PaulG Finishes All Those Goals From Last Challenge

[PaulG]

14 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

This sounds like what you should be shooting for.  They are consumed with the shell, which has been deep fried to a nice crunchiness.  I don't have a particular recipe, but I found this one that looks pretty standard

 

 

It's all in Chinese though.  

  Reveal hidden contents

 

The aromatics used are:

Ginger (minced)

Onion (sliced)

Green Peppers (sectioned)

Red peppers (small pieces)

Garlic (minced)

 

Throw the shrimp into oil at medium heat, pull them out when they have floated to the top

 

Heat up oil in a pan and throw in:

Sichuan peppercorns

aromatics

stir until fragrant and then add the shrimp back in

a pinch or salt

a pinch of sugar

a pinch of chicken or mushroom bullion powder (WeiJing)

a spatula of cooking alcohl

a spatula of soy sauce

salt & pepper to taste

 

 

Awesome! So this is river shrimp? It looks delicious, and thank you for typing out the finer points!

 

When you do this kind of dish, do you buy your shrimp live? Seattle has a better seafood chain than most, but since head-on shrimp tend to go pasty fast once they’re dead, I usually see them being sold live in tanks at my local Chinese market. Oddly, I’ve never cooked live seafood, so the idea’s a little intimidating...

 

10 hours ago, Epsilonte said:

 

I think THESE kinds of interactions are alywas difficult, even if they're not just the first interactions after a year of pandemic... And you seemed to manage them wonderfully. Well done!!

 

9 hours ago, Jarric said:

 

Nah, this challenge is about life. Well done on dealing calmly with your neighbours, that's a difficult situation at the best of times.

 

Thank you! It’s a new skill for me, I suppose. I guess I’m not the only one who spent my twenties with the attitude that if a neighbor got loud occasionally, me being chill was just paying it forward so they wouldn’t complain about any parties or noises from me.
 

9 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Cool! It's really neat that you're applying some of the ideas and that they're effective. For me one of the biggest takeaways has been that frustration is a prerequisite, not a hindrance, for effective learning (in adults). I heard about it in a different podcast, but he's talking more about it in the latest one. I'm also intrigued by the whole thing about balance and neuroplasticity (since I used to do so many weird things with my body haha) but I have to go back to that episode. They're really rather dense, more like lectures than podcasts and it's hard to concentrate for that long.

 

You’re right, they are basically 1-1.5 hour college-ish-level lectures. I keep fading in and out when I try to do other things while listening... I’ve started saving the podcasts for walking breaks and time after work, when I can really sit down and attend to it.

 

His last one on frustration, balance, and neuroplasticity was especially dense, I’ve had to listen to it three times now. I actually took notes that I was planning on posting here for posterity, because I think I’ll be making use of a lot of these ideas next challenge.

 

Spoiler

• Although the concept of a “flow state” is not well-understood, Huberman’s position is that flow is a very different state from the neural plasticity that creates extremely effective learning. Flow is an expression of doing the things you already know how to do well.
• Flow implies relaxation.
• The key to accelerated plasticity in learning is frustration and autonomic arousal.
• Particularly for motor learning, the trigger for neural plasticity is making errors when trying to perform a repetitive motion, to the point of getting frustrated. The frustration is a sign that the feedback of making errors has released epinephrine and acetocholine, which triggers the nervous system to become plastic to whatever you’re working on.
• Takeaway: the worst thing you can do is quit at a learning session when you start to get frustrated. You will learn much faster if you drill into the skill past frustration for a little while.
• After the point of frustration, ideally you would continue to drill into those errors for about 10 - 100 more trials. A good overall time target for a bout of learning like this would be 7 - 30 minutes.
• In adults, generating a large amount of plasticity in a single learning session is much more difficult. However, you can “stack” sessions in order to get much faster plasticity: learning smaller-scale skills in each session, but performing a lot of sessions over time.
• A lot of plasticity is triggered when you engage your brain in stressful learning where the reward is of paramount importance: for example, learning to hunt for food when you have no other way to eat.
• The release of dopamine in the brain also increases plasticity.
  • Dopamine is released when we attain a goal — find food, have sex, win a game — but it’s also released in smaller amounts when we feel we’re closer to attaining a goal, even if we haven’t reached it yet. The dopamine release motivates us to keep working toward the end goal.
  • Since the feeling of being closer to a goal is at least partially subjective, we have some degree of subjective control over its release. You can release a small amount of dopamine into your brain simply by telling yourself that what you’re doing is good and moving you forward, as long as your feeling has some degree of authenticity.
  • This starts to suggest a synergistic practice of learning. If you are willing to work through errors past the point of frustration (epinephrine/acetocholine) and you take the errors and frustration as a good thing that will help you reach your goals (dopamine), you are priming yourself maximally for plasticity.
• Vestibular system — engaging in novel vestibular stimuli releases neuromodulators in large amounts
  • Key to this is when the body’s proprioceptive feedback senses a novel relationship to gravity than what it’s used to. Therefore, doing handstands for someone that’s not used to handstands is highly conducive to plasticity — doing handstands for @raptron is less conducive (sorry Raptron)
• Adults tend to engage in a lot less novel movement than children. How much of the child-adult difference in neuroplasticity is because of behavior changes rather than aging itself?
• This starts to suggest the bare outlines of a practical method to increase plasticity when learning a skill:
• Ensure the right level of stress (calm, but alert) > Disrupt the vestibular system > make errors, get frustrated, keep pushing through and continue to make errors for a short while longer.

If you made it through all those notes, you have my sympathy

On Tuesday and Thursday this week, I ran a couple trials of this practice of making errors to learn a vault I’ve actually never seriously tried before, and never succeeded in performing: the Thief Vault.

 

The thief vault is closely related to the lazy vault, a vault I’ve been performing for years. However, there is an important difference: where in the lazy you start by standing on your outside leg (the leg furthest from the obstacle) and swinging your inside leg up; in the thief, you enter the vault by swinging up your outside leg. This changes the motion more than you might expect, and my brain has always gotten tripped up easily, suddenly tricking me into swinging the wrong leg at the last moment and tripping over myself.

