Author: Shawn

I am a practitioner of the martial arts and student of the Buddhist faith. I have been a Type 1 Diabetic since I was 4 years old and have been fighting the uphill battle it includes ever since. I enjoy fitness and health and looking for new ways to improve both, as well as examining the many questions of life. Although I have no formal medical training, I have amassed a wealth of knowledge regarding health, Diabetes, martial arts as well as Buddhism and philosophy. My goal is to share this information with the world, and perhaps provide some sarcastic humour along the way. Welcome!

Type-1 Diabetes And Kids…

No, I don’t mean kids WITH type-1 Diabetes… I mean having Type-1 Diabetes while there are small children in the mix. If you take care of yourself and manage your condition properly, you’ll eventually reach a point where life will progress to a point where children are part of the equation and get in the mix. We often hear that being a parent means sacrifice. So, what happens when there’s an aspect of your life that you can’t sacrifice or even compromise on? That can makes things difficult, especially since children don’t have the tools or the maturity to necessarily understand some of the ins and outs of their parents’ condition. If you’re just entering into this particular chapter of your life, let me share some of the realities I’ve faced in that regard over the past decade…

Managing Type-1 Diabetes in the hopes of reaching old age and seeing your family grow up, requires a number of moving parts and aspects that don’t always work well when there are small children in the mix. At times, it can mean being borderline rude and mean to the members of your family, even if in reality, you’re doing it in the interest of being around long enough for their benefit. Even IF you’re lucky enough that this may be understood, it eventually falls on deaf ears when the years melt away; especially since most people don’t understand the need to maintain one’s standard as opposed ot just trying to fix it later on. The irony is, as technology has advanced and my personal treatment has become more effective, it’s opened up the door to different issues. Here are just a few of the bigger ones:

Treats Aren’t Necessarily To Share
While some people can get away with a quick glass of orange juice or some of those glucose tablets, those options have been very effective for me. In short, fast-acting carbs have included candies such as jelly beans, gummy bears and other fat-free gummy options. Skittles also work well in a pinch. Picture yourself having a low and trying to wolf down a handful of that goodness, only to have your toddler want to have some. On the one side, handing over a couple of them wouldn’t necessarily break the bank. On the other, depending on the available stock one has, the few you hand over may be the ones you need to push yourself up the added point or two to get back to normal. Trying to make a child understand that is usually difficult at best. After all, why does daddy get to snack on some goodies and I don’t?

Sleep Is Not An Option Or A Negotiation
As I’ve often written about before, sleep is an integral part to a person’s overall health. Blood pressure, mood, weight loss and blood sugars are all affected by the amount and quality of sleep that someone with Type-1 Diabetes. This can often mean that grabbing the occasional nap as well as ensuring that one gets the 7 to 9 hours of nightly sleep required is difficult. Ever had a kid lift your eyelids and ask for food? Or have both children awake and basically beating the shit out of each other while you’re trying to nap? I have. Just this morning, despite it being the weekend, I had one of my kids wake me up at 5 o’clock because his iPad was dead and he needed something to watch his cartons. How well do you think he understood that daddy needs his sleep and he shouldn’t be waking anybody? Not in this lifetime?

Equipment Is Always At Risk
This is a big one, especially if you include items like an insulin pump or continuous glucose monitor sensors in your treatment. Over the years, tubing and equipment have been torn out, grabbed, yanked and destroyed by the little hands of the innocent. This can lead to significant issues, especially if you happen to have NO coverage for your supplies. Imagine trying to figure out how you’ll get proper insulin delivery when your infusion set still had two days’ worth and you were on your last one? During both of my sons’ infant years, trying to spent some cuddle time while trying to keep them from ripping out my equipment has proven problematic. Babies don’t usually understand “don’t touch” at the best of times. When they see something that’s shiny and plastic, grabbing is grabbing.

Exercise Can Be Difficult If Not Dangerous
I’ve spent the majority of my life pushing myself physically. From my martial arts training, to police training, weight lifting, cycling and the score of hours I spend on the punching bag, exercise is not only a big part of who I am as a person, it’s the thing to which I owe the majority of my good health and Diabetes control to. It’s no secret that physical fitness contributes to one’s overall health for anybody, Diabetes notwithstanding. But one’s commitment to fitness can be compromised by the presence of children in the mix. Picture bench-pressing a solid amount of weight, only to have your kid walk up next to you and decide that it’s a good time to tickle or poke your eye. Or even if they don’t, getting smacked by the bar will cause a meltdown that will end your workout pretty fuckin’ quick.

