Choy Lay Fut training is really long.....

All these different punches and kicks! Just finished learning the first 9 kicks. Started to kick the bags finally. You start with practicing kicking the air. That is 2,700 kicks. Then you do it all over again with kicking the bag. The dynamics of kicking the air to learn position, posture, rooting or grounding and just to get used to lifting your legs when all I've ever lifted was a toe to tap with whatever song was playing or the gas or brake pedal in my work truck. Jeesum! I hurt. I only did 300 front snap kicks on the bag today. So 3,000 kicks. Oh Joy!! I've learned that I'm left footed I guess. When I kicked with my left leg there was no problem but when I used my right leg there was no power, no ease of movement, and no strength. Kung Fu is teaching me how imbalanced I am. Not just this body. My life. I thought I was doing good. I am. Better than when I was 30 for sure. Just that I haven't "arrived" yet. It is the "yet" that keeps me going in my life. Will I ever "arrive"? Probably not. But not because I didn't try. The process of learning Kung Fu is making my weak parts stronger. The Type 1 insulin dependence is still a learning process. I keep starting at 150-ish and 15 minutes after any length of workout and I'm flying in the 200's. I've been doing research and have found out that Kung Fu (and any combat martial art for that matter) is a "anerobic" activity and unlike aerobic activity which lower blood suger, anerobic activites raise blood sugar but you get a drop in blood sugars long after the training. This information from "The Diabetic Athlete" by Sheri Colberg, Phd has been very helpful to me. Gotta go get some rest. Next class is Wednesday! More Kicks on Bags!

My Type 1 Diabetes Story || 10 YEAR DIAVERSARY STORYTIME!

I was 30 when I was diagnosed Type 1. So mad that we are 99 years since insulin was first used to treat humans for Type 1. In 1912 they used insulin and checked blood sugars(via ketones) to treat Type 1. Fast forward 99 years...We use insulin and check blood sugar instead of urine sugar. We have really fancy devices and delievery systems today. BUT WE ARE NO CLOSER TO A CURE TODAY THAN WE WERE 99 YEARS AGO!!! A Covid vaccine in 9 months. AIDS is now treated with 1 pill a day and there is a shot that can be given once per month in clinical trials but for those of us with Type 1 there has been NO CHANGE since this treatment was started.

Cobra Kai | Miyagi-lates with Sensei Cassey Ho | Netflix

What?!? TWO Cobra Kai workout videos? Awesome!

Cobra Kai | Cobra Kai Bo Workout with Sensei Billy Blanks | Netflix

Had to share this. And I'm feeling lazy today.

Kung Fu Blood Sugar Highs

So another week started and finished. The long range punches aggrivated my right shoulders hooked acromium. It impedes on the shoulder tendons and when you are practicing 1,800 punches you can easily reactivate an old injury. So when I use my right shoulder for full swings I need to do fewer reps for a longer timeframe to build up the muscle memory that we are trying to develop. Wish I was doing this in my 20's but this 50 year old body is making this process interesting, in the bad, not fun, kind of way. I had to do the same thing training for my marathons. It seems the process of everything that I want to do is to overcome all the obstacles that keep me from doing them. Marathons and Kung Fu have fallen in the same pattern of developing a problem, finding a solution or work around, then do it again. Sifu and Simu have been demonstrating alternative positions and more variety to help. They have been doing this on the fly, so to speak, and I've been very impressed with them, their patience and their experienced knowledge. There are 12 different punches and there are 9 different kicks in Choy Lai Fut Kung Fu. I've learned four of the kicks over the last two days. My hip flexors are now broken and I've discovered little, teeny, tiny muscles in my legs that I never knew existed. I've done Boot Camp, I've done soccer, cross country and marathon drills to find and strengthen "the tiny muscles in the leg that always lead to injury so we will beat them up and make them strong so you don't get injured." Well, I've never used these muscles in any of the above workouts so I don't think anyone out side of Kung Fu knows about these muscles. At all. Like they have never been used by me before. Like ever! I've found stretching and walking are really the best way to get these muscles back to normal. I takes awhile but it does work. I've noticed my blood sugars go UP during Kung Fu. Not down. It does drop hours afterwards but this spike was completely unexpected. I tried more basal but I am on multiple daily injections so this is troublesome to figure out. I've been pretty good overnight but on most Kung Fu nights I go high for a long time. Last night (after class) I took a little too much Fiasp so at midnight I was at 45. Not fun. It has been a really long time since that happened. The non training night before I was around 100 to 130 all night. I'm MDI and finger sticking this because I cannot afford a consistent CGM system. The Libre is horrible. I don't know about the Libre 2 but the 10 day and 14 day versions of the Libre 1 are crap. Besides, if and when we get to sparring again, the sensors will get in the way. Just another day in a COVID paradise. Be safe out there! Stay healthy and be healthy!

