Osu

[Urgan]

1 hour ago, Kishi said:

Judo afterward was pretty good. Got some pointers on my newaza and even though I got rolled a bunch, the pointers made it a lot harder. I'm peaceful with this. You can't roll with a BJJ guy and expect much if you're not getting similar practice, so, meh. I spent the rest of the night playing practice dummy for some folks going down to shiai in Dallas. At one point, I was rolled into their big drill - two uke standing opposite each other with tori in the middle. Tori goes to one uke and fits in a throw, then rushes to the other and fits in. Back and forth, back and forth. And, having done so and compared my conditioning to my sempai, I can safely conclude that their conditioning is shit. Which isn't a surprise, but always makes me happy whenever I'm reminded. I dunno if they just burned themselves out by not managing their pace, but I managed to go and go and go without ever stopping.

 

It's a good feeling to know you have among the best work capacity in the dojo...especially when every last bit of your cardio is done right there with them, lol.

[Kishi]

10 minutes ago, Urgan said:

 

It's a good feeling to know you have among the best work capacity in the dojo...especially when every last bit of your cardio is done right there with them, lol.

 

Yeah, seriously! Who'd have thought that the best way to develop the capacity to play your game was to play your game?

[Urgan]

19 minutes ago, Kishi said:

 

Yeah, seriously! Who'd have thought that the best way to develop the capacity to play your game was to play your game?

 

[Mistr]

On 10/11/2017 at 8:34 AM, Kishi said:

Compound that with the fact that I'm apparently on a light sleep kick again - I wake up with the first bit of pre-dawn light and my mind's off to the races before I can slow down and try to get back to sleep, because what's the point, I'm going to have to be up in an hour anyway and I might as well not waste time, right? But bed is so comfy. I think I've just got some underlying stress I'm carrying with me - I'm ruminating too much on the singleness thing again, which is never constructive, and also my brother's going to room with some friends of his so I'm on my own again to find a place to live and man, government work does not pay enough to make living on my own easy.

 

I could deal with that with meditation, I suppose. Which means more time awake. Hah! Fantastic.

 

That sucks that your brother is leaving you in the lurch. On the other hand, you're better off not living with someone who would do that kind of thing.

 

Supposedly meditation time can come out of sleep time with no ill effects. My results have been inconclusive. Maybe it would work if I was not also short on sleep from other things.

 

On 10/11/2017 at 8:34 AM, Kishi said:

The fact that I'm writing in run-on sentences means that, probably, in my heart I've decided to NaNo. I hashed out a setting for my transhuman story in about ten minutes - post-apocalypse where man made sentient Nuclear Equipped Weapons Platforms - NEWPs - powered by magic and run by affably hostile AI, who must be fought by humans whose consciousnesses have been downloaded into bodies which also are powered by magic. They'll have Tron lines when they do cool things and make pew pew noises. No lie - this is probably going to get a Nebula.

 

Awesome! I look forward to reading your story in December.  

 

On 10/11/2017 at 8:34 AM, Kishi said:

And, uh, yeah, that's where it stands right now. Training is good, nutrition is good, life is good if I'd just slow down and realize it. Just gotta take a deep breath and slow down a bit.

 

Edit to add: forgot! The forward split program and the Jefferson Curls are doing good things for my hamstring flexibility. Last night, I was able to reach the ground on a forward fold with straight legs and no bend. Don't think that's ever really happened before. Nice!

 

Yay! All the good things!

 

I am envious of your improved hamstring flexibility. I've been doing lots of hamstring work and am nowhere near touching my toes. I can get in a deep squat position now. Not sure if I'm even seeing progress on a forward fold. Can you say more about the exercises you've been doing?

 

2 hours ago, Kishi said:

At one point, I was rolled into their big drill - two uke standing opposite each other with tori in the middle. Tori goes to one uke and fits in a throw, then rushes to the other and fits in. Back and forth, back and forth. And, having done so and compared my conditioning to my sempai, I can safely conclude that their conditioning is shit. Which isn't a surprise, but always makes me happy whenever I'm reminded. I dunno if they just burned themselves out by not managing their pace, but I managed to go and go and go without ever stopping.

 

Always gratifying to see that your training program pays off in practice.  

 

I think what you observed is common in other dojos. My aikido organizations "advice for preparing for your black belt test" includes improving aerobic endurance. It's not something that a person would get from regular class attendance. We just don't go fast and continuous often enough. Lots more slow-with-good-form.

 

2 hours ago, Kishi said:

Looking at writing, I did more last night, and I'm glad I'm redeveloping the habit of showing up each day to do something. I think for NaNo, the other thing that I want to get out of this is a sense of character. Making compelling voices and making them distinct and interesting from one another. I'm sort of practicing that now with the current project, but it's something I'd like to practice more with the other.

 

Sounds like you are going to work NaNoMo just like you are working your training. More progress! Go Kishi!

[Kishi]

21 hours ago, Mistr said:

That sucks that your brother is leaving you in the lurch. On the other hand, you're better off not living with someone who would do that kind of thing.

 

I mean. He's the one who brought up the idea of us moving out together, but I'm the one who did most of the work about it. I dunno what his calculations were on all that, but whatever they were, they worked out such that moving in with his friends was a better result than moving in with me. It's honestly difficult for me to begrudge him this.