 

Both vaults, by the way, are known to be tricky. Although a lot of people think of them as sort of boring, basic stuff, they’re the sort of move that’s easy to learn early, take a lot of time to master, and unlock a lot of versatility/flow once you really embed them in your movement instincts.

 

On Tuesday, I first started with some basic rail balance drills and a wrist warmup, then jumped (har har) right into basic progressions for the thief — on a rail, since I don’t have easy access to a waist-high wall. The total learning bout was 13 minutes. Since I was screwing up the motion pretty much from the start, I felt myself getting frustrated and my heart rate increasing right away. Toward the end I started to get the full vault; when the timer went off, I walked away pretty happy with my progress.

 

Thursday’s bout was longer, 20 minutes. I noticed that after a rep or two of progressions up to the vault to warm up, putting my foot down on the rail, I clicked back in very quickly to where I’d left off two days earlier. This time, it took me longer to start making errors and get agitated; since I was already performing the vault in a basic sort of sense, I had to get more discerning about what I considered an error, so I focusing on trying to nail exact footwork and positioning. The agitation hit about 10 minutes in; I kept working on different iterations of the vault, until my performance started really deteriorating and I clipped my ankle or knee on the rail a few times.
 

When the timer went off, I walked away this time a little more frustrated, since I’d only felt a big improvement in the last quarter of my practice, followed by a dive. But I am trying to keep in mind that as Hatter said, me walking away a bit pissed off is a good thing and will hopefully drive improvement going forward.

[Mike Wazowski]

Oh dang, way to apply what you're learning to getting better at Parkour stuff. Loved the summary of the podcast as well, immediately got my juices flowing on how to apply it to dance practices in the future.

[Epsilonte]

Thanks for the lecture notes!! Makes me really want to listen to that podcast as well, I just added it to my queue.

 

Love your description of learning the Thief vault. Sounds like a solid learning progression.  

[KB Girl]

I also appreciate the notes (even if I'm not 100% following) because I certainly don't have the attention span for lectures these days. It's an interesting topic! 

As a trainer/coach I have noticed that when someone walks away from a training session somewhat frustrated after working on something for a while and not quite getting it, that sometimes they come in the next day and suddenly nail it. 

 

On 2/19/2021 at 9:23 AM, Mad Hatter said:

Cool! It's really neat that you're applying some of the ideas and that they're effective. For me one of the biggest takeaways has been that frustration is a prerequisite, not a hindrance, for effective learning (in adults). I heard about it in a different podcast, but he's talking more about it in the latest one. I'm also intrigued by the whole thing about balance and neuroplasticity (since I used to do so many weird things with my body haha) but I have to go back to that episode. They're really rather dense, more like lectures than podcasts and it's hard to concentrate for that long.

I've noticed in both my kids that they get extremely frustrated two or three days before finally learning something new (rolling, crawling, etc). 

[Mad Hatter]

On 2/19/2021 at 8:13 PM, PaulG said:

If you made it through all those notes, you have my sympathy

The notes are great! One thing that I personally found particularly interesting is also that you can trigger plasticity with one activity and use that for learning other things. And maybe worth adding is that the last step of the method for learning should ideally be to sleep or rest deeply (or at least not doing something negative or stressful straight after).

 

On 2/19/2021 at 8:13 PM, PaulG said:

• • Key to this is when the body’s proprioceptive feedback senses a novel relationship to gravity than what it’s used to. Therefore, doing handstands for someone that’s not used to handstands is highly conducive to plasticity — doing handstands for @raptron is less conducive (sorry Raptron)

I actually wonder if that's true or not. Maybe handstands are less conducive for plasticity than for a complete newbie, but, unless you're a true pro I'd theorize that handstands are in fact ideal for triggering plasticity.

• They're often extremely frustrating.
• You have to celebrate every little mini win otherwise you'd give up straight away. 
• It might not look like it from an outside perspective, but each day and each handstand has its own unique problems to solve.
• There are many many small errors to correct.
• They demand a huge amount of focus.
• The shifts against gravity might be subtle, but they're constant. And even in long training sessions, your actual upside down time is going to be extremely low relative to your every day life upright time.

Maybe something like rolls would be a better example, a beginner might find them extremely disorientating, but once you've done a few you can do them in your sleep. 

 

18 hours ago, KB Girl said:

I've noticed in both my kids that they get extremely frustrated two or three days before finally learning something new (rolling, crawling, etc). 

That's really interesting. I wonder if that happens because they're trying to learn something actively? A huge amount of learning happens passively at that age and presumably that doesn't come with the same level of agitation...  

 

On 2/19/2021 at 8:13 PM, PaulG said:

On Tuesday and Thursday this week, I ran a couple trials of this practice of making errors to learn a vault I’ve actually never seriously tried before, and never succeeded in performing: the Thief Vault.

I learned them both at the same time, basically as variations. I wonder if that made it less confusing to learn.

 

On 2/19/2021 at 8:13 PM, PaulG said:

When the timer went off, I walked away this time a little more frustrated, since I’d only felt a big improvement in the last quarter of my practice, followed by a dive. But I am trying to keep in mind that as Hatter said, me walking away a bit pissed off is a good thing and will hopefully drive improvement going forward.

Don't forget to give yourself pats on the back too for that sweet sweet dopamine release.  

[KB Girl]

2 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

23 hours ago, KB Girl said:

 

That's really interesting. I wonder if that happens because they're trying to learn something actively? A huge amount of learning happens passively at that age and presumably that doesn't come with the same level of agitation...  

Quite possibly, they’re definitely working the problem. Though I think baby’s aren’t as passive as you’d think. 

[Mad Hatter]

1 minute ago, KB Girl said:

Quite possibly, they’re definitely working the problem. Though I think baby’s aren’t as passive as you’d think. 

Not saying that babies are passive, but that small children (not only babies) can learn a lot passively, like languages for example. Adults have to actively work and expend effort in order to reshape their brains to learn. Children reshape their brains simply through existing in this world, as part of the process of finishing their brains. The point is not that babies or children are passive, but that the process of learning is very different in children and adults. Learning in children is on a whole other level! (On the flip side, because their brains are so plastic they also forget most of what they learn.)

