Osu

[Kishi]

14 hours ago, Treva said:

Yay!! Glad to hear it!  Less problems are best problems.  Well, no problems are, but hey.  Less is good.

 

I mean, it's got to the point that there are days I forget this was an issue, so ¯_(ツ)_/¯

 

14 hours ago, Treva said:

It is a big deal!! Congratulations!! I know you've been working on this for a while now, so it's great that you reached a milestone!

 

Yes! One mile! Now to do another w/ all the time I don't have. Hahaha...

 

14 hours ago, Treva said:

That sounds pretty great and like a nice way to break up your day.  It's a great thing to learn that boundary, we talk about it a lot in yoga.  I'm glad that you are stretching and sounds like you're doing awesome!!

 

Thanks! I'm really trying to be mindful of my hamstrings since I work a sedentary job now. Between sitting and hinging work, they get super tight relative to everything else.

 

Also sensei said I was too old to get more flexible. Yeah. Not taking that one lying down. (unless I have to. For stretching).

 

*

 

So, Monday we had more casualties in the game, but we also managed to beat the thing that was killing us. Cost us a body and a horse, but not a player character.  My character is now inserted into a Wood Golem who doesn't have speech. So now anytime someone says something to me, I say "Clack-clack!" to denote a physical response. It cracked everyone up last time, but I think it has to be used sparingly in order to remain charming.

 

Tuesday, I stayed home to deal with some car trouble. My Check Engine light came on when I went to see the eclipse, and I'd been driving on it for a while. I managed to get it assessed, and the good news is that it's kind of a nonsense fix. Basically, there's a flap in my engine manifold that's stuck in position, and it's interfering with airflow through the engine making it work harder to perform. Meaning that it's bringing down my gas mileage.

 

Good news is it's not dangerous. Bad news is, the dealership wants about $1500 to fix that. That's a bullcrap estimate if ever I heard one, so I'll be taking it around at some point to get another estimate from other people. I'll also be hitting the overtime hard starting this weekend, just in case I can't get a better estimate.

 

Anyway, did S&S and karate afterward. Spent the day doing chores and just generally being restful. It felt weird.

 

Wednesday, back to work. Got to work late, left even later, and basically felt sick of having the either/or. So I went and did SLS (Easy!) and then showed up a half hour late to Judo. Didn't get any kind of guff for it. Instead, J-sensei just said, "Hi! Get to work!" and we did uchikomi, which ultimately led to randori because the other white belt couldn't control himself. Managed to get him a few times despite the fact that he outweighs me a bit and managed to keep me at arms-length without stiff-arming, which was kind of a thrill, but I'd really rather have gotten him more deliberately with technique rather than countering him when he made mistakes. OTOH, countering is a technique/skillset all its own, so no complaints. Also got some pointers on my sasae, although I didn't take the chance to work on it like I should have. Baka deshi, me.

 

Got word of another Spartan up in Boston in November. So, for one thing I'm gonna have to register for it and for another I'm gonna have to get travel arranged, and for one last thing I'mma have to train for it. Unfortunately, it is a run; therefore, I must practice running. But instead of trying to kill myself on long distance, I think I'm going to take a crack at doing this Primal style. I picked up the book Primal Endurance and am immediately charmed by the fact that it's not another program or anything like that. Instead, it's about going with the flow, taking it easy, and training aerobic capacity when you feel like you're up for it, and staying way under your limits when you do.

 

So GPP as applied to endurance training. Okay. I can dig this.

 

I think, however, that if I'm going to include sprint training in there as he insists, I'm going to have to scale something back. And at this point it looks like it's probably going to be S&S, just because while I could sprint on those days, I'd really like to have a full tank of effort for one or the other. Also, the given minimum effective dose for swings is 100 in a week. Combined with all the other things I'm doing, that really should be enough.

 

Because my great sin in these things is really doing too much and overtraining and walking to the starting line hurt and exacerbating those nagging injuries into things that last for months. Doing it this way should give me even more opportunities to heal and rest and recover and get stronger. If I walk away from this without any nagging injuries, I won't care how many burpees I wind up having to do.

 

So. Tonight should be Core, easy mile, and Karate if all goes according to plan.

[Urgan]

I hope you find a more economical solution for your car. That is a lot of money to have to part with, but it IS for a good cause. That car takes you places.

 

This is progress--in order to add something to your plate, you need to take something off of the plate, or at least decrease the portion, lol.

[Machete]

Here. Finally catching up.

 

On 8/30/2017 at 5:26 PM, Kishi said:

 

I've seen enough "Bodybuilder Vs" type videos to understand that this is true. The skill guy can beat the strong guy, but the skill guy has to work a lot harder than the strong guy does, and there's a real risk that it won't work. Strength serves to mitigate that risk.

 

That being said, I'm not sure how much I subscribe to the idea that Strength Is The Cure For, Just, Everything. Speaking for myself, I didn't find that pure strength made me more agile; if anything, it made my joints hurt and made me feel heavier. The present things I do seem to be working to address all this, but that's because strength is being worked in tandem with all those other qualities.

