Growing or Dying

Years ago someone told me this simple truth:
Nothing in life is ever stagnant.  Everything is either growing or it is dying.  There is no middle ground.

As long as someone chooses to do nothing beneficial to his health, he will be in a state of gradual dying.  Chances are likely that you know people who have chosen just such a life.  The light of life has left them.  Their fondest desire is to make it to the weekend so they can "rest" - the code word for doing absolutely nothing.  Their most exertive activity is walking to and from the car or fridge.

A person in this state of existence surely is dying.  They are essentially committing protracted suicide.  Their inert bodies cease to function properly.  Body systems begin to weaken.  Muscles atrophy until the very act of standing and walking becomes a labor.  The weakened body becomes susceptible to sickness and disease - type-2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cancer, and a host of other maladies - until it just gives up.  Everything stops.

Death.

Contrast all of that dying with the person whose body is constantly in motion (relatively speaking, of course).  The muscles get stronger, the body leaner, and the senses sharper.  This body is growing, changing for the better.  LIVING.

It's all a matter of choice.  Our human condition affords us the uncanny opportunity to choose which path to walk.  We can choose to get up and move or sit down and vegetate.  We choose to live, or we choose to die.

Often a choice is never made; one just engages in death by default because the choice to grow and live was never made.  There is no escaping choice (cue The Matrix Reloaded music).

Sometimes people are fooled into thinking that they no longer have a choice - they're too old or too fat to get moving.  These delusions are the by-product of an earlier forgotten choice (or failure to make a choice) to let death have its way for however long it takes to run its course.

However it works out, the fact remains: people are where they are because they choose to be there.

Occupying the middle ground is impossible, because, well, the middle ground does not exist.  The minute one stops exercising, the minute he stops engaging in regular movement, or the minute he decides to go back to eating junk is the same minute his body begins the regressive path toward death.  There is no "in between" place.  Sure, the body will take time to add the pounds back on, but the dying process truly began with the choice to neglect the body and its needs.

We all face the same choice - growing or dying.  Refusing or failing to choose is the equal to choosing the path toward an early grave.  Choosing to grow through exercise and nutrition is a choice to live.

It doesn't get any clearer than that.

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Decisions Become Habits

Over the course of any given day, each of us makes hundreds - possibly thousands - of decisions.  Some of them are completely inconsequential - which pair of black socks to wear or which pen to sign our names with for example.  Others have a far more profound effect on our lives - to move or stay, invest in a company or not.  No matter how monumental or insignificant the decision, we are actively deciding our way through every day of our lives.

The thought occurred to me the other day as I was pondering the nature of why we do what we do.  We say things like, "That's such a nasty habit," when we see someone dipping tobacco or biting their nails.  So how does one get from the point of making a decision to having a habit?

What is a habit except a decision that we no longer think about?

Until about 14 years ago my in-laws smoked cigarettes.  After 30+ years of smoking, the activity had become completely habitual on multiple levels.  They habitually bought cigarettes whenever they went to the store.  They habitually lit their cigarettes, smoked them, crushed them out, and repeated the process time and time again each day.  It was automatic, mindless, and performed flawlessly each and every time.

Until one day, they decided to stop smoking.  Now they had to perform an entirely different set of actions.  They had to consciously decide to NOT buy cigarettes.  They had to consciously decide to stop lighting cigarettes and smoking them.  And over time, their new decision making process became a habit - performed flawlessly and mindlessly every day.  Today, 14 years later, they no longer even think about smoking cigarettes.  They have a new habit.

Fitness and diet operate on the exact same level.  Some of us have a current habit of buying food that is not good for us.  It happens automatically - I know it did for me.  I would literally find myself standing in line at some local dive buying food that I knew was bad for me.  Because I had done it so often, I just repeated a habit that was the product of a decision I had made years earlier.  The only thing that ever changed was the venue.

In order to change my body, I had to change my habits.  I had to consciously decide to eat nutritious food that gave me energy and nutrients.  I had to decide to change my shopping practices and eating preferences until the healthy decisions could be performed unconsciously.