The caveat to this one is that at some point, your kids will be able to join you in those workouts. There’s a lot of fun in having my toddler on the punching bag while I’m on the strike pad and we take turns switching. Or having my oldest play a rigorous game of basketball of tag with me. On occasion, I even get lucky enough to entice my oldest to use the punch pads while I hold them or move along with me as we do some calisthenics. That’s where at least one aspect can be fully shared or enjoyed with one’s kids. But finding the free time for oneself to commit to a solid workout is not only not often understood by one’s kids, especially when it means added time away from home. Kids don’t get that.

The last point I’ll touch on, is the scariest part of all. There’s always that possibility that the son may inherent the condition of the father. It’s one of the things that keep me awake at night the most. So far, my oldest has been found free and clear. I’m hoping it stays that way. but the reality is that dealing with Type-1 Diabetes can be difficult at the best of times. Explaining it to one’s children and navigating some of the difficulties listed above (and there are others) can be just as difficult. The important thing to bear in mind is to stay consistent, recognize that may not always understand but that you’re doing it for them. They may not be happy about it but in the end, everyone will be better off for it. Food for thought… ☯️

A Little Respect…

When you include all the variations and offshoots, there are hundreds of different martial arts styles, hailing from several different countries. This includes a martial art called “Kalaripayattu,” which has origins in India and is said to be thousands of years’ old. Some styles owe their creation to the existence of previously-existing styles, like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. That style seems to be all the rage and everyone always praises it but did you know that the style is actually a combination of Japanese Judo and Jujutsu? The style that a good portion of the world seems to think is “oh so great,” is actually a combination of two already-great styles. But the fact I could make that snarky last comment speaks to what today’s post is all about.

I’d love to say that my style is the ultimate one and can outdo any other style that could possibly be out there. But the reality is that it isn’t just about the style but how you train and how much you put into it. I’ve had people I’ve trained with that royally shit the bed in terms of how they’ve developed themselves. Meanwhile, I’m pretty convinced that my Sensei could not only beat the shit out of a team comprised of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li but he would follow up by walking away slowly as an explosion happens in the background. But I may be JUST a little bit biased. The point is that most practitioners tend to develop that bias, since most dedicated martial artists will find and stay with one style for the majority of their training career. Because of this, they tend to believe that their style is THE style.

There’s nothing wrong with a little bit of loyalty and it’s certainly important to bear in mind that style hopping tends to water down a student’s overall skills. But the style you choose is exceptionally subjective and the idea is to choose a style that suits you, fits your needs and helps to provide you with what you need, overall. You have some exceptions, like Chuck Norris and Jean Claude Van Damme. Say what you will about some of the movies, both those fuckers have multiple black belts in various styles. But that tends to be the exception, not the rule. The idea is that sticking with one style doesn’t mean that every other style is wrong or ineffective.

That’s why it’s important to show a little respect. If the original developers of martial arts styles hadn’t kept an open mind and showed a bit of willingness to learn something new, the style you’ve dedicated yourself to would probably never exist. Or at the very least, it might be significantly different than what you know. In my time, I’ve had the opportunity to study with a variety of schools touching on a number of different styles. These different styles have had different ways of doing things, including how to stand, how to execute techniques and even how to close one’s fist and throw a punch, which seems quite basic but there’s apparently more than one way to do it. Imagine that! And although these styles were different, there was always something for me to learn. It wasn’t always easy… Adjusting to different techniques when you’ve been doing it a certain way for decades can be rough. But through all of that, respect has always been there.

No matter what style you study, how long you’ve been at it or how effective you think it is, always remember that anyone else likely feels the same way about their style. There should be no lack of respect for the other styles you may encounter. There are far too many people who bash and bad-talk other styles and always assume that their style is the ultimate one and that no other style has any value. The truth is that there is value in all styles and they’ve all had their journey. So keep an open mind and be willing to consider different perspectives. Although dedication to one style is important, respect for ALL styles holds a seat on the same platform. Food for thought… ☯️

That Greener Grass Of Yours Needs Watering…

It’s a natural instinct to want the things we don’t have. In some instances, this is called ambition, or having goals. This concept applies even when it happened to be something we CAN’T have, although many of us can’t differentiate the difference between “don’t” and “can’t.” But many things in life are often taken for granted, at a time in our lives when we don’t even realize we’re better off.

