TMNT part 3: Other Strangeness (with Firefly sidequest).

[Hugh]

OK, I admit this is a bit of a weird one....

 

Firstly, I'm not into Furry thing. I'm not passing any judgement on those who are but this 6WC is just me indulging my nostalgia and my imagination as a way to motivate and structure my training.

 

Right then...

 

I used to love the TMNT roleplaying game as a kid. Long before any cartoon or films appeared, there were the comics and the RPG.

It was visceral. It was funny. It was well written (admittedly as a counter to the increasingly gritty and cynical media of the 80's).

It was also one of my first introductions to roleplaying games (after d&d). So I have a soft spot for it.

The increasing news of the latest reboot from Michael Bay (about which I still have mixed feelings) has kept me in a nostalgic mood when it comes to the subject.

 

The RPG was called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness. It featured the eponymous turtles as examples but you were encouraged to create your own bizarre, original, funny, tragic and/or heroic mutant animal characters. It was great craic and I remember fondly not only playing but indulging my creative side by generating countless oddball characters (some of which might make an appearance in this 6WC)

 

 

So, this is my

"TMNT part 3: Other Strangeness" challenge (with Firefly sidequest).

 

So, this is following a "mutant animal" theme - concepts and goals will be epitomized by the characteristics of certain animals, which will be anthropomorphized for the purposes of mimicking  their qualities. These mutant animals might be well known characters (e.g. Master Splinter embodying discipline or Raphael embodying Sai training... or berserker rage ) or they might be "new" characters (such as a mutant Gorilla representing "beast mode strength training" or a mutant Wolverine representing endurance and outdoor activities)

Some of the new characters will need names - please feel free to suggest some as they appear.

 

These mutant/anthropomorphized animals will be my... Spirit Guides, I guess.

They will inspire my training and workouts. Along with the other goals.

(Don't worry if I start reporting on their antics as thought they were real people - I'm not writing or running any RPGs right now and my storytelling reserve tends to start leaking after a while)

 

onto the specifics...

 

The Turtles and the Newt:

Martial Arts.

The Turtles rock when it comes to weapons! In my case, Donatello and Raphael - as my oriental weapons training concentrates on Sai and Bo. I might play with swords and nunchaku a bit too... but we'll see

 

Embodying the karate practice is... The Karate Newt!!

(sorry the gif sucks. best I could do on short notice )

Karate every Wednesday. Helping with the juniors class as and when needed.

Time is short but I should be able to make enough of it to practice my katas (armed and unarmed) at least twice a week outside of my regular classes.

 

+1 STR, +1 DEX, +1STA, +1 WIS

 

NB the Karate Newt needs a name... he's a slightly manic, hyperactive, mutant newt version of Master Ken. distinctly less cool than any of the turtles but doesn't realize it.

 

Splinter's Discipline.

This is about diet and routine.

 

I'll keep a food diary. This is my first time trying to keep a food diary (despite having meant to for ages!) so I'll cut myself some slack here and concentrate mainly on keeping it up to date on Mondays - Fridays.

In theory, this should help me maintain a fairly low carb/low grain paleo-esque diet...

It will also help me make sure my caloric intake is about right.

Treat day at the weekend is planned.

 

+2 Wis, +2 CON

 

 

Cheetahs, Tigers and Gorillas! Oh my..?!

Exercise: Cardio, Strength and some Animal-Flow.

 

Tiger Strength training: Twice a week.

Embodied by Rugshasa, the mutant Tiger! (Whose name derived from some d&d players wanting to open a shop. They had recently skinned a bunch of Rakshasa so I suggested calling the place Rugshasas)

Bodyweight or Kettlebells, some machines <spit!> because I have limited access to free weights. The Lat-Pull-Down machine and the Chest Press machine will supplement push ups, pull ups (well, hanging shrugs at this stage), kettlebell stuff and squats/lunges.

Intensity is the key here! This is BEAST MODE. When I'm not going TIGER, I'm going SILVERBACK!

 

 

Cheetah Cardio training: Interval sprints twice a week (on non-tiger days).

My gym time is too short for longer/slower cardio

So Cheetah Style Sprints it is! I typically go easy for 60 seconds and hard for 30.

Each session I will max out the speed on treadmill at least once. By the end of the challenge, I want to be maxing it out the treadmill more than once and bringing my "rest" time down to 45 seconds.

 

Doing an image search for anthropomorphized cheetahs started getting disturbing results so I'll just use a pretty picture of a normal one....

 

 

Animal-Flow: uhm, yeah. Thanks Kishi, for the idea. Now I've gotta actually learn some of this stuff!!

Well, I guess I'll start by introducing some of the moves into my warm ups and my non-Tiger days in the gym.

The first six of these will be a nice start I think (the more locomotive movements are tricky considering the tiny size of the gym)

 

Getting tired of searching for anthropomorphic animals. That last search has left me scarred...
So here's "a chameleon that looks like you owe him an explanation for what you just did".

