mightstone2k

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Cottage cheese is another protein option. It might add more carbs than you want, though. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I can actually peg my sleep patterns since getting back accurately. Sunday night was 1900-0600, which was unsurprising after 48 hours of wakefulness. Monday night was about 1900 to 0100. I tried laying there and convincing myself to go back to sleep for two hours before quitting. Tuesday was 1900ish to 0245. And yesterday was 1930/2000 to 0445, which is within the realm of reasonable wake-up times for me. So, sleep has definitely been poor, but under-nourished has not been my problem. Today I woke up with a swollen throat and feeling pre-feverish: mildly dizzy, achy but not painful joints, and not super responsive muscles. Because it was 0445, I figured I'd have some coffee and give the gym a shot. Otherwise I'd spend the day beating myself up about wasting my morning and being a lazy sack, etc. I did two sets of swings per hand before stopping. I was definitely down with something. So I cut the session short and also refrained from push-ups today. My "doc" says it's probably viral, and I should drink lots of water and take ibuprofren + Tylenol. And expect to be affected for about a week. Well... that's not what I wanted to hear, but I didn't care enough to beat myself up about it today. Thank you both for the support and encouragement. I'm questioning my life choices and worth a lot recently. Life choices because the downsides to being here in Japan aren't balanced out by the positives, largely because I've spent a great deal of time traveling back to the U.S. for training instead of having the chance to settle in and experience living here. Worth because I don't see myself accomplishing anything of value with what I'm doing right now, in what seems like any aspect of my life: professionally, personally, or in the gym. So... yeah. That's where I'm at these days.

Sweetening coffee with maple syrup?? Do tell. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Today was not a fantastic day. I was up at 0245, at work around 0530, and spent the entire day doing things with no major impact: telling other people how to do their job, preliminarily saying "maybe that is possible, but I need real facts" because someone wants to know if he's covered for malpractice if he volunteers as a doctor for the on-base high school sports teams, and working on denying someone's $45.03 claim for a flat tire because they did not give me enough facts to justify paying them tax dollars for it. All that lovely training, and not a whit of it being put to use. Sounds like every other training trip I've been on. Then I went to the gym, which was even more stellar. I did 3*10/arm*32 kg one-hand swings (TML, I could definitely feel myself gripping hard; you called it). Since I hadn't trained in two weeks and felt lethargic all day, I didn't push myself to do 5 sets/arm and moved on to TGUs while I still had gas in the tank. I did one on the left that was rather strenuous, and then couldn't even press the 'bell into position on the right. Not at all. So I called it and left. So, here's where I'm at. I can't pass the PFT based on my normal training. My six-days-a-week training that is supposed to be stellar GPP. Meanwhile, my girlfriend, who hasn't worked out consistently in the past year, only needs to shave 10 seconds off her mile time and add a couple push-ups to max out (bless her). So I am greasing the groove on push-ups for this motherfucking test, which may or may not be a contributing factor in my inability to press the 'bell off the floor (I did 189 reps today, which is far less than 15-year-old Machete's daily quota). My mile time at the 5K last weekend was 8:40. That's a 12:45 mile and a half, which is a miserable score (10 points lower than my last PFT). So should I start running too, to try to shave time off? That will just take more energy away from (what's supposed to be) real training in order to do well on a test (that tests metrics that have little to do with strength and power, which are more important to me). At work, I can't bring myself to care about what I'm doing. I'm on the other side of the world from my family, my friends, and my S.O., doing legal assistance and taxes for people, processing claims, pencil-whipping legal reviews on the same pro forma questions that come across my desk, and putting forth a "workmanlike effort" as trial counsel/investigative liaison on junk cases (a test cheater and an alleged sex assault victim who also happened to have finally realized that her sex partner doesn't care about her as a person... the night she reported that he assaulted her twice in the last week (there are a host more bad facts that lead me to believe this is not an honest-to-goodness sex crime, or at the very least, that we will never convince a jury that it is)). I come home to an empty house, where I have a very hard time convincing myself to sit in front of a computer or with a book to read more about law and cyber and other topics that I'm not doing and don't have faith I will do in the near future, all in the hope of "self improvement." Why bother? The next day, I'll just be doing more of the same. So what's my problem? Am I physically weak? Is that why I can never seem to reach a point in training where I'm tough and indomitable and able to do astounding things? Hell, greasing the groove and S&S shouldn't be incompatible. There are anecdotes of people who combine this kind of stuff and experience AMAZING results. At least, they don't find themselves sucking at one. Hell, the fact that S&S works so well for so many people and yet doesn't seem to do much for me leads me to believe that I'm doing something wrong (or just plain suck). Why can't I stack two supposedly low-impact training modalities and see good results? Am I weak? Am I mentally weak, which is even worse? Do I just not have the grit to accomplish a damn thing? I come home and can barely dredge up the energy to wash the dishes, or put on my shoes to go for a walk. Cassie's rewriting the OB/GYN curriculum for her residency when she's off the clock, because she thinks it should be done. Maybe I really am just a soft, unmotivated dirtbag. I punch the clock at the gym and see mediocre results. I can't even finish a goddamn Lego set without getting frustrated and putting it aside for two months. I don't "see the positive" in what I do at work. All things considered, I kinda feel like shooting myself. Or, more to the point tonight, just trying to sleep for ten+ hours. Rinse and repeat tomorrow. It's only 19:00 and I just want to go pass the fuck out, both because my brain is tired and because I don't see any point whatsoever in continuing to be conscious. Tomorrow is just going to be more clock-punching bullshit; finish the claim, probably do a couple more tax returns, maybe answer another couple questions (in more diplomatic terms than "READ YOUR F***ING REGULATIONS AND DO YOUR G*****N JOB"), and wait for the anthem to play so I can be one day closer to going back to the U.S. At least then it will be easier to see Cassie and my Chicago friends. Whatever. I need to at least wash dishes so I don't wake up to a host of undone tasks that will just make me feel worse about what I didn't do the night before.

