The Assassin's Path

[KB Girl]

On 5/10/2020 at 1:21 PM, @mu said:

Has your government given you any kind of assessment as to when you can open the gym again?

September 1st is the prediction right now.. but we are allowed to organise things outdoors, so i thought maybe your classes would move outdoors too.. oh well  

 

15 hours ago, @mu said:

I hope let's see. I'm not too sure about the idea of opening small schools first and assume that very young kids will follow the whole procedure, ie not touching each other, not touching their face and washing their hands and so on. Classes are supposed to get smaller but the amount of teachers has not increased.

I mostly worry about what this will do to the small kids.. it's completely unnatural. 

[@mu]

9 hours ago, KB Girl said:

September 1st is the prediction right now.. but we are allowed to organise things outdoors, so i thought maybe your classes would move outdoors too.. oh well  

 

Collective sport sessions are still not allowed. It could work maybe for one of the classes, but aerial stuff would be difficult with all the rigging and mats required for a full class. It could only be some form of conditioning on the floor. Those are the hardest! not sure I'd fancy that every week  

So it's a bit more than 3 months cancelled out, over 9 months of classes. I did not ask for a refund though. If that can go towards supporting teachers and all, please keep it.

 

Today was press to HS and I was a bit tired.

So usual warm-up with ball, Cirque Physio, bent arm stuff and some silks

Head in straight => working on the transition, only got 1

Press negs => not the best today

Press bottom holds => accumulated 45s on bench, I'm now trying to get 45s in fewer reps and then increase again to 60s.

I also did some presses at 8cm.

Hanging straddle leg raises to toes: 10 (bending a lot by the end but it's a nice round number )

And then block consistency: 5/10 but apart from a a few good ones, it was mostly a lot of crappy kick ups

Flagging: a bit on pbarz, a bit on blocks

 

I have been doing a lot of wall work recently and I'm a bit ambivalent about it. My kick up in free standing away from the wall has changed a bit. It's like I have fear again and I'm under kicking a lot (even considering some fatigue). I can see advantages though. Like I got longer holds quicker with head in (hard to practice free standing because of the hellish transition) and  when I tried head in away from the wall, I did not get that instinctive pike reflex (it came back after a few reps though). In flags, it's definitely a plus because now I'm much more aware of the rotation when trying free standing. But there is something going on in my brain about the wall (more of a mental thing I'd say but it's affecting the physical).

There is also still this parallette asymmetry issue that is starting to get on my nerves a little and is very likely affecting my kick up too. The new ones won't arrive before a few more weeks  

 

[Mad Hatter]

Brains are weird yo. 😄

[@mu]

On 5/12/2020 at 12:36 PM, Mad Hatter said:

Brains are weird yo. 😄

Totally.

 

My new parallettes arrived way earlier than expected, yesterday afternoon! Yihaa!

 

They are cute I'm sure you will see them on video soon enough

 

I tried them and bam! first thing I noticed: I started placing my right hand slightly further away than my left. And I felt my hips rotating a little as I was doing that – from the floor. It was very tiny but it was THERE. So weird. But now it's a bit more obvious.

 

I really hope wood will help my shoulders / arms / kick-up because it has been pretty annoying. Not that I mind the flexy feature of PVC (it's nice for balance once you get used to it) but flex asymmetry is pain in the butt shoulders.

 

They are very short (11cm, my current ones are 22cm), I haven't tried negative presses yet but I suspect it will be haaard!

And they are also quite light, I can lift them up while in handstand. Meaning I could work on floor rotations and walks (not handle walks like I was doing before, which are also interesting but a bit different). And... they are the perfect size to do walks from and to blocks. My head is getting full of little possible setups now he he

 

So a little work trip today, it was nice to get on the road and see a couple of colleagues (I miss them!) And get an actual look at the expensive chip cards I have been talking to recently. I broke my mobile phone screen though (fell off when I got out of the car). And quite badly. Just ordered a new one, I'll have to get it repaired though because I don't have the tools to change it myself.

