About 6 years ago during my annual physical I was identified as a "pre-diabetic". That is, as someone who was having trouble controlling his blood sugar levels but whose blood sugar was not yet at what would

be considered to be diabetic levels. At the same time my weight started going up dramatically, my blood pressure jumped, and my cholesterol levels headed up. These all seem to be tied closely to loss of control of blood sugar levels. I wound up on several medications and started a program of weight training and a low carbohydrate diet to get my metabolism back under control. That all worked pretty well for several years. I was able to get off of blood pressure medication, lose 80 pounds, and drop my blood sugar down to normal. But, it only worked for so long. In 2002 my weight started going back up and so did my blood sugar levels. In the summer of 2002 I got appendicitis followed by a post operative infection. That kind of illness can push anyone into being a diabetic. Sure enough, after that my blood sugar and weight started going up dramatically. Between August 2002 and February 2003 I gained 30 pounds. When I went in for my physical in March 2003 I was diagnosed as a full blown type 2 diabetic. I was put on medication and had to start monitoring my blood sugar twice a day.

Not to sound too melodramatic, but by the end of 2002 I thought I was dying. Climbing the stairs to my loft was an ordeal. I had no energy. I didn't feel like I had ever recovered from my surgery. I decided that I needed to take drastic action. I had come to the conclusion that I either had to kick start my body or I was going to just slide down lower and lower and die. I decided to sign up for Shaolin-Do lessons. (It took 6 months of Shaolin-Do to get me to where I felt like I had finally recovered from my surgery.)I decided on martial arts because I took classes in a couple of different forms of karate when I was in college. I stopped after only about 6 months, but I have regretted stopping ever since I stopped. And, I have a good friend (Sam Marx) who assured me that I would be welcome at your school. No matter what kind of shape I was in. After a month of Shaolin-Do my total cholesterol had dropped to 120. I was on a cholesterol medication at the time so my doctor lowered my dosage. At my June check up my doctor again lowered my dosage. I still take a cholesterol medication. The normal dosage is 1 or more tablets per day. I take 3 tablets per *week* (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) and have a total cholesterol of 160. My doctor tells me that except for my blood sugar the rest of my blood chemistry is enviable. I was already on a strict low carbohydrate diet when I started Shaolin-Do. But, I was gaining weight because of my high blood sugar, and therefore, high insulin, levels. Two months after starting classes my weight started dropping. I have lost over 30 pounds since February of 2003. The rate of loss has varied between 5 pounds/month and 2 pounds/month.

In the same period my blood pressure has also come down. My systolic has dropped 15 points, my diastolic has dropped 10 points, and my resting heart rate has dropped more than 10 beats per second. There are two ways to measure blood sugar. You can directly measure the blood sugar or you can measure the A1c hemoglobin. The A1c gives you a measure of the average blood sugar over a period of several weeks and gives the most meaningful measurement. When I started Shaolin-Do my A1c was 6.2, which indicates an average blood sugar of over 140. In November it was 5.6 which indicates an average blood sugar of 120. I recently discovered that doing an hour a day of Shaolin-do keeps my average measured blood sugar at near 100. It has taken me 10 months to get into the kind of shape that *lets* me do an hour of Shaolin-Do a day. When I first stated Cory's Thursday night class was so hard that I needed until Tuesday to recover. When I first started going to Shaolin-Do I could not go all the way through even the lowest effort classes without sitting out. Sometimes I spent more time sitting out that working out. It turns out I have exercise-induced asthma. When I got a medication for that I was able to do more in class. But, I still couldn't get all the way through a class. Now, I can get through most classes without using my inhaler. I only need it before Thursday night conditioning class and when my allergies flare up. I can even get through your sparring class without medication. Being able to get through any class, with or without asthma medication, feels like a victory to me. Before I started Shaolin-Do I could do maybe 5 sit ups if someone was holding my legs. I had never in my entire life been able to do a sit up without someone holding my legs. I did not believe I *could* do a sit up with out having my legs locked down. We do a lot of sit ups in Shaolin-Do... But, the instructors always said that if you can't do a sit up, do a crunch. One day I was crunching along in Karl's class and accidentally did a sit up. Now I can do sit ups! What an amazing thing. Now I can do fingertip push ups. Now I can do knee bends and frog leaps. I can't express how surprised I am at what I can do.

Things I never thought I could do. All the gym classes I ever took never had the effect that 10 months of Shaolin-Do have had. In my life I have worn out two exercise bikes, a tread mill, a Nordic Track, and accumulated a nice collection of free weights. None of that gave me the effect of 10 months of Shaolin-Do. I have a knee injury and a back injury that have limited my mobility for nearly 30 years. They limited my mobility because I was told they would and I believed it. After 10 months of Shaolin-Do training they do not limit my mobility and they do not hurt anymore. They hurt me almost every day for most of 30 years and they don't hurt any more! Not long after I started I was waiting for a class to start and I was feeling rather out of place and I was wondering if I wasn't too old to be starting a martial art. I was feeling like the only fat old person in the school. I got talking about it to a young woman who was also waiting for the class to start. She let me know that many of the  skinny students I was comparing my self to had been fat when they  started. And, it turned out she is a year *older* than I am... I thought I was 15 to 20 years older than her. She had been doing Shaolin-Do for a year. I've learned that it is very hard to judge the age of Shaolin-Do students. The standard rules just don't apply.

Want to hear how this story ends. Read Part Two!