nancykicks30's blog

...could have been what the sign at my table said, the way some people looked at it with amusement and/or disgust. It was actually a sign advertising exercise classes offered for employees at UPMC. (These is done in conjunction with the downtown YMCA who I work for). Now, I don't expect everyone to be a huge exercise geek like me. However, it's sad and pathetic how so many people look at ALL exercise as primitive torture, and see people like me who do like it, as some kind of freak. It is a real downer when people have such a lousy attitude towards something you believe in...especially when the majority of them have never TRIED these classes, and would find if they did, they might actually LIKE them. Really! The countless benefits of exercise have been proven. To me, the psychological ones are as great as, or even greater than the physical benefits. What saved me from being a total cynic after this experience were the few, the proud, the enthusiastic yoga, pilates, toning and kickboxing fans who did sign up...those who have discovered that exercise rocks!  read more »

For anyone who thinks they are too "old" for Taekwondo, take note of this snippet from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Obituary section, Monday April 30, describing the life of Victor Katz. Victor was a C.S. Kim student, who began practicing martial arts at age 50! Although Victor is no longer with us, reading about his martial arts experience is inspirational...at least to me!

News Obituaries
Obituary: Victor Katz / Lifelong jeweler and karate black belt
July 12, 1925 -- April 24, 2007

Monday, April 30, 2007
By Gary Rotstein, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"Victor Katz was "that karate jeweler guy" to a few youngsters accompanying parents to his Monroeville jewelry store...  read more »

One of the benefits of my new part-time job at the YMCA is a free membership. Taekwondo and Cardio Kick are my preferred forms of exercise, so I do much outside of that (except lifting weights, which I had not been keeping up with -hello New Year's resolution!). But I did take a couple of classes- one of which, was a Spinning/Boot Camp class last Friday's from 5:30-7pm. No, that's not a typo...an hour and a half! My new boss looked at me like I was insane when I said that I was going to do it. (a look which I've become way too accustomed to seeing from people!) It started out with about 20 minutes of Spinning (an exercise bike class with variations in position and resistance), then 30 minutes or so of "boot camp," then more spinning.  read more »

Mental Note: Trying to take a cell phone picture of you in your dobok and your dog dressed in a kung fu top (both with Santa hats) may seem like a funny thing to do, but trust me, it's just not worth it!

Last night, I was playing air hockey with a friend. I've never been an aggressive game player, but every time I hit the puck, I accidentally let out a loud kihap. It was just automatic. Maybe next time I absent mindedly forget to kihap in class, I'll have to pretend I'm playing air hockey. Oh, and by the way, I did win the game!

Dear Santa,
There is one thing that I would like very much for Christmas (besides world peace, which Miss. America already asked you for) That is: for more adults to come to Taekwondo class. Don’t get me wrong - I enjoy practicing Taekwondo with the students who do come to evening classes. But I know that we have some students who stopped coming to class, and I wish they would come back! I know they are probably busy getting ready for the holidays. But don’t they realize that taking class helps with the stress of doing all that Christmas stuff??!! Class is only an hour. It’s not that hard to fit into a busy schedule. Plus, if they are like me and have a hard time resisting Christmas cookies, it burns those extra calories!  read more »

Even though I recently got my Black Belt, I don’t consider myself to be an “expert” on testing. However, I have learned a great deal along the way by observing and participating in many of them. I have learned much from my own mistakes, and by hearing Sabumnim make corrections to myself and others. I would rather give tips before testing – it’s much more useful than waiting till afterwards to give advice to participants.

1. The testing booklet: Make every attempt to hand it in before testing day so that you don’t have to stress about finding it at 9:45am on the morning of color belt testing. I confess that I can be a slob, and lately, I feel like I’m losing the “War on Clutter.” However, I keep my booklet in a wooden filing cabinet in a file labeled "Taekwondo." It is simple to find because it is right in front of my least favorite file: "TAX." Ugh!  read more »

While in Philadelphia for testing, I thought I’d take the opportunity to take a Black Belt class at Headquarters. At HQ, Blue belts can attend BB class with permission of their Sabumnim, so Beth Kurtz (my skit partner in crime) bravely accompanied me.

Since there are so many students at HQ and surrounding dojangs, BB children have their own separate class. Both adult and children BB classes are 1 hour & ½. We walked in on the latter part of the children’s class and they were free sparring. Those kids were seemed pretty tough. I don’t think I’d want to free spar with some of the bigger ones!  read more »

My self-control "score" on a typical day:

- Went to the gym instead of going to Sports Rock to watch the Steeler game (thus avoided beer and greasy appetizer calories) = +1 point

- Resisted the urge to lay on my horn (one of my biggest guilty pleasures) at the pokey driver who went 10 miles an hour, causing me to miss the green arrow (Grrrrrr!) = +1 point

- Ate a huge iced cutout cookie at Giant Eagle after the gym. Everything else in the cart was a healthy food item (ironic, isn't it?)
= - 1 point

- Took time to cook a healthy recipe (baked sweet potato fries) with dinner instead of whipping up the Stove Top stuffing (which would have taken 5 minutes as opposed to 45 minutes) = +1 point.  read more »

Warning: this is going to be long. Kind reader, I advise you to grab some popcorn and a coke, or well, diet coke, bottled water...you get the idea.

Years ago, I had an Internship at the local NBC affiliate, WPXI. One of my jobs was to read a program summary for certain shows, and write 10 second promos, which would later be recorded by an announcer. Usually, these were of the sleazy tabloid variety such as "Men find out if they are the father...today on the Jenny Jones Show." But one summary paragraph for the TV show, Hard Copy, piqued my interest. It was about Bridget “baby doll” Riley…a top female kickboxer, who was only 2 years younger than me. "Hmmm…kickboxing…that sounds neat!" I thought. Boxing had never interested me, but the thought of executing fancy kicking techniques, in addition to punching made it different and exciting. As time went by, I would pass martial art schools while driving, and think about stopping in to ask about classes, but didn’t. Here is an embarrassing truth: it was after the internship that I discovered the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Like the title would imply, the chief character, "Buffy," would protect the world, or at least her fictional California town, from vampires and other evil creatures. During the fight scenes she would use martial arts style kicks and punches to “vanquish” the demons. This soon became "appointment TV" for me, but I enjoyed the fight scenes most of all. I was definitely going to try martial arts because I wanted to do these cool jumping, kicking, and punching techniques (minus the whole killing of vampires thing).  read more »