I have been more tired than usual on returning from this trip. I slept for eleven hours Sunday night, and last night I decided to go to bed around 1900, figuring I'd sleep for another eleven-ish. Nope. My body decided six hours was sufficient, and I was awake at 0100. I laid around for two hours, expecting to get more sleep. Nope again. I finally got up at 0300, had coffee, etc., and went to work early. The good: I cleared my email, filed my travel voucher, and had all my post-trip admin done before anyone else showed up! That left me free to tackle a host of other things during the day. My to-do list is actually fairly short right now. And leadership is out of the office this week, except for the deputy. He's chill, so it will be a low-key week. The bad: aside from being at work at 0430? I was beat this afternoon, and punked out at 1600. Too tired to go do leopard crawls. I just came home, where I will soon be cubing beef to throw in the crockpot tomorrow morning. But my hand looks like it will be good for kettlebells tomorrow. That's a plus. I cranked out 186 push-ups today, with seven sets being 20+ reps. The only downside is that my max set only went up 2 reps, as opposed to the 5 reps it went up the past two weeks. I'm not too fussed. It was still 27 reps, and while they may have been super rough, that was also at 0330 this morning. I'll take it. The shiny: you are going to have to wait for me to post from my phone to see that ;-)

You were too busy being all hockey-awesome [emoji1] had I bothered with a heads-up, you probably would have guilt-tripped over not being available (or maybe I'm projecting my Jewish friend's modus operandi [emoji39]). Next time f'sho. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I celebrated being back in my kitchen today by combining my friend's breakfast sausage recipe with my egg monster recipe. Pure deliciousness. Two pounds of sausage + kale + four bell peppers (red/yellow/green/orange) + 18 eggs with a layer of cheddar on top. Nom nom nom nom. Breakfast is my favorite. Japan doesn't do breakfast the American way. So when I was in Chicago this weekend, my friends and I went to Elly's Pancake House. It was every bit as good as I remembered. Now I'm going to try to sleep for another eleven hours. Taking a day of leave today was one of my best decisions ever. Plan of battle for tomorrow: work, obviously. Resume greasing the groove on push-ups. Probably skip kettlebells, because there is still a small gap in the skin on my palm. By the end of the week, it should be fully healed and good to go. I'll do an Original Strength session at the gym after work instead.

What are your thoughts on this article?

