[KB Girl]

This snatch walking thing is certainly interesting! Isn't it boring though?

[Kishi]

1 hour ago, KB Girl said:

This snatch walking thing is certainly interesting! Isn't it boring though?

 

I can see how it would be, but I didn't find it to be so. I was actually really pleasantly surprised at how much it got my heart to work and how it played with my shoulder. It's admittedly designed to become a time sink, which, I mean, we'll see how it goes, but presently at 25 minutes, it's not worse than the other stuff I've done.

[analogwatch]

3 hours ago, Kishi said:

Which region did you ML for? I did it a couple times for Raleigh-Durham. It was a lot of fun.

I’m a current ML for Detroit, actually! I love to tell my region “first drafts are legally obligated to suck,” so that’s our mantra for November. You can’t edit an empty page, after all!

[Kishi]

18 hours ago, analogwatch said:

I’m a current ML for Detroit, actually! I love to tell my region “first drafts are legally obligated to suck,” so that’s our mantra for November. You can’t edit an empty page, after all!

 

That's wild! I did some of my growing up in White Lake. It was a long time ago. So cool to meet another Wrimo!

 

*

 

Goal 1: 2/2

 

Goal 2: 2/2

 

So far so good. I've been able to get up early enough to get done what I want to get done. This is a very flexible framework for the sleep goal to take place in, but I do wonder if I'm being a little too flexible, like if I've set a goal that's so easy that it doesn't actually meaningfully challenge me. Like if in following the letter of it, I'm breaking with the spirit of it.

 

Ultimately, I don't think so. The spirit of the thing is to get enough rest to be well, so it stands to reason that I shouldn't be hurting myself with less sleep just to hit an arbitrary target. Like I said at the start, the big thing I'm worried about is missing out on striking work on Fridays, and I could just get up early on Fridays to make that happen, and if the worst thing that happens is that I just make a point of making that happen, I can live with that. I'm just okay with an organic shift in my habits versus trying to force it, I guess.

 

Writing goal happened, which was good. There's some tension in my draft at this point, which is that what I thought were conflicts are in fact info dumps which are... not bad, exactly, but not exactly compelling reading. Which may be a reflection of poor structure or lack of skill; I'm not sure which just yet, but fortunately these can both be corrected and in fact probably just will be over time.

 

One thought that's coming up repeatedly these days is that I may just not like the particular structure that I'm using. Looking back a long, long time ago, when I wrote lots and lots of fanfiction, my planning scheme was really different. I planned out chapters specifically, and would just let happen what would, and I put out a lot of words and had a lot of room to get to where I wanted to get to in interesting ways. My readers seemed to like it. I seemed to like it. Maybe that's a natural inclination to follow and lean into. But next draft. Finish this one first. I'm not done learning my lessons yet.

 

Today's docket should be leg work, TGUs for shoulder rehab, and the ortho visit. I suspect I'm in for another bout of PT, which I'm okay with if it comes to that but it almost seems to be kind of too much. I guess we'll see.

[Treva]

20 hours ago, Kishi said:

So far so good. I've been able to get up early enough to get done what I want to get done. This is a very flexible framework for the sleep goal to take place in, but I do wonder if I'm being a little too flexible, like if I've set a goal that's so easy that it doesn't actually meaningfully challenge me. Like if in following the letter of it, I'm breaking with the spirit of it.

 

Ultimately, I don't think so. The spirit of the thing is to get enough rest to be well, so it stands to reason that I shouldn't be hurting myself with less sleep just to hit an arbitrary target. Like I said at the start, the big thing I'm worried about is missing out on striking work on Fridays, and I could just get up early on Fridays to make that happen, and if the worst thing that happens is that I just make a point of making that happen, I can live with that. I'm just okay with an organic shift in my habits versus trying to force it, I guess.

