T2 and Tae Kwon Do

Healthy Living
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I am a 48 year old male who was diagnosed T2 in 2009. I found this forum because I saw an article about acidrock23 and tracked him here. I wish I could tag him, but I don’t know if this forum software supports that. This is my introductory post and a testimony that we can start where we are to, regardless of our age, to change our lifestyle.

I started TKD training back in June 2014 after my sons earned their green belts. I had been trying to lose weight and dropped about 20 pounds previously, but I had plateaued.

Their school instructor/owner talked to me for a while about getting started, but I waited until we moved because we were 20 miles from the school and my classes would have been on alternate nights which would keep us out every night late. I talked frankly with him about my condition and he agreed to work with me to make sure I did what was practical and feasible for the condition. One step I took was to train with TKD shoes (like the Nike In-Nae) instead of training barefoot because the rooms are carpeted and with all the board breaking going on, there’s always a loose splinter somewhere. The shoes make some parts of training difficult, but I knew that I needed to protect my feet.

When I advanced to green belt, I began sparring and board breaking, and I made certain once again to protect my feet as much as possible. The instructor had a pair of Ringstar FightPro shoes that he bought and didn’t like wearing, so he gave them to me and I spar in them. It makes new opponents nervous when they see I am wearing shoes while they wear foot pads, but when I show them the padded soles (unlike their own unpadded soles) they relax.

I mistakenly set up my boards cross-grain for a hand break technique and broke my ulna (forearm bone) at a tournament in 2015. It took longer to heal than I felt it should but I can’t blame T2 for that, it may just be middle age. It still aches occasionally during push-ups, etc. but I’m doing OK with that.

I earned my 1st Degree Black Belt this past month. I trained straight through from the beginning, and I only failed one belt test in the entire time (that being due to my misguided attempt to do an impressive board break instead of one I am good at).

I am proud of my accomplishment. I want to continue training, though I am not certain how far I want to rise in the ranks.

The downside:

I have not lost weight like I think I should have. I do know my body fat has decreased because my waist size is smaller. I’m sure some of the weight loss has been offset by muscle mass increase.

This past month, I received a large bruise on the inside of my shin, just above the ankle, probably due to crossing shins with a fellow student during sparring. It swelled up for a few days. Eventually the bruise began to break up, but some of the blood settled into my heel and instep and that blood is being reabsorbed more slowly. I considered going to the doctor, but the bruising is going away and the swelling has lessened. My Achilles and sides of my heel are tight, but massaging loosens them. I’ve taken 2 weeks to let things mend. I’m considering going back to class this evening. My wife went to the store and bought me a pair of shin guards to wear for class.

Moving forward

I have to continue losing weight. I’m 5’8" and weigh 260 lbs. I find myself craving soft drinks and junk foods much less frequently. Rarely do I crave sweets. I have to control my intake, especially during stressful times, as that’s my trigger. I’m learning to like water.

I want to continue training. My wife started training with us three months ago after a change in her schedule enabled her to attend classes. While there’s not much time for a junior belt female to be with the male black belts, it’s nice to look over and see her there.

I want to live a healthier second half than the first one. I also want to show my kids that old age doesn’t mean out of shape, and that it’s never too late to do better.

I hope this post is helpful to someone. It’s hard living with a T2 diagnosis when you realize you could have done something about it before you knew you needed to. Find an exercise you enjoy and put your heart in it.

Steve

1 Like
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Hi @steve421! Steve, you can “tag” someone here by @ mentioning them. If you mention @acidrock23 in a topic, he’ll get a notification (upper right corner, by the avatar)

another long time member here is @Stuart, I know he’s done various styles of martial arts

welcome to the community!

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I guess you have put on muscle which is heavy and thus you would not lose weight. Congratulations on your attainment.

