Matt has a lot of good discussion of the video, and he ties the video to martial arts. Something that really struck me, though, was the video’s mentions of purpose or, as the Okinawans call it, ikigai. Ikigai is something you live for, your reason to wake up every morning. The presenter, Dan Buettner, says the two most dangerous years of our lives are the first year and the year we retire. That means infant mortality and losing our sense of purpose. The Okinawans, it turns out, don’t even have a word for retirement.

I’ve never understood retirement. I’ve been told many times I need to be ready to retire at 55, or at least by 65. Okay, but then what? If I retire at 55 and my life expectancy is 75, that’s 20 years of sitting with my thumb in my ass. Sure, I’m supposed to have enough money to take a couple of trips a year, or go golfing or something when I feel like it, but is that going to fill up an entire year? Or as much time as a day job currently does? Nope.

Now, that doesn’t mean I want to be at this same day job at that point. My goal is to move on from this job, preferably through writing, before I have to retire from it. If the Okinawan fisherman is content to fish for his family three times a week at age 100, then more power to him. He’s happy to do it, he enjoys it. It gives him purpose. The way I feel right now, I’d love to be writing and practicing karate (and playing with grandkids or great-grandkids) at age 85. I’d love to go out working at my desk, like Robert B. Parker did. Or in my sleep after a good workout (or after sex, as Buettner says a number of Okinawans do).

“Retirement homes” scare the shit out of me. Sure, sometimes disease and other misfortunes result in people stranded there, but it just freaks me out seeing people sitting in chairs, vacantly staring at the walls or windows. Some of them simply stopped moving, and their bodies just didn’t know they’d quit. What’s their ikigai, their purpose? Salisbury steak day in the cafeteria? An over-enthusiastic intern dragging them through an activity they have no interest in?

I’ll pass, thanks.

This is just another reminder I need to keep working. I’m fortunate my creativity is something that can (potentially) fund this kind of dream. Even if it couldn’t, though, I would like to think I’ll find another passion to keep me alive when I finally get fed up and walk away from this job, even if it means learning something new. (I’m also a big believer that people should never stop learning, but that’s a whole separate blog post.) Maybe I’ll learn to build and repair motorcycles, or turn my writing sideline to editing and publishing. Maybe I’ll finally learn to play an instrument and songwriting will take over. Who knows? Whatever I choose to call retirement is a long way in the future.

My present is my ikigai.

Cholesterol has been a tricky animal, but it’s under control. I take 20mg of a statin every night, and while my HDL is three points low, everything else is aces. I think part of the problem was the glucosamine chondroitin I was taking for my joints, but I’ve been seeing many reports about it elevating cholesterol and I stopped taking it the same time I started on the statin. Boom, my cholesterol dropped like a rock. (The studies may show the cholesterol isn’t going up, but I suspect it’s at least causing false positives.)

The only nagging problem I have is my weight. Now, to be fair, I’m still forty pounds lighter than I was in 2005. I also don’t put any stock in body mass index (but of course my doctor does because my insurer does), and I’ve never been the “ideal weight” for my height, even when people would have called me thin. As such, I don’t put a lot of stock in the actual number. However, I do concern myself with the extra padding I have around my gut, my sides, and my thighs.

It’s not so much a vanity thing (though I’ll admit, there’s some of that there) as it is a concern that this extra weight is starting to affect my knees and is generally slowing me down. When I spar, for example, I don’t think I’m getting beaten on skill, I think many of my opponents are simply faster. Blowing a knee isn’t going to do me any favors, either, and I don’t need this extra padding contributing to other health problems in the future.

My weight has been relatively static for the past couple of years. Here’s a picture of me from January 2008:

Wow. It's tough to look at myself in a blue belt now that I wear brown.

I should take a new picture for comparison, but really, it wouldn’t look much different. A year later I weighed seven pounds more, and today I weigh eight pounds more. That’s a small fluctuation given my weight, and I’ve been stuck right within that range.

I credited some 2008 weight loss to running, when I dropped down even lower than where I was above. I gained a few pounds back when I stopped running over the winter, but then I ran at least as often this year with no effect. I’ve tweaked my diet a bit, but perhaps not enough. One speculation is I’ve swapped heavier muscle for fat, but my pants still fit the same so I don’t think it’s that simple this time.

I think it’s time to change up the home workouts, get in some more cardio/aerobic exercise. That’s very easy to do with karate, switching over to bag work (I bought the damn thing I may as well get back to using it) and sparring drills on top of kata and wazas. Not to mention I need to start practicing my ju ju undo (free exercise) to music, which I need to do at least once to get to ikkyu (first degree brown belt).

In fact, it’s probably time to revamp the whole after-work routine. I’ve got a few ideas here that involve both karate workouts and writing. I’ll have to ponder it some before I move on to next year’s goals.