 

And in the odd new-skin-problem series, I have started getting a skin reaction when I shower. My face becomes reddish all over the place and it takes about 1/2h to go away. The first time, I thought it was maybe because of detergent left over after cleaning the bath tube but not rinsing well enough. But no, just water will do it. It has a lot of limescale here but I don't know if it has gotten worse recently or not. Basically I have to avoid my face and wash it separately with purified water (I still get a bit reddish because it's hard to avoid some splashes).

I found some 97% pure bio aloe vera which helps (it can also itch a bit at first though, but sometimes not..., either way the freshness is really nice). And I need to get a hydrating cream my neighbour had me try and feels really good. It is a bit fat at first but it doesn't stay fat. And it's mostly an evening cream anyway. It's out of stock right now but I'm watching out.

 

And then I had an appointment with a dermatologist yesterday as well. A video appointment... Obviously I couldn't get all my beauty spots checked ... I will have to book for September (no in person appointment before that).

But from what she could see, the one I found a bit odd seems normal. And I got a prescription for my recent allergies (the one that comes after stress it seems, with big spots + that post-shower one that comes in flat patches rather than full 3D spots). And because my father had skin cancers removed, I'm advised to wear SPF 50+ sun cream (which I already have but sometimes I forget).

Then I can't remember if I talked about it here before, but I started getting a brownish spot on my forehead, to the side, about a year and a half go maybe, it started in Tehran. It's not a beauty spot at all, it's a hyper-pigmented area. Apparently it's related to hormonal changes. For that one I got a very expensive prescription (60 euros to renew 6 times) that is not even covered by my insurance. So nope, I did not get that one (I'd rather get a few parallettes and HS programmes lol). I don't care about the look (it's not harmful apparently, that's the only thing that matters as far as I am concerned). It has lightened up by itself recently anyway.

 

But so much skin stuff, lol. I honestly so much don't care most of the time, it's a lot to take It's a bit unfair because in Tehran with the pollution, yes I had to do something, it was getting worse and worse (itching, spots, crazy dryness). Here my skin has cleared up a lot. But now I have all these weird allergies I never had before. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's still the price of the pollution I'm paying and my skin has become super sensitive I don't know. Or maybe something about the food and water here. Maybe age? Womanhood evolution?

 

[WhiteGhost]

I'm excited to see all the new things you get up to with those new parallettes  

 

No clue about the skin stuff but I hope the medications clear it up for you

[@mu]

2 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

I'm excited to see all the new things you get up to with those new parallettes  

 

No clue about the skin stuff but I hope the medications clear it up for you

 

ha ha me too

cheers!

 

HSPU done, logged in challenge.

Horses stances 40s x4

Side split entries 5x4

 

So here are some split pics.

Spoiler

I only have a couple from 2017, when I was trying to see if using the silks would help

 

And today

 

 

 

HS entries + leg movement on my new parallettes, I really wanted to do more but shoulders were tired. And I'm  off to work!

 

[@mu]

Yesterday REST. Busy work day though and pretty tired today.

 

We brought our cat for a check up (vaccines and stuff) early this morning, and the vet started the procedure to get her registered in France. I'm not sure why he didn't do it last year... It took ages because he had to scan her rabbies certificate + the certificate issued by the Iranian Ministry of Agriculture + fill a quite long form, by the end of which his session had expired and he had to do it all over again... He submitted something but we are not sure it went through (no confirmation message). Admin is really hellish in this country in particular, seriously.

 

Then I went to the farmer market next door that has reopened. Now you have to follow a circuit, when you enter you get your hands sprayed with a cleaning gel. It felt odd really. Most people are wearing masks (I was also). It felt like a bit like an end of the world movie.

 

Press to HS session

Usual warmup but on my smaller pbarz + ball / Cirque Physio / silks stuff

Straddle and tuck entries + leg movement

Head in straight HS: worked on head transition back to wall, I got one that I could balance like 2 seconds, and I otherwise worked on holds when I failed the transition.

Negatives (L-sit, stalder): pretty tough on those small parallettes because my feet touch the floor no matter what, even flexed! So maybe for those I will keep working on the higher ones until I control them well enough and am ready to compress some more.

