Category: Opinion

Even The Finest Armour Can Rust…

There’s a consistent truth to life that eventually, we all get older. I never got it or understood it when I was younger. My parents felt old to me when they were almost twenty years younger than I am now. I never understood all the jokes and memes about how waking up in the morning was like the sound of a thousand mouse traps. But I swear that my joints are the reason why mice stay the fuck away from our house in the winter. A little touch of cold and all of a sudden I have to rock back and forth a dozen times to roll myself out of bed. But I digress…

I’ve always prided myself on maintaining my health as best I could. Getting the basic equivalent of a death sentence from my doctors at the tender age of 10-years old woke me up in a way that most adults wouldn’t appreciate, at the time. I started training in the martial arts, taking control of my food and make conscious choices about my health and my future. Having been educated on all the complications Type-1 Diabetes can bring, I refused to become part of the overall statistic. There was no fuckin’ way in hell anyone was going to amputate one of my limbs. losing my eyesight or having a heart attack also didn’t sound too appealing.

I’ve had the benefit of navigating the rough seas of Diabetes with a certain amount of pride. And zeal, I guess. Given my increased level of fitness, proper diet and attention to my condition has allowed me the benefit of reaching my current age with all my limbs and organs intact, a clean nervous system and essentially no complications after over four decades of dealing with Type-1. In my early twenties, I travelled to Japan and subsequently, Okinawa. I soon after passed my first degree black belt. I became a teacher of others. I excelled in every job I ever held. Despite all odds and opposition, I graduated from the RCMP Training Academy in Regina, Saskatchewan and became a Mountie. Despite what some may say and mistakes I’ve made, I have a story to tell…

Despite how hard I’ve worked and how many obstacles I’ve faced, time is beginning to show me that I need to slow down. I don’t move quite as quickly as I did years ago, which was premised by the broken rib I suffered last April from a punch I should have easily blocked. Getting out of bed, even after a full eight hours of sleep, has become more difficult. Getting through the day without increased amounts of caffeine (or a nap, if its the weekend) is becoming more and more difficult. I worry about things like cholesterol and blood pressure now, and have prescribed “preventative” pills for both. Apparently, that’s a good idea if you’re above the age of 30 and have Type-1 Diabetes.

If you would have told me, twenty years ago, that I would have to constantly check and worry about my blood pressure, I would have told you to, as the French would say, go fuck yourself. But believe it or not, here I am! Taking preventative measures for my health and slowing down, as time is wont to do. But slowing down doesn’t mean stopping. As I’ve always said, life brings movement. Movement brings energy. Energy brings life. If there’s one thing I can guarantee, it’s that I’ve never done anything less than 100% and I don’t intend to stop, creaky joints and all… ☯️

What Do YOU Know?

When you’ve trained and travelled as much as i have over the course of my life, you get to see a few things. I’ve seen people who know nothing that thought they knew everything. I’ve seen people who knew plenty who were humble enough to recognize they knew nothing. I’ve always fancied myself as somewhere in between but I would be lying if I said that it was easy backing down, especially when I was of the opinion that I was right or had the better way.

I’ve always fancied myself as the type of guy who could be humble enough to allow someone, especially of a different style, to express themselves and provide a different perspective. After all, the only real difference in any style of karate is that we all do the same thing in slightly different ways. Until we don’t. And that’s a situation the practitioners should all remember when butting heads on techniques. I got to experience that firsthand, less than a year ago.

Uechi Ryu is significantly different from Shotokan, in that the former focuses on tight, small circle techniques with a focus on fine-point strike. The latter focuses on crossing long distances, elongated stances and full impact strikes for every technique. There are a number of significant differences beyond that, but that’s a very generalized summary of how the styles differ. Uechi Ryu also owes its origins to Okinawa and Shotokan is a Japanese style that descended from Shorin Ryu, which is also an originating Okinawan style. You’d think coming from Okinawan roots would make the Japanese style a little more humble. It did not.

I encountered a particular situation some time ago; one that made me question whether I should take a firmer stance or simply let it go. For the most part, the easy route is usually to let it go. I guess the question is how far do you let it go before you wind up compromising your teachings in exchange for those of another? It’s important to be respectful of other styles’ perspective and techniques. But how far do you allow that respect to go, if it contravenes your own style’s way of doing thing? That is the question and that is what I faced all those months ago.