Meanwhile, it’s also time to take a harder look at my meals, both content and portion. I’ll get started right after the family goes out for Chinese tonight…

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 was half interested in seeing but not worth going out of my way to catch at the theater, so I’ve suctioned my ass to the couch to watch some of them. So far it’s been Dragon Wars, Max Payne, and right now Bangkok Dangerous (American version), with some James Bond marathon action from the SyFy Channel in between. Might squeeze in Babylon A.D. before the night is out, too.

B movies are great: the kids can make all kinds of noise and it doesn’t matter because I’m just in it for the action.

It hasn’t been a complete lazy day, though. This morning I got up and hit the next day in the 100 Pushups program. May as well take advantage of the protein in the turkey I’d be sucking down, and do something to offset the calories I’d be slurping up. I gave some thought to a karate workout, but then my brother rang the breakfast bell. My family makes some killer cheesy eggs, and the Wife brought Amish cinnamon bread, so my stomach trumped my sense of fitness.

No writing yet, but I’ve got the laptop at hand and the kids have stopped climbing on me. I’ll probably tap on this script a bit before I crash for the night. We’ve got another lazy day lined up tomorrow, which I intend to take advantage of and get this thing as close to finished as possible. If things go according to plan, I’ll be able to turn in a first draft by Sunday night and prepare for another project.

In the meantime, back to the flick. Nicolas Cage is shooting people.

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 to finish that sometime next year.

After that comes the long slog toward black belt. That could take anywhere from two to ten years, depending how hard I continue to work. I’m in this for the long haul, though, so I don’t see it being a major problem in my karate development. I’m committed to the short end of that scale, with a personal goal of testing for black belt by sometime in 2013. If I’m asked to test earlier, that would be great, but I won’t let myself take longer than that. In the meantime I plan to start some Judo work, and finish some of the kobudo (weapons) requirements.

Tonight’s celebration is short-lived. I have writing to do.

Tonight’s soundtrack:

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 next week after we get through this week’s karate review and the extra practice I’ve been putting in to prepare for it. I actually ran home in the rain today with a loaded backpack and didn’t feel any knee pain, so with luck the track won’t give me any more trouble than that.

Goal 2: Make Nikyu in Shuri-ryu Karate-do by Halloween.

That’s 2nd degree brown belt for those unaware, and I can say so far so good on this one. I had a setback during the previous review because I made some mistakes the first night and missed the second night due to a family incident. This week I was able to finish the process and I should receive the first of three stripes required to hit Nikyu on Thursday. If I bust my ass practicing this summer, I can still make it.

Goal 3: Complete 25 themed photos by December 31st.

Uh oh. Unless I make them all karate-themed, I’m in big trouble. Between the writing in general, the setback with the graphic novel, work, family, and of course karate, I haven’t made time to surf Flickr groups or read the snazzy photography book I bought, much less take the camera out and about. Maybe a karate theme is just that simple a solution, with portraits and pics like my Karate Moleskine (below).

Taken with my old camera, but I still dig it

I’m glad I revisited these goals now, as there’s still plenty of time for all three if I put in the effort. But that’s the whole point of goals, isn’t it? If I can still get the immediate writing commitments completed, I can also participate in National Novel Writing Month this year as I hoped. It’ll take some effort, but it’s not impossible.

Too bad I don’t have a Staples easy button.

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 the knee, connected hard with his knee and it’s been hurting ever since. The only external sign of injury is a small red mark, but I’m sure there’s a nice bruise deep inside and I’m wondering if that’s what’s lead to the problem in the knee. No pain (yet), just noise. I’m taking a break from the running as a result, as the last thing I need is to aggravate the problem.

Meantime, I’m going to try the One Hundred Push-Ups program. I’ve improved my push-ups quite a bit since starting karate, and the program suggests I start at Week 3. Cut the program from six weeks to four? I can deal with that. It’ll be fun to see if I can make the same gains.

I’ve learned push-ups are important to my karate as well. There’s a physical requirement to making black belt in my style, Shuri-ryu, and my school tests prospective black belts on six exercises: jump rope, push-ups, sit-ups, two dumbbell exercises, and front kicks. They want black belts to hit 45 consecutive push-ups.

I’m getting there, as I’m now able to hit at least 30 consistently. It’d be nice to blow that number out of the water, though. While a black belt does not have to hit 45 push-ups, my understanding is if you can’t, it counts against you in your overall score. This means your kata, techniques, written test, and so on, all have to be just that much better to make up for any physical deficiencies. My black belt test is at least a couple of years off, so it makes sense to start now.

Not to mention that it’s just good for me, period.

Then there’s sit-ups. Black belts are shooting for 75. I don’t do as bad at sit-ups as one might expect given my size, but I’m certainly not going to hit 75 any time soon. I wondered if there was a similar program for sit-ups, looked through the site’s links, and found Two Hundred Sit-Ups. Then I clicked the link and learned it’s actually two hundred crunches. Swell. Somehow I can actually execute more of what most people think of as a sit-up than I can a crunch; the middle of my abs gives out before my hips and lower abs so. And neither are comfortable as I near my limit.

