Osu

[Kishi]

Monday done. Not much to it. Slow day. Stretched over lunch, but otherwise not really anything noteworthy.

 

I've begun practicing raising my legs from a tripod position. It's... trickier to control than I thought. It's kind of fascinating, actually. After that, I've also begun to do a sort of exercise where I lay on my back and drive my elbows into the ground to activate my lats and engage in thoracic extension. It feels kind of therapeutic, actually, and both yesterday and today I've felt a physical sense of being reminded not to hunch forward. I've also taken to doing deep breathing in the morning, which seems to wash away grogginess and fatigue; I'm studying the Wim Hoff Method and if this progresses where I hope it will, I think I will reap even further benefit than I already have.

 

But yeah, not much going on. Mom's gone to Iowa to help out with her sister's family back there, so it's just Dad and me for now. Hope everything turns out okay over there.

 

S&S and Karate on the docket.

[Kishi]

Tuesday was fun!

 

Hit up S&S and was feeling strong, so hit a single TGU with the 70. Elbow did not hurt. I wanted to cheer about it, but cheering is not Soviet-approved, so I just worked through the rest. Elbow is not hurting today.

 

Karate afterward we went back to the punching. Did some work around controlling people with stance and clinch; it felt in some ways like the latest iteration of Kali. Got lit up a few times in sparring, managed to give a little bit back. Need to throw sasae more. K-sensei also says we need to "civilize" me for the trip to NYC. Gulp. Okay.

 

Today would be Judo but we're cancelling that tonight. I gave blood today, so most physical activity is off the docket. Without any other plans, I won't have anything to do but go home and make dinner and chill. I will be surprised if something doesn't come up, but if it's coming, it's not on account of anything I intend.

 

(incidentally, I'm apparently healthy as a horse if the blood numbers/blood pressure are anything to go on, and while my pressure was a little high, I did drink a cup of very strong coffee prior to donation. Also, I have the White Coat Syndrome).

 

The big thing I'm trying to figure out now is how to approach training tomorrow. I know I'm not going to go for full volume on my lifts, because I did give blood today and I don't want to chance whatever side effects those might have on strength/power work along with a subpar performance on the mats. The larger question with this though is that I'm pondering whether I want a deload cycle to be part of this going forward, so 3 weeks on, 1 week off. I'm leaning yes, just for longevity's sake, but I'm open to suggestions.

 

Anyway, off to quiet day.

[Mistr]

Wow, that's a lot of volume on your deadlifts. You certainly pack a lot into a session.  

 

I agree with @Urgan on headstand/handstand practice. I'm sure you already have the strength. You just need control and balance. Those things benefit from frequent practice.

 

Thank you for linking the Strongfirst progression. That looks like an accessible way to start. I may add that to my current random mix of exercises. The inverted leg extensions look like Sahrmann exercises with extra core work because of gravity.  

 

Are you planning on moving with your folks or looking for different place?

 

1 hour ago, Kishi said:

(incidentally, I'm apparently healthy as a horse if the blood numbers/blood pressure are anything to go on, and while my pressure was a little high, I did drink a cup of very strong coffee prior to donation.

 

We certainly knew that you are as healthy as a horse. No worries if your blood pressure was a little high going in. It automatically drops when you remove a pint from your system.

[Kishi]

16 minutes ago, Mistr said:

Wow, that's a lot of volume on your deadlifts. You certainly pack a lot into a session.

 

Thanks! The best part is that I can fit so much into so little time. I really really like this new way of doing things, because it lets me do the work I want to do and lead the life I want to live. Lets me be around for people and keep my obligations to myself, you know?

 

18 minutes ago, Mistr said:

I agree with @Urgan on headstand/handstand practice. I'm sure you already have the strength. You just need control and balance. Those things benefit from frequent practice.

 

Thank you for linking the Strongfirst progression. That looks like an accessible way to start. I may add that to my current random mix of exercises. The inverted leg extensions look like Sahrmann exercises with extra core work because of gravity.  

 

Yes. I really like Armstrong's approach to things. She's really, really thorough, and she seems to have successfully toed the line between being efficient and taking one's time.

 

35 minutes ago, Mistr said:

Are you planning on moving with your folks or looking for different place?

 

You know, that's a good question. I'd assumed I'd be moving with my folks, because rent isn't cheap around here. I'm also paranoid about my ability to be fiscally responsible, since I can't seem to put away money for nothing and that's without rent included, but then apparently I've been putting money away with knowing about it? So IDK if my paranoia is justified or not.

 

OTOH, the place they're moving to is definitely going to add to the commute, meaning that scheduling sleep is going to be just nuts. And apparently if one accounts for rent as 30% of gross monthly pay, even accounting for my pretax deductions, there are places in Raleigh that I could afford. Wouldn't even need a roomie to make that happen. And living in the city again would make everything easier, just in terms of getting places and being able to get sleep.

 

So. Good question! I dunno.

 

1 hour ago, Mistr said:

We certainly knew that you are as healthy as a horse. No worries if your blood pressure was a little high going in. It automatically drops when you remove a pint from your system.

 

Yeah, but, you know. Data. Numbers. Stats.

[Kishi]

So Wednesday was a quiet day. No Judo on account of volitional blood loss. Went home, cooked dinner, didn't get down as early as I'd have liked, but that's just normal.

