Nemesis

It was some five years ago when I finally went to see the doctor to help me with an invisible Nemesis.  My health was failing due to the attacks that happened out of the blue.  I prepared and waited for it.  Still the culprit came silently, fast and brutal.

I have been suffering from rashes, hives, burning itchy skin, lack of strength and a few other ailments.  I could no longer train at my max capacity and my health began to slide.

I first suspected it this was a result of an allergy or allergies.  My diet and routines are fairly consistent so this should have been a no brainer.  I watched and catalogued the times I would break out with hives.  Breakouts were anywhere from 10% of my body to 90%.  Usually, it ran 75% coverage.

So here is the list I found that caused my hive breakouts:
Heat
Cotton clothing
bumps
working out to hard
sawing lumber
toothpaste
ginger (oh fuck no, not ginger)
spinach
all salad dressings
melons (not fucking melons too?!)
protein powders
wheat
grains (WTF!!!!)
legumes
bamboo sheets
silk sheets
i guess beds in general

You get the idea.  But it was never consistent.  I even fasted for four days, water only.  Then I had nice light salad with some vinaigrette and BOOM!!!

So off to the doctor I went.  Four months of testing went by and several grand in cash only to find out...I am healthy.  My doctor gave me a referral to a psychologist.   Fucking A!!!

Then I started my own research.  My basic problem was that I had allergic reactions to everything, but not all the time.  Rather fucking frustrating if you ask me.

First question to answer was, is this truly an allergy or an intolerance.  Folk get the two confused and once it goes all internet becomes really goofy.  An Allergy is a reaction that is immediate, or within 30 minutes of contact.  Intolerance is a build up.  Intolerance is described as the following; imagine having a cup you fill.  As the cup fills, no problemo.  Once the cup overflows than BAM!!! There is your "allergic" reaction.

So what am I intolerant too?  Glad you asked, Histamine.

Histamine?  Yes, Histamine, a compound the body needs to regulate almost everything.  Well...crap.  When my Histamine cup overflows; symptoms start with joints heating up, skin becomes itchy and then the searing hot hives begin.

Where does this stuff come from?  Well the body produces some and the rest comes in the form of food.  All food has some level of Histamine, but as the food decays, the Histamine levels rise.  To combat high levels of Histamine, the body uses DAO to digest and flush it out.

I know what you are going to say, just take anti-histamines.  Nope, nope and nope.  I did try this and was up to three 24 tablets a day to combat this.  It made matters worse.   I found the hard way of course.  By creating more of an imbalance, by body reacted by created more histamine.  Well suck.

So having studied Chinese Medicine, I know the best health is to bring the body back into balance.  I started with the DAO supplementation to help clear Histamine to were I can eat and maintain my failing health.  Try to stop the downward slide.  DAO supplements are a tad expensive and finding the right dosage is tough.  (Still cheaper than a trip to the ER due to ripping your torturous skin off).

No go.  I did not notice anything even when I was at twice the recommended dosage.  So I quit that experiment.

So I researched for which foods are high in Histamine.  I both love and hate the internet.  I love that eventually you can find the information you need.  Hate the fact that there are so many potheads out there spouting off their empty opinions about things.  After 100's of articles and dozens of list showing the high values of histamine, I came upon a simple gem of information.

All food contain Histidine.  Histidine is an amino acid we do need to create Histamine.  As food decays, the histidine breaks down into Histamine.  The longer the food sits before ingesting, the more histamine it will have.  Like freshly picked spinach, has almost zero Histamine (hence why some list have omitted it.)  You pick it and eat it a week later, it is loaded with Histamine.  BAM, here comes those damn hives after a spinach salad.

So even when buying from the stores, you have no way of knowing how long this food has been in decay.  That spinach could be a week old, may three.  Huge consideration when buying your food (blindfolded of course).

Here is a link to give you some more basics of how screwed you may be. Histamine intolerance or what am I getting myself into.

I backed up to square one and started over.  I wrote out my fantasy diet for recovery from workouts, prepping for workouts and for making it through the day without choking people  (very important for my dwindling social circles).

The panel said I should be healthy, but the extreme case pointed out I was extremely FRELLED!!!

I looked back through my life as I considered this the end to my warrior ways and saw how the Histamine intolerance had always been there.  With the exception of living in Oregon.  Why did I feel at my best then?  I worked as a banquet supervisor, so I had access to fresh food.  I mean fruit and veggies maybe three days off harvest.  I also lived between two fisherman.  They always loaded me down with fresh seafood.  My meals were maybe four days after harvest.  So I had a constant source of fresh food (low histamine).  But also, my diet was very high in Omega-3s.  Two to three times higher than government recommended levels (not something I would recommend as the gospel).

