Who ever knew...

... that it could be so tiring to swing a stick around.

I've been watching my diet quite a lot better since oktober 2009. And to get some more exercise I decided to take up aikido last august.

I've done some martial arts earlier in my life, judo and karate at university, but that was 15 years ago.

In aikido you train with short staff and sword, both of which you can see above. And you wouldn't believe how satisfyingly tiring it is to swing them about for 90 minutes training various strikes, attacks and blocks.

Dietwise, well it helps too. I've gone from 141.6 kg to 118.1 kg, from a waist 48 to a waist 42 sofar. I plan on loding another 30 kg or so. 90 kg is still way above "normal" weight for 173 cm, but it is a far more realistic weight for me and one I know I can hold.