The Assassin's Path

[@mu]

On 8/14/2020 at 9:11 PM, Mike Wazowski said:

Wow, I'm tuning in after a while. I'm annoyed on your behalf with that medical stuff, seems like a real communication breakdown on their end.

 

OMG your handstands look SO controlled and stable - I know you're still working on things, but as someone who's still a baby on that journey, super inspiring.

 

Also, "chicken legs" worries solidarity - I think I'm pretty close to saying that my legs get beat up enough from dance training, there's really no need for me to do a lot of leg strengthening besides (and I gotta imagine a full week of bike commutes is really, really similar in your situation).

 

Yes! I started focusing on handstands not long after joining NF, in Spring 2018. And 2+years later, when I look back, I can't quite believe it myself

 

Ha ha yes bike commute is a bit of a pain (I just don't fancy it that much) but the tramway is not much better (same time if not longer, there is a change, you can't always sit etc) and it does make feel like at least I'm doing some legs

 

19 hours ago, KB Girl said:

yes? and also definitely no. 

I mean, you do obviously train mostly arms, but you've also got VERY different training goals than your average gym bro. So who cares

 

1 hour ago, WhiteGhost said:

But are they really all that different?  In the end aren't we doing this stuff just to show off?  

 

I also wouldn't mind visible guns to be honest but some fancy skills will do

 

19 hours ago, KB Girl said:

What a great investment! It's a bit like a fast slow cooker right? 

 

Yes a bit like that. It can do normal cooking, pressure cooking, steaming but also browning. Stuff like that. To be honest any basic kitchen gadget would do better than electric hot plates.

 

Friday => REST

 

Saturday => press to HS and some straight head-in work+ seven endurance / form. I managed to start press work  with 2 reps in a row at 7cm and then 1 from ground 0. But that killed all my reps, only floats and pushes after that.

 

Sunday => pike press iso 1.5 cm 3 reps 120s accumulated but that killed me, volume and conditioning was super hard and I cut everything a bit short. Crane hold is getting about 15s though.

 

1.5cm is a tiny book

 

 

 

Some back arching and elbow flaring, not tooooo bad though. I will stay there a while. Hard session.  The cat was just outside the frame, trolling me with an extended nap as well.

 

[KB Girl]

A very tiny book!

[@mu]

Monday => flex session

Tuesday => press to HS + head in

Wednesday => REST

Thursday => pike presses, boo, did not manage any full rep at 1.5 cm this time.

 

Maybe I'm due for a deload. Practice is average, not bad but not progressing that much either. I need one before we get started with Kirsty's group anyway.

 

Friday => REST

Saturday => REST as well, actually I slept a big part of the day. During the night, I had cramps below the right calf, I had to get up and walk for it to pass. Awful. I'm pretty sure it's the bike. I'm on a magnesium boost right now and it may be helping for other cramps, but not those apparently.

Sunday => mix of HS and pike press training, deload mode.

 

Warmup was funny, it started really so so and then I got a 1mn HS just like that!

With pike presses, I still did not manage to get a single rep at 1.5cm so I'll probably have to re-add a book next week, meh

And I did some low key HS puppetry with the bird (changed it's yellow bits into white).

 

Ha and I cut my hair They were getting really close to my knees when wet!! I cut to middle back. It was just too hot and too hard to maintain even with the undercut.

Hair is no longer on the floor in HS 

 

 

 

 

[@mu]

Monday => flex session + some head in work, not great not bad either

 

Tuesday => press to HS + head in, now pike pressing from chair, a good transition in straight HS from normal to chin to chest. A bit of silks straddling up (classe starts mid-september if the Covid situation still permits it, it's increasing again sadly...).

 

Wednesday => REST

I started thinking about a HS puppet that would work from a side way view. “Stuff' could work but I'm not quite finding a meaningful/interesting shape.

