Osu

[Kishi]

Thursday in the bag!

 

I managed the cake and ice cream by taking an early lunch walk and then cramming my lunch - protein and fiber and fat - down my pie hole as fast as possible. As a result, I had a little cake and a little ice cream and was quite happily satisfied without even the temptation to go back for more. Also, it helps that the cake was crappy grocery-store bakery stuff and not actually, you know, homemade.

 

Thursday's HS training was not so easy. I could do the holds for time, but they didn't go up as easily as on Tuesday, and further I had to lean into the wall a few times and 'hack' the practice to get it. That does not connote a mastery of this hold for this duration at this time. So we will stay here and git gud, because the alternative is getting rekt, as the children say.

 

Karate was good. Mostly playing with timing and movement again. Got to spar with Sensei's wife again, by which I mean that she got to throw punches and I was only allowed movement. It's... annoying. Basically because I have to make all these technical movements and adjustments on the fly, but since I can't use any offensive movements to create space it never feels like it's effective. I take a step back, she scuttles forward. I step around, she scuttles forward. And I hate it because I have all these instructions in my head about not letting myself get forced to the sides or the corner, but since I can't hit, that's all I get. Just never feels like there's a good option. Oh, and she's allowed to do judo sweeps also because every once in a while my feet wind up too close together. Because at this point, why not.

 

It's not fair of me to feel that way. Of course she's going to scuttle in and keep punching, and of course she has to land something eventually, because eventually we both get tired, and she can do things and I can't. The ultimate point is to build up her confidence, because she hates getting hit, and if I'm honest about it, even when I strike light it's too hard for her. This is just another thing I have to learn to deal with and get over.

 

Anyway, they say it might storm today, and while there's rain out east there's nothing happening around here yet. So S&S and Kali, seems like. Rawk.

[Kishi]

Sunday already?

 

 

Anyway, it's been a few days.

 

Friday, I went to go play with the bells. I think for the next month or so, I'm going to use the traditional S&S warm up as opposed to the flow routine I was doing. I'll be doing so with the 8kg bell as opposed to the 16 that I used to use. Reason being that the first movement is a prying goblet squat with bicep curls. If adding those back in doesn't antagonize anything in the coming month, then that'll be a sign to start living with the 16 again.

 

Kali afterward was fun. Lots of flow work. The habits of movement don't change from one thing to the next, but getting them to come out as opposed to just blindly stabbing is a bit of a thing. Still, I'm enjoying it. I picked up a training blade and I've taken to playing with it like a fidget spinner when I have a free hand and a moment to think. It's fun, actually, although I'm wondering if it's something I can carry into work or gaming. Probably not. Too many stupid people.

 

Saturday, I went to help my friend move, and it wound up being pretty easy. We had a lot of bodies and only a single truckload of stuff, and for the most part it was just empty shelving. Awkward, but not necessarily heavy. Dude has way too many books, although it did serve to remind me that I wish I was better read than I am now.

 

After that I did some chores and then went to the gym.

 

HBP PE 2 - Easy

 

RC PE 1 - Easy

 

sPL PE 1 - Easy

 

Totally out of nowhere, that. I figured I'd have a harder time with things, what with the whole having moved people about ish, but no. It got hard toward the end of the last couple sets of HBP PE 2, but I didn't ever hit a point where I was grinding. Maybe going slower, but still smooth. Same with the other two movements. Guess that pizza post-move must have been good for me.  Afterward, I ran through my one kata a few times and smacked the bag for a few rounds.

 

Today, went and trained my people, then donated the proceeds to the NAACP for reasons. I'll be headed out in a bit to do more gymming, then I plan to make a big batch of the tea that's been helping me to feel better. Manong's already clarified that that's a good idea, and it should help me both with getting those benefits and getting down early to bed at night.

 

I do want to have some foci for the next month or so, but it's honestly all too vague to be something like a proper Challenge. It's more likely to be minor tweaks than anything else.

 

I'm going to make one last tweak to the diet and see if I can finally get some of that weight to shift. I've done as much math to it as I could - not only have I figured out the calories and the macros, but I've also determined what the weight is that I want to reach and what the appropriate body fat percentage would be to indicate retention of LBM; this incidentally will also indicate when it's time to adjust intake again, whether to recomp and recover or to go down again.

 

Beyond that, like I said, I want to take the next month to play with mobility. That means using the S&S traditional warm up again as well as some mobility stuff that I saw on GB. Lifewise, things are moving in my writing again, but I need to develop the habit of writing on my downtime as opposed to mindlessly surfing. Easy enough; I have a notebook I can carry with me and there are down periods at work where I could fit in some grinding. But it's not a habit, and I need to work on and develop that. So.

