How It All Started

My passion for pro wrestling began at the age of 5. I can actually pinpoint it to the exact day. My 5th birthday. My dad gave me an LJN Hulk Hogan action figure. He was a casual fan, but could sense the popularity of Hulk Hogan was skyrocketing, and somehow he thought to buy me his figure. I remember holding it like it was glowing in my hands. I had superhero toys, but there was something different about this one. It was magic. Of course I began to ask questions about who he was, and soon found out that my dad had recorded Saturday Night's Main Event from a week or so prior to my birthday. That night I watched Hulk Hogan vs. Nikolai Volkoff...needless to say, but life would never be the same, and 30 plus years later I'm still a die hard Hulkamanic!

Don't Forget Your Past

With Thanksgiving just a few days away, as a wrestling fan of over 30 years, I'm always reminded of Survivor Series. I have such great memories of this Thanksgiving tradition, and am thankful that those memories eventually let to me getting in the ring myself as a wrestler for over 13 years. I plan on talking about my career over the next few weeks, and look forward to sharing my stories of training, traveling, and performing. I hope you'll check it out!

Giving Thanks

This week is a time when people from all around think of what they are thankful for. I am most thankful for my family. It has been a very stressful year, but we are all here to spend it together. With prayers and positive thoughts, 2018 will be bigger and better for us all.

Role Models

With all of the craziness going on in the world, I found myself looking at my son and wondering what type of role models he will chose as he grows. At the age of 3 it's all Paw Patrol and Peppa Pig and fun innocent things. As he grows, I pray that he will have positive role models like I did, that will steer him in the right direction. I can only hope that he chooses to follow the examples of my wife and I, and other family members. I found myself leaning more towards athletes and celebrities, as I did not have the strongest foundation at home. David Hasselhoff, Shawn Michaels, Hulk Hogan, and Daniel Larusso were who I chose to follow and imitate, and they are also still role models of mine to this day. Obviously one of them is a film character, but he also had a very positive influence on me. I am thankful for having grown up when I did, and I pray that even though things are much different now, that my son will chose positive people to follow as well.

Great Weekend

My family and I had a great weekend getting ready for the holidays. We started off on Saturday evening here in Houston by attending a town lighting and appearance by Santa. From there, we started our decorating at home and ringing in the holiday season, which has always been a very special time for me personally, and our family. I did not get in any training time this weekend, but for many this can be expected this time of year. It definitely doesn't mean give up! I am thankful for my health and having another great weekend and week ahead!

Maintaining A Positive Outlook

I'm about a week and a half removed from what was a really difficult time, and set back for me. I feel much more like myself, and find it hard to even think back to the condition I was in just 2 weeks ago. Part of it may have been anxiety brought on by turning another year older. That may sound strange to some, but birthdays and holidays have always been an emotional time for me, and have involved trips to the ER even on Christmas day! For now, I'm doing everything I can to breathe, stay positive, and continue to live life one day at a time.

Overcoming

Happy to say that the past 4 days have been fantastic, and I feel like myself once again. Back on track! For me, the main drive has been not just for my own personal goals, but for the happiness of my family. Just seeing what I put my wife and son through everytime I experience these setbacks is my main driving force for wanting to beat this disease. One day at a time!

Battling Panic Disorder

I have recently had quite a setback in my training. As I have mentioned previously, I have been battling panic disorder and anxiety for the better part of 20 years. Panic disorder is a disease that can sometimes be minimum in its effects, and other times crippling. For me, the past couple of weeks have been the latter. Each and every day is a battle, that is impossible to explain to those that don't suffer from it. Those that do know exactly just how life altering this can be. I have been doing my very best to fight this battle head on, but there are just some days when I can't. This has hampered my training, as training isn't even an option when I feel like im struggling to breathe and dealing with chest pain. I am not giving up on my focus, and will strive to continue to do my very best to achieve my goals.

Always Something New

When I started my journey to becoming a black belt through Global Martial Arts University , I knew that I would be in for a journey full of hard work, ups and downs. Unfortunately, the past few weeks have been quite a roller coaster. This is all due to my panic disorder and anxiety which has really gotten the best of me lately. But to me, this is all part of the journey, and the fight to achieve my goals. On the good days, I'm able to train hard, on the bad days, its sometimes a struggle just to breathe. And other days, I find the medium. Right now its one day at a time, but I am not giving up. I have too much faith to ever do so.