We were performing lines of techniques that included a simple front kick. How ironic that one of the most basic of techniques would be the one that two black belts would differ on? The Shotokan black belt commented on how I should be using the ball of my foot as an impact point. I argued that Uechi uses the bog toe, training to focus the dynamic tension of the remaining toes to strengthen the impact point as such. He countered that doing it this way posed too much of a chance that the technique would break the practitioner’s big toe. I stated it would only happen if the practitioner did it incorrectly… Impass.

I chose not to argue. I was comparing our respective training and found my opposition lacking. He was in his early 20’s and had only been doing karate for about a third of the time that I had. I felt that I definitely had time and experience on my side. The difference is that I was in HIS dojo and was there to learn HIS style. Even though I felt that he might have been wrong, I acknowledged that it would have been rude to correct an instructor in his own dojo. I stayed silent on the matter but it might go a short distance towards explaining why I no longer train there. Besides their exorbitant costs…

Cross-training in different styles can be rough, especially if that other style differs significantly from yours. But a big part of the dojo culture is respect and understanding. Even if someone’s way of doing something may be different from yours or the techniques differ, be willing to keep your mind open to learning a new way of doing things. This is genuinely the only way to expand your overall martial arts toolbox. Food for thought… ☯️

Merry Whatever And Happy Whatnot…

We’ve kind of reached that time of the year when people start thinking and planning ahead for the Christmas season. This time of year can be pleasant but also quite hectic for some and awkward for many as the prospect of affording gifts for all of our loved ones becomes a concern that lingers well into the new year. For myself, Christmas was never a very celebrated time, Although, my family did trim a tree and place gifts.

My father used to do shift work and whether he’d be home on Christmas or not was always up for question. Given the nature of our household and the fact that my brother and I were both sick children, any holiday season spent outside the hospital was really all we wanted/needed. And believe me when I say, there were Christmases where I spent the holiday lying in a hospital bed. But I digress…

With the coming of the holiday season also comes the opportunity for many to focus on their own agendas. In recent years, saying something classic and genuine like “Merry Christmas” has become a faux pas, considered by many to be offensive to those who don’t celebrate Christmas. This essentially makes zero sense and doesn’t jive with me. Although I inherently have no issue with saying “Happy Holidays,” I don’t believe wishing someone a Merry Christmas should be construed as offensive or insensitive, whether the recipient observes the holiday or not. After all, I don’t celebrate Hanukkah but if someone wished me a Happy Hanukkah during that specific holiday, I would simply say thank you.

This is a trend that seems to permeate and infest the holiday season, with public locations being forced to change directions and in some cases even forego decorating in favour of not “offending” someone. Here’s the reality: people will have different beliefs and faith backgrounds. And that’s okay. All those differences is what makes Canada unique. We are home to a perpetual rainbow of people and cultures. But respecting each of those cultures without taking offence of those we aren’t a part of is key. This is what’s referred to as tolerance.

The holidays are already a busy time and somewhat hectic for people, dealing with work schedules, finances and potentially hosting family. And there is already enough intolerance in the world at the best of times. Let’s be sure this holiday season, to appreciate when someone wishes us well, regardless of what terminology they use. There’s no need to be offended is someone says Merry Christmas. By that same token, there’s also no reason to be offended if someone says something different, or nothing at all, in return. Let’s learnt o be more accepting and tolerant. Just because it’s winter doesn’t mean we need more snowflakes. Food for thought…☯️

Try And Sleep On It…

I’m no stranger to lack of sleep. I did spend almost 13 years as a police officer, after all. I lost count of the nights where my phone would ring, I’d get yanked out of bed and spend the remainder of my night up. On the flip side of that very issue, I spent nearly 13 years as a police officer… This means that after everything I’ve seen, done and been subjected to, my brain is a hot mess of recurring nightmares\ and an inability to calm myself, which translates to a significant lack of sleep.