[Urgan]

11 minutes ago, Kishi said:

Kali afterward was fun. Lots of flow work. The habits of movement don't change from one thing to the next, but getting them to come out as opposed to just blindly stabbing is a bit of a thing. Still, I'm enjoying it. I picked up a training blade and I've taken to playing with it like a fidget spinner when I have a free hand and a moment to think. It's fun, actually, although I'm wondering if it's something I can carry into work or gaming. Probably not. Too many stupid people.

 

Kali sounds like fun. Anything you could use as a blade stand-in that's a more...mundane object? How large is the weapon?

[Kishi]

18 hours ago, Urgan said:

 

Kali sounds like fun. Anything you could use as a blade stand-in that's a more...mundane object? How large is the weapon?

 

It's not that big? Bigger than a pocket knife. The blade is very clearly not a blade when you can see it, but it's blade-shaped and shiny. Not something I trust people to distinguish.

 

EDIT: could probably play with a narrow piece of wood or pvc pipe or something like that. Maybe even a pen? Not sure. Need to experiment.

 

*

 

Sunday was a fun day.

 

FL PE 2 - Easy

 

SL PE 1 - Easy - Level Up!

 

MN PE 1 - Easy

 

Totally out of left field, that. I figured out that I'd made the MN progression too hard, and... yeah. Everything just came together.

 

After that, skipped rope, worked on kata, and just beat on the bag for a while. I figured out a way to work movement on the bag and focus on getting out of the way, like it's a sparring match as opposed to trying to reset things when the bag swings too far. That was good.

 

Practiced running afterward. Managed to work up an appetite, but when the time came to eat junk food, I only ate until I was satisfied and not past that point. Wasn't as much food as I thought it'd be, which was surprising. So far, I'm liking this constant sense of satisfaction, the feeling that I can eat and be satisfied without all the baggage attached to food. Having behaviors in place and solidified really seems to be helping with all of that.

 

I made the tea with my folks while they did their meal prep for the week. It honestly felt kind of homey, all of us being there and working together. Mom saw that I was grating up all these roots, so she offered a blender in place of a food processor. It was so much better. Admittedly, you have to put some water in there to get the roots to float, and the result is this slurry as opposed to grated stuff. OTOH, I don't really care, given that everything has to be watered eventually anyway, and it's so much faster. The speed. The blessed, blessed speed.

 

I still need to grind the pepper by hand, though, so the mortar and pestle gets to stay a part of things. :'D

 

And, yeah. Now I've got a pitcher full of turmeric-ginger tea just chilling in the fridge. Feels like a major win.

 

Today will be about rest. Need to write, though.

[Kishi]

Monday fun day! We actually had our full contingent on tap for gaming, so we managed to engage in the campaign. So far, we only have one guy knocked out. Frankly, we're all gonna die before this thing is done because our dice just decided they up and hate us, and we're all pretty badly hurt. As happens. Still, given that the campaign was probably a touch advanced for these characters anyway, we gave it a good run. And we're not dead yet.

 

Tuesday, the weather was bullshit again, so I had to go play indoors. So, handstands. Worked on HS PE 2, and it's fine where it is but I need to keep working on the balance. I worked on the manna progression afterward too, just for practice's sake.

 

I managed to write a little bit yesterday, but not as much as I would have liked. I need to get better about making time for that kind of thing. It was easily done, once, but that's not so simple now, especially since I spend all my time either on the road or working or training. There is time in there, to be clear. I probably need to be more disciplined about using it, though. Fortunately, FB is a lot less fun than it used to be.

 

Went to the dojo after practicing handstands. Got into some kata-y type stuff with low blocks and things like that. Managed to throw a low block and counter in sparring afterward, which feels like a good sign. Had a good first round, but then we let it ramp in the second and while I had a lot of fun it was way more of a brawl than a problem-solving exercise. Shame on me. But at least we crept up on each other rather than me trying to overpower. That feels like progress. And my movement's getting better in that I'm actually doing it.

 

Today is Leg Day and Judo. I have the gi jacket. Everything should be in order. I can only wait to see what goes wrong.

[Kishi]

So what went wrong on Wednesday?

 

Not a damn thing.

 

I did my leg training, ate a little food, then went and did Judo. It wound up that there was a shodan there who was an old friend of J-Sensei's. So he got in on the teaching, and we wound up going over a lot of super basic stuff. I eventually got singled out to help this one kid who was a cousin of one of the students. Came on the mats without a gi or nothing. So he put me to work on steps and happe no kuzushi which is basically getting a feel for stepping in and unbalancing a person. Highlight of the night for me was to be told that I had good movement and that I kept good posture. The shodan had actually come in on us last night and he was confused because I was the one who answered his questions. He thought I was the teacher.

