Happy Thanksgiving!

So today is a holiday, at least if you live in the US and aren't Native American.  I like the basic idea - to give thanks for all the cool stuff we have, like hi def TV's and dark chocolate (and family and friends, of course), but this holiday seems to be more about watching football and eating ourselves into insulin comas than anything.

The insidious thing about holidays (to us compulsive overeaters) is that they seem like an excuse to blow our diets.  "Go ahead and pig out, it's Thanksgiving!"  Which is fine, as Thanksgiving comes once a year, but it all too easily turns into "Go ahead and pig out...

• It's your birthday!
• It's Christmas!
• It's New Year's!
• You got a promotion at work!
• Your brother/ best friend/ cousin/ sister is in town!
• It's your wedding anniversary!
• It's the anniversary of your first date!
• It's the anniversary of your first kiss!"

And so on.

Remember my tips from before - if you're going to overeat, do a nicely brutal strength training session beforehand (I've already done mine).  Don't try to do seven hours of cardio to make up for the calories - a huge shot of cortisol isn't going to help you as much as you think.  Make sure to get some protein in with your food - don't skip the turkey for sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie.

I'm thankful for a lot of things, but also for this blog, which is an opportunity to share my thoughts with a bunch of people, some of whom I don't even know.  Frankly, none of the people I interact with on a daily basis care even a little bit about karate or fitness, and there are only so many times I can start talking to my wife about suspension training while her eyes glaze over before I take pity on her and shut up.  So, thank you for reading and giving me an outlet for discussing all this stuff!

Fitness tip of the day:  if you can't do one arm pushups well, try building up to them by doing them with your legs spread as far as they can go, then build up to real ones by bringing your legs closer to each other.  This eases the load on your arm/ shoulder without really changing the angle (at your shoulder joint) or range of motion.  I like this a lot more than doing partial reps (only going down part of the way) or using the other arm for assistance (which I find really hard to measure, so I can't tell if I'm making progress).  

I plan to post some videos of this stuff in the next couple of months as soon as I get the tablet I've been wanting...  I have my eye on a NotionInk Adam, but it's not out yet.  :(

Enjoy your holiday and don't let it be an excuse for a five week break from training or eating well!

Osu.