Category: Fitness & Well Being

It’s Hard To Be Humble…

Most people would be inclined to accept that they know what they know. Makes sense, right? If you’ve been doing something for any number of years, one may feel as though they know how to do it and may not feel as though they can necessarily be taught anything further on it. A good example I can provide for this is when I finally decided to take the leap and start on an insulin pump. I went into it thinking I already knew everything I needed to know about effective Diabetes management and just wanted to hook up and start the pump and be on my way. How very wrong, I was…

It wasn’t until I went through the pump training that I realized there was still a great deal to learn. Until that point, my insulin boluses were mostly “guest-imated” and I had never heard of, nor was I was practicing, carb counting. And the reality is that I’m still learning today, almost seven years after I first started on an insulin pump. I’ve learned to temper my perspective and have removed the Diabetic chip on my shoulder and stored it appropriately where it won’t interfere with my medial education.

The same can be said of martial arts. Sometimes it can be difficult recognizing that what one knows should prevent the learning of something new or accepting information from teachers you may have otherwise not sought out on their own. This is especially true if you’re cross-training in a different style. Given that I’ve been at this for several decades now, I’m beginning to encounter more and more scenarios where the person I’m getting instruction from wasn’t even alive when I started doing karate.

For some, this can be a bitter pill and quite difficult to consolidate within themselves. After all, in many situations I would be inclined to believe that I’ve “been there, done that.” The important aspect is that I may not necessarily been there and done it THEIR way. And if I’m genuinely there to learn and include these different styles and techniques in my overall toolbox, I need to be willing to humble myself long enough to recognize that knowledge can come from many different sources.

There’s absolutely nothing worse than someone who thinks they know better but still wants to advance and progress within your style. Guess what, pal? You don’t put in the work, you don’t reap the benefits. I’ve seen it countless times throughout my youth. Sensei used to have boxers, hockey players and students of other styles who may or may not have been trying to belt collect, walk in with MASSIVE chips on their shoulders. Only to get served and shown the error of their ways by Sensei before leaving with their tails tucked. Don’t be that person. Broaden your perspective and be willing to learn. You’ll be all the better for it and you’ll go much, much farther. Food for thought… ☯️

Back On The Horse…

Is it still called getting back on the horse if it’s an old war horse doing it? I have to admit that I’m in a reasonable amount of pain, this morning. Last night was my first night back to karate after being off for the summer. Normally, this wouldn’t be a big deal but the dojo I train with is pretty traditional and doesn’t pull its punches (pun fully intended). It was a wicked workout and I got a solid burn on. It feels good to be back at it, i have to say. It’s been something of a struggling summer, with some of the hotter weather limiting the number of kilometres I’ve put on the bike and some of my workouts being a bit less than I would have hoped.

As one gets older, things become more challenging. That isn’t an excuse, it’s simply reality. If you would have asked me twenty years ago where i’d be RIGHT now, I’d like have told you I’d be a sixth degree black belt and teaching at my own school. It’s funny how life works. I do know that over the past two decades, I’ve already learned more than the average person will ever forget about karate and the martial arts. that nay sound like a boast and it’s intended as such. I’ve pushed myself pretty hard throughout my life. It’s the only reason I’m still alive.

I’m looking forward to this year. I plan on learning some new forms, participating at the fullest and learning a new style at a level I haven’t yet managed to do since moving out to Saskatchewan. Challenge accepted. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need caffeine. And probably ice, but I have to go to work, so ice likely isn’t gonna happen… ☯️

Back To School, The Parent Edition…

Yesterday, I wrote about Nathan’s reluctant return to the classroom as, like most children, he started a new school year. Then it dawned on me that I’ll be enjoying something of a return to school, myself. Albeit on a more leisurely level. This coming week, the dojo re-opens for karate class and I intend to be there; front and centre.

I had started with a local school of Shotokan last year and despite some injuries I sustained early this year, I quite enjoyed it. They closed out for the summer break, which is apparently pretty standard for schools out here. When I was back in New Brunswick, Sensei would never have contemplated shutting down simply because it’s summertime. In fact, I used to be the black sheep of my friends since I would quite literally pack up and leave fun afternoons of swimming in the woods in favour of attending a class. But I digress…

My point is that stopping for the summer has never really been my thing but it happens a fair bit, out here. I recently discovered that the Kempo school I used to train with never re-opened its doors. Although sad to hear, it made me feel a little bit better about never being contacted over the past two years about class. But Shotokan has been quite good. The dojo is a mere five minutes from my home and their style is similar in many ways to my own Uechi-Ryu.

