Congrats on getting your surgery date! That should really help on your quest for the BLACK BELT! Yes, I do seemed surprised by people doing this before surgery, I am now down 200 pounds from my heaviest and still have difficulty keeping up with some of the "younger" people in the group. I am currently a purple belt in Shao-Lin Kempo and have a real blast with it. Keep up the great work, sounds like you have some good exercising habits formed for a successful post surgery! -Chris

Hello, I am 5 weeks out and down 24lbs to 212.5. YEH! Anyway, I used to be very active in martial arts and competing in point fighting which is pretty much like sparring. My last competition was in 1987 and I fractured my foot during the competition but still fought and won 4th place out of 32 entrants. I studied Majutsu at that time and got up to a blue belt. I have not been active in martial arts since 1991, when I was diagnosed with Lupus and later on with Fibromyalgia. I have been on SSDI since then and have continued to gain weight. Now that I am on my way down for good, I might try it again. I was very depressed when I got diagnosed and had to stop. I love martial arts and hope I can do it to some degree again after I get teh rest of my weight off. Anyway, good luck to you all with your weight loss journey and with your martial arts training.

Hi! I take Taekwondo with our family. Our children and myself are orange belts and my husband is brown belt. We usually take it together as a family. My husband got injured in Taekwondo May 19. He injured his knee and had to have surgery. Recovery is going well. This is not discouraging us. He is still as motivated as he ever was and it is a great motivation to me. I am glad that I take it. I hope to be better after this surgery and maybe then I can spin kick I already have gear too. It's cool lisa

Hi Laura; When I first started Tae Kwon Do, my instructor kept putting me with the men and higher ranks when I sparred. Finally after getting the crap kicked out of me several times, I asked him why he did this? He told me that the greatest part of learning is when you experience defeat. The upper ranks can teach you valuable information by doing it and seeing it first hand. Maybe the next time you have sparring night at your school you request that you spar the higher ranks. When you spar them, make it clear that you are trying to learn from them, not to kick their butt, and you will find that they will tell you little secrets to sparring that help out a great deal. A lot of times I found they would tell me what I did wrong and what I need to do to improve my sparring techniques. My biggest personal tip to you is be patient. Let the other person tire themselves out first and you'll find you will last longer and look more like a Black Belt in tournaments. I hope I was of some help. Kelly Anderson 1st Degree Black Belt

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