There are so many reasons to be happy anyway. I’ve still got my wife and my children, whom I love so much. In the meantime we’ve traveled to Spain. It was a wonderful trip to the Costa Blanca. We stayed at a hotel in the city of Lloret de Mar. We hired a car and visited several places there, such as: Tossa de Mar, Blanes, the city of Girona (a beautiful medieval city). The weather was fine. We had lots of sun and maybe one day of clouds and a bit of rain, but that was ok.

You know the coast of the Costa Blanca is rough. It’s a rocky coast, but that makes it so beautiful.

The people in Spain were very nice and that made us enjoy our vacation trip even more. Every evening during our stay there we went for a walk along the beach of Lloret de Mar, listening to the sea pounding her waves against the rocks.
We watched some artists creating beautiful paintings with a brushing technique. They were there every evening and everytime we enjoyed watching them painting.

You know usually Lloret de Mar is a very crowded village, especially in summer. And the nights are very noisy, with dancings filled with noisy young people. But this time it was nice and quiet. During day  time there were many people on the beach, because the weather was so nice. People of all ages enjoyed a walk along the beach and a drink on one or another terrace.

There were so many people because it was Easter weekend. The hotel was entirely booked. You noticed during breakfast and dinner in the restaurant. I had the impression that the spanish  older people were a little noisy. They even communicated from one table to another, but that didn’t bother us too much. Because, “hey”, we were in Spain.  We experienced a bit of the spanish temperament: “Olé”.

The food was very good a we had plenty of choice. In fact, it was always too much. They always try to over deliver. But, then it’s up to us how ùuch we eat, right? No, reason to complain. What if we could not choose from a gazillion kinds of food? We always want more and better.

I don’t how they do it, but those hotels always try to overdeliver. And so it results in us gaining some weight. I was already training at the gym before we left on a vacation. And so I will continue for a long time to come…

Hasta la vista

You know, my youngest brother 39 years old had a cardiac arrest, totally unexpected. It sounds hard and it is, but in a way I don’t feel like crying. I don’t feel I want to mourn neither.

It was a while ago since I saw my brother and everytime we saw each other we got along very well. Only, the last few years didn’t turn out to be so lucky. My brother and his (ex) wife went through a divorce. And he has two young kids.

So, I can imagen that he didn’t feel well at all. He went through a hard time. I even think he went through a depression. And inevitably this must have caused physical consequences. My sister told me he that he got medical supervision by a medical doctor.

So, more than probably he had to take medicine. There were other consequences too for sure. He even neglected his job. So, there was not enough income to live healthy. He ended up in debt in no time. The problems began to pile up. And as you can guess, he was a real mess a few months ago.

Until he met this woman. She gave him hope again and we all saw that they were good together. A nice couple, as they say.

So, one would expect that he would have been able to pick up the thread again. But he didn’t and probably couldn’t. Because there was caused to much physical damage inside of him. But, not anybody of us had the faintest idea that it had come that far.

I mean, at the age of 39 he had become a physical wreck. My little brother…

And then that movie starts to play inside of my head. You know, the days that he was a small kid. He was 9 years younger than me so we never really played together although we did help him to start walking and drive his go-cart and to learn riding on a bicycle.

And he was a smart kid. He once became a chess-champion in the province at a very young age. He could talk like a lawyer.
He had a great sence of humour and liked to tell jokes. I remember his wonderful smile very well. That’s about the only thing I want to remember about him. That tells me that he was more than once happy in his life.

I don’t like to remember the negative stuff. So, I’m determined, his great smile is a good thing to remember.

And now all I want to say is:

Rest in peace, my little brother…

Rudy

I started slowly to run at a good pace during 16’49″ I think it was about 4km or a bit less.

Then I started doing my other disciplines: sit-ups, pull-ups, push-ups, shoulder lifts for the lower back.

So, here are my results:

1. Running: 16’49″ = ~4km

2. Push-ups: 100

3. Sit-ups: 110

4. Pull-ups: 9

5. Shoulder lifts: 40

So I am pretty satisfied.

I will still wait to start doing the exercise at competition level to prevent suffering from injuries.

Up to the next level!

Talk soon,

Rudy

For instance, the push-ups I did in groups of 20 push-ups per set. And I did 4 sets. Meaning 80 push-ups in total.