 

Thursday, I decided to go ahead and pursue a deload. One, because deloads/waving volumes/recovery periods are part of most programs; two, because I'd been steadily increasing volume for three weeks and figured a hold would be okay; and three, because I gave blood and didn't want to chance conking out on the mats.

 

Here's how it went:

 

Warmed Up

 

Front Squats:

3x45

5x5x60

 

2 Leg Assisted Ring Pull Ups: 1x15

Jackknife Ring Pull Ups: 1x9

4-Second Eccentric Pull Ups: 3x5

 

Flat Knee Raises: 2x11, 14

 

Once I got to the point in the two moves where I either had to grind or couldn't control it, I quit the set. It struck me as the simplest way to wave the volume down.

 

Eccentrics felt fine, BTW. I carried my previous insight about being hypervigilant with loss of control over to this and as soon as I felt even a slight deficit in my ability, I killed the set. I probably could have done more sets of 5, but I wouldn't have done them as well. And given how pull ups are their own special brand of hard, anything that lets me extend the set to get more volume is a good idea, provided I don't get hurt.

 

Anyway, I had enough time afterward to roll some things out with a foam roller and the LAX ball, which helped a great deal.

 

Karate afterward was nice and gentle, relatively. Spent a lot of time working on technique and didn't spar, which is an odd thing for us, but nothing to complain about given my situation. This played nicely with the deload and I felt like I had a lot of energy out there, which was what I was hoping for.

 

Tonight would be Kali and chill, but a friend of mine wants to grab dinner and a show, so it's just chill instead. I've run my measurements early ahead of that and appear to have stalled at 16.9%, which is good in the sense that I haven't regressed or anything like that. And the extra protein didn't hurt things at all. It just doesn't seem to have been enough to continue the loss.

 

So, I'm going to make the next simple tweak and count all non-veggie carbs, attempting to limit myself to 100 g/day. This is the simplest adjustment I can make, and it feels right. If it doesn't help me get lower next week, however, I think I'mma take that as a sign and try to focus on eating at maintenance for a while to let my body recoup. I shall not seek austerity and misery. I don't need that to get what I want.

[Kishi]

Man, what is it about the weekends where, even when they're quiet, I feel drawn away?

 

IDK

 

Anyway. Friday's film was Three Billboards, starring Frances MacDormand, Sam Rockwell, and Woody Harrelson along with Peter Dinklage and a host of others who I'd probably know if I was any good at consuming media. It's a dark comedy centering on a bereaved mother's struggle for justice for her dead daughter. Very, very good - well-shot, good dialogue, very nuanced look at the characters and their motivations. You come away from this with a sense that everyone's at least a little justified in thinking the way they do although you're also forced to conclude that nobody's really a very good person. It's the kind of film that I probably wouldn't have gone out of my way to see, which is a shame because I would have missed out on it otherwise. And since I spend so much of my time on the mats anyway, I don't feel bad whenever these opportunities come up.

 

Saturday was a quiet day. I putzed about, did my chores, and spent some time at the gym. I basically just worked on all different kinds of movement and moved at my ease. I think it was the right move - it wasn't some kind of terrible slog or anything like that, but OTOH I spent about three hours there when all was said and done. I think, given that I'm rather naturally a sedentary creature if left to my own devices, that this probably wasn't so bad. It kind of felt to me like I spent a bunch of time at a playground. Yet, at the same time, so much of what I do is tied now to brief and intense exercise, and a lot of what I did felt disjointed in a way that I didn't like. I think that I need to move with more purpose when I'm there, and I have some thoughts about what that looks like, but there's not a lot of pressure to implement or anything like that.

 

Since my feet have been sore, I also elected to ruck on the treadmill instead of running. The running hasn't been hurting my feet; rather, my feet have been sore, and so I haven't run. I set the treadmill at an aggressive pace and an uphill slope, and slogged through it for about 40 minutes or so. Got my heart to move, but not above the Maffetone number, which is right where I want it.

 

Sunday was an easy day since that day's D&D has been put on hiatus for the holidays. I elected not to go out and train people that day - I don't need the money, and it felt good to have a day where nobody needed me for anything. Hit it like a deload:

 

Warmed Up

 

Bench Dips: 1x5

40 lbs assist: 1x3

30 lbs assist: 3x5

 

DL: 1x5x45

1x5x65

1x5x95

1x3x135

2x5x170

 

Followed by 5 sprints for 15 seconds and a couple rounds of RKC plank for 15 seconds. After that, I was done. It was kind of unnerving, actually, being done that fast. I almost rucked again, but decided against it and instead trundled off to play games on my phone and chill.

 

I'm still mulling over whether it's time to move out or not. My folks are kind of for it, but my mom made the observation that as long as I'm staying with them, I should just test out the weight of rent by putting that month's amount away to see how it feels. It's sobering then - if I did that today, I'd wind up with about $100 left and the rest of the month before me. Looking at my expenses, there are some places I could tighten up - media services I'm not using, that kind of thing - but the lion's share of it is in simple logistics. Lots of eating out and keeping fuel in the car. Stuff that I wouldn't have to deal with so much if I was living closer to Raleigh and to work. I eat out so much because there's just no time to get home and cook and eat and shower and get down early enough to get enough sleep to do the things I want to do. If I had my own place in town, I wouldn't have to worry about so much of that - I could buy ingredients and cook rather than having to pay extra for labor, and that would cut my expenses a pretty great deal. But I don't know if it would be enough.

 

I suppose I could I simulate the entire thing for a month living with my folks - squirrel away a month's rent and then live like I was away from home - but Oh my God that would be a logistical nightmare.