I'm pre-espresso, but you seem to have the right of it.  My understanding of challenges and nerdfitness psychology, as a whole, is to listen to your body and work with it.  It sounds like you're trying healthier habits that involve listening to your body signals, which sounds very much within the spirit of challenges and the fitness goals of this site as I understand them.

To me, getting up early one day a week to do a fitness thing doesn't seem like it's out of keeping with your goals either.

 

20 hours ago, Kishi said:

 

Writing goal happened, which was good. There's some tension in my draft at this point, which is that what I thought were conflicts are in fact info dumps which are... not bad, exactly, but not exactly compelling reading. Which may be a reflection of poor structure or lack of skill; I'm not sure which just yet, but fortunately these can both be corrected and in fact probably just will be over time.

I feel like even the best writers have moments where I can tell they're infodumping.  Even in Good Omens and a lot of Terry Pratchett.  So...you're in prestigious company?

 

I hope the ortho visit goes ok! 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

56 minutes ago, Treva said:

I feel like even the best writers have moments where I can tell they're infodumping

For whatever reason, some of my favorite parts of Tom Clancy's novels were the infodumps, especially about characters. 🤷‍♂️

[Kishi]

5 hours ago, Treva said:

I'm pre-espresso, but you seem to have the right of it.  My understanding of challenges and nerdfitness psychology, as a whole, is to listen to your body and work with it.  It sounds like you're trying healthier habits that involve listening to your body signals, which sounds very much within the spirit of challenges and the fitness goals of this site as I understand them.

To me, getting up early one day a week to do a fitness thing doesn't seem like it's out of keeping with your goals either.

 

Good to have another pair of eyes on this. Thanks.

 

5 hours ago, Treva said:

I feel like even the best writers have moments where I can tell they're infodumping.  Even in Good Omens and a lot of Terry Pratchett.  So...you're in prestigious company?

 

4 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

For whatever reason, some of my favorite parts of Tom Clancy's novels were the infodumps, especially about characters. 🤷‍♂️

 

Oh yeah, for sure! A good infodump is a classic hallmark of SF/F genre fiction, and I love 'em.  My issue is that I had originally tried to plan out the novel on what's called the "Scene-Sequel" structure, which emphasizes character conflict as the primary driver of a story. The Dresden Files employs this structure if you want a good example of it, and I low key think of my novel as a lefty answer to the author's conservative bent, especially since he turned off a lot of my friends with how he writes and I wanted them to have a good story in his style without his problems.

 

The structure has a place for infodumps too, but I think I misunderstood what constitutes conflict between characters and what constitutes an info dump. The novel's been written as a character on the outside of a magical underworld slowly getting dragged down, meaning he needs information, but I didn't figure out how to make that information a source of conflict between characters. Mostly because I didn't even think of it as something that he needed or would be a goal for him to work toward. It's obvious to me now, but it wasn't when I was planning this puppy out, and... 🤷‍♂️

 

*

 

Goal 1: 3/3

 

Goal 2: 3/3

 

Good News Sandwich!

 

Good News: it's just a strain. I got meds and exercises for it and I'm due back in a couple of weeks for a recheck.

 

Bad News: I'm barred from the mats. The orthopedist said I could do any training that didn't put a load on my shoulder. But that's basically any training that involves another person, just due to the nature of BJJ, and I'm not even allowed to hit pads at this point. About the only thing I could do is mount work, and even then, I'd need accommodations for it, which the academy isn't in a position to give. I'm also barred from a lot of my KB work, especially the walking snatch program and weighted TGUs.

 

Good News: I've still got a lot I can do to train and study around this. I can still do my leg and core training, and I can do some of my flexibility work. I can still shadowbox and I still have access to a lot of my drills for BJJ. I also have an extensive training library that I can watch and review to go over old concepts. Also, I can still juggle, and that just makes me happy.

 

So, it wasn't what I wanted to hear, but it's not as bad as it could have been. The buggery part is that I might not be cleared to return in time for a promotion day that's occurring this month. I don't have any expectations about earning another stripe, but I did want to at least be a problem for the folks who were supposed to be promoted.  But it's just another uncontrollable, meaning it's something to seek peace with rather than stew on and angst about. Come a couple weeks from now and we'll see what happens.

