Man in motion

As Head Instructor of a Martial Arts School, I get asked health related questions all the time. What should I eat before class? What is a good way to lose/gain weight? I am SO sore, how do I stretch this muscle? I can answer all of these and more. Why?

I am fortunate because in a previous life I worked for a Health Club as an Certified Personal Trainer (ACE Certified) and in a Physical Therapist's office as a PT Tech.  I also hold an Assoc. AND a Bachelor's in Kinesiology. 

Let me warn you, what is passing for Personal Trainers today is sad. Anyone, I mean anyone can pay as low as $69.95 for an ONLINE course and boom, you get a certification to print out at home.  Ask what degrees and certifications they hold.  Look for ASCM, NSCA, NASM, ACE, AFFA and CI. These require months of intense study and require continuing education to keep said certification.

Why the rant on Certifications and Education? Lately EVERYONE is a self proclaimed health expert because they say, "the internet said" this is the latest and greatest exercise. "The internet says" don't eat this much or this food. So because some wahoo says something worked for them all of a sudden they are the guru of fitness. Yes, there is a lot of good info out on the internet. Just make sure it is a trusted source.

Man in motion by Leonardo DaVinci

The human body is quite a miracle. It works on a simple principle, put energy in you get energy out. I've always have compared the body to a car in a sense. You need to put gasoline in your car to get anywhere, right? Same with your body, you HAVE to eat(gasoline) for your body to function. You can not take a road trip without stopping at the gas station at some point in your trip.

The human body requires anywhere from 1600-2800 calories per day to MAINTAIN current weight. Why the 1600 calorie difference? Because EVERYONE is different. Some people are sedentary and require less, some are VERY active and require more.

There is a population of people that believe that if I don't eat I can lose weight. These are the same people who say, "I just don't have enough energy! I need something to perk me up." NO!!! You NEED to eat! People gain weight for two main reasons, Either they are eating TOO much and not doing anything or not eating enough and can't do anything. The human body works off this, I eat for energy and need to do something with this energy. I can move and burn it off or do nothing and STORE the energy for later.  There it is, the root of the problem, most people do nothing. They hope that a magic pill will come and take their fat away. As I said earlier you have to eat AND do something, like walk, ride a bike, run, martial arts, canoe, jumping jacks, etc... you get my point. You have to MOVE!!! The human body was designed to move not to sit for hours on end.

I am being very simplistic and not delving into types of food or certain diets or exercise regimes. To stay with my car analogy, the higher the octane the cleaner the fuel. So the more natural your food is the better it is for you. Stay away from the Fast Food places. Back in the day they were closer to natural, but now they are a den of processed madness.

There is so much more I can go into. One of my favorite classes was Exercise Physiology, we went in depth of how the body utilizes the energy you intake. I plan on going further in later posts.

Live Life!!!!!

Shave and a haircut, 2 Bits

After sitting in a Barber shop for 2 hours today. My mind reached for ways to pass the time. I was messing with my phone for a while but I really miss the older days of cutting up with the Barber/Hairstylist. A good Barber Shop will have a group of characters. There will always be a discussion of sports, politics and women.

My first memory of a barber shop was one on Ayers Street in Corpus. I remember the leather strop to sharpen razor blades hanging off the chairs. I asked Dad what was it for, the barber didn't miss a beat, "to give noisy kids spankings!"

Years later, my Mom would take us to see Sandra at Mr. Louie's. She cut our hair for years. She became a close family friend. Whenever Dad would take us, I always noticed he would close his eyes. I never understood why Dad would sit in the chair and close his eyes, almost sleep while getting his hair cut.

As I got older, I ran into a hairstylist named, Tammy, at Louie Louie's. Yes, the same guy open both places. She seemed to know me in a chatty, flirty way. Had I met her before? I really don't think so, I REALLY would have remembered her. Tammy cut my hair for YEARS in Corpus. It got to a point that I didn't have to tell her how I wanted my hair cut, let it be known, I never crossed the line with her. She was my Barber/Hairstylist.

As I got older I ventured into getting professional shaves. If you have never had a professional straight razor shave, do it. It is so relaxing. At first I could not stand the hot towel, or the sound of the blade across my face. By the way, I HATE shaving. yet I love getting a real shave. Weird huh?

