Talking about you - issue 1

This is the first in a series of articles I wish to write for the benefit of TKD students. For those of you who already know me, then you will already have a handle on my inspirations and aspirations. For the others who may be asking the question, ‘who is this guy?’ I will offer a brief introduction to help you get to grips with what you may find in these monthly articles.

I am trained academically in a number of disciplines that include analytical chemistry, medicinal chemistry, biochemistry, sports physiology, nutritional biochemistry, pharmacology etc. Don’t be overwhelmed by all this, because when you distil down what makes me tick, the answer is basically ‘anything biochemical’. So ‘anything biochemical’ is what I do and is what trips my switch. Hence, it will come as no surprise that my position at Auckland Hospital demands that I do ‘anything biochemical’. And they seem happy to pay me for the privilege, although I sometimes wonder.

Let’s get more specific. I have been employed for 18 gruelling, yet delightful, years as a clinical scientist at Auckland Hospital. My specialties are laboratory medicine, chemical pathology, diagnostics, therapeutics, toxicology, metabolism, endocrinology and nutritional medicine. These encompass everything from drugs you should, or should not, be taking, to what goes wrong to cause a biochemical failure and on to how cells send signals to each other. You see, ‘everything biochemical !!!’. I even know how to tell the difference between a girl and a boy when the girl is actually a boy and the boy isn’t either. And all this without even having to meet them.

So how can I help TKD students do TKD? I am not sure of the answer to this question. What I think I can offer is a thorough insight into how you may improve your performance by the application of sound medical and scientific principles to your personal training programs. Many of these will be covered in subsequent articles. Obviously, I may not be able to cater for everyone out there in TKD land but I will be responsive to any questions you may have on any subject which you may care to raise; biochemical, nutritional, physiological or anatomical. I will not be attempting to cover the techniques of TKD because that is the domain of your instructors, and besides most of you reading this will probably be better at these than I am.

In this first issue, I intend to be provocative in the sense that I will diverge completely away from biochemical things and will become deeply philosophical. Scientists are very philosophical beasts.

The world is basically composed of billions of cubic miles of space which contains all sorts of exciting things like mountains, air, trees, cities, houses, cars, pet poodles and even tiny little ants. Of all this space with all these things in it, there is only one part of it that is uniquely yours. You guessed right, it is that space bounded by your skin and occupying only about 67 litres. Not much when compared with all the space outside that skin.

We spend an inordinate amount of our daily efforts striving to expand on our 67 litres (don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting we are trying to get fatter!). For instance, we like getting cars, lots of land, big houses, yachts or whatever. All this activity is necessarily a good thing. Yet amidst this flurry we can easily forget the 67 litres. After all, this is the only bit which really counts because it is the only space in this world which we absolutely depend on and the only space which cannot be taken away. So my message here is, why don’t we take far more care of those 67 litres.

As a specialist in ‘anything chemical’ I have an advantage in knowing what goes on inside that 67 litres. We are biochemical machines and you may regard me as a biochemical mechanic!

At first, you may think, “what has this to do with TKD?” but then after a moments thought you will realise that the answer is everything. Stop and consider, what are you doing with your 67 litres and how much do you really appreciate what goes on inside. Whatever goes on inside will determine what comes out during your TKD training.

Best of all, what goes on inside is often modifiable and is heavily influenced by you and your lifestyle. I will be here to help you achieve these things.