Posts under ‘Fitness’

I’m stealing this video from Matthew Apsokardu’s Ikigai martial arts blog because I think it’s very much worth watching. It discusses human longevity, and the things that lead to longevity in some of the longest-living groups in the world.

Matt has a lot of good discussion of the video, and he ties the video to martial [...]

All in all, I’m in good health. I’d like my cardio to improve, but I’m ahead of many people my age and most people my weight. Despite a family history of diabetes and high blood pressure, my blood sugar has been consistently good and my blood pressure has dropped from borderline to just a tick [...]

I’ve got turkey in my belly and tryptophan in my blood stream. Filled in the cracks with pumpkin pie and ice cream. It doesn’t get much better than this.
I think Thanksgiving is made for laziness. This year my old man’s been buying a bunch of flicks from the previously-viewed bin at his local Blockbuster, flicks [...]

I finished my sparring requirements this evening and I am officially a Nikyu, or second-degree brown belt, in Shuri-ryu Karate.
Next week I’ll start learning a new kata called Bassai Dai, and I’ll be going through several more requirements for my next few stripes as I work toward Ikkyu, or first-degree brown belt. My goal is [...]

We’re just about halfway through the year, so I thought I’d revisit some of the goals I’d set for myself for this year.
Goal 1: Cut 20 more pounds by October 1st.
So far not so good, but I’ve still got all summer to run. The knee is feeling better, so I may give it a shot [...]

That’s the sound my left knee makes. I’m assuming that’s not a good thing.
I worry it’s the result of a sparring match in karate class last week. I went in for a kick to my opponent’s ribs, and he raised his knee to block. The top of my shin, about an inch or so below [...]

What keeps me running?
As stupid as it sounds, it’s this guy:

I keep this Nike+ avatar on my screen saver and on my Facebook page. When I run, he’s happy. When I don’t, he gets bored and makes smartass comments while he plays paddle ball or video games. They’re subtle jabs, but man, I hate seeing [...]

…And boy did it suck.
I probably shouldn’t be so hard on myself as it was on par with how I started out last season, but I started cramping up about a quarter of the way through and it threw off the whole session.
At first I feared my leg conditioning took a step back to before [...]

I’m coming up on two years studying Shuri-ryu with the Academy of Okinawan Karate, and I’m still surprised at how far I’ve progressed. My weight loss may have stalled out over the last year, but I’ve made huge strides in strength and flexibility.
A big part of that is my sensei has turned our advanced class [...]

According to my Snickers wrapper, “substantialiscious” is the weight of something when you weigh it with your tongue.
Uh, sure.
I didn’t want a king-size Snickers, but that’s all I could find at the local Casey’s when I picked up one of their shitty pork tenderloin sandwiches for lunch. (It’s a long story, but I was stuck.) [...]