A good example of this is sleep. How many times have we fought off bedtime or refused to nap as children, afraid to miss something important in our day or preferring to play or watch television than get some sleep. It always seemed so arbitrary and unnecessary. For myself, I was always a little too smart for my own good; I would rationalize that even if I stayed up now, I could sleep more at the other end. This didn’t always work in my favour, considering my parents had to work, run errands and meet appointments, which didn’t always allow me to lounge in my bed at my leisure…

As an adult, I often look back at those days of menial defiance and recognize that I often wish I could go back to a time when my only concern on a weekend was wether I actually took the nap or not. And I can assuredly promise that I would take advantage and crash hard. These days, between work obligations, family obligations, children, errands and chores, there is little time for naps and even a proper night’s sleep is often interrupted by the difficulties of Type-1 Diabetes or the pitter-patter of tiny feet, sneaking out of their bedrooms to pilfer snacks or retrieve their forbidden electronic devices. But I digress…

My point is, we rarely take the opportunity to appreciate the circumstance we’re in; usually preferring to yearn and wish for the circumstances that could be. But if I use my sleep scenario as an example, the issue is not wishing one could go back but rather examining one’s current state and contemplating what one might do to change it for the better. Want that afternoon nap on the weekends? There may be some compromise and negotiating to be done but it isn’t impossible. That’s where the concept of goals come in, after all.

As pack animals, humans will also yearn for what they see others possess. Whether it’s a bigger house, a fancy car or an apparent high-paying job that one may think is far better than their own, the acquisition of material possession and wealth is considered not only a societal norm in the Western world, but an expectation. But how better off are these folks who have everything you covet? Are they truly happier or well off? Or is there a storm brewing under the surface of their existence that you may not be seeing.

They say that money can’t buy happiness. I’ve heard and read that saying more times than I can possibly remember. This makes sense, since I was raised in a household where material possession and acquisition of wealth made way for our overall health. We spent so much time in hospitals and travelling to see specialists, all of our time, efforts and resources as a family went to that. In some ways, in many ways, we were better off as this meant that we learned to enjoy the simpler things in life. A quiet night’s sleep where neither child woke up dying. A warm afternoon of swimming in a local brook or river. It’s true what they say that some of the best things in life are free.

But although money can’t buy happiness, it can alleviate the pressures associated with everyday life that prevent said happiness. That’s the caveat that those who would spout that rhetoric seem to forget. But for the high-salary executive who makes a shit ton of money, the over-extended hours of work and time away from their families, coupled with the stress and burnout of the job, are just some of the negative aspects that they don’t display on their public face. This is why, while one may look at that executive and think they’ve totally got it made, their home and family life are in shambles BECAUSE of their success, instead of being aided by it. As with all other things in life, there must be a balance…

So, what’s the point of all of this? I’ve thrown out a lot of words and used a few sayings and have made a few solid points but the ultimate one for today is that one should be happy with what they’ve got and stop wanting everything they see elsewhere; whether it’s in someone else’s possession or not. Make your goals, work towards your dreams but always remember that the here and now likely isn’t anywhere near as bad as you feel it is because you haven’t reached those goals yet. Money truly doesn’t buy happiness. And even if the grass happens to be greener on the other side, it didn’t get that way on its own. And it usually harbours the same bugs as your own grass does. Food for thought… ☯️

Simply The Best…

One of the questions I’ve often been asked, especially when speaking with other prospective martial artists, is which technique I feel is the best in an actual fight situation. This is a loaded question and one that is almost impossible to answer. The reason for that is that most traditional martial arts have enough techniques to make choosing only one seem a bit like trying to identify one’s favourite drop of water in a lake. It’s all water, it all gets you wet… Choosing one makes very little difference. The same can be said of a martial arts technique. Every technique has its use, its place and its function. Each also has its own set of advantages and disadvantages that people don’t necessarily consider when using them, which is a bit of what I’m going to try and touch on within this post.

