![\"1005012_10202353511177810_809184983_n\"](\"http:\/\/jamesrichardson.net\/jtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/1005012_10202353511177810_809184983_n.jpg\")
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The other day I was talking to my old martial arts instructor, Kyoshi Giles<\/a>, and musing over the fact that only fellow martial artists seem to understand how getting together with close friends to punch, kick, and stab one another over and over can be a beautiful thing. The camaraderie that can be developed by working out with other like minded individuals is not only fun, but also uplifting. I bring all this up because I had just returned from an early morning knife fighting class at the Krav Maga Federation<\/a> and was feeling pretty good about getting back into the swing of training on a regular basis.<\/p>\n Over the past year or so\u00a0I had made a number of excuses about why I couldn’t make it to the dojo with any regularity. Everything from starting the new job<\/a> to stressing over publishing enough for my upcoming final review\u00a0year for tenure<\/a>. While all of these seemed to be valid reasons for sitting on the couch and vegging out instead of training, in truth I was just allowing my stress and anxiety about career and tenure issues to take over. That stops as of today.<\/p>\n So here is to hoping that the injury I had tonight while sparring was just a muscle pull instead of a muscle tear. However the popping sound didn’t fill me with too much hope. The good news is that I decided I should dress as Yoda<\/a> this Halloween instead of as Batman<\/a>. Plus I don’t have to stand in order to do crunches and push ups.<\/p>\n See…. So I guess I am a “glass is half way full” kinda guy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Only martial artists seem to understand how getting together with close friends to punch, kick, and stab one another over and over can be a beautiful thing. The camaraderie that can be developed by working out with other like minded individuals is not only fun, but also uplifting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[345,305,291,247,250],"tags":[490,290,154,152,248,249,243,153,242,324],"class_list":["post-3656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-batman","category-comics-scifi","category-ips","category-krav-maga-sports-and-fitness","category-martial-arts-sports-and-fitness","tag-ips-2","tag-judo","tag-karate","tag-krav-maga","tag-krav-maga-federation","tag-martial-arts","tag-self-defense","tag-shotokan","tag-tae-kwon-do","tag-wing-chun"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t