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You don’t mention Meds - taking metformin for insulin resistance? I’m a T1 who begged for the pill - very helpful with weight control. Also did not mention that daily heart smart aspirin - if you are taking a higher dose it will thin the blood and make bruses stick around for a while - probably should see your doc for large hematoma though…congrats on finding a physical activity you love! All you kids do mom a favor and practice outside tho :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Metformin 1000 2x daily.

I tried the aspirin regimen but I kept having problems with subconjunctival hemorrhaging and I told them I had to stop that.

We don’t practice sparring or board breaking at home, only in class or tournaments under the guidance of an instructor. Forms are non-impact so we can practice wherever we have room.

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Maybe up the metformin? You are at the initial dose levels. Is thyroid function one of the tests your doc runs? You will find many of us on this forum have secondary thyroid issues.

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Actually, I was at 500mg 2x daily for about 5 years. I had a BG surge a couple of years ago (the doctor thinks it was due to an infection where I had a sebaceous cyst removed) and they upped the dosage and never lowered it again.

I asked about my levels and the doctor was pleased at my last check. My meter reads high (I have another topic about that) so I was relieved because I thought they were going to up it.

I’ll check on the thyroid function test. I know they run liver function when I have blood work done.

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Hello Steve421
As others have said welcome to the community.

I’ve been working on an on going project for several years which you might have interest? I’ve been a student of kara-te for a day or two myself. One art, a single teacher… no masters or grand masters in sight just interest, commitment, and something I enjoyed a long time.

My wife is senior to me in terms of karate experience. May all your “fights” be gentle ones!!! Getting smacked by her ring in the middle of the night as she’s having a “baaaaaad” dream, is NEVER a good thing… […least that’s what she said happened -ggg-. A good right hook there honey, yikes…].

Several of my seniors, elders, and their husbands/wives met at/through classes. But few stay to Shodan, the first degree black belt much less the longer term. Make certain you use words if/when you do play with one another. Can I go full power honey, my boss at work was a royal witch today I just need to spar with someone get this anger out… just be careful.

“Fitness” should be a good byproduct NEVER the “main course”. Good for us probably… but time better spent practicing the art itself, not the peripherals. Glad to hear you are building a solid foundation.

any/most water shoes. soft all around, and rarely insanely expensive like the silly martial arts shoes. Think I paid ten bucks for my last pair, and lasted a long time. Reading what you wrote sounds like some of your classmates expect to be taking OFF their shoes, should they ever require their physical skills 8 D. (e.g the original “Billy Jack” Movie with Tom Laughlin)

Shoes on shoes off should not matter. Breaking don’t like activities which start with that word.-ggg- too many live upto the name. (Ever tried the candle extinguish drill instead?)

Hope acidrock drops in. If not I’ve gotten a bunch of names since January of T1 TKD folks you might want to connect with. Let me know

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I train aikido 2-3 times a week, love it, and have experienced exactly zero weight loss with it, although my initial, much repaired gi is much looser around the middle.
I am a rather small female person, just scraping 5’0", but strongly built and rather more robust than most of my training partners suspect at first. I am probably the most difficult training partner for most of the men, because aikido requires a low centre of gravity to do most of the techniques correctly. Have to love being short and sturdy sometimes!
I train barefoot, but have no issues with splinters. We try quite hard not to splinter our weapons…
I’ve had all sorts of fun organising my BSLs and pump around classes, and have finally settled on 75% of basal as Lantus and the remainder plus boluses via pump. I can take off my pump for 3-4 hours now. Finally.
I wish I were progressing faster through the levels, I should be an advanced student by now (I got to shodan in iaido very quickly, but have had to stop sword work due to various finger injuries and surgery). But with aikido, it is a marathon, not a sprint, so I shall be patient and try not to need more finger/wrist repairs.

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Hello Morrisminor72

A formal & deep bow of greeting…

<<I train aikido 2-3 times a week,

Which flavor of the art?
There are many “Aiki practices” some budo, other jitsu practices. Very, very different creatures yet with similarities…

<< have experienced exactly zero weight loss with it,

Myself, as a general rule, I am very leery of weight loss EXCEPT as by product of our practices. Fitness, physical health are wonderful things, worthy goals, but entirely irrelevant in terms of any martial aspect. Martial portion does not care about fitness per se, the sole question is whether you can stay alive by protecting ourselves or not. The battle(s) will not last ten minutes.