 

He did at least have the grace to apologize for leaving me in the lurch without prompting, which was more than I expected of him. So. /shrug.

 

22 hours ago, Mistr said:

Supposedly meditation time can come out of sleep time with no ill effects. My results have been inconclusive. Maybe it would work if I was not also short on sleep from other things.

 

I seem to recall hearing the same, although I've had similar results. Maybe more time meditating and more time dedicated to sleep?

 

22 hours ago, Mistr said:

Awesome! I look forward to reading your story in December.  

 

Thanks! I'll have it for you.

 

22 hours ago, Mistr said:

I am envious of your improved hamstring flexibility. I've been doing lots of hamstring work and am nowhere near touching my toes. I can get in a deep squat position now. Not sure if I'm even seeing progress on a forward fold. Can you say more about the exercises you've been doing?

 

Sure! Basically, I've been doing a front split program by GB in addition to Jefferson Curls, which are a prescribed movement . Front splits have basically involved working on the mobility of calves and ankles in addition to hamstrings, and I've been finding that loosening those areas up has led to a concurrent looseness in my hamstrings. Or at the very least it's helped.

 

I can't look for videos here to show you the Jefferson Curl, but it's basically a weighted forward fold. It even uses the same cues as you find in yoga - bending down one vertebra at a time, only going as far as you can, easing into the stretch, things like that. I think that's been helping a lot too, although I caution you that you have to take what your body will give you on a given day's practice and that you should be careful not to go forcing something that doesn't want to be forced.

 

22 hours ago, Mistr said:

I think what you observed is common in other dojos. My aikido organizations "advice for preparing for your black belt test" includes improving aerobic endurance. It's not something that a person would get from regular class attendance. We just don't go fast and continuous often enough. Lots more slow-with-good-form.

 

And you know, I think that's something we probably have in common. My school's big on helping wounded vets, but as a result we don't do near as much randori as you find in what I've been led to understand is a typical dojo. Which is understandable, but doesn't lend itself all that much to fight conditioning.

 

But yeah, no, kind of freaked me out. I had this easy time of it and I figured I was going to get yelled at for being too slow or being too lazy, but nope. Never happened. That was a fun.

 

23 hours ago, Mistr said:

Sounds like you are going to work NaNoMo just like you are working your training. More progress! Go Kishi!

 

Osu! It feels good to work on that kind of thing.

 

*

 

Yesterday was a day.

 

Hollow Body Tuck Hold: 1x9s

Hollow Body Tuck Rocks: 4x60 Fine

 

Russian Twists: 1x18

Side Plank Tucks: 4x10 Easy!

 

Tuck Ups: 1x9

Straddle Ups: 5x3 Easy!

 

Seriously, those hollow body rocks are hard. Not technically difficult, but the burn you get in your abs is friggin' incredible.

 

Anyway, I'm having some Thoughts about the training again.

• GB is incredible but doing every piece takes a while.
• The training effect of each piece seems to be independent - difficulty in one doesn't translate to difficulty in another. Front lever practice doesn't make side lever practice harder or easier.
• I could split these up and just do one piece a day and probably get the same training effect.
• With the free time, I could either play with the bells or hit up Sisson's bodyweight stuff. Both of these are incredibly fast relative to GB.
• These both lend themselves to certain splits, and I can do this.

So, I'm going to go ahead and give this new idea a college try in the next week. If it works as I think/hope it will, it should be great. If not, NBD.

 

Karate was interesting. Sensei forgot his keys, but his house is nearby so we went there. Played around with a punching bag and also a maize ball for practicing slipping punches. Lots of funk and movement. Went late. Couldn't get dinner. Ended up having to stay up and fix things. Sigh.

 

Blade Runner tonight, which is part of the reason I'm wanting to take up quick training that I can squeeze into the time I have. Should be fun.

[Urgan]

9 minutes ago, Kishi said:

The training effect of each piece seems to be independent - difficulty in one doesn't translate to difficulty in another. Front lever practice doesn't make side lever practice harder or easier.

 

That happens in barbell training. The components of the training do not necessarily follow the same trajectory--OHP will top out at a different pace and require different jumps than deadlift. That's about when you discover the two movements don't respond to the same stress the same way. Upper body needs more volume than lower just to keep pace, same volume on lower body with relatively heavy weights will potentially murder you. 

[Kishi]

1 hour ago, Urgan said:

 

That happens in barbell training. The components of the training do not necessarily follow the same trajectory--OHP will top out at a different pace and require different jumps than deadlift. That's about when you discover the two movements don't respond to the same stress the same way. Upper body needs more volume than lower just to keep pace, same volume on lower body with relatively heavy weights will potentially murder you. 

 

I think I saw that touched on in the video on Alan Thrall's take on 5/3/1. I knew that the upper body lifts were different than the lower body in terms of raw weight you could do with them, but I hadn't made the connection about volume.

 

Of course, now that I'm deadlifting again and increasing volume that way...

[Urgan]

7 minutes ago, Kishi said:

Of course, now that I'm deadlifting again and increasing volume that way...

