[ChrisWithaStick]

Alrighty- it's been what, almost 4 years since I made an attempt at a challenge?  It's time to regroup and get some things back on track. 

 

Previously, because I disliked coming up with a catchy title each challenge I settled on "the infinite reboot".  While thinking about rejoining the Monastery (so to speak), I realized that this phrasing now feels a little self defeating.   A better view of things should be 'work in progress'. 

 

I still have some things to work out, challenge wise, but the main focus will be establishing some routine (and not staying up super late, like I'm doing now), working on my mobility, basic fitness / GPP or whatever the cool kids call it now, and improving my overall outlook, especially since sometime in this challenge I'll officially be in my last year of the 'not in my 50s' club. 

 

Considering I just realized how late it actually is, I'll be filling in more details over the next few days as time, and a rambunctious 3.5 yr old allow.  There may be cats, there will be naginata, spears, swords, and related accoutrements.  

 

In the meantime, here's the song that got me into a music rabbit hole while I was thinking about what to type, and is related to the newly adopted challenge title.  There area  handful of musicians and singers that I usually prefer their live work over their studio albums, and Mraz is probably at the top of that list, or tied with Larkin Poe. 

 

 

[sarakingdom]

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Welcome back. I have a rambunctious 3yo, I can relate.

[Mistr]

Welcome back!

[Kishi]

Good to see you again!

[ChrisWithaStick]

Slight correction, I'll be in the next to last year in the 'not in my 50s' club.... first the eyes go, then the memory...I'll forget my own hea....um, what? 

 

Anywho, to catch up on the last little bit - still at the same job, the last couple of years have done a lot to add grey to my beard.  We made some hard choices and some lucky pivots and came through pretty well, all things considered.  On the home front everyone is doing well.  The toddler is enjoying preschool.  My girlfriend just recently started a major transition, resigning from managing the barn she's at and will be moving her horses to a new place .  It's a big blow to her income but necessary, and we'll sort things out as we need to.  Her son is now in college and also working, and we'll probably be having some discussions about contributing to the household sometime in the near future. 

 

We lost our dojo space and proved (to ourselves anyway) that you can indeed practice outside year round so long as you have either clear weather or a covered ball court.  My teacher and sempai both sort of retired (I still train with then on occasion), and I'm basically the main teacher in the area (now I just need more students).  Through various connections I now have a time slot in a HEMA collective that wants to fill up open mat time, which means I have an indoor space to train (hurrah) and exposure to a larger group of people that also like sharp, shiny things and variously hitting people with sticks.  Aside from major imposter anxiety around being a teacher, it's been a good if brief experience, and there's a pool of coaching/teaching experience I can draw on in the group.

 

So - what's up with this challenge.  Back in the old school TMNT comics, there was a time when the turtles got their asses collectively and decisively handed to them and they fled to the country side.  Time went by, and at some point, Splinter basically said "it's time..." and they started to regroup, recenter and get their ass kicking mojo back (I'm not a super fan, something about that particular comic just really resonated).  Recently, some little voice in my head  said "it's time" and here we are. 

 

Again, details still need to be worked out, but brainstorming a bit:

• Snacking is the devil.  Especially at night.  It's probably one of the main drivers of weight gain for me.  So - that needs to be curtailed
• Sitting is a devil.  My job is primarily a desk job, though not entirely (with Valentine's coming up, I can probably do one or two production days per week) and I have a 45 min to hour commute each way, so my hips and back are slowly declaring their hate.  Mobility work is needed.  I'll be basing it largely on a program by Chip Conrad/Body Tribe.  Lots of good mobility and coordination work in it.
• Cardio is not the devil, and I actually bought a bike trainer so I can put one of my various and very dusty bikes to use and get some static miles in before the warm weather.  I like cycling a lot, and this will let me stay dry and get some good, base-line cardio work in while the weather is crappy.  
• A few years ago I briefly had a routine that hit everything in about 30 minutes, warmups included.  Aside from warmups, it was  goblet squats, swings, get-ups (form work), and push ups by sets/reps.
• Technique and basics, basics, basics, with various weapons.   Going to the training space consistently even if it's just solo practice time. 
• General attitude needs some work - between work, sleep habits (or lack thereof), *hands in the air*, and general stress and other things at work, I don't have a lot of patience and it's hard to maintain a good attitude.  Getting some good habits in place again will help with that, which is not only good for me, but good for family time, and especially helpful for dealing with the times the toddler is, well, exploring boundaries and how people react, to put it politely. 

That's it for the brainstorming session for now.  Once again it's way too late.

 

Glad to be back, everyone! 