If you would have asked me twenty years ago, I likely would have said that the roundhouse kick was my favourite technique. It had reach, it had flexibility in its application and could be applied to anywhere along the vertical axis of an opponent’s body. It also had the look of karate; meaning that one could almost channel their inner Van Damme while performing it, without having to completely leave the ground. However, as the years have dragged on and one’s flexibility and reach diminishes with time, delivering an effective roundhouse kick becomes less and less possible. Although a solid roundhouse kick will provide an effective result when applied to the legs, I have a tendency to unfortunately pull more muscles than I strike these days, when using the roundhouse kick. It also doesn’t seem to have as much of a range as it used to, likely as a direct result of that lack of flexibility.

This can be said of most kicks, considering that as one gets older, muscle tissue has less flexibility and requires more time to stretch and warm up before explosive use. But in a real fight situation, there IS no time to warm up and stretch. The idea is meant to be that one should train and develop consistently in order to be able to rely on muscle memory in the event a technique needs to be used. But even consistent training will not keep up with the ravages of time and age. But enough about me being old. The reality is that I’ve never been a fan of kicking as a general rule. That likely sounds odd, coming from a karateka but the reality is that in a real fight, lifting your feet off the ground, even for a brief moment, can mean the difference between getting out of a sticky situation or finding yourself taken to the ground where your opponent may cause unexpected damage and injury. A bleak thought? You fuckin’ right it is! And accurate. We ain’t talking about a knitting circle, here…

My style has always focused on close in, small circle techniques that require your opponent to actually be within your reach. I’ve trained with other styles and I’m certain there’s value in it for them but I really don’t see the value in trying to cross half a room to deliver a punch. In my world, if you’re outside my reach, I’m outside your reach and there’s no reason to strike and/or block. To any practitioner of Uechi Ryu, this would make sense. When I see someone in a lowered leaning stance, stepping almost five feet forward, simply to throw a punch at an opponent who would no doubt see them coming, I cringe for the art! I’m sure there are technical practicalities to it, including flexibility and leg strength and a bunch of others. My point is that I’ve been trained that trying to strike an opponent that’s outside your reach is a waste of energy and potentially opens you up to being struck, yourself, which brings us to punches…

Punches in any variety are by far the techniques that I’ve worked the most with. In any variety or form, a punch is direct, effective, easier to aim and can deliver an impact to anywhere on an opponent’s body. Given the nature of one’s hands, you can deliver a punch with the front of the knuckles, back of the knuckles, ridge knuckles or even some limited jabbing strikes with the fingers, if you’re brave enough. Punching is the safest means to deliver a strike to an opponent who is in reach, while maintaining one’s balance and stability by leaving both feet on the ground. Not exactly the flashiest or movie-worthy of techniques, but certainly the best. Of course, as with all things in life, there is a negative to the positive and punching is no exception. The human hand contains more than two dozen bones…

When you consider all the metacarpals and phalanges in the human hand, punching poses a particular risk; a broken bone will incapacitate the hand and likely render it unusable for the remainder of the fight. It isn’t like in the movies where, after getting their hand broken, the protagonist continues to fight and even use the broken hand. Although this is cinematically fantastic, it isn’t very realistic. If you break your hand, you have a number of obstacles to deal with, if the fight hasn’t concluded. This includes debilitating pain and potentially shock. Fighting while in shock is nearly impossible, as the whole point is that your body is trying to conserve energy and blood flow as a result of an injury. So all those times you’ve seen an action hero punching someone repeatedly in the skull is highly unlikely, as well. Punching requires a certain level of precision that’s necessary to ensure that you don’t strike something hard that will damage your hand or break bones.