 

If I'm stewing over anything, it's my programming for now, since I'm trying to figure out if unweighted TGUs are useful and if farmer's walks can continue. I know the doc said that I'm supposed to avoid load, but all the exercises he gave me involve load via the use of a resistance band, so clearly some load is okay. And the Internet says that those exercises can be good for shoulder strain (there's a study on a jiujitero using TGUs after a bad shoulder strain for rehab which seems ridiculously on the nose). Just got to make sure not to overdo it, so I'll be experimenting with that some over the next couple of weeks.

 

Otherwise, I stuck to my goals. It's tempting to slack off and say there's no point to early sleep, but I don't believe that, and in any event it's probably going to be good to practice now for long term success further down the line.

[Scaly Freak]

57 minutes ago, Kishi said:

The Dresden Files employs this structure if you want a good example of it, and I low key think of my novel as a lefty answer to the author's conservative bent, especially since he turned off a lot of my friends with how he writes and I wanted them to have a good story in his style without his problems.

 

Sold. Where and when can I get my hands on this?

[Kishi]

17 minutes ago, Scaly Freak said:

 

Sold. Where and when can I get my hands on this?

 

Coming to a bookstore near you... someday.

[Kishi]

Goal 1: 4/4

 

Goal 2: 4/4

 

So I realized yesterday evening that I'm stuck on the shoulder rehab until I'm cleared, and I'm not going to see the ortho again until 2/7. Meaning that instead of 2 weeks of rehab, I'm in for a month... and I'm going to off the mats the entire time.

 

 

I'm not happy about it. But I'm working to confront myself about that - am I angry because I'm missing out on mat time? Or am I angry because I'm insecure about how much better everyone will be when I go back? Or is it both? Or is it something else?

 

(it's probably both).

 

Still, if I'm on enforced rest, it doesn't have to be a bad thing. As long as I'm seeing to one set of hurts, it's an opportunity to see to an ongoing case of Golfer's Elbow on my left. I've elected to pick up a gua sha to dig into it some, on account of having had some good response to such treatment in the past. It will hurt like the dickens. Looking forward to it.

 

Otherwise, yesterday was pretty uneventful. I did my writing, drilled what I could drill, did shoulder rehab. @Stronkey Kong was nice enough to let me win a game of chess; it's good mental training and I really should get back into it, but I kind of hate it for BJJ training. The way the rules work, you can be up on points in a game of chess and still lose if time runs out on your turn. That's bullshit and I hate it but I must strive for indifference to it. And besides, maybe that kind of incentivized aggression is something I need.

 

Anyway, today is today. TGUs, core training, and qigong on docket. Might be some night writing with a friend later, but it's even odds; if I hear from her sooner that it's not happening, I'll get it done sooner since it'll be easier that way. I should at least try to get to bed early tonight to practice getting up early for striking sparring, even if it's not gonna matter for a while.

[Stronkey Kong]

LOL at '... let you win. '

 

You beat me. That is all. 

 

Funny tho.  In my head I was comparing our game to a BJJ or similar match, where opponents are grappled, trying to improve position and posture and get in just the right position to slam their opponent on the mat.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

2 hours ago, Kishi said:

I'm not happy about it. But I'm working to confront myself about that - am I angry because I'm missing out on mat time? Or am I angry because I'm insecure about how much better everyone will be when I go back? Or is it both? Or is it something else?

Why not all three? Perhaps the something else is that maybe BJJ is self care and you are protecting yourself.

[KB Girl]

Sorry about the shoulder situation. Your reaction to it is pretty great, trying to focus on making the best of the situation! Doesn't mean you're not also allowed to be pissed about it. Be pissed for a bit, re-assure yourself as best you can and then still focus on making good use of this time. You got this  

[Rurik Harrgath]

5 hours ago, Kishi said:

So I realized yesterday evening that I'm stuck on the shoulder rehab until I'm cleared, and I'm not going to see the ortho again until 2/7. Meaning that instead of 2 weeks of rehab, I'm in for a month... and I'm going to off the mats the entire time.

