The Spartan Monk, RisenPhoenix

[Cheechoe]

 

*waves banana chips and high quality coffee chocolate at Cheechoe*

 

So tasty!  And while Nerding all over the 50th anniversary special?  Amaaaaazing.

 

 

I hate you.

[Cheechoe]

Oh yeah, and since you asked my opinion, I vote you get up and run with Tin Man.

 

DO IT.

 

xD

[raptron]

yeah, DO IT.

[nightlight]

You rang? And it's November Project. And I get up at 5:50, that is basically 6.

 

 

Or you can go to November Project.

 

 

 

this.

[AgentsSka]

Ahh... the peer pressure is on!

 

 

This message is also for, Raptron who is talking a good game up there...

 

DO IT!!!!

 

 

Edit:  First video I posted was censored.  And, that's just bullshit.

[raptron]

Hey, I can pressure without being a peer.

 

also, go do 100 squats.

[RisenPhoenix]

*Blinks*

 

Ah.

 

Fuck.

 

We'll see what happens when AKLulu visits next week.

 

I'm going to need gloves and some cold gear.... maybe.

 

Also, no idea how I screwed up the name to Products in my initial post.  Too much time on the computer at late has numbed my brain...

[RisenPhoenix]

Oh, and a mini update for the day.

 

Not a whole century set, but I did do a half century to test out how my body will react.

 

So in a surprisingly short period of time, I did 50 pushups and 50 body weight squats.  I probably could have done more, but I do want to see how my legs react to that amount of rapid movement.  Paired with the fact that tonight is the most intense aikido class (where the odds of me being show-and-tell uke at least a few times jump up exponentially) this week, I'd like to be not dead.

 

But given how I feel right now, I'm thinking next time I'll do the full 100.

 

Also, tried to do a few pull ups.  I could pull them off, but my shoulder was not very pleased.  So still need to go easy.  Stupid shoulder.  And knee. (Though the knee is doing better.  It's finally cracking again, which means the inflammation is going down and getting better.)

[Zuel]

Wow Risen, that sounds amazing. I haven´t tried doing push ups lately, but I don´t think I can do 50 for the moment and even less planning to tackle a 100. 

 

Good to read your knee and shoulder are feeling slightly better.

[Cheechoe]

.5 century: good on ya

[RisenPhoenix]

Wow Risen, that sounds amazing. I haven´t tried doing push ups lately, but I don´t think I can do 50 for the moment and even less planning to tackle a 100. 

 

Good to read your knee and shoulder are feeling slightly better.

 

Not all in one go.  I'm not that epic, Zuel.

 

I did it essentially in three sets.  20-ish pushups, then 15-ish squats, then back to pushups, etc.  I was somewhat loose in my definition of 'failed form,' so pushups that didn't raise my core in one shot and squats that made me stumble counted as fails.

 

.5 century: good on ya

 

Yup!  And doing a full century next time.  I'm feeling well enough that it shouldn't be an issue (though my legs are a little wobbly, but not bad).

[RisenPhoenix]

Happy thanksgiving, everyone!

My quick, Spartan WOD inspired workout today before the turkey-filled feast.

2 cycles of:

-20 burpees

-15 mountain climbers

-15 squats

-30 second plank

-15 push-ups

-15 leg raises

Nothing too crazy, but I obviously wasn't thinking with putting three leg-heavy moves back to back. And I was required in the kitchen. So hopefully this covers my meal.

Tomorrow or Saturday I want to go for a run. Hopefully the weather holds up.

[Kishi]

Yeah, bunch of leg-heavy moves like that? Those gotta start weighing on you eventually. But you got them done, and you had Thanksgiving to restore them with, which is as good as it gets.

 

Awesome!

[RisenPhoenix]

It was kinda fun. The Spartan Facebook page had a fun image that gave me the idea that I'll post when I'm on a computer and not my phone. I did show it to my cousin who thought it was awesome.

That being said, I need a slight rant space. Thanksgiving dinner. Not a SINGLE green vegetable in sight. Nada. Zip. None. Outside of the mashed potatoes, we had butternut squash.... Which was covered in brown sugar. Ugh.