So, what’s the verdict on this? What do I believe to be the best technique to use in a real fight? All things being equal and if I’m being realistic, there is none. This is the big reason why it’s generally best suggested to NOT get into any fights to start with. That way, it’s a problem you don’t need to have. However, the reality of life is as such that you may not always have that choice. And if you’re backed into a corner and your only choice is to fight or be injured, only a proper combination of blocking and striking will prove effective and trying to get yourself out of that jam. You’ll likely get injured… Let’s be clear; being in a fight is harmful, whether you are delivering the strikes or are on the receiving end. The nature and severity of those injuries is what you need to consider. So, although you may train to fight, the most successful martial artist is the one who consistently sharpens their skills without ever having to use them. Food for thought… ☯️

The Meaning Behind The Candles…

People tend to put a lot of stock and attention into the day of their births. For many, it begins at the very literal day of their birth, where friends and family will gather and celebrate a new addition to the family and beginning of a new life with infinite possibilities and directions. Although there are many cultural and societal origins behind getting one’s cake on during one’s birthday, most sources I’ve read all agree that celebrating the day of one’s birth likely began with the ancient Egyptians, some 3,000 years ago. The population would generally celebrate on the day a new pharaoh was crowned, as this was the day he was “birthed” as a new god. I don’t think I’d get away with trying to proclaim myself as a pharaoh. In modern times, it’s usually observed on the day that one is actually born from their mother’s wombs. This observance usually involves the singing of songs, eating of cake and the giving of gifts to the birthday person. But what purpose does it truly serve?

When one is a child, birthdays can be a fun and exciting day. You get to eat cake and treats, you usually get some gifts out of the deal and if you’re lucky and are attending school, you may have your peers doing something, as well. If you like that sort of thing. For me, I use to absolutely loathe having the entire classroom halted to sing happy birthday to me. So fucking embarrassing… It can seem nice and exciting as a child but as you slowly work your way into adulthood, it can become a tedious hindrance as it seems to be observed more by others than by oneself. Once a person begins to reach adulthood, they’ll often fall under one of two categories; those who are flattered and enjoy being recognized and those who prefer to simply let it pass as just another day. Just like today. Today is a Monday. The sun has risen, I can almost assuredly promise it will set tonight, and billions of people are going on with the daily grind of their lives regardless of this day.

I tend to agree more with the latter. At a young age, I began to acknowledge that my birthday was truly nothing more than a day where I had to get up out of my chair every five minutes for the phone ringing. yes, I’m old enough that I had to get up to use the phone. It was pretty sweet when I was younger and all my relatives would give me birthday cards with cash in them. In retrospect, i wish I had banked all of that cash instead of consistently spending it on toys and useless bullshit. But that’s children for you. Hell, my kids do the same thing now, despite my attempts at bestowing the important knowledge of my experience upon them. But I digress…

These days, I tend to take my birthday as more of a stepping stone to the remainder of the year. A day when others try and recognize that my chronological age has increased by one digit but where I tend to try and stay hidden in a hole until the sun sets and my world can return to some semblance of normalcy. After all, a big point that people tend to forget is that one’s birthday is only one day. There are 364 other days in the year (depending on where in the world you reside and what calendar you observe) and every day that you wake up with air in lungs and life in your body is one you should celebrate. The day of your birth was simply but one of those days. All the subsequent days of your life hold a deeper and more meaningful importance as they likely contains what you DID with that life once it was given to you. And that’s far more worth celebrating than an occasion where your mother was likely in pain; a story she’ll usually be sure to share with you on every birthday (if she remembers). Food for thought… ☯️

Lean, Mean, And A Few Things In Between…

One’s health and fitness has many moving pieces and sometimes it can be difficult to navigate the vast plethora of bullshit that you can find online nowadays. I say this with the firm understating that I’m reaching you now through an online medium, but I stand by my statement. Even if you set aside all the misinformation or pseudo-science that can be found online, it’s important to remember that what works for one person may not work for another. What’s more is, doing things wrong may cause more harm than good.

This seems like a good time to remind everyone that I’m not a medical practitioner, dietitian or have many formal training. This post is intended solely as my opinion, based on my own experiences. talk to your own doctor before contemplating anything mentioned here. Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, let’s talk diets and fitness. For most people, dieting generally means either cutting the amount of food you eat or eliminating certain food groups that one may have read contributes to overall weight gain.

The problem with the former, is many people believe that cutting the amount of food they eat will automatically make them lose weight. Although this can occur in some situations, it can also have the opposite effect. Because the human body is programmed to keep you alive no matter what, eliminating your food intake or starving yourself, will usually result in your body hoarding away what you DO eat as fat, which it will then use to sustain you should there be another long period without food. Depending on your metabolism, one should rather examine HOW one eats as opposed to trying to eliminate HOW MUCH they eat.

