How to Lose a Belly When You're 44 (part 3)

Monday
Blood pressure: 150/76
Resting heart rate: 52
Weight: 10st 7lbs
I'm a fat bloke with dodgy blood pressure.
I cycled in to work. I suspended one of my favourite students. I cycled home.
I got stuck into some weight training as soon as I got home. During the deadlifts I felt a twinge in my lower back. I went on carefully until I'd finished all 5 sets. However, when I moved onto some shrugs, just picking up the bar was enough to get a serious pain in my back. I dumped the bar.
I stomped about in my man cave feeling frustrated. I tried one last time, concentrating on good form with my lifting belt as tight as it would go. It was no good, the pain was still there.
I gave up.
I made a healthy dinner for the family and took it easy.
20 minutes of weight training, no alcohol, no junkfood.

Tuesday
Blood pressure: 149/77
Resting heart rate: 59
Weight: 10st 5lbs
I woke up with a bit of an ache in my back, but nothing too serious.
I cycled in to work.
Work was mental. We suspended a total of eight students in one morning.
I cycled home.
Martha and I went off to dojo. It was my first attempt at training since I sprained my ankle last week. The warm up involved lots of running which I found rather painful - I was doing more hopping and skipping than running. Then on to basics followed by kata. I found the pain slowed me down but I managed to complete all of the drills. We ended with a bit of one-step kumite. I had no choice but to take it easy and take the power out - I could have easily rolled the ankle again and be back at square one.
Martha impressed me tonight - she looked confident and aggressive.
Karate, no alcohol, no junkfood.

Wednesday
Blood pressure: 143/76
Resting heart rate: 59
Weight: 10st 5lbs
I cycled to work, suspended yet another student, cycled home.
Tonight, I read through Master Funakoshi's Twenty Guiding Principals of Karate before starting my weight lifting session. Inspired by the Master, I focused on my form, gave it my all, and managed to complete exactly the same program that I failed on two days ago. The back held and I felt strong.
I made a chicken stir fry for the family.
Weight training, no junkfood, no alcohol

Thursday
Blood pressure: 154/72
Resting heart rate: 57
Weight: 10st 4lbs
I cycled in to work. I had a great day's teaching and didn't have to suspend anybody! I cycled home.
I usually go for a run on Thursdays but my ankle is nowhere near ready. I did another weight training session instead.
Again, the back held, the ankle held, and I felt strong.
Weight training, no junkfood, no alcohol.

Friday
Blood pressure: 150/74
Resting heart rate: 60
Weight: 10st 4lbs
Disappointed with my blood pressure results after being a good boy for four days, I cycled into work. It was rather cold and my hands went numb. I met two sets of parents for disciplinary meetings and then I cycled home.
I went off to the dojo. Sensei Russell did his usual fast-paced, no nonsense lesson with plenty of basics and kata. I like the way he focuses on reverse kick - everybody's area for improvement! I tried to join in with the sparring but it was impossible and rather dangerous: I couldn't move quickly enough with my sprained ankle. I went down to the other end of the dojo and sparred with some youngsters instead.
By the time the session ended my ankle was throbbing mightily and I could barely kneel down for Sensei ni rei.
After ironing two of my karategi, I enjoyed Lucy's homemade casserole followed by a cup of tea. I stayed up until midnight playing Final Fantasy 12. I love the gambit system!
Karate, no junkfood, no alcohol.

Saturday
Blood pressure: 134/81
Resting heart rate: 45
Weight: 10st 4lbs
It's five years to the day that I started training at Ruach Karate. It's also exactly five years since I first rode the Specialized! To mark the occasion, I gave my bike a proper good clean, a polish and some new lubrication. It took me over an hour and the thing looked brand new by the time I'd finished.
I went along to the Saturday Karate session. The ankle slowed me up badly but I still gave it my best.
After a little while, I was asked to work with a young man with some challenging behaviour. He's a lovely kid, but there's too much standing around for him to focus. To try to get him interested in what we were doing I had to invent games. He has a fantastic imagination and seemed to be talking to himself about zombies. I made a game where I was the King Zombie, he was the Robot Zombie, and he had to do what I told him to. It seemed to work for a minute or two at a time and then he needed to be a new character. During the course of the training session he was Electric Zombie, American Zombie, Chinese Zombie, Karate Zombie, Giant Zombie, Lazy Zombie, and Ninja Zombie! Phew!
Trouble is, in the middle of all our games, Sensei Gary was also instructing the class - so I had to have one ear on Sensei and the other on the young man I was helping.
At one point, Sensei asked me to demonstrate a kicking kata that he had just drilled us on. Unfortunately, working with the young man meant that I'd only managed to learn about half of it! I muddled through in front of the class as best I could.

"Anthony, it's easier if you relax."

"Oss, Sensei."

Tonight, Lucy, Jonnie, Sally and I headed down to Wilmcote for the Village Hall quiz. We drank beers, ate fish and chips, had a laugh, and we even managed to win the quiz against about 12 other teams!
I went to bed at about midnight feeling rather tipsy and bloated.
Karate, no junkfood (apart from chips), 4 bottles of beer.

Sunday
Blood pressure: 151/74
Resting heart rate: 58
Weight: 10st 4lbs
I crashed back into consciousness at 5:10am. My stomach was churning and there was some little bastard in my skull using a pick axe to hack his was out through my eyes.
I tossed and turned and eventually staggered downstairs at 7am for aspirin and breakfast.
I cycled round to Jonnie's place at 9am. It was a bit chilly, and rather misty, but the sky was bright and there was hardly any wind. The lanes were shiny. There was some discussion as to whether they were icy or simply wet. "Stick to the dry bits," was the sage advice from Jonnie.
I struggled on the downhills today. The hangover and the shiny lanes did nothing for my almost none-existent descending skills. Jonnie had to do a bit of waiting as I tiptoed down the hills to Temple Grafton. By the time we arrived in Wilmcote, after 20 miles, the average was a hungover and nervous 13.4mph.
Refreshed by two slices (each!) of homemade lemon cake and cups of tea, Jonnie and I removed our jackets, and I took off my hat, scarf and gloves, and then we headed out towards Snitterfield. By now, the sun was high in the sky and warming us up nicely. The BBC predicted a high of 16 degrees before we got home.
We kept the pressure on and managed to slightly improve on our average, despite the way home being generally uphill.
We arrived back at Jonnie's in the glorious sunshine and refreshed ourselves with some terrible mass-produced lager (which I was very grateful for, actually.)
Back at home, I took the dogs for a walk, marvelling at the beautiful warm weather in the middle of October. I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts!

Dog walking in the sunshine. No filter!

In the afternoon, I ate chicken and noodles, did some ironing, and drank some ale.
In the evening, we ate steak pie and watched Daredevil on Netflix.
What a cool weekend!
41 miles of cycling, junkfood (cake) and beer