So I started taking Omega-3 supplements to enhance my diet.  I started with recommended and then went up to 6 grams of fish oil spread through the day.  Less than two weeks I was hive free.  I could add back into my diet and increase my health and stamina.  I have since then switched to hemp oil and reduced to 4 grams a day.  I will increase when I feel the histamine markers rise (in my case, the inside of the skin on my wrist start to heat up and itch).

I have been nearly hive free for four years now.  They do occasionally rear their angriness when I am stressing out, eating poorly and forget my omega-3 supplements.  But I can regain my balance within a day or two.

Now, I'd love to say Omega-3 supplementation will cure everyone of their ills.  But you should do your own panel of what you eat and see where you stand.  Here is the current Gov Standard for eating NOM.

I am willing to bet most folk do not meet these standards, and if you do, you are probably not meeting your own standards.  I know we all run to the doctor for help when the SHTF, but they are only interesting in treating afflictions that make them money.  There is no money in Histamine Intolerance.  The only way to treat it, is through proper diet.

Imagine not suffering from hives, or migraines, or fibromyalgia or a large host of other imbalances due to something as simple as Omega-3 boosts.  I put in the time due to being mortal hurts.  I prefer to be back to my old self (or new self now) and continue my path of ascension.

Good luck.

Getting back on track

So going for my first week of workouts every day.  Body has some choice words for the spirit, none of which I can repeat here due to the profanity clause of Blogger.com


Here is a doozy for you:


29 mins-5 1 minute rounds with a minute rest between sets.

Jump Rope with 1lb rope   111-119-99-109-111
Pushups on Paralettes          22-16-16-19-23
KBS with 45lb                    18-19-19-19-20
Crunches                             31-18-20-18-17
Ring Rows                           16-23-11-13-14

and your one minute rest.  I posted my numbers to the right so you can beat them!

Good Luck,

DarkArashi

Been awhile

Been awhile I know.

In Febuary I took three months off of training to do three construction jobs.  Yet, took a vacation.

May and June were crazy months of trying to get back in shape and dealing with allergies.  The thing here to remember is, that when I train, I stay strong and healthy.  When I do not train, I weaken and the little
things come back to haunt me.

In between school upgrades, here is my first big workout:

30 minute AMRAP
200 Jump Ropes with 2lb rope
50 Squats

I made five rounds with 85 jump ropes in the sixth round.

Good luck,

DarkArashi

Oh, monday!

Monday Madness coming right up.

Here is the workout.

30 min AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible)

  10 Knees to Elbows
  15 Pushups
  10 Pulllups
  15 Thrusters (with 50lbs)
100 Jump ropes (with 1lb rope)

I made it through five rounds and only had 78 Jump ropes left on round 6.  Sadz!!!

Good luck with this beastie!!!

DarkArashi

Cold Start

Aiya!!!  Monday can be such a hard start.

Here you go, a Master's AMRAP 30 minutes.

Danila Komlev

Pushups
Knees to Elbows
Thrusters (50lbs)
Right arm single Row (70lbs)
Left arm single Row (70lbs)
Leg Lifts
50 Jump ropes (1lb rope)

The goal here is to max out your pushups with perfect form.  Then use that number through the rest of the exercises.  My numbers were 25, 16, 12, 17.  I finished with 4 seconds to spar.  (spent staggering over for more pushups really)

Good luck,

DarkArashi

Who turned up the gravity?

Feeling heavy today.  What is the best cure?  Try this workout.

I call it Yojimbo Usagi (based on the "disapproving bunny" workout)

4 Rounds
100 Jump Ropes (with 2lb jump rope)
50 Kettlebell swings (with 45lb KB)

I staggered through it in 20:58.

Good luck with this beast.

DarkArashi

Back to work(ing out)

by Tsukku

Today is an easy workout in concept.

We call it a Tabata Squared.  What it is, is eight exercises for eight rounds.

You can do this in any order...does not matter, there is no easy way.

I did the following with numbers:

Sprints (24 feet)               58
Pushups                           67
Left arm single Rows        50 @ 70 for 4 rounds and 50 for 4 rounds
Jump Ropes                    300 with 1lb jumprope
Burpees                           28
Kettlebell Swings             63  @ 45lbs
Knees to Elbows             64
Right arm single Rows      50 @ 70 for 4 rounds and 50 for 4 rounds

Remember, this is 8 rounds at 20 seconds each with 10 seconds of rest.

Good luck

DarkArashi

Old? I prefer tempered!

Decided to SLOG my way through the birthday morning.  And I was joined by Shirley and Benjamin "Viking" Carlson.

So the regular SLOG is:

500 Jump Ropes
100 Wrestlers
 50 Pushups
100 Squats

This is done in any order, any amount until you reach the totals.

