sarakingdom

That's awesome. And yeah, you'll be fine. It's not a big DOMS art in general, because, done right, there's not a lot of muscle power involved in the technique, though the joints can come out a bit achy and rattled around. (Nikkyo day especially is no one's friend.) First class will probably just be brief soreness from getting slapped with the floor a lot of times, and maybe a little muscle workout in the legs from stabilizing yourself through slow not-quite-a-falls. And even then, on the first class, they'll want you to be gentle on those falls, so don't worry about your intro class.

Yeah, well, if I don't get my colorful little 8-bit character, I might DDOS some shit up, too, you know what I mean? Who's a girl got to kill around here to get a tiny little cartoon monk to slap some points on?

And, like, your aikido class, right?

Injuries from innocuous shit are always the worst. Just embarrassing. I have insurance, but I think it just needs time, I guess. Regular non-exercise-day walking feels fine, but like you say, there's always a little load on it. Straining it once a week doesn't help much, but there ya go. *checks watch, pointedly waits for your thread, checks watch again*

Where the heck even is this character creation stuff? I can't find it linked anywhere. Is it not up yet?

Yeah, definitely keep the one you've got. It sounds pretty good, and, importantly, it's the one you've already got. Just a datapoint for folks still looking and comparing. I think the durability is fine, if you're not seriously rough with it. I've had mine for a year, no problems. And they're pretty unobtrusive, very hard to tell from a (slightly modern) bracelet. In my martial art, I'd be comfortable with a clip-on in the bra, because I'm really unlikely to get hit in the chest, but that's not true of every art. But the wrist is a serious catching hazard, and in my art, would be in the way of practicing technique. Just no good solution to any jewellery or devices in MA. I don't know, I think my solution would be to try to do an HR monitor for one or two classes, get an average, and use it as an estimate. Not as solid as real numbers, but a relatively small leak compared to the other 22 hours of the day.

I know that heat and some aspirin make a big difference when I've pushed too hard. Even on the days nothing hurts, there's still a lot of low-level use of those muscles and joints, so giving them a little extra care can't hurt. At the very least, it'll keep my mind on being careful and not getting too impatient when they are having a bad day.

I'm glad Elf seems like a good fit. That makes it so much easier, and so much more enjoyable.

Wait, aikido? I missed the aikido! OUR NUMBERS SWELL AND SOON THE MONASTERY WILL BE OURS TO RULE. Oops, dreams of world domination are probably not good aikido.

The Jawbones are really good. Even their earliest non-Bluetooth models (now available for a song on Amazon) are really fully-featured, stuff their competitors are getting around to now. They get a little down-rated for durability, but I've not had a problem. (It's a moderately flexible band with working parts packed inside flexing bits, so they can be abused, but it's hard to do in normal use.) Wristbands are pretty horrible for martial arts, sadly. There are some good clip-on models out there that might fit inside a gi or onto a bra well, but they won't do heart rate at all, and tend to have slightly fewer features than the bands. (IIRC, Jawbone's clip-on does the really good sleep tracking, but doesn't do any of the vibration alarms for waking up during your light sleep or inactivity warnings.) They are a very nice form factor, though.

Yay, you're back! Because boxing and rugby are awesome.

Have been giving some thought to the details of my challenge, which I'm not going to over-plan, but I think a good workout/recovery plan is kind of necessary, given the physical restrictions. I'm planning to be off real workouts for the month (although I do have one work day a week that's going to pose an added recovery problem). So I'm thinking about what I can do to use that time for recovery or skills. The first week, I think I want to pretty seriously keep away from weight-bearing things on my legs altogether to give the healing things a head start. From the knees down, I'm on rest this week. That might even rule out my aikido warmup this week, as that did cause some mild ankle stress last time I did it, and it probably rules out plank, which puts some stress on ankle tendons and on leg muscles for stability. So I think that at first, we're going to focus on: seated abs workout, because that's a big important muscle group I can train daily with zero leg involvementukemi training (the thing I was looking at had a seated backwards roll exercise that shouldn't demand much leg, IIRC, if I start slow)meditation, because I need more anyway so I may as well add mental training to my training plan while my body's not cooperatingWeek 1, just do something, on the principle that it's mostly my head I'm working on while my body rests a little. Week 2, do something more formally planned. Week 3, get a little gentle weight-bearing stuff in. Week 4, we'll see where we are and pick the right tier. Then I'll be throwing in some points for self-care for things like using ice or heat on the injured bits, remembering to wrap them before any serious weight-bearing exercise, maybe some light massage of the calf muscle that's been getting sore. Popping up the ukemi video for reference:

Ooh, tempting. Might give it a go. I've just been grabbing whatever's at Trader Joe's, which is fine, but there's never a lot of selection, you know? You can't really decide you feel like a different sort of coffee this week or want to get something a little more special than usual. Ankle recovery is the worst, and I am so bad at patience. Sigh.