I did the same for sit-ups in sets. But the first few sets I did as many as I could before I felt the fatigue in my upper legs.

I did 35+25+20+20+20= 120 sit-ups

So, my workout looked like this:

1. Push-ups: 80

2. Sit-ups: 120

3. Pull-ups: 8

4. Shoulder lifts: 40 = 20+20. 

With shoulder lift I mean lying  with the body facing the floor and lifting the upper body to bend the back. The purpose is to strengthen the lower back muscles and to create a balance between the strength of my  abs and the lower back muscles.

5. 15 minutes of running at a slower pace. (although I often cannot resist to increase the speed)

To elaborate on the training of the lower back. I suspect that the abs exercises have caused an imbalance between the stomach and the back. And maybe this caused the back pain that I suffered from weeks ago. For which I had to go to the physiotherapist for 18 sessions.

Always keep the balance in mind!

Another thing that I started and that I probably mentioned already is stretching. This is becoming a part of my life now. It will untill the day I die.

Stretching will help me to maintain the normal way I walk and move. It will prevent my muscles from being injured while doing sports activities. It strengthens my muscles.

Stretching also lengthens the muscles, which gives the impression that you are taller. You see it often when people get older. They bend their bodies unconsiously, because their muscles tighten more and more and they are not in balance anymore. The range of motion of their body parts
is minimal.

I want to act upfront and live a healthier life. Feeling free to move however I want.

Well, that’s it for today.

Talk soon,

Rudy

I take it as it comes, but at least I’m doing something.

So, what’s it for today:

1. Running 15′ at a slow tempo

2. 60 sit-ups

3. 35 push-ups

4. 7 pull-ups

I know it’s not what I’m used to lately, but I take it easy, because I want to persevere for better results in the long run.

And I know those figures will increase, only when I don’t rush into performing like a mad man.

This afternoon I will probably do some exercises for martial arts. I started to learn some moves, kicks and punches and I’m now determined to do that on a regular basis.

Talk to you soon,

Rudy

What I’ve done so far is trying to do the max amount of reps on every discipline. The least amount of time on running.

I’m going to change that by training in between and preparing my body for max performance.

So, I will not try everytime to do the max amount of reps or the shortest time for running, but build up gradually.

That way I will protect my body from getting injured.

Today I ran during 15 minutes to warm up. Did 3×25 reps of sit-ups and 3×20 push-ups.

Then I went to the pull-up bar and did 2×6 pull-ups.

Another very important thing is stretching. Stretching helps my body to remain flexible and strenghtens my muscles.

I’ve always observed the older people among us and often started to feel sorry for them because they could not walk like us younger people. But, as I’ve been doing martial arts in an earlier age, I’ve learned that people in China still practice doing Tai Chi or another form of stretching and many of them still walk as if they were in their fifties.

I’m pretty sure that if the seniors in our region would practice stretching, they would not need a wheel chair or a walking stick.
Of course, it’s better to start earlier than later, when it’s often too late.

I, myself, am determined to be in good shape before I turn fifty. At my age of 48 I already feel the ‘rust’ in my muscles sometimes. And I’m sure that stretching will help me to get rid of that feeling.

Talk to you soon,

Rudy

Monday I woke up with back pain, headache and a severe cold. I thought I was going to die.

But, it didn’t come that far. I’m recovering slowly but surely.

And I sure hope that after all that physical misery I will finally be able to start working out again.

I’ve already had 14 sessions with a physiotherapist to cure my back. And I must say I’m feeling good results.

Usually I sing every day. (I usually do whenever I’m happy) But it took a while to start picking up that thread.

Today finally I started singing a few songs and it sounded nice. Even if I say it myself. If it weren’t good my housemates would have told me without hesitation.

So, we’re looking at brighter days in the near future to start working out physically again. I’m already in the mood.

Watch me going: ‘La la la!’

Rudy

But, I can’t wait that long. I know from experience that resting = rust. And it’s true. If you don’t move or do any sports activity your muscles get weak and stiff.

I want to avoid that. Now I go to a physiotherapist every other day. The past 2 weeks I visited him every business day.

But, my back doesn’t hurt anymore. I just have to be careful. I go to work and I do it responsibly. Whenever I have to lift something rather heavy, I bend my knees or I ask a colleague to help me for a few seconds.