 

Thursday => pike presses, upped 1.5cm to 3cm since I was really struggling the last few sessions. 5 reps + 70s accumulated, which is sort of where I was 2 weeks ago. I hope it was just a “deload needed” low and not something that I'm doing wrong and is slowing me down again. Mhm

 

Friday => REST

 

Saturday => press with a tiny deficit, just below the bars! A first!

I tried removing 1 book but I failed. So I'm currently 2 books away from the floor. The floor is about 7cm from the centre of the bars. If I can press with that deficit that would be a nice achievement!

 

 

 

 

Ha and I got a prescription for glasses, just to read books and things like this traditional embroidery thingy that I'm getting into I should get them on Wednesday.

 

And Kirsty's coaching group has started with questionnaires / assessments to film this coming week   We have a group meeting tomorrow. There is a community platform with events, articles, chats etc. I'm super excited! I probably won't be much around for 2 months because I don't think I can handle both the forum and the group at the same time (I'm already a bit low on updates here ).
 

 

[Mad Hatter]

On 8/23/2020 at 12:20 PM, @mu said:

Ha and I cut my hair They were getting really close to my knees when wet!!

Whaaat, that's crazy long!

 

Hope you won't be missing altogether, I'm curious to hear what the coaching group is like! Sounds great.

 

[KB Girl]

That sounds great, hope you enjoy it and make great progress!

 

[@mu]

10 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Whaaat, that's crazy long!

 

Hope you won't be missing altogether, I'm curious to hear what the coaching group is like! Sounds great.

 

 

4 hours ago, KB Girl said:

That sounds great, hope you enjoy it and make great progress!

 

 

Hiyaa!

 

So far going well, assessments, a few coaching calls about the programme and HS line. 

Next week-end we have a live class.

The first month I will have a break from the HSPU programme and work on a more planche-y workout. Not as in planche development as such but working that lean and tuck weakness (that also shows at the bottom of my press negatives). First week looks "easy" on the straight arm press workout but it will get funky from week 2 with a pretty intense-looking press scaling sequence. I also got drills to strengthen and coordinate traps and shoulders push.

Month 2 will be possibly 1 day HSPU, 1 day planche development and 2 days getting started with stalder press. Will see after 1 month review. It's not so much about chasing a skill rather that pin-pointing weaknesses and working on it. And planche is pretty spot on. Again not planche in itself but back strength and learning how to get a handle in that plane of motion (like in stalder press). Currently there is no way I can push up my butt from a L-sit or a straddle hold. I end up in a rather miserable tuck

I feel in the hands of a handstand doctor   it's going to be hard work, fixing stuff under the hood.

 

 

[KB Girl]

You’re blessed to have her and she’s blessed to have you! As a coach it’s soooooo nice to get to work with people who consistently work at it  

[@mu]

On 9/7/2020 at 1:05 PM, KB Girl said:

You’re blessed to have her and she’s blessed to have you! As a coach it’s soooooo nice to get to work with people who consistently work at it  

 

ha ha thanks, I'm a fairly pleasing student, it has advantages but maybe some inconveniences too. So far so good, it's great that she shares everybody's feedback too, learning lots of stuff and having some light bulbs moments already.

 

I have an idea growing in my head. I'll just show you a picture

 

[Mad Hatter]

On 9/7/2020 at 7:26 AM, @mu said:

I feel in the hands of a handstand doctor

This sounds excellent! I'm really glad you work so well with Kirsty.  

 

58 minutes ago, @mu said:

I have an idea growing in my head. I'll just show you a picture

I'm excited. Also, I've always wanted a GIANT octopus big enough that I could nest myself in.  

 

[@mu]

On 9/11/2020 at 9:46 AM, Mad Hatter said:

This sounds excellent! I'm really glad you work so well with Kirsty.  

 

I'm excited. Also, I've always wanted a GIANT octopus big enough that I could nest myself in.  

 

 

I got started on that octopus, I couldn't find any piece of clothing in the orange tones with a nice contrasting color at the shop, so I went for purple + a pink that has a sucker-like pattern on it.