[PaulG]

Ohey, I guess I napped a little too much this weekend!

 

On 2/19/2021 at 3:51 PM, Epsilonte said:

Thanks for the lecture notes!! Makes me really want to listen to that podcast as well, I just added it to my queue.

 

Love your description of learning the Thief vault. Sounds like a solid learning progression.  

 

On 2/19/2021 at 12:02 PM, Mike Wazowski said:

Oh dang, way to apply what you're learning to getting better at Parkour stuff. Loved the summary of the podcast as well, immediately got my juices flowing on how to apply it to dance practices in the future.

 

Thxthxthx, I'm curious to see how your listening/experiments go!

 

On 2/20/2021 at 11:52 AM, KB Girl said:

I also appreciate the notes (even if I'm not 100% following) because I certainly don't have the attention span for lectures these days. It's an interesting topic! 

As a trainer/coach I have noticed that when someone walks away from a training session somewhat frustrated after working on something for a while and not quite getting it, that sometimes they come in the next day and suddenly nail it. 

 

Thanks! I was thinking the notes might not be perfectly easy to follow, sadly -- that episode builds on a bunch of concepts from earlier episodes that I kind of glossed over when jotting stuff down. Things like the roles of a few different neuromodulators, some of the barebones stuff on how plasticity in the brain works, what the hell autonomic arousal is -- it was a little too much to go into while listening. 😅

 

On 2/21/2021 at 11:53 AM, KB Girl said:

Quite possibly, they’re definitely working the problem. Though I think baby’s aren’t as passive as you’d think. 

 

I think that was another thing the episode went into that I didn't note down much -- though children work problems actively all the time, apparently their brains are better-primed to change simply by being exposed to experience. Focus and agitation is probably helpful for them too, but it's not required the way it is for adults. Apparently, once we hit the age of 25 or so plasticity slows to a crawl in general, except when it's triggered by a high level of focus, or by extremely stressful/traumatic experiences.

 

On 2/21/2021 at 9:43 AM, Mad Hatter said:

I actually wonder if that's true or not. Maybe handstands are less conducive for plasticity than for a complete newbie, but, unless you're a true pro I'd theorize that handstands are in fact ideal for triggering plasticity.

 

That is a really interesting set of points, and a good question overall. I'd actually been thinking about the same question, in the context of my balance drills for parkour. Balancing on something like a railing has a lot of the same characteristics, including the very real possibility of falling (which Huberman seems to believe strongly activates plasticity). It would be really interesting to see some studies with these sorts of protocols run on somewhat-trained subjects to see what happens -- does the same sort of highly balance-dependent activity keep generating the same level of plasticity as long as there's a possibility of falling? At what point does it start to taper off, or stop entirely?

 

On 2/21/2021 at 9:43 AM, Mad Hatter said:

I learned them both at the same time, basically as variations. I wonder if that made it less confusing to learn.

 

Man, I wish. Maybe it's a weakness of our curriculum; I was taught it, but it was always thrown in at the tail-end of lessons that primarily focused on the lazy, like "oh, and here's this other variation you can try too." It led me to neglect it without really realizing that it was hampering my ability to improvise (needing to take an extra surprise step just to pull off a lazy at the right moment is super annoying). I should have been drilling it all along.

 

--

 

I don't have the energy for a full Week 1 recap, I'll do that TOMORROW at the latest. But here's the highlights:

 

- I had to throw out a half-gallon batch of Persian cucumber pickles that grew a TON of kahm yeast, got mushy, and started tasting cheesy in a bad way at about the 2-week mark. In the PaulG Household, this is considered a great tragedy.

 

- Saturday, I sharpened my knives, slivered some pork, and made Yuxiang Rousi. I never used to be one to enjoy celery, but when I made this version with Chinese broccoli, I realized I missed the fresh taste of it. You don't realize how well it plays off the chiles and vinegar until it ain't there.

 

- On Sunday, during parkour class, our focus for the day was working on our ability to see "lines" in our environment: we were asked to find a slice of the park to create a flow consisting of three movements, the second being a move we hate or have trouble with. I was playing with a nice line on a rail, flowing from a thief vault to a reverse underbar, and then a dive roll under the rail. Everything was going great until I smacked the shit out of my right heel on the underside of the rail. It was painful enough that I had to stop practice, and I couldn't walk without a limp until this morning. Because of the point strike, I was worried maybe I'd bruised or damaged my Achilles tendon; but my ankle motion appears totally fine. I have a nasty-looking ring-shaped hematoma around the lower half of my calcaneus, though. And it's still a bit swollen.

 

- Today, on an overdue lunch break shopping trip, I hit up my local Persian/Indo-Pak market and grabbed another fistful of dill and a bunch of Kirby cukes. My batch of fallen pickles cannot be saved, but they WILL BE AVENGED.

 

- I am super behind on workout log updates, so let's just dump them all in a spoiler to get me caught up:

 

Spoiler

Workout Log 2/6/21

Warmup

 

Pushups: 4^a-e, 6^a-e, 6^a-e

 

(Hybrid Set) Pistol Squats: 3/3^a-e, 5/5^a-e, 5/5^a-x

(Hybrid Set) Deep Step-Ups: 6/6^a-e, 6/6^a-x, 6/6^a-x

 

Prone Os: 5^b-x, 4^b-y, 5^a-y

Wall Slides: 5^b-x, 5^a-x, 5^b-y, 2^b-y

Sidelying ExR+OHP: 5/5^b-x, 4/4^b-x, 5/5^b-y

 

Compression Work: 4x10s

 

Cooldown

 

 

Workout Log 2/9/21

Warmup

 

Pushups: 6^b-e, 6^a-e, 7^a-e

 

(Hybrid Set) Pistol Squats: 4/4^a-e, 6/6^a-e, 5/5^a-x

(Hybrid Set) Deep Step-Ups: 7/7^a-e, 6/6^a-x, 6/6^a-x

 