 

So... I dunno. Something's going to have to tighten up somewhere, unless I get another raise in the next year beyond the Cost of Living Adjustment. Realistically, though, this is probably going to wind up with me having to be absolutely ruthless with my sleeping schedule and getting done what shopping and prep work needs to be done on the weekends prior.

 

Frustrating, but. I don't see this working any other way.

 

Anyway. Monday. Rest day. Cool.

[Urgan]

24 minutes ago, Kishi said:

Saturday was a quiet day. I putzed about, did my chores, and spent some time at the gym. I basically just worked on all different kinds of movement and moved at my ease. I think it was the right move - it wasn't some kind of terrible slog or anything like that, but OTOH I spent about three hours there when all was said and done. I think, given that I'm rather naturally a sedentary creature if left to my own devices, that this probably wasn't so bad. It kind of felt to me like I spent a bunch of time at a playground. Yet, at the same time, so much of what I do is tied now to brief and intense exercise, and a lot of what I did felt disjointed in a way that I didn't like. I think that I need to move with more purpose when I'm there, and I have some thoughts about what that looks like, but there's not a lot of pressure to implement or anything like that.

 

This broke my face.

[Kishi]

25 minutes ago, Urgan said:

 

This broke my face.

 

Well, I just mean in the sense that when it's the weekend/holiday and I'm at home, I pretty much just... sit all day. It's not like it used to be, back when I was in retail/food service, you know?

[Urgan]

41 minutes ago, Kishi said:

 

Well, I just mean in the sense that when it's the weekend/holiday and I'm at home, I pretty much just... sit all day. It's not like it used to be, back when I was in retail/food service, you know?

 

You may be many things, but even on weekends sedentary isn't the first word that comes to mind lol. Not that the downtime isn't hard-earned and deserved. You are almost always up to something.

[Mistr]

On 12/6/2017 at 1:23 PM, Kishi said:

OTOH, the place they're moving to is definitely going to add to the commute, meaning that scheduling sleep is going to be just nuts. And apparently if one accounts for rent as 30% of gross monthly pay, even accounting for my pretax deductions, there are places in Raleigh that I could afford. Wouldn't even need a roomie to make that happen. And living in the city again would make everything easier, just in terms of getting places and being able to get sleep.

 

6 hours ago, Kishi said:

I'm still mulling over whether it's time to move out or not. My folks are kind of for it, but my mom made the observation that as long as I'm staying with them, I should just test out the weight of rent by putting that month's amount away to see how it feels. It's sobering then - if I did that today, I'd wind up with about $100 left and the rest of the month before me. Looking at my expenses, there are some places I could tighten up - media services I'm not using, that kind of thing - but the lion's share of it is in simple logistics. Lots of eating out and keeping fuel in the car. Stuff that I wouldn't have to deal with so much if I was living closer to Raleigh and to work. I eat out so much because there's just no time to get home and cook and eat and shower and get down early enough to get enough sleep to do the things I want to do. If I had my own place in town, I wouldn't have to worry about so much of that - I could buy ingredients and cook rather than having to pay extra for labor, and that would cut my expenses a pretty great deal. But I don't know if it would be enough.

 

I suppose I could I simulate the entire thing for a month living with my folks - squirrel away a month's rent and then live like I was away from home - but Oh my God that would be a logistical nightmare.

 

 

Sounds like you are running into the classic time vs. money trade-off. Commuting time eats a LOT of a week. The pinch is that you won't be doing a direct trade of time for money. Instead you could use the time to cut expenses. I suppose you could drive for Uber again to get more money. That would cancel out the time benefit.

 

I think it is worth running the numbers on several scenarios. One factor to consider is gym access. Some apartment buildings have decent exercise facilities included. If you moved close to work which of your memberships would you still use? Assuming you might want to drop one, does it have a contract that you can't get out of? If so, that needs to figure into your budget.

 

In theory you could get a place close to work and not need a car. You could even get exercise walking/jogging to work. I've found that plan has serious downsides. Not having a car is a huge savings on insurance and upkeep. However it makes it hard to take advantage of bulk buying for essentials. Plus you will need to go places when public transport is not available. Most of the potential savings tend to go to higher rent and Uber costs.

 

I'd advise against living with roommates for the next while. You've had to put up with other people's bad habits for a long time. If you are going to put out the money for an apartment, get a space that you can set up exactly the way you want.

[Urgan]

22 minutes ago, Mistr said:

I'd advise against living with roommates for the next while. You've had to put up with other people's bad habits for a long time. If you are going to put out the money for an apartment, get a space that you can set up exactly the way you want.

 

[Kishi]

22 hours ago, Urgan said:

 

You may be many things, but even on weekends sedentary isn't the first word that comes to mind lol. Not that the downtime isn't hard-earned and deserved. You are almost always up to something.

 

LOL it's true. TBH, being told that we're taking time off from a lot of the things I've been doing with my weekends w/ friends has been welcome news. So, maybe you're right. Lord knows it wouldn't be the first time in here.

 

17 hours ago, Mistr said:

Sounds like you are running into the classic time vs. money trade-off. Commuting time eats a LOT of a week. The pinch is that you won't be doing a direct trade of time for money. Instead you could use the time to cut expenses. I suppose you could drive for Uber again to get more money. That would cancel out the time benefit.

 

Right, exactly. The frustrating thing being that the building is presently open for overtime, so I could use the time for that, but it's only open for people who are higher in the system than I am, so even if I came in and did this work I would make any extra money for it.