 

Purple always reminds me of this song, and oddly enough (I agree) of Hassan Rouhani, because it was his election colour and it's the first time ever in my life I voted for someone who is member of a clergy and I felt a bit like in the video

But anyway, digression aside....

 

 

 

 I did the head to shape my foot. It fits my foot all right but the head looks a bit smaller than I thought it would be. I haven't put any filler in yet though so.. who knows. It's a prototype and hopefully my brain shouldn't go in a fury if it's a complete failure (as opposed to the brand new sock puppet)

 

I also got started with one leg and some kind of pipe-cleaner armature sewed into it but it's too weak. I'll have to get some proper wire.

 

 

 

 

My neighbour lent her sewing machine to me, so I'll see if I can work the other legs a bit faster... I have never used one, and she has never used hers this may actually take a while to get on with.

 

And... I found a new silly move with my bird puppet who's got new wings and a new colour scheme too (simplified / more contrast as per @MadHatter advice )

 

I did not manage to make flapping / remote-controlled wings though... but I like that new version better

 

 

[@mu]

Aerial class has started again and this year we didn't spent the first class just talking. There are also more intermediate students in the class and a guy (the only one in the class) who is very visibly hyperlax, it's quite amazing. And quite a few of my pals from last year

 

Spoiler

We still have the same teacher. He was ok. But I have this very averse bodily reaction to him, it's actually stronger than I thought it would be. It's not often that I so strongly dislike someone. At least I can vent freely here where nobody knows him

 

I just know from last year that his methodology is rather poor, he has no interesting movement quality in the air (looking athletic at best), and a very defensive and rather ugly ego. He is the worse aerial teacher I ever had by far, and I just can't get rid of that feeling. I don't find him particularly pleasant as a human being either. And as I see him doing the “I'm a cool teacher and have been running this course for like 8-9 years”, I just want to roll my eyes really.

 

I'll just try to let that feeling run its course... No much I can do except not going, and not much he can do either in fact. So I'll have to work with it.

 

It's just very disappointing because aerial can be such an exciting discipline, and I'm annoyed to have to feel so aggravated by that one person. Although this year it seems he's gotten the memo about not spending the whole first class just talking and sitting on our collective asses. Maybe there is hope.

 

Anyway, all that said, we mostly did conditioning, climbs and descents. Good enough for a first session. It was good to hang about in any case And I'm sure I will be sore tomorrow.

 

The school was supposed to replace some of the material (one silk has become very stringy, and the rope is still that very old fashion hardcore one). They are still planning to replace the rope with a padded one. Not sure they will replace the silks, maybe a corona-related budget issue (maybe not).

 

We don't wear masks but we clean our hands before and after using an apparatus. The gel is not in an obvious place though, so it's easy to forget. We are not supposed to touch each other but we rolled on the floor on each other's sweat during warm-up, erm ... rules & regulations....

The aerial apparatus is shared by the professional course students and us (2 amateur classes). But kids are no longer allowed on aerial apparatus (there are lots of kids classes). And there are a couple of days off between the pro aerial courses and our classes.  Corona is upping its scores here, so mhm. It's clearly not ideal. But apparently there are getting controlled (ie if corona cases appear, they might get temporarily closed).

 

Weird times... at work we also required to wear masks all the time now (again although we are all sharing a kitchen... and it's pretty hard to keep a mask on all day long, we all cheat a little bit). On the other hand, we can all work remotely for up to 3 days. So mhm.

 

I'm otherwise getting on with Kirsty's custom programme. We had a live class on Sunday, on overhead mobility, quite active stretching, I definitely felt it. She has office hours once a week where you can throw all the nerdy questions you ever wanted to ask, and her answers are super clear, with drills to diagnose yourself, precisions on her programming. This is really cool (night and days compared to local aerial teaching lolz). At the moment my two under-the-hood items to work on are protraction and pelvic stability during muscle recruitment. When coming back from work this evening, I found myself doing protraction exercises on my bike And also a lot of volume on straddle press.