Now as I go to get a haircut I see why Dad would close his eyes. It is a very relaxing getting your haircut, when you trust the person cutting your hair. Something today told me I should have walked out. Usually everyone is great where I get my haircut. The guy who cut mine today looked like he had been at work a little too long and he stayed out a little too late. He was jonesing hard for a cigarette and his phone was buzzing away with text messages. I'm not happy with my haircut. So the question is now, go back and have them fix it, fix it myself or wear a hat until my next hair cut. It's not bad just not what I wanted. I was pissed off after waiting 2 hours, so I paid and walked out. So now do I find a new place?

It's a beautiful day!!!

Driving back from dropping Venus off at work and this song came on the radio.  On our way I noticed people driving crazy, honking horns and cutting people off. This song reminded me that, It's your choice! You can think of all the bad things in your life. Yet, it IS a beautiful day. The sun is still going to rise. So what that they ran out of your favorite coffee at the Quicky Mart, the birds are still singing. It's a beautiful day don't let it get away. 

Your problems are small in the grand scheme of things. Will getting to work 10mins late really affect the outcome of the day? Well, it could affect how you see things. Those extra 10 mins in traffic could have been enjoying the sunrise, that crazy looking cloud that looked like a funky flamingo. You didn't see that one? Smile, enjoy your day. Trust me there are much bigger problems in the world. It IS a beautiful day, don't let it get away!

It's a Beautiful Day - U2

The heart is a bloom
Shoots up through the stony ground
There's no room
No space to rent in this town

You're out of luck
And the reason that you had to care
The traffic is stuck
And you're not moving anywhere

You thought you'd found a friend
To take you out of this place
Someone you could lend a hand
In return for grace

It's a beautiful day
Sky falls, you feel like
It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away

You're on the road
But you've got no destination
You're in the mud
In the maze of her imagination

You love this town
Even if that doesn't ring true
You've been all over
And it's been all over you

It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away
It's a beautiful day

Touch me
Take me to that other place
Teach me
I know I'm not a hopeless case

See the world in green and blue
See China right in front of you
See the canyons broken by cloud
See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out
See the Bedouin fires at night
See the oil fields at first light
And see the bird with a leaf in her mouth
After the flood all the colors came out

It was a beautiful day
Don't let it get away
Beautiful day

Touch me
Take me to that other place
Reach me
I know I'm not a hopeless case

What you don't have you don't need it now
What you don't know you can feel it somehow
What you don't have you don't need it now
Don't need it now
Was a beautiful day

Weekend at my Grandpa's

In an attempt to resurrect my blog I will be reposting a few OLD posts. I spoke of a few about my Grandpa, here is the first. Enjoy!!

Reposted from May 11, 2008

This weekend I got to spend the weekend with my Grand father. My uncle took my grandmother to Dallas to visit.  My Grandfather didn't want to go so I was charged with watching over him.  It sounds weird, huh?  Me taking care of an 89 year old man.  I felt bad that I had to leave this afternoon.  We was so happy to have me there.  We went to lunch yesterday and he insisted on paying.  I took movies over to watch. He got a kick out of my favorite movie, The Three Amigos.  I ended up sleeping on the couch, oh my back and my neck!  Does anyone know a good masseuse?  I woke up late felt good to sleep late.  Funny thing, I never knew how much my Grandfather influenced me. WE went to luch and ordered the same thing.  I didn't  asked what he was getting and I was surprised when he ordered. It was hard to leave but I had to get home to get ready for work. I could tell that he wanted me to stay again. 

What was funny was talking to my Grandmother after! I didn't get to wish her a Happy Mother's Day. so I was telling her about the HUGE party Grandpa and I through. We had all kinds of fun while she was a away. Then I said, he didn't tell you? Even about the dancing girls? she had the biggest laugh!!

Nerdy Mosquitoes

When I was growing up my parents bought me an Encyclopedia set. When I got bored I would pick a volume and read it. Yes, I read encyclopedias for fun. That's why I have so much random crap in my head.  Included with the standard set was a kid's set called Childcraft Encyclopedias. I would read them all the time. Seems I'm not the only one. Check this out.