 

Volume is only one lever you can tweak for training. Intensity (the weight on the bar) and frequency (how often you program in an exercise into your week) are also relevant. Upper body also responds better to high frequency once you get past novice phase--in fact, I think women need all three dialed up pretty aggressively on upper body to make good progress, it's all about finding a sustainable rate of increase of the weight lifted, which changes as time and programs march on. Guys need to increase frequency, too, but take care that it doesn't happen at the same time as Intensity gets cranked up to 11 or you will suffer from a recovery standpoint.

 

Like everything else, the Devil is in the details, and it's all about your goals. 

[Kishi]

On ‎10‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 2:29 PM, Urgan said:

 

Volume is only one lever you can tweak for training. Intensity (the weight on the bar) and frequency (how often you program in an exercise into your week) are also relevant. Upper body also responds better to high frequency once you get past novice phase--in fact, I think women need all three dialed up pretty aggressively on upper body to make good progress, it's all about finding a sustainable rate of increase of the weight lifted, which changes as time and programs march on. Guys need to increase frequency, too, but take care that it doesn't happen at the same time as Intensity gets cranked up to 11 or you will suffer from a recovery standpoint.

 

Like everything else, the Devil is in the details, and it's all about your goals. 

 

Hai, hai. However, given low frequency and a gradual uptick in intensity, volume at this point is the easiest lever to hit. Assuming, of course, that I don't go on to deadlift more times a week. Which I might, but given that heavy swings get me a lot of those same benefits along with conditioning, that's not likely. Not at this point.

 

Then again, well, it is me we're talking about here, so who knows. XD

 

*

 

Aight, time to catch this up.

 

Friday, I ran the assessment from the Primal Blueprint to see where I stacked up. As expected, not too great. Sisson's bodyweight programming is based on quick, explosive movement and lots and lots of reps, which is fine! But compared to the deliberate and controlled movements that you see in GB, it's a different beast. Based on this, I'm basically going to be doing a lot of assisted work for a while. Which, frankly, is okay. I don't mind going for easier movements at this point as it means I'll have the opportunity to keep working on that tendon/ligament strength and give all the pieces a chance to work together.

 

I was able to get everything done quickly and in time to get cleaned up and get to the cinema; this is very promising.

 

Blade Runner was great, by the way. Slow and cerebral, but a stunning spectacle all the same and very thoughtful. And also a twist that I genuinely didn't see coming.

 

Saturday, I went to a writing workshop hosted by the folks running NaNo in my region this year. It was great to get back in touch with them after having been gone for so long. We worked on plot and characterization, and this too was good. One thing that I'm learning as I get older and apply skill is that you're never too advanced for the basics. I think I can apply some of the characterization stuff to my present set up and actually enhance it a bit rather than create a conflict in design.

 

After that, I went and did deadlifts and versaclimber sprints. Deadlifts were interesting. I ate some protein and carbs prior to going, and I'm not sure if it was that or if it was residual coffee jitters or what but I basically went over 7000 lbs on total tonnage, which is way higher than the last time I did this. No pain after. Versaclimber was fiendish on my heart; I did it because I've been feeling kind of off in my right hamstring lately and I wanted to do something that would tax me without high impact. That seemed to do the trick.

 

Sunday, I went and practice headstands and managed to achieve 5x60s easy. All of them were freestanding. Holy crap. Also:

 

Assisted Squats: 1x21

Half Squats: 1x15

Full Squats: 1x9

Close Squats Holding Weight: 3x2 Easy!

 

Scap Push Ups: 1x9

Scap Planks: 4x48s Easy!

 

Yup. After reading in the GB forums, I decided to do what @Machete told me to do in the first place and held a weight out in front of me. That's a huge change - I can go way deeper on my squat, feet flat and everything. Dammit. One of these days, I'm just gonna do what I'm told the first time, and things will be great.

 

After that, I decided to see if I could run for three miles at a faster pace than I have been. So I did, and I could, without my heart rate freaking out and going high. So now that I have the necessary distance, we need to start throwing obstacles - either running faster or running at slope.

 

Wrapped up with some bagwork, some banded uchikomi, a pinch grip farmer's walk done for 90 steps w/ 25 lbs. Lots of random stuff at the end to pass time before eating dinner with the folks, which wound up being a pizza and some Halo Top afterwards. They've finally started releasing the new flavors down here, and so far I'd say they're pretty okay.

 

Today, rest and stretch. I need to get more of the routine written down so that I can continue to progress as opposed to streaming the thing over my data. One, because that's expensive, and two, because my building is outside of my network in some places. But getting better at the things I have written down already isn't going to be a bad thing.

 

Oh, also, I ran measurements Saturday morning, and even with the last week's dietary hijinks, I managed to get down to 18%. That's a good feeling.  More people are commenting that I look strong and lighter. So... I guess it's working.

[Kishi]

PHAW.

 

That's one of my noises now. You can tell I've been reading the Wheel of Time for too long. My swears are changing and I make sounds like some of them do. I'm so close, tho - second to last book. And it's great, because all the shit that was building up in the eight books of politicking and the like are finally paying off here. I can totally see why people don't get into this series, but as someone for whom this was an intro to epic fantasy it's nice to see the payoff.

 

Anyway. I managed to get enough sleep last night, but I woke up this morning feeling like I hadn't. Given that and the fact that it's my Mom's birthday today, I think I'm going to skip out on the dojo. I'll still do S&S and I'll be doing the push ups on top of that, just as a test of concept, but beyond that I'll be taking it easy.

 

Today was Boss' Day at work. I ate chili and a big ol' piece of cake. Fortunately, my dietary trickery served me - I was able to get some fiber, fat, and protein in me beforehand, so I wasn't particularly tempted by anything. Drank some coffee afterward to stave off the insulin crash, and so far I seem to be doing okay.

 

I have to admit, some part of me keeps expecting to stall out as far as leaning out goes, so the fact that things have continued to work is really disconcerting. I'm so used to stalling out and banging my head against the wall; to be here and have things go so well for the past month with no muss or fuss, being content with the things I'm doing... it's weird. I was tempted to go out and buy a program by a name that I trust and I was able to talk myself out of it based on my results. Which really freaks me out.

 

Still, it's not a bad thing to be beside oneself as things go outrageously right.  Hopefully, the training tonight will yield good results as well.

[Urgan]

20 minutes ago, Kishi said:

I have to admit, some part of me keeps expecting to stall out as far as leaning out goes, so the fact that things have continued to work is really disconcerting. I'm so used to stalling out and banging my head against the wall; to be here and have things go so well for the past month with no muss or fuss, being content with the things I'm doing... it's weird. I was tempted to go out and buy a program by a name that I trust and I was able to talk myself out of it based on my results. Which really freaks me out.

 

If it ain't broke by all that is holy do not fix.

[Kishi]

29 minutes ago, Urgan said:

 

If it ain't broke by all that is holy do not fix.

 

Hai, hai!

[Kishi]

So, turns out I didn't need to skip dojo - sensei's feeling ill, so no class. 'kay.

 

Went and did S&S and I think I managed it in 5 minutes without jacking up my heart rate. I was more concerned with my heart rate than my time, and I didn't really see, but it was fast yesterday. It's starting to get cooler down here and I think that had something to do with it.

 

Afterward, did the push ups. Got them done in time, but failed in the doing. I think in order to really make sure that I get these done I need to avoid failure like the plague. Rest times kill me. Also, the fact that I decided to slow this down, since I want to experiment with doing PBF for general higher rep work. So, I'm going to regress to progress on this.

 

I think also that I can probably skip warm up sets if I'm attaching this work to other work. Reason being that the warm up sets are there to warm up the system. But, if I'm doing S&S beforehand, well, I'll be pretty warm by that point. There is sense in doing much, but not more than I have to.

 

Today, judo. And, I got to work late. Because it's Wednesday. Of course I did.  I'm not sure how tonight's going to go - body feels like it's raring to go, but the time... it may not be on my side. Of course, I could also split the training up, maybe do some over lunch instead. I dunno. Play it by ear. Figure it out.

 

Managed to make another character for NaNo. He was supposed to be an antagonist, but he's wound up being a lot more sympathetic than I thought he would. How wonderfully complicated, given what themes seem to be emerging.

[Urgan]

2 minutes ago, Kishi said:

So, turns out I didn't need to skip dojo - sensei's feeling ill, so no class. 'kay.

 

I love moments like these. You didn't want to miss a session, but when it's not your fault this time

 

[Kishi]

23 hours ago, Urgan said:

 

I love moments like these. You didn't want to miss a session, but when it's not your fault this time

 

 

 

*

 

So! Got out of work late because I got into work late. I ultimately elected to do the training as I'd originally planned it. No good reason for it - just didn't feel like training at lunch. Instead, I went for a walk and listened to podcasts and books. It was a good use of the hour.

 

I also had the brilliant idea of downloading a blocking app onto my phone to block off the things that distract me on my way to the gym. I can't tell you the number of times I've got to the gym just to sit in the car and play around with Facebook or other timewasters. So, as a result, when I got out of work and got to the gym, there was nothing to do but to go and train.

 

And how did it work out?

 

Well... actually, it went just about perfect.

 

I ran through kneeling push ups, assisted pull ups, squats, and kneeling plank work all in rapid succession and had plenty of time to work on my rocking tuck hollows. I dropped back to 4x36 just to be on the safe side about it - avoid failure, because resting from that takes forever - and got through the whole thing with plenty of time to spare to get to judo. I wound up getting there right on time.

 

The only thing I need to watch is that left elbow. It's not tweaked or sore today but it was definitely tired. The original plan was to do my pulling work on rings - the arm tends to naturally track in a way that spares the elbow - but all the rigs that were suitable for it were taken and I didn't want to waste time on waiting. I thought that the assistance would make up for the difficulty of working a straight bar. It might have, but I also might have gone too far on reps as well.

 

It's just a thing to consider. Another reason to get to work on time - so I can get out on time and budget some minutes in for waiting on the right rigs.

 

Also, since I'm doing the GB work in a pre-fatigued state, I think I'm going to have to adjust my expectations in terms of how many reps I can do and when I'll be able to do them. Instead of just hitting the setxrep scheme as laid out, I might have to ease into it - get my reps to par one set at a time. Slower, yes, but not so infuriatingly slow as I tend to favor, and, I think it'll work.

 

Judo was... kind of annoying. We wound up practicing grip fighting and I got paired with a white belt who stiff-arms like crazy. Oh, it doesn't look like he is because he keeps a bent arm, but he executes from way outside when he goes to throw, and it's because he can't get around his structure much in the same way that I can't get around it either.

 

"No, it's because I'm stronger than you," he says. No, sir, it is not. You are stronger than me, but the reason you get away with it is that both you and sensei are former Marines and he thinks what you're doing is cute.

 

Oh and speaking of that. Did I mention that sensei tends to give most of his time to the other students because they're vets? At least, that's what I think it is. He spends a lot of time going over the details of their techniques while I play uke, and then when I play tori I get to do just one thing, and it's only for a few minutes before we go to do newaza or something.

 

And you know, look. It's one thing to struggle with something because you're bad at it. I get that. I don't mind that. But to struggle with something because you're bad at it with minimal input on how to get better is supremely frustrating to me. Like it's pretty plain to everyone there that I need help, but then I don't get it.

 

I'm trying to focus on the good. Like the fact that when sensei is teaching someone else and using me as the dummy that I can suss out for myself what he's saying, and he catches me sussing it out and acknowledges it, and the fact that the dude I grip-fought with really is a decent guy who helped me out with some reminders on newaza about controlling the knees, and the fact that people can't get over how good my sasae is when I commit to it, and that maybe the reason I get so little teaching is because maybe I'm just trustworthy enough with all the work I'm doing to figure this shit out on my own as demonstrated between my sussing it out and the fact that I get caught catching on quickly to whatever I'm shown.

 

There are frustrations here, but they're the typical frustrations. The shit you put up with for putting up with everyone else doing shitty technique.

 

And you know, when we were grip-fighting and sensei came over, he did expect that I should be able to execute sasae around that arm. Meaning he trusted me to be able to do that. So, this frustration then can be useful as a tool to push me to research ways to get around that. I should be using technique to get around this nonsense anyway.

 

Phew. Okay. Off my chest.

 

Today's docket should be S&S and ground rows and karate. Watching the elbow like crazy.

[Urgan]

6 minutes ago, Kishi said:

Oh and speaking of that. Did I mention that sensei tends to give most of his time to the other students because they're vets? At least, that's what I think it is. He spends a lot of time going over the details of their techniques while I play uke, and then when I play tori I get to do just one thing, and it's only for a few minutes before we go to do newaza or something.

 

And you know, look. It's one thing to struggle with something because you're bad at it. I get that. I don't mind that. But to struggle with something because you're bad at it with minimal input on how to get better is supremely frustrating to me. Like it's pretty plain to everyone there that I need help, but then I don't get it.

 

I'm trying to focus on the good. Like the fact that when sensei is teaching someone else and using me as the dummy that I can suss out for myself what he's saying, and he catches me sussing it out and acknowledges it, and the fact that the dude I grip-fought with really is a decent guy who helped me out with some reminders on newaza about controlling the knees, and the fact that people can't get over how good my sasae is when I commit to it, and that maybe the reason I get so little teaching is because maybe I'm just trustworthy enough with all the work I'm doing to figure this shit out on my own as demonstrated between my sussing it out and the fact that I get caught catching on quickly to whatever I'm shown.

 

There are frustrations here, but they're the typical frustrations. The shit you put up with for putting up with everyone else doing shitty technique.

 

And you know, when we were grip-fighting and sensei came over, he did expect that I should be able to execute sasae around that arm. Meaning he trusted me to be able to do that. So, this frustration then can be useful as a tool to push me to research ways to get around that. I should be using technique to get around this nonsense anyway.

 

I can't question the possible time bias favoring other students, 'cuz I'm not there obviously. In Aikido, being demo uke is an acknowledgement that you can take the technique. I do wonder if Sensei is using you to demo technique in a similar fashion. He may be biased in taking up more time with others, but he surely isn't doing it from a "screw you, Kishi" mindset. Having to be the bigger person all the time and sacrificing time to practice your own technique would get frustrating. If it were me, I would generate some questions--play dumb, if need be--about what you're working on that would force Sensei into teacher mode for your benefit. One of the great things about martial arts is everybody learns in the process, so.

 

Sometimes I wonder about how different people will apply technique to me differently. Sensei's wife, who is also Sensei, will demo technique on me as aggressively as is remotely reasonable (i.e., not equivalent to forcing me to flip myself for breakfall, since I am not really ready for that, but will pin the HELL out of my joints and do it multiple times while walking through the steps with my partner if they are unaccustomed to what we're practicing that day). Sensei himself is IMHO too light while throwing, so maybe we've got a Goldlocks complex of sorts? But it's normal to notice the difference and wonder about it. Sometimes I think female Sensei doesn't like me, which seems kind of dumb as pain on some level is part of the process, and given some of our other interactions. But I still wonder, you know?

[Kishi]

30 minutes ago, Urgan said:

I can't question the possible time bias favoring other students, 'cuz I'm not there obviously. In Aikido, being demo uke is an acknowledgement that you can take the technique. I do wonder if Sensei is using you to demo technique in a similar fashion. He may be biased in taking up more time with others, but he surely isn't doing it from a "screw you, Kishi" mindset. Having to be the bigger person all the time and sacrificing time to practice your own technique would get frustrating. If it were me, I would generate some questions--play dumb, if need be--about what you're working on that would force Sensei into teacher mode for your benefit. One of the great things about martial arts is everybody learns in the process, so.

 

Oh, yeah. There's no malice in it. And I wonder if sensei, having been trained in Japan, takes a lot of their attitudes with him. In judo, traditionally, white belts were supposed to play uke for a long time before learning technique. Though, how that works out with training people who are both white belts, I don't know. Maybe he trusts me with this since he knows I've been with K-sensei for a while, and he did some teaching at the last judo dojo I was in as well.

 

That's the problem with writing things down - once you do, you begin to think about mitigating factors and such. Makes being angry difficult.

 

I suppose I could have asked "how do you get in when the dude holds you out?" Because I wouldn't have to play dumb at that point; I literally felt foolish trying to take a leg from so far out.

 

1 hour ago, Urgan said:

Sometimes I wonder about how different people will apply technique to me differently. Sensei's wife, who is also Sensei, will demo technique on me as aggressively as is remotely reasonable (i.e., not equivalent to forcing me to flip myself for breakfall, since I am not really ready for that, but will pin the HELL out of my joints and do it multiple times while walking through the steps with my partner if they are unaccustomed to what we're practicing that day). Sensei himself is IMHO too light while throwing, so maybe we've got a Goldlocks complex of sorts? But it's normal to notice the difference and wonder about it. Sometimes I think female Sensei doesn't like me, which seems kind of dumb as pain on some level is part of the process, and given some of our other interactions. But I still wonder, you know?

 

Maybe? Probably. He's explained to me before why I have to treat the veterans in class different; thing is, because of the pricing offers he has in place, we have a lot of veterans. And so I feel like he's way more willing for them to be rough and is more forgiving of their foibles and such, when he isn't so much with me. I guess if I look at it through the lens of different students needing different teaching, it's understandable. But like you said, it at least feels to me like I'm in this position where I'm having to be the bigger person a lot more than the others are.

 

Like, one dude, when we tried to do uchikomi just straight-up randori'd me instead, and never got called out for it. If I'd done the same, I totally would have got called out on it. If they grab me rough, not a word. If I grab them rough, oh, Kishi, you can't do that because you might set him off and you don't want that to happen. Get to a position where I get the other dude and take his back? "Oh, you should really be focusing on positions where you're not strong from." Like this same dude hasn't beat me like 9 times out of 10. He can give me one portion of one round.

 

OTOH, though, I'm not convinced it's wrong for you and me to expect consistency with how people teach.

[Urgan]

4 minutes ago, Kishi said:

Oh, yeah. There's no malice in it. And I wonder if sensei, having been trained in Japan, takes a lot of their attitudes with him. In judo, traditionally, white belts were supposed to play uke for a long time before learning technique. Though, how that works out with training people who are both white belts, I don't know. Maybe he trusts me with this since he knows I've been with K-sensei for a while, and he did some teaching at the last judo dojo I was in as well.

 

That's the problem with writing things down - once you do, you begin to think about mitigating factors and such. Makes being angry difficult.

 

I suppose I could have asked "how do you get in when the dude holds you out?" Because I wouldn't have to play dumb at that point; I literally felt foolish trying to take a leg from so far out.

 

Make him consider the interaction from your POV by asking such questions. He can't get mad at you for wanting to learn even when being uke.

 

5 minutes ago, Kishi said:

Maybe? Probably. He's explained to me before why I have to treat the veterans in class different; thing is, because of the pricing offers he has in place, we have a lot of veterans. And so I feel like he's way more willing for them to be rough and is more forgiving of their foibles and such, when he isn't so much with me. I guess if I look at it through the lens of different students needing different teaching, it's understandable. But like you said, it at least feels to me like I'm in this position where I'm having to be the bigger person a lot more than the others are.

 

Like, one dude, when we tried to do uchikomi just straight-up randori'd me instead, and never got called out for it. If I'd done the same, I totally would have got called out on it. If they grab me rough, not a word. If I grab them rough, oh, Kishi, you can't do that because you might set him off and you don't want that to happen. Get to a position where I get the other dude and take his back? "Oh, you should really be focusing on positions where you're not strong from." Like this same dude hasn't beat me like 9 times out of 10. He can give me one portion of one round.

 

OTOH, though, I'm not convinced it's wrong for you and me to expect consistency with how people teach.

 

I don't know if they interact with lower belts differently than me (I mean, they go harder on other black belts, but duh of course they do), so in that respect we're not in the exact same situation, but the contrast is enough to speculate over. Also, nikyo is a jerk, just FYI. 

 

All that said about how vets are different sorts than civilians in some ways, there shouldn't be a gulf of difference in how you interact with them unless you are part of a PTSD support group IMO. I will call shenanigans on that. If you are gonna give them a lot of play, then everybody gets a lot of play because apparently fast and loose is cool and fine. 

 

The bolded bit sounds like something that would go down on a football field with a sketchy ref on duty.

[Kishi]

2 hours ago, Urgan said:

All that said about how vets are different sorts than civilians in some ways, there shouldn't be a gulf of difference in how you interact with them unless you are part of a PTSD support group IMO. I will call shenanigans on that. If you are gonna give them a lot of play, then everybody gets a lot of play because apparently fast and loose is cool and fine.

 

Yeah. Oh well. If fast and loose is cool and fine, then there shouldn't be a problem with it when I do the same. I guess if they want to make something of it, that's their problem. I'll learn something either way.

 

2 hours ago, Urgan said:

The bolded bit sounds like something that would go down on a football field with a sketchy ref on duty.

 

It does, but TBH it really wasn't that big a deal. Like, the dude was trying hard to throw, but he could barely land anything, when he did, I rolled it off, and I countered him a bunch too. I learned a lot about taking what was given to me. A good lesson, although I wish I could have stuck to learning about fitting in.

[Kishi]

Thursday in the bag! And it worked again. S&S again followed up by Ground Rows. Left elbow was talking to me afterward, but it's not really talking to me today, which I'll take as a win.

 

I think that, going forward, I'm probably going to adjust my programming on pulling to not go for so many reps, but rather just to add a rep a day on Sisson's sessions. Part of me is worried about an unbalanced development, but frankly, between TGUs, deadlifts, and rows, I get plenty of pulling work, and I really don't want this to flare back up to where it was. I think that's a risk at this point, and while I do think there's a lot of value in doing faster high rep work, it's not so valuable that it's worth injuring myself.

 

I also think this is a good idea just in case I find myself in a place where I can't deploy my rings to help my elbows track. Going from lots of reps on the rings to trying to do more on a straight bar seems like a good way to risk aggravating the elbow. Not worth it.

 

Karate was good afterward. Worked on a bunch of different clinch fighting stuff. Sparring was good afterward, and while I did manage some good stuff, toward the end sensei was getting me with some advanced timing trickery that I've not quite advanced to yet. Sigh. Oh well.

 

He's also started saying the T-word a lot more lately, which is putting me a bit on edge. I'm trying to take the training as it comes, but man, if testing is on the horizon, then I gotta clean my game the eff up.

 

Anyway. On the docket tonight: PBF, SL PE2, and kali. Should be a cinch, and since the gym is usually quieter on Fridays anyway, it should be easier to get access to the right places. If not, well. We'll adjust to it. That's the nice thing about my training now - there's a lot of freedom to adjust on the fly and take what I can get. Feels very GPP to me.

[Treva]

On 10/20/2017 at 9:49 AM, Kishi said:

He's also started saying the T-word a lot more lately, which is putting me a bit on edge. I'm trying to take the training as it comes, but man, if testing is on the horizon, then I gotta clean my game the eff up.

I dunno, I've been reading up on all the tweaking you've been doing on your own, and it sounds like you already know how to clean up your exercises.  Also from previous readings, you really sound like you know what you're doing, so I have every confidence in you that you will find a way to clean things up and make them great for testing!

 

Just been catching up on your sleep struggles.  Sounds like you know what's been keeping you up--the "free floating anxiety" as my dad calls it.  Lots of ruminating can come out in funny ways.  (I know mine has been keeping me up, too). 

I'm sorry your brother is leaving you in a lurch with housing stuff.  That sounds frustrating, and like complicates your life in ways nobody needs. 

 

I do like hearing about all the tweaking you're doing.  It sounds very successful, even though I don't understand hardly any of it!  Keep up the stellar work!

 

 

[Kishi]

On ‎10‎/‎22‎/‎2017 at 10:05 AM, Treva said:

I dunno, I've been reading up on all the tweaking you've been doing on your own, and it sounds like you already know how to clean up your exercises.  Also from previous readings, you really sound like you know what you're doing, so I have every confidence in you that you will find a way to clean things up and make them great for testing!

 

Well, my fight game, I mean. Exercise is fine at this point, but I want to fight better than I feel like I do now. In broad strokes, things are fine, and I'm better than I was, but there's a lot of details to work on and get right. Which I suppose is how it'll always be, but still conscious of it.

 

On ‎10‎/‎22‎/‎2017 at 10:05 AM, Treva said:

Just been catching up on your sleep struggles.  Sounds like you know what's been keeping you up--the "free floating anxiety" as my dad calls it.  Lots of ruminating can come out in funny ways.  (I know mine has been keeping me up, too). 

 

Yeah. Just feels like the things other than sleep are more worthwhile. They never are.

 

Except for the writing. That's worth it.

 

On ‎10‎/‎22‎/‎2017 at 10:05 AM, Treva said:

I'm sorry your brother is leaving you in a lurch with housing stuff.  That sounds frustrating, and like complicates your life in ways nobody needs.

 

Eh, I'm not really worried all that much. It's not a welcome complication, but on the other hand, he's not another body in my kitchen anymore and he doesn't wake me up super-early relative to my alarm anymore either. Long term, yeah, it'll be troublesome, but for now there's a sense of relief in some ways.

 

On ‎10‎/‎22‎/‎2017 at 10:05 AM, Treva said:

I do like hearing about all the tweaking you're doing.  It sounds very successful, even though I don't understand hardly any of it!  Keep up the stellar work!

 

Thanks! I wish I was doing something complicated so that it'd be impressive. But really, I just split up my gymnastic feats to one a day and alternated between kettlebell and calisthenics. Nothing impressive, but it lets me do a lot of the things that I feel like I've wanted to do for quite a while. It's a good mix. Combined with me having blocked off social media on my phone, it works.

 

*

 

Well, so, here's how things have gone: well. All the training has happened, the writing is happening. Gaming is the biggest source of complications now - one is wanting to happen on Sundays when I go to train clients, but TBH I wouldn't mind letting that go, although whether they want to let me go or not is another matter entirely. The other is the Monday sessions, wherein I recently made an ass of myself over politics. Hate that. But I apologized to the guy and he said there's no hard feelings, so I feel like that load's been set down behind me.

 

Running's been happening, deadlifts have been amazing (crossed 11K lbs on tonnage), but I think I've been dishonest with myself over how hard I've been pushing with my left elbow. I need to slow this back down again, although having rested from doing any kind of pulling movement the past couple of days, I have a feeling that a gradual re-entry should be fine. I think the thing I'm struggling with the most right now is doing high-rep assisted pull ups, and it's purely a result of ego not letting me do low numbers. Ego is stupid. I don't have time for getting hurt. Race is in a couple of weeks.

 

I'm planning out the year's novel using a format that Jim Butcher uses in his novels. It's way harder than the other stuff I've used before, but the results have been way better scenes that, at least to me, have a strong sense of consequence and lead into one another pretty naturally. Now if I can just divorce myself from thinking of each thing as a chapter and just let the words flow, I reckon I'll be in good shape.

 

I kept hoping I'd get the chance to do something more in-depth for you guys, but the time, it is fleeting. But right now, things are good. If I stay careful, things will get better.

[Kishi]

Tuesday done. I decided to do S&S with my old warm up weight. S&S's warm up is three rounds of KB goblet squats, bridges, and KB halos. I've been doing those with the 8 kg for a while now, but since I'm back to working all TGUs w/ the 16 kg, I decided to go ahead and hit the warm up movements with the 16 as well. It worked, although the goblet squats are done with a prying element - you curl the bell a few times to try to force the hips to open up. I don't notice any feeling of opening past the first rep, though, so I only did one rep, and my elbow felt good for doing that.

 

The work afterward didn't feel bad. Elbow felt tired, but didn't feel like it was strained. It feels right, in other words.

 

Push ups afterward, I did four sets - 1x9, 3x6. My plan to advance without courting failure is to just increase the volume by as few reps as I can manage - anywhere from one to twelve reps, depending on what a given movement calls for. It's slow as hell, but it is progress, and I could definitely feel the work doing it this way. Hopefully, this is that sweet spot between pushing and avoiding failure.

 

One other benefit that I didn't plan on is that I can use the extra time to foam roll and stretch. So that's what I did. My body was thankful for it.

 

Karate afterward was good. We worked a lot on Iceberg, but had a couple not so great rounds of sparring afterward. Oh well. Happens.

 

Tonight's PBF and judo, but TBH I'm not sure how much I feel like going off to play punching bag for everyone. I don't know if that's just my ego talking or what. I'm tired, but I'm always tired and if I waited until I felt perfect, I'd probably never go. So. Kind of in a place where my mind is looking for anything to not go. I've got all my clothes and my gear with me, so I don't have any excuses, but my mind. It is... ingenious.

[Kishi]

So, yesterday wound up being a wash. It was "Employee Appreciation Day" at work, so we wound up losing a lot of time on celebratory stuff. Went out to lunch at a Southern restaurant, so think cornbread and biscuits and molasses and salt. Good for the soul, bad for the waistline.

 

On the plus side, I got the chance to eat brains.  Freaked out the coworkers something fierce. And the waitstaff. XD

 

Anyway, did that, then went back to work where we took more time off and had desert. Which, honestly, I didn't need, really, but I did anyway. 2 slices of cheesecake.

 

In any event, I was severely delayed on getting my work done, and I didn't end up leaving the office until 18:00. Could have gone to judo, but elected to do GPP instead, because GPP is life.

 

As a circuit:

 

Kneeling Push Ups: 2x20,27

1 Leg Assisted Pull Ups: 2x3,2

Squats: 2x36,43

Kneeling Plank/Kneeling Side: 2x60s/30s

 

Rocking Tuck Hollows: 5x36,36,36,36,12

 

Went fast, went well, but not fast enough to get out in time to Judo. I've established that I can get there late with no trouble. Chose not to anyway - I would have got there in time basically for the end of class, where I would have got the opportunity to play punching bag for sempai. No thanks.

 

Instead, I went out to pick up fish oil and food for the rest of the week. Started working on more characters for the Novel - they need to be developed beyond being one-note plot progressors - and got jumped by a bunch of anti-vaxxers on social media. Decided to take a different tack than normal and simply dismissed their arguments as having no basis in reality. It'll have the same result as actually arguing with these people, but it'll save me so much time. I'm all about saving that time these days, yo.

 

Anyway, weather's finally getting colder again. I'm hoping I'll have a chance to go run in it once before heading to Boston. I've been walking around without my coat on in the ~40-degree weather, and so far it's not bad. Hasn't been windy, though. So... hard to say how this winds up.

 

S&S, ground rows, and karate today. Groove. Let's get it.

[Kishi]

Things went well! S&S consistently fails to get my heart rate high now. This is good, I think. TGUs didn't hurt my elbows. Ground rows didn't hurt my elbows either.

 

Karate focused on rhythm and generating power from places where you should be able to. Sparring afterward was good, although I think I must have took a hit on my right forearm without noticing because that sucker feels like it was stabbed. I still have full ROM, and it all feels muscular, so it shouldn't be any kind of real problem. Even so.

 

But, yeah. Not a whole lot to report. Things are presently good.