 

 

 

 

[Harriet]

Four years away! Well, good return and happy challenging to you.

 

As to snacks, the intermittent fasting was really hard at first (all these empty wants!) but it gets better, and it's nice to have a time based rule instead of bargaining with myself about whether I can afford the calories (or rather, in addition to said bargaining). The wants quiet down when they are not indulged. I also liked seeing my progress on zero, the app.

[Treva]

The returnee club grows! May I offer you a “how the heck did we get this old” in your time of trial?

Love the TMNT regrouping reference! Congratulations on being a major teacher in the area! May  your first challenge back be as successful as literally every time Splinter kicked the bad guy booty. 

[Kishi]

Nice challenge, and also being part of a HEMA collective sounds amazing.

 

I like the look of the stuff you're brainstorming. I get the sense that it can all fit together really well. All that's left is the doing, it seems.

[ChrisWithaStick]

On 12/30/2022 at 11:17 AM, Harriet said:

As to snacks, the intermittent fasting was really hard at first (all these empty wants!) but it gets better, and it's nice to have a time based rule instead of bargaining with myself about whether I can afford the calories (or rather, in addition to said bargaining). The wants quiet down when they are not indulged. I also liked seeing my progress on zero, the app.

I did an unintentional version of intermittent fasting for a long time - I used to not eat breakfast at all, and usually didn't eat till about 12:30 or 1.   I started it before IF was a thing, mainly because eating in the morning made me feel kind of gross unless I was awake for a few hours.   It kind of worked until it didn't and I started over compensating with dinner.  I'm actually more balanced now that I have a small breakfast.  I'm an anxiety/stress snacker though, particularly at night, and that's been more of an issue lately.  A rules based approach could be interesting though- setting a cut off time or cut off meal (dinner time is variable, depending on commute and who actually feels like cooking these days).    I haven't heard of the Zero app.  Is it fasting specific?

 

On 12/30/2022 at 3:24 PM, Treva said:

The returnee club grows! May I offer you a “how the heck did we get this old” in your time of trial?

Slowly, and then quickly... or maybe that's just how it seems. 

 

10 hours ago, Kishi said:

Nice challenge, and also being part of a HEMA collective sounds amazing.

I'm hopeful - I'm currently not able to take any of the other classes due to time constraints, but I'm hoping to shift some things around in the near future, or at least get more involved in other ways.  One of the members has already started talking about trying out some free-play since he doesn't get to face pole arms that often (the German and Italian traditions both have pole arms in them, especially the German, but it doesn't seem to be a focus in either group so far).  Since I have basically zero experience in free play/sparring, I have this feeling there will be a decent amount of "investing in loss" on my side for a bit. 

 

10 hours ago, Kishi said:

I like the look of the stuff you're brainstorming. I get the sense that it can all fit together really well. All that's left is the doing, it seems.

Thank you.  Speaking of doing....

 

2022 is over.  We shall not talk about what may or may have not happened snack wise in the waning days of that year. 

 

Today was a mixed bag attitude wise.   I was not matching  the good/active mood of B (toddler).  It's too easy to be in my own head and not as engaged, and really, it'll be better for both of us to be better about that.

 

I did get in some solid solo training though.  Worked through sword, naginata and kusarigama, and realized I need to take a note book with me, especially on solo days since I tend to end up thinking more about concepts and things to work on or test when I'm alone versus when I have a student or when with my sempai.   Realized it's been way too long since I've worked with kusarigama, but happily it actually felt good, and I didn't whack the back of my head at all (an actual thing to watch out for when out of practice with a weighted chain).  

 

Other than that, it's been a day.  Time management and where to fit things in is going to be an underlying theme throughout.  The brain storming helped to identify the whats.  The whens are going to be more in the background, but definitely important. 

 

And just for fun

 

 

[sarakingdom]

11 hours ago, ChrisWithaStick said:

I'm an anxiety/stress snacker though, particularly at night, and that's been more of an issue lately. 

 

Alternatively, plan a grazing dessert. Piece of fruit in small slices, piece of cheese, some nuts, maybe a few olives, mug of tea, traveling to the next activity with you and slowly disappearing over an hour or two. Or the snack is carrot sticks and hummus and  a mug of tea, for a hit of vitamin A and protein before bed.

 

I mean, if it's a thing and you know it's a phase, maybe don't fight it, but work with it, and it'll eventually go away. There's nothing inherently wrong about eating to make the brain less emotionally volatile; it's a tool taught in the hungry/thirsty/tired toolbox. It just shouldn't sabotage the overall goals. There are lots of ways to get that done, and not all of them involve fighting restriction battles with your emotions in ways that might strengthen the stress/food connection.

