Just wondering what some of you guys do for a living while still be able to practice say at least 3 hours a day. Thanks

I'm a senior computer tech at a mortgage company, play drums in 3 fairly busy rock bands and am looking into publishing my own line of children's books and greeting cards. I try to make it out to the gym a once or twice a week. And whenever possible I do animal rescue work. (did I mention my commute is 1 hour each way to work and much further to my Ba Gua class twice a week?)

I don't practice anything '3 hours a day'. But I get a lot accomplished by managing what time I do have available.

I generally do Yi Chuan warm ups and (8) standing postures 3-4 times a week (only hold each for a few minutes)

I walk the circle and do the Sun Style Ba Gua forms daily (nearly daily) along with some stretching and power excersises. Lately I've been working on tree striking afterwards.

I try to practice drums for at least 30 minutes a day or when I'm on a roll for 2 hours at a stretch. But I go through phases where I wont practice for a week or two at a time. But shows and recording work pop up regularly so I have to stay on my toes.

Former Marine working in pharmaceutical industry as researcher. I do not believe it is necessary to work out 3 hours/day and if that is the case, it is to build cardiovascular endurance and stamina.
Let's face it-most people attracted to the "internal" martial arts do not possess the stamina and I am stretching it a little, the actual sweat of judo, shuaijiao and other arts are too strenuous, according to their perception. So some people are creating legends in their own mind. This is what I have observed.

How do I generaly work out:

1. Walking 8-10 hours pe week
2. Zhanzhuang 5-7 hours per week
3. Circle walking 4-5 hours per week
4. Posture training 4-5 hour sper week
mowing lawn and shovelling snow as needed. In midwest sometimes 4-5 hrs per week if snowing and mowing lawn every other weekend.

If I were to return to local tournament, I would add jogging and some weioghtlifting

I deliver pizzas,
Yea it's a crappy job, but with tips i can work very little and still(some how) pay my bills.

I work 8 to 5, monday through friday in a health department. I get home about 5:20, I like to start my training at 6 and finish by 9. Then I do weights, running, or abd and back exercises, and have everything done not later then 10.

I do not have any young kids at home, and other hobbies, or yard care etc, I do only on the weekends.

Almost all of my training is done in my kitchen. I am pushing 50 years old.

While I agree with Stan that many people getting into Internal arts think (or are lead to believe) it is not 'strenuous'.... I'd like to mention that our classes are very strenuous.

Like Tim says: "just because it's 'soft' doesn't mean that it's easy"

I've often been near puking after especially strenuous classes. And nearly always sweaty.

The Chi-Huggers out there would not be able to rotate their dantien's after a 'real' IMA class.

I teach Kodokan Judo and KeithRyu Jujitsu, Monday through Friday. My students practice the throwing and submission grappling skills for about three hours every night. I am able to get some practice with them daily. I lift weights at the local Gold's Gym for about 1.5 hours a day. I have been a student of martial arts for 22 of my 34 years.
I enjoy writing and am currently working on a novel/screenplay.
I have had many "Joe jobs" over the years and am now happy to have the luxury of focusing on teaching, training, and writing.

Interesting topic.

I believe Ross was more interested in the actual daily routine than in the jobs we guys have. A mean to compare and operate, could be?

Anyway, since I dropped my 152456th 'normal' job and returned to night-security and teaching m.arts (seems that I cannot use my ph.d in the 'civilian' society without becoming crazy..) maybe I'm not the more interesting source of info. Still, I can provide how I managed to train when I worked the night shift 5 days a week, away from home.

woke up 30 min. in advance and do posture training

5/15 min. of the same during the lunch break

1 hour mixed stuff after work (isn't much): footwork, combos, bag, stretching, fali etc.etc.

15 min. various relaxation stuff (chikung etc.) before sleeping

2 strenous training sessions weekly at the gym (technical advancement and sparring etc.)

going outdoor once during the weekend and run (sometimes I did swim or some other things just to variate)

Hope I was useful.

european,

I think you need to read the first 11 words in Ross's post before clairifying it for others.

actually, I got the same impression as european about Ross's post because of the following 12 words that qualified the first 11. That is why most people finish reading the entire sentence before deciding on what it is they have read.

did you notice the name of the thread;

"WHAT DO YOU DO FOR A LIVING?"

Can you help me understand how the following 12 words; "while still be able to practice say at least 3 hours a" qualify the follwing 11 words; "Just wondering what some of you guys do for a living".

Speaking of Genius in action, what do you do for a living?

I'm genuinely fascinated!

By the way: I teach Internal Martial Arts full time at several Los Angeles and Santa Barbara retirement homes. I also do "collections" work
sometimes to supplement my income while honning my martial skills, if ya know what I mean, hommie.

Ross- can you settle this?
Were you asking 'what we DO for a living' like your post implied- or "what is your routine" as the two brainiacs deduced.

Larry Keith- what the heck is 'KeithRyu Jujitsu'
doesn't 'Ryu' mean 'system'.... I know what Jui jitsu is.... but the 'Keith' thing- I can't find record of it anywhere.

Thank you,
Bob #2

Bob #2,

Ryu does mean system, it is also translates to mean school. My last name is Keith. Most of the history you will find of the name Keith will pertain to Scotland. The Keith Clan were the keepers of the Scottish Regalia.
I teach a mixed martial arts system that consists of a mixture of Kodokan Judo, BJJ, Shotokan Karate, and Moo Duk Kwon. I own and operate a dojo in Roseburg, Oregon. At this school I teach this system, hence the name "Keith Ryu". Thank you for asking. I hope as a fellow martial artist, you are not offended by my naming of this system and school. I needed a name, and I liked mine.

Bob #2,

without being severe, I must notice that EVERYBODY on this board understood that the school (Ryu) was named after his teacher (Keith).

Larry,

congratulations, I wish you the best success.
I appreciate you gave your school your name, it's a matter of sincerity.

Good for you Keith! I have no idea if you did the right thing or not. Even if your system sucks, t's a free country...kinda....
Although I did not name a system after myself, my gym is named so.
I thought the same thing. I liked my own name so I used it!
What's in a name anyway?

Do you people know what a system means? A mish mash is not a system. Ryu means style. Kan means school. Bugei usually means the style is a system.

BTW, I work at a university.

As this forum is about martial arts, why would someone ask about various peoples' jobs unless he wished to know how it impacted their training? And since so many on this forum apparently consider themselves "mixed martial artists", why get snippy with Larry for giving his personal system a name to differentiate it? And why get flustered when people resent your unwarranted snippiness? What did you expect? I suppose I'm to be intimidated because you teach "waving hands" or whatever to the elderly, ocassionally mugging them to "supplement your income". As for me, I could tell you I'm a Tong enforcer, or Bill Gate's bodyguard, could you prove otherwise? I HAVE been a russian interrogator for military intelligence, a state prison guard, a deputy sheriff (working real collections on the side), and am currently working security at a nuclear plant. No, I didn't "kick ass and take names" on a weekly basis. Most of the people on this board could probably work these jobs well if they had to (some undoubtedly do). But they were eye-opening experiences. But I prefer to think of myself as a struggling author.

Meynard,

How does a system develop? You are right about Kan, it is school. It usually refers to a specific location. Ryu does refer to the system/method and can also be used for school.

Mr. Keith

First you have to have an organized set of interrelated and interdependent principles. Collecting techniques from different arts and slapping them together does not make it a system, IMO. It's some kind of monstrosity, like a stitched together beast.

Kenneth Sohl is like Walter Mitty.