Given I'm at my parent's till Sunday, I'm desperately trying to find a way to keep myself in some semblance of dietary regularity. I definitely won't get as much protein as I want, but trying to not eat here is hard with the amount of crap they have. They definitely fall into the category of not understanding 90% of my weightloss was from diet, not exercise. So they think me being slightly picky is me being a pain. Again, ugh.

Hope everyone had a good turkey day, though!

[RisenPhoenix]

Okay, lost of double posts from me this week.  Oh well.

 

Anyway, went for a run today.  I forgot my family lives in a freaking valley.  >.<  After the flat areas I run in the city, by body was less-than-pleased.  But.... I ran 3.25 miles.  In 31 minutes. 

[Kishi]

Hah, yeah. People and food, man. Sorry that they're not on your side about that. You'll get it back, though.

[raptron]

Just mainline turkey!

[Teirin]

Sorry man, that's tough. Good luck getting through.

[Cheechoe]

It was kinda fun. The Spartan Facebook page had a fun image that gave me the idea that I'll post when I'm on a computer and not my phone. I did show it to my cousin who thought it was awesome.

That being said, I need a slight rant space. Thanksgiving dinner. Not a SINGLE green vegetable in sight. Nada. Zip. None. Outside of the mashed potatoes, we had butternut squash.... Which was covered in brown sugar. Ugh.

Given I'm at my parent's till Sunday, I'm desperately trying to find a way to keep myself in some semblance of dietary regularity. I definitely won't get as much protein as I want, but trying to not eat here is hard with the amount of crap they have. They definitely fall into the category of not understanding 90% of my weightloss was from diet, not exercise. So they think me being slightly picky is me being a pain. Again, ugh.

Hope everyone had a good turkey day, though!

 

 Gahhh... that sounds like my family. There is always one tiny salad bowl, though - usually the size of one of my sole meal salads. No wonder half the people in my family have diabetes. Sigh....

 

That's awesome that you resisted, though. It's hard not to be a pain, I know. You strike me as one of those overly polite people.  But in the end, it's YOUR body, not theirs.

 

Okay, lost of double posts from me this week.  Oh well.

 

Anyway, went for a run today.  I forgot my family lives in a freaking valley.  >.<  After the flat areas I run in the city, by body was less-than-pleased.  But.... I ran 3.25 miles.  In 31 minutes. 

 

WOOOOOOOOOOO! That's wut I'm talkin' bout!

 

Awesome 5K+ Valley Run of Awesome!

 

Makes me smile.

 

[RisenPhoenix]

Just mainline turkey!

 

DONE!

 

Sorry man, that's tough. Good luck getting through.

 

Thanks.  I did the best that I could.  Though the last couple of days were definitely calorie heavy...

 

 Gahhh... that sounds like my family. There is always one tiny salad bowl, though - usually the size of one of my sole meal salads. No wonder half the people in my family have diabetes. Sigh....

 

That's awesome that you resisted, though. It's hard not to be a pain, I know. You strike me as one of those overly polite people.  But in the end, it's YOUR body, not theirs.

 

 

WOOOOOOOOOOO! That's wut I'm talkin' bout!

 

Awesome 5K+ Valley Run of Awesome!

 

Makes me smile.

 

 

That gif makes me happy.  Now I need to watch Sherlock.

 

And resisted implies I was sucessful.  I wasn't.  So much bread and non-green vegetables.  Though on Saturday night my parent's took me, my brother and his boyfriend to a really nice restaurant.  Where I ate brussel sprouts.  Cooked with bacon.  Oh dear lord.  I didn't think I liked those.  Now I want more.  I think I may buy some to try and recreate that delicious side dish.

 

Also, week 3 recap.  It ain't pretty.

 

1) Workouts.  3/3

 

Okay, this one ain't bad.  I did the half century sprint-esque bit with pushups and squats early in the week, a Thanksgivings Day Spartan-inspired workout, and ran 3.25 miles.  On top of that, Saturday I also helped my folks stack wood, which while not totally strenuous (especially once we got the cart up and running) definitely was a bit more movement than I expected initially.  So that was all kinda good.