 

Obviously I had to disabuse him of that notion, but it was gratifying to see the look on his face when he thought that my movement was that good.

 

Anyway, that was that. On today's docket, more handstands and Karate. We might have a new student tonight, although frankly I'm not optimistic. But we'll see.

[Urgan]

[Kishi]

23 hours ago, Urgan said:

 

Thanks! Not if he'd seen me last night, though.

 

*

 

So, the plan Thursday was to get out and do some more HS training.

 

Instead, I wound up helping a friend out with a problem she was having and lost a lot of time. And when I got to the gym the spaces were all took up. I managed a couple rounds of practice and did the strengthening exercises for my wrists, but I wasn't able to complete the session. Which, in the context of the full session on Tuesday, is okay.

 

Went to the dojo and had good practice, but not so good sparring. I didn't apply enough technical solutions; instead, I opted to scrap. Personally, I feel like I got pulled into some of that, but whatever. It's not wrong to be scrappy, but it's way better to be technical on top of that. Got the wind knocked out of me too via side kick to the ribs, since he uses Iceberg as well. That was fun.

 

Manage to clock him hard enough, though, that he didn't fancy another round, so after that, he put me through movement sparring w/ the waifu. My earlier insights made this way more bearable, although I got critiqued a lot on getting locked into one pattern of movement and not stepping more. ("But sensei, all that's good for is getting me locked in a corner that I can't fight out of." "Right now that's okay. You're not being graded on how well you fight"). So, I got more technical on movement. It worked, although like everything it needs more practice.

 

After that, sensei favored another round of sparring, but this time w/ kicks only. He's a kicker. I'm not so much. But we made a good go of it. Toward the end, he tried to crack a joke about how it was forbidden to use another man's technique. I rewarded him with an Iceberg right at the buzzer.

 

So, rough class. But that happens sometimes.

 

Anyway, whether I should have been or not, I kind of found myself in low spirits after that, which I'm not sure if that was d/t class or to newly lowered calories. I went to grab some groceries and fill up on gas, but I was pretty sluggish about it and didn't get done in time to actually grab dinner.

 

Fortunately, the dietary training through GB paid off and I was able to put together a meal w/ the appropriate foods. Which is a big improvement over the usual run for fast food.

 

Today, I'm feeling good. Attitude is good, hands are warm. Ribs don't hurt, and I reckon the bruises should heal on time. I do not lack for energy, presently. So, the plan is to go do kettlebells and kali. Gonna go back to an old park which has rough ground but is shaded and not infested w/ gnats, so that I can see what I'm doing and keep tension w/o having to slap myself constantly. Should be fun times.

[Urgan]

28 minutes ago, Kishi said:

Anyway, whether I should have been or not, I kind of found myself in low spirits after that, which I'm not sure if that was d/t class or to newly lowered calories.

 

Could be both, but in the presence of a cut, I always suspect the cut. The human body hates cuts at least as much as the human mind, lol. How big a drop are we talking? You were (characteristically, but even so) very busy this day on top of it. 

[Kishi]

39 minutes ago, Urgan said:

 

Could be both, but in the presence of a cut, I always suspect the cut. The human body hates cuts at least as much as the human mind, lol. How big a drop are we talking? You were (characteristically, but even so) very busy this day on top of it. 

 

I dunno. I'm sitting at 2035 calories, which is about 250 down from what appears to be maintenance. It shouldn't be much.

[Urgan]

48 minutes ago, Kishi said:

 

I dunno. I'm sitting at 2035 calories, which is about 250 down from what appears to be maintenance. It shouldn't be much.

 

That's not a crazy amount by any means, buuut you would be amazed at how far 200~ calories can go. Not suggesting you should do differently unless your performance suffers, just sayin'. 

 

Edit: Not that I assumed you were going all Banzai on this cut....

[Kishi]

On 8/18/2017 at 1:59 PM, Urgan said:

 

That's not a crazy amount by any means, buuut you would be amazed at how far 200~ calories can go. Not suggesting you should do differently unless your performance suffers, just sayin'. 

 

Edit: Not that I assumed you were going all Banzai on this cut....

 

In fairness, though, you've watched me long enough to know that that's kind of a thing I tend to do. And on that note, BANZAI

 

 

Anyway, you were right. As usual. See below.

 

*

 

Friday, I felt a need to make up for my failure to Kettlebell on Tuesday. So I decided to see if I "still had it." And that turned out bad. Seems that when K-sensei kicked the wind out of me Thursday night, something about that went all the way through and hit my lat on the other side. So when I tried to pack the shoulder in, that whole section lit up in the bad way. It was distracting, and I think it compromised my form a bit, since I'm feeling it in my lower back today.