Another big problem is depending on the almighty scale. People tend to measure progress on the number staring back at them from a scale, but that can be deceiving, as well. The problem includes the fact that if you’re building mass as a result of exercising more frequently, that scale may not be your friend. The whole “muscle weighs more than fat” concept is total bullshit! A pound of fat or a pound of muscle is still one fucking pound. I will die on THAT hill.

But even if you’re waistline is slowly getting smaller, your muscle mass may be getting bigger, which could be why you aren’t seeing the results you want. It’s important to remember that you need to incorporate ALL factors into your fitness journey, including what comes in, what comes out, your weight, your diet and your exercise routine. Each person is unique and even though your neighbour has lost tons of weight from fasting doesn’t mean that will work (or is safe) for you.

I happen to be dealing with my own weight-loss journey at the moment, where I’m dealing with that very scenario. A certain change that one of my martial arts counterparts has tried showed great success and seems to be working for me, as well. More on that in the near future but the important thing to rememher is if you’re dieting, be sure to control aspects such as portion size, frequency of meals and HOW you consume your food. People don’t seem to recognize the amount of damage one can cause by simply trying NOT to eat in order to lose weight.

For example, there’s a reason you need to consume food. Carbohydrates provide a primary source of energy for the body. You know, energy? That thing you need to stay alive and do ANYTHING??? Completely cutting carbs prevents that. Other aspects, like include proper levels of finer and protein, to help with the proper growth and repair of muscle tissue and the normalization of your elimination systems. This means that if you do something du,b like eat nothing but protein, you’ll stop yourself up like a loaded subway car during peak hours in Tokyo. Not pretty…

The key to it all, is balance. Just like you should be taking regular breaks from fitness to allow the body to heal, you also need to find the means to control your portion sizes and still get all the food groups and nutrients you need in order to stay healthy. Fad diets are usually just that; a fad. The complete elimination of entire food groups should be avoided, unless done on the advice and guidance of a medical professional. And for light’s sake… Don’t STOP eating in order to lose weight. To somewhat quote The Mandalorian, this is NOT the way…

Oops, What Have I Done…?

To say that I can occasionally become overzealous with some of my workouts would be a severe understatement. Anyone who has done sparring or drills with me in the past ten years could attest to this. In my home dojo, Sensei always focused on the fact that strength and accuracy, as well as speed, were important for EVERY strike. This means that if you spend a full minute striking a surface like a pad or a punching bag, one should strive to make even the last strike as strong as the first. We all know that once fatigue sets in, this can be a difficult task.

My point, despite the very detailed rant above, is that I always try to strike at full strength while training. I don’t do this against my sparring partners, of course but on pads and punching bags, all bets are off and I make a point of hammering as hard as I humanly can. Although this sounds like a good idea in practice, it can cause some difficulty. For example, going full out will often cause a lack of precision and form, which will affect the overall effectiveness of your technique. But what we’re talking about today, is when one manages to damage their equipment…

The unfortunate, busted stitching on my punching bag…

Last week, during a rather spirited session on the punching bag while listening to my favourite instrumental group, Two Steps From Hell, I somehow managed to deliver a strong enough impact to the bag to bust some of the stitching. I didn’t necessarily realize this until I had completed my workout but I was certainly grateful that the inside wasn’t a bunch of beans or beads that came pouring out once the lining was damaged. As it stands, it appears as though the interior bag is sound and solid, which means I can likely try and find a way to re-stitch the damage or simply do what every other striker does, which is wrap the main body of the bag with duct tape.

That being said, it did bring to mind the importance of ensuring that one’s fitness equipment is sound and undamaged before use. This can be especially important if you’re using some sort of machine or even something that you balance or stand on. In my case, the worst that would have happened is the bag would have collapsed and become unusable. If it’s the welds or mechanism on a weight machine or an exercise machine like a bike or elliptical, one could be in potential danger if one continues to use these items while they’re damaged.

When one decides to hammer out a workout, one will often jump into it without necessarily checking and confirming the safety of their equipment. I’ve certainly been guilty of this a number of times. There hasn’t been an invasion, ever, where I’ve used a public or hotel gym that I’ve double checked the soundness of the machines before I dove in. The damage to my punching bag has certainly made me rethink that approach, as damaged equipment can easily lead to injury.