 

Also, I was told by a friend of mine that I can do 10 pull-ups.  I don't know if I can do 10 pull-ups, but according to him I can do 10 with no problem.  His exact phrase after I did a pull-up for shits and giggles was "If you can do a single pull-up that cleanly you can do 10.  So do them."  So apparently I have a new goal.... that I can already do?  Uhhh.... we'll see.

 

2) Calorie goals.

 

Uh.  I have no idea.  Bad.  Besides lots of food in general, most of it wasn't that good.  I ate what I could that wasn't too bad, but there was only so much I could do.  I mainlined turkey, an entire packet of almonds, and as much yogurt as I could scarf down that wasn't loaded with massive amounts of sugar.  Hell, even those yogurts I ate, after adding large amounts of flax seed and sliced almonds to reduce how sweet the stuff tasted.

 

3) Japanese Lessons. 1/3

 

Whoops.  I'm finding that doing the whole lessons takes a lot longer for me than I initially expected.  On the plus side, informal lessons being held by friend helps.  And doing at least one lesson while at home over the holiday worked surprisingly well, since my brother's boyfriend is fluent in Japanese and was very willing to answer every question I had.  Which was good, because I had a lot of them.  So my goal now I think is to try doing 30 minutes each day, and hopefully that'll make my 3 lessons/week goal.  But damn some of these exercises are hard when the answers in the back don't deliver everything you want to confirm your results.

 

 

So, hopefully the next 3 weeks will be awesome.  Crap, I need to do Xmas shopping.

[Kishi]

All in all, it sounds like a swell time was had. And brussels sprouts in bacon is fantastic. You get this awesome crunch if you do it right, something I've only had once.

 

Well, maybe you can do 10. You gotta believe it yourself before you can do it, otherwise, the RPE gets in the way and prevents your body from doing awesome.

 

Anyhoo. You survived last week. That's all any of us were wanting to do. Now it's time to go out and be awesome.

[Everstorm]

Nice job on sticking to your diet (as much as possible) while on vacation.  Well done, indeed.

 

And for all my Sherlock-loving friends...

 

Is it New Year's Yet?  How about now?  Now?  Doh!

[Mistr]

Also week 3 recap.  It ain't pretty.

 

1) Workouts.  3/3

 

Okay, this one ain't bad.  I did the half century sprint-esque bit with pushups and squats early in the week, a Thanksgivings Day Spartan-inspired workout, and ran 3.25 miles.  On top of that, Saturday I also helped my folks stack wood, which while not totally strenuous (especially once we got the cart up and running) definitely was a bit more movement than I expected initially.  So that was all kinda good.

 

Also, I was told by a friend of mine that I can do 10 pull-ups.  I don't know if I can do 10 pull-ups, but according to him I can do 10 with no problem.  His exact phrase after I did a pull-up for shits and giggles was "If you can do a single pull-up that cleanly you can do 10.  So do them."  So apparently I have a new goal.... that I can already do?  Uhhh.... we'll see.

 

2) Calorie goals.

 

Uh.  I have no idea.  Bad.  Besides lots of food in general, most of it wasn't that good.  I ate what I could that wasn't too bad, but there was only so much I could do.  I mainlined turkey, an entire packet of almonds, and as much yogurt as I could scarf down that wasn't loaded with massive amounts of sugar.  Hell, even those yogurts I ate, after adding large amounts of flax seed and sliced almonds to reduce how sweet the stuff tasted.

 

Give yourself a break on the food for last week.  There is only so much you can do when you are staying in someone else's house.  You kept up with running and lifting things while you were there.

 

I hear you on the no green foods.  I asked my housemates what they wanted for Thanksgiving.  The meal included everyone's favorite dishes.  The only green vegetable was green beans, and those where in white sauce with bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese on top.  One of the guests brought red cabbage and another brought a veggie tray.  I can tell that we are all used to eating healthier now because people snacked on the veggies after the meal.

 

Now it is a new week and you can eat the way you want to again.