 

12 hours ago, ChrisWithaStick said:

I need to take a note book with me, especially on solo days since I tend to end up thinking more about concepts and things to work on or test when I'm alone versus when I have a student or when with my sempai.

 

You do, and then you need to share for those of us who are poor self-documenters and need good examples. Uh, whoever that might be. 🤷‍♀️

 

12 hours ago, ChrisWithaStick said:

I didn't whack the back of my head at all

 

[ChrisWithaStick]

On 1/2/2023 at 11:11 AM, sarakingdom said:

Alternatively, plan a grazing dessert. Piece of fruit in small slices, piece of cheese, some nuts, maybe a few olives, mug of tea, traveling to the next activity with you and slowly disappearing over an hour or two. Or the snack is carrot sticks and hummus and  a mug of tea, for a hit of vitamin A and protein before bed.

Well, one of my horrible secrets is that I really don't care for olives.  Oh, I'll eat them in polite company, so I don't take all the almonds, but in general... ick. 

 

Starting with snacking, especially when stressed, tends to be triggering for wanting more snacks, so really I do need to work on avoiding them, although we do have some carrots that need to be eaten soon....

 

 

On 1/2/2023 at 11:11 AM, sarakingdom said:

You do, and then you need to share for those of us who are poor self-documenters and need good examples. Uh, whoever that might be. 🤷‍♀️

It'd also help with memory -little bits of kata slip when you don't have someone at the same or better level to practice with routinely.  

 

On 1/2/2023 at 11:11 AM, sarakingdom said:

 

You have to be careful with flexible weapons - The chain we use is basically arm span length, and the weight bounces/slides on mats, so you get some additional space management issues (grass/ground is usually easier due to drag).  There are ways to keep the chain moving so the weight is basically in a straight line, but if you get sloppy or distracted in your movements it can wrap in unfortunate ways -   sometimes get under your feet, others it flicks as the slack pulls out, right while passing your head. 

 

Anyway, the last couple of days have been mixed bags.  Cut back on snacking, but didn't get much activity in. 

 

Apparently I'm having fun with music this challenge - Another artist that I'd love to see live.  Her music can range from soft or hard blues, to kind of what, mod?, with a horn section and smoother feel.  Sometimes though, you just need a guitar and a voice. 

 

 

 

[ChrisWithaStick]

This has not been a great week.  Lots of frustration around work, not a lot of good sleep, and I don't think anyone cooked for the family after Monday - we all ate, just timing and appetites didn't match and E (partner) and I were both low energy/will this week.  i think we're going to have to have a conversation in the near future about a bed time routine/time (lots of falling asleep on the sofa lately - which makes it hard for me to have a consistent bed time, so I'm up late and E and B are up obscenely early (anywhere between 4:30 and 5:30).

 

E did get her horses moved out of the barn this week, so that hurdle is done - I'm not sure she's completely done with other barn work, but schedules should be shifting around more in the next couple of weeks.  There's also a small hill of shredded bark and wood chip (hog fuel, for those that know landscaping materials) that needs to be spread out into a paddock and I think maybe a small training ring.  We haven't talked about it yet- not sure if she's borrowing a tractor, or I may be doing a lot of shovel and wheel barrow work. 

 

Another small win was remembering to do some stretching and mobility work off and on during the day at work - I'll do shoulder and neck/upper back work while heating water for tea, and sometimes a little balance work with hip mobility - basically stand on one foot, and take the other foot around in a half circle from front to back, and reverse - doing this with a kick through front or back without setting the foot down is a nice little balance play, and for someone like me that sits too much, it's a little bit of movement for the joint. 

 

So - on to the weekend!

 

[ChrisWithaStick]

Small win for today is that I re-wrapped my handlebars and it was easier than I thought. Not a perfect job, but a lot cleaner than I expected 

[ChrisWithaStick]

Weekend was ok.  Saturday was a bit of a wash, but Sunday I had a good training session with my one student.  We've been pulling pieces out of kata to drill, and it's been good to work on the mechanics of said pieces separately.  I really need a darn notebook, though. 

 

On the small wins side, I was able to make dinner last night and again tonight, and as a bonus have left overs for two more days' lunches (probably expanded out a little with some frozen veggies). 

 

attitude wise it's been rough - Toddler B has had an on/off fever - it usually doesn't affect her attitude, but this time it's been feeding into her button pushing, especially as she gets tired.  There's stress and a lot of frustration around work as well, so it's been a bit of a negative feedback loop the last few days. 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Save us from button pushing toddlers.

