Isshinryu Karate

I've taken up a sport that I haven't enjoyed for about 18 years or so - karate.  My younger son started taking karate in November 2008, and I was forced to sit on the sidelines remembering the times when I was the one throwing kicks and punches.  It didn't take long before I told my wife that I really wanted to take karate, too.

Fast forward to 4 weeks ago.  For the first time in nearly 2 decades I stepped onto the mat in a karate dojo and had a formal lesson.  Even better is the fact that my older son and my wife are also students.  We are the family that kicks together.

This is one of the really cool by-products of being in shape.  I get the benefit of participating in life and not just watching it go by from the sidelines.  Much like my spectator status in my younger son's karate class, when I was overweight, unhappy, and in pain all the time, I didn't get the opportunity to enjoy the kinds of activities that I'm becoming involved in now.  Not only did my family life suffer terribly, but my work life sucked, and home life was just hum-drum.

I had created my own misery and fueled the misery with inactivity and hostility.  What an unfortunate life!

Karate isn't the only new thing I'm trying.  I'm looking at starting an online venture in the bowling arena - something else I'm fairly good at - that will not only focus on the details of the sport of bowling but also on the fitness aspect and its affect on bowling ability.  I recently spoke with a friend who wants to shed some fat and regain the physical conditioning he enjoyed in his military career.  Perhaps I'll have the opportunity to work with him and help HIM reach HIS goals.

The point of the matter is that now the sky's the limit.  The only thing that holds me back is me - and I held myself back for long enough.  It's time I fully engaged and took life by the horns.

Come along!  I promise, you'll have a GREAT time!

Be well!

Dinner, anyone?

I was grilling this evening.  This was a tasty, tasty dinner.

Mango-lime tuna steaks and fresh pineapple rings grilled over hot coals.  Yummy!

Sunday at the Beach

I put up a couple of new pictures in the photo album.  Even though they aren't my official "after" photos for my Transformation challenge, they are a pretty good indication of what has transpired over the last several months.

I'll be 40 in 7 weeks.  Time to sprint to that mile-post and sail into October and the USMC booth at the NC State Fair.  I did 11 pullups on Friday.  15-20 should be within reach by the time October rolls around.  After that?  Who knows!  But I'll be doing my best to inspire others to reach beyond themselves for good health.

Be well!

Get Excited!

I was at the gym last night doing an intense upper-body workout. As it turned out, it was customer appreciation day at the gym, so there were lots of giveaways and other neat things going on. One of the services offered was a measurement of body fat percentage.

My wife and I signed up for the door prizes (we both won, BTW. I got 3 MONTHS FREE at the gym at she won a month's unlimited tanning) and made our way over to the table where they were measuring BMI. My wife went first and came back with an impressive 22% (the highest category on their chart). As I started the process of programming my age, weight, height, etc into the device, I made a mental prediction of my pecentage. I figured I'd come in somewhere close to my wife's measurement. All set, I held the device in front of me as the attendant pressed the 'start' button. A few seconds later, my BMI came out.

I'm at approximately 16% body fat - fitness level!! Only a few percentage points shy of the "Athlete" level.

I started this process at around 28% body fat.

I'm EXCITED!!

On another progress note, my wife and I decided to go for an evening run down by the lake on Sunday. Part of the way through the running course, there's a little fitness station with a pullup bar and a balance beam that we can do pushups against. We get to the station and I step up to the bar.

I have this personal goal. Every October the state fair comes to North Carolina, and every year the United States Marine Corps sets up a tent. At this tent, they have pullup bars where attendees at the fair can win prizes by performing a certain number of pullups. I think the first level of recognition is 10 pullups. My goal WAS 15. I think I'm going to up that goal. Why?

With 5 more months of training left before the state fair, I did 10 pullups this past Sunday when we stopped at the bar near the lake!! OH YEAH!!

Pictures going up in the next day or two. Life is GOOD!!

Nutricide.

I don't usually post links to other people's stuff in my blog, but I'm making an exception in this case.  The author over at jacksboxproject wrote an excellent article on the nutricide of America - killing people through dietary means.  I'm not much of a tinfoil hat kind of guy, but I have to agree that there's a point to the article in that what we eat has a profound effect on our bodies in more ways than we tend to understand.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

A person is hungry, so they stop at a fast-food place on their way to work. An hour later they are hungry again, and wondering to themselves with guilt, “Why am I already hungry again?” It is because they satisfied their stomach, but not the rest of their body. Now their body is calling for more food, to satisfy the need for proper nutrients. The sort of nutrients that provide energy, and stave of all sorts of sickness and disease. If they had a nutritious breakfast, they would not be hungry now. Instead they opted for the cheesy-sausage biscuit that shot right through them like greased lightning. To satisfy their hunger once again, they raid the box of donuts in the break room. Again, no real nutritional value, but it satisfies the stomach for a while once more. At this point, the person has probably already exceeded their proper caloric intake for the day, without even gaining any proper nutritional sustenance that the body actually requires. The person has been eating for nothing, other than to put down the creeping feeling of starvation that comes from the body calling for the nutrition that it requires. You shut the hunger up for a while, by tricking it that nutrition is on the way, but a little while later the body says “hey, where’s that nutrition you said you were sending us?!” Sometimes with ferocity so that you are even hungrier than you were originally, and then body goes into “danger” mode, storing up what it can in fat reserves because it has been warned that there is a shortage of nutrients.

Read the rest here.

Be well!