 

At least, as you mentioned previous, you have a whole mental library of workouts and drills to pull from.  It wasn't your first ever bicep curl that took you out of the gym haha

 

[Kishi]

On 1/5/2023 at 1:32 PM, Stronkey Kong said:

Funny tho.  In my head I was comparing our game to a BJJ or similar match, where opponents are grappled, trying to improve position and posture and get in just the right position to slam their opponent on the mat.

 

Yeah man. It feels that way to me too. Those parts really light up in speed matches, but that's also part of what frustrates me too, because I shouldn't have to lose the game when I'm up on points. 

 

I mean, I get that you wouldn't want to just capture a pawn first and then troll for five minutes, so there should be some parity between players in terms of how much time they have left. Like, maybe if they shared a timer and were both on the same clock? I'd prefer that, I think. But that's just me.

 

On 1/5/2023 at 2:16 PM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Why not all three? Perhaps the something else is that maybe BJJ is self care and you are protecting yourself.

 

Yeah, there's definitely an element of that there too. I haven't seen any studies about it, but I have a theory that part of the benefit/addiction of the sport lies in both the endorphin response to exercise and a possible dose of oxytocin. Meaning that you're taking these brains and simmering them in a good chemical soup for an hour or two, as opposed to the distress chemicals that we get otherwise. Could be there's a literal part of me that's missing its dose and acting out as a result.

 

22 hours ago, KB Girl said:

Sorry about the shoulder situation. Your reaction to it is pretty great, trying to focus on making the best of the situation! Doesn't mean you're not also allowed to be pissed about it. Be pissed for a bit, re-assure yourself as best you can and then still focus on making good use of this time. You got this  

 

Thanks.  Pandemic's been good practice for rolling with things and making the most of a bad situation.

 

21 hours ago, Rurik Harrgath said:

 

At least, as you mentioned previous, you have a whole mental library of workouts and drills to pull from.  It wasn't your first ever bicep curl that took you out of the gym haha

 

 

Yeah, for sure. "It ain't the years, sweetheart, it's the mileage."

 

*

 

Goal 1: 5/5

 

Goal 2: 5/5

 

Got a text from a BJJ text chain I'm in. Let on that I was injured and one of them, whom I go to Sunday open mats with, said she thought I'd just been skipping out. At which point another said, "[Kishi] never skips Sundays. He's either injured or he's dead." Warms the heart to know what kind of reputation I've developed.

 

Anyway, not much to say about yesterday. Writing friend was not available to write, so writing did not happen with her. Did it on my own instead. After core training, some of which I had to walk back. The Gymnastic Bodies method of training supersets a strength move with a mobility move, and the mobility stuff would have put some compressive force on my shoulders that I think I'm supposed to avoid. So I scaled back to what I've done before.

 

I've been getting thoughtful and restive about my training lately, wondering if the way I was doing things was what led to me getting hurt. Presently, I think that it did, in part, at least as far as my elbow goes; I've carried on with that pain there a lot longer than I should have (which is to say that I should have stopped as soon as it started). As to my shoulder, I actually don't think it did. While it's true that I've been doing a lot of shoulder-intensive stuff (handstands, TGUs, KB snatches and swings), the weighted stuff has been relatively light and the handstands were done with an eye toward practice and progress rather than trying to be aggressive and build boulder-shoulders. If anything, I might not have been aggressive enough with that training; maybe if I was stronger, this wouldn't have happened.

 

Or, if I'd been aggressive, I would have just busted on my own instead.  Really hard to say.