[Kishi]

10 hours ago, ChrisWithaStick said:

Weekend was ok.  Saturday was a bit of a wash, but Sunday I had a good training session with my one student.  We've been pulling pieces out of kata to drill, and it's been good to work on the mechanics of said pieces separately.  I really need a darn notebook, though. 

 

You remind me of my younger brother with this. He studies traditional Chinese martial arts and they're huge on the use of kata to contain the essence of a given style, and pulling out pieces to work on sounds like the kind of thing he'd do. So. I think that's cool.

[ChrisWithaStick]

On 1/10/2023 at 4:52 AM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Save us from button pushing toddlers.

They are relentless little monsters, especially if nap time is missed or interrupted, and amazingly good at judging who is most likely to have buttons to push at any given time.  I'm not particularly adept at it yet, but I do try to file times like this under "life tells you what you need to work on". 

 

21 hours ago, Kishi said:

You remind me of my younger brother with this. He studies traditional Chinese martial arts and they're huge on the use of kata to contain the essence of a given style, and pulling out pieces to work on sounds like the kind of thing he'd do. So. I think that's cool.

Given the "you're now officially an instructor" thing, I've been thinking about and appreciating kata quite a bit more lately.  Do they do any drill work that leads into some kind of free play, like push hands or some form of sparring?  That's a component that we're missing, and while you can actually do a lot of pressure testing and intensity work wit kata, one of my side interests is recreating some kind of approach to free combative work. 

 

Yesterday was a day.  Some not fun manager stuff happened, and well, yeah.  I did manage to get some stretching in, and cooked dinner - kind of a faux fried rice with shrimp and more vegetables than rice (or it started out that way, but onion and cabbage both loose a lot of volume).  Filled out the leftover with a blend of frozen riced vegetables, and it worked pretty well for lunch . 

 

Tonight I did manage to get a decent amount of suburi done after dinner, which was nice.  Dinner was burgers and fries.  We're on one of those box services (imperfect food), and one of the side items is a 3 pack of burgers from dry aged beef.  They make for a nice, relatively affordable occasional splurge.  It's good it's only occasional though - I've found I really like the pan drippings.   Not the best thing to eat, calorie wise, but darn tasty, none the less. 

[Kishi]

10 hours ago, ChrisWithaStick said:

Given the "you're now officially an instructor" thing, I've been thinking about and appreciating kata quite a bit more lately.  Do they do any drill work that leads into some kind of free play, like push hands or some form of sparring?  That's a component that we're missing, and while you can actually do a lot of pressure testing and intensity work wit kata, one of my side interests is recreating some kind of approach to free combative work.

 

Um, I don't know! As far as our discussions have gone, he's talked about kata as the mark of a legitimate lineage of kung fu - true teachers have the full form and are supposed to be able to not only transmit the full form but also pull out the parts of it that apply to a given student so that they can apply those parts to themselves. I've been present for some of his testing when his sifu brought up that they need to be taking applicable fighty bits out of the forms because MMA is a thing now and there's apparently an evolutionary pressure at play, but I can't say for sure.

 

OTOH, FWIW it sounds like you're most of the way there already. Once you've isolated and pressure-tested something from kata, it seems to me that the last step is to take that isolated, pressure-tested thing and try to apply it in a sparring situation. I would submit that it's possible to do that with even just one move; jab-sparring is a thing, after all, and defense/countering can be seen as an organic development rather than needing to be kata-based. At least at first.

[Mistr]

Sounds like both work and home have been stressful. Plenty of valid reasons for wanting to stress eat.

 

Getting to hit things with sticks is the best alternative I know of.  If weapons practice is not practical, any activity that keeps your hands busy is good.

 

I hope things go better for you this week.

[ChrisWithaStick]

Well, it's certainly been another week and change.  Work happened.  Training happened, and somewhere in the middle the age of 48 happened. 

 

Birthday was celebrated as a date night, and we went to see the new Puss in Boots - it's been a while since we watched something just light and fun, and it was a pretty fun watch, as the various Shrek related movies can be. 

 

Snacking has bee more moderate, which is good.  Vegetable content has gone back up as well, which is also good. 

 

Good workouts did not happen, which is not so good.  With long days and  commute times, and house work, I tend to veg out as soon as I sit down.  Late night training could be a thing, but then I don't sleep (already an issue for me).  I probably need to get some kind of stretching/mobility routine going as a wind down.

 

This weekend should be interesting - on Sunday we're having a little Lunar New Year demo at the training club.  It was set up by one of  the other class coaches, who teaches a version of Jikishinkage ryu kenjutsu (not to be confused with a naginata ryu of the same name).  The other coaches from the club are invited to watch - we'll do a demo, then the other group will do one, and then we'll toast in the new year. 

