zenLara freezes to death, in august

[Lara]

Hello and welcome to a new challenge! 

 

To end the summer season, I will try to improve the things that didn’t work these past months.

 

This means that:

· meditation, eating freggies in every meal, and daily technique practice are not goals anymore, because after several months, they’re habits now. Yay! 

· PvP push-up challenge is over, so no more inclined push-ups everyday -and my arms do need that rest- but will be taking part on the dead hang challenge if it finally becomes a thing. Also waiting to see if there is a PvP abs challenge, in which case, I’m in. 

 

The remaining goals -plus a new one- are:

 

Exercise 

I’m finding it difficult to keep a routine this summer, and I’d like to improve this before classes start again. 4 workouts a week, doesn’t matter which one, the ultimate goal being to move everyday. 

For 1-3 workouts a week I get nothing. For 4 workouts a week I get 4 points, to choose between STA, STR and DEX, depending on the type of exercise I’ve done. If besides this I do some active recovery days (walking, easy floor routine, stretching…) I can go up to 6 points (STA, STR, DEX) + 1 CON point.

 

Icelandic 

Apparently, saying I’d sit and practice doesn’t work, who’d have guessed? Specific goal: 2-3 articles a week.

1 article a week: nothing. 2 articles a week: 0.5 CHA. 3 articles a week: 1 CHA

 

Wim Hof course 

This is the big goal for next months.

Things I hope I will get from it: improved tolerance to cold, to better enjoy the upcoming winter season; improved blood circulation (goodbye to cold feet!); lower breathing rate, to reduce floating anxiety and fatigue; and finally, having fun being a weirdo.

This is a yes or no goal. If I quit, I get no points. I can miss some days if there is a reasonable excuse, and of course I can extend any week of the course if I consider I need it. If I stick to the task until september 10th (but the course won’t be finished, it is 10 weeks long), I get 0.5 STR (the course also involves physical exercise), 0.5 DEX (course involves some yoga/stretching), 0.5 WIS (meditation also present) and 0.5 CON (for cold exposure).

 

That's it. Now let's see how it goes 

[deftona]

Following for the freezing! 

[SymphonicDan]

And I see you're studying the coldest Indo-European language too

 

I'm interested to see what's involved with this Wim Hof course and how you find it. Remember that this all started when your shower wasn't working... that's a good example of making the most of a difficult situation haha.

 

Your challenge points seem to add up to only 9? (4+2) + 1 + 2?

[Dagger]

19 minutes ago, SymphonicDan said:

Remember that this all started when your shower wasn't working... that's a good example of making the most of a difficult situation haha.

Haha, that is so true.

 

Following!

[Lara]

28 minutes ago, SymphonicDan said:

Remember that this all started when your shower wasn't working... that's a good example of making the most of a difficult situation haha.

 

Your challenge points seem to add up to only 9? (4+2) + 1 + 2?

Haha, yes! Maybe in a few months I'll be grateful for the mess the gas company did in our appartment...

 

I think I've got 10 (6+1)+1+2.

 

31 minutes ago, SymphonicDan said:

I'm interested to see what's involved with this Wim Hof course and how you find it.

It comes with a workbook to log your progress. Apparently, they ask you to keep a diary of changes/discoveries, so I guess I'll have plenty of things to comment  

I remember you tried the cold showers once, but I don't think you kept at it, right? You didn't like it?

[SymphonicDan]

33 minutes ago, zenLara said:

I remember you tried the cold showers once, but I don't think you kept at it, right? You didn't like it?

 

I like them sometimes - when it's hot and I've been exercising for example. In Nicaragua I got used to it because for 119 days I had only ~2 hot showers (in the mountains of Matagalpa), but cold showers in 33'C heat are fine. In Barcelona I would often have partially cold showers, but usually I'm there for 20 minutes in the heat while Greenpeace are protesting outside my bathroom door.

 

Maybe I should look into cold showers more...

[NeverThatBored]

Following! 

[Lara]

10 hours ago, SymphonicDan said:

I like them sometimes - when it's hot and I've been exercising for example. In Nicaragua I got used to it because for 119 days I had only ~2 hot showers (in the mountains of Matagalpa), but cold showers in 33'C heat are fine. In Barcelona I would often have partially cold showers, but usually I'm there for 20 minutes in the heat while Greenpeace are protesting outside my bathroom door.

Haha, yeah, been there. In summer it is so easy (although there is cold and cold water), but in winter, oh my, I want my shower long and steamy  So I don't know how it will work when temperatures go down. For starters, we have gone down to rather cold temperatures at night these last days (10-12ºC) and this already makes the shower in the morning a challenge. However, the course starts with hot/cold showers to make the transition easy and I am scaling back to them while I catch up with the breathing thing. Also, the drive to get rid of bad circulation is strong enough; chilled feet last winter were specially bad. The guy says in these cases of bad circulation, special exercises are needed with iced water. Ugh.