 

Sigh. Kishi, come on, man. You're not getting younger. You need to be smarter about how you practice if you're gonna practice hurt.

 

On the other hand, kali was good. Manong introduced another drill - redondo, which is a circling cutting pattern with both blades. As has become standard, it's pretty easily done when you have two blades, but when you transition to single blade it gets weird. And it stays weird when you're throwing against someone who's fighting you as you throw it. But that's what you have to do if you want it to work. Anyway, we threw on some headgear and started playing with headbutts as well, which I thought was pretty grand.

 

(incidentally, Manong says that the absence of movement is how you can tell good kali from bad - if it's a demonstration and only one person is moving, then it's crap. See also how the disarms and such work - if the disarms don't assume a blade and have you use all the soft fleshy bits to pry the stick out of the other guy's hands, it is also crap).

 

So. That was Friday.

 

I woke up this morning and ran my measurements. Before I tell you the results, let me tell you what my parameters were:

 

• I basically found myself remembering old numbers that used to work for me when I was cutting - 11 cal/lb goal bodyweight.
• Bodyweight at the start was 189.2, with calculated 18.7% bodyfat retention.
• A safe amount of weight loss is 1-2 lbs in a month, so I decided to set the goal on the low side and shoot for 185 lbs.
• However, I also wanted this to be fat release rather than LBM loss. So, calculating a release of 4 lbs of fat, that would indicate 16.9% body fat at 185 lbs.
• Protein set to .9g+ /lb LBM (so at least 140g protein).
• Enough CHO to keep my attitude from going to shit. For me, that means at least 100g of CHO/day.

So. Anyway. Ran my measurements today, like I said, and came in at 187 and 17.2%. Bwuh?

 

 

I mean, it wasn't even a big cut. Didn't expect that kind of result from that small of a change. But, given that it's in combination with all the patterns that are insisted on in the GB dietary course, maybe that's within the realm of possibility.

 

I dunno. Anyway, that body fat percentage is within the realm of daily fluctuation for the goal percentage. So, I can either cut again, or I can leave the numbers in place another week and see what happens. I'm leaning to the latter idea, since I'll have another dietary habit coming up from the GB course and there's no telling what that'll do. If the measurements remain static, then I'll probably cut again, simply because I've been maintenance-ish for months and months, and I don't think there's a need to go back to that just yet.

 

Of course, if things go wrong - like my hands go cold or my energy level drops or I just can't heal enough to keep up with what I'm doing - then obviously I'll have to eat more again. But that has to be dealt with when it comes, and I don't really know when that's gonna be, so.

 

Today's docket will be GB upper body, bag work, skipping rope, and just doing all the chores, because I took Monday to go see the eclipse down in SC and I want to have as much time to travel and find lodging as I can manage, 'cuz I don't see this not being a zoo.

[Urgan]

On 8/19/2017 at 2:39 PM, Kishi said:

So. Anyway. Ran my measurements today, like I said, and came in at 187 and 17.2%. Bwuh?

 

 

Recomp so hard. If it were me, I'd tick my macros up just a HAIR from what you've been doing (+50-100 calories?) when the next cut comes around and see if you can get similar results without the kill-me lethargy. For now, I definitely would not advise to go any lower unless you're prepared to drop training intensity to match. 

[Kishi]

On ‎8‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 10:30 AM, Urgan said:

 

Recomp so hard. If it were me, I'd tick my macros up just a HAIR from what you've been doing (+50-100 calories?) when the next cut comes around and see if you can get similar results without the kill-me lethargy. For now, I definitely would not advise to go any lower unless you're prepared to drop training intensity to match. 

 

I see! It's interesting, actually. I did some math for another 4 lbs down after 185, and at 181, it would come out to 1991 calories a day. Ticking the macros back up would actually put me above where I am now. So, not sure if that would necessitate dropping training intensity or what the situation would be.

 

You do have me thinking about what a drop in intensity would look like, though. I'm not sure. I'd probably cut the S&S back, put a bunch of the GB progressions on hold to consolidate and get everything caught up and tracking together. That leaves the other stuff I'm doing, though - run practice and skipping rope and bagwork - and I'm not really sure how to scale those appropriately. OTOH, since that's conditioning-type stuff, maybe that's not something to worry about.

 

Anyway, you're better at this kind of thing than I am, so if you have any advice, I'll more than likely take it.

 

*

 

Oooookay. Let's get everything caught up.

 

Sunday, I got up, ate breakfast, and trained strength:

 

FL PE 2 Easy

 

SL PE 2 Easy

 

MN PE 1 Easy

 

After that, went and trained people, then hit the road for SC. Everything went off without a hitch. Hit my first destination with plenty of time and managed to eat well despite being on the road.