 

17 hours ago, Mistr said:

I think it is worth running the numbers on several scenarios. One factor to consider is gym access. Some apartment buildings have decent exercise facilities included. If you moved close to work which of your memberships would you still use? Assuming you might want to drop one, does it have a contract that you can't get out of? If so, that needs to figure into your budget.

 

That is a number I've run, and the good news is that there's no contract attached to any of this. I would probably drop membership in the gym in Apex, but I'd be stuck looking then for some place to hit a heavy bag. Although, I suppose I could set up a freestanding unit of some kind, which would wind up paying for itself in the long run in terms of use and saved time.

 

17 hours ago, Mistr said:

In theory you could get a place close to work and not need a car. You could even get exercise walking/jogging to work. I've found that plan has serious downsides. Not having a car is a huge savings on insurance and upkeep. However it makes it hard to take advantage of bulk buying for essentials. Plus you will need to go places when public transport is not available. Most of the potential savings tend to go to higher rent and Uber costs.

 

Yup. It's probably a wash. OTOH, living closer to work means that I would be able to save on gas and I wouldn't have to worry about driving up my upkeep so much. OTOH, I'd still have to make the car payment on top of the rent. Since I have a Grown Up Job now, Dad's not helping me with that anymore, and to hear Mom tell it, he couldn't even if he wanted to.

 

Also, work is pretty far away from everything - it's on the outskirts of town, kind of at the point where town becomes country. There's not really anything close by.

 

17 hours ago, Mistr said:

I'd advise against living with roommates for the next while. You've had to put up with other people's bad habits for a long time. If you are going to put out the money for an apartment, get a space that you can set up exactly the way you want.

 

17 hours ago, Urgan said:

 

 

Yeah, and this is probably the death knell right here. If I put away 30% of my gross pre-taxes, I could afford a place on my own, but living would be a problem. If I put away 30% of my gross post-taxes, I could afford some rents, but most of them would involve living with roommates again, and I'm still pretty salty about that.

 

Sigh. Dammit. Oh well. I've been needing to tighten up my living schedule anyway.

 

*

 

Monday wound up pretty chill. No training as it was a rest day, and no gaming as everyone else got swamped in Real Life. I wound up hanging out with a couple of the players while eating dinner and mostly got stuck talking politics with someone who really doesn't agree with a lot of the things I think. A lot of his disagreements were based in inaccurate understandings of history and present circumstances, but neither correct understanding of history or the evidence I was willing to provide did anything to shake him out of it. Oh well. Just another problematic person for me to put up with. Truthfully, I was actually grateful he was there because the other person was the one whom I suspect has worked her way back around to having a crush on me again and had we been alone, I would have had to navigate that minefield instead.

 

That feeling when one set of problems cancels out the other set of problems. LOL. Also, managed to get to bed five minutes before midnight last night and was so stinking happy. Sigh. I'm learning to settle for too little.

 

The deload continues this week. I'll do S&S tonight with lighter bells and hit Karate after.

[Urgan]

16 minutes ago, Kishi said:

That feeling when one set of problems cancels out the other set of problems. LOL.

 

Like there's been a stay of your execution.

[Machete]

On 12/12/2017 at 10:28 AM, Kishi said:

That feeling when one set of problems cancels out the other set of problems. LOL.

 

Life. On the plus side having so many pressing problems leaves one no time to wallow in depression. Screwed either way.

 

[Kishi]

On ‎12‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 10:44 AM, Urgan said:

 

Like there's been a stay of your execution.

 

23 minutes ago, Machete said:

 

Life. On the plus side having so many pressing problems leaves one no time to wallow in depression. Screwed either way.

 

 

 

*

 

Tuesday was a day. There was some rain, so me being paranoid for my bells I decided to just train indoors. I did 55 squat thrusts in 5 minutes, emphasizing the hollow body. Afterward, I did incline one arm push ups to try to simulate the effects of TGUs. It wasn't exactly the same, but it left me feeling about like I'd done a lighter session of S&S, so I like to think it worked. Foam-rolled and LAX-rolled, and was pleased/concerned to find that a trigger point on my left elbow is basically gone. There's no sharp pain there anymore. I hope that means what I think it means.

 

Karate afterward was interesting. K-sensei seems to have been inspired by the Rigandeaux-Lomachenko fight and had us practicing like boxers. When one was up doing things, the other student was supposed to be down doing calisthenics. Didn't do very well on those, which was embarrassing on a personal level. May need to start channeling my inner Hershchel Walker and start doing like 500 push ups in the morning or something like that.

 

At least the sparring was good. Managed to apply what we studied, threw sasae like I knew what I was doing, and even managed to get control of his head and manipulate him down at one point. It was a good night.

 

Today... things are interesting. I tried to do some push ups after doing the headstand work, and boy howdy that was difficult. Could only manage 5 reps, but not sure if that's a function of the handstand work or if that's a function of having been gassed last night, or if that's the low carb finally catching up to me. Regardless: my shame endures.

 

I've been doing mobility work throughout the day at my desk, using the Convict Conditioning Trifecta - bridges, L-sits, and twist holds. Think I may have made a bit of a breakthrough with the sits. L-sitting requires a pronounced scapular depression when you press down into the ground, but you're also supposed to control the body when doing it. Normally, when I press down, my body drifts back and away. I've been working on pressing forward and maintaining my body between my arms. I think it helped. Some back pain I picked up from doing ab work last night seems to have abated without any extra attention, which was an alleged benefit of this particular mobility regimen. Yay!