[RisenPhoenix]

All in all, it sounds like a swell time was had. And brussels sprouts in bacon is fantastic. You get this awesome crunch if you do it right, something I've only had once.

 

Well, maybe you can do 10. You gotta believe it yourself before you can do it, otherwise, the RPE gets in the way and prevents your body from doing awesome.

 

Anyhoo. You survived last week. That's all any of us were wanting to do. Now it's time to go out and be awesome.

 

Seriously, I'm stoked to buy brussel sprouts now.  So weird.  I was also given the semi-insult of "the healthy eater" last night, for saying I don't like fry-a-lators. (Purely from a technical persepective.  They require too much oil and are just a mess to maintain, unless you have a dedicated space.)

 

And yup - back half of the challenge, time to be more awesome.  Also time to sit down and plot out where I want to go next year.

 

Nice job on sticking to your diet (as much as possible) while on vacation.  Well done, indeed.

 

And for all my Sherlock-loving friends...

 

Is it New Year's Yet?  How about now?  Now?  Doh!

 

*SQUEE*  I'm stoked.  Though I'm on the fence about watching it via torrent after it airs on the BBC or be nice and wait till Jan 19th for the PBS airing.  I can't wait!

 

Give yourself a break on the food for last week.  There is only so much you can do when you are staying in someone else's house.  You kept up with running and lifting things while you were there.

 

I hear you on the no green foods.  I asked my housemates what they wanted for Thanksgiving.  The meal included everyone's favorite dishes.  The only green vegetable was green beans, and those where in white sauce with bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese on top.  One of the guests brought red cabbage and another brought a veggie tray.  I can tell that we are all used to eating healthier now because people snacked on the veggies after the meal.

 

Now it is a new week and you can eat the way you want to again.

 

Yea, it's so weird to visit the house I grew up in and realize I don't want to eat 90% of the food there.  Or maybe shouldn't eat 90% of the food there - cuz I definitely ate a bunch while there.  Eating everything I wanted to yesterday felt fantastic, too.  Even if that included a burger and beer after aikido.

 

So mini-update.

 

Food went well yesterday, though before bed I did use my protein powder to get my last 20g of protein in (hot chocolate is an amazing concoction).  Today is on track to be just as well.

 

I did a modified NF Beginner BWW today.  My body right now is doing weird things, so I stopped early.  Weak muscles, shaky, just off feeling (besides my currently gimpy shoulder and knee).  No idea what's up.  My breakfast was 4 hours ago (3 eggs, 2 Irish banger sausages, 1 apple, plus coffeex2), and I've definitely had enough water.  So I'm chowing down on some peanut butter oatmeal right now to see if that helps.  It's a weird feeling, because even when I started working out at this level last year I didn't feel like this.  Any ideas on what it could be besides low calories this morning? (Which is laughable, since my breakfast this morning was more calorie heavy than my usual meals thanks to the sausages.)  Stupid tweaking calories.

 

Also, to pair the odd insult with an odd compliment:  I was talking to a friend (another martial artist) while playing pool the other day, and was relaying how I thought it was funny that so many people at my dojo tend to forget my grade/think I'm higher than I am/been around a lot longer than I have been.  His response: "Well, that's because you subsume martial arts and philosophy into your entire being.  Makes sense they would think that." O_o

 

Anyway, that's about it for today.  Going to get a bit of rest before class tonight.  I may even go to class tomorrow morning to prepare me for waking up ridiculously early to do NP with Ska, Tinny, and AKLulu next week.  Of which there's like a 95% chance I'll be doing stairs with them.  Hooboy.

[Kishi]

Um... well. You could be experiencing burnout and fatigue.

 

Training, as I understand it, is supposed to be cycled. It's not necessarily about hitting the same numbers and doing the same things over and over and over again, nor with the same intensity. Assuming that you're not hitting a series of programs designed one after the other, a good program should last about 4-6 weeks before giving you a week to 'deload,' which generally means sub-maximal work and lots of active recovery. If you don't mind me asking, when was the last time you intentionally took a rest?