Because I enjoy adding icing on the cake, once you throw Type-1 Diabetes into the mix, it gets even worse. Fluctuating blood sugars, circulatory issues, restless leg syndrome… you name it! There are plenty of things that have kept me from sleep over the decades and although I firmly believe that I’ll sleep when I’m dead, I’d kind of like to enjoy the prospect of proper rest while still in the land of the living. But I digress…

There are a number of different reasons why one may not get adequate sleep. One of the biggest culprits, is stress. Stress has a way of creating that tight knot in your gut and keep the gears of your mind running like an exhausted bastard. The result is usually that a person is unable to successfully fall asleep when something pertinent and important is on their mind. There are different ways to address this, including meditation, relaxation and calming exercises and even some dietary aspects that can help calm your mind t promote better sleep.

On the topic of diet, what you eat makes a significant difference in the quality and even quantity of sleep. Contrary to popular opinion, alcohol doesn’t actually help you sleep better. You may fall asleep FASTER, but the quality and depth of sleep won’t be there. There’s no harm in having a couple of drinks but drinking to excess where you flop on the bed and pass out won’t provide reasonable sleep. In fact, you’ll likely wake up more exhausted than when you went to bed. What you eat will also prove problematic. If you eat something too spicy or too heavy, it will weigh heavily on your system while you’re trying to sleep.

WHEN you eat is almost as important as WHAT you eat… And I’m likely the worst fuckin’ person for this type of thing. I have this nasty habit of snacking late at night, usually during that last hour that my wife and I are watching a couple of episodes of a show before bed. The problem with this is that sleep is when our body takes the opportunity to rest and rejuvenate. If several hours are contributed to digesting the food in your gut that you ate before bed, your body won’t be getting the rest it requires and depending on what you’ve eaten, it may also keep you up.

And since I mentioned binge-watching shows, modern times have made staring at a screen the common thing that binds us all together. Unfortunately. The issue there is that our bodies are designed to recognize that once things begin to go dark, the body prepares for sleep. Staring at a screen fools your body into thinking that it’s still daytime out and it will be more difficult to fall asleep. Most articles I’ve read have suggested avoiding screens for an hour before bed to allow your body to be receptive to sleep.

All of this is great information in theory but not all of it can necessarily apply. Given that some folks perform shift work or work at unusual hours or have underlying medical conditions that may affect sleep, avoiding food and bright screens for an hour before bed may not cut it. It’s important to bear in mind that most forms of insomnia or lack of sleep can linger but shouldn’t last for longer than a week, at most. If you notice that despite all the steps you take and improvements you make, that you can’t get proper sleep, it may be time to consult your family doctor or medical practitionner.

Sleep is integral to good health, balanced blood sugars and proper diabetes control. Taking Diabetes out of the equation, lack of sleep will cause eventual cognitive issues, difficulty concentrating and lead to further medical issues. It’s important to get some proper sleep and if you find yourself unable to achieve that, it should be addressed sooner rather than later. Even something simple, like switching mattresses or ensuring your have a fixed bedtime routine can help to promote proper sleep and by virtue of that, proper rest. ☯️

Stay In Your Lane…

The World Wide Web is an amazing thing, allowing the general population to have immediate and almost uncensored access to the world’s information. It’s a truly wondrous thing and I have to admit, it would have made high school projects a lot easier for me, had I access to it in the early 1990’s. But as with all things in life, a balance is required and there are negative aspects to having this immediate access at all times.

One of the bigger problems is that we’re constantly exposed to the world’s negativity. When I was younger, we only heard about pertinent crimes and issues that took place in our little corner of the Province. Anything beyond that didn’t matter because it didn’t relate to us. Although this might seem like a bit of a “head in the sand,” it certainly allowed for a more peaceful life. Anything of pertinence or from outside our little circle would be broadcast on the news or the radio, so we were never truly left in the dark.

The online world has become the primary means of communication in the world, alerting everyone to everything at all times. People are often shocked and awed at the things happening in the world, ignorantly unaware that these things have been happening all along; we simply weren’t aware of it. But the big change has been social media. Good ol’ social media… The unwanted step-child of the internet. I have a distinct love/hate relationship with social media, having stepped away and cancelled my accounts on more than one occasion. If it weren’t for the sheer convenience of communicating with friends and family, I likely STILL wouldn’t have any social media accounts.