 

Anyway, today is the last day of deload. I'm feeling pretty good. Like I've got a lot more energy and I'm raring to go. Although I don't know if that's the coffee talking or what. Could be. Not sure if I have energy or if gassing myself last night pretty much just undid the whole thing. But, schedule is schedule, and class is random. I had no way of knowing that this would be what happened, so.

 

Judo tonight. Part of me was saying don't go on account of my back, but since that seems to be resolving itself, I may as well.

[Treva]

On 12/6/2017 at 11:43 AM, Kishi said:

(incidentally, I'm apparently healthy as a horse if the blood numbers/blood pressure are anything to go on, and while my pressure was a little high, I did drink a cup of very strong coffee prior to donation. Also, I have the White Coat Syndrome).

YAS I'm glad your numbers are good!!!

I too have white coat syndrome.  You can always test your numbers at home, as I am sure you are aware.  

 

On 12/11/2017 at 9:58 AM, Kishi said:

I suppose I could I simulate the entire thing for a month living with my folks - squirrel away a month's rent and then live like I was away from home - but Oh my God that would be a logistical nightmare.

 

So... I dunno. Something's going to have to tighten up somewhere, unless I get another raise in the next year beyond the Cost of Living Adjustment. Realistically, though, this is probably going to wind up with me having to be absolutely ruthless with my sleeping schedule and getting done what shopping and prep work needs to be done on the weekends prior.

 

Frustrating, but. I don't see this working any other way.

That all sounds like a hard decision.  I wish I had some advice to offer.  

 

6 hours ago, Kishi said:

Tuesday was a day. There was some rain, so me being paranoid for my bells I decided to just train indoors. I did 55 squat thrusts in 5 minutes, emphasizing the hollow body. Afterward, I did incline one arm push ups to try to simulate the effects of TGUs. It wasn't exactly the same, but it left me feeling about like I'd done a lighter session of S&S, so I like to think it worked. Foam-rolled and LAX-rolled, and was pleased/concerned to find that a trigger point on my left elbow is basically gone. There's no sharp pain there anymore. I hope that means what I think it means.

I'm so glad that your elbow is feeling better!!!    And I'm all here for S&S.  It's cool that you have found ways to simulate TGUs.  I need to get back to those, they make my abs die.  

 

6 hours ago, Kishi said:

oday... things are interesting. I tried to do some push ups after doing the headstand work, and boy howdy that was difficult. Could only manage 5 reps, but not sure if that's a function of the handstand work or if that's a function of having been gassed last night, or if that's the low carb finally catching up to me. Regardless: my shame endures.

pushups are hard.  I struggle with them all the time, I'm still doing inclined push ups.  eh you should have no shame!  you are a warrior of the highest caliber!  No shame in finding a new space you could be more bamf in!

 

6 hours ago, Kishi said:

I've been doing mobility work throughout the day at my desk, using the Convict Conditioning Trifecta - bridges, L-sits, and twist holds. Think I may have made a bit of a breakthrough with the sits. L-sitting requires a pronounced scapular depression when you press down into the ground, but you're also supposed to control the body when doing it. Normally, when I press down, my body drifts back and away. I've been working on pressing forward and maintaining my body between my arms. I think it helped. Some back pain I picked up from doing ab work last night seems to have abated without any extra attention, which was an alleged benefit of this particular mobility regimen. Yay!

What is this convict conditioning trifecta?  I'm glad you've ahd a breakthrough, and that the back pain is gone!!

 

I'm really excited to hear that you're pretty pain free in all of your exercises, especially from the elbow!  that's great news.  

[Kishi]

14 hours ago, Treva said:

YAS I'm glad your numbers are good!!!

I too have white coat syndrome.  You can always test your numbers at home, as I am sure you are aware.

 

Well, you know, and it's funny, because in the past when I've acknowledged my WCS to a whitecoat, my BP numbers actually sank to the point that I joked that maybe I should be more stressed about life in general. I think the difference is, last time, I gave blood in the afternoon and didn't have coffee. This time, I gave it in the morning and had strong coffee. Still, 130/80 isn't so bad. I've been a touch stressed over life and personal situations lately, but we're working on those and I imagine that I'll be fine as these situations resolve.

 

14 hours ago, Treva said:

That all sounds like a hard decision.  I wish I had some advice to offer.

 

I mean, it's all a numbers game. And like many games, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. /shrug

 

15 hours ago, Treva said:

I'm so glad that your elbow is feeling better!!!    And I'm all here for S&S.  It's cool that you have found ways to simulate TGUs.  I need to get back to those, they make my abs die.  

 

Well, you know, looking back at it, there's really not a reason I couldn't have just done 'naked' TGUs, which means doing them with just bodyweight and nothing else. They're a really fantastic exercise even then - they push the body through a lot of different ranges of motion, and they're good practice for getting up off the ground, which is a skill I'll want to polish and maintain into my old age. Same for you - if you're missing them in your life, it's okay to strip them down to nothing and just practice the mechanics. Do them with ten-second pauses holding each position with perfect tension. That'll do you in too.

 

But yes! Happy elbow is happy.

 

15 hours ago, Treva said:

pushups are hard.  I struggle with them all the time, I'm still doing inclined push ups.  eh you should have no shame!  you are a warrior of the highest caliber!  No shame in finding a new space you could be more bamf in!

