Chen Wangting

So, here we are for the next challenge. I basicly want to keep doing what worked for me the last months and finetune it a little bit. I'm also thinking about to use the information from one of of Steve's recent articles. But i could not really think through on what habits to work on how. Will use the thread to think about it. Here is Steve's Article: https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/how-to-build-healthy-habits-that-stick/ Ok, here are the challenge task: Habits: 30 minutes of daylight lamp Mon:☐ Tue:☐ Wed:☐ Thur:☐ Fri:☐ No youtube on phone: Mon:☐ Tue:☐ Wed:☐ Thur:☐ Fri:☐ Sat: ☐ Sun: ☐ Diet: No pasta / pizza / sweets on weekdays Mon:☐Tue:☐Wed:☐Thur:☐ Fri: ☐ Excercise: biking to work 5 days each week Mon:☐ Tue:☐ Wed:☐ Thur:☐ Fri: ☐ Taiji (be on time and don't skip) Mon:☐ Thur:☐

Not i'm not really getting to bed in time. I'm either on the computer or on the phone with my girlfriend. Thats a thing i going to work on in the next challenge. By not working, i meant the lamp broke. I have replaced it. Also the bike is fixed. Here is the data for the last two weeks: Week 4: Check: ✓ Fail: ✘ Todo: ☐ Skip: - Habits: 30 minutes of daylight lamp (Will be away on saturday and sunday so only 5 days here) - ✘ ✓✓ ✘ Diet: No pasta / pizza / sweets on weekdays ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Excercise: (Depending on how my cold develops i might skip some of this section) biking to work 4 days each week - - - ✓ Taiji (be on time and don't skip) ✘ ✓ Week 5: Check: ✓ Fail: ✘ Todo: ☐ Skip: - Habits: 30 minutes of daylight lamp (Will be away on saturday and sunday so only 5 days here) ✓ ✘ ✘✓ ✓ Diet: No pasta / pizza / sweets on weekdays ✓ ✓ ✘ ✓ ✓ Excercise: (Depending on how my cold develops i might skip some of this section) biking to work 4 days each week ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Taiji (be on time and don't skip) ✘ ✘ Overall i'm pretty happing with my the changes to my eating and with using the bike on the way work. My taiji attendence was good as well. Next Challenge i wont to work on some habit changes. Maybe using steve's recent article: https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/how-to-build-healthy-habits-that-stick/ Will take some days to think about it. Thanks for following.

Week 3: Check: ✓ Fail: ✘ Todo: ☐ Skip: - Habits: 30 minutes of daylight lamp (Will be away on saturday and sunday so only 5 days here) ✓ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ Diet: No pasta / pizza / sweets on weekdays ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Excercise: (Depending on how my cold develops i might skip some of this section) biking to work 4 days each week - - - ✓ Taiji (be on time and don't skip) - ✓ Still had some rest of a cold at start of the week. So i skipped the first taiji class this week. In addition to the cold there also was a some bad weather here. That made me skip most of my cycling this week. Had some problems to get out of bed this week and had no time in the morning for the daylight lamp. Pulled my but out of bed early enough on friday. But than the lamp wouldn't work. Ordered a new one on amazon a few minutes ago. Will see if i can repair the first one.

So, here is the complete data for Week 2: Check: ✓ Fail: ✘ Todo: ☐ Skip: - Habits: 30 minutes of daylight lamp ✘✓✓✓✓ Diet: No pasta / pizza / sweets on weekdays ✓✓✓✓✘ Excercise: biking to work 4 days each week ✓✓✓✓ Taiji (be on time and don't skip) ✓✓ I'm happy with the week. Had some slight slipps. But overall i'm ok. I have a cold developing so i will see how week 3 goes. But these are my goals for now: Check: ✓ Fail: ✘ Todo: ☐ Skip: - Habits: 30 minutes of daylight lamp (Will be away on saturday and sunday so only 5 days here) ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ Diet: No pasta / pizza / sweets on weekdays ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ Excercise: (Depending on how my cold develops i might skip some of this section) biking to work 4 days each week ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ Taiji (be on time and don't skip) ☐ ☐

Yes, it's amazing. It think i will stick with with these "eating rules" for a while. After i can make it stick, the next things i want to work on are Portion sizes, mindful eating and improving my meals during the week further. (adding more veggies, better preparation, etc). Here is the data for this week: Week 2: Check: ✓ Fail: ✘ Todo: ☐ Skip: - Habits: 30 minutes of daylight lamp ✘✓✓✓☐ Diet: No pasta / pizza / sweets on weekdays ✓✓✓✓☐ Excercise: biking to work 4 days each week ✓✓✓✓ Taiji (be on time and don't skip) ✓✓ Had my yearly performance review at work this week. My boss is way more satisfied, that had expected. So, i did get a raise. Yeah! Other measures i have taken to get my finances in order seem to work out as well. Still some way to go but way better than two years ago. Pretty happy about this.