The same thing with working out physically: I do it in such a way, that whenever I feel somethings going wrong, I quit immediately.

So, my results are like back to day 4 :

1.The 3-mile run: 25″09′ equals 57/100 points

2. Pull-ups: 10 equals 50/100 points

3. Crunch sit-ups: 70 equals 70/100 points

Which makes a total of only 177/300 points, but I promise that I will do my best to improve those figures.

Talk to you soon,

Rudy

I have a problem with the fact that in practically every religious group on this planet people take up arms (weapons). Let’s take the religions that are practiced by the majority of the people on this planet. Whenever there is a conflict on large scale against another nation, weapons are used and innocent people become victims of a very often senseless violence.

So, any group that blames another group of taking up arms should  have to wonder if they are innocent or equally guilty in any case of violence on large scale on this planet.

Now, the problem is that weapons are produced everywhere on this planet and most probably in the wellfare countries. Even here in Belgium we have a huge factory that produces weapons called FN Herstal, which refers to Fabrique National.

Also in the weapon industry technology has made it possible to make those weapons more precise, but also more cruel to make more victims. This was not invented by the users of the weapons but by the companies that produce those weapons. Again I think that the great motivator – MONEY – is involved. Because, the more complex and cruel those weapons are, the more they are wanted and the more expensive they become.

On the other hand, the people that use those arms, agree to make innocent victims. And I’m not talking only about civilians, because people in the military are also human beings. Believe me when I tell you that people do not join the forces with the idea of being killed one or another day. They have families too. In a way they want to defend their nation, but with the idea of coming back home.

So, what about terrorists?

Well, in my opinion they have  military training also, but something is wrong with what happens before they decide to join a group of terrorists. It’s a matter of pure brainwashing. Very often those people are misinformed upfront. They get bombarded with lies about the target group they are about to attack. But, not only that, they are misinformed about what will overcome them after they have fullfilled a mission against a ‘hostile’ entity. I don’t know but I guess in case of a suicide terroristic action they are promised to come back alive and that they are entitled to a reward.

Don’t blame the whole group

In case of 9/11 it was clear that the terrorists who commited the attacks worshipped Allah and that they had an islamic background. But, that doesn’t mean that all the people who worship Allah are guilty. Because, from what I know, people who really obey Allah, are friendly and hospitable, even to people they never met.

Terrorist groups are those who rebel against what the current governments prescribe. They do not agree with the rules that the authorities impose. They are minorities.

So, what happened on 9/11 was due to the decision of a small group of people who claimed to live by the rules of Allah, but they did not. The cruelty that took place on 9/11 would never have taken place if all of those would obey the rules of the Quran.

They made up their own rules and they made cruel decisions. They focused on sowing terror, shedding blood in the most powerful nation on this planet.

But it had an impact on the global thinking in terms of security

Nowadays, whenever you want to travel by air, you have to go through a number of security checks. There were security checks before 9/11, but they got more severe. Maybe it’s better, because once you are up in the air you cannot leave the aircraft anymore. You totally depend upon the crew and the people that surround you.

To conclude …

I just want to say that we may never judge a religious group in it’s entirety, because most probably in any group of people  – religious or not – certain people will start to develop their own ideas or rebel against the rules that exist. With the result that they start to plan cruel actions in such a way that innocent victims are made.

Love your fellow man, we all should…

Rudy

Fact is that I have a history of having problems with the spine since my early twenties. It has something to do with weight lifting without the guidance from somebody who knows how to do it right.

Anyway, whenever I have to bend over horizontally it gets risky, because one of the discs in my spine has moved towards the nerves in my spine and caused an inflammation in the past. It took me 5 weeks to recover from it.

In that period I searched for somebody who could help me to prevent suffering from spine problems. And I found someone.

A physiotherapist taught me a method to put that disc back in place whenever a shift occurred. It really helps. It’s called the McKenzie method, invented by Robin Anthony McKenzie from New-Zealand.

Whenever I feel that something starts feeling wrong in my spine I do the exercises. Only, this time I didn’t see it coming.

So, here I am at home not able to work or even to continue working out for my physical condition. I will, however, try to do everything possible to recover from the back pain.

I’ll keep you updated,

Rudy