 

[KB Girl]

On 9/16/2020 at 12:44 AM, @mu said:

Aerial class has started again and this year we didn't spent the first class just talking. There are also more intermediate students in the class and a guy (the only one in the class) who is very visibly hyperlax, it's quite amazing. And quite a few of my pals from last year

 

I was gonna ask if that meant you had a different teacher, but then I looked under the spoiled tag.. too bad.. hope you'll enjoy it anyway

 

On 9/16/2020 at 12:44 AM, @mu said:

I'm otherwise getting on with Kirsty's custom programme. We had a live class on Sunday, on overhead mobility, quite active stretching, I definitely felt it. She has office hours once a week where you can throw all the nerdy questions you ever wanted to ask, and her answers are super clear, with drills to diagnose yourself, precisions on her programming. This is really cool (night and days compared to local aerial teaching lolz). At the moment my two under-the-hood items to work on are protraction and pelvic stability during muscle recruitment. When coming back from work this evening, I found myself doing protraction exercises on my bike And also a lot of volume on straddle press.

 

She sounds so awesome I want to get in on that custom programma just to take a look at how she coaches and learn from that. But well it's really not my thing right x) 

[@mu]

On 9/21/2020 at 8:41 PM, KB Girl said:

I was gonna ask if that meant you had a different teacher, but then I looked under the spoiled tag.. too bad.. hope you'll enjoy it anyway

 

yeah that got me very moody for a while but we seem to get some kind of understanding these days. And while he started pushing me towards dynamic elements on rope again, I managed to explain without hurting his feelings that I have a technique problem that I need to solve first, otherwise I'm just going to hurt myself (activation issue which causes all the momentum force to bump into my rotator cuff - no thanks). He could actually relate to that because he has a similar problem, so I think I will be able to work at my level in a corner. We are quite a lot at the moment so he is busy with other people as well (last year we also started as a big group and it kinda dwindled down). I noticed he also let people work exclusively on their dominant side, he is not even mentioning to at least try the other side. Am I being self-righteous? maybe, but I made a point of training my left side, which does not look good but who cares, it's training time not instagram. It actually felt good to get that left arm working a bit more and give a break to the right side.

 

On 9/21/2020 at 8:41 PM, KB Girl said:

I was gonna ask if that meant you had a different teacher, but then I looked under the spoiled tag.. too bad.. hope you'll enjoy it anyway

 

She sounds so awesome I want to get in on that custom programma just to take a look at how she coaches and learn from that. But well it's really not my thing right x) 

ha ha yes, it looks like a lot of work. Just for the detailed video feedbacks she gives, it's crazy. The live classes were also good. Those were my first ones in a remote setting, and I was surprise how close to the real thing it was (she spent time on each of us individually).

 

So a little update on HS coaching. There are still 2 weeks to go. So far I've worked mostly on stuff under the hood as I said, a lot of strength & conditioning, with quite a few light bulb moments in skill work. I'm really getting a lot of info, video feebacks are shared on the group, so I'm learning stuff all over the place. It will take time until I digest everything.

 

My most recent light bulb moment was that there is leaning and leaning (for press to HS). One is ok, the other not so much. There is leaning while keeping shoulder flexion, and leaning with a loss of shoulder flexion (more like a planche). And when she argues against leaning, it's about the second one. I mean obviously in press it also depends on body proportions (torso + legs length compared to arms length). But as far as I am concerned, I'm able to get that first lean, it's when I break shoulder flexion that I start getting into fails and that feeling of being unable to press no matter what. Anyway it's a light bulb, it will need more exploration. But for instance training crane doesn't necessarily means strengthening the right bits for press because the standard crane does not have full shoulder flexion. She didn't say that, I'm thinking out loud. I mean some lean strength is probably always useful. But there is leaning and leaning. And while I was only looking at the lean angle with the floor, there is much more involved there when you look at the position of everything else. Probably obvious, but still a light bulb for me

 

So I'm working a lot on press, moving into stalder press training which seems to have unlocked a few things. As you know, I had my first press to HS from ground 0 September last year and since then I have been training to get it consistently and with no cheat, but started feeling like I was spinning my wheels a little bit (lots of local highs and lows, but not significant break through). I'm no where near a stalder press I tell you, but moving into that range is definitely helping with press from ground 0.