 

That's not to say that a 600 lb DL or a 370 lb BP wouldn't make you punch good. They would. But I can't shake the feeling that in order to get there, you'd have to throw a lot of other sport-specific training under the bus. Conditioning in particular. Remember: in post-fight interviews, nobody says that if they'd benched 5 more pounds that they would have had it.

 

 

That's something I'm finding for myself also. Having strength is awesome when you need it, but it's not a substitute for technique. And if your power is tied up in technique, and you don't know how the technique feels, it's perfectly plausible to try to strength it through, just because you want to feel like you're doing the thing right. It's more satisfying to hit something hard w/ poor technique than to hit weakly w/ perfect technique. But good technique with strength layered on top of it...

 

 

Not as much as I'd hoped.  Again, you can hit someone hard with a strong arm, but if you want to hit powerfully, that requires technique and intent and feeling the whip, and the ability to keep a good base despite your movement. Strength does help, particularly as it correlates with power development, but you have to marry it to technique before it really comes into itself.

 

 

Wee bit of a change, eh?

 

This reminds me of an old thread.

I apparently can be really annoying when I try to be.

 

 

44 minutes ago, Kishi said:

Tuesday, I stayed home to deal with some car trouble. My Check Engine light came on when I went to see the eclipse, and I'd been driving on it for a while. I managed to get it assessed, and the good news is that it's kind of a nonsense fix. Basically, there's a flap in my engine manifold that's stuck in position, and it's interfering with airflow through the engine making it work harder to perform. Meaning that it's bringing down my gas mileage.

 

Good news is it's not dangerous. Bad news is, the dealership wants about $1500 to fix that. That's a bullcrap estimate if ever I heard one, so I'll be taking it around at some point to get another estimate from other people. I'll also be hitting the overtime hard starting this weekend, just in case I can't get a better estimate.

 

Mine's been on for a while. I've probably wasted a whole Stegosaurus in fossil fuel from my reduced gas mileage, but unless I get my finances in order I can't even get it looked at.

[Urgan]

11 minutes ago, Machete said:

This reminds me of an old thread.

I apparently can be really annoying when I try to be.

 

I find it funny that the OP basically quit the forums a couple weeks after starting this thread, having debatable tempering of his puppydog enthusiasm for All the Things, and it fostered a very intense discussion of martial arts training philosophy that even was revived two years later.  

[Kishi]

3 hours ago, Urgan said:

I hope you find a more economical solution for your car. That is a lot of money to have to part with, but it IS for a good cause. That car takes you places.

 

Is true. I have to go from one side of town to the other with this thing, and I'm happy to pay what I got to. I'm just suspicious that they're throwing extra services in there that I'm not asking for and can't find.

 

3 hours ago, Urgan said:

This is progress--in order to add something to your plate, you need to take something off of the plate, or at least decrease the portion, lol.

 

Well, I'm trying to remember that Juggernaut article talking about the dude with the huge squat who runs a ridiculous mile. You can do a lot of things, but the more you do, the more deliberate you have to be with the choices you make, because everything you do takes up some kind of resources or other.

 

And to be frank about it, I suspect that what I'm doing is passing along enough of the benefits of the bells just in a general anyway. Everything's pretty blended, so everything covers everything else.

 

3 hours ago, Machete said:

This reminds me of an old thread.

 

Aw, dude, I remember this one! Lot of good discussion there. I remember watching.

 

3 hours ago, Machete said:

Mine's been on for a while. I've probably wasted a whole Stegosaurus in fossil fuel from my reduced gas mileage, but unless I get my finances in order I can't even get it looked at.

 

Dude, that sucks. I know that feeling. I lived with it for a really long time, and even after having got something that paid more, I'm still scared to go to auto shops because I still think like I can't afford it. The fact that it turned out to be true again in this case doesn't help that.

 

3 hours ago, Urgan said:

I find it funny that the OP basically quit the forums a couple weeks after starting this thread, having debatable tempering of his puppydog enthusiasm for All the Things, and it fostered a very intense discussion of martial arts training philosophy that even was revived two years later.

 

Dude clearly didn't know what he was asking for.

[Kishi]

So, here's how it all turned out:

 

Skipped Rope: 2:15

Flow Warmup

 

Hollow Body Tuck Rolls: 4x36 Fine (abs quit at 4x20)

 

Side Plank Tucks: 4x6 Fine (Body shifted off the arm. I blame the exercise mat slipping, but can't rule out lack of control)

 

Tuck Ups: 5x15 Fine (Completed all reps, but got kind of grindy toward the end).

 

I've decided to change my policy on listing out what I'm doing because, as it turns out, there are videos online of people doing the things. They are public. So the information is already leaked; there's no point in keeping this secret. And this way I can hold myself accountable to others so that when I go on another cut, you understand what I'm doing alongside. Besides, I'm not telling you about what you do during integrated mobility to build tendon and ligament strength, since I'm pleased to say that that hasn't been a limiting factor for me yet.