Much in the same way a driver should do a quick walk around of their vehicle to confirm no flat tires or visible damage to their vehicle, a person should always do a quick check of their equipment prior to working out. This can prevent potential injuries or further damage to the equipment or the surrounding area, should there be damage, of course. Food for thought… ☯️

Polishing The Ol’ Turd…

Home renovations are tedious, and can take a hefty financial and even emotional toll on even the strongest of souls. I’ve seen and heard of people renovating parts of their home that have led to financial difficulty and strife between marital partners that has resulted in separation. And what would one expect, when you dump a whole a whack of your hard-earned dollars into altering aspects of your home? this usually involves moving a whole bunch of shit and maybe having limited use of the one place in this life that’s intended on being your sanctuary and place for peace.

For us, we purchased our current home in 2016 when I was transferred into Regina during my policing career. Although the layout and structure of the house was sound, there were many aspects of it that were reminiscent of the late 1960’s when it was built, such as orange carpet and fake wooden planks on the walls of the basement, outdated wood-grain cabinetry and shitty window that radiate heat in the summer and frost up with ice in the winter. All that being said, we had assumed we’d only be in this house for 3 to 5 years, upon which time I’d be transferred to another posting and we’d be selling. We were wrong.

As a result, we found ourselves in the midst of a complete basement renovation due to structural damage and water leakage. Although not a bank-breaking endeavour, it provided a much-needed facelift to the basement and it’s now a fantastic, liveable space. Completed in late fall of 2021, we had discussed the potential upgrading of the upper floor as well. Back in May, we chose to renovate our upstairs bathroom, as this is one of the key rooms of the home that every family member requires. Through the progress made on our bathroom, we decided that coordinating flooring and drywall for the hallway and bedrooms would be easier if we simply did it all in one go. So we did.

After several long months of living like borders as we had to jam everything from the rear of the house to the front, and having the majority of the family camping out in the basement, we’ve finally completed the renovations and will be able to start moving things back into our respective bedrooms and bathroom. I had the pleasure of using our newly-installed bathtub and I have to say, well worth the money.

Nathan’s bedroom is red, because of course he needs something different…
The new bathroom, with everything fresh and modernized, including a deep tub, stone backsplash and new vanity.
The Master Bedroom

Although only a few months in total (we started in May of this year) it felt like forever and has made living within the home difficult. But the end results speak for themselves and we’re quite happy with how things look. Everything is fresh and new, and it sure is nice to walk along the new flooring without every step making it sound like I weigh a metric ton. Now that all of this has been put into place, we get to start the arduous task of putting everything back in place. A silver lining behind all of that is that it will give us the opportunity to go through all of our respective belongings and begin to Kon Marie the living shit out all of it and hopefully downsize all the non-necessaries within our household.

Although it can be easily agreed that renovations can be stressful and tough to deal with, it can be well worth the effort if you can find it within yourselves to push through and get through so that you can get the results you want. It will be nice to get Nathan back into his room, especially. I think the little booger has gotten to used to having access to a television throughout the night. But doing so will also give me back my fitness corner, which will be nice. Sleeping in my own bed, which I have been unable to do for the past four months, will also be icing on the cake.

The question now, given the rising cost and demand for construction materials and professionals to do the work, will be when we’ll be able to complete renovations on the front half of the house, which includes large windows and a kitchen. It may be a few years before we have the financial resources and the patience to jump into that piranha-infested bullshit again. But it’ll happens eventually. In the meantime, we get to enjoy the efforts of the contractors who performed the work for us. ☯️

Take A Break Before You Break…

Maintaining one’s fitness is an ongoing battle, usually with absolutely no end on sight. Usually and for the most part, people develop and maintain a routine for themselves that isn’t always conducive to proper fitness. one of the big realities, and the one people tend to overlook the most, is that rest is just as important and integral to one’s fitness journey as staying consistent and committed. And foregoing appropriate rest can have some nasty effects on your overall health as well as your fitness goals.

When you have Type-1 Diabetes, proper exercise and maintaining one’s fitness becomes an entirely different kind of fight. Without proper, consistent exercise, blood sugars can run amok, your health will decline and your condition will be all the harder to manage. Granted, some of that can happen even if you DON’T have Diabetes, but I do, so I tend to focus on that. The problem is that you can go past consistency and slowly stray into working out TOO much.