So maybe here I had a case of staying for too long in the same progression when I had to move UP a notch.

 

I also started working again on pike presses. And this was rather disappointing and cruel Actually the first month was mostly spent doing a lot pseudo-planche PU that I did not manage to get to look that planche-ey to be honest. And when I got back to pike presses, I felt like I had lost all the tiny progress I had made over summer (I still can't get a full pike press head to floor). This made me feel rather dejected. Because hell 🔥 I worked hard and was quite picky on form and everything, and I got PEANUTS for it.

Kirsty says there no way I lost strength in just a month and that we should see what happens the coming weeks. I'm having a hard time finding the motivation though. I'm starting to develop a rather traumatizing relationship with pike presses I tell you

So maybe here I have a case of having neglected bent arm training for a while and then training too close to failure every single time, so maybe I will have to BACK down for a while. I mean we will see how it turns out but I don't expect a sudden break through in 2 week times.

 

Aside from that, aerial classes started again and it was hard because I put on weight during the lockdown (and because of a difficult year emotionally, generally speaking, on top of Covid) and that has made gravity a much tougher force to handle. Doing a lot of protraction work on the floor has also aggravated my technique in the air (where you mostly need to activate the back chain while holding a scapular retraction). I have also been lazy with hanging leg lifts and it shows. So there is that. On the other hand, I made significant gains in back bends and compression / pancake. So it's not all too bad.

Just now Circus school is on holidays (it follows the school year breaks) but I want to keep in some aerial work. It was so hard to start again, seriously, the first 3 weeks I was sore as hell for days and it also affected my HS training, which was pretty frustrating.

 

Spoiler

Aside from that, my father had an operation for his prostate cancer and touching wood, it went well. We are still waiting for E.'s visa renewal but apparently he is now entitled to a 10-year residency card but that involves a police investigation, so we have to wait longer.... (it has been over a year now, and seriously as a spouse of a French national, it's supposed to be really fast and easy, so imagine how it goes for other people). In the mean time, he cannot travel which means we cannot go to Iran – which you might say is probably not a good idea anyway with the whole Covid situation, but depending on the outcome of US elections, the situation might get even more dire, you know. 2021 will be a presidential election year in Iran too. I'm also totally freaked out by the idea of being on a plane, but that's yet another issue. E's mood has much improved however and he is following the course he has enrolled in. Work is good and crossing-fingers looking fairly secure when looking at the whole economic situation...

But my stress levels are super high still. I have started developing eczema near my eyes and mouth... and I'm still getting episodes of sudden rashes all over the face despite a 3-month anti-allergic treatment... given that my father has been struggling with psoriasis for ages, it's not looking good, genetically.... And I have regular nerve twitching in my eyes and arms to a point that is pretty annoying. And I just don't know what to do with it really. Pff?

 

[@mu]

Oh and I forgot, here is my octopus

 

 

I did not manage to get the head like I wanted to, a proper squid-like shape enveloping the foot. That's just beyond my designing/sewing skills really. And the legs were also skinnier than I thought they would be and it took AGES to sew (we didn't manage to fix my neighbour's sewing machine). I'm not going to do that anytime soon  

I'll see how it goes with a HS routine as it is. I have been too tired to do any balance work in a while, fortunately I got some in my programme again but it's not supposed to involve puppets so it will have to wait until next month probably.

 

[WhiteGhost]

5 hours ago, @mu said:

I also started working again on pike presses. And this was rather disappointing and cruel

I have been revisiting my pike presses recently with an eye to form and it has been very, very cruel indeed.  Solidarity, sister!

[KB Girl]

That was a great write up of all your training progress and light bulb moments! 
It’s amazing you’ve managed to stay so consistent through everything going on, but really you were also consistent when moving continents so I shouldn’t be surprised. 