 

You may notice that an easy mile is missing from this report and that is because I missed doing an easy mile. I didn't finish in time to hit the treadmill and get to class on time, so I chalked it up as a wash and went to the dojo. This, by the way, is in keeping with Primal philosophy as outlined in the book. It's written toward chronic exercisers like me, and while I do think I presently have a good training/life balance, it's always good to get a reminder. Life didn't give me the time to get the run on. So, I left it and moved on to play.

 

Karate turned out pretty great. Spent the class working on blocks and then managed to deploy them in sparring. Good session. Also managed to throw Iceberg with sensei's modifications, including the high roundhouse at the end... and didn't land a single one of 'em. Which happens. Doesn't detract from the good that I managed to do/take.

 

Tonight's training is sidelined on account of people wanting help moving again. Sigh. People being weak is annoying sometimes. But it's a Pavel-approved stand-in for S&S, so I'm not complaining. I will complain about missing Kali, tho.

[Urgan]

Dojo time + moving time > running anyway. 

[Machete]

21 hours ago, Urgan said:

 

I find it funny that the OP basically quit the forums a couple weeks after starting this thread, having debatable tempering of his puppydog enthusiasm for All the Things, and it fostered a very intense discussion of martial arts training philosophy that even was revived two years later.  

 

It's even funnier that the guy who revived it was a single-poster who put up some exercise video.

 

I guess the OP [rightfully] evaluated his goal and his behavior, and realized they didn't match up, so he moved on to a different goal. Or perhaps he tackled the Batman goal by attempting to become a billionaire first (if so, good on him). Also, didn't we just have a guy who wants to be Nightwing? Is he still in? (Maybe they both stopped posting and started fighting crime.)
 

17 hours ago, Kishi said:

 

Is true. I have to go from one side of town to the other with this thing, and I'm happy to pay what I got to. I'm just suspicious that they're throwing extra services in there that I'm not asking for and can't find.

 

 

Well, I'm trying to remember that Juggernaut article talking about the dude with the huge squat who runs a ridiculous mile. You can do a lot of things, but the more you do, the more deliberate you have to be with the choices you make, because everything you do takes up some kind of resources or other.

 

And to be frank about it, I suspect that what I'm doing is passing along enough of the benefits of the bells just in a general anyway. Everything's pretty blended, so everything covers everything else.

 

 

Aw, dude, I remember this one! Lot of good discussion there. I remember watching.

 

 

Dude, that sucks. I know that feeling. I lived with it for a really long time, and even after having got something that paid more, I'm still scared to go to auto shops because I still think like I can't afford it. The fact that it turned out to be true again in this case doesn't help that.

 

 

Dude clearly didn't know what he was asking for.

 

Alex Viada. His book Hybrid Athlete explains the physiology behind it. I also heard about the 6-6-6 Challenge on an SFG's podcast--600 Squat, 600 Deadlift, 6-minute Mile in 24 hours.

 

It sucks, I feel like I should know how to be a car guy, because manliness, but I kind of feel like I'm fing-up my car by doing something myself. It's even more embarrassing to take it to the shop because you tried to fix it yourself and made it worse. And I never haggle about price, because I myself charge for a service people could technically do themselves and hate it when someone tries to haggle, so I want to make sure I have the money for it when I do go. And I don't know how car insurance works.

 

Funny thing, I'm dealing with a few of these guys right now. "Hey coach, I've been training for 3 months, 2 weeks, and 4 days. When will I be ready to fight?" Me: "(First off, no, you haven't. You come in once a week, and you can't even get through the warmup.) If you're still counting-down how long you've been training, you haven't trained long enough." *smug smirk, goatee stroke, walk away

 

11 minutes ago, Kishi said:

So, here's how it all turned out:

 

Skipped Rope: 2:15

Flow Warmup

 

Hollow Body Tuck Rolls: 4x36 Fine (abs quit at 4x20)

 

Side Plank Tucks: 4x6 Fine (Body shifted off the arm. I blame the exercise mat slipping, but can't rule out lack of control)

 

Tuck Ups: 5x15 Fine (Completed all reps, but got kind of grindy toward the end).

 

I've decided to change my policy on listing out what I'm doing because, as it turns out, there are videos online of people doing the things. They are public. So the information is already leaked; there's no point in keeping this secret. And this way I can hold myself accountable to others so that when I go on another cut, you understand what I'm doing alongside. Besides, I'm not telling you about what you do during integrated mobility to build tendon and ligament strength, since I'm pleased to say that that hasn't been a limiting factor for me yet.

 

You may notice that an easy mile is missing from this report and that is because I missed doing an easy mile. I didn't finish in time to hit the treadmill and get to class on time, so I chalked it up as a wash and went to the dojo. This, by the way, is in keeping with Primal philosophy as outlined in the book. It's written toward chronic exercisers like me, and while I do think I presently have a good training/life balance, it's always good to get a reminder. Life didn't give me the time to get the run on. So, I left it and moved on to play.