Sloggier totals per round:

500 Jump Ropes          160   170    85     85    done
100 Kettlebell Swings    20     22     21    18     19     done
  50 Paralette Pushups   25     25    done
100 Knees to Chest       22     17     16     16    10     11

I used a 1lb jumprope and 45lb Kettlebell.  It took me 21:54 minutes.
 
I thank everyone for the birthday wishes all day long.  People like to ask me how it feels to be old, here are some pictures of a 47 year old Warrior.

Don't reckon I'll be modeling any time soon.  But my goal is to remain a Juggernaut...unstoppable.

This is the gift I offer anyone with the heart to reach out and take it.


Good luck,
DarkArashi

Fist Shaking at allergies

Rough week due to allergies raising its ugly multi-headed attack on my person.

Today was a new 30 minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible)

    5 Pullups
  10 Knees to Chest
  15 Pushups
  10 Thrusters (with 25lb dumbbells)
  15 Ring Rows
100 Jump Ropes (with 1lb jump rope)

I made it to 7 rounds with 6 seconds to spare.  (for the record, I snapped my 1lb jump rope and went back to a normal jump rope midway through round one.)

Now, if you do the math and multiply reps by the round and square the total co-efficient...you find that this = BIG ASS NAP!!!

Good luck,

DarkArashi

SLOG(gier)

Today I one-upped myself...I should know better

So the regular SLOG is:

500 Jump Ropes
100 Wrestlers
 50 Pushups
100 Squats

This is done in any order, any amount until you reach the totals.

Here is the new Sloggier with my totals per round:

500 Jump Ropes          100   100   100   100    100    done
100 Kettlebell Swings   25     20     20     20     15     done
  50 Paralette Pushups   20     16     14     done
100 Knees to Chest       25     20     15     16     14     10

I used a 1lb jumprope and 45lb Kettlebell.  It took me 22:50 minutes.
 
Good luck with this beast,

DarkArashi

Back at it.

So back from a small vacation in Lake Tahoe and not quite up to task yet.

Last few workouts were repeats to get myself into gear.

Finally, I went after a bigger one and here it is.

30 minutes, do as many rounds as possible.

1 Super Squat Kick
5 Burpees
10 Knees to Elbows
15 Pushups
10 Thrusters (used 25lb dumbbells)
10 Bent over row each arm (used two kettlebells 25lb and 35lb in one hand)
20 Kettlebell swings (45lbs)
100 Jump Ropes (1lb jump rope)

I only managed to finish the burpees in my fifth round.

Apparently, I had too much pie over Thanksgiving...shame on me.

Hope you do better,

Good luck

DarkArashi

Burpee'd on myself

First off...OW!!!

The workout itself is not exactly terrible, kinda daunting in the beginning, but not as horrifying as it sounds.

I did this one last friday, before my rehab workout.  Not sure how I felt about it afterwards, but the last 5 days my body has been reading me the riot act.

Here you go:

5 Minutes do as many Burpees as you can.  This is the squat/thrust with pushup variation.

My Score was 89, you can check your score against the recommended for your age below.

So I seem to be Spartan fit.  Sure don't feel like it.  As for where these numbers come from (I personally think someone's ass), but they are recommended for running the Spartan race.

What they don't tell you is the later fallout for such sheninigans.  My joints have been aching, allergies went wild due to the strain this put on my system and low energy.  On the up side, I do have a deep sexy Barry White voice now.

Good training,
DarkArashi

Rehab day

YAY!  Rehab workout day.

Made it through another little workout.  My numbers are slowly  creeping back.

Last night was the Yin/Yang conditioning.  This is were we use not only out own body weight, but the body weight of a partner.  Not hard, but certainly not easy.

This makes two weeks of workouts and the third is yet to come.

This will be the beast!

Good luck,

DarkArashi

Ultra Super Secret Workout for the new year

So today's workout was the prototype for the "End of the Year" workout.

Can't really divulge the details right now, but it is only 30 minutes.


And it took 30 minutes...and ten minutes for the dizzies to stop...then another 2 maybe 3 minutes deciding if I was going to puke.

Okay, so maybe I will tone this one down a bit.  But I am keeping the Burpees!!!

Oh, you may wish to bone up on your jump ropes too!!!

Remember December 30th at Ascension Martial Arts from 7:00 to 8:00pm.  Come on down and face your inner monster!

Good Luck!!!!

DarkArashi

"Slog"ing through the week

Legendary Warrior returns

Slogging through the week.  Yesterday's Iron Bone training is making itself know so I did simply "Slog" workout.

SLOG
500 Jump Ropes (I used a 2lb)
100 Squats
50 Pushups
100 Wrestlers (situps)

I also wore 2lb ankle weights each ankle
and a 36lb weight vest.