I hope your stress levels even out a bit, it sounds as if you might also have delayed reactions to things? I mean.. it has been a pretty traumatising year. 

[@mu]

On 10/18/2020 at 3:41 PM, WhiteGhost said:

I have been revisiting my pike presses recently with an eye to form and it has been very, very cruel indeed.  Solidarity, sister!

 

We will get through this  💪 We have vanquished more terrifying bosses , haven't we!

 

7 hours ago, KB Girl said:

That was a great write up of all your training progress and light bulb moments! 
It’s amazing you’ve managed to stay so consistent through everything going on, but really you were also consistent when moving continents so I shouldn’t be surprised. 

  Hide contents

I hope your stress levels even out a bit, it sounds as if you might also have delayed reactions to things? I mean.. it has been a pretty traumatising year. 

 

 

Spoiler

ha it's interesting you picked that up. I do indeed. It used to be worse and with slightly different features (eczema might be an improvement in fact). But grief is such a difficult one to deal with. And I don't necessarily mean to death, but as a reaction to loss in general.

 

I know I look resilient and consistent and all that, but at times, it can also be a bit of a "my way or the highway" sort of thing. What you see as consistency (at least in training) is a rather mellow version of it  - but the end range is usually not so nice and it can boomerang quite badly. When there are periods when I look amazingly solid and resilient on the surface, it's not necessarily a good sign. It's a little bit of a survival thing, without meaning to sound overly dramatic. I catch up with stuff eventually. I guess it will take a bit of time for me to come around the whole past year and a half.  It's like I went a bit backward with the 5 stages of grief, starting with full acceptance and now being in a bit of denial, and making my way down the road again. I read Kübler-Ross' book long time ago, maybe I should read it again.

 

ha I also subscribed to Kirsty's community for a full year (quite an investment but I got a pretty big discount and I trust her enough to invest). 2 live classes a week (1 HS, 1 mobility - I probably won't do them all all the time, especially the mobility one, I might just watch the recording and pick up drills, but a regular HS one could very good to have a coach eyes on me at least once a week - she usually spends a little bit of time on everybody). Some personal coaching but not as detailed as in the current group (ie no frame by frame video feedback, no programming but still tips and directions). And a weekly HS topic discussion. Plus weekly challenges, and video sharing. Plus discounts on her stuff.

Let's see!

 

[@mu]

Spoiler

I would make this as a spoiler but I'm on my phone and can't do it. Sorry about that. [Edit: spoiler added]

 

Woof, I just saw that the USA, along with Poland, Hungary, Saudi Arabia and a bunch of equally progressive states signed this ultraconservative "consensus":

https://www.hhs.gov/about/agencies/oga/global-health-diplomacy/protecting-life-global-health-policy/geneva-declaration.html

 

Women rights taking another hit.

Factual side note: Iran is not on the list lolz

 

[@mu]

Just made up a HS challenge to ensure I back down on strength work and get a little play time every week!

 

 

[Mad Hatter]

Feel like I haven't been here for so long I was about to ask whether you're doing one arms yet. 😄Awesome to read about your training with Kirsty, the community thing sounds amazing and definitely worthwhile. 

 

On 10/22/2020 at 11:17 PM, @mu said:

  Hide contents

I would make this as a spoiler but I'm on my phone and can't do it. Sorry about that. [Edit: spoiler added]

 

Woof, I just saw that the USA, along with Poland, Hungary, Saudi Arabia and a bunch of equally progressive states signed this ultraconservative "consensus":

https://www.hhs.gov/about/agencies/oga/global-health-diplomacy/protecting-life-global-health-policy/geneva-declaration.html

 

Women rights taking another hit.

Factual side note: Iran is not on the list lolz

 

Less awesome to read about. I just can't get over the hypocrisy of claiming they care about women's health and yet make abortion illegal...

 

Hope you can find ways to calm down your stress levels a bit. You've been through a lot and that's not even taking into consideration this year.