 

Karate turned out pretty great. Spent the class working on blocks and then managed to deploy them in sparring. Good session. Also managed to throw Iceberg with sensei's modifications, including the high roundhouse at the end... and didn't land a single one of 'em. Which happens. Doesn't detract from the good that I managed to do/take.

 

Tonight's training is sidelined on account of people wanting help moving again. Sigh. People being weak is annoying sometimes. But it's a Pavel-approved stand-in for S&S, so I'm not complaining. I will complain about missing Kali, tho.

 

Yeah, I don't think you technically have to keep it a secret, as long as you don't share your login or copy the program down.

[Urgan]

46 minutes ago, Machete said:

It sucks, I feel like I should know how to be a car guy, because manliness, but I kind of feel like I'm fing-up my car by doing something myself. It's even more embarrassing to take it to the shop because you tried to fix it yourself and made it worse. And I never haggle about price, because I myself charge for a service people could technically do themselves and hate it when someone tries to haggle, so I want to make sure I have the money for it when I do go. And I don't know how car insurance works.

 

I think being a responsible caretaker of what you have is manly. Knowing that you are out of your depth is smart, trying to pretend this isn't a thing is dumb. One can always strive to learn more, of course. Learning to do it yourself or learning to be more informed when talking to the people who do the actual work on your car, yeah? Fortunately I married into this field so this isn't a thing. You would be amazed at the markup buying from retail Auto Parts places, much less the actual shops.

 

I like the idea of a second opinion to verify that hard-earned money is being used well by an honest car shop that provides quality service, but once that's been verified, haggling with the business is just jackassery. 

[Kishi]

56 minutes ago, Urgan said:

Dojo time + moving time > running anyway. 

 

I mean. When doing those mile tests, I can't seem to get my HR above 130. I'm totally conversational and nothing hurts. I just have to get all the little bits and pieces used to it again in such a way that I don't bust myself up prior to or during the race.

 

17 minutes ago, Machete said:

It's even funnier that the guy who revived it was a single-poster who put up some exercise video.

 

Yeah, dude, totally random. Didn't see it coming.

 

17 minutes ago, Machete said:

I guess the OP [rightfully] evaluated his goal and his behavior, and realized they didn't match up, so he moved on to a different goal. Or perhaps he tackled the Batman goal by attempting to become a billionaire first (if so, good on him). Also, didn't we just have a guy who wants to be Nightwing? Is he still in? (Maybe they both stopped posting and started fighting crime.)

 

I haven't kept up with that guy, although it sounded cool and like he had a good head on his shoulders. I hope he still is. He hasn't shown up in the Monastery, but that could just be him doing the Adventurer thing and psyching himself out of doing the things he wants to do. /shade

 

19 minutes ago, Machete said:

Alex Viada. His book Hybrid Athlete explains the physiology behind it. I also heard about the 6-6-6 Challenge on an SFG's podcast--600 Squat, 600 Deadlift, 6-minute Mile in 24 hours.

 

Holy Crow. I can't even contemplate that.

 

19 minutes ago, Machete said:

It sucks, I feel like I should know how to be a car guy, because manliness, but I kind of feel like I'm fing-up my car by doing something myself. It's even more embarrassing to take it to the shop because you tried to fix it yourself and made it worse. And I never haggle about price, because I myself charge for a service people could technically do themselves and hate it when someone tries to haggle, so I want to make sure I have the money for it when I do go. And I don't know how car insurance works.

 

Eh. I mean, I can do bits and pieces, but it's mostly because I broke something and I have to learn how to fix it. I can do brake pads and change a tire, and change bulbs on headlights, but I'm nothing special.

 

There's all kinds of stuff on Youtube on how to fix parts. You just have to be specific about make and model. But this engine thing is something else - the manifold is attached to the engine, so in order to even get to it I'd have to get the engine out, and I just don't have the tools or equipment or knowhow or space to make that a good idea.

 

And as @Urgan says, no shame in knowing when you're out of your depth.

 

23 minutes ago, Machete said:

Funny thing, I'm dealing with a few of these guys right now. "Hey coach, I've been training for 3 months, 2 weeks, and 4 days. When will I be ready to fight?" Me: "(First off, no, you haven't. You come in once a week, and you can't even get through the warmup.) If you're still counting-down how long you've been training, you haven't trained long enough." *smug smirk, goatee stroke, walk away

 

That is one of the perks of facial hair. Way underrated.

 

*

 

So, the move situation changed due to some unforeseen circumstances. I'm still going to help my friend out, though.

 

It's got me thinking, though, back about that problematic co-worker and how it all blew up over a move with changed circumstances. I've found myself exploring my motivations and analyzing the two situations to determine if there's a difference and if I was being internally consistent with myself in both cases.