Press: mostly an evaluation session trying to figure out the right heights to use with my pile of books.  About 6 presses in all + 5 floats.

Block consistency: 3/10, just plain crap today, even the 5s+ holds were ugly

Flagging: with the new pbarz against the wall and I like that setup they are light and easier to move about, it makes the whole process a lot nicer. I'm still not going enough over my supporting shoulder but working on it.

 

[@mu]

yo today HSPU training, logged in challenge

Then Emmet's side split training

tailor pose in deficit 40sx5

side split entries 20reps

Some HS entries (straddle/tuck) with leg movement, but again pretty shaky after all those pike presses.

[KB Girl]

21 hours ago, @mu said:

Then I went to the farmer market next door that has reopened. Now you have to follow a circuit, when you enter you get your hands sprayed with a cleaning gel. It felt odd really. Most people are wearing masks (I was also). It felt like a bit like an end of the world movie.

I think I’d prefer that over the “everything is completely normal” vibe I’ve been getting around here..

 

I hope your skin improves, because having to be careful with your face while showering sounds extremely annoying! 

[Mad Hatter]

Splits are looking way better! 

 

Hope you can get the skin allergies under control. I don't seem to tolerate G&Ts anymore, which is very sad. My face gets really, really hot. On the last company AW yonks ago I had to put a bag of frozen berries on my face. 🙈

[@mu]

12 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

I had to put a bag of frozen berries on my face. 🙈

 

whatever works hey

 

Monday

 

Mix of flexibility (hips, shoulders, back) and HS (entries + leg movement, pike head in)

Pike head in was difficult, not sure if it's because of the pbarz upgrade, but I wasn't closing my pike enough so I started working on a head out / neutral seven instead.

I will stop doing Mexican work on Mondays, I have enough on my plate I think.

[@mu]

Tuesday

 

Press to HS

Warmup with bent arm series + ball + Cirque Physio + silks stuff

Entries: straddle/tuck + leg movement

Head in: transition in straight, and I got it!! followed by a 10s hold! On the first rep, then it started deteriorating but I got it one more time followed by a short hold, and then in a hold from wall entry I managed a wee tuck and back with head in

 

straight head in entry from the wall 20s hold => free standing head in transition 5s hold (10s)  /done

tuck head in entry from the wall 10s hold => tuck head in entry from the wall 20s hold

pike head in entry from the wall 10s hold => pike head in entry from the wall 20s hold

 

I'm done with tracking head in straight, I mean of course I'm not quite owning that movement yet, it's still shaky and inconsistent. I also have to reproduce it further away from the wall. But I'm getting the basics I think and I'm now entering a phase where I can start playing with it a bit without necessarily having to track time by the second.

 

Press negatives: I started on the bigger pbarz but the asymmetry got to me again and I went back to the smaller ones. On those it feels like I am 6 months / 1 year back in time because the floor is so much closer. But so be it. Compress or die

 

Press: not a lot of iso on that one, I just played at different heights again (I have enough iso and eccentrics in my life just right now ). I did pay attention to my puppy which started to show up a little bit again at about 8cm (like on my big pbarz). I will start again collecting iso time next session.

 

Block consistency: 4/10. First set was ok. On the second set, I don't know why, I started bending my arms during kick ups and that does not work....

Flagging on small pbarz:  tough, still working the shape

 

Nice session though, I enjoyed it, even if the start was better than the end.

Here is the head in video with my new cute pbarz

 

 

 

[Mad Hatter]

Very nice! Cute pbars too. 

[KB Girl]

Ohhh they're tiny!