Friends and family, as it relates to social media, is actually the point of today’s post. Social media unfortunately allows most people to become armchair warriors, arguing on matters that they would otherwise have no knowledge about. Or basically just complaining. And that’s where things get difficult, for me. I don’t have many genuine friendships and the associations I maintain online are often more for nostalgic purposes than anything else. The friendships I maintain involve a more traditional “in person” component. Call me old fashioned.

This is why, when someone becomes an aforementioned armchair warrior, especially on a topic that shouldn’t elicit such a response, it becomes difficult for me to maintain that association. A big part of my beliefs is the elimination of suffering from my own life as well as the life of others. No easy task, to be sure but it’s made all the more difficult by the fact that I sometimes see people I know and respect letting the cheese slide off their crackers for trivial matters that should simply have them scroll on by as opposed to commenting.

The irony is that one might take the view that by writing this post, I’m doing the very thing that I’m writing against. I guess the difference, in my view, is that this is a phenomenon that DOES directly affect me, my relationships and how I view and associate with said people who follow this practice. Unlike others, however, I won’t engage in the matters that I don’t agree with, I’ll simply scroll on by. Or in extreme cases, I’ll unfollow/block the offending party. I hate to admit that I’ve taken this step on occasion, even with family members.

I had a cousin, with whom I had minimal contact for decades. About ten years ago, we made contact and began communicating again when his mother, my aunt, passed away from cancer. An extremely intelligent and well-educated man, we had some reasonable conversations and I was happy with the concept of having a close family contact only a few hours away in Western Canada. And then, something funny happened. He got a speeding ticket and began publicly bashing law enforcement for giving him said speeding ticket.

Now, I’m pretty thick-skinned and this kind of thing has been happening throughout my entire career. I’ve sat in my mother’s kitchen while some of my uncles have literally bad-mouthed police and government for how they deal with things but that was usually i the spirit of discussion. In my cousin’s case, he was just angry about getting a ticket and it was everyone else’s fault. Had it been just a one-time thing, I likely would have left it alone, having scrolled on by. But when he got a total of three tickets within a two-month period and failed to see that perhaps his driving was the issue at hand, I had had enough.

All in all, the internet is a great resource for people and has joined the world in many amazing ways. Lost friends and family and now easily connect and communicate, people can learn and gain knowledge in ways they never have before and the world’s news is at one’s immediate fingertips. There is a lot of positive that can come from these things but as with all things in life, there is some negative as well. Instead of complaining about things online, take the time to ask yourself if it’s worth your time to do so. Ask yourself, will this help me or others? Will this contribute to the betterment of the world? If the answer to either of those is no, then perhaps scroll on by is what one should do. Food for thought…☯️

Weight A Minute, Where’s My Cardio???

After several years of writing this blog, it should come as no surprise to anyone who reads it regularly that I’m a firm fitness advocate. I’m no Olympian or anything (Shut up! I heard that! You know who you are!) but I work hard to try and stay healthy, especially in light of having Type-1 Diabetes for over four decades. It started years ago with karate and slowly evolved into some cardio training and light weights. Like any fighting sport, karate requires that a practitioner have a reasonable amount of cardio in order to keep up with the rigours of martial arts. Some weightlifting is required in order to maintain one’s strength. So that begs the question: which is more important? Cardio or strength training?

The thing with any form of exercise is that one always believes that their way is the best way. People who focus on resistance training will always assume that resistance training is the best. People who focus on cardio will assume that whatever they do, running, cycling, swimming or whatnot, will swear that cardio is the only way. Realistically, karate is the only best way… (see what I mean?) But seriously, people will always assume that their direction is the only one but the reality is simpler than that. Proper and effective fitness will require both.

If all you do is weight lift, you may gain some static strength but it will have no practical application. Unless you’re trying to body build professionally, weightlifting is usually best done in moderate doses. The larger and more rounded your muscle groups become, the less flexibility and range of motion you’ll have. Picture those huge body builders who can’t remove that post-it note from between their shoulder blades. That’d be pretty easy shit for a person with normal muscle mass. That’s why in general and especially if you do karate, you should limit your strength training to developing actual strength and not necessarily increasing your overall size.