 

I concluded that yes, there's a huge difference, and it's ultimately a matter of personal history. The Coworker had a history of doing me dirty, flaking out and not being decent to me, and I had to set my foot down on that. This friend, on the other hand, has been decent to me for years, and I'm sympathetic since she lost her job this week due to circumstances that were beyond her control. And I've put training ahead of her for the past few days when she's been asking for companionship from others. In this case, it doesn't seem fair to me to put training ahead of her.

 

Although, since the evening's open anyway, I'll probably wind up doing some S&S. Keep it easy, though. No need to try to kill myself with the bells since I have physical stuff to do tomorrow.

[Urgan]

13 minutes ago, Kishi said:

So, the move situation changed due to some unforeseen circumstances. I'm still going to help my friend out, though.

 

It's got me thinking, though, back about that problematic co-worker and how it all blew up over a move with changed circumstances. I've found myself exploring my motivations and analyzing the two situations to determine if there's a difference and if I was being internally consistent with myself in both cases.

 

I concluded that yes, there's a huge difference, and it's ultimately a matter of personal history. The Coworker had a history of doing me dirty, flaking out and not being decent to me, and I had to set my foot down on that. This friend, on the other hand, has been decent to me for years, and I'm sympathetic since she lost her job this week due to circumstances that were beyond her control. And I've put training ahead of her for the past few days when she's been asking for companionship from others. In this case, it doesn't seem fair to me to put training ahead of her.

 

Although, since the evening's open anyway, I'll probably wind up doing some S&S. Keep it easy, though. No need to try to kill myself with the bells since I have physical stuff to do tomorrow.

 

Key difference: consideration. Move day was moved to another day and you know well ahead of time to make other use of the day VS being perpetually held in suspense.

[Kishi]

13 minutes ago, Urgan said:

 

Key difference: consideration. Move day was moved to another day and you know well ahead of time to make other use of the day VS being perpetually held in suspense.

 

Also this!

[Kishi]

See, the trouble is, there's just not a lot of gifs for catching up when you're behind on posting. Like, it's mostly relationship giffery and I don't think that really applies here...

 

So! With the move day... moved, I decided to go ahead and adjust my schedule accordingly. Highlights as follows:

• Friday, I switched out for GB upper body movements. The friend mentioned that she could use some help with some boxes, and I volunteered, so I wound up doing the work quick so I could go help her. Did it without a formal warm up... and then managed to rank Easy on all of them. No soreness after. Go figure. After that, I went and helped my friend move a couple of truckloads of Things And Stuff over to the new place. She and her roomie got a ranch house down in Garner and, basically, it's perfect for them.
• Saturday, I ate breakfast and then spent the rest of the day into the night helping them to move things, fix the walls, de-popcorn the ceilings, etc. Highlights include destapling the floor and drunken demolitions, wherein we tried to get down a bookshelf that was mounted to the ceiling. We managed to get the screws out, but we couldn't get it down. So we thought to knock out some pieces. They gave me a rubber mallet and one of them tried to support it, but on the third whack I knocked the whole thing down. It came down as a solid piece and conked me on the head for good measure. Not pleasant, and I have a bruise for my trouble, but I didn't even see stars. And it didn't get the one of them who was helping me, which was the important part. It was a lot of work, but it was actually a lot of fun, too.
  • Had to remember that I don't have a crush on either of them anymore. And I don't... but I do have the memory of it, and it's powerful enough to confuse me from time to time. Like it did on Saturday. But a memory it remains.
• Sunday, I practiced headstands and managed to score easy on that one as well. Did some pinch grip work and practiced Farmer's Walks for time. Did kata, played with the knife, and hit the bag for a good while. And then, finally, finally got the chance to run for an easy mile. Turned out easier than I thought - I don't know if it was all the training earlier or what, but my heart rate went higher than it was supposed to almost immediately, and I had to drop my pace down to a 12 minute mile. It was humbling. But at the same time, it felt really, really good. Managed to get home, got things cleaned up for the folks coming back from Italy, and finally managed to get my own chores taken care of.
  • Yeah, that's right! My folks went to Italy. They left bro and me to take care of the house for a couple weeks. It was great. At least until the end when Brother let the cat food run out and didn't bother to tell me that he wasn't going to get more. "They're not our cats, we shouldn't have to buy food for them." As if that would have mattered if Dad had come back to that. All our good work would have been for nothing. It freaked me out when I came home to that and I damn near lost my temper at the neglect. I tried to explain that to Brother afterward. I doubt it got through. Whatever. Now I know not to trust him to keep things up.
    • Edit to add: part of the reason I was so upset was that he actually did a really good job helping out with things. He made sure that the cats were fed and watered, and he did a great job of keeping up the litter box with me. So, to see him be neglectful in this was really jarring to me. I'd expected that he'd see the cats being out of food as a problem. That he didn't, and that I had to solve it at the last second...
• Monday was quiet. Worked and gamed and rested.
  • One of the people I game with can't get over the crush she has on me. Sigh. Being emotionally mature is hard. Everyone else gets to carry their feelings and act out and obsess over them, but not me. If I do it, it's destructive and awful and awkward. So I keep it managed, because that's what I'm supposed to do. I really wish everyone else would do the same.