Taiji Stuff prepared for tomorrow

Complete Week 1: Check: ✓ Fail: ✘ Todo: ☐ Skip: - Habits: 30 minutes of daylight lamp ✘✓✓✓✓✓ Diet: No pasta / pizza / sweets on weekdays ✓✓✓✓✓ Excercise: biking to work 4 days each week ✓✓✓✓ Taiji (be on time and don't skip) ✓ So far a success... My mood has improved significantly over the week and the additional day (Friday) skipping pasta/pizza/sweets wasn't to difficult. I had some cake and two sodas the last two days. But i didn't feel the need to go crazy, which is also a good thing. Felt a little strange during work this week. Switched from the office coffee to green tea. That seems to help. The Goals for the next week: Habits: 30 minutes of daylight lamp ☐☐☐☐☐ Diet: No pasta / pizza / sweets on weekdays ☐☐☐☐☐ Excercise: biking to work 4 days each week ☐☐☐☐ Taiji (be on time and don't skip) ☐☐

The data so far: Check: ✓ Fail: ✘ Todo: ☐ Skip: - Week 1: Habits: 30 minutes of daylight lamp ✘✓✓✓☐☐ Diet: No pasta / pizza / sweets on weekdays ✓✓✓✓ Excercise: biking to work 4 days each week ✓✓✓☐ Taiji (be on time and don't skip) ✓

Ok, taiji stuff prepped for tomorrow.

Fixed the title.

Yes, that small wins thing was also my thought after the last challenge. I choose saturday and sunday for my cheat days because thats where most of my social eating takes place. And i'm having a hard time to say no to friends. During the week it's way easier and i have better control. I have way more problems with the structure of my days / habits and stuff. Saying no to a pizza is easier for me than get out of bed in time. Sure i'm functioning and get my work done. But there is a lot of room for improvement in this area. Taiji Training is normally two days a week. But this week the monday class was cancled because of new years eve. I don't mess with such powerful magical forces. Just enjoying them freshly brewed....

Ok, here is my first challenge for the new year. Following the habits didn't worked at all last challenge. So decided to concentrate on the most important one try to get it right. The rest is basicly a continuation of things that are working. I've been restricting pasta, pizza and sweets to the friday, saturday, sunday. This challenge i want to further restrict my cheat days to saturday and sunday. I've started to use my bike for some parts of my way to work. This time i will increase the distance. (approx. 25 minutes). Starting Tomorrow( 2th January). Check: ✓ Fail: ✘ Todo: ☐ Skip: - Week 1: Habits: 30 minutes of daylight lamp ☐☐☐☐☐☐ Diet: No pasta / pizza / sweets on weekdays ☐☐☐☐ Excercise: biking to work 4 days each week ☐☐☐☐ Taiji (be on time and don't skip) ☐

Yeah, the Habits are a problem at the moment. Not sure how to solve this. But if i can keep up the bike riding the Challenge was a success.

I have question about the normal two handed swing. Do you have any advice how to ensure the correct position of the shoulders?

Technically it's not work. It's a favor for a friend. I said yes to many times... It's mixed... Life at the moment is stressful hectic and unplanned. But, the diet works out. And I'm sticking to the cycling. And that is kind of a bigger change. So, dispite everything else i'm quite satisfied. Week 2: Check: ✓ Fail: ✘ Todo: ☐ Skip: - Habits: * Use the daylight lamp for 30 minutes each day: ✘ ✘ ✘ ✓ ✘ ✘ ✘ * Use Headspace daily for 10 minutes ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ * Plan each day: (Go through the my todo app and plan the todos for the day) ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ * Brush teeth at 11pm (i tend to be in bed to late. With this i hope to structure my evenings a bid better) ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ - - - (Did not hit the time once, and was way to late in bed. ) * No Social Media on my Phone(Block Facebook and Youtube on the mobile browser) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Diet: * No Sweets during the week (i want to cut down on those. My first steep is to limit it to the weekend (friday - sunday)): ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ * No Pasta during the week (same as for the sweets only allowed from friday to sunday): ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ * Don't drink liquid calories: (just water, coffee with milk or unsweetend tea) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - - - Excercise: * Go to Taiji class and be on time(Mondays and Tuesdays) ✘(Cold) ✘ (Cold) * Use the my bike for the work way(15 Minutes each way, 3 days a week) ✓ ✓ ✓ Week 3: Check: ✓ Fail: ✘ Todo: ☐ Skip: - Habits: * Use the daylight lamp for 30 minutes each day: ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ * Use Headspace daily for 10 minutes ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ * Plan each day: (Go through the my todo app and plan the todos for the day) ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ * Brush teeth at 11pm (i tend to be in bed to late. With this i hope to structure my evenings a bid better) ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ - - - (Did not hit the time once, and was way to late in bed. ) * No Social Media on my Phone(Block Facebook and Youtube on the mobile browser) ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ Diet: * No Sweets during the week (i want to cut down on those. My first steep is to limit it to the weekend (friday - sunday)): ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ * No Pasta during the week (same as for the sweets only allowed from friday to sunday): ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ * Don't drink liquid calories: (just water, coffee with milk or unsweetend tea) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - - - Excercise: * Go to Taiji class and be on time(Mondays and Tuesdays) ✘(Skipped, felt totaly stressed out and overwhelmed ) ✘ (Cold again) * Use the my bike for the work way(15 Minutes each way, 3 days a week) ✓ ✓ ✓

This comes from getting to bed late. Because of that i don't get up as early as i should in the morning. This leads to rushed morning with no time to plan and a reactive day instead of a proactive one. But the reason for getting late to bed is that that i'm working to finish a project. It's a slow drag and i finally want to get it of my chest. But yeah, as i'm typing this... i realize it's my usual pattern for things like this.