 

Monday morning was rough. Unfortunately, despite dosing myself w/ melatonin, I didn't really sleep all that great. It wasn't just the eclipse - the lodgings weren't all that great. Had a light right outside the window, pillows kinked the neck instead of offering support, and the A/C wasn't terribly effective. I still got up with my alarm, though, ate breakfast, and hit the road early.

 

And again, it went off without a hitch. Given what I'd been told about lodging and expected traffic, I thought I'd hit something terrible but nope. No trouble at all. In fact, it was even better than I expected. My goal was a small town on the SC coast named McClellanville which was right on the line of Totality. I got there so early that I beat the crowds and there was only a handful of people parked where I was. And it went even better - I managed to park in front of a church that wasn't charging for space. Thanks for the free parking, Jesus!

 

(as if that's the only thing I had to be thankful for)

 

Anyway, being there so early, I realized I'd be kind of bored, and I was hungry. So, I decided to walk around the town and find a place. Took a lot of pictures - lots of nature, lots big, sprawling trees. Also, a torii gate. Because the kami favor this place apparently? IDK. But I wound up at a little hole in the wall place a couple of miles away. It was one of those southern places where you show up and you take whatever seat you can find. I wound up at a big round table which functioned as the bar, and I found myself making conversation with everyone. Got some good southern homestyle cooking before saying my goodbyes and walking back to the place where I'd parked.

 

And that was when things started to get awesome.

 

The weather that day had called for thunderstorms and rain and clouds in all the surrounding area, and I wasn't sure what kind of weather we'd get. We did get a lot of clouds, but I was later told that the wind coming in from the coast was keeping the clouds and the storms at bay. When the eclipse started, I was able to use my glasses to look. A nearby family was trying to look, but their glasses were too thick and they couldn't see anything. I had some spares on hand, so I gave them away.

 

A gentleman nearby had some a reflective telescope and was able to project the sun onto a screen. We were able to see sunspots. Another gentleman who I wound up hanging with pointed to it and said that spot was the size of the Earth.

 

"So you see?" he said, "whenever you think about your problems, they all fit into that little black dot." Which seemed oddly profound in that moment. Echoes of Sagan and all that.

 

As the eclipse progressed, things started to change. Crescent shadows began to appear on the right surfaces. The temperature started to go down. We began to hear birds making nightcalls. I posted about it on Facebook; it was like the world was entering sepia. All the colors were still there, but they began to dim and wash out in my vision. I tried to take pictures to confirm, but my cell was taking in too much light, and I wasn't able to figure out which setting would allow me to capture that.

 

And then it got really dark as the moon eclipsed the sun. And when it happened it was... I mean. It was insane. The sky went dark, and the moon was outlined in white. I know that when it's nighttime, you're staring out into space, but it's always an abstract thing. You know that there are all these wonders out there, that the math tells you so, but something about that took all of this and just made it so concrete. For the first time in a long time, I felt small. It was great.

 

Anyway, not much left to report. After the moon passed, everyone had the idea to hit the road immediately. I waited an hour for them to iron their process out, then hit the road myself. I thought I'd be tempted to eat junk food on the way back and was pleasantly surprised to find that I wasn't really interested in it. I ate dinner, got ingredients for tea, and got to bed on time. Have to admit, I woke up tired enough to think of calling in sick, but I'm back and at it today.

 

The only thing that went wrong was a logistical thing on training clothes. I couldn't make enough time to get the judogi washed, so while I have stuff for Karate and Kali, I won't be able to do Judo unless I take tonight to do that. Which, given that I'm tired anyway, might not be a bad idea.

[Urgan]

15 minutes ago, Kishi said:

I see! It's interesting, actually. I did some math for another 4 lbs down after 185, and at 181, it would come out to 1991 calories a day. Ticking the macros back up would actually put me above where I am now. So, not sure if that would necessitate dropping training intensity or what the situation would be.

 

You do have me thinking about what a drop in intensity would look like, though. I'm not sure. I'd probably cut the S&S back, put a bunch of the GB progressions on hold to consolidate and get everything caught up and tracking together. That leaves the other stuff I'm doing, though - run practice and skipping rope and bagwork - and I'm not really sure how to scale those appropriately. OTOH, since that's conditioning-type stuff, maybe that's not something to worry about.

 

Yeah, based on what you described it sounded to me like you could still recomp and not feel like death if you shot just a smidgen higher in order to maintain current activity. 