 

Yes'm!

 

15 hours ago, Treva said:

What is this convict conditioning trifecta?  I'm glad you've ahd a breakthrough, and that the back pain is gone!!

 

So, Convict Conditioning is this flagship calisthenic strength program put out by Dragon Door, which focuses on developing high-strength calisthenic feats, mostly focused on larger groups of muscles. It proved to be popular enough that a second book was put out addressing a bunch of smaller muscles - forearms, neck, traps, things like that. Included in that is the author's mobility program, the Trifecta, which is composed of three static holds that require both an active component and a passive component. In other words, each of these holds involve having tension in one set of muscles, and by tensing these muscles you force the antagonist muscles to stretch to accommodate that tension.

 

These three holds are the Back Bridge, the L-Sit, and the Twist. Each of these is done for 20 seconds and supposedly has the power to undo stiffness and damage and keep everything nice and mobile.

 

It's always made sense to me on paper, but it's never quite worked the way I believed it should. Particularly with L-Sits; I have a fairly hyperactive left psoas that tends to take over the movement and get super tight. Tight enough that it actually pulls on my spinal muscles in my lower back. I never quite figured out what made it happen and concluded for a long time that this was just a move that I wasn't meant to do. But this time, somehow, I picked up the idea that I needed to control my body in space - keep my torso between my arms when doing the hold as opposed to letting it drift behind. Something about working on that tension seems to have addressed the issue, at least for now, and while the progression I'm at is easily the most strenuous of all of them... it feels good.

 

*

 

Judo was fun! We had a gentleman in whose family is attempting to put out Olympic-caliber judoka. His judo is very strong. As for me, I wound up working with another white belt who was short and heavy. I was set to practicing ippon seoi nage on him, which is not a particularly advantageous throw when you're tall and not heavier than the other guy. It was a workout. Definitely something that would have warranted carbs, but I was pleased that I didn't bonk out or anything. Nor am I feeling bad now.

 

Anyway, the deload week has been good. I feel good and recharged and ready to hit it hard again. Today will be front squats, pull up progression, abs, and karate. Quick and brutal. Yoshi.

[Kishi]

Aah, one thing I forgot to mention. Folks and I talked about the living situation last night. I told them that I was probably going to wind up living with them. They said that they wanted to help me out with all that. They're planning to use some of the money from when the house sells to pay off my car.

 

 

Not having that to deal with anymore would be a huge burden off my back. It's one of the big things holding me back from moving out right now. But apparently they agree with me that it's time for me to go - not that we don't want to live together anymore, but that it's just time, and living in town would be better for me and the things I want to do.

 

It's just... stunning. So now I actually can start looking for places.

[Urgan]

[Kishi]

17 hours ago, Urgan said:

 

 

*

 

So, wow, Thursday. First day back from deload. Holy snacks.

 

Warmed Up

 

Front Squats

3x45

6x5x60

5x4x60

4x3x60

6x2x60

3x1x60

Vol= 4755 lbs (!!!)

 

Eccentric Pull Ups

5x5

1x3

2x2

 

Flat Knee Raises: 2x12,17

 

So in case you can't tell, I'm pretty excited about that jump in volume. From ~4000 to ~4800? Wow. Yet, looking back over my logs, that kind of jump appears to be reasonable, as I've made similar jumps in the past. But the fact that I was able to do so with a deload thrown in? That was nice. Just on a psychological level - I don't have to be killing myself all the time to make progress. It's exciting to me.

 

The pull ups weren't bad, although I couldn't quite seem to find a place where I was going wrong, even being sensitive to it. It just... went from working to not working anymore. I didn't snap down or anything like that, but I'd jump up, do my work, rest, repeat, then jump up to do the work and the body would be like nope and drop me back down. The elbow still isn't bothering me, though.

 

Karate was about as rough as expected. Worse, in some ways - K-sensei broke out the resistance bands and had us practicing our shift-ins against that resistance. Legs were smoked. Although, have to admit, they're tough. While the first thirty minutes or so were uncomfortable, they settled out and I managed to fight through a few rounds of sparring afterward without being too bad.

 

Speaking of, sparring's been going well. I don't know if it's because I've lowered my expectations or if I'm looking at things differently, but lately things seem to be clicking more. I seem to be making Sensei move and I'm able to see that as a victory rather than focusing on beating the man. This adjustment in perspective has helped me, and even though I still get lit up, I get the sense that these are constructive times that are making me better. There's still plenty of work to do, but the work is being done, if that makes sense.

 

Anyway, today will be a work-mandated indulgence. I ran my measurements and it looks like I've officially plateau'd at 16.9%. Ordinarily, I might consider a further cut, or else think that maybe the deload period threw my plans off a bit, but I've been working some manner of cut or other for a few months now and I think it's safe to say that my body's adapted. So, it seems reasonable to take a break from cutting and eat at what Sisson refers to as maintenance - bump the CHO up to 150 g on top of my BMR, and focus on my training for the next bit.

 

Hopefully what happens is that my body either stays at this level or even accidentally recomposes a bit in favor of muscle, which would be another way to drive the fat percentage down. Not sure what I'll do if I balloon upward to 18% and kill all my progress in a week, though. But. No sense in worrying. The day that happens will be sufficient for its own trouble and all that.

 

Need to see Star Wars at some point. Not sure when or how that's gonna happen.