[sarakingdom]

On 1/11/2023 at 2:10 AM, ChrisWithaStick said:

I've found I really like the pan drippings.  

 

That is deeply Ankh-Morpork. Let me know when you move on to sausages inna bun or endless ways of preparing cabbage.

 

8 hours ago, ChrisWithaStick said:

somewhere in the middle the age of 48 happened. 

 

Congratulations! You have time traveled (the slow way).

 

8 hours ago, ChrisWithaStick said:

I tend to veg out as soon as I sit down.  Late night training could be a thing, but then I don't sleep (already an issue for me).  I probably need to get some kind of stretching/mobility routine going as a wind down.

 

I suggest you kaizen this fucker, and sneak up on it with a subtle attack it doesn't see: for the rest of this challenge, which is only a couple of weeks I think, vegging out is permitted, provided you do it on the floor. You'll end up with a ton of hamstring and hip-related stretches just from sitting. (Partly cuz the secret is, stretch positions are more comfortable than sitting positions on the floor, and you can't sit in one position indefinitely on a hard surface.) Get that change lined up for next challenge, and then it's pretty easy to add some light core work, some guided yoga cooldowns, other stuff that likes the floor.

 

Nothing that'll shock your sleep patterns while you're struggling to steady them, nothing that's too experimental at discovering load bearing stress relief the hard way, just shifting what you're doing a step closer to your goals. And if your mobility work is happening in front of episodes of Picard, that's your business. The TV selection at the gym would be worse.

[sarakingdom]

[Mistr]

Happy birthday!

[ChrisWithaStick]

On 1/21/2023 at 9:01 AM, sarakingdom said:

That is deeply Ankh-Morpork. Let me know when you move on to sausages inna bun or endless ways of preparing cabbage.

Funny you should mention it... I started liking slaw a while ago, and will buy bags of shredded cabbage with carrots, etc., for times I want something crunchy in my lunches (and they are super cheap, even if bagged).  Nice to toss in one pan type dinners (faux stir fry, etc.).  And once I realized that like every other vegetable, it's better when you don't boil it to death, I have been liking it in more traditional (if less boiled) fixings.

 

So, we did in fact have the Kagami Biraki embu at the training space last Sunday.  it ended up just being me and my training partner from our ryu, and then 4 from the Jikishikage group.  Only one coach/board member showed up - we had a good time, had a good embu, drank some sake and had a good chat afterwards.  Second time in 3 years I've worn a hakama, and it sounded like maybe the first for one or two of the other students.  When you watch Jikishinkage on the tubes, especially the first full kata, it can be a bit of a head scratcher/esoteric.  Having it explained in person made a huge difference, and then seeing part of the next set where the applications come in, and it's overall an interesting ryu. 

 

Sadly though, my partner's grandmother on her mom's side passed away sort of suddenly.  Both of the grandparents have been in memory and home care for the last couple of years, but she got sick a few weeks ago, and just never quite recovered - it was more rapid than expected, but not completely surprising.  The services were yesterday, and my partner went to the funeral/burial, and then we all went to the reception.

 

Small slice of life related to death in the hidden section - shouldn't be anything triggering, but feel free to skip to the next:

Spoiler

Explaining death to a not quite 4 year old is, well, a lot of two stepping.  It's a little more awkward as I don't practice any particular religion, and my partner is basically atheist, so there's not a ready contextual framework or belief system to structure around. 

 

There was a moment where I think the reality was kind of understood, and she got really upset about not going to see great grandma and give her a hug, but then it's a been a bit of back and forth of with "she needs to sleep and get better" and seeming to understand she'll not see great grandma again, and then  hitting some of the big questions, like "what's a life?", after we called the reception a celebration of life.   She enjoyed the reception - ran around handing out candy (boxes of sweethearts were on the tables), and generally people were more on the smiling/talking side of remembering than the somber/crying side. 

 

Everyone else is ok, all things considered.  I only met her a small handful of times at family gatherings, so don't really know her.  It has me thinking about some of the people that have passed out of my life over the last few years though.  

 

I have basically failed the exercise portion of this challenge, although snacking has improved.  I still like the overall concept, but will need to just wrangle when to fit it in. 

 

I realize we have some time left in this challenge (and I've barely kept up with any of the goals for it), but looking forward to the next in addition to putting the training into practice, I do need to seriously start looking at some weight loss over the next several months.  I'd feel a lot better with about ~30-40 lbs gone.  Continued editing/elimination of snacking will be a small step in that, as will cutting back on associated night caps.  I'll need to do some pondering and planning in addition though.