And here I am on Tuesday. I've been reading Primal Endurance. I think I'm going to change back and hold off on sprinting for a while, simply because he insists on you doing it after at least a couple of months of practicing running. It's not ideal in terms of overall development, but he explains it like doing so before you're ready is a recipe for injury. I'm willing to trust his judgment on this.

 

The only thing left to think about is the strength work. He's a big fan of concentrated doses of things rather than hybrid things like what you do if you're a martial artist. I've tried his way before on this and I know it doesn't get me what I want. It's still got me thoughtful, though.

 

So. Today's docket will be S&S and another easy mile. Maybe two. I'm feeling okay so far today.

[Kishi]

So, the one park is full of bugs and is dangerous for lifting in, and the other park is now full of kids playing baseball, and being tall, pale, and hairy, I'm insecure about what kind of image I put forth for people to see. So where's a man supposed to swing 70 lbs of iron?

 

Turns out, outside of his gym.

 

My gym has a lot of sidewalk that goes unused in the parking lot. So, I managed to park close, drag the Bells out, and practiced. It was probably the least awkward that I'd felt doing this all this time. Practiced swings with the 70, this time making sure that my arm was well and truly loose. I think there were maybe 5 swings where I got too tense and tried to control the bell with my arms. Need to keep practicing.

 

Was able to hit 4 TGUs with the 35. Elbow was a little sore after, but I'm not sure whether that's because of the pinch work I was doing on Sunday or what. I basically did pinch curls - take a 10 lb plate, pinch grip it, and curl. Honestly, though, it might not be a bad idea to experiment with a pinching farmer's walk. I've seen it recommended, and while the elbow is definitely doing better, I don't want to compromise my RC progressions in the name of grip training.

 

Anyway, karate afterward was easy. Re-immersing myself in the Primal way of things has me watching my exertions and trying to gauge whether or not I'm working hard, and trying to adjust carb intake accordingly. I've been going lower lately, but I don't feel bad for it. My symptoms - brain fog and poor temper - don't really seem to be all that bad and in fact are actually pretty manageable so far. I'll definitely go higher again if I feel I need it, and depending on how judo shapes up tonight, it could be a high night for me. It's also got me looking at my dietary needs and making some small adjustments in terms of how much I'm taking in. No bad feelings on that front either - I'm still warm in my hands and everything.

 

I've even taken up a kind of IF again, just waiting until I'm hungry before eating breakfast. Turns out I don't mind waiting.

 

And, that's where it stands as of this morning. On the docket tonight, SLS training and the judo. Groovy, then.

[Kishi]

SLS and the Judo happened! Did the SLS using my insights about warming up and the like and it carried off like a charm. Had so much time, I took an easy mile, although I went too high on my heart rate again. Stupid treadmill wouldn't tell me my HR unless I went down below 4 MPH, so I couldn't gauge it, and when I finally took it down long enough to check, it told me that I was at 155. Which is fascinating, since 1) I'm aiming to stay below 149 and 2) I was moving at a speed where, previously, I'd been down low.

 

Fortunately, I managed to order an HRV which should be good. I've been fascinated by @Machete's experiments with that stuff and it'll be good to have some real time data to keep things moving in order.

 

Judo wound up being a low-key uchikomi class. I learned a lot, though, it felt like. Really went in-depth on harai goshi, and afterward got to practice combinations off sasae which generally involved harai as well as osoto and some other throws whose names I couldn't quite memorize. Stayed late afterward to help essentially a ronin, a judoka w/o a dojo. He's a wandering black belt who definitely knows his stuff, but he goes to compete in tournaments without a coach. It's kind of sad, actually, but he's apparently good enough on his own to have taken silver at the last shiai he went to in Maryland, so you know.

 

Today, we're having a breakfast for a person who's leaving. I brought donuts, because I'm a bad, bad caveman.  Just means lots of energy for training. I took my measurements beforehand, and it looks like I lost three pounds and a quarter inch off my waist. I'm thinking that's probably water weight coming off, what with me having gone lower CHO lately, but the fact that my performance hasn't fallen off is a good sign. I forgot to mention, the swings didn't hurt my back despite how long it's been since I actually did anything with a 70. So this whole "Take It Easy and Be Intense with Lots of Rest" thing is actually proving to be... refreshing. I like it.

 

Anyway, Karate and GB Core on the docket tonight. I'm gonna keep reading Primal Endurance and see if any of his insights can be crossed over into GST. I strongly suspect so.

[Urgan]

Well look who's killing it.

[Kishi]

2 hours ago, Urgan said:

Well look who's killing it.

 

So far! Hopefully it lasts.

 

Just can't seem to find time to cook or do my chores these days, tho. One of the things that Sisson insists on is getting religious about how much sleep you get. I'm getting down early-ish comparatively, but it's costing me in terms of prepping things and such. I'd take up the batch cooking again, but I think my stuff gets thrown out if I leave it in the fridge too long. Can't prove it, but it is something I suspect. I've batch cooked chicken breasts and come back to find the thing gone with breasts left over.