Training With The Holidays In Mind

As I continue my journey to black belt with Global Martial Arts University , I am not only training and preparing for my orange belt test, as part of the 90 Day Challenge, but I am also keeping myself in shape, and preparing for the holiday season. Many people tend to eat and drink more with lots of holiday gatherings and parties. This leads to a lot of people starting off the New Year by rushing to joining a gym, or starting a new workout program of some kind. For me the best way to prepare, is to be in as best shape as possible prior to the holiday season, and maintaining my workout routine as best as I can. This doesn't mean not to enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners and parties. It simply means to have portion control and do whatever you have to in order to maintain your workouts. GMAU is a perfect tool for not only learning martial arts, but for getting and staying in shape!

A New Day

After what has been an exhausting and draining week both physically and emotionally, I am starting today off fresh. I feel good, happy to be feeling well, and ready to start to get back on track. Starting things off with breathing exercises and looking forward to get back on track with my training this weekend. Thank you everyone for the kind words and for listening to me discuss what I'm going through. Oss!

Still Battling

I have been dealing with an extremely difficult week of my panic disorder. It has been almost crippling. I have not been able to play with my son, to train, or barely function. I am doing my very best to fight through it, but as I mentioned, it can be so hard to get through an hour calmly, let alone a day. Any words of advice or positive thoughts would be extremely helpful. Thank you.

Everyday Is A Battle

Right now, I am taking each day at a time. Yesterday I was able to do some stretching and light exercise, but no karate training due to my panic disorder. Today is a new day and I am taking 1 day at a day. I am hopeful to be able to resume my training and start to get back on track. Either way, I will not let this disease defeat me.

The Importance Of Stretching

While working through my injuries, I have found great help in the 20 minute stretching class conducted by Sensei Michael in the yellow belt kyu classes. Having practiced DDP YOGA for many years, I found this class extremely helpful, and very similar in how it helped me to stretch and lossen my body, which is much needed when working out on a consistent level. I will be adding this to my normal training regimen for sure.
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My Karate Inspiration

Check out my newest YouTube video, "The Karate Dad - My Karate Inspiration" which covers my reasons for getting into martial arts, and it's impact on my life for many years.

The Karate Dad

Home Dojo

One of the great advantages of training at home with Global Martial Arts University is the ability to use your own space or home dojo. While this can be an accommodating training bonus, it can cause some disadvantages as well. Speaking for myself, I enjoy training in my own personal space, which for me has been an area in my living, as well as an area in my bedroom. The only time I need to change things up is when I do my kata training. More space is needed to complete all of the kata steps, so for this I do my training outdoors, in a breezeway type area. Even in this spot, space is tight, but I am able to complete this steps of the kata forms. My journey training as part of the 90 Day Challenge continues!

Finding Motivation & Keeping It

From doing research into martial arts, I have found that the problem that many people of all ages face, is motivation. Whether they begin training as children, or as adults, many students fail to reach the level of black belt because they mainly lose interest in their training. Many students who are not fully devoted to training in their art find it difficult to stick with their training and often quit after a lack of effort.

For me, I have used my desire to not only want to learn Shotokan and to better myself, but I have also used my son, and wanting him to be proud of my as another form of inspiration. My son enjoys watching me train and will often attempt to do some of the moves himself. I hope to continue my training and to eventually reach the level of blackbelt and to ultimately pass what I have learned on to my son.

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Kihon Drills

My training yesterday was a review and practice of all of the kihon drills in the yellow and orange belt kyu. I started my workout with DDP Yoga Energy 2.0 and went right into my Shotokan training. The repetition of these kihon drills not only provides great training and preparation for my upcoming orange belt exam, but of course, also provides a great workout. I like to focus on tightening my core and working on my posture as well while practice these drills. I also incorporated a warm up and cool down as well to make it a well rounded workout. Global Martial Arts University

Working Even Harder

My orange belt level training is going great, and I had a very productive training weekend. I have begun to incorporate DDP Yoga into my overall training, and have found that it helps me a great deal and gets me loose and in great shape for my karate training. I am reviewing and practicing all of the lessons and classes as much as possible in preparation for my orange belt test as part of the Global Martial Arts University 90 Day Challenge!

Working Through Anything

One thing that I have prided myself on with my karate training, is that, whether I have had some kind of nagging injury, or even a mild illness, I have been able to work through, or at least modify my workouts, to be sure that I'm not missing a beat. Having a history in pro wrestling, and baseball, I deal with back and knee pain quite often. I have found that the exercises and the training involved in Shotokan Karate have helped me improve physically, in addition to everything that I am learning involving the art form.  Global Martial Arts University