 

Anyway, I'm just thoughtful with regard to what responsible training looks like going forward. Especially with that elbow. I'm wondering if I want to spend time going forward focusing on time under tension, since that's supposed to be good for tendon health. But that's going to clash a bit with how the strength work is programmed, since the mobility moves I mentioned earlier are a form of active rest and you're supposed to go right back to the movements once your mobility work is done. OTOH, maybe I should be listening to my body and doing the work in my own way and on my own time.

 

It's nothing to get after immediately here, but it is something to think about. I should probably ask them about it too to get a feel for what I'm doing going forward.

 

Trying to figure out how to integrate the shoulder rehab with my other training is challenge enough ATM. Doc wants me to do a bunch of moves and then ice my shoulder immediately after; it's really hard to do any kind of cooldown stretching or anything like that after. Doesn't mean it can't be done; probably something to do after a hot shower, which I'll try to experiment with but couldn't do last night since I needed to shave. So.

 

Today, I got up later than I should have if I was going to hit the mats tonight. It's early enough to get done what's gotta get done, so I'll take a half point for it. Beyond that, it'll be TGUs and shoulder rehab and stretching. No real plans to speak of tonight.

[Mistr]

 

 

On 1/5/2023 at 11:13 AM, Kishi said:

So I realized yesterday evening that I'm stuck on the shoulder rehab until I'm cleared, and I'm not going to see the ortho again until 2/7. Meaning that instead of 2 weeks of rehab, I'm in for a month... and I'm going to off the mats the entire time.

 

I know a month feels like a lot, but that is actually short for a soft tissue injury. Those usually require 6 weeks of rest and PT.

 

On 1/5/2023 at 11:13 AM, Kishi said:

I'm not happy about it. But I'm working to confront myself about that - am I angry because I'm missing out on mat time? Or am I angry because I'm insecure about how much better everyone will be when I go back? Or is it both? Or is it something else?

 

I'm sorry you need to take so much time off training for recovery. It sounds like you are getting in some useful reflection on how you feel about mat time and your training.

 

On 1/5/2023 at 11:13 AM, Kishi said:

Still, if I'm on enforced rest, it doesn't have to be a bad thing. As long as I'm seeing to one set of hurts, it's an opportunity to see to an ongoing case of Golfer's Elbow on my left. I've elected to pick up a gua sha to dig into it some, on account of having had some good response to such treatment in the past. It will hurt like the dickens. Looking forward to it.

 

Sounds like you already have a good plan with core training and PT. I noticed you did not mention cardio. Getting your heart rate up would be a way to get those endorphins and would not need to stress your shoulder. Maybe something like fast kicking drills if you don't want to run or do DDR.

 

I have been doing TGUs with really light weight. My balance and stability needed a lot of work before putting more weight on the system. If you want a challenge that does not use weight, use a plastic cup full of cotton balls (or ping-pong balls if you have them) as your thing to lift. No weight to speak of, but it will tip and spill if your form is not solid.

[KB Girl]

Even with a perfect program you can still get hurt, it's part of the process I guess? Trying to learn from it is ofc a good idea, but it is hard to know what would have happened if you'd done things differently. 

[Kishi]

19 hours ago, Mistr said:

I know a month feels like a lot, but that is actually short for a soft tissue injury. Those usually require 6 weeks of rest and PT.

 

You're right. When I was doing my homework on this, the information basically said it'd be a month if I was lucky, but likely I was looking at 2 months plus PT/rehab. So when the doc told me two weeks, I was stoked; the added weeks are about scheduling and it feels like an artificial barrier to clearance, which I didn't think I'd have to.

 

19 hours ago, Mistr said:

I'm sorry you need to take so much time off training for recovery. It sounds like you are getting in some useful reflection on how you feel about mat time and your training.

 

I am! Thanks for noticing.

 

19 hours ago, Mistr said:

Sounds like you already have a good plan with core training and PT. I noticed you did not mention cardio. Getting your heart rate up would be a way to get those endorphins and would not need to stress your shoulder. Maybe something like fast kicking drills if you don't want to run or do DDR.