This year, I look forward to continuing my martial arts education and adding new forms, techniques and lessons to my overall karate toolbox. It’s important to keep an open mind when training in a dojo whose style differs from yours. It can be a difficult journey and I acknowledge that I’m no longer what I used to be. But with some overall steps to ensure that other negative factors in my life are lessened and the room for growth is permitted, I’m sure it’ll be a great year.

So I guess that much like my son Nathan, this coming week will see me going back to school… Karate school, that is! I’m looking forward to it and it should be a nice addition to an otherwise stagnant fitness routine. Stay tuned… ☯️

Heatwave…🎶

It’s funny sometimes how I recognize that I’ve become dependent on things that I never had during my youth. Air conditioning is a good example… As a child, I have NEVER lived in a residence that had site conditioning. In fact, I remember one particularly hot summer where my bedroom was located in the upstairs of a small house. It was one of those upper floors that included angled walls because you were right against the roof. This means you also had the sun’s mighty gaze bearing down right above your head as you played in your room.

I often think about how more comfortable I might have been and how my blood sugar control may have been tighter during my childhood if I had the refuge of a cooler environment during the summer months. Although total temperature rarely gets beyond the high 20’s (Celsius) in Northern New Brunswick, the humidity adds an extra level of hell to the mix. But I digress…

The sun er heat can have a significant impact on a person’s overall health, especially as it involves Type-1 Diabetes because, well… EVERYTHING affects Type-1 Diabetes. But rather than be facetious, I should probably explain the how’s and why’s behind that statement. After all, this is a hot issue… See what I did there…? Summer heat? Hot issue? Alright, carrying on…

It’s been a bit of a hellish week in Regina, Saskatchewan, with daily heat reaching the mid-30’s and making the possibility of spending any time outdoors without my cut off jean shorts (I believe the kids call them “jorts,” now) an impossibility. Stepping outside during the day brings about difficulties breathing, sweating and a general sense of discomfort that most people don’t enjoy. Don’t get me wrong; I’ll definitely take hot, sunny weather any day over the cold of winter and shovelling snow. I’m not complaining, here…

I have the benefit of having an individually climate-controlled office, which allows me to work through my day in the relative comfort that I’ve come to enjoy in my older years. I also have a brand new air conditioner at home, which we had installed last fall. Although my basement is sometimes a bit on the icy side, I have the benefit of maintaining a cool living space in the upstairs, which is a benefit that my children have that I didn’t get to experience as a child.

Although the summer is winding down, it’s a great time to provide a reminder that being out in the heat brings about a certain number of issues as we work out or deal with Diabetes. For one, extreme heat will expose us to the possibility of dehydration, which is not only dangerous but can cause rises in blood sugar. Working out for prolongued periods in the heat can bring about dangers of heat stroke and exhaustion, both of which can be quite dangerous if one does not recognize the signs and grab some shade to rest.

Remember to stay hydrated, take shelter and take breaks and don’t be afraid to switch up your fitness routine to accommodate exercise in an air conditioned environment. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been on my bike. I sure do miss being out and about on it, but it’s a fair price for pay to maintain my health. Check your blood sugars often and drink plenty of fluids (no, beer and coffee don’t count!). Even if it’s a bit cloudy out, be sure to apply sunscreen as the su’s UV rays will still reach you. Enjoy the heat, but safely. ☯️

A Month Without Alcohol…

Last month, I decided to spend the entire month of August without consuming any alcohol. My unfortunate habit in the past couple of years has been to enjoy a drink when writing or even just after a hard day’s work, while sitting in my garage with a good cigar. In the following video, I explain that month and some of the things I’ve noticed as a result. ☯️

I’m Green With Calm…

So I was sitting at my desk recently, surfing the web and seeking inspiration on potential topics I could write about, when I came across an article on something called “green noise.” Way back in 2019, I published a post on white, pink and brown noise and their potential benefits. You can read that post here. The tall and short of it, is that any of these “noises” are artificially constructed sounds that exist on at a particular frequency and can provide certain key benefits, depending on how you’re using them.

For example, plenty of people use white noise machines to help them sleep better and get some rest. For those who find that white noise doesn’t help, they can try pink or red noise (also known as Brownian or brown noise) as they have deeper depth and different effect. Pink noise for example, can potentially aid sleep by reducing one’s brain waves to increase one’s sleep stability and provide for a deeper sleep. I’ve used all three at a variety of times in my life, including during sleep, meditation and even when performing work tasks where I need to focus and block out the outside world.