[Mad Hatter]

Oh and the octopus is 😍

[KB Girl]

On 10/22/2020 at 9:36 PM, @mu said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

ha it's interesting you picked that up. I do indeed. It used to be worse and with slightly different features (eczema might be an improvement in fact). But grief is such a difficult one to deal with. And I don't necessarily mean to death, but as a reaction to loss in general.

 

I know I look resilient and consistent and all that, but at times, it can also be a bit of a "my way or the highway" sort of thing. What you see as consistency (at least in training) is a rather mellow version of it  - but the end range is usually not so nice and it can boomerang quite badly. When there are periods when I look amazingly solid and resilient on the surface, it's not necessarily a good sign. It's a little bit of a survival thing, without meaning to sound overly dramatic. I catch up with stuff eventually. I guess it will take a bit of time for me to come around the whole past year and a half.  It's like I went a bit backward with the 5 stages of grief, starting with full acceptance and now being in a bit of denial, and making my way down the road again. I read Kübler-Ross' book long time ago, maybe I should read it again.

 

 

Ya I figured being in control had something to do with it. There are a lot of things to mourn right now. I hope you can get out of survival mode a bit and work your way through the stages of grief.. but it's difficult when the trauma is still ongoing.. maybe settle for some stress relief here and there and managing your need for control as best you can.

[@mu]

On 10/25/2020 at 7:28 PM, Mad Hatter said:

Feel like I haven't been here for so long I was about to ask whether you're doing one arms yet. 😄Awesome to read about your training with Kirsty, the community thing sounds amazing and definitely worthwhile. 

 

ha ha no 1-arm yet!

I'm on a plateau right now, a real plateau, not a 2-day one

Press to HS is still more or less the same, sometimes I'll get 1 or 2 reps from standing but not consistently. It has been that way for a year. The only progress is that I don't need to warmup from as high as before. I'll take it....

With HSPUs, it seems I have a bit of a clumsy shoulder movement in retraction (I elevate the scapulae instead of keeping them depressed and using a lot more traps than I should). I'm struggling to make progress in bent arms and I have returned to the very basics because it has caused me some pain. So mostly pushups, band work and lots of scapular basic movements. Not exactly super exciting but I want to keep healthy shoulders.

And right now I'm working on my hips to progress on flags. I'm doing some block work these days as well (just balancing, no fancy stuff). And some ball and puppet HS when I feel like it.

Aerial is on stand by because of Covid. I do train a little at home but I think I lost the passion really. I will probably not book the course next year.

And I got a 10kg KB that I'm planning to use, well to learn KB basics, and hopefully help a bit with my shoulder-movement-funk situation.

 

So anyway, happy new Gregorian year 2020 has been pretty awful... I'm still kinda meh-ed about it, to put it lightly.  My father has recovered from his operation (prostate cancer). His blood analyses are much much better but still a wee bit over the red line. He will do another test in a month or so to check in what direction this is going. E and I are hoping Trump doesn't blast Iran just before he leaves... Apart from that... Touching wood...

 

I went back to a bit of drawing during the holiday. I took a 10 euros course on Domestika It was nice actually and relaxing.  I treated myself to an expensive set of Rotring isograph pens but they were really worth the investment. I have used fineliners before but this is clearly a different game. The flow is great even on acrylics. And the ink stays black. I also got white ink which really made it easier for highlights and stuff. Anyway it has kept me busy during the holidays. I made a project page on Domestika, I think it should be public. Nothing fancy, and some mistakes in shapes and all that but I enjoyed doing it and getting my hands dirty. I has been a while since I drew a little cartoon. Let's see if I can keep at it when work starts again (Monday). 

 

And voilà for an update

 

 

[Mad Hatter]

Yay you're back, I've been meaning to poke you! And happy new year to you too!

 

Sorry last year has been shit but I'm really glad your dad's recovering. 

 

Thanks for the giggle, I loved the cartoon! It looks great. Your cat studies are also super fun, you make nice shapes.