Here are my stats for week 1. Have some mixed results. But i'm pretty happy how the changes to the diet are going and that i actually started riding the bike to work. I was on a small weekend trip with three buddies, so i skipped most of the habbits from friday till today (Monday, second week). Will respawn tomorrow. Notes so far: * need to prepack my training clothes * Might change the the plan each day to plan each week. Check: ✓ Fail: ✘ Todo: ☐ Skip: - Week 1: Habits: * Use the daylight lamp for 30 minutes each day: ✘ ✘ ✓ ✘ - - - * Use Headspace daily for 10 minutes ✘ ✓ ✘ ✘ - - - * Plan each day: (Go through the my todo app and plan the todos for the day) ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ * Brush teeth at 11pm (i tend to be in bed to late. With this i hope to structure my evenings a bid better) ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ - - - (Did not hit the time once, and was way to late in bed. ) * No Social Media on my Phone(Block Facebook and Youtube on the mobile browser) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Diet: * No Sweets during the week (i want to cut down on those. My first steep is to limit it to the weekend (friday - sunday)): ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ * No Pasta during the week (same as for the sweets only allowed from friday to sunday): ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ * Don't drink liquid calories: (just water, coffee with milk or unsweetend tea) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - - - Excercise: * Go to Taiji class and be on time(Mondays and Tuesdays) ✘(Forgot to prepare my stuff) - (got a cold last week) * Use the my bike for the work way(15 Minutes each way, 3 days a week) ✓ ✓ ✓

As a side note: In my opinion a really good book on self defense: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3396377-meditations-on-violence?from_search=true The author covers a lot of those things holda mentioned. Doesn't want to sell you on a specific art, but instead gives a lot of insights and points to think about. I highly recommend it.

Following. :-) Can you just use the equipment or do the trainers have to give you an introduction?

Ok lets start this. I liked the setup from the last challenge pretty much. But life head other plans and i fell of the truck. So this time, i will use the setup from last time with some fine tuning. I will start tomorrow. Tracking is done with habithub. Check: ✓ Fail: ✘ Todo: ☐ Skip: - Week 1: Habits: * Use the daylight lamp for 30 minutes each day: ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ * Use Headspace daily for 10 minutes ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ * Plan each day: (Go through the my todo app and plan the todos for the day) ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ * Brush teeth at 11pm (i tend to be in bed to late. With this i hope to structure my evenings a bid better) ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ * No Social Media on my Phone(Block Facebook and Youtube on the mobile browser) ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ Diet: * No Sweets during the week (i want to cut down on those. My first steep is to limit it to the weekend (friday - sunday)): ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ * No Pasta during the week (same as for the sweets only allowed from friday to sunday): ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ * Don't drink liquid calories: (just water, coffee with milk or unsweetend tea) ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ Excercise: * Go to Taiji class and be on time(Mondays and Tuesdays) ☐ ☐ * Use the my bike for the work way(15 Minutes each way, 3 days a week) ☐ ☐ ☐

Another way in Taiji to develop some attributes that beneficial to self defence would be to do moving step Pushhands competitions. That's basicly a kind of sports Wrestling. There you can develop speed, strengt, timing. You will have uncooperative opponents and get used to physical contact. But the sports context ist vastly different than a self defence situation. Please keep that in mind. Oh, and i agree with risingPhoenix about online stuff. I think it's not possible to learn decent taiji without a instructions from a real teacher. For fighting or relaxing. Taiji can be a really great Art. But it really depends in your teachers and folks you train with.

Possible... But almost extinct. You could search for San shou (Chinese Term for free Combat) Videos on YouTube. But the results will vary in quality. But i think it's the same with any other Art. Train to Punch and to get punched. For pure self defence i think the best art is Boxing.

Ok, lets wrap this up. My vacation to spain was awesome. Could relax a good bit, got some sun rays and rediscovered how awesome our first, slow form can be. Also had a good chat with my teacher. But it threw me of tracking wise. The two weeks afterward i had lot on my plate. Didn't start tracking again. Will restart on the next challenge. Fixed the bike with dad today. So thats a win. Overall not that great. But at least some progress on the bike. Thanks for following. See you on the next challenge.

Not dead. But a busy week. The vacation to spain was awesome.

That is the plan. Son&Dad Time plus a fixed bike.