 

Funny you consider scaling back the bodyweight training first. I'd have thought you'd drop/decrease frequency of running and such first. Maybe it's from spending time with the Warriors, who do running/jogging as a means for burning extra calories. I come from the school of thought that this just means you need more lifting in your life (volume, intensity, and/or frequency), but nobody asked me, now did they? And you are more of a bodyweight guy, so that and direct technique work re:the arts you practice would take precedence. I dunno, rank the things that are closest to your goals and put the least important thing on hiatus unail you know you can perform under the new macros, then add it back? 

[Kishi]

1 hour ago, Urgan said:

Funny you consider scaling back the bodyweight training first. I'd have thought you'd drop/decrease frequency of running and such first. Maybe it's from spending time with the Warriors, who do running/jogging as a means for burning extra calories. I come from the school of thought that this just means you need more lifting in your life (volume, intensity, and/or frequency), but nobody asked me, now did they? And you are more of a bodyweight guy, so that and direct technique work re:the arts you practice would take precedence. I dunno, rank the things that are closest to your goals and put the least important thing on hiatus unail you know you can perform under the new macros, then add it back? 

 

That's probably the better way to go. Anyway, I'm not thinking about another cut just yet, simply because it's not a demonstrated need.

 

And thank you for pointing that out. Truth is, a lot of my stuff does have strength and conditioning blended together, and all the good things that have happened (RHR in the 60s, conditioning that doesn't quit) came from kettlebells rather than running. I do need to keep some kind of bagwork because it's been leveling up my karate like whoa, and I want to keep skipping rope in the rotation both because it helps the GB and also because it's very sport-specific. I guess it just seemed easier to work on conditioning because the conditioning stuff takes a comparatively lesser amount of time as opposed to S&S and GB. But the truth is, beyond cutting the running, I don't really know what else to cut. :|

[Urgan]

34 minutes ago, Kishi said:

That's probably the better way to go. Anyway, I'm not thinking about another cut just yet, simply because it's not a demonstrated need.

 

You seem to be doing good where you are, TBH. Just take it a teeny bit easier on your energy systems, yeah?

 

35 minutes ago, Kishi said:

And thank you for pointing that out. Truth is, a lot of my stuff does have strength and conditioning blended together, and all the good things that have happened (RHR in the 60s, conditioning that doesn't quit) came from kettlebells rather than running. I do need to keep some kind of bagwork because it's been leveling up my karate like whoa, and I want to keep skipping rope in the rotation both because it helps the GB and also because it's very sport-specific. I guess it just seemed easier to work on conditioning because the conditioning stuff takes a comparatively lesser amount of time as opposed to S&S and GB. But the truth is, beyond cutting the running, I don't really know what else to cut. :|

 

Frankly this is the safest thing to lay off for a bit. You can recondition yourself to running quickly and it has the least to offer you vs the bonus energy it demands right now while you have body comp and All the Things as simultaneous goals. If you feel good after taking out running, you won't have to worry about what to ax next unless/until you get to that point. At which point I'd question what your true goals are so we can go from there.

[Kishi]

20 hours ago, Urgan said:

Frankly this is the safest thing to lay off for a bit. You can recondition yourself to running quickly and it has the least to offer you vs the bonus energy it demands right now while you have body comp and All the Things as simultaneous goals. If you feel good after taking out running, you won't have to worry about what to ax next unless/until you get to that point. At which point I'd question what your true goals are so we can go from there.

 

Yeah. And that's honestly a hard question. Simply because a lot of what's done to train martial artists typically revolves around coaches from other sports training them as if the coach's own sports will do the most to help the athlete. So you get a lot of advice to pursue a huge squat or a huge deadlift or to get good at the O-Lifts and to just pour all your energy into that, without acknowledging that getting a huge squat or a huge deadlift really isn't the point of a martial artist's training.

 

Which isn't to say that one should or shouldn't do those things. They have value and merit. But they have to be considered in context with whatever else the artist is doing. And I know this. It's just... hard to figure out what belongs and what doesn't, when all the information I get tells me that everything does. You know?

 

As long as I'm thinking out loud here, I've got a hunch that I'm probably going to need to downgrade S&S hard for a while, give myself a chance to really dig into and practice technique until I can't get it wrong. My latest batch of hurts is from cumulative bad sessions, and I need a bunch of good ones instead. Which means lightening up. Which may mean a cut. But if I don't cut, and I lighten the weight, does that imbalance the energy in the other direction? Sigh.

 

*

 

So, I decided to follow through on my bright idea yesterday and took the day to wash gi, do chores, and swing the bell. Lower back is still bothering me, but the lighter stuff doesn't seem to aggravate it that badly, and it's responding to static stretching today, which I think is a good sign.

 

I even managed to write again yesterday, which was good to do.