Prone Os: 5^b-x, 4^b-y, 5^a-y

Wall Slides: 5^b-x, 5^a-x, 5^b-y, 2^b-y

Sidelying ExR+OHP: 5/5^b-x, 4/4^b-x, 5/5^b-y

 

Compression Work: 4x10s

 

Cooldown

 

 

Workout Log 2/11/21

Warmup

 

Pushups: 4^b-e, 6^b-e, 8^a-e

 

Pistol Squats: 4/4^a-e, 6/6^a-x, 6/6^a-x

 

Ring Rows: 6^a-e, 7^a-x, 8^a-x

 

Assisted Natural Hamstring Curls: 4^b-x, 6^a-y, 3^b-y

 

Prone Os: 5^b-x, 5^b-x, 5^a-y

Wall Slides: 4^b-x, 5^a-x, 4^a-y, 4^b-y

Sidelying ExR+OHP: 4/4^b-x, 4/4^a-x, 5/5^b-y

 

 

Compression Work: 4x10s

 

Cooldown

 

 

Workout Log 2/13/21

Warmup

 

(Superset A) Pushups: 5^b-e, 5^b-e

(Superset A) Pistol Squats: 5/5^a-e, 6/6^a-x, 6/6^a-x

 

(Superset Deep Step-Ups: 4/4^a-e, 6/6^a-x, 6/6^a-x

(Superset Ring Rows: 6^b-e, 6^a-x

 

Prone Os: 6^b-x, 5^b-y, 6^a-y

Wall Slides: 5^b-y, 5^a-x, 4^a-y

Sidelying ExR+OHP: 5/5^a-x, 5/5^a-y, 5/5^b-y

 

 

Compression Work: 4x10s

 

Cooldown

 

Workout Log 2/16/21

 

Warmup

 

(Superset A) Pushups: 6^b-e, 6^a-e

(Superset A) Pistol Squats: 6/6^a-e, 5/5^b-x, 6/6^a-x

- A new benchmark for A-level form in these: a slow drop in the last few inches as I go into the hole. I have been dropping a little on the fast side with these, and thinking the sort of ballistic negative might be too hard on my knees. Hopefully slowing the reps a bit will sacrifice a little volume for strength and knee health.

 

(Superset Deep Step-Ups: 6/6^a-x, 6/6^a-x, 6/6^a-x

(Superset Ring Rows: 6^b-e, 6^a-x

 

Prone Os: 7^b-x, 7^b-y, 8^b-y

Wall Slides: 6^b-x, 6^b-y, 7^a-y

Sidelying ExR+OHP: 6/6^a-x, 5/5^b-x, 5/5^b-y

 

Compression Work: 4x10s

 

Cooldown

 

 

Workout Log 2/18/21

Warmup

 

Pistol Squats: 6/6^a-e, 5/0^a-x

 

Prone Os: 7^a-x, 7^b-x, 6^b-y

Wall Slides: 7^b-x, 6^a-x, 7^a-y

Sidelying ExR+OHP: 6/6^a-x, 5/5^a-x, 6/6^a-y

 

Compression Work: 4x10s

 

Cooldown

 

 

Workout Log 2/20/21

Warmup

 

(Superset A) Pushups: 6^a-x, 9^b-e

- Before each set of pushups, I did a quick activation set of 2 wall slides, which really improved my ability to use my lower trap effectively. Somehow, it also made the movement in my shoulders waaaay more symmetrical, which I've been having trouble with ever since the injury in December.

(Superset A) Pistol Squats: 6/6^a-x, 7/7^a-x, 7/7^a-x

 

(Superset Asst. Natural Hamstring Curls: 5^a-x, 4^a-y

(Superset Ring Rows: 6^b-e, 6^a-x

 

Prone Os: 7^b-x, 7^b-y, 8^b-y

Wall Slides: 6^b-x, 6^b-y, 7^a-y

Sidelying ExR+OHP: 6/6^a-x, 5/5^b-x, 5/5^b-y

- The last few sets of these still feel hard, but the lower trap contraction is feeling waaaaay way better.

 

Compression Work: 4x10s

 

Cooldown

 

[Mike Wazowski]

12 hours ago, PaulG said:

Thxthxthx, I'm curious to see how your listening/experiments go!

So far, I've experimented with a light viewing schedule and I'm pretty sure I'm getting good results (it's also giving me new ways to mess around with my smart lights, which may or may not have any real effect but it's a fun toy to play with). Definitely the type of podcast I have to listen to in the right mindset, as y'all have mentioned.

 

Food porn is delicious looking, as always!

 

And I don't know your exact situation / progression scheme, but that *looks* like some real progress on the build up from the shoulder injury, which is awesome to see!

 

[raptron]

Sorry about your lost pickles.  Nasty bruises are SO ANNOYING, but I'm glad it wasn't anything more serious for ya. I read your notes on that podcast and I guess I never replied -- lol -- but I did absorb it and was sharing the tidbit about frustration to some of my gymnastics friends who were very amused -- "MY BRAIN MUST BE SOOOOO PLASTIC"

[PaulG]

6 hours ago, Mike Wazowski said:

So far, I've experimented with a light viewing schedule and I'm pretty sure I'm getting good results (it's also giving me new ways to mess around with my smart lights, which may or may not have any real effect but it's a fun toy to play with). Definitely the type of podcast I have to listen to in the right mindset, as y'all have mentioned.

 

Food porn is delicious looking, as always!

 

And I don't know your exact situation / progression scheme, but that *looks* like some real progress on the build up from the shoulder injury, which is awesome to see!

 

 

The progression is pretty simple: "how sore is this freaking body part today? Can I eke out another rep or two before my arm starts to flop around like a pool noodle?"

 

It's been frustrating, having to hang back on the strength stuff I enjoy. And I'm still having the occasional day where the glenohumeral joint feels sore to palpation or a touch aggravated.  But it's definitely improving.

 

I'm glad the light viewing experiment is giving you something to chew on! I found it hard to tell for a while if it made a difference, or if it was just a form of observer effect. I did eventually see a real week-to-week change in how early and easily I got to sleep, though. I'm curious to see what you find!

