Skip to main content

Warrior Wednesday - Budo as Life

[caption id="attachment_11040" align="alignleft" width="300"]sword Image created using Bitmoji[/caption]

Coming back to the city after a weekend filled with sugary foods, alcohol, and over consumption makes me want to get serious about my fitness goals.

I have to admit that even when I was heavy, once I started doing karate, I shed pounds quickly, but I wouldn't say I didn't notice or that it was easy. It was hard work. Crunches, sit ups, burpees, side kicks, front kicks, push ups, leg raises, roundhouse kicks, punches, squats, lunges, etc. Not easy nor fun, but I went from being near 200 lbs to the right range for my body size. Those belts were hard won, so I never understand when someone says it's easy to give up martial arts. Martial arts are a part of who I am. They aren't just something I do to pass the time or get some exercise in.

Advancing doesn't happen because you've been doing it for some arbitrary length of time, but your ability to demonstrate the skill level you are challenging for. To be able to demonstrate that skill takes a certain level of fitness combined with the ability to perform properly on the day. You're more likely to screw up on the day if you haven't been working on your fitness level and if you haven't practised enough. Like anything else, you need to know it inside and out to be able to overcome the jitters that can wreak havoc. You have to keep it together. The right mindset and energy is crucial.

One of the high-ranking people in my primary martial art told me that 80% of my weak areas are directly related to my posture. If I fix that, many other things will resolve along with it. And I can feel that happening. Since I began focusing on my core, I rarely lose my balance now. I have more work to do, but I'm not in a hurry and I don't have an inclination to focus on the finer details until I have the bigger foundational items in place. Big cuts, right posture, and strong legs. Any problems left after the big things will be easier to fix later. I may even figure those out on my own as I learn to control my body better.

But I struggle with general fitness because I sit too much between writing and sewing, so I'm going to do Couch 2 5K. I have no idea if I will ever care to actually run marathons, but I want to get more activity in than just martial arts a couple times each week. Running is pretty cheap as the main things are shoes and water, which I already own. I have a little mp3 player too. This contributes to its attractiveness as I don't have cash for other things like a gym membership or karate. It may also help me deal with the heat better.

But what would the effort mean without taking a serious look at my diet? Almost useless. Things that help improve fitness include what you put into your body, the amount of energy you expend, and self care. I need to eat healthier, so I'm going to reduce starches and sugars. If I have potatoes, rice, or corn, I don't need bread. In fact, many vegetables are carbs, so one can easily fill their plate with veggies rather than heaping it full of rice. With my past yeast issues, it's best I not eat bread constantly anyway.

Weight loss is primarily done through eating properly. About 80% of it is food. And it makes complete sense as food is fuel for our bodies. If you put sugar in a gas tank, it rots holes in it, just like it does to our teeth. Eventually, sugar causes diabetes, blood pressure problems, yeast overgrowth, and more. But we are glucose-based organisms, so cutting all sugar is silly. Having a reasonable amount of fruit daily is healthy. It's candy, pop, cake, ice cream, etc that should be had in moderation. I rarely drink pop, so that one is easy for me. Chocolate isn't so easy, but I don't think I do too badly as I rarely eat it. I've been pretty good outside of the weekend actually. But I've always loved pasta and potatoes. I've felt sluggish lately after eating a stir fry because I've been eating more rice than I need to, so that's a change I'm making.

Today being my birthday might have been a good day to start as a gift to myself, but it looked stormy and I really wanted to finish the book I was reading on the weekend. I'm also wanting to play some videogames and try a D-Box movie. Spiderman would probably be fun in that format. I'll start the running on Monday as it's 3 days a week and I'll work on some other things like finishing that online course first. I'll start the healthier eating tomorrow or maybe next week as well. I'm considering treating myself to a dairy and gluten free cheesecake before the diet changes.

ROW80LogocopyGoals Update

Novel - The Blood Waitress Club is coming along nicely. I wrote a bit on the weekend. I've caught up to a point I wrote a long time ago when it nagged me to be put down onto the page. It came out better than I originally thought.

Screenplay - I'm still reading Save the Cat. With the course wrapping up, I can put more time into this.

Sewing - My purse is almost done. I will start my products on Monday regardless of whether or not I've finished the purse.

Kitchen Reno - There's only one drawer left, but I have to focus on cleaning my living room, kitchen, and bathroom as they're coming to do pest control in a week and a half, which requires me to empty my cupboards. So much for making progress by getting things put away...

Course - This is almost done. I may even get this done after the movie this afternoon before playing video games and enjoying cheesecake.

Reading - According to Goodreads, I'm halfway through my reading challenge for this year having read 6/12 books. I aim for 1 per month, but sometimes I get no where near that. We'll see what happens when school hits. I might log scripts I've read where possible. I read Gremlins, but the script isn't listed in Goodreads.

Cleaning - I got all my dishes cleaned before leaving for the weekend, so I just need to maintain that now. I have a bunch of laundry to do again. I have too many clothes, but little idea what to get rid of.

Well, I must hop in the shower if I have any hope of making the movie. Since I have Scene points, I get to have fun for free.

Salut,
R~

Popular posts from this blog

The Gauntlet That Was October

I had a lot of things happen in October. I watched Frankenstein in the cemetery with friends. I had tea with a friend. I started a new sport: curling. This is really fun and I'm enjoying the level of activity it provides and all the strategic elements. I'll do a separate post on it soon. Unfortunately, soon after my first game, I came down with Covid and so did the friend who I had tea with, so I think we both caught it at the place we went to. That wasn't fun. I already posted about that. I was fortunate to be free of it in time to attend Can-Con where I took in lots of panels, saw some of the wonderful writer community, bought many new books, and volunteered to help out in the rooms. The following weekend, I went to the livestream for Danielle Allard's new album release, followed by the in person release. As part of this, she has a 6 video series that releases every Sunday on her YouTube at 1:15 PM EDT. Video number 2, Falling Into Place, is one that I feel fortunate

Frisky Friday - Maple Syrup Porn

[caption id="attachment_10523" align="alignright" width="300"] Image created using Bitmoji[/caption] While delving into some Canadian film history this week, I learned that there is a thing called Maple Syrup Porn. I laughed when I read the term. I thought, "Is our adult film industry really called Maple Syrup Porn?" It's not. Some is Canadian, but it mostly refers to getting around censorship of sex. It was not only common in Quebec due to religion, but several places in the US. You can read more about it here . If you're looking to heat things up this weekend, consider a sweet old film from the early days of the sexual revolution. Maybe even drizzle a little syrup on your partner ;) Guid cheerio the nou, R~

On Edge - ROW80 R1-16

This sounds superstitious, but the fact that this is Leap Year has me on edge. Why? The last two have been rather difficult for me. In 2012, my work place was being divested and I was working multiple job roles because of all the people who had left. My marriage also ended. This led to a major life change, which included moving to Ottawa. I love Ottawa, so at least that worked out. The rest was hard. In 2016, I was restructured out of my job. This led to me floating about for a while on EI as I tried to figure out my future, trying some things like Copywriting out, and going back to school for screenwriting. After school, it took time to find work and I almost lost my home and car in the process. Scary stuff. It's now 2020 and I have a full-time permanent job again, but I'm filling multiple job roles because we're short-handed. We're also so far into year end that it's hard to train the person who is learning to be me for one of those roles. I'm just hopin