That's a sweet video! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That is crazy swollen. What kind of hard cider did you have? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I just got yelled at for picking at my scabbing wound. FaceTime has its downsides... my bad habits are visible on screen [emoji39] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

After a week, here's what the ol' right paw looks like: Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So the handle should be at the base of my fingers, with my fingers just keeping it tamed. I only really grip when the 'bell gets below my knees. Gotcha. I'll give that a whack next week. @Machete, you are a rock star. Pushups have been going much better. My current max set (first one of the morning, and not to failure) is 25 reps. Passing minimum is 33, and I have at least a month to go. I should be fine (knock wood). Tomorrow is another big travel day, wherein I go through the magic time warp in the middle of the Pacific. My flight leaves at 0500, so I am just pulling an all-nighter tonight. Thank God. Seeing the world a week at a time can be fun, but living in a hotel loses its luster after a while. It will be good to get home again. I played it smart this time and took a day of leave on Monday. That will be a leisurely day of grocery shopping, cooking, and hitting the gym to reacquaint myself with kettlebells. It may be a very quick session; my hand still isn't completely healed, but hopefully another two days will close the hole. Or scab it over enough. I'll give @The Most Loathed's advice a whack and see if it plays nice with my right paw. If all else fails, maybe two-handed swings won't aggravate it. Today was migration day for my BuJo. In the spirit of bringing order to chaos, I'm going to give the Rule of 3 a try. It is a productivity tool. Basically, I identify the three biggest rocks that I should accomplish within a given period of time. At work, it will keep me from being the office firefighter and allow me to reflect on and direct my efforts toward the three tasks that will provide the most tangible benefit. In my personal life, it will focus me on what's important; the three things that will be the most fruitful for my life and goals. I will be implementing this daily, weekly, and monthly. For April, here are my goals in order of priority: 1. [redacted] 2. Write to my martial arts instructor: He has been going through a rough patch in life recently. Wife left him and has custody of his two sons, his dojangs are not terribly fruitful (rural western Pennsylvania is not friendly to traditional martial arts studios), and I imagine he's still working long hours to keep his head above water. My mom called him to get his mailing address for me, and told me he appeared to assume I wanted to ask him for a favor (he said he'd "help however he can."). That makes me feel horrible. I haven't talked to him for a long time. So I'm going to write him a letter just to stay in touch; tell him how things are going, share the exciting parts about being in Japan, etc. He was my mentor and a secondary father figure growing up, and I'd hate to just let that connection attenuate and break. 3. Finish Serenity: This set has been sitting around for about two months now. The trials took me away from it, and I hit a very frustrating patch when I got back to it, so I walked away from it for a while. I have an idea on how to work around the frustrating part, but - as usual - I struggle with going from idea to action. I'm always afraid that my idea will never be as good in practice as it seems in my head, so I waffle around executing. That happens a lot. So I will finish it this month. Note: I don't have any goals related to my law review article for this month. That is a conscious choice. I have a list of reading goals for April in my BuJo (another thing I will be carrying forward), and the top two things are the Tallinn Manual version 2, and the host of materials my friend from last week sent me. I will read and digest before I start putting more concrete research and writing goals into my monthly Rule. Plus, I'm still getting smart about teh interwebz; as I keep talking to Yoda and digesting that, plus the law stuff that's coming in, I can start pinning down where I want the article to go and what I need to talk about. So I'm giving myself April to read and digest. Weekly rule of 3 for 2-8 April 1. Write to my instructor 2. Schedule my PFT for May 3. Schedule an oil change I'll knock out my letter early in the month. The other two are simple scheduling. I want to get my PFT done before Cassie comes out in May so that the stress is gone (and I don't have to worry about the Spartan throwing me off). The oil change is something simple that I just need to get done. I haven't changed the oil since I got the car last April. Granted, I don't drive very far, but once annually should be safe enough. So one major action item and two phone calls. If I make those calls a priority for the week, they are less likely to fall by the wayside. No daily rule of 3 yet. The first two days of April are travel days. Really, one travel day, as I jump fourteen hours into the future tomorrow. Maybe by staying awake all night tonight, I can actually get a solid hour or two of sleep on the plane! Otherwise I just slip in and out of a doze and don't get any real sleep. I'm going to do my level best to at least post the weekly Rule of 3 personal goals, and recap the previous week's, for accountability. The daily ones, not so much. Exactly none of this is an April Fools' joke. You know why? Because I'm posting it on 31 March. So there!

