Training Good; Diet Bad!

I've really enjoyed my workouts over the past couple of weeks. We've been training really hard in the dojo — our annual "January fitness cycle" with its focus on exercising with ever-increasing intensity and duration over a 6-week period has got me feeling pretty good. I feel stronger and more alert, and I'm sleeping better, too. All good news.

And I've been doing additional physical training, too: I teach a "combat conditioning" class one night a week, and I fit in personal sessions wherever and whenever I can. I've been stretching, hitting the heavy bag, and doing my TACFIT Warrior bodyweight exercises. (I still really need to do some planning to maximize results.)

One thing that has been really slipping over the past week, however, has been my diet. My over-hectic schedule has led me to eat poorly, in a rush, and at odd times. There's been way too much pizza on my plate in the past week, and more than once I found myself eating in the car — a BIG no-no — just to make sure that I had enough calories in my system to keep myself from being ravenous. I have a general rule to not eat after 8:00 PM to allow my body to "rest, not digest" overnight, but more than a few times lately, I've sat down to dinner at 8:30. Even worse, I've found myself eating really late at night: after 10:00 PM upon returning home from the dojo.

This simply cannot stand. I KNOW better!

I've been reading the book Savor, by Thich Nhat Hanh and Dr. Lilian Cheung. It's sitting here on my desk as I type this. Clearly, I need to do a better job of practicing the art of mindful eating. I went to the grocery store this week with the specific intent of grabbing some healthy, portable snacks — granola, fruit, nuts, etc. — to keep me from starving throughout the day. Just purchasing healthier food and re-establishing my mindfulness around what I put into my body really changed my attitude.

2011 -- Week 1: When you're going through hell, keep going

The new year has been off to a bit of a rough start so far, but as the saying goes, "When you're going through hell, keep going."

I've been sick for the past couple of weeks (apparently the chronic lack of sleep has finally caught up with me), so it's been very difficult to train and the holidays were a little rough, but last night — my first night in a gi in a week and a half! — I taught three consecutive fitness classes as part of our dojo's annual 6-week fitness campaign. Lots of pushups and ab work. I'm pleased to report that today, I'm not feeling the after-effects too badly! Tonight, I'm running a "combat conditioning" class at the dojo — now, that should be fun!

I'm anxious to get moving on my commitment to use the TACFIT Warrior program as my primary fitness and goal-achieving platform this year. I earned myself a 3rd place in Scott Sonnon's video challenge with this entry, which earned me a refund of the purchase price of the program. I re-invested part of the refund in a new digital watch with an interval timer so I can more precisely execute my tabata sessions without needing to look up at a clock. Look for more TACFIT updates from me soon!

Outside of training, I've added to the series of videos on bullying prevention that I've committed to producing throughout the year to benefit the community with a review of Terrence Webster Doyle's "Why Is Everybody Always Picking On Me?" I posted the video on Boston Self-Defense, the community self-defense resource guide I created, and I'll be sending a link to the video to the local school principals. I also created a new series of videos that I'm calling "tokonoma-side chats." These videos will be for dojo members only, but you can see the intro segment here.

One of the main things I'd like to accomplish in the coming year is to be more mindful, and to keep myself more focused on truly experiencing the present moment. On my current personal development reading list: Savor, Mindful Eating, Mindful Life by Thich Nhat Hanh and Dr. Lilian Cheung and The Soul of Leadership by Deepak Chopra.

We've had a wee bit of "family drama" in the past month, so I've got some relationships in need of mending. But that is the work, no?

Looking forward to it all.

Same Stuff, Different Applications

Life has been a whirlwind lately. Lots going on in every area — personal, home, dojo, work — and it's left me precious little time to eat and sleep, let alone journal. Please forgive my lack of recent UBBT updates.

Our environmental clean-up project on the Emerald Necklace was a great time. Everyone seemed to have a good time working in the muck together. A great bonding and "environmental self-defense" experience. We weren't in the dojo, but we still managed to squeeze in some training after ward.

An interesting opportunity for demonstrating "how the Black Belt attitude has relevance in everyday life" has come my way: I've been invited by a local, nonprofit "family nurturing" organization to speak on the subjects of goal setting, positive thinking, visualization, and persistence. Here's the twist: My audience will be a group of recent immigrants (most of them non-English speakers) who are facing the challenges of language, culture shock, working and paying the bills, and keeping their kids safe and in school. Apparently, someone in their organization thought that a local karate instructor and marital arts activist like me would make the perfect person for the task of encouraging and motivating such a group. I guess they're right in a way: no one earns a Black Belt without goal setting, positive thinking, visualization, and persistence. Same stuff, different application. I'm looking forward to making the connection. Okay, now, things are getting interesting!

Working with the wonderful folks at the Defeat Diabetes organization, I've decided to sign up for the MADDCAP program to educate the people in my community about the Diabetes. With their help, I'll be adding a health based curriculum component to what I teach at the dojo and in my community: this aligns perfectly with my concept of fitness, wellness, and healthy living as "self-defense."