It's awesome to see your arm working so hard

 

[@mu]

Quick update

 

Wednesday => Rest

Thursday => HSPU training (challenge log) – forgot Emmet's split training oops, but some HS entries

Friday => Rest

Saturday => low-key press to HS session because I was super tired and my eyes were killing me (long-sightedness has increased a lot during lockdown and this week has been terrible screen-wise)

Sunday => HSPU training (challenge log) + Emmet's split training (horse stance 40s x4 were MEAN) + HS entries + small routine (quite big S shape, tad bit tired by then I guess)

[@mu]

14 hours ago, KB Girl said:

It's awesome to see your arm working so hard

 

I find it interesting to see that my little "cubitus valgus" is starting to show more as I increase shoulder flexion

[@mu]

Monday

 

Well my uncle's funerals. It was difficult. It's usually hard for me to cry but I was a fountain. I certainly cried about a lot more things than just my uncle's death. I could see him before he was incinerated and it helped with some form of closure. I think I was also able to say good bye to Ghanimat in that moment, maybe it's a bit odd, but that's how it was because we weren't able to attend her funerals in Iran and we hadn't managed to have any kind of ritual ourselves to mark her passing.

It was good to see family even if the shared moment was rather tough. The covid situation was complicated really, and I can't say that we always respected distancing 100%... There was a city (or regional I can't remember) decree over night which meant we could be 50 at the church ceremony. It was strict about masks and sitting (2 people on a bench for 4, and every other bench empty).  Same in crematorium but they kept it at 20 people max.

 

Tuesday

 

Back in town. Work in the afternoon (a bit hard).

 

Wednesday

 

Press to HS session. Feeling a bit meh so not the greatest session but hey I did it.

 

Thursday

 

HSPU session (challenge log)

Emmet's split training:

Pissing dog bent leg 5s hold x6 each side  x3

Active side split +3kgs angle weight on each leg 10s hold x6 x3

HS entries + leg movement: straddle/tuck 2 sets

[@mu]

Friday => rest

Saturday => I slept a lot, I was just too tired to do anything, so I skipped press to HS

Sunday => HSPU training (challenge log)

I will take next week a bit easy to give myself time to recover physically / mentally.

[@mu]

Monday => flexibility (hips, shoulders, back) interspersed with HS (entries + leg movement, pike head in)

 

In pike HS, I managed a transition to head in and held 10s

 

straight head in entry from the wall 20s hold => free standing head in transition 5s hold (10s)  /done

tuck head in entry from the wall 10s hold => tuck head in entry from the wall 20s hold

pike head in entry from the wall 10s hold  => pike head in entry from the wall 20s hold => pike free standing head in transition 10s hold /done

 

I jumped over the 20s from wall entry progression. I will still need to practice for time on that one because my shape is a bit so so, I need to get use to it / build stability. So I'm "done" for that particular tick box (getting a workable transition) but of course nothing is really ever "done"

I'm left with getting it in tuck as well and then I can start working towards "Sasha classic" (a head-in sequence from HS factory).

 

 

 

[@mu]

Tuesday => press to HS session

As this week is deload-ish, I stripped my warm-up to the strict minimum, removed blocks and flags training, and it was nice. I might actually keep that format for press to HS during the week. More is not always better, and I can't do everything...

 

I hit a new PR on tuck head in from wall entry, I managed ~25s from a wall entry:

 

straight head in entry from the wall 20s hold => free standing head in transition 5s hold (10s)  /done

tuck head in entry from the wall 10s hold => tuck  head in entry from the wall 20s hold => free standing tuck head in transition 5s hold

pike head in entry from the wall 10s hold  => pike head in entry from the wall 20s hold => pike free standing head in transition 10s hold /done

 

After that I worked on the transition but it's difficult to get, more than pike where the weight of my legs is kinda helping with reaching a fuller shoulder flexion. I haven't found the key yet to unlock that transition in tuck.

 

Then I had some light bulb moment with negatives. L-sit I'm still touching the floor. To stalder, on my first attempt I bent my legs and touched the floor. Watching the video, I realised that the only reason my feet were touching was because I was bending... so next attempt, I kept my legs as straight as I could and it worked! Not fully controlled but I landed it! It's just a brain thing really because I CAN keep my legs straight. I suspect something similar in L-sit but I moved on to press. Which also felt good. A tiny puppy started coming up at about 6-7 cm and I fixed it. Then I was tired and stopped there.