[Lara]

Self-defence. The warm-up and technique parts were nice and easy, because there was a new girl there and the teacher wanted to show her the basics. Then: sparring. Oh no, not the human box. It stresses me out, a lot (you could say that that's the point of the exercise, anyway). However, for the first time, I enjoyed it. I could never guess this would happen. Maybe it is because I am getting better at escaping and moving fast to avoid some of the hitting (it's 4 against 1, you get hit no matter what you do, but hey, you've got to try) and I managed to successfully beat 2 of my attackers at one time, and also used one guy's push to make him fall. It is that, or maybe that before that exercise I had crashed my head against a guy's knee and I got a concussion and now everything is nice and flowery and I am happy forever.

[annyshay]

2 hours ago, zenLara said:

Self-defence. The warm-up and technique parts were nice and easy, because there was a new girl there and the teacher wanted to show her the basics. Then: sparring. Oh no, not the human box. It stresses me out, a lot (you could say that that's the point of the exercise, anyway). However, for the first time, I enjoyed it. I could never guess this would happen. Maybe it is because I am getting better at escaping and moving fast to avoid some of the hitting (it's 4 against 1, you get hit no matter what you do, but hey, you've got to try) and I managed to successfully beat 2 of my attackers at one time, and also used one guy's push to make him fall. It is that, or maybe that before that exercise I had crashed my head against a guy's knee and I got a concussion and now everything is nice and flowery and I am happy forever.

Dang... that's hard core. Then the last sentence = HA!

[Mad Hatter]

The moment you've been waiting for - the abs challenge is here! 

 

 

Also are you ok? That sounds like a nasty crash!

[Lara]

1 hour ago, Mad Hatter said:

Also are you ok? That sounds like a nasty crash!

I've got a headache for the rest of the day, but aside that I'm fine, no worries.

 

Thank you! I'll take a look to the thread now!

[WhiteGhost]

Following my favorite cyborg definitely not a cyborg at all (wink wink)  

[Lara]

2 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

Following my favorite cyborg definitely not a cyborg at all (wink wink)  

Would a cyborg be in such pain today? Really, my muscles are so sore it feels as if the fight had been real  I woke up, had breakfast, went groceries shopping, had a second breakfast, took a nap until lunch, ate like a horse at lunch, took another nap, and now please give me some more food or I will probably go back to sleep again.

[annyshay]

4 hours ago, zenLara said:

Would a cyborg be in such pain today? Really, my muscles are so sore it feels as if the fight had been real  I woke up, had breakfast, went groceries shopping, had a second breakfast, took a nap until lunch, ate like a horse at lunch, took another nap, and now please give me some more food or I will probably go back to sleep again.

Time to rebuild alllllllllll the muscles.

[Lara]

10 hours ago, annyshay said:

Time to rebuild alllllllllll the muscles.

Yes indeed  

[Lara]

I was going to start the challenge tomorrow, because I feel monday as my first day of the week, but when I woke up -still with all that soreness- I said what the hell, let's start that course today. 

I filled the "start point" and "commitment" document, did the session and then filled in the first sessions results. There is a workbook to do all this, but I'd prefer to keep a record here, it will probably be more practical. I'll put daily records in spoiler so you don't need to read the reports. For today, suffice to know that after the session soreness has gone down to a tolerable level (great!) and that I feel cold (not that great).

 

Commitment and start point

Spoiler

What are your goals?

- improve blood circulation (cold hands and feet)

- have more energy, specially at the end of the day

- improve breathing

- less anxiety

- more focus

- improve immune system

Yeah, maybe I expect a lot from this...

 

What are your personal obstacles to completing this course?

- waking up late and not finding the time

- getting overwhelmed when classes start

- chicken out when winter comes

 

Baselines:

- breathing retention: 25 painful seconds

- push-ups: 3-5 in one set depending on the day

 

Do you experience for cold feet or hands?

Yes

 

How is your mindfulness during the day?

Moments of great focus, surrounded by a lot of mind drifting along the day.

 

How is your sleep in general?

Sleep quality is good, though not deep enough sometimes. Quantity varies, from 6 hours to 9, but I am mostly at a 7:30 hours per night.

 

I also want to leave here that my heart rate at rest is 72, and I am at 17-20 breathings per minute. This is in a relaxed state, sitting. Would like to know whether this changes.

 

First day results

Spoiler

How did I feel after the exercises? What were my personal results?

Breathing retention. 60", 70" (both sitting) and 90" (lying down).