 

Today's going to be interesting. There was a wreck on the way to work and I didn't get in until late. I don't know if I'm going to be able to do both strength work and judo tonight. Don't like having to choose, given that I like being on the mats but that I also like being a productively strong member of society. Whoof.

[Urgan]

43 minutes ago, Kishi said:

Yeah. And that's honestly a hard question. Simply because a lot of what's done to train martial artists typically revolves around coaches from other sports training them as if the coach's own sports will do the most to help the athlete. So you get a lot of advice to pursue a huge squat or a huge deadlift or to get good at the O-Lifts and to just pour all your energy into that, without acknowledging that getting a huge squat or a huge deadlift really isn't the point of a martial artist's training.

 

Which isn't to say that one should or shouldn't do those things. They have value and merit. But they have to be considered in context with whatever else the artist is doing. And I know this. It's just... hard to figure out what belongs and what doesn't, when all the information I get tells me that everything does. You know?

 

Here is my take.

 

Being proficient at lifting bring strength to the table when you do martial arts. General strength training vs sport specific practice, if you will. The two should not clash, your priority is at least one martial art, end of story. Technique practice off the mat and strength training (bodyweight, KB, barbell) are close together in the sense that both help drive better performance. Everything else is tertiary and to be done time permitting. You only have X calories available to burn and you are not shall we say overly generous with those.

 

43 minutes ago, Kishi said:

As long as I'm thinking out loud here, I've got a hunch that I'm probably going to need to downgrade S&S hard for a while, give myself a chance to really dig into and practice technique until I can't get it wrong. My latest batch of hurts is from cumulative bad sessions, and I need a bunch of good ones instead. Which means lightening up. Which may mean a cut. But if I don't cut, and I lighten the weight, does that imbalance the energy in the other direction? Sigh.

 

My brain sorta went "ding!" when I read this. Theory: We do all the things and we're often in a (inadvertent) cut. Being in a cut makes us by graduating degrees less injury resistant (less recovery resources available). 

 

My speculation about a lot of your nagging pains is at some point a combination of overuse of certain movements, hard hits on the mat, and insufficient fuel. In some ratio unknowable to us long distance types. Admittedly, following the specifics of the movements you do on the regular is tricky, lol. So, I could be wrong, but if I am right then your options are to scale workload, calories, or both AND the instinct to lower S&S and drill technique would do your joints a disservice IF that means more volume/reps (that's how I read practicing form: low weight, high reps, correct me if I got it wrong). What I wouldn't do is anything major immediately. If you keep your macros as they are and gently pause an activity like running for a bit, that might be all the clue you need for how your body is reacting to training/life stress vs recovery. Or another movement, just like 1 thing so you don't have to fear upsetting the apple cart in a big all-or-nothing move. I pick on running because it's farthest from benefiting your mat time and you already have this calorie deficit thing down.

[Kishi]

3 hours ago, Urgan said:

Being proficient at lifting bring strength to the table when you do martial arts. General strength training vs sport specific practice, if you will. The two should not clash, your priority is at least one martial art, end of story. Technique practice off the mat and strength training (bodyweight, KB, barbell) are close together in the sense that both help drive better performance. Everything else is tertiary and to be done time permitting. You only have X calories available to burn and you are not shall we say overly generous with those.

 

Preach!

 

3 hours ago, Urgan said:

My speculation about a lot of your nagging pains is at some point a combination of overuse of certain movements, hard hits on the mat, and insufficient fuel. In some ratio unknowable to us long distance types. Admittedly, following the specifics of the movements you do on the regular is tricky, lol. So, I could be wrong, but if I am right then your options are to scale workload, calories, or both AND the instinct to lower S&S and drill technique would do your joints a disservice IF that means more volume/reps (that's how I read practicing form: low weight, high reps, correct me if I got it wrong). What I wouldn't do is anything major immediately. If you keep your macros as they are and gently pause an activity like running for a bit, that might be all the clue you need for how your body is reacting to training/life stress vs recovery. Or another movement, just like 1 thing so you don't have to fear upsetting the apple cart in a big all-or-nothing move. I pick on running because it's farthest from benefiting your mat time and you already have this calorie deficit thing down.

 

You know, I kind of found myself thinking the same things as I was writing all that down, but I couldn't quite articulate it.

 

Anyway, in the interest of disclosure, the pain is in my left lat (which is a function of a hit) and in my lumbar spine (which is a function of the swings). The bodyweight movements at this point are just really basic things like headstands, squats, push ups, rows, planks. Nothing too exotic, and really nothing too dangerous which would account for my painz.

 

Lowering S&S wouldn't be changing to higher rep. Same reps, lower weight. So, 100 swings broken up 10x10, with 10 TGUs broken up 10x1.