Time was 22:29 minutes.  Give it a whirl and give it a hurl

Good luck

DarkArashi

Boning up on the workouts!!!

Aiya...

Today is the Iron Bone conditioning.

This workout is about using striking and relaxation to increase the density of the bones.  Really any time you move, you are increasing the density of the bones.  You walk, you knit, you do dishes or you chase little kids you are conditioning the bones for that activity.

Training is about moving the body and causing trauma.  The body then heals from the trauma and builds that area for another round.

Iron Bone conditioning is about using strikes, kicks and blocks to accelerate the density growth of the bone in those areas.  We started with padded targets, move onto makiwara training, then bone on wood and eventually punching cinderblock and marbles.

Hardest part of this training is to relax while striking things your parents told you to never do.  By relaxing, the bones take more of the shock.  If you tense (which is only natural) the muscles reinforce the bones, but also take on part of the shock and trauma.

Why have bones made of steel?  To protect ourselves of course.  Look at sports now days, everyone is training to be stronger, show off their sexy muscles.  Now look at the injuries, tendons and ligaments mostly.  Muscle strains and tears are easy to heal, the rest not so much.

In the martial arts we know this fact:  Muscle builds six times faster than tendons, tendons build four times faster than ligaments, ligaments build 10 ten times faster than bone.

To build muscle, you contract during exercise.  Easy to build muscle.

To build tendon strength, you have to contract through the full range of muscle.  Not to easy to be honest with this one.

To build ligament strength, you have to stretch the focus joint with momentum through the entire range of the limb.

To build bone, constant hammering along the axis of the bones.

This training is for overall health and welfare of the body.  Oh, and don't forget recovery through diet and rest.

Good luck,

DarkArashi

CREAMED!!!

Last little workout for the week.

This is my rehab, I am working on getting back up to forty reps of each.

                                                  Last      Today's
                                                Round     Round
Jump Rope (2lb)                        188      109
Ring row                                      28        16                  
Knees to Elbow                           26        15
One-legged Squats                      10        10
Pushups                                       35        14
Crunches                                     40         28
Thrusters (25lb dumbbells)         24        14
5x10 Grippers (168 lbs)
Back Bends                                 10        10

Yeah, got stomped from the earlier workouts from the week.  No worries, those numbers will be back up shortly.

Sending thanks out to Benjamin aka "Viking" and John aka "Happy" for joining me on the workouts.  Nice to have company and great seeing you two step up.

On to next week,

DarkArashi 

Day Four already?

And the fourth workout...

This is a Roundup format.  Every round you add and see how many rounds you can do.

30 min time limit:

 +1 Pushup
 +1 Knees to Elbows
 +1 Kettlebell Swing (45 lbs)
 +1 Leg Lift
 +1 Pullup
+10 Jump Ropes

I made it through 11 rounds and time ran out as I finished my 12th round of Kettlebell swings.

The first four rounds were so easy I thought I had 90 rounds easy.  Sadz!!!

Good luck Kiddies,

DarkArashi

"Bog"ged down in the workouts

Ach, day three and the body is having none of it.

Didn't exactly wake this morning, more like leveled up a few notches from my coma.

I ran through the list of my big workouts I wanted to do after class this morning and the body piped in with disapproval.  Even used the big Wurdies to describe icky sex acts I could go do with myself.

We comprised on the Bog, a wee workout.

Bog: 17 minute time limit (pretty easy right!)

50 Pushups
50 Wrestlers
50 Kettlebell Swings (I used a 45lb'er)

25 Kettlebell Row per side (Used the 45lb'er again...too lazy to grab a lighter one.)
50 Walking Lunges
300 Jump Ropes
*10 Squats every minute until time is up, or you finish.

My body realized halfway through it had been tricked.  I was 5 kettlebell swings and 30 Wrestlers short of finishing.

Good luck,

DarkArashi

Feeling betta!!!

So, I did mean to post yesterday...but here it is.

For the last year, my workouts have been on and off.  As soon as I fell better, I would go through one of the easier workouts to test my knee and foot.

Some days after the workout...I felt great!

Other days were Sucktastic!!!  I would barely be able to walk.

As some of you know, I have sold and moved out of the old place and did some security work.  Ate up all my time and spare time and sleep time.

Beginning of November I committed to my insane workout schedule to see about a come-back.

Five days a week baby.  One Mega-Workout each week, one End of the Year workout, one Testing workout and two 30-minute random ones.

Two days in and still standing.  I did the weight vest Mega yesterday and today's workout is below:

100 Thrusters (Squats with 25lb dumbbells)
100 Knees to Elbows.

and every minute is 5 Burpees.

30 max time limit.  My time...27:42!

Try and beat it.

BTW, for the non-math whizzes that is 130 Burpees.

Good luck and I will post daily with results.

DarkArashi