 

I'd love to do DDR, but no set-up. But there's some cardio in what drills I'm able to do. My first coach in BJJ advised that a good way to get better and develop cardio was to do drills until I broke a sweat. That's helped a lot, actually.

 

19 hours ago, Mistr said:

I have been doing TGUs with really light weight. My balance and stability needed a lot of work before putting more weight on the system. If you want a challenge that does not use weight, use a plastic cup full of cotton balls (or ping-pong balls if you have them) as your thing to lift. No weight to speak of, but it will tip and spill if your form is not solid.

 

Yup! I use a shoe myself, but it does the same thing.

 

4 hours ago, KB Girl said:

Even with a perfect program you can still get hurt, it's part of the process I guess? Trying to learn from it is ofc a good idea, but it is hard to know what would have happened if you'd done things differently. 

 

Right. It's a big step for me, though, since I'm prone to switching things up at the drop of a hat. It's taken a long time to accept that there's no perfect program, and that things can go wrong and it's not my fault.

 

It's funny. I don't want to change anything up, but I have to now because of the way the rehab plays. Maybe the thing to learn is an appreciation for what I had and a gratitude that not only could I be treated for an injury (which isn't a given here in the US), but by all appearances, I will be able to go back.

 

*

 

Goal 1: 5.5/6

 

Goal 2: 6/6

 

Doc wants me to do my rehab twice a day. I've only been hitting once a day. My shoulder feels better with once a day, and I can't help wondering if this is one of those things where the doc tells me twice on the gamble that I only do this once.

 

I've been researching my elbow and its issues in relation to the GB program and they would say that I'm supposed to stick to very high incline rows, as opposed to ground rows. Since I can do these with rings, maybe the trick is to go to the highest incline and just completely rotate my grip from pronation to supination, and just transition down from there. Maybe.

 

The gua sha arrived today, so I can start the repair work on my elbow. That'll be fun. For a given definition of fun. Otherwise, a slow, quiet day. I'm gonna try getting up periodically to do drills as opposed to just blitzing and doing all of them at once. I think my shoulder likes that a little less, so I want to see what intermittent work does. Also, it breaks up the day a bit, and that's fun.

[Treva]

Lots to catch up on.  I'm sorry your shoulder isn't doing well!

Your ortho sounds sensible in that he's prescribing exercises with a "return to play" plan. 

18 hours ago, Kishi said:

Right. It's a big step for me, though, since I'm prone to switching things up at the drop of a hat. It's taken a long time to accept that there's no perfect program, and that things can go wrong and it's not my fault.

 

It's funny. I don't want to change anything up, but I have to now because of the way the rehab plays. Maybe the thing to learn is an appreciation for what I had and a gratitude that not only could I be treated for an injury (which isn't a given here in the US), but by all appearances, I will be able to go back.

True.  There unfortunately is no perfect program; no one can write up a program and say it'll work for everyone's body mechanics.  We all have different alignments (altho chaotic good is the best I will not be taking questions XD)

Based on what I'm reading, you almost certainly will be able to go back.  Rehab twice a day is interesting, I've not seen that recommended before; it may be that you can work up to twice a day.

 

Yes, 100% agree scheduled drills over a blitz will be better for your shoulder. 

18 hours ago, Kishi said:

I'd love to do DDR, but no set-up. But there's some cardio in what drills I'm able to do. My first coach in BJJ advised that a good way to get better and develop cardio was to do drills until I broke a sweat. That's helped a lot, actually.

oh man dance is such a brilliant way to get some footwork in.  Glad you're getting that cardio too!  Not that you aren't already, but I wonder if this is a good opportunity to figure out what in your body mechanics didn't like the exercise you were doing - but I know you're already very in tune with your movements!

[Kishi]

On 1/8/2023 at 10:07 AM, Treva said:

Lots to catch up on.  I'm sorry your shoulder isn't doing well!

Your ortho sounds sensible in that he's prescribing exercises with a "return to play" plan. 