Recently, I discovered green noise, which made me give my head a shake and think I was getting punked. After all, how many “noises” can there really be? Turns out, it isn’t all bullshit. In fact, I’ve recently save a YouTube video to my list that’s 10 straight hours of green noise. Although not necessarily effective as a sleep aid, green noise provides a soothing, calming effect that can be effective at calming oneself, meditating or even just to centre oneself before GOING to bed. I’ve been trying it and listening while I sit outside and enjoy a cigar. I’m not sure if it’s the cigar or the green noise, but the effects were calming.

When I started to look further into it, I came to realize that if white noise is artificially constructed, it would make sense that multiple different levels of noise could potentially be created as well. And when I looked into it to see if I could find others and lo and behold, there are more noise colours than infinity stones (little Marvel comics joke, if you didn’t catch it). While I would encourage anyone interested to do their own research, here are a few of the more interesting ones that I found.

Blue noise is something that works opposite to brown noise as it exists at the higher end of the sound spectrum. This means it likely wouldn’t be good for helping with sleep or relaxation but from what I’ve found, it’s used as some sort of distortion eliminator during sound editing and engineering. I also found violet noise, which can apparently be used to treat certain hearing issues, such as tinnitus, since it apparently blocks the ringing someone with tinnitus tends to hear.

There’s apparently also a grey noise and a black noise, which is basically silence. Wikipedia has a great page defining all of these (although without their benefits) and you can access it here. I still use pink and brown noise a great deal, for those rare occasions when I find a moment to meditate. Green noise is certainly interesting and can provide benefit if you’re just sitting outside, enjoying the weather and want to add a bit of relaxation to your day.

There are several YouTube videos that play lengthy clips of any noise, should you decide to try any of them. I’m partial to my Noisli app, which contains white, pink and brown but there are also some other apps out there that likely feature green noise. At the end of the day, adding a bit of noise to your silence can be helpful and provide some benefits. But you’ll need to try it yourself to find out. ☯️

Sweatin’ In The Weeds…

I had an interesting Sunday, last weekend. Although I usually make a reasonable attempt at pushing myself, I can admit that there are almost as many times where I succumb to flopping down in a comfy chair with a cigar on the weekends as opposed to getting at some of the things I should be accomplishing, like, oh, I don’t know… WORKING OUT! But when we arrived from our trip to the East Coast almost two weeks ago, I was taken aback at the state of my back yard.

The back yard is where the majority of our daily sunlight strikes, with very little impacting the front yard. This means that growth, both for lawns and weeds, is at least two-fold in the back yard. It can make weekends challenging, since I usually prefer my Sundays to be a time of relaxation before getting back into the work week with maybe a workout thrown in. Since I was kind enough to ignore the yard the previous weekend, I knew I would have to attack it last weekend or face some significant difficulties in bring the weeds a and lawn growth under control before the autumn struck.

Cue last Sunday morning. My well-meaning intentions included waking at 5 or 6 so that I could get started on the yard before the Sun rose high enough to turn it into a proverbial frying pan. Given that my toddler had us up at about 4:45 a.m. on Saturday morning, my body fiercely objected to waking at such an hour. So I rolls out of bed just shy before 9:00 a.m. Okay, not such a great start. I started my morning by sitting down with some caffeine and watching an episode of Star Wars: obi-Wan Kenobi. If you haven’t watched it, I highly recommend it.

I stepped outside in the morning heat and my oldest son, Nathan decided to join me. He actually wanted to help, so I had him grab his gardening gloves and gave him a weed-pulling job on the promise of letting him use the weed whacked later on. I started by mowing all the overgrown grass while Nathan plucked all then weeds from the Stoney path we have on the west side of the back yard. by the time I had mowed the lawn, he had finished pulling every weed. I mean, that area was immaculate. I was reasonably impressed and a deal is a deal, so he got the weed whacked out and I instructed him on where and how he was to use it. he went to work.

I wound up weeding the large, concrete circle planter that used to house an actual tree while Nathan finished whacking the weeds, as it were. He worked hard and followed instructions. I’m embarrassed to admit that I was quite impressed at the work acumen he was showing this morning. Once he had been using the weed whacked for a while, he asked to take a break and go inside, which made sense since the Sun was starting to make things unbearable. I was soaked myself, having toiled in the back yard for about two hours at that point.

He went inside and I soon discovered WHY he wanted to take a break… he had used the weed whacked too close to his play structure and busted both sides of the cord the weed whacked uses. And easy fix but to a 7-year old, he was likely done because it would trim weeds anymore. It was a good idea for him to cool off and get some water in him at that point anyway. I finished up what I was doing, followed by a 1-litre bottle of cold water, some fruit/veggie juice and a nice cigar. My Sunday had finally arrived…

I decided to spare all of you from the dampness showing through the lower part of that Superman shirt but as you can clearly see from the damp sheen on my forehead, it took quite a while for me to cool down and in fact, it didn’t happen until I got back inside. I performed a quick, 30-minute marine workout and once I cleaned myself up, I had to run to the grocery store to grab a few essentials And spent the rest of my day inside the cool sanctuary of my home while doing start-of-week laundry.