Ha nope I tried to do hanging leg raises with my new ankle weights (3kgs each) and I barely made it to a L-sit (could not hold it). Stopping momentum when coming down was also a bit hard I just did 3 and couldn't be harassed to challenge myself further. It's deload week!

 

Here is a video log with tuck head in and negatives:

 

[KB Girl]

On 5/28/2020 at 8:25 AM, @mu said:

Monday

Well my uncle's funerals. It was difficult. It's usually hard for me to cry but I was a fountain. I certainly cried about a lot more things than just my uncle's death. I could see him before he was incinerated and it helped with some form of closure. I think I was also able to say good bye to Ghanimat in that moment, maybe it's a bit odd, but that's how it was because we weren't able to attend her funerals in Iran and we hadn't managed to have any kind of ritual ourselves to mark her passing.

That makes a lot of sense really! I'm glad you found some form of closure ❤️ 

 

On 5/31/2020 at 10:40 AM, @mu said:

Friday => rest

Saturday => I slept a lot, I was just too tired to do anything, so I skipped press to HS

Sunday => HSPU training (challenge log)

I will take next week a bit easy to give myself time to recover physically / mentally.

Wish you the best recovery week! 

Nice light bulb moment already

 

[@mu]

Thanks

 

Wednesday => REST

 

Thursday => HSPU training in deload mode (challenge log) + Emmet's split training (bent leg pissing dog + weighted active side splits)

 

[Mad Hatter]

I'm really glad you got to say goodbye. 

 

You're looking soooo strong in those handstands! I can definitely see a levelup!

[@mu]

On 6/4/2020 at 7:20 PM, Mad Hatter said:

You're looking soooo strong in those handstands! I can definitely see a levelup!

 

Oh that's cool! Thanks!

 

Friday => rest

 

Saturday => press to HS, in deload mode but I was still super tired! Maybe I still did too much during this deload. It's a bit odd. Anyway the usual. I managed one transition to head-in straight HS away from the wall with a 10+ hold but it happened only once.

 

  

On 4/15/2020 at 8:23 AM, @mu said:

HS warm-up: tuck and straddle entries with leg movement, while moving in tuck I had this idea of doing a puppet show with my feet (filming from the back). But I need to find some feet decoration and makeup (like a wig for hair, draw a face).

 

So this has been running as a background thread in my head for a while now and I have started thinking about actually implementing something

 

I'm planning to reconvert long socks into puppets. I've already seen some interesting YouTube tutorials for hand puppets but I will have to adjust for my feet obviously (in HS, the way I want to do it, the puppet face should be on the back of my foot).

 

Here is a little POC with cut-outs:

 

The problem is that the mouth is not super stable. When using hands, you can control it. I won't be able to do that with my feet, which is not a big deal but if I move my feet a lot, the mouth will start dropping on one side. I will need to fix it on some kind of inner sole or something. There is some serious engineering to get on with

But I think there is good potential here, I might be onto something. At least, I got the cat's attention  

 

 

[@mu]

I fixed the unstable mouth bit with an inner sole. BUT. There are some things to solve still....

 

First it's pretty hard to kick up with a puppet on the sole of your foot... and to do so without destroying the puppet.... (and imagine bailing with the puppet...)

 

Second, while in HS, I have to bring my foot quite a bit over my back for the part above the mouth to be visible (I'm planning to have eyes, hair and stuff )..

This is how it looks like on a first attempt:

 

 

Not bad. But not quite there yet. And in a normal straight position you only see the underlip of the puppet's mouth pretty much. It's not exactly what I want. I'd like the face to be fairly visible from the most common HS positions otherwise it will be very limiting.

 

Maybe I could stick the mouth just under my heel instead. The heel itself would be the face. And the upper foot would make a big hat/wig (think Marge Simpson) that I could move back and forth by flexing the foot....

 

And here is some actual feet puppetry:

 

 

 

She mostly keeps her puppet leg bent. HS or not, if the sole is the face, you have to bend the leg...

Unless I go for that heel position.. which would also help with the kick-up safety issue too...

 

I have to try stuff out!