If all you do is cardio, you’ll have great stamina, great endurance and be able to hold out under your own body weight for extended periods of time. But you’ll need to run, if someone strong tries to get their hands on you. The caveat is that intensive cardio training will actually contribute to a bit of strength training. You can’t be a long-distance runner or a marathon swimmer without some strength thrown in there, right? But ultimately, you’ll still need some strength training included in your overall routine. Here’s where I get to brag a bit and mention that karate promotes and provides both of those things.

No matter what type of workouts you prefer, you should always work to include all types. You need some cardio. You need some strength training. And if you do martial arts, you need them both. Whether you integrate both aspects into one workout or do them separately… I like doing a routine where I’ll do my weight sets with a couple of minutes of high-intensity cardio in between. It keeps my heart rate up and makes the workout all the more challenging. If you’re doing cardio as a standalone workout, it’s important to remember that besides the normally-expected benefits of cardio, getting that heart rate up and increasing your blood flow will also help with muscle recovery from your strength training. Food for thought… ☯️

Commando: A Review (Heavy Spoilers)

It feels like I’m writing a fair bit of reviews on films and television series… And that’s because I am! No big secret, I’m a fan of a god flic, especially something that was aired in the good ol’ 1980’s. There’s just something about that decade that’s near and dear to my heart; likely the fact that my formative years took place during that decade. But there’s something about watching a solid action film that doesn’t stress out too much about the script or even the plot points and focuses on plenty of action and explosions. 1985’s Commando, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, is no exception.

Commando tells the story of a retired Special Forces commander named John Matrix who lives a secluded, quiet life with his young daughter, who just happens to be played by Alyssa Milano. I was a HUGE “Who’s the Boss” fan, so Milano is just the icing on the cake. Their lives are disturbed when members of Matrix’s team are systemically killed and the military assumes Matrix is next, and warns him. Matrix’s daughter is kidnapped and Matrix is blackmailed into performing a heinous act to get her back. Of course, instead of complying, Matrix becomes a one-man army of vengeance as he works to getting his daughter back.

I’d like to say the movie still totally holds up to modern times. The truth is that I likely only think so because I was a child of the 80’s. Most people nowadays likely wouldn’t get the references and comedy behind all the violence. Basically, Matrix makes his way back and enlists the help of an unwitting flight attendant who not only helps him gear up and get equipped to rescue his daughter but ends up being a key point to the story. It should be noted that the girl’s mother is never mentioned or referenced during the movie.

The movie reaches its climax when Matrix flies to a remote, private island where he absolutely decimates an army of opposing soldiers who are guarding the antagonist holding Matrix’s daughter hostage. Although I’m sure there are plenty of forums and discussion threads that would identify the impossibilities or inconsistencies of what takes place in this movie, sometimes it’s important to just sit back and enjoy the ride. This movies does just that, providing a gratuitous amount of action scenes while managing not to take itself too seriously.

As one would expect from a classic 80’s action movie, matrix rescues his daughter, annihilates everyone in sight and manages to kill the bad and save the day. The movie ends on a pretty cheesy note, with matrix marching down to the beachfront where U.S. Army forces storm the beach and somehow immediately recognize Matrix as a friendly, despite the fact that majority of them likely never served with him. He’s permitted to simply walk away and fly off with his daughter and newfound “associate,” without any debrief or information on what went down during his time on the island.

Honestly, it’s a pretty fun thrill ride, if you can get past the dated format of the movie and its plot points. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine, worthy of being included among classics like Conan the Barbarian, Predator and Red Sonja (yeah, I said it! Fight me!) I know not many people were pleased with Brigitte Nielsen’s portrayal of the famous, red-haired comic book heroine, but I think it totally stands up. If you’re looking for something action-packed, fun and easy to watch on a Saturday night, Commando is currently streaming on Disney+ and I highly recommend it. ☯️

Quality Over Quantity

One of the more complicated things with being a content creator of any kind, whether it’s a blog or one of the other, stupider forms of content creation (I swear I’m not bitter) is that the online world has more than its fair share of artificial people and fake followers. You know the ones; people who comment on posts even if it would be easier and simpler to just scroll on by and not comment at all. Or the ones that like to incite arguments and troll people from the safety and comfort of their keyboard. Such is the way of the world, these days. I don’t always agree with other people’s perspectives and opinions and the light knows I hate this stupid TikTok trend that everyone is on, but I keep that shit to myself. For the most part.

