The Fitness Ninja

I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth.  It’s just that the motivation to blog (as so many bloggers know) falls off when life gets busy.  I was on vacation last week and so I didn’t write anything down then.  I have kept up with Chalene Extreme and am now in the second phase of the program; her ‘PUSH’ section.  Overall, I’m enjoying it if only for the eye candy the instructors provide (but damn that Skippy guy is annoying as shit, constantly yelling stuff in the background) and the fact that it’s a bit easier than P90x or Insanity.  I also like the fact that Chalene pushes you to pick weights where the failure should kick in at 6-8 reps; it’s nice to get the sets done fairly quickly (although not too quick as she’s always reminding you lift and lower everything SUPER SLOW).  So, in terms of weights, I try to do the bulk of the work in this phase with 30-40 pound dumbbells (more so the latter than the former).  I’ve also kicked up my grease-the-groove system again and have upped the dip belt from 20 to 35 pounds.  Man, that is killer.  I find myself totally struggling for the fifth rep on any pull up set I do then I pair these 5 reps with 20-30 push ups of different varieties.  Over the course of the day the numbers built up.  Also, still running home from work and enjoying it.

Hmmmm… what else.  Much to my shame I also haven’t been keeping up with my SparkPeople calorie tracking.  When the blogging stopped so did the tracking.  I got lazy I admit it.  Interestingly though, I did follow through on my weigh in on the morning of the 20^th before the family reunion and I clocked in at 137.  Not bad.  I lost a pound since the last weigh in.  I’m happy with this weight range and will fight to maintain it.

In other news, we’ve taken my son Eli to some more specialists.  Since he’s been deaf in his left ear all this time he’s kinda favoured tilting his head to the left so that his right ear is the one exposed to the world.  Well, this had developed a small imbalance in his neck muscle development and so we’ve taken him to a physical therapist whose shown us how to do special exercises to help him strengthen the other side (I believe the medical term she gave it was torticollis).  Small steps.  We’ll get this fixed and straightened out.  At least this is something in our power to fix.  But man does he hate it when we force him to twist his neck in different directions.  It hurts because he’s not used to it.  It breaks my heart to do it but it must be done.

Here’s your first hard lesson, kid.  Life is sometimes about pain, how much you can take and still keep on going.

He’s also getting an MRI to get something else checked out.  The pediatrician we have is very good so we’re thankful to God for that.  The last doctor we had for him was an idiot (she prescribed 2 medications that weren’t meant for babies!).

As for me, I have my own appointments with the doctor / hospital.  I’m not going into the details right now but suffice it to say it’s a preventative measure.  It’s strange… I’ve busted my butt over the past year and a half to get my body in the best shape it’s ever been.  I’m actually quite proud of the journey I’ve made in terms of weight loss / fitness and damned if I’m going to let a medical / genetic condition get in the way.  Gotta fight for the gains I’ve made…. And, more importantly, protect them as best I can.

Alright folks! Sorry for being so out of the loop lately.  Keep fighting the good fight and I hope everyone’s making the progress they want to make in their fitness / good living goals.

Last night I had a very restless sleep.  The baby was up at all hours grunting and crying.  I did the earlier night feed and my wife, bless her soul, did the other feeds at 3 and 6.  The baby just does not want to settle though and try what we might he keeps peeing through his diapers (we even bought an extra pair of rubber diaper covers to put on top of the disposable ones for him).  He also spits up every now and again (the night before, I was feeding him in the middle of the night and he had some crazy projectile vomit of formula … only time I’ve seen him do that) and gets himself agitated with his mess.  Thankfully, we go back for a regular check up at the end of this week at the doctors so we can ask all our questions then.

In any case, last night I had one of those lucid dream sequences.  Y’know… you’re aware you are partially awake but also partially asleep and yet you still dream.  I dreamed the baby was killed.  That’s horrible isn’t it.  This will sound ever more ghastly because I think it was via a microwave that some men threw him in.  UGGH.  It was horrifying. I jumped up and ran over to the other room where my wife was changing the baby.  I was shaking the fog out of my head and just wanted to make sure he was ok.  I kissed Elias and my wife, asked her if she needed anything and was promptly told to go back to sleep as I was going to work today.

I went back to bed but then started thinking for some reason of all the odd problems (they seem odd now as a grown up) I had in elementary school with bullies.  I was picked on as a kid (really, I think most kids are… and even bullies have their share of problems cause most of them don’t get that way unless their homelife is  somehow screwed up) and always hated that I felt kinda powerless to stop it.  I mean, I wasn’t always getting beaten up.  Maybe once or twice but that was it.  Still, those events affect you.  I grew up in a primarily white community being one of the few foreigners in my neighborhood when it started (it’s much more diverse now), so racism and insults do get to you.  They make you guarded and bitter and kinda hateful at times yourself.

I dunno why all this was flying through my mind at 4 in the morning.  I guess, if I can I want to do everything in my power to help spare Elias those hardships. Except…

I know I can’t.  It’s a part of growing up.  Bullies, racism, hard knocks, accidents, injuries are a part of life.  Trying to stop them is like hoping the night won’t come.  What I can do though is hope to give him tools to become a good man.

What do I want for this child?

I want him to be compassionate and disciplined.  I don’t think compassion can be taught.  I think it’s innate.  I really hope he is.  I can, however, help make him appreciate all the things in his life that make him a lucky person to be here.  Hopefully, that will help him learn to love and help those around him.

One of my most favorite sayings is “Discipline is remembering what you want.”  It is the key to all success.  Moreover, this quality is one, I think, a parent can instill in a child.  Education, goal setting, chores, learning how manage your resources and time — all these things are building blocks for nurturing and training a person’s sense of discipline.  I want him to be a planner, to be patient when the need arises and to be able to sacrifice and forgo immediate gratification if it means a larger payoff a little bit later.  It’s all easier said than done though.

Oh yeah… and I also want him to be strong.  Not necessarily just physically (although it would be nice if he had an appreciation for fitness and keeping himself in good, clean working order) but also emotionally, mentally.

I don’t know why I’m writing all this in a blog.  Maybe, like my fitness journey, I’m laying down larger goals for him and I have to plan myself how I can help him get there.  One thing my wife and I have pretty much agreed on is that we would love for Elias to learn a martial art.  We’re not really a big ’sporty’ family and I don’t want my son to be a fighter despite my love for the sweet science.  I want him to build his life on his mind.  I do, however, want him to be able to defend himself and others if needed. Martial arts are a wonderful way to build confidence, get exercise and learn practical self-defense.

But I think I might forgo the more traditional arts like karate or tae kwon do… they seem to be the most common ones around here.

I did learn that there is a school in the town nearby that teaches krav maga.  I wonder what age they can start teaching a child.  Maybe it would be best if he had a foundation in something more common like karate first.  It’s definitely something to look into.  Maybe I can take the classes with him? Oh… that would be terrific!

I’ll get back to writing again later.  Peace out.