Kendo Blog

Kendo Practice -

My wife injured her knee doing kendo last summer and had to have knee surgery.  It has knocked her out of the sport for the foreseeable future (BTW, if any readers know of knee injuries - surgeries as a result of kendo please post up, the medical literature has no reported cases).  Anyway, she went to her orthopedist and he recommended that she lose some extra weight [I know, I'm getting close to dangerous ground here - fortunately she rarely reads my blog :-) ].

She came home and wanted to know what diet plans I recommended to my patients.  I told her either the South Beach Diet  or my friend Dave Heber's L.A. Shape Diet .  Both of these diets are based on sound physiological principles and if followed will produce sustained weight loss.

I was also trying out the FitDay software recommended by Neil Gendzwill on the Kendo World Forum.   Plan, combine diet with tracking and see what happens.  Began the diet last Thursday.  Friday kendo practice I nearly passed out.  But yesterday, a totally different story.  I had a ton of energy and my keiko was much stronger and faster.  I had lost a total of 8 lbs. on the diets by that time and I found myself moving much easier and quicker.  (The less you weigh the easier it is to overcome your inertia).

I had fenced at 180 lbs. in college but my weight had gotten to 235 lbs. at the time I started this diet.  I want to get my weight down to 200-205 lbs. and have a 3 to 4 month plan to do so.  If yesterday's results are any indication, I look forward to improving my kendo as I lose and maintain weight loss.

The only downside to kendo with this diet?  What do you do with the 16,000 Google hits you get with this search.

Nice Addition to the Sled

A while back I posted  on my new Dodge Durango.  I am more than delighted with it but last week I had an Aeroturbine exhaust system installed as an after market item.  Much more pickup, the gas mileage seems to be better, and best of all, it just sounds "bitchin'!".

How Readable is my Blog?

Never even thought to ask that question, did you?  I hadn't either until I came across this cool web site.   So if you're a blogger, and you want to make sure you're not posting above your expected audience's reading level, crunch the numbers.

P.S.:  This blog is about 9.5+ grade (freshman in high school).  I'll have to step it up!

Hay fever? Influenza?

An article in the Japan Times  states that for most Japanese, remedies for these conditions tend more to the "kill or cure" genre, including Asageiko. 

Kendo seminair - part 2

It's 0800 in Portland.  I awoke and thanked God that someone had invented this.

New Sled

Got a new sled  this weekend.  Very nice.  I'll be going on a road trip to Portland for the Obukan Dojo  sponsored seminar with Kamei Sensei Hanshi 8th Dan this next weekend.

Exercise Induced Asthma

It's tree pollen season and the maple outside of our house is coming into bloom.  As a result I've been sneezing like crazy despite treatment with Allegra.  For the past three days, however, I've had a dry, non-productive cough with end-expiratory wheezes - consistent with a return of the asthmatic condition which I had as a child.

A 1999 article in Physicians and Sportsmedicine discusses Exercise Induced Asthma (bronchospasm).  The author makes the following important points on the pathogenesis of the condition:

"Normally, airways dilate during exercise, allowing airflow to meet increased muscular oxygen demands. Bronchodilation is thought to result from decreased cholinergic activity in the airways as exercise begins. Increasing concentrations of the catecholamines epinephrine and norepinephrine may play a role (13).

Immediate response. In patients who have EIA, initial bronchodilation is diminished, and bronchoconstriction develops after 6 to 8 minutes of vigorous exercise. (Though 6 to 8 minutes of exercise is traditionally used for clinical exercise testing, most athletes exercise longer, and their symptoms may begin after 8 minutes) (6). The maximal decrease in pulmonary function (nadir) occurs about 15 minutes after exercise begins. Pulmonary function returns to its original level 30 to 60 minutes after exercise has ended (12,14,15).

For this immediate response to occur, a critical level of exercise intensity is required, usually greater than 80% of the maximum predicted heart rate. The mode of exercise (eg, running vs cycling) may be relatively unimportant, as long as the minute-ventilation values are comparable (14). The asthmogenicity of any given sport is likely determined by the intensity of exertion and the ambient conditions. In general, interrupted, mild exercise is less likely to cause EIA than continuous, high-intensity exercise (table 1) (6)."

I'm going to disagree with the author.  Kendo is a very high minute ventilation activity and it almost always induces some degree of bronchospasm when I do it.  Right now with the trees blooming I'm completely knocked out.

Table 1. Sports Activities Grouped by Ability to Induce Asthma Highly Asthmogenic Activities High-minute-ventilation activities    Basketball    Cycling    Long-distance running    Soccer Activities associated with cool, dry air    Cross-country skiing    Ice hockey    Speed skating Mildly Asthmogenic Activities Baseball Football Golf Martial arts Sprinting Squash/racquetball Swimming Tennis Volleyball Weight lifting Wrestling

Random Thoughts

I was laid low Friday by a member of the Calcivirus family.  No fun, and it caused me to miss both a trip to Southern California to see my parents and 2 of my children, but totally wiped me out so that I missed the Kendo Kata Seminar that Stroud Sensei had organized.  I see about 20 patients per day and am diligent about hand washing between visits but apparently all it takes is one mistake.  Reminds me of swordsmanship, miss one parry, and "Bam" up go the Shimpan's flags.

Thursday evening I stopped by the dojo after Bible study to talk with Stroud Sensei and drop off some paperwork.  I ended up doing some mitidori geiko as he taught the class the Sanbon me form of Seiti Gata -Ukenagashi.  Pretty form - but I got to thinking about the practicality of it in actual combat.  It should actually work (once) in a match.  If I ever get the basics of kendo down I will see if I can incorporate this into my shiai kendo - "Keiko like you kata, kata like you keiko."

Finally, I came across this blogging takeoff on Kipling's The Law of the Jungle.

"The Law of the Blogger

NOW this is the Law of the Blogger - as old and as true as the sky;
And the blogger that keeps it may prosper, but the blogger that breaks it must die.

As the visits that pump up the hit count, the Law runneth forward and back --
For the strength of the Blogs is the Blogger that never cuts anyone slack.

Blog daily from news-tip and hat-tip; blog long, but blog not too deep;
And remember the Pundit's for linking, and forget not that he has to sleep.

The new blog may free flame the Jordan, but, Cub, when thy archives have grown,
Remember the Big Blogs are hunters -- go forth and get scoops of thine own.

Keep peace with the Lords of the Blogsphere -- the Pundit, the Malkin, the Bear;
And trouble not Lileks the Bleater, and always mock Kos in his lair.

When Pack meets with Pack in the Blogsphere, and neither will put down the flame,
Lie down till the Spewers have blathered -- it always will save you from shame.

When ye flame on a Prince of the Pack, ye must fight him alone and afar,
Lest others take part in the pile-on, and all Blogs be diminished by war.

The URL of the Blogger's his refuge, and where he has made him his home,
Not even the Pundit may post, not even the Hewitt may come.

The URL of the Blogger's his refuge, but when he has blown it too plain,
The Football shall send him a fisking, and so he shall blow it again.

If ye post after midnight, be patient, and wait for the next working day,
Your readers are reading from cube farms and commenting only for play.

Ye may post for yourselves, and your country, blog your cats if you must, and ye can;
But post not for pleasure of sacking unless you sack Eason Jordan!

If ye plunder a post from a weaker, remember to link for his pride;
Link-Right is the right of the smaller; if you're wrong it'll be him that lied.

Now these are the Laws of the Blogger, and as true and as blue as the sky;
You can link, you can wink, you can blather, but at the end of the day you can't lie."