Laziness is a profoundly difficult habit to break.  Sometimes people become automatons - wake up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, watch TV, have a snack, go to bed, repeat.  One of the saddest testimonies to laziness came from a couple in my circle of influence that knew exactly what channels they were going to watch on any given day of the week from 6:00 in the evening until bedtime.  The routine never varied unless a show came along and bumped a standing program from their self-designed television lineup.

In order to make any change in our lives, whether it be fitness related or otherwise, we have to consciously make decisions that are in alignment with the goal we want to achieve.  Rather than unconsciously ordering the #3 Combo with extra pickles, we have to consciously decide to order the garden salad with vinaigrette.  Instead of mindlessly deciding to plant ourselves in the recliner for hours on end, we have to make a focused decision to go for a walk.  Eventually, the new patterns will take hold and become habit. 

Living your life consciously is the only way to effectively change your future for the better.  We are all subject to the effects of our decisions and habits.  The body does not discriminate between "good" decisions and "bad" ones.  It makes a habit out of whatever you do.

Make your decisions healthy and happy ones, and your life will surely follow suit.

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Brown Belt Fitness

According to nutristrategy.com, martial arts style fighting can burn up to 931 calories per hour.  It's one of the best forms of cardio training, and it's fun.

Most of the time.

Recently I tested for San-kyu (third brown belt) in Isshinryu Karate.  I have to say that it was the longest and most exhausting hour and 45 minutes of my life.  Video is below.

The first 80 minutes of the examination were spent demonstrating various kicks, blocks, punches, falls, rolls, and forms (called kata).  There are 9 basic kicks, each performed multiple times with each leg, plus 15 upper body basics (punches and block/punch combinations) that are also performed on left and right sides multiple times.

After basics, I was required to perform 6 empty-hand kata and a weapon (bo, or long staff) kata.  Each of those forms is a workout in itself.  Here is a video of me performing 4 of the 6 empty-hand kata.  The first is Kusanku, followed by Naihanchi, Wansu, and Chinto.

Once I was beyond all of the demonstration, I was set up for 4 rounds of sparring.  In an ideal world, these were supposed to be 5 minute rounds.  Some were a little shorter, but the last one was considerably longer - closer to 10 minutes.

Round 1 against Mr. Allen Taylor, Ik-kyu (First brown, or 2 ranks ahead of me).  As you might notice (after the 2-minute delay at the beginning of the video), he sports a considerable size advantage over me.  He also hits hard.  I asked my instructor before the test if I would need mouth protection.  I was assured that there would be no contact to the head.  Please observe where Mr. Taylor hits me first. :)

Round 2 - Mr. Nick Baker, Ni-Dan (2nd-degree Black).  Mr. Baker is wiry and FAST.  Had he wanted to, I'm sure he could have cleaned the dojo floor with me.  By this time, I was feeling almost dead.  I was physically at my limits with this fight and 2 more rounds to go.

At about 30 seconds into the video, you'll see that I started running around the dojo in pain.  Unseen to the casual observer, Mr. Baker had incidentally helped me re-injure a severely damaged left thumb.  Every time I've injured this thumb, it's almost a religious experience.  I've never had such a reaction to pain, but the experience was so intense that I truly felt other-worldly when it happened.  It's been 4 months since the original injury, and it's still painful.  I digress, however...

Round 3 - Mr. Christopher Duke, San-Kyu (3rd Black) and MMA fighter.  In reality, if Mr. Duke had wanted it, I would have been dead in this fight.  He hits hard, as you will see when he puts me on the ground, writhing in agony, about 2/3 of the way through the video.  The punch was a perfect shot to the solar plexus.  I spent 30 seconds on the floor trying not to puke.  I think I tasted my breakfast when I was down there.  It sucked.  Hard.

Round 4 - Sensei Tim Cunningham, Nana-Dan (7th Black).  The best comparison here is a cat playing with a nearly-dead mouse.  I could barely see, couldn't breathe, and was soaked from top to bottom in sweat.  Just holding my hands up was a monumental effort.  He was being nice.... thankfully.