Our bodies are designed to respond to physical exertion in a number of different ways. When it comes to building muscle, growth is achieved by exerting the muscle tissue to the point where micro tears occur. Through the healing process and the proper consumption of protein, fibre and water, the muscle tissue grows back at an increased size to compensate for the level of exertion the body noted during the previous workout. This only part of the aches and pains that one might feel after a significant workout.

The issue comes into play when those aches and pains grow severe enough that you lose mobility or use of those particular muscle groups. For example, if you had a wicked leg day and the following morning, you can barely walk, this means that you’ve over-exerted yourself and you should consider taking a period of rest and treating the affected area with heat and/or cold to aid in the healing process. To continue to work out and exercise in those circumstances can lead to injury, which would require longer recovery time and some circumstances, medical intervention.

So, what can or should be done in these types of circumstances? Well, some people rotate the muscle groups that they exercise. This means that if they do leg exercises today, they may do arms and chest tomorrow. That kind of thing. That’s a good practice to have, regardless of the level of exertion that you put yourself through, especially since you should work towards developing the body as a whole and not necessarily focus on only one aspect. But it’s important to bear in mind that resting one particular part of your body isn’t always enough. N o matter you’re level of commitment or your goals, you sometimes need to allow the body as a whole to get some rest.

A strong, consistent fitness habit will help to ensure better health, better weight management and better overall blood sugar control. proper exercise contributes to better blood pressure, better sleep habits and has been shown to improve one’s overall mood. Although having a fixed routine doesn’t always work for every person as each of us is different, there’s always a way to work towards something that works for you. Just remember to drink plenty of fluids, get adequate rest and don’t push your body beyond the warning signs it’s giving you. You’ll recover faster and although you may think that working out none-stop will get you to your goals faster, it’s good to remember that sometimes, slow and easy wins the race. Food for thought… ☯️

Good Form, Top Form, Bad Form, No Form…

Given the westernization of the martial arts, a lot of people think of fighting, kicking and punching as soon as they hear the word “karate.” This is unfortunately a very narrow and uninformed view, as any style of martial arts involves so very much more. The martial arts is a lifelong puzzle of a million pieces, with the student’s goal being to obtain a new piece with every session, adding to overall tableau of their martial arts journey. But it wouldn’t be the only thing that the western world gets wrong.

For example, let’s look at the word “karate.” The actual martial art is called “karate do.” A practitioner does not “do karate.” They practice/study/train in karate do and the student is actually referred to as a karateka. These may seem like somewhat menial details that don’t change a great deal but to someone who still adheres to the traditions and old ways of studying the art, they can mean quite a bit. And that doesn’t always mesh well with the modern world and people’s need for immediate gratification. A great example of this phenomenon, is kata…

For those who don’t study martial arts, kata is a Japanese word for “form,” and usually involves a formal, pre-arranged sequences of techniques and blocks. Kata serves multiple purposes, including creating muscle memory to help the practitioner perfect the skills they’re trying to memorize. In Uechi Ryu, kata also helps to strengthen and build muscle as the dynamic tension used in the body during kata is constant (or should be). Kata can be performed slowly or quickly, depending on the stage of training the student is in, and can be used to hone one’s skills as easily as sparring or using a bag.

In most cases, you learn your techniques in a more proper manner during kata, since you aren’t striking a surface and can develop your bone alignment and proper posture BEFORE you start actually hitting something. Granted, it should be one or the other; kata and active striking should be used in tandem, depending on the student’s level of skill and experience. The issue with the modern practitioner is that a kata can be slow work and requires a degree of time and patience that most people nowadays seem to lack.

Although kata doesn’t seem as glamorous or exciting as learning spin kicks and fancy techniques (which my style doesn’t incorporate anyway), form is every bit as important as learning to punch and kick properly. It’s important to remember that everything taught in the martial arts serves a purpose. No thing is for nothing. So even if doing kata may seem boring now, sticking with it will help you get stronger, faster and polish up you or techniques to increase your overall martial arts toolbox. If you’ve ever seen the original Karate kid movies, one of the things they got right was when they said that in karate, not everything is always as it seems. Cue the pan flute soundtrack… ☯️