I must be a masochist. But again, it’s good for me. If I keep at ‘em, maybe this belly will be less in the way and I can execute them better.

The real question is whether to keep these programs separate or execute them together. I’ll have to give that some thought. Meanwhile, if anyone out there has tried them together, I’d love to hear about it. Official initial test will be this weekend. First workout will be Monday.

Incidentally, this summer when I get sick of working upper body, I can move on to Two Hundred Squats. Woo!

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 them.

I really didn’t feel like running tonight. I was nodding off in front of the tube, the ground is saturated and mushy, I had some email to take care of… pick an excuse and it ran through my head. I had my laptop nearby, and when I jerked awake I noticed the screensaver had come on. There was the little guy, running right along. He was happy for the moment, but I didn’t run for a few days due to travel and the rain, so he wouldn’t be happy for long. I finally decided to suck it up, grab my sneakers and iPod, and hit the track.

Half an hour later I limped back to the house, sore and drenched with sweat but feeling pretty damn good. And though the numbers I uploaded didn’t reflect it, I had one of the better runs I’ve had in some time.

So thanks, you little bastard. You rock.

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 started karate classes. Time was, any real distance at a brisk walk would cause the outside of my calves to seize up. Fortunately the cramping is already clearing up, so I’m confident that’s not the problem. With luck it’s something simple, like I didn’t drink nearly enough water today (which I didn’t) and it’s just standard muscle cramps. It could also just be the couple pounds I gained back over the winter.

My pace may have been less than desirable, but I did make it through my minimum target distance of 3 kilometers. I’ve also got my Nike+ set up for the new season and my goal established, so I’ve got something to shoot for. Just getting out there and breaking the seal is important, and here on out it’s just a matter of developing the habit again.

Onward and upward.

A big part of that is my sensei has turned our advanced class on Tuesday nights into a workout class. We may work a little karate, but we focus on a mix of cardio, flexibility, and strength training. For the last few weeks we’ve done the same with Thursday night’s class; it’s not quite as intense, but we get a good workout before moving on to the night’s lesson.

Last night was a good measure of my progress: we started with 150 front kicks after our warm-up, then did 110 push-ups and 110 sit-ups in ladders. By ladders I mean we partnered up and did 1 push-up, then the partner did 1. Did 2, partner did 2, and so on, up to 10, for a total of 55 reps. We did sit-ups the same way, then counted down from 10 with the push-ups, and finally counted down with the sit-ups.

I made it all the way through without hitting failure or losing form (though I am feeling it in the abs today). I’m not so sure I could have done that a year ago, so I was very pleased with myself.

The Tuesday class has also been great for my side kicks. I’ve learned a new waza, a certain combination of techniques, that requires me to do a blocking kick immediately followed by a side kick, both above the belt. We’ve been working side kicks and stretches on Tuesday nights in preparation, and now I’m happy to report I can pull off both kicks. I don’t know how pretty it looks, especially in the transition to the technique following them, but Sensei Miller seems content so I’ll just keep practicing.

If I can perform the waza and the rest of my new material properly, I’ll be a brown belt in two weeks. I’ve been looking at sankyu, or third degree brown belt, as the next big milestone in my karate progession, and it feels great to be so close to earning it.

My first summer with karate, I was just glad to have moved beyond a few physical annoyances and cut some weight. I wasn’t really focused on black belt, or even brown belt. It was tough to see that far into the future, and I admit I was intimidated by some of the things I saw our advanced students doing. Now I’m right up there with them. Now I know what I need to do to hit the next point. Now I know how to concentrate on the things I’m lacking.

Now I am one of the advanced students, helping to teach some of the basic students. I’m thinking about what needs to be done to hit my next milestone, ikkyu (first degree brown belt), by the end of this year. I have a goal in mind for shodan (first degree black belt), and a good idea of what it’s going to take to get there. It’s starting to sink in that there are real milestones beyond that point, be it nidan and beyond or exploring other styles and arts.

I don’t look at my martial arts journey as a long road, neither in front of me nor behind me. It’s just a road.

I’m just happy I’m enjoying the trip.

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.) I bought it, went home and ate the sandwich, then started looking over the wrapper of the candy bar.

Now, to me, a candy bar is supposed to be a small snack, not a meal in itself. You want to know why Snickers really satisfies? Because a king-size bar is loaded with 510 calories! You see it says 170 calories in the listing, but then you realize a serving is only 1/3 of a bar. Yikes!

Nothing like blowing out a quarter of your day’s calories (or a third if you’re on a diet) on a frickin’ candy bar. To put it in perspective, a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder with Cheese has 510 calories, too.

No wonder we’re a nation of fat bastards.