Between loss of water weight and burning who knows how many calories, I lost about 3 pounds during this test, proving that martial arts training, kickboxing, and open sparring do, in fact, burn a BUNCH of calories.

Some might watch those videos and wonder why on earth I would ever willingly subject myself to such treatment.  There are several reasons.

First, I've wanted to be a Sho-dan (Black Belt) since I was 14.  I never gave up on the goal, and I'm within 18 months of achieving it.

Second, martial arts is a physical challenge.  I want to prove to myself and everyone watching that age is NOT a factor.  I was 41 years 4 months old when I took that test.

Third, the test is a mental challenge.  When my body was screaming for me to stop, I had to dig deep into myself to find the will to push forward.  Under different circumstances, quitting means dying, and I'm not willing to accept death as an option.  If I won't quit under the exhaustion of the testing environment, I won't quit when it really matters.

Finally, believe it or not, the whole experience is fun.  Granted I wasn't really having fun at the time of the test, but getting to that point (and getting to the next level) is enjoyable.  The tests are just points of discomfort in the road to Sho-dan.

Keeping fitness fun and engaging is an important part of success.  Find something challenging and fun, and you should have no trouble sticking to the it as part of your fitness regimen.

**Thanks to Kaitlyn, my student at the Early College High School, for shooting the video and posting it on her youtube profile.

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Breaking out of the Summer Doldrums

Summers here in Eastern North Carolina have a tendency to do one of two things.  They either direct people toward the Outer Banks and the beach or they force people to just stay inside.  As if the often-oppressive heat weren't enough, we get humidity that makes the air so thick being in it feels like putting on a heavy winter coat.  Exercising outside is unheard of.

Unless you've bought a good at-home training program (P90X and Insanity, for example), it's quite easy to forego your exercise routine.  Then starts a downward spiral - once we're no longer exercising, we stop eating well.  The rest of the story is a journey into weight gain.

I'm personally looking forward to fall.  Even though I love the at-home programs, there's nothing quite like getting out of the house and into the crisp fall air that just invigorates the body.  It's my favorite time to go for a run down by the river or along the tree-lined streets.  I especially love the trails down at the park around the lake. There is a running trail with a pull-up bar and beam for doing incline push-ups and dips between laps.

I've personally found myself slacking a bit since going back to school and having most of my free time dominated by work, karate, and kids' activities.  Thankfully I can still get a good workout in karate, but I need to do more still.  Since the kids have just started soccer, once the temperatures go down just a bit more, I'll be donning my running gear and using those trails I mentioned earlier.

If your summer has found you taking it easy, make plans now to get back into a regular routine of training and nutrition.  Sit down and make a plan that you can work with and will lead you back into a body that will declare your fitness to the world when next summer rolls in.  If you're fairly new to fitness training, you can read my article on Getting Started with Physique Transformation to get yourself on the right road.

It's been a great summer.  Embrace the autumn reprieve from the heat and get outside for a daily walk.  Once the winter rolls around we'll probably huddle up inside again, so now is the perfect time to get yourself into a new routine.  We're behind you all the way.  Go for it!

Be well!

Parking Issues

It's kind of funny actually.  People go to the gym to get fit - to get in their daily dose of exercise so they can look and feel their best.  For whatever reason, however, they feel compelled to park right in front of the door.  As if crossing the parking lot somehow is too much of a chore for them.

We noticed this on Sunday as we were pulling into the gym parking lot.  Every spot (6 of them) in front of the door was full.  Like we always do, we parked across the parking lot and walked the extra 75 feet or so to the door.

These are the same people who probably drive around and around the parking lot at the grocery store or Wal-Mart waiting to catch the person who parked closest to the door as they are pulling out of the space.  Unless I'm in a real hurry, I don't mind parking at the cart return, which is about halfway across the lot.

It was just a casual observation, but it got me wondering what the thought process of such people is.  Why go to the gym and park almost inside the gym?  If the purpose of going to the gym is to exercise, why not just count walking in from the parking lot as part of the process?  If getting enough activity during the day is an issue, why not park across the lot from the store or from the front entrance at work?

Every calorie counts when trying to drop fat.

Be well!