 

But yeah, it's fascinating to see the differences. Hopefully the body starts learning to burn fat. The trick now is, can I do my GST stuff at a faster cadence without sacrificing form? I think I can, but. Hard to say.

[Urgan]

50 minutes ago, Kishi said:

 

So far! Hopefully it lasts.

 

Just can't seem to find time to cook or do my chores these days, tho. One of the things that Sisson insists on is getting religious about how much sleep you get. I'm getting down early-ish comparatively, but it's costing me in terms of prepping things and such. I'd take up the batch cooking again, but I think my stuff gets thrown out if I leave it in the fridge too long. Can't prove it, but it is something I suspect. I've batch cooked chicken breasts and come back to find the thing gone with breasts left over.

 

But yeah, it's fascinating to see the differences. Hopefully the body starts learning to burn fat. The trick now is, can I do my GST stuff at a faster cadence without sacrificing form? I think I can, but. Hard to say.

 

Life is a multi-dimensional see-saw. You'll figure out the balance.

[Kishi]

22 hours ago, Urgan said:

 

Life is a multi-dimensional see-saw. You'll figure out the balance.

 

Oh, I hope so. I wasn't any good with a see-saw in two dimensions.

 

*

 

Last night went as follows:

 

Hollow Body Tuck Hold: 1x9s

Hollow Body Tuck Rocks: 4x36 Easy!

 

Russian Twists: 1x18

Tuck Side Planks: 4x6 Easy!

 

Tuck Ups: 5x15 Easy!

 

Could have done a mile, but really would have needed to push it in order to make the dojo. Instead, I decided to hold off on it and save my energy. Class was focused on movement. Lots of stuff I do already, but trying to do it more intelligently than I normally do. It's one of those things I'll have to keep polishing as time goes by.

 

I took a look at the strength training guidelines in Primal Endurance and decided that I didn't need to change GST after all. He does have some specific recommendations if you're lifting weights and doing plyometrics, but that's not really me right now. His bodyweight recommendations fall pretty well inline with what I'm doing already anyway, even stopping at failure and completing more reps after.

 

Also, apparently his concerns about building an aerobic base refer specifically to the strength work. He doesn't mention that in context with sprinting. So. I reckon I'll go ahead and hit the track today.

 

There shouldn't really be anything else planned. I bet someone's gonna try to move, though.

[Urgan]

6 minutes ago, Kishi said:

There shouldn't really be anything else planned. I bet someone's gonna try to move, though.

 

It's like umbrellas and rain with you and people moving. If you don't plan on it, it will happen for sure.

[Kishi]

3 minutes ago, Urgan said:

 

It's like umbrellas and rain with you and people moving. If you don't plan on it, it will happen for sure.

 

Seriously! People need to settle down for a bit and appreciate what they have and where they are.

[Urgan]

1 minute ago, Kishi said:

 

Seriously! People need to settle down for a bit and appreciate what they have and where they are.

 

Maybe get all zen and leave you the bleep alone for five minutes, lol.

[Kishi]

On 9/22/2017 at 0:29 PM, Urgan said:

 

Maybe get all zen and leave you the bleep alone for five minutes, lol.

 

And so far they have!

 

*

 

Quick post will be quick because I'm going to work today for some overtime. Highlights:

• Hit sprints for the first time in like a while. Felt like I was flying, but didn't get to do it on the track like I hoped I would because brother needed my 35 for some drills. So I sprinted elsewhere. Managed to get 130 m in 15 seconds, which felt great. Roughly translates to an 11.4s 100m dash, which I guess isn't all that great, but it's better than I thought I'd do and apparently above average. I suppose we'll find out for certain what that is when I can actually time myself on 100m.
• Weighed and measured myself again today. I don't like to make a habit of doing that too often because I don't want to put myself in a position to obsess over the numbers or anything like that. But I took the earlier measurements because I took Thursday to be a kind of cheat... only, that didn't quite happen. Sure, I took in some breakfast sweets and things like that, but my appetite for that stuff turned out to be really low, and I didn't find myself indulging throughout the day as I expected I would. Today, I came out at 184.8 with a waist average measurement of 36.54". Using my calculator indicated a finding of 20.6%, which for context is lower than the 21% I tracked on Thursday. Not far below, obviously, and very much in the range of a daily fluctuation, but dammit. I'll take it. If it's sustained, then we know that it's going down.
• Macros and total calories were calculated off of the Harris-Benedict equation and an eye toward Sisson's Carbohydrate Curve. For those unfamiliar, he insists that 50-100g CHO is the sweet spot for effortless weight loss and 100-150g as the sweet spot for effortless maintenance. Higher than that may be necessary for certain intense activity, but it needs to be earned; if it's not earned, then it's a source for weight gain. So, for me, that translates to a BMR of 1933 calories which would be made up of proteins and fats, with however many extra calories I need to hit coming from my carb needs on a given day.
• Fascinatingly, this has translated to about the same numbers as maintenance - 2200 to 2400 calories in a day, but by tweaking the macros, I've managed to preserve function and lower my weight. Contrary to popular opinion, Sisson isn't actually carbophobic, but he's really insistent that whatever carbs you take in need to be earned. Earned carbs would be an extra 50-100g depending on however many hours of vigorous activity you've done, with vigorous activity defined as making your heart beat above the aerobic zone (which is an arbitrary number, TBH, which he admits. Truthfully, extra earned carbs are totally subjective and open to experimentation). Watching myself and being frank about how I'm feeling, a lot of what I do really isn't all that vigorous. It's a lot of practice and a lot of doing so in a warm space, which will make you sweat, but doesn't really get the heart to move. Or at least not mine.