 

6 hours ago, raptron said:

Sorry about your lost pickles.  Nasty bruises are SO ANNOYING, but I'm glad it wasn't anything more serious for ya. I read your notes on that podcast and I guess I never replied -- lol -- but I did absorb it and was sharing the tidbit about frustration to some of my gymnastics friends who were very amused -- "MY BRAIN MUST BE SOOOOO PLASTIC"

 

WHEN THE MOVEMENTS GET SPASTIC, THE BRAIN GETS PLASTIC

 

[Mike Wazowski]

1 hour ago, PaulG said:

The progression is pretty simple: "how sore is this freaking body part today? Can I eke out another rep or two before my arm starts to flop around like a pool noodle?"

Ah, my favorite progression scheme!

 

1 hour ago, PaulG said:

I'm glad the light viewing experiment is giving you something to chew on! I found it hard to tell for a while if it made a difference, or if it was just a form of observer effect. I did eventually see a real week-to-week change in how early and easily I got to sleep, though. I'm curious to see what you find!

Oh yes, it's very possible that it's a placebo and/or awareness thing. But I'm pretty sure that Sunday evening, the first day I implemented a conscious light color temperature and intensity ramp down scheme, was also the first night in a long while where I was able to fall asleep easily without using netflix as a digital pacifier.

[PaulG]

2 hours ago, Mike Wazowski said:

Oh yes, it's very possible that it's a placebo and/or awareness thing. But I'm pretty sure that Sunday evening, the first day I implemented a conscious light color temperature and intensity ramp down scheme, was also the first night in a long while where I was able to fall asleep easily without using netflix as a digital pacifier.

 

That is a freaking good first result, nice! Smart lights are a good idea, I should probably invest in them after I move... my system for ramping down light levels in the evening has been limited to systems like "flipping switches", and in some cases "partially unscrewing light bulbs." 😂

 

--

 

Second PT visit today! I have to admit, I'm really impressed, it's abundantly clear she knows what she's doing. If you ever find yourself stranded in Seattle with a joint problem and a hunger for kinesiology knowledge, feel free to look up Emily Scherb, DPT.

 

Findings from the visit:

• What I was observing is basically confirmed. The left lower trap is contracting much more readily than it was three weeks ago, and it's sustaining a contraction much longer. However, it IS still weak compared to the right.
• My shoulder mobility in deep flexion (overhead) is not amazing if I'm forced to keep my shoulders externally rotated. It was hard to spot on my own before, but if I push fully overhead, my elbows flare out. If my arms aren't allowed to internally rotate whatsoever, they get to about 160 degrees and then hit a brick wall.
• After an activation set focused on the lower trap and serratus anterior, I'm now able to do pushups and pike presses with little to no trouble, and I've been cleared to work those into my workout. In fact, pike presses are now prescribed as part of my PT. All my other exercises have been modified to help with more flexion ROM.
• I was encouraged to finally get around to reading Shirley Sahrmann's books (if I can, apparently they're very dense reads). I swear, I'll do it once Explain Pain is in the rearview!

Workout Log 2/23/21

- Going In: Shoulders are only mildly sore -- they've had some DOMS for the last couple of days before today -- but my feet are still both pretty worn out. The left is my old foot sprain, still feeling stressed from last week's training and thief vault intensives; the right is just my gross-ass heel bruise, still making me walk with a slight limp when I first wake up in the morning. Decided to play it safe and cut leg work for the day. Since my workout effectively started in the PT office, I tracked the testing and new exercises I did in the office and put them down as the first set of each one.

 

No Warmup (I'm a bad person today)

 

Pushups: 6^a-x, 8^a-e, 9^b-x

 

Knee Pike Press: 4^a-x, 3^b-x, 2.5^b-y

 

Ring Rows: 6^b-e, 7^a-x

 

Prone O Extensions: 5^b-x, 7^b-y

Wall Slide & Flex: 3^b-x, 3^b-x, 3^b-x

Standing Wall ExR+OHP: 6/6^a-x

Knuckle Wall Angels: 3^a-x, 1^a-x

 

Cooldown

 

Uh, what else... shall we wrap up Week 1?

 

Spoiler

1) Improve my living situation: Inspection passed, and I did a pile of research on other potential apartments if my current complex won't work with me on price.

Next Steps for Week 2: Look at a prospective place or two to get a better idea of my other options, and finally open negotiations on rent price with my current apartment.

 

2) Finally write that plan: I spent two evenings doing some loose writing/brainstorming on potential goals for my 2021 plan, and I also wrote out some rough sketches month-by-month of what I will focus on physically (basically a super-bare-bones bulking/cutting calendar).

Next Steps for Week 2: Mold my brainstormed goals into something SMART, something I can track, with planned deadlines. Drill down the bulking/cutting calendar into a week-by-week outline.

 

3) Stretch while watching TV or Youtube on non-workout days: Non-workout days are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Results: 2/3.  

 

4) Write the master workout plan: Yeah, I didn't do anything on this. I have ideas in the brainpan, but nothing written down.

Next Steps for Week 2: Write out my plan for warmup and skill work. Write down where I'm at currently in strength progressions for all movement planes, and project out two or three progression steps for each one.

 

BONUS GOAL: Finish the book Explain Pain. Erm. I only buckled down and read any of this one evening out of all seven days. Next Steps for Week 2: Sit down each evening, set a timer for 5 minutes, and read at least until the timer goes off.

 

And finally, some belated Week 1 highlights:

 

- Friday I hung out with a friend and we made risotto for the very first time, based on Kenji's recipe. Despite the fact we each grew up in families that were either full-on Italian-American (hers) or obsessed with Italian cooking (mine), we still effed it up, overcooked the rice and over-thickened the broth, and it came out... well, there's no word for it other than "gluey". Luckily, it turned out that's exactly the way we both remembered it from our childhoods, so where we fell short in artful execution, we made up in nostalgia.