One of the stories I read YEARS ago popped into my head with all this talk of West Nile. It was in Stories and Fables and was titled:

How Mosquitoes came to be

A Tlingit Legend

Long time ago there was a giant who loved to kill humans, eat their flesh, and drink their blood. He was especially fond of human hearts. "Unless we can get rid of the giant," people said, "none of us will be left," and they called a council to discuss ways and means. One man said, "I think I know how to kill the monster," and he went to the place where the giant had last been seen. There he lay down and pretended to be dead.
Soon the giant came along. Seeing the man lying there, he said: "These humans are making it easy for me. Now I don't even have to catch and kill them; they die right on my trail, probably from fear of me! "The giant touched the body. Ah, good, he said, "this one is still warm and fresh. What a tasty meal he'll make; I can't wait to roast his heart." The giant flung the man over his shoulder, and the man let his head hang down as if he were dead.
Carrying the man home, the giant dropped him in the middle of the floor right near the fireplace. Then he saw that there was no firewood, and went to get some. As soon as the monster had left, the man got up and grabbed the giant's huge skinning knife.
Just then the giant's son came in, bending low to enter. He was still small as giants go, and the man held the big knife to his throat. "Quick, tell me, where's your father's heart? Tell me or I'll slit your throat!" The giant's son was scared. He said: "My father's heart is in his left heel."
Just then the giant's left foot appeared in the entrance, and the man swiftly plunged the knife into the heel. The monster screamed and fell down dead. Yet, the giant still spoke. "Though I'm dead, though you killed me, I'm going to keep on eating you and all the humans in the world forever!"
"That's what you think!" said the man. "I'm about to make sure that you never eat anyone again." He cut the giant's body into pieces and burned each one in the fire. Then he took the ashes and threw them into the air for the winds to scatter. Instantly each of the particles turned into a mosquito. The cloud of ashes became a cloud of mosquitoes, and from their midst the man heard the giant's voice laughing, saying: "Yes, Ill eat you people until the end of time. "As the monster spoke, the man felt a sting, and a mosquito started sucking his blood, and then many mosquitoes stung him, and he began to scratch himself.

How to build a wall.

You have no idea how many times this speech has come into my life. Every time I hear it, I can hear my Dad's voice instead of Stallone's. Just in case you don't want to watch the video here's the text:

 

Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain't you! You're better than that!

I have had many adversities in my life. Yet, I am still here. I have literally lived off ramen noodles and mac n cheese. Yet somehow, I pulled through. Now as I feel as if I am standing on the edge of a pit, waiting for that breeze of wind to add that final push that will hurdle me to oblivion. I come across this video again. It brought me to a good place. One where I realize that I AM moving forward no matter what!

As I watched it, I see off to the side a video from Tony Robbins. He goes on to talk about when you feel that nothing is going your way, you are just off my a millimeter. Just a millimeter...hmm? That's it! I am looking at the whole picture and not just the one thing that is front of me!  Think about that for a minute. A millimeter is small, but if you take that millimeter diversion and follow it off your original path you will end up at an entirely different destination.  Ahh, Don't look at the whole picture just focus on what is in front of you! Wait a minute! I've heard this before. I speak it every day to the kid's in my classes.

I watched another, a series of interviews with Will Smith and his ideas of how to achieve success. In it he speaks of a time when his father tore down a wall. Will and his brother had to rebuild the wall. He thought it was an impossible task to rebuild a wall. Then he thought, what if I focus on laying each and every brick perfectly and exactly? In the end you get a perfect and exact wall.

Where does this lead me?? No longer will I wallow in misery. No longer will I blame others for my mistakes. I can no longer wait for success to come to me. I have the power, he he, to make all my dreams come true. I lay my trust in my God, for He knows the path I should follow. As I journey through this undiscovered land I come once again to this,

Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Matthew 7:7  
This scripture has a deeper meaning to me.

As I was feeling that all doors were being shut in my face, I realized that all I had to do was just ask. I sat for a while brooding as why I felt everything was crumbling around me. It wasn't! I was looking at the wall I had to build and not just the brick(stone). Time to spend some time and work the roughness off my stone and work it into a perfect Ashlar. Hmm? Is there a deeper meaning here? Of course there is!

Would you be ready?