The only unfortunate part is that between the heat, the yard work, the workout and everything else, my blood sugars played a fun game they like to call “roller coaster.” I bounced low and high a number of times throughout the day, proving yet again that just about everything affects blood sugars. I had it under control by the time I crashed into bed, but it added to the overall exhaustion. Looking forward to the coming weekend to see what activities can potentially be done with the kids instead of focused on yard work. ☯️

Facebook Live!

A short while back, I treated myself to some moderately-priced media equipment, which allows me to more effectively make videos for my YouTube page. And by the way, if you aren’t a follower on my YouTube page, please take a few moments to jump over there and click the follow button. thirty seconds for you, great deal of help for me. You can find my page by searching “The Blogging Buddhist” in the search bar. But I’m getting off track here…

I had thrown a post up on my Facebook page (yes, I also have a Facebook page, which you guys can follow as well. Find it by searching, you guessed it, “The Blogging Buddhist”) asking if anyone would have any interest in having me do a live event where I could answer questions and chat about various topics I write about, such as health & fitness, Diabetes and martial arts. I said I’d base whether I tried it or not on how many like I got and I also posted something similar on here.

To my unfortunate surprise, the response had no pulse. I got a couple of likes through facebook, which was nice but I otherwise had no show of interest, whatsoever on either platform. While this is disappointing, to say the least, I’m still interested in trying it out and have friends who have made it work and look interesting (Thanks, Ricky!) so I’m tempted to try it, despite the lukewarm response. In all reality, many if not most people may not necessarily respond to some thing that requires their interaction with a posting, so I kind of get it. Maybe if they come across the Live event, they’ll be tempted to jump in.

With all of that in mind, I’ve decided that I will go live on Facebook this evening at 6:30 p.m. Central Standard Time (Saskatchewan time). The event will last somewhere between 30 to 60 minutes, depending on attendance and interest, and will cover various topics including what’s mentioned above: martial arts, Diabetes management, health & fitness (from the Diabetic perspective, especially). Come join me and throw out any questions you may have been wondering about. Hopefully, it’ll be entertaining for all. See you there! ☯️

E-gads! What’s With The E-bikes?

I’ve often joked around with my buddies who have motorcycles about how “A real man’s bike runs on muscle, not gas…” If I said that to Sensei he’d probably break both my legs but as an avid cyclists who covers a thousand kilometres or more per summer season, I’m partial to an actual bike instead of motorcycles. Although I can understand the speed and feeling of freedom one no doubt feels from using such a vehicle, the dangers and overall accident rate just aren’t worth it to me, just to relive the opening scene of the original Top Gun movie (if you know, you know!).

But a growing trend seems to be these fuckin’ e-bikes. For those who may not be aware or haven’t been exposed to these abominations, an e-bike is what in Canada, is known as an “assisted bicycle” and usually equipped with some sort of battery pack that powers a small electric motor that provides propulsion to the bicycle. unlike a motorcycle, moped or scooter, it doesn’t have a combustion engine and doesn’t run on gas. In Canada, an e-bike is required to have peddles on it, otherwise it’s classified as a motorcycle and subject to all the same rules and regulations. They also can only be powered to a certain extent before becoming illegal to use on public streets and roadways. They’re also utterly and ridiculously useless…

E-bikes were “invented sometime in the early 1990’s with the first ones sold in store towards the latter part of that decade. It isn’t until recent years that that there seems to have been an uptake and increase in interest in these bikes and people everywhere are jumping on (see what I did there?). I have to confess that I don’t really see the use behind these suckers. Although I understand that so long as they’re compliant with local laws, you don’t need a driver’s license to operate one, they don’t hold anywhere near the speed of a motorcycle, with most legally-permitted ones going no much faster than a seasoned cyclist would go on a traditional bike. If it’s because you NEED the assistance because you don’t want to keep peddling, that raises the question as to WHY you’re using a bike in the first place.

I recently had a friend from back home, who shall remain nameless but if they take the time to read my blog, they’ll know themselves, who excitedly contacted me to tell me they had purchased a mountain bike version of one of these bad boys. His claim was that it would allow him to bike through some of the more difficult areas that he couldn’t make it through on his own. When I challenged that claim on the basis that the bike was doing the work instead of him, he didn’t particularly like that. But that’s the reality; if you can’t make it through an are on your bike, that’s likely because YOU SHOULDN’T BE BIKING THERE!