 

- Sunday I finally gave into a craving I've nursed for days, and I made the tiniest batch of biscuits I've ever seen.*

 

*This is what a 1/3 batch of the linked biscuit recipe looks like. They baked up great in that

eighth-sheet pan -- I was worried they'd spread out in a wider pan, instead of rising.

 

I had already been planning to plop some scrambled eggs on top, but in the latest of many strange moments of brain-sharing I've had with Kenji's Youtube channel, I woke up that morning and found that the evening before, he'd posted a video on exactly that subject. On a lark, I decided to watch it while nursing my pre-breakfast coffee. I was glad I did: he demonstrated a highly interesting technique of beating a small amount of cornstarch slurry into the eggs, which helps them retain moisture and stay tender  -- even if you're a little absentminded, or using too high a heat, and overcook them a bit. I was a little skeptical, thinking it might make the eggs a little jelly-like. But I figured it was worth giving a college try, so I threw in the suggested cornstarch slurry in along with a generous grating of Pecorino.

 

It did affect the texture, but it didn't take it into an unpleasant realm. In fact, the texture was still very much you'd expect from a scrambled egg, not disconcerting at all; it was just an exceptionally tender scrambled egg. What I'm saying is the cornstarch thing is a keeper, and you should 100% try it.

 

[KB Girl]

Thanks for the cornstarch tip, I think I will try that. I love eggs, can't have too many ways to make them. 

Still really glad your PT experience is working out so well yay for the improvements! 

[Mike Wazowski]

Immediately added trying the cornstarch tip and that biscuit recipe to one of my upcoming weekends, tbd which one.

 

Also, woohoo on the goals front! Can’t wait til we get to see the final plan (assuming we get to see it).

[PaulG]

8 hours ago, KB Girl said:

Thanks for the cornstarch tip, I think I will try that. I love eggs, can't have too many ways to make them. 

Still really glad your PT experience is working out so well yay for the improvements! 

 

Me too! Hope the cornstarch thing works out for you too. If you/Mike are interested, Chinese Cooking Demystified came to a similar cornstarch method independently when they did a piece on Cantonese-style scrambled eggs. I haven't tried that specific recipe yet, but... you know. Next time there's some char siu kicking around the house...

 

5 hours ago, Mike Wazowski said:

Immediately added trying the cornstarch tip and that biscuit recipe to one of my upcoming weekends, tbd which one.

 

Also, woohoo on the goals front! Can’t wait til we get to see the final plan (assuming we get to see it).

 

Even better than the recipe itself is the patting-and-folding method of creating a flaky dough, which is in the accompanying article. I grew up full Yankee, though, so I don't know how traditional that method is. But it makes damn good biscuits.

 

Final plan will definitely be posted!

 

--

 

I forgot a couple of points from PT -- mainly that I've given my bout of strength training in September through November a lot of thought. I am pretty sure, from a shoulder muscle balance perspective, I went about it somewhat harebrained. I was skittish about adding in overhead pushing work, because of its reputation for exacerbating shoulder issues; so instead I focused on dips, which have their own issues, because they mainly work internal rotators of the humerus and downward rotators of the scapula (the pec minor and major). In retrospect, that much focus on dips, with nothing to balance it, was pretty likely to cause issues no matter how much rotator cuff work I did: my external rotators simply weren't getting enough functional strength work to balance it out.

 

What my PT and I seem to be building is, in a way, the opposite: we're focusing first on pain-free overhead movement with excellent external rotation and upward scapular rotation, and building up to vertical pulling and dips only once that's in place.

 

- Some downtime before I build back to full dips will be welcome in a way -- I feel I need a little time to work on my German hangs and ring supports, which I'd been neglecting last time around.

- I really really want to get back to vertical pulling, but my PT is recommending I hold off on that for at least a week, so we have a chance to test how the new vertical push work affects my shoulders without another variable confounding my results.

[raptron]

Nice biscuits there.

10 hours ago, PaulG said:

Even better than the recipe itself is the patting-and-folding method of creating a flaky dough, which is in the accompanying article. I grew up full Yankee, though, so I don't know how traditional that method is. But it makes damn good biscuits.

Sure doesss! Most of the way down this page are my favorite biscuits lately. Gotta do the folds! 

Quote

What my PT and I seem to be building is, in a way, the opposite: we're focusing first on pain-free overhead movement with excellent external rotation and upward scapular rotation, and building up to vertical pulling and dips only once that's in place.

Intriguing! My coach I've started working with has a very proactive movement-improvement focus and she's got me doing way way more overhead work than I felt comfortable doing in the past with my shoulder... (much with external rotation!) and it seems to be going well so far. 🤞

 

[PaulG]

On 2/25/2021 at 8:07 AM, raptron said:

Sure doesss! Most of the way down this page are my favorite biscuits lately. Gotta do the folds! 

 

That recipe looks great! You can tell it's written by restaurant people, haha, 5 cups of flour... I'll bet you could fill a half sheet pan with those biscuits, easy.

 

On 2/25/2021 at 8:07 AM, raptron said:

Intriguing! My coach I've started working with has a very proactive movement-improvement focus and she's got me doing way way more overhead work than I felt comfortable doing in the past with my shoulder... (much with external rotation!) and it seems to be going well so far. 🤞

 

Great minds... Hopefully it keeps going well!

 

--

 

I won't lie guys, Thursday was rough.

 

Workout Log 2/25/21

- Going In: Sorta feel like I'm falling apart today. Both feet have weird strain-type feelings, shoulders are stiff.

 

Warmup

 

Leg-Assisted German Hangs: 5s, 5s, 5s

 

(Superset A) Pistol Squats: 3.5/3^a-e

- Crapped out hard in the first set, my left knee suddenly twinged, hard, below the patella as I was pushing out of the hole. Super disappointed, my legs have been doing really well up until now; so I cut the pistol work there.

(Superset A) Pushups: 6^a-x, 9^a-e, 10^a-x

 

(Superset Asst. Natural Hamstring Curls: 4^b-x, 4^b-y

- I felt a little dicey, doing these after the pistol failure. The knee wasn't incredibly happy but it was a lot less angry at these than pistols, for some reason. Pushing my heel into the underside of the park bench, though, further bruised my already-bruised right heel.