Would you be ready for the lights to go out? I've thought about this one for a long time. Most people today are not ready for an event such as this. Would you know how to feed your family? How about find water? Cook food WITHOUT electricity. Electricity is in EVERYTHING we do now. It's hasn't even been 60 some years that we went from an truly agricultural society to a technological society. If my phone dies I am toast. I should write things down like SSN's, birth dates, other important info but it's so easy to store it digitally. Society will fall. Read Lord of the Flies, watch The Postman or The Mist and you will see how society will act. 

What do you do? Get some strike anywhere matches and a few quart baggies.  Put the matchbox in one baggy. Fill another with DRYER lint. Get you some steel wool and a few 9 volts(they stay good FOREVER). All of these can be used to make a roaring fire.keep each of these separate, especially the steel wool and the batteries.

Do this now, read up on how to purify water. The simplest way is boiling, hence the fire. Read up on building or finding shelter. You don't know if your house will remain safe. 

Always carry a bandana not to align yourself with the Crips or the Bloods but it is a fast way to drink "clean" water. I put clean in quotes because you are not safe from water borne diseases but you won't drink mud. The bandana will also protect you from the elements such as wind and sun. 

Cover yourself from head to toe in layers. People are generally nice until something is taken away from them. So learn to protect yourself. I am not advertising this TV show it just got me thinking. There is more to survival in the wilderness.

I am so wrapped around her little finger.

Bella on her glider swing.

Walked in today from Kung Fu classes and Venus says that Bella is having a hard time going to sleep. She was asking for Daddy. I go in and...she is excited to see Daddy. She reaches out, puts her hand on the side of my head and whispers, "I love you Daddy." Awww, I melted! She then says, "I have a surprise for you when I wake up. I drew a picture for you." She is growing up too fast! I can;t believe that she will be THREE in a couple of days. 

BTW, She figured out how to use her tricycle today.

On a side note, I weighed in at 163lbs today.

24 days? Thats all it takes?

As many of you know, I once was in the Fitness industry. I NEVER, repeat, NEVER endorsed supplements. Here I am several years later and I can say I'm a believer. I started the Advocare 24 Day Challenge back in March of this year. I started at 181lbs and dropped to 164lbs.  This was doing nothing more than my normal routine and following the plan to the letter.

I wondered what would have happened IF I would have done extra workouts or started to run? Mind you the 24 Day Challenge is not a magic pill that you sit on your coach and the fat melts away. You have to eat right AND do some exercise. 

These products are endorsed by the likes of Drew Brees and Colt McCoy.  Visit www.sparkignited.org and look at the list of athletes that take and endorse these supplements. 

I say the proof is in the picture. I could not find a good enough picture of just before I started, but i can tell you that I was at or near 180lbs in the picture with the brown shirt.  The other picture, those shorts can slide off me.  If you would like to drop a few pounds visit www.sparkignited.org to order products.

There is another side, you can save AND earn some $ by becoming a distributor too. Ask me how.
Email me at info@sparkignited.org

So excited ;-)

Today we received some very good news. Before I saw I'll step back into history. I wrote a few months ago about pregnancies that did not take.

A few weeks ago Venus showed me a POSITIVE pregnancy test.  Of course I was excited! Both of us wanted to be sure. We waited and waited for a Dr's appt. Sonogram came back VERY good. We heard a heartbeat, whew! So we scheduled our next appt and waited. To see our regular Dr, I say "our" like I'm being seen.  All I get to do is drive, hold the purse and hand the lady my Credit Card,  Venus has the hard part. I digress, we had to travel to the other side of the world, Shertz, TX to see our, Venus' Dr. If you pay attention to the GPS it will tell you you are in "skirts" I didn't see many skirts.

They did and ultrasound and...172bmp and we got to see arms and legs! Woohoo!! Dr said that if we are this far along and the baby has that strong a heartbeat then it's time to schedule subsequent appts and when we get to meet this little one.

We have no idea if this one will be a King or a Queen, if you haven't caught on to our daughter's names they are named after great Queens from history. If you ask Bella, she says she wants a baby sister. Bethy says, a baby. But that's the difference a year makes. Look for December baby pics.

Side note, I sang the first line of Bohemian Rhapsody, Bella sang the next two lines. WOW!!!