[Kishi]

So, uh. About work. Turned out that the mandated indulgence was supposed to be 12/19 rather than Friday. I worked around it, of course, but I may have been a touch premature in my measurements. Oh well. Life is hard.

 

Kali turned out to be super-chill. We learned some dark-side type stuff - turns out when you flip the knife so that the blade is facing down that you can do some fiendish, stabby-cutty things. Most of the flow was about taking the knife inside the opponent's guard, at which point you could just stab and stab, over and over.

 

Still not sure how this would work against someone who doesn't do what I want them to, but hey. I'm willing to have a little faith, given that even with his version of compliance, it's still not terribly compliant. So.

 

Anyway, I managed to get out to see Star Wars twice. I didn't like it so much the first time, but the second time, something about it clicked for me, and I got really, really into it. Without spoiling it, TLJ is basically a way to dispense with the reliance that the saga has had for so long on the foibles of the Skywalker family. It's a true passing of the torch, and it's quite brilliantly done. I had some problems with how it was done the first time, but after going back for a second viewing I found myself nodding along and seeing those past weaknesses as strengths. Meaning that I was just being arrogant about my own ability to tell the story.

 

Now, that being said, there is one instance of Hollywood Tactics that kind of drove me nuts the more I thought about it, but it's spoiler-territory to go into it. Suffice to say that it was a bad decision made for plot reasons which was meant to stoke a conflict between a pair of characters. Conflict is interesting, to be sure, but I think there was plenty to go around even without that, and I think it would have definitely helped both characters to have a more realistic reason for them to butt heads.

 

But whatever. I'm happy I found my way back to liking this thing.

 

Saturday was general movement practice. I made my edits to the program and the whole thing felt way better. Still took forever, but it's a playground-type thing at that point for me and I'm not complaining. Since my feet weren't hurting, I went for a run on the treadmill, but stopped when I had a sharp pain in my right great toe joint. Figured I wasn't Scout-enough to die for the mileage, so, I called it at that point and walked. There was no pain walking. There's no pain now, either.

 

Sunday Fun Day:

 

Warmed Up

 

Bench Dipsx5

40 lb assist x3

30 lb assist:

4x5

2x4

2x3

8x2

7x1

 

DL

5x45

5x65

5x95

3x135

3x5x170

3x4x170

5x3x170

8x2x170

7x1x170

Vol=12,480 lbs (!!!!!)

 

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with dips. Part of me wants to do them as weighted exercise and part of me wants to do them as calisthenic exercise. I'm genuinely unsure which path suits my interests more. In the interest of keeping things simple I will probably stick to just throwing more weight on this thing, but there is something compelling about going after harder and harder variants.

 

Also, that DL volume. WHAT. This jump is huge - prior to this, I was lucky to get jumps of 100 to 200 lbs, and now I've gone from 10,770 to 12,480. Deloads. They work.

 

Decided to attack the Versaclimber again and spent more time on per sprint. It slayed me before I completed my task. Bah. Wrapped up with RKC planks.

 

Today is going to be interesting. I've accidentally decided to experiment with a 20-24 hour fast, because last night was the second time I went to see TLJ and I didn't get home until about midnight. I didn't have enough food prepared for Monday, and between eating nachos with the folks and confections at the theatre, I just didn't feel hungry or concerned. I felt like I was choosing between food - which, since I'm at maintenance right now, I have enough of - and sleep, which I need more of. Sleep won out, but it's cost me my food for the day until dinner tonight.

 

I'm not convinced this is a bad thing, though. Sunday being a, ahem, discretionary day wasn't so bad when I was cutting because it averaged out with the other 6 days of the week. But now it's going to add on to maintenance and it could throw things off. If I were living on my own, this would be one thing where I could just shrug it off, but as long as I'm staying with the folks it's going to be something I deal with, so until I'm out the door, it makes sense to me to do some kind of fast.

 

Not feeling bad today yet. And since it's a rest day, that should continue. I hope.

[Kishi]

Monday happened! It was a rest day. Not a whole lot happened there. No real game dramatics beyond one of the players trying to be risk-averse again, which is something that he's been called on before and is probably going to get him kicked from the table. Which I can't really help him with now. I've already protected him once - ranted about it here and everything - but I don't think the table will take a second time. That conversation's going to be fun, when everyone can work up the guts to ask me to have it.

 

Tuesday, my lower back was hurting. I've been trying a bodyweight postural exercise where I lay prone on the ground and raise my arms up behind me. But I can't seem to do that without something in my lower back going off. So I think that's just an exercise I'm going to have to shelve and be done. Besides, the other one I was doing already is proving sufficient to remind me to cue my shoulder blades back.

 

So, S&S with the 24 kg. A woman passing me by complimented me on my form, which was nice after the ribbing I normally get from passersby.

 

Karate afterward, we dug into following up kicks with punches. Specifically following up side kick with a cross. Drilled it fine but couldn't make it work in sparring and got tossed like a rag doll on top of it. Oh well. Those happen.

 

I don't really care for the extra time I'm having to take in the morning to work on racking up push ups, so I think I'm going to change it out for doing Convict Conditioning-style progressions on Wednesday. One, because I have time on Wednesdays again and two because of all the different systems I've found it's the one system that focuses on higher-rep work while only doing so one day per week. So, that'll be that.