 

That does seem like a wise strategy. And TBH, I don't think I mind losing the running. The original purpose was conditioning and practicing movement, but I'm getting all kinds of movement practice right now as well as conditioning, so if I was going to drop one, that would be the least sport-specific. As you say.

[Urgan]

16 hours ago, Kishi said:

Anyway, in the interest of disclosure, the pain is in my left lat (which is a function of a hit) and in my lumbar spine (which is a function of the swings). The bodyweight movements at this point are just really basic things like headstands, squats, push ups, rows, planks. Nothing too exotic, and really nothing too dangerous which would account for my painz.

 

Lowering S&S wouldn't be changing to higher rep. Same reps, lower weight. So, 100 swings broken up 10x10, with 10 TGUs broken up 10x1.

 

That does seem like a wise strategy. And TBH, I don't think I mind losing the running. The original purpose was conditioning and practicing movement, but I'm getting all kinds of movement practice right now as well as conditioning, so if I was going to drop one, that would be the least sport-specific. As you say.

 

Banzai, hopefully we get lucky and losing the running will bring you to a more normal energy level. 

[Kishi]

1 minute ago, Urgan said:

Banzai, hopefully we get lucky and losing the running will bring you to a more normal energy level.

 

 I'm in the gym to get lucky~

 

*

 

So, on the cusp of having to make a decision, I considered my pain versus what would exacerbate it and what wouldn't. In the end, I elected the strength work. Judo has a history of exacerbating that stuff, and I said I'd help some friends move this weekend.

 

seriously why tf does everyone move I don't get it I should charge them for this

 

So I went and had Leg Day, which was pretty easy and felt pretty good. Someone grabbed the bag before I could, so I decided to do an old Abs and Mobility workout that I had from a guru back in the day when I was (more) concerned about LGN. So, a little skipping rope, a little abs, lots of stretching and walking on the treadmill. And... it felt good. I felt looser last night, and this morning I feel looser compared to yesterday morning. So, I think it was a good move for me.

 

Tonight's docket is HS work. If I have time, I might see about doing more mobility stuffs. No biggie if not.

 

I've been checking my left side and after having done some palpations, I don't think it's my lat that's the problem. I don't really feel any pain unless there's pressure on my ribs or if I breathe deep. There's no bruising or swelling, but looking at the symptoms I'm not sure that it's not a cracked rib or something like that. Probably need to get this checked. Which I can afford to now, but I'm still going to wait until the paycheck because, man, I've been poor for too long. And fortunately, the treatment appears to be to let it heal on its own. I may just need to go lighter on sparring for a while, or forego it altogether. Or just do movement drills. Ugh.

[Urgan]

49 minutes ago, Kishi said:

seriously why tf does everyone move I don't get it I should charge them for this

 

Yes.

 

49 minutes ago, Kishi said:

I've been checking my left side and after having done some palpations, I don't think it's my lat that's the problem. I don't really feel any pain unless there's pressure on my ribs or if I breathe deep. There's no bruising or swelling, but looking at the symptoms I'm not sure that it's not a cracked rib or something like that. Probably need to get this checked. Which I can afford to now, but I'm still going to wait until the paycheck because, man, I've been poor for too long. And fortunately, the treatment appears to be to let it heal on its own. I may just need to go lighter on sparring for a while, or forego it altogether. Or just do movement drills. Ugh.

 

If you are confident that it's your ribs, not much but time and some painkillers can fix that. Has it improved any so far?

[Kishi]

10 minutes ago, Urgan said:

If you are confident that it's your ribs, not much but time and some painkillers can fix that. Has it improved any so far?

 

Oh yeah! It's getting better. And I'm leery about calling it a true crack or something like that, since I could do GB and hit the bag without any real exacerbation. Maybe a hairline crack. The only time it went bad was when I tried to go heavy on the kettlebell work, but even with the 53 on Tuesday it wasn't as bad. Just needs rest and time. And I just got notice from sensei on FB that he's taking next week to go to the beach, so we have to go hard tonight to make up for it.

 

Ha ha haaaa, dammit.

[Urgan]

3 minutes ago, Kishi said:

Oh yeah! It's getting better. And I'm leery about calling it a true crack or something like that, since I could do GB and hit the bag without any real exacerbation. Maybe a hairline crack. The only time it went bad was when I tried to go heavy on the kettlebell work, but even with the 53 on Tuesday it wasn't as bad. Just needs rest and time. And I just got notice from sensei on FB that he's taking next week to go to the beach, so we have to go hard tonight to make up for it.

 

Ha ha haaaa, dammit.

 

Do we now? Does he want a sparring partner when he returns?