 

Thank you! Shoulder's doing a lot better already. Pain only shows up in the far reaches of adduction and abduction now and also when I do too much work all at once. Staying on the mats probably would have been too much work at once but if I keep responding this well, I might just try to get seen sooner so I can get cleared ahead of time.

 

On 1/8/2023 at 10:07 AM, Treva said:

True.  There unfortunately is no perfect program; no one can write up a program and say it'll work for everyone's body mechanics.  We all have different alignments (altho chaotic good is the best I will not be taking questions XD)

 

Why take questions? You're right about this.

 

On 1/8/2023 at 10:07 AM, Treva said:

oh man dance is such a brilliant way to get some footwork in.  Glad you're getting that cardio too!  Not that you aren't already, but I wonder if this is a good opportunity to figure out what in your body mechanics didn't like the exercise you were doing - but I know you're already very in tune with your movements!

 

Well as far as I've been able to deduce, it seems that going from very high incline rows immediately to very low ground rows was an overload on my elbow. The creator of the program has said for people that this happens to that the jump from one move to the next was just too much, which is disappointing because he wrote the program for people to make that jump. I suspect the answer is to gradually transition from incline rows to ground rows, but the frustrating part is that it's not part of the program and there's no prescription for integrated mobility to go with it.

 

*

 

Goal 1: 7.5/8

 

Goal 2: 7/8

 

Good weekend was good. Lots of rest and play with only a little bit of training. A little too much play on Saturday cost me some writing, but that's my fault, and I reserve the right to write more and make up for the lost page.

 

An MMA podcast I listen to actually made a manga recommendation for All Rounder Meguru, which is a seinen series about a young up and comer in the Japanese shooto scene. They said it was good enough to actually be used as teaching material, which caught my interest... and, yeah, it's that good. It's got some rough language around LGBT folk and it leaves a lot of character emotion and motivation to be implied rather than stated outright (moreso than is usual for manga), but I take it as a learning resource, and it exceeds in that. It actually gave me some useful drills to do to address some things I've worried about, and it's also been instructive in pointing out that strength and technique are 2 sides of the same coin: you need better technique to win over your opponent, but you can be too weak to make the technique work.

 

Freaking knew it, man, I freaking knew it

 

 

(this was the best gif for this sentiment, but I solemnly swear I'm okay with this)

 

Wanted to get to bed earlier than I did last night but stayed up to finish off a webcomic I was reading called Traveler. This one shows up via the WebToon app, and it's criminally underrated and underread. It's basically a queerer, more hopeful Kickass with actual superpowers. Loved it. It was worth staying up for, which I haven't done in a while.

 

Anyway. Train today, sci fi tonight. Write some sometime.

[KB Girl]

You have the chat function disabled in the chess app so I'll just say it here instead; man you solidly kicked my ass on that one, I made one mistake and you definitely didn't let me recover from it x) well played!

[Kishi]

6 hours ago, KB Girl said:

You have the chat function disabled in the chess app so I'll just say it here instead; man you solidly kicked my ass on that one, I made one mistake and you definitely didn't let me recover from it x) well played!

 

Thank you! You are scary good. That was a real nailbiter for me. Good game!

 

*

 

Goal 1: 8.5/9

 

Goal 2: 8/9

 

Well, what will I say about yesterday? I played chess, did shoulder rehab, wrote, played Hades, went to socialize with friends. It was a good day.

 

Something else I've been doing for my shoulder is taking collagen and eating a kiwi before training. The combination of collagen and vitamin C is allegedly good for connective tissue health. I dunno if that's true or not, but in my n=1 experiment it's going pretty well. Shoulder feels really good, and I suspect I'm going to keep doing this kind of thing as able going forward. I'd prefer if Lab Door would hurry up and run an analysis on collagen supplements already, but I'm willing to keep working this protocol for all it's worth in the meantime.