<<We try quite hard not to splinter our weapons…

Basic, fundamental practice demands we carefully, carefully study all weapons we ever use before doing so in order to guarantee they will not break, shatter during our practices. Dave Lowry 101 >: >

<<I can take off my pump for 3-4 hours now.

Mine flew off regardless of whatever I was doing, solo, basic warm up. partner, group activities or the intensities. Given your technical foundation as a tumbling/rolling activity, how on earth could you place yours, so that it did not fly away 100% of the time.

<<But with aikido, it is a marathon, not a sprint,

Geeze next your gonna tell us it has taken you longer than 18 months to gain your skills. [It takes years, and years, not months for any art worthy of the name…]

<<so I shall be patient and try not to need more finger/wrist repairs

Ugggh, which one you catch? Believed I got trigger finger on both sides, turned out to be non diabetic nerve damage, not the diabetes at all.

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Hi Stuart,
I train in Takemasu/Iwama style aikido, which has a lot of weapon work, right from the beginning, and a rather step by step pedagogy, which I appreciate very much. I did a 6 week beginner aikikai class before moving to my current dojo, and floundered. I learned very quickly to take ukemi on my right side, but got very very stuck on left ukemi. At my current dojo, with the fairly specific Iwama or Takemasu teaching, it took me one quick lesson to figure out left ukemi (the basics, obviously). I’m no longer concerned that my left shoulder and I will part company! As an ex gymnast, I love the ukemi and high fall part of training.

I have never worn my pump for the majority of the class, but I’ll often wear it for weapons, then take it off, or put it back on for our separate Saturday weapons class. Before I started using Lantus, I was rather limited to the length of time I could go pump free.

I also wear Libre sensors in my upper arms, and initially was worried that our arm pins and locks might dislodge my rather expensive, self funded sensor. Nope. All good. I generally wear GrifGrips over the top, or failing that, circles of wide kinesiotape.

Regarding my hands and wrists, over the past 10 years I’ve had surgery for left middle trigger finger, right deQuervains, badly fractured left little finger (work accident, not martial arts), right extensor carpi ulnaris stenosis, and most recently right middle and left index trigger fingers. None of it is diabetes related, I have the additional blessing of fairly active psoriatic arthritis, the most recent flare being triggered 3 years ago by the broken finger surgery. I’m on some lovely antirheumatic drugs, which are stopping further stenosis of my tendons.

My hand surgeon has huge misgivings about me considering going back to iaido again, he is not sure he’d be able to fix my right extensor carpi ulnaris if it stenoses again.

Thankfully, aikido, and the way we train, has very little effect on my hands and fingers, and even when splinted post operatively, I can still train. I love it!

I do need to be patient with regard to my training and grading. We have very strict attendances required before grading, and with work, injuries and surgeries I simply haven’t got the attendance. Sometimes being an adult sucks!

Another aspect of my dojo that I absolutely love is we don’t have a serious training atmosphere. We are encouraged to work hard, but not take ourselves too seriously. Not a problem for me, I am constantly laughing during class. It is just such good fun!

Cheers.

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Forgive my tardy response…

Known/met several prewar aiki-bujitsu folks (pre war aikido). Had the pleasure of lots of main stream aiki… cant remember ever meeting an Iwama practitioner before. Very cool…

Always appreciated Yoshinkan, and what I can learn of the many fascinating very different receipes. As a karate student, I could never use bare hands without my pump flying off. And with any traditional weaponry, sets off every alarm I possess. Been a reader of Dave Lowry’s for a long time… sounds avoidable aka dangerous to be swinging wooden weapons the same room as a pump/cgm, tubing… yikes.

Looking forward to hearing more about the practices/combinations,