Good stuff, basically. I'll probably wind up doing a couple hours of relatively hard training today, since I'll have both strength implements, running implements, and fighting implements. I'll probably wind up eating a lot of extra carbs and a lot of extra calories, assuming that I can move as vigorously as I wish (which, depending on how my wrists feel on the bag, I really might not). I'm... sanguine. Genuinely unworried, for the first time in a while. This feels good.

 

Excelsior!

[Kishi]

Whelp! Saturday happened. It was interesting.

 

Warmed Up

 

Incline Push Ups 1x9

Push Ups 4x15 Fine

 

(High) Inverted Rows 5x15 Fine

 

Scap Shrugs 1x9

Hollow Body Forearm Plank 4x36s Fine

 

Pinch Grip Farmer's Walks: 1x100x20

 

So this time, my heart rate went through the roof doing these exercises. I didn't do a particularly more vigorous warmup than I normally do - just Shank's Five Minute Flow. That wasn't particularly hard. The warm up sets came nice and easy too. But the work sets afterward were just not easy. I've got four possible explanations that come to mind:

1. Body may not be taking to low CHO well, at least as far as strength work is concerned. I took a low carb day on account of only doing sprints. It didn't work out to being more than 15 minutes of work, and I didn't figure I'd need that many carbs to refuel. Then again...
2. Sprinting, even for so short a time as I did and with such an emphasis on the form, may have just been that brutal. Sisson's programming calls for an all-out effort that should take a while to recover from. He recommends programming a couple of easier days afterward, and I understood it as a risk. But I thought that since the sprinting was lower-body intensive and that today's training was upper-body intensive, that the two wouldn't interfere that much. Of course, it's also possible...
3. That it's business as usual. GST isn't a linear thing with me - some days it's easy, and other days it's really friggin' hard. This seems to be par for the course, as I've seen others in their forums talking about having similar issues. And I didn't end it feeling weak or light-headed or dizzy or anything like that. It was just easy right up until it wasn't. I did play with faster rep cadence a little, but not the expense of control. That might have made a difference.
4. A little bit of 2 and 3. The rep count, cadence, and demanded movement on a day after hard sprinting might have been too much. This, then, is a programming issue - whatever I do a day or two after sprinting, it needs to be easy relative to what I normally do. Buuuuuuut, there's not really a way to program it in where I get lots of ease afterward. If I sprint on Saturdays, I'll either have to do it without a track (depending on whether work is open that day) or do it on the same day that we do Judo, which is a wild card in terms of how it'll make me work. Sprinting on Tuesdays would have me doing that before Karate, with judo following the next day, meaning more wild cards. I'm thinking, at this point, Friday's probably the best place it could happen; I'll just have to keep an eye on it and see if my GST starts to backslide.

At least the Farmer's Walks were a pleasant surprise. No pain in my elbows, and I managed to complete my steps. I do lots of stuff with a standard grip and with the extensors in HS training and S&S, but I know that the Spartan last time had a climbing wall with blocks rather than handles. That's a specific thing I need for this race, and TBH it's a gap in most grip work that I don't see covered very often. Hopefully it'll be enough. Elbow's twinging a bit, but not like it did after the pinch curls. So. Again. Keep an eye on it.

 

Managed to jog an easy mile yesterday! That was good. Starting to feel it a little in my right foot, though; have to break out the LAX ball again and roll that out. Otherwise, everything's interesting and exciting, and I feel really good.

[Kishi]

Sunday's done! Headstands went up nice and easy, although I dropped out of the first one because I lost concentration and balance. It'll hold me back for a bit, but otherwise I'm not worried. More practice don't hurt none.

 

Afterward, I picked up a 50-pound sandbag and walked a hundred steps with it. Just to see what it felt like. And yes, it did remind me of Boston.  I'm thinking I might start loading up the backpack again and doing these loaded walks, although nowhere near as much as I was back about a year ago.

 

Ran another easy mile, did some kata, and spent some time on the bag again. Total mileage is at 3 for the week. I'd like to get to 4 miles in the next one. Probably will have to do that on the weekend.

 

But, yeah. Nice quiet weekend. Just what I needed.