I feel light, calmer than when I woke up. Specially my arms felt super relaxed and weightless. Muscle soreness was almost unbearable early in the morning, but has decreased after the session, making it tolerable. I also feel cold, and I am wearing a jacket since I got out of the shower. Feet are cold.

Retention is better when I am lying, and the breathing exercise feels more comfortable. Light-headed while breathing with slight tingling in the hands.

Stretches were limited, but rather comfortable. Scissors felt hard, but somehow time seemed to run out quickly (I guess because of the controled breathing).

 

[SymphonicDan]

Contrast bathing is supposed to be great for muscle soreness - maybe something similar was helping here. What sorts of exercises were you doing?

 

I've just been googling Wim Hof - he seems pretty incredible albeit crazy

[Lara]

19 minutes ago, SymphonicDan said:

he seems pretty incredible albeit crazy

Totally.

 

I am at the basic level. It consists on a breathing exercise that reduces C02, with a retention after every cycle (30 full breathings - retention (out of air as long as you can)- 1 breathing - retention (with air in for about 10-15 seconds) and then start over - 3 cycles). Then there are some stretching poses from yoga, easy ones (forward bending, backward bending, spine twist), then some scissors for the abs. At some point in the course there are push-ups involved, I hope not too soon... All the yoga is done with special breathing to help the stretch, and then you go and take a shower at the temperature of your choice and end with 30" of cold water.

What helped with soreness, aside from the temperature change, could be the breathing. It charges you with lots of oxygen -I guess that's why right afterwards you can spend more than 1 minute without breathing without feeling any discomfort, I've heard there's people that can hold for 3 or 4 minutes- and that seems to be a good way to reduce pain from sore muscles.

[WhiteGhost]

22 hours ago, zenLara said:

Would a cyborg be in such pain today? Really, my muscles are so sore it feels as if the fight had been real  I woke up, had breakfast, went groceries shopping, had a second breakfast, took a nap until lunch, ate like a horse at lunch, took another nap, and now please give me some more food or I will probably go back to sleep again.

Sounds like you are turning into a hobbit

 

Your breathing routine sounds really intense, but I can see how it would be very beneficial. Look forward to watching your progress on this

 

[Mad Hatter]

8 hours ago, SymphonicDan said:

I've just been googling Wim Hof - he seems pretty incredible albeit crazy

Absolutely bonkers. But the most fascinating thing is that it appears that a lot of the skills are actually trainable, it's not just him being a genetic freak. 

 

7 hours ago, zenLara said:

It consists on a breathing exercise that reduces C02, with a retention after every cycle (30 full breathings - retention (out of air as long as you can)- 1 breathing - retention (with air in for about 10-15 seconds) and then start over - 3 cycles).

I tried this a few times a while ago, and it's craaazy how much longer you can hold your breath! It's actually rather cool. I think I got to almost 2.5 minutes without panicking, normally when I hold my breath I get really uncomfortable and stressed out. I really look forward to see your development!

[Endor]

What are fregies? Maybe fried veggies?!

 

I also had to look up Wim Hof, cold showers You're very brave!

[Lara]

1 hour ago, Mad Hatter said:

I think I got to almost 2.5 minutes without panicking

Is fascinating, really. Being absolutely calm while not having any air 

 

4 minutes ago, Endor said:

What are fregies? Maybe fried veggies?!

 

I also had to look up Wim Hof, cold showers You're very brave!

Haha, thank you! I hope I will stick to it.

Freggies is in fact a word I learnt here at NF: fruits + vegetables. I used to think it was fried veggies too  

[Lara]

Day went well yesterday. Took a 40 minutes walk in the sun, and worked on one icelandic article. Found myself focused enough to practice on my flute til rather late.

Today I had planned to stay home to practice, then do a parallettes workout, and try the abs routine for the PvP, but boyfriend wants to go clothes shopping. Why, oh, why. We also have some pending bureaucracy in the big city, so I guess I can say goodbye to my homely morning.

 

WHM second day results

Spoiler

Retention times (lying down)

70"- 85"- 105"

How did I feel?

It took me longer today to start feeling "oxygenated", so I took 40 breathings on my first and third cycles. The points to focus while stretching were clearer today. Scissors were killing. Cold water stroke me badly today, and I got of the shower shivering. Wearing a jacket and winter socks while having breakfast. The moment I dressed up, there were also nice warm feelings mixed with the shivering.

 

[Lara]

I managed to squeeze a short parallettes workout in the evening, after my practice:

 

· plank push-up with 1 arm extension 3x5

· tuck swing to dip 3x5

· battle rams 2x3+5

· L-sit 20" 10" 10" On the last seconds I tried to extend - a bit - both legs. Exhausting.

 

Dead hang 25" 20" 15"

No abs, oooooooh