I don't kettlebell, so Kishi's a better guy to ask, but my guess is that low reps at high weight is not just a fine tradeoff but a good training strategy, so your worst case on an 8kg kettlebell is that you start with one rep and work up from there.

Kyellan's got some good advice, the first year or so is going to be building skills and fitness that you can transfer when you have a sense of where you want to go with your martial arts. Being a beginner is really the experience of figuring out what your body can do, and what an art can offer you, and that experience can help with the indecision of choosing between all the other arts out there. (That said, like Kyellan's experience, I suspect it is common for students to become more enchanted with the art they begin with, as they practice and see it in use. It's also very common for martial artists who stick with it to do more than one art, though, so it's definitely not a one-art kind of world out there.) Solo training is incredibly good for martial artists, both outside of class and for those times when they don't have a dojo available, which probably happens to all of us at some point. But don't be afraid to just start classes. Aside from some schools that are very focused on certain types of high-profile competition, I guarantee you that beginners walking in to start their first week of martial arts classes are not as fit or coordinated as you're imagining they are, and a good dojo will welcome you in whatever shape you're in. Maybe that's not for this challenge if you're still trying it on for size, but something to keep in mind about looking into for a future challenge.

Another good grading scheme is the stepped expectation, so week 1 is more forgiving than week 4. That can be a good one for food goals, they're the sort of habit that can respond well to gradual changes to shift your tastes with less reliance on willpower.

The latest Jawbone (if it's been released) does swimming and HR, and they have amazing sleep analysis. Whoever did their data analysis is very good at it.

I'd say the only issue is the neckline. I'm a big fan of knotted neck scarves in the workplace, they're understated and easily look professional except in the most conservative of work environments. The European sophisticated casual scarf thing is totally fine in sci-tech workplaces, generally, which I think is you. It's the difference between, say, this and this. (Same woman, same dress.) Or this. (Different woman, similar dress.) Or this. (Totally different dress, but solid dark like yours. Just cover the boots with your fingers, they're a bit high-contrast for what you're doing.) Nothing really wrong with the original, as you can see in that example, but the plain neckline is a little youngish, and a neck scarf makes the rounded neckline look more adult and polished. Doesn't need to be fancy, though a pattern would be nice with yours, because the colors are solid. It's a cheap fix and a little added warmth in winter, so that's how I'd go.

Dude. This is the best. It is made of Carrie Fisher and judo and snark. I approve.

My guess is that the character creation is Habatica-style habit tracking with a cute avatar and lots of bright colors. Worth a try.

I'm the last person to ask on the point of decaf, because I can't actually tell the difference. I've never been kept awake by caffeine or noticed its effects. (Except occasionally after all-nighters, it might make me a little jittery.) I gave it up in case it was contributing to some of those anxiety attacks I was having a while back. I really have no way of knowing if it helps or not, but, you know, responsible adult making responsible choices and all that. The recovery thing is so stupid. Was taking a leisurely walk to run some errands, had one of those foot-flips I'm prone to. Just a second of instability in the ankle, then I recovered. Seemed like no big deal, I could walk on it fine, no real pain. Then the next day, I had a really active day with loads of time on my feet, and it freakin' killed, and the opposing calf muscle, which was probably stabilizing me a bit, felt like it just tore itself apart. So amazingly painful. Rested up, then the next time I tried to go out for a hike, lots of popping in the muscle and loads of pain again. So I rested more. It's just fine on the days I'm not really active, so non-exercise activity doesn't trigger a thing, and that's a good sign. But every time I have a day with any serious walking, it gets a bit sore - not as bad, so it has been healing, but it's really damn slow. (And New Years was unexpectedly rough, I ended up buying a wrap while I was out, and came home limping the next day anyway.) It seems like a hell of a lot of trouble for a second of minor ankle instability that I walked off perfectly well the day it happened. So one of my things this challenge is trying not to get impatient and just figure out the right recovery stuff to do.

I switched to goddamn DECAF. Which I guess is okay, because I never drank it for the caffeine. I don't even notice caffeine. But it does not feel right, and also, where is my Trader Joe's Winter Blend now? I think the foot I shall now put in front of the other is a quick snack and off to bed with my audiobook. It is later than I should let myself be up.

A challenge is just there to keep you focused on what's important, and this is keeping focused on about the most important thing you can get done, so this is an excellent challenge. I'm right there with ya on this one.

This is relevant to my interests.

Your challenge is awesome, and I will be watching it closely, because it's many of the things I need to do. Backlog reduction, absolutely. I need better paperwork-wrangling skills. And I need to make some time for making more art without feeling guilty that I should be doing other things. And sleep and meditation. (All the things. I need to do all the things. So I will watch attentively.) (I think your tags need some separating commas.)