 

(Superset Knee Pike Press: 3^c-x, 3^b-x, 2n1(4s)^b-y

- So these are pike pushups done on my knees, but with my knees up on a chair, to increase the resistance. For some reason, these were much tougher today than they were Tuesday. I'm pretty sure my chair is not higher than the table I was using at PT, so maybe I'm just still fatigued.

(Superset Ring Rows: 7^a-x, 7^b-x, 4^b-x

 

Prone O Extensions: 4^b-e, 4^b-x, 4^b-y

Wall Slide & Flex: 3^b-e, 3^b-x, 3^b-y

Sliding Pike Up: 4^c-x

Knuckle Wall Angels: 4^a-x, 3^a-x, 3^b-y

- Not only did the ROM increase in a lot of my exercises, my PT took my wall slides -- which I'm doing a little differently than I have in the past, facing the wall, with a Theraband looped around my hands -- and she switched the band from yellow to red. So it is now even more difficult to keep my arms externally rotated.

- The sliding pike-up was shown to me using an exercise ball in the PT's office. I don't have an exercise ball, and my floors are carpeted, so I tried putting my feet on a pot lid... TOO MUCH RESISTANCE, it was just too much. I'm still considering how I can do these without having to buy yet another exercise tool.

 

Cooldown

 

- The day after (Friday), I'm INCREDIBLY wiped. Lots of DOMS in the backs of the shoulders, but happily, my shoulders don't feel aggravated at all -- just fatigued. Both knees are unhappy though (the right even more than the left, strangely); my feet are even more sore than they were before; and my left hand is now getting a slightly strained feeling too, deep in the palm.

- Again, I feel like I'm falling apart here. I know I've upped the workout volume quite a bit over the last week, but even so, I'm a little disturbed at my lack of recovery. I'm kind of wondering if maybe I'm coming down with something.

 

Not much else to report...

 

- Apartment asked me for a move-in date on Thursday -- I confirmed a couple friends to help move and went with the 6th -- but grrrrr, they STILL have not gotten me the lease. I can see them slowly setting up my resident account for the new place, but they are really moving at a snail's pace here. It's stressing me out.

- Huberman's podcast this week engendered a few notes, but it's nothing earth-shattering. Mainly just some interesting stuff about caffeine timing and helping to preserve alertness during work.

- The new batch of pickles are looking a whole hell of a lot nicer than my failure a couple weeks back. I feel an occasional urge to make a new pickle, something I've never made before; but my only ideas have been koji projects that would take several months, like a homemade miso, and I just don't feel patient enough for that at the moment.

- CO2 tank is refilled, and my CO2 regulator is serviced and ready to start carbonating again... but it doesn't feel like there's much of a point if I'm going to be moving in a week.

- I think cleaning and packing needs to start happening Sunday.

- This week I decided to make cooking easy on myself. I bought a literal kilo of fresh wheat Shanghai-style noodles from my local market, and I've simply been cooking noodles every night and dressing them in various ways. Wednesday night, for example, was guai wei mian. Thursday was noodle soup night, so I made another Fuchsia Dunlop recipe, apparently called QingTang Zajiang Mian (清汤杂酱面). It was tasty enough that as I type this, I've already got out all the ingredients to make another batch for tonight.

 

 

The one downside of all these noodles: I'm quickly running out of some of my harder-to-find Sichuan pantry stocks, like yibin yacai (salted mustard greens) and my good year-old doubanjiang; and my local Chinese market, which is usually really good, doesn't seem to be able to get Sichuan items in stock for the last few months. I'm quickly accumulating a wishlist of stuff you only rarely find imported into the US.

 

Next plan is to make a more Beijing-style noodle dish, cold sesame noodles (麻酱凉面), which doesn't require nearly as much in the way of oddball fermented things. I hear Bellevue and Redmond, some of the cities around Seattle, tend to have a wider variety of rarer ingredients -- maybe I'll do some poking around up there some weekend soon.

[WhiteGhost]

1 hour ago, PaulG said:

so I made another Fuchsia Dunlop recipe, apparently called QingTang Zajiang Mian (清汤杂酱面).

I have never heard of that one   Looks pretty darn good, though.

[Epsilonte]

4 hours ago, PaulG said:

The sliding pike-up was shown to me using an exercise ball in the PT's office. I don't have an exercise ball, and my floors are carpeted, so I tried putting my feet on a pot lid... TOO MUCH RESISTANCE, it was just too much. I'm still considering how I can do these without having to buy yet another exercise tool.

 

Maybe try putting your feet in a plastic bag (or two)? I haven't tried this myself because I don't have any carpet floors, but I know of a few poledancers who do this with heels on carpet so they can slide more easily. Though keep in mind: an exercise ball also adds some height, so not using one changes all your angles, depends on the goal of this exercise if this matters. (also you probably need a bit more hamstring flexibility if you are doing them on the floor opposed to on a ball)

You could also try elevating the feet on a couch, bed or something and slide around there (with the plastic bags xD). 

[Jarric]

Good to hear you've got a move in date for your new place; hope the move goes well!

 

On 2/27/2021 at 3:10 AM, PaulG said:

Again, I feel like I'm falling apart here. I know I've upped the workout volume quite a bit over the last week, but even so, I'm a little disturbed at my lack of recovery. I'm kind of wondering if maybe I'm coming down with something.

 

It probably is just the increased volume, possibly combined with the stress of moving apartment. I'm sure you'll get into the swing of this workout volume soon enough.

[Mad Hatter]

Thanks bud, now I'm salivating and don't have any food supplies at home. 😒

 

So glad you got a jackpot with your PT!

[PaulG]

On 2/26/2021 at 8:22 PM, WhiteGhost said:

I have never heard of that one   Looks pretty darn good, though.

 

I'm not going to lie, by the time I run out of my fresh noodles I'm going to have made that soup four separate nights, it is THAT good.

 

On 2/28/2021 at 12:30 AM, Jarric said:

Good to hear you've got a move in date for your new place; hope the move goes well!