I understand what you mean by grabbing too hard - which I almost certainly do - but what do you mean by grabbing too early? Grabbing before the apex of the swing, right before downswing? To all: I have been unnecessarily negative and bitchy recently, for which I apologize. There's been no real basis for it, and I will do better.

No, your wording was clear. I'm just exasperated about the climate surrounding sex and sexual assault (and I'm not going to threadjack to get up on a soapbox about it). I didn't even do you the courtesy to actually specify what exasperates me, which was nothing you said. What really happened was that I took what you said and used it as an excuse to snark about a topic that frustrates me. It was unjustified, and I apologize. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is genuinely funny to me. In my line of work, one of the clearest messages that is pushed is "it doesn't matter what she was wearing, that doesn't mean she consents to sex." But women can signal that they are interested by what they wear. But if she's not interested in you, then your attempted advances may be creepy, which in the current climate may equate to sexual harassment. The realm of male-female interaction is fraught with peril, largely because of fine distinctions. Forgive my snark. I do know the difference between signaling and consent, and a gentleman respects the difference. But the landmines between how one's dress/conduct makes one feel, and how others are supposed to respond to that are exhaustingly difficult. Especially when those landmines turn into a potential prosecution file on my desk.

But only if we get videographic proof Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Leopard crawls are tough. I gave them a shot this afternoon, and they worked the heck out of my shoulders and core. I made it five minutes. I can see why crawling is set aside as a separate workout in Original Strength. Those + push-ups are my workout regimen this week. Hand regenerating.

No workout, due to my hand hating me. No sense I'm aggravating it like I did yesterday by trying to grease push-ups still. So total rest for the hand until Monday. Meeting my mom in Virginia for the weekend helps enforce rest. Frustrated, but grudgingly accepting it (as long as I can get back to push-ups Monday). If I can do those, I can leopard crawl. F***ing lack of KBs irritates me. Unnecessarily. I could have audibled to Naked Warrior, but didn't. Granted, I didn't want to grease one-arm push-ups and PFT push-ups, but... I'm just largely frustrated. I'm going to my seventh training course, and I have used almost none of that knowledge so far. None. This week I met second-assignment guys who are setting precedent in an evolving practice area. And I have no confidence that my SJA will help move me toward that position. She wants me to do more military justice. Do the traditional second-assignment crap. But now I've seen behind the curtain, and I know that it's possible to do the real, meaningful work on your second spin. And I don't want to settle for less than that. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Say anything in German with an angry - or even loud - voice and everyone will run in fear. It's a very angry-sounding language. There is a reason I would never try to romance anyone in die Muttersprache. ... ... Unless she was German. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That was my exact plan. Warm up with the other resets, then leopard crawl for ten minutes and see how I feel. Perhaps I'll build up time over the next week and a half. And not feel like I'm turning into a fat kid. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's not something to be freaked about. When you're going to be the first third dan at your dojo, then you can start freaking. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Today was my second day using the kettlebells here. And on my last set of swings with the right hand, I tore a dime-size piece of skin off my palm. It's pretty much dead center, right on the crease. My guess is that it's because the handle was somewhat rougher than usual (and doing more damage to my hands than usual), and I made the mistake of gripping it in the crease of my palm. Not a big deal; I got some New Skin and HOLY GODS IT BURNED LIKE FIRE when I applied it. And it still burns when I flex and open my hand. Cassie thinks I'm a sissy (true) about it, but has offered to hop me up on drugs just to shut me up. Ah, the joys of dating an anesthesiologist. So I'm not touching kettlebells again for the rest of this week, and have no access to them next week. Well, I might, but it would be at a commercial gym, which means I'd be paying for them and they probably wouldn't go any heavier than 50 pounds. Lame. Translation: I'm greasing push-ups and doing longer Original Strength workouts for the next week and a half. Maybe add some planks at night for fun. TML, I read your last. Need to reread it a few times to digest it and do the homework, but it's on my radar. Danke schön. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hey now, this is supposed to be a clean forum. We don't use the A-word here. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk