Training

[matuke]

Doc, what are the main elements of your current training program? Muay Thai, Shaolin ? And do you still train for 6 hours per day?

Thanks

Matuke

[doc]

My training regimen took an abrupt turn towards nonexistance, January of 2002, when I came down with a sudden and unexpected case of pulmonary inflammation, essentially brought on by a simple case of peristent bronchitis. For some reason, there was a community acquired bronchopneumonia running around Las Vegas at that time, which was not typically easily treated by the usual antibiotics. It also, for some reason, left its victims with a bronchiolitis for a few weeks. Well, timing is everything, and this month long bronchiolitis that I was left with, was still around when my bad allergy season started (in Vegas, around Feb/March, all depending upon the rainfall in December, and the temperature elevation in the Feb/March).

Inflammed lungs with the sudden exposure of pollen (and, more specifically, pollen associated with pollution) leads to allergic asthma. What's interesting is that all the specialists that I went to, could not diagnose it. For a month or so, I couldn't breathe, couldn't walk the dog, couldn't leave the house, and, couldnt' be diagnosed. I finally figured it out one day when it rained.

For some reason, I had a bad case of it, one which was not readily amenable to the usual bronchodilator therapy. Maybe my going to Beijing to escape the pollen (and get infected with SARS) had something to do with my continued worsened symptoms. In any case, my immune system went wild, eventually developing allergies to aspirin (common in those with allergic asthma), then to NSAID's (common in those who are allergic to aspirin), and then, to red dye #40 (common in those who are allergic to NSAID"S and aspirin).

I took some Advil for one of my regular migraines, actually the day that Shi Xing Hong came to visit me, as I was leaving on an airplaine to Arizone, and had an anaphylactic reaction to it on the plaine. Allergic reactions to NSAID's can be persistent, lasting upwards of 8 weeks. I was on high dose steroids for about three months, the experience of that, eventually worth writing about. And, because of the red dye allergy, I was having low grade anaphylactic reactions on a daily basis, for the next year and a half. (I had been taking cherry flavored Nyquil to help me sleep, and breathe at night; it took me a year and a half to finally figure out that I was terribly allergic to the red dye in it).

Not sure if you've ever had an anaphylactic reaction, but, it's a bit of a nightmare. Throat swelling, pulmonary inflammation, histamine release, feeling of "impending doom" (a psychiatric effect of histamine). It's not fun.

Basically, the past three years have not been the best to me. My training, along with many other aspects of my life, have suffered. You can't train if you can't breathe, and the simple act of walking Mickey (my dog), became impossible. I used to walk him about three miles a day; with this pulmonary inflammation and daily low grade anaphylaxis, I couldn't walk a hundred feet without getting short of breath.

But, during my time in Thailand, I recovered slowly, and started training on an almost daily basis, in Muay Thai. It's something that I had been playing with for years, and the past few months in Thailand it became a regular occurrence for me. As for Shaolin training, it's been largely on hold. Doing forms and stuff is far more aerobically challenging than weight lifting and boxing, so gong fu has basically disappeared from my life over the past three years. I'm slowly incorporating it back at this time.

I seriously doubt that I'll ever get back into the type of training regime that I had once done. I'm not sure if trips to Shaolin for the intensive training I had done before, will happen again. I've taken a hit healthwise over these past three years, and it is taking time for me to get back to where I once was. But, I shall try. I'm a persistant mother****er who doesn't let things get him down for long. It is just going to take me a while.

[LeiYunFat]

Eff China. Stop going back there!