 

 

It probably is just the increased volume, possibly combined with the stress of moving apartment. I'm sure you'll get into the swing of this workout volume soon enough.

 

Thanks! And a few days later I think you're 100% right, it hasn't gotten worse -- though the stress has continued to be a thing...

 

On 2/27/2021 at 12:08 AM, Epsilonte said:

 

Maybe try putting your feet in a plastic bag (or two)? I haven't tried this myself because I don't have any carpet floors, but I know of a few poledancers who do this with heels on carpet so they can slide more easily. Though keep in mind: an exercise ball also adds some height, so not using one changes all your angles, depends on the goal of this exercise if this matters. (also you probably need a bit more hamstring flexibility if you are doing them on the floor opposed to on a ball)

You could also try elevating the feet on a couch, bed or something and slide around there (with the plastic bags xD). 

 

That's a good idea. When I ran my Saturday workout I used my bathroom floor and just slid around on an old T-shirt... which worked okay, but you're right, the extra height does kind of change the shoulder angles, and it makes the movement easier at the top ROM. I really, really don't have the space for a ball, so I'll have to keep experimenting.

 

On 2/28/2021 at 1:38 AM, Mad Hatter said:

Thanks bud, now I'm salivating and don't have any food supplies at home. 😒

 

So glad you got a jackpot with your PT!

 

 

--

 

I've been a little lax with updates.

 

Saturday was packed with catching up with/having somewhat difficult conversations with friends I haven't seen in quite some time. However, I did manage to get a workout in.

 

Workout Log 2/27/21

- Going In: I did not get a good night's sleep, I stayed up until after 2 AM FaceTiming with a friend, but I'm still feeling better than I have been, though a little stiff.

 

Warmup

 

Leg-Assisted German Hangs: 5s, 5s, 5s

 

(Superset A) Deep Step-Ups: 6/6^b-x, 6/6^b-x, 7/4^a-y

(Superset A) Pushups: 8^a-e, 10^a-e, 11^b-x

 

(Superset B ) Knee Pike Press: 5^c-x, 6^b-x, 2n2(4s)^b-y

(Superset B ) Ring Rows: 9^a-x, 7^b-x, 4^b-x

 

Prone O Extensions: 5^b-x, 5^a-x, 4^b-y

Wall Slide & Flex: 3^b-x, 4^a-y, 5^c-y

Sliding Pike Up: 6^b-x

Knuckle Wall Angels: 2^a-x, 3^b-y, 4^b-y

 

Compression Work: 4x10s

 

Cooldown

 

- I can really feel the demands on my shoulders the day after, especially in the lower traps. It's kind of funny... with this PT, I feel like I've had the usual beginner's DOMS slowed and stretched out over a 1-2 month period. But even though I was a little nervous after all the overhead work, my shoulders weren't aggravated at all the day after.

 

Unfortunately, ever since this workout I've been a big ball of stress, trying to keep myself afloat during an ill-timed extremely busy workweek and get my moving arrangements made at the same time. That's led to me not updating quite as much as I'd like.

 

Sunday we didn't have a parkour class, as my coach was out of town. Last time we canceled class, I scheduled a bunch of practice time with my students and we ended up running a 2.5-hour class anyway. But none of that this time -- I was starting to feel the pressure of the impending apartment move, and the stress of not having a lease in hand from the office was getting to me. Part of the issue was, I knew that sooner or later I'd be fighting with the apartment office over price, and the closer I felt it coming, the more freaked out I was getting. I started repeating to myself habitually when it came up that I would need to lean into the stress -- maybe clinging a bit to the tidbits from that podcast on stress in learning. But there was nothing I could do about the stress or the fight right then. Instead, I made a run for free boxes from the local liquor store, and I spent the day packing and cleaning.

 

Monday was when the shit hit the fan. After weeks of waiting, I get an email around lunchtime asking me to sign my new lease... and the rent price on the document is over $200 more than the original offer they made me. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that I was thrown into a spiral of rage and adrenaline, and I knew I needed to leverage some of it for the impending fight. So I immediately gathered up all my documents and wrote out my talking points, and I made the call.

 

I surprised myself. All the butterflies I've been talking about throughout this challenge were there, and coming to a head when they finally picked up and we started talking. But once I managed to get the first sentence out, suddenly everything shifted. The way the leasing agent paused, and then told me she couldn't understand what the issue was, sounding vaguely offended -- it was all the exact rhythm of the negotiations that I do every day, in the most mundane way. She told me the price I'd been offered before must be the price for new residents -- which of course it was not -- and suddenly a gate opened up in my brain, and all my panic fell away. I realized I already knew what to say, I knew the most impeccably polite response to make it clear I was well aware she was lying to me, and the words flowed out easily.

 

A few more rejoinders, a regretful suggestion that if she couldn't get me an answer by tomorrow, we'd have to delay my move-in date by at least a week to give us time to either bridge this gap, or for me to talk to other complexes on the market... and within an hour, she called back with a new offer. This one was decently below what they'd quoted me way back in January, when I first asked them.

 

So it appears leaning into stress does work sometimes, and -- FINALLY -- my apartment issues are solved. Except for the actual moving, that is. But I can't help feeling like it'll be a piece of cake in comparison.

[Epsilonte]

6 hours ago, PaulG said:

A few more rejoinders, a regretful suggestion that if she couldn't get me an answer by tomorrow, we'd have to delay my move-in date by at least a week to give us time to either bridge this gap, or for me to talk to other complexes on the market... and within an hour, she called back with a new offer. This one was decently below what they'd quoted me way back in January, when I first asked them.

 

This is awesome!!! Congrats on standing your ground and staying firm. Well done!!!

Now have fun packing, and moving, and - especially - unpacking. xD  

[DoubleTrouble]

10 hours ago, PaulG said:

suddenly a gate opened up in my brain, and all my panic fell away. I realized I already knew what to say, I knew the most impeccably polite response to make it clear I was well aware she was lying to me, and the words flowed out easily.

 

Like flow state but for talking... amazing!