The bigger problem is when people shop for likes. What I mean is people who will click like on a post or an article or even follow someone’s account in the hopes that it’ll be reciprocated. My follower-ship has grown significantly in recent years. It’s a slow process and I’ve come to appreciate all my followers and the people who take the time to read my content. But I always find it interesting when a post goes live and someone will like it almost the same moment as its posted. For those of you who have noticed, I usually put up my daily posts between 6 to 7 am, so depending on what time zone one happens to be in, it’s FAIRLY unlikely that someone will have read some of my lengthy shit within a minute.

I make a point that I don’t like someone’s post unless I’ve taken the time to read it completely. That’s a point of pride for me. Wanna know what another point of pride is? Knowing that people are actually reading what I post. This blog started a few years ago as a way to keep my writing skills sharp and to allow me to share decades of experience about Diabetes, martial arts and health & fitness. I’ve enjoyed it and its become an integral part of my life and my weekly routine. In a few weeks in fact, I should strike 1,000 posts in a row. That’ll be a milestone for me. Can’t wait. ☯️

From The Least Likely Sources…

I kinda like this. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that Robert Downey Jr. has been involved in movies for decades before the MCU “made him famous.” Personally, I thought he was great in Sherlock Holmes and Tropic Thunder. But from an 80’s standpoint, Johnny Be Good, Weird Science and The Pick-up Artist comes to mind. A great actor. But the thought provided above does get one thinking. Depending on who you’re dealing with, sometimes there’s no winning and you’ll just have to forge your own path regardless of what others think. ☯️

“Wine-ing” About Carbs…

Having Diabetes makes almost everything food and fitness-related more difficult. That’s why when I find something that boasts being “sugar-free,” I jump on that shit like, well… me! I’ve been fooled on a number of different occasions, where things like sugar-free candy still have carbohydrates that affect overall blood sugar levels. This is part of the struggle that most people don’t understand. That’s why, when I found a bottle of wine boasting “0g sugar,” I couldn’t help but grab a bottle. Although several different blends were available, I opted for the Pinot Noir, since it was on special and a couple of dollars cheaper. What can I say? I’m cheap…

Bask is a Canadian-made wine that appears to be recently featured at my local liquor store. Sitting at 12.5% alcohol ( as though you couldn’t tell from the photo), this pinot noir has a pleasant taste and a light finish that goes quite well after stuffing my face with buffalo chicken dip and nachos. But I digress… Unlike most other wines, there’s a full nutrition label on the back of the bottle, which boasts 7 grams of carbs per 188mL, which means approximately 21 grams of carbohydrates for the entire bottle. If accurate, that’s almost more than double the carbs in the bottle of shiraz I usually purchase.

So, the irony here, and what’s difficult for most Type-1 Diabetics, is that many are often fooled by a claim that something is “0g of sugar” or sugar-free. Although sugar in and of itself may be low or excluded, the total carbs will still affect one’s overall blood sugars. It will be interesting to see how this bottle affects me. I’m not bolusing for the drinks I’m having but rather, I’ll correct for any rises in blood glucose that I note in the next hour or two. What’s funny is that the nutritional label even talks about the sugar content that MAY be contained within…

By that count, there could potentially be 2 grams of sugar within one full bottle. This would be included in the total 21 grams of carbs, based on the nutrition label’s count. It’s a decent wine, the flavour isn’t my favourite but it’s good enough for the experiment at hand. Plus, it gave me a reason to sip wine. Not this morning, mind you. But let this serve as a PSA for all my fellow Diabetics out there. “Sugar-free,” “No Sugar Added” and “All Natural” may mean nothing, in terms of total carbohydrates and how it may affect one’s blood sugar. Food for thought… (pun fully intended) ☯️