 

Today will be relatively quiet. No mat time yet, so just train and work and write and play. Since we're finally off the holidays, overtime work has opened up again, so I'm probably going to take a stab at getting that done tonight and getting some extra hours. Suspect I'll work myself out of a job again, but there are worse things.

[Rurik Harrgath]

On 1/9/2023 at 12:15 PM, Kishi said:

 

(this was the best gif for this sentiment, but I solemnly swear I'm okay with this)

 

What a flawless, almost devious shift in emotions... 🤣

 

4 hours ago, Kishi said:

Something else I've been doing for my shoulder is taking collagen and eating a kiwi before training. The combination of collagen and vitamin C is allegedly good for connective tissue health. I dunno if that's true or not, but in my n=1 experiment it's going pretty well. Shoulder feels really good, and I suspect I'm going to keep doing this kind of thing as able going forward.

 

That sounds sciencey enough to convince me!  For what it's worth, I've definitely heard if collagen being used as a health potion for rehab before.

[Kishi]

20 hours ago, Rurik Harrgath said:

What a flawless, almost devious shift in emotions... 🤣

 

That's why they pay him the big bucks, man.

 

20 hours ago, Rurik Harrgath said:

That sounds sciencey enough to convince me!  For what it's worth, I've definitely heard if collagen being used as a health potion for rehab before.

 

Right. For me, there's some ambiguity just because collagen is supposed to be for joints and connective tissue, but it's not clear if tendons/ligaments fall under that or not. Of course they're connective tissues, but I'm wondering if they're too big? Or if that even matters? I just don't know. 🤷‍♂️

 

*

 

Goal 1: 9.5/10

 

Goal 2: 9/10

 

Yesterday was a relatively unremarkable day. I trotted out a slight variation on protocol where I did collagen and vitamin C before my shoulder rehab and then again before my leg training. The added protein was nice to have, and everything feels good today. I skipped a few steps in the Gymnastic Bodies leg protocol. You're supposed to go from full squatting to deck squatting - squatting with a narrow base and rolling onto your back before rolling back up - and I chose instead to move on to Cossack squatting because I think it's a better way to work on the ankle mobility I'm going to need to make everything work. Also, deck squatting isn't really necessary to the pistol squat, but the pistol squat does in fact give you the ability to deck squat. If they were doing this GMB style where the deck squat was going to lead directly to pistol squatting, that'd be one thing, but the deck squat doesn't really show up again anywhere in the curriculum except for, like, tumbling and conditioning work.

 

There is an issue in terms of the integrated mobility, in that the integrated mobility is a strength move for me too, so I've scaled that a bit to be easier. I'll be at this level for a while, but I think it's more productive than sticking to the deck squat, so, that is what I will do.

 

I did a couple reps of the high incline rows and checked my elbow. With rings, if I allow my elbows to track like they want to, the elbow is fine. But the way the move is programmed, they want you to go from pronation to neutral grip, and at even that short rotational distance I feel something in my elbow. It may be that I was more damaged than I thought. At this point, the plan is to remain on rest until I'm cleared to resume strength work and then do incline rows with the range I've got. It's programmed to be done once per week with steady progressions, 9 progressions total. If all goes smoothly, that'll be a little over 2 months of rehab on the joint before I go back to the beginning and start over with rotation to neutral.

 

If that doesn't work... well. That'll be interesting. Cross bridge when I get there, though, and I mean, really, 2-3+ months of rest is an awful lot for this kind of thing I would think.

 

Anyway. Burn that bridge when I get to it.

 

My mental health is kind of poor today. Some stuff at the job that I don't control has gone badly, and my temper's been flaring up in response in a disproportionate way. It's triggering some stuff in terms of negative self-perception and it feels bad. It'll pass, but I do feel a need to acknowledge it somewhere and here's as good as anywhere. Maybe a meditation DLC is good for this challenge. That's something I haven't done in a while.

[Sovalis]

Sorry the work stuff is tripping you up. I hope it gets sorted out quickly and lets you have some peace.