I don’t know, maybe I’m being too harsh against these things. y’all can let me know in the comments section. Maybe it’s just Monday morning and I need to get more coffee into my system. I just don’t see the POINT. It feels more like an added step towards the inevitable slip towards a passive, lazy society that’s already stepping off the edge of the slope. this will just get them there faster. I guess I can kind of see SOME appeal to having one of these as an alternative means of getting to your work in the morning, providing that you don’t live a significant distance away.

It looks like e-bikes as well as their counterparts (e-scooters, etc) are here to stay, with most major retail locations in Canada carrying some version or model of them. For myself, I had toyed with the idea of getting an electric scooter to get myself to the office in the mornings so I could leave the car for my wife. I don’t know, a scooter seems less stupid to me, since the intention isn’t to peddle on one of those. Again, maybe it’s simply because I’m partial to my bike. Or maybe I juts need to stop being so whiny. It’s just the start of the week, after all. ☯️

Back In The Saddle…

I’ve almost finished my first full week back to work since coming back from vacation. Unlike most people, I chose to drag my work laptop with me and complete certain tasks while I was away. I’ve received mixed comments for various people on this practice… Some, believing I should completely shut out work while I’m gone and others admiring my tenacity and loyalty to the work. For myself, my OCD just wouldn’t allow certain tasks to go a full two weeks without my hands on it so there I went.

Despite having had my computer and access to emails, one of the things that surprised me the most upon my return was the accumulation and piling of work that continued to happen. It’s made this week somewhat hectic, especially in light of specific issues I’ve had to deal with. One of those issues, as one could well imagine, is my lack of fitness. I’ve fallen into the same precipice as most people who go on vacation; I never exercised.

Don’t get me wrong; I went swimming a couple of times with Nathan and had several reasonably long-distance walks. But in terms of working up a sweat for something other than the New Brunswick humidity, I was found significantly lacking. This is why, once we were safely back home, I decided to knuckle down and push myself to include a number of steps in my daily routine. My job is very sedentary, seeing me at a desk for several hours a day. Even with the occasional health break to get up, stretch and take short walks, this style of work can be detrimental on the body, especially if you aren’t exercising outside of work hours.

If you’ve my blog for even a short period of time, there’s no need to remind you that just about EVERYTHING affects Type-1 Diabetes, especially the blood sugar levels. Working at a desk all day, followed by a carb-heavy supper and flopping on the couch for a couple of hours before staggering your way to bed in a half-awake stupor is not conducive to good blood sugar levels. Hence, the need for some fuckin’ exercise in one’s down time.

I decided to incorporate a few easy changes into my daily routine. As I mentioned above. I promise I’ll stop repeating myself. Carrying on. I’m starting my morning with a smoothie. This doesn’t seem like a big change but the reality is that starting your morning off with some form of breakfast is important. although there are different schools of thought behind this, starting your day with a positive boost of nutrition is integral to having the kind of energy you need to reach the end of your day. I also still have a BlendJet and I never use it, so this justifies my purchase. But I digress…

Next, is a daily workout. This one is a bit more difficult, especially since I have a tendency of overdoing it and injuring myself. For example, I did a short, body-weight and dumbbell only workout on Sunday evening before starting back to work. My goal had been to wake up early on Monday morning and do some light cardio before work but my legs refused to function and basically stuck a middle finger up at me (or is it middle toe, since it has feet?). The goal is to start small and work one’s way back up. Here’s the workout I did…

On its face, it’s nothing out of this world and I should have been able to do it with ease… Such was my mistake. Even simple workouts will require some easing into after a hiatus of any length, even a short one. But staying active is important. I don’t have the space to post all the benefits of exercise, honestly. But doing so helps with cardiac health, weight management, blood pressure, blood sugar levels… The list goes on and on. Karate classes also start up again next month, so that should be fun.

Last but not least, which has also elicited some mixed comments from folks, is I’m doing an alcohol-free month. I should have waited until I made it to the end of the month to include this or write about it but who am I kidding? I’m too stubborn NOT to stay off the hooch for another two weeks. It’s not that there’s a problem with my alcohol consumption, per se… But sometimes I get a bit too comfortable sipping wine or a straight whiskey when I’m writing. But I I’ll write a more comprehensive post on THAT aspect next month, once we hit September.

It’s amazing how just a few small changes can help with any aspect of one’s health. Whether you’re goal is to increase you cardio/stamina, lose some weight, manage your blood sugars or just become stronger, healthier and live longer, you can’t lose. You just have to keep moving. After all, no one ever won a race by sitting still. Food for thought…☯️