 

Tuesday was a day for indulgence. I indulged, but I also made a point of eating lots of healthier food as well. Macros might be blown, but that doesn't mean I can't blow them up with good food as well. Made an observation as well that on days when I'm eating out, my foods can be an odd mix of macros which I don't normally see when I cook for myself. I basically hit my survival macros to get ~1930 calories or so, but by the time I add in starches from Chipotle and such I wind up at about 2700+, which I know isn't maintenance. So, I experimented with making some adjustments to account for that - basically accounting for the added fats that they use in cooking their rice and such and reducing fat intake elsewhere to not exceed survival. Doing so allows me to get back to ~2500, which I know from past experience is a good estimate of what maintenance actually is.

 

So, you know, that's satisfying.

 

Anyway, push ups and judo tonight. 

[Kishi]

So, I skipped Judo. My lower back was still talking to me and while I probably wouldn't have aggravated it, my history of past aggravations just kind of spooked me out of it. J-sensei likes to talk up about being dedicated to the art and fighting through pain, but seeing how many people cripple themselves to get good at this... I'm like, "Nah, bruh."

 

I hit 3x50 Wall Push Ups at the prescribed cadence, which was doable and an exercise in being tough-minded. I allowed myself a lot of rest, but even so it was only like 15 minutes of work. This will get easier as I progress, since the overall volume is programmed to drop in favor of intensity. Most of the longer work is in the opening progressions, and I should be able to breeze through those in a few weeks. I hope. The eventual epic goal is to get to a set of 50 one-arm push ups per side, and I figure I can one-up that by getting to doing that with feet elevated. That should get me to high volume regular push ups.

 

Anyway, not much to report. Strength work and Karate tonight. Left my rings at home, so this will probably be rougher on my left elbow than I like. But on the other hand, I'm actually to the point where I can pull rather than worry about eccentrics, so this should be easier to track than the other. Guess we'll see what happens.

[Kishi]

Oh buddy. What a night.

 

Okay. So, went to gym. Went like this:

 

Warmed Up

 

BW Squats x20

Front Squats

7x5x65

5x4x65

7x3x65

5x2x65

5x1x65

Vol=5,915 lbs

 

High Inverted Rows x20

Low Inverted Rows x15

2-Leg Supported Pull Ups x12

Pull Ups

4x1

 

Flat Knee Raises x14, 18

 

So, yeah. Not sure what the hell happened here. Lot of weird factors playing in and while I've overall arrived at a better place, it didn't happen quite the way I thought it would. When I got to the gym, all the racks everywhere were taken, and not wanting to wait I figured I'd work on pistol progressions instead. In the middle of warming up, one of the racks opened, so I jumped on that and figured I was warm enough to get to work. It was a big jump in volume (which, again, shouldn't be a surprise) but I'm not altogether certain as to whether the lighter warm up was what did it or if I'm just riding the N00B GAINZ train or what. Then again, another way to look at it might be to say that I left some volume on the table since I didn't use the barbell in the warm up. But that's not guaranteed, right? Still. Gains is gains, and takes them I will.

 

Freaking pull ups, though, man. That was a jump. So the original idea was that since I didn't have rings to keep my elbow safe that I'd use a lot of volume on lower progressions to get blood pumping in the system and get the joints warm and ready to go. I was generous with my rest - I had time to burn - and I didn't feel like I was pushing myself particularly in any of these things. And the original plan was to do half pull ups from the top, but when I hopped up to the bar, I could only do one before dropping. And I thought that was some bullcrap. I figured if I was only going to be doing singles anyway, I might as well do the full pull ups. So I hit four singles and now I'm not sure how to progress going forward. This is not something that was planned on originally, although given that pulling work is notorious for ramping difficulty, this shouldn't have surprised me.

 

This is also playing up some of my insecurities about my bodyweight. Realistically, I probably lost the strength to do pull ups a while ago and I'm just now finding my way back. But psychologically, it's a struggle to deal with the fact that the body adapts to cutting and has to take a break at some point, and I'm telling myself that I probably gained 10 lbs in the past week when really all the water weight I've picked up from carbs has gone to sit on my stomach and is throwing off my perceptions. And frankly, even if I gained an extra 10 lbs, I should be grateful. After all, it's more resistance to overcome, and it will make me stronger.

 

It still doesn't drown out the voice telling me to get back on cut, but that voice is stupid and it's not worth listening to.

 

Karate afterward went great. We continued to focus on following up with punching. Sparring went well afterward. I managed to pull off some throws and even managed some successful follow ups. At one point, K-sensei tried to fake me out by doing that springing in place thing that you see people do from time to time. I leg-kicked him a couple times and he told me I should follow up. He didn't realize I was priming him for Iceberg, so when I leg-kicked the next time, I followed up with a side kick that folded him in the middle. Caught him soft and everything. That was pretty great.  Great enough to make up for getting lit up and tossed like a rag doll. Because beating a man with 25 years' experience isn't the point. Making the game work is the point. And it did. And it was great.

 

In cold resistance and general biohackery news, after I got home and cold-showered last night, I realized I'd left something in my car, which was parked a distance away from the house in the cold. So I put on a pair of shorts and nothing else and walked outside into the ~30 degree weather. And felt completely fine. That was cool. Literally and in the sense that it was something I could enjoy.

 

Anyway, back is feeling better and elbow isn't comfy but isn't hurting either. I found another trigger point on it that I'm going to work on, but otherwise, today's a rest day and... yeah. That's that.

[Urgan]

1 hour ago, Kishi said:

So I put on a pair of shorts and nothing else and walked outside into the ~30 degree weather. And felt completely fine. That was cool.