The Cure for Horse Stance

I was complaining about horse stance on January 4th. The first Kung Fu day of the new year. My Sifu said, "I hear you complaining about horse stance, but all that tells me is that you need to do more horse stance." How much of that is true in my life? I complain about what I'm going through. I'm never focused outside of me and where I am and what I'm doing (or NOT doing). I never am looking at the future. The future benefits or goals of where I am today and where I want to be going. This is true in my life. Both physically and spiritually. Yes. We must focus on what we are doing now. But if what I am doing now has no eternal benefit, why am I doing it? In sanskrit there is a word, Anarthas. It is from two words, "Artha" meaning "of value" and "An" meaning "not". So in my christian background "besetting sins" are a problem but in the Vedic tradition, "besetting sins" are of "no value". This sift in understanding makes leaving "besetting sins" behind easier because I am spending more time doing things of eternal value and future benefit and, gradually, less time and "taste" for those things, habits, etc, that are of no value to my lasting nature and future. Is "horse stance" of value? I guess it depends on the situation. To Sifu it is of value. If I'm in a physical fight it is of value. If I'm in a spiritual fight, the tenseness of the holding of a stance or a position. The pause. The breath before the next action when tempted. This "stance" can be just the thing to let the temptation pass and lead to that one small block, stop or hit or punch that can lead to one small step forward to the victory of leaving my old self and the old me behind and moving into my new future. Or not. This could all be crap that I'm dreaming up. But I like how this horse stance works. More Horse Stance. Less Complaining. Have a Happy New Year Everyone!

Off Day Stuff.

So I practiced, practiced, practiced yesterday. I practiced my punches. I got a one hour break for lunch yesterday and went to a tennis/soccer park in Newberry. I was going to go out and practice my stances but I didn't want to embarrass my Sifu. So I practiced my punches in the cab of my work truck. If I slide the seat back far enough, when I punch, my fist goes through the steering wheel without too much "aiming". The straight punch was fine but I did catch my thumb with the vertical punch a couple of times. I can block with my non punching hand and punch at the same time. It took a lot of concentration and focus. I have to do it "karate style" however. I haven't got the "flowing" thing down yet but with a steering wheel that "flowing" probably wouldn't have happened regardless. "Sigh". It's funny looking at the people doing sideways glances of me "punching" my steering wheel that were passing by in the park. I can't imagine what I looked like to them. The cops didn't show up so I couldn't have appeared too deranged. Working out in the cab of a truck isn't the best option. I did work on clenching and relaxing the "core" muscles but I certainly didn't work up a sweat at any point yesterday. My wife has surgury today. In a COVID world that means I will sit in my car waiting for the all clear to come and get her when she is all done. I've always been with her and this just makes me more anxious. I know it's for everyones safety. I just want to be with her in the hospital. It's a minor procedure that has happened before (this will be her 5th and final surgery) but I'm still nervous. I downloaded the movie The Grandmaster to keep me distracted. We do have a lot of streaming services we subscribe to but I wasn't able to find it so I paid $10 and bought it. Ip Man was a fascinating person. Maybe I will practice my stances later today. Have a good day everyone!