed to make some physical change and has repreogrammed themselves and found a way to grow and blossom more as a person, when they could have considered that to be something that was no longer possible or very hard to do.

I'm very proud of you and I've been really happy to see you progress and choose a rewarding addition to your new way of life and I want you to progress and keep making more of yourself.

I would suggest the following if it helps.

Get a piece of paper and write in large coloured letters a few phrases and words that typify you as person, so for example.

I AM A WINNER

i AM A FIGHTER

I AM AN ATHLETE

I AM CAPABLE

I WILL SUCCEED

Just use 4 or 5 short phrases that you feel describe you best as a person, then you can have one or two printouts where they will be most effective, so places like the fridge door, or a bedside table, where you can see it first thing in the morning and last thing at night, or maybe just on a work desk, or possibly recreated on a works computer in something like Paintbrush and used as a desktop background.

Keep the mental focus on the fighting in the background but ever present as much as possible, so whatever you're doing and whatever you're thinking, it switches off as little as possible.

That's one reason why I come on places like this, so I can try to keep head in the zone and not totally switch off between workouts, because I believe this will hopefully help to stop me from becoming someone, who lapses or has a sloppy attitude to training.

Maybe the approach highlighted will be something to consider, but whatever happens, GOOD LUCK and don't ever stop believing in yourself. You ARE a new person now, with more added value and you're also a really great character and I'm proud to share this site with you, so chin up, keep pushing and no regrets or worries now okay .

[fitoverforty]

Congrats Patty, you did great. I don't know many women with a family and all the responsibilities that come along with raising kids, running a household and still manage to achieve even a small amount of what you have done. You are amazing. You deserve to be proud. I'm proud for ya!! You go girl!