 

NB the cheetah, the silverback and the chameleon all need names

 

+2 STR, +1 DEX, +1STA

 

Wolves and Wolverines.

Some kind of hiking / camping event.

Well, that's nice and vague...

And that's how it'll remain until I can organize it but at some point over the next six weeks, I'm taking to the hills for a nice long walk and an overnighter. Just for the hell of it. well, and the exercise and the "getting away from technology for an evening" thing.

My inspiration for this is "minimalist survival". As embodied by the fuzzy little fellow above. Don't let his "cutesy Snake Pliskin teddy bear look" fool you. This is Caesar, a mutant wolverine of terrifying stature (3'7") who had a train load of guns and explosives. He's a weirdo survivalist embodied in the form of an Ewok from Hell!

 

+1 WIS, +1 STA

 

And of course there's the Firefly themed sidequest...
Hitch a Ride!

Part of the course I'm on includes securing a couple of days a week work placement over the winter months. The sooner I sort it out, the better my options will be.

So I'm gonna do my damnedest(?) to sort the gorram business out sooner rather than later!

 

+1 CHA

[pumazealy]

hmm very interesting.....

[Kishi]

Huh, walking in, you'd think it was all about animal flow-type workouts in addition to the training that you were doing. I guess not, but awesome even so.

[SevenFootGeek]

TMNT and Other Strangeness was the very first RPG book I ever bought with my own money.  I still have that same dog-eared book residing on my shelf.  I approve of this challenge theme.

[Hugh]

Huh, walking in, you'd think it was all about animal flow-type workouts in addition to the training that you were doing. I guess not, but awesome even so.

 

Hmmm... there's a thought...

[Cheechoe]

Bossa Nova!!

[Teirin]

:-)

[RisenPhoenix]

I never knew a TMNT RPG existed.  I think I need that now.  (I'm sure it;s out of print and damned expensive, too.)

 

Interesting idea for a theme!  Looking forward to reading more about it!

[Hugh]

Updated, edited and specified with goals and pics

[Cheechoe]

it's .....so..... prettifulll!

 

xD

[Teirin]

So many goals!  Good luck fitting everything in. 

 

There was a lot of snickering over your search comments. Heh. 

[Kishi]

Snickering happened here too. I was like, "What, you didn't expect that to happen?"

 

Anyway, good update! Now it's time to go to work.

[Hugh]

Snickering happened here too. I was like, "What, you didn't expect that to happen?"

 

Anyway, good update! Now it's time to go to work.

yeah, I was kinda expecting it to happen but not quite so... weird.

 

So, Monday was a good "beast mode" training day. Tuesday saw some experimenting with animal flow drills. But I hadn't properly outlined my challenge so wasn't in the zone fully.

 

Karate last night. Assisted again with the juniors. Long session with the seniors as no one had anywhere to be (over-ran by 40 mins! yay!). Good kata practice all across the board.

 

Warmed up with some gentle cardio, some core work and the aforementioned six animal flow exercises. I'm liking the animal flow stuff. Good for mobility

Today I went all out on my Tiger Strength Training, with a little bit of Silverback Gorilla "beast mode" just to be sure!

Did a strength based interval set for about 20 minutes. Included some push ups and squats, kettlebell swings, kettlebell C&Ps, chest press machine, lat pull down machine. Dripping sweat by the end of it!

Got a few funny looks grunting like a monster with my last few reps on some of the exercises... but what can I do? Not grunt? My Spirit guide for the day (the unnamed Silverback) would not be down with that!

 

Food diary mostly ok. forgot to note todays lunch but I know what it was (today kinda became this week's treat day due to oversleeping and relying on shop bought lunch) so will note it down tomorrow (my log is with my course gear and is inaccessible at this moment).

 

Got to do some sneaky kata practice by saying I wanted to do a little extra warming up before some games

 

Tomorrow: more animal flow and sprints, as it's non-beast day. My spirit guides will be the "bendy lizard" and the cheetah!

[Kishi]

Chamotah, a fast-running lizard that changes colors depending on the surroundings of the savannah. Deadly with a capital D.

[Hugh]

Chamotah, a fast-running lizard that changes colors depending on the surroundings of the savannah. Deadly with a capital D.

 

Chamotah it is!

 

 

So, Friday was Chamotah day. All good. Animal flow and sprints.

Saturday was a swordfighting gig. Weather was not great (lashing rain all day) so we finished early without doing a single proper show

Yesterday: Rest.

Today (bank holiday so day off from course): to be updated

[Teirin]

Awww, sucks that rain got on the way of sword fighting awesomeness.  Animal flow is some very cool stuff.

 

Yay for bank holidays!  I'm on one too.

[Hugh]

yesterday evening: ran through katas but that's about it. Didn't get a proper workout in.

 

Today: wasn't feeling great but managed a vaguely intense strength workout. Practiced some katas. Did some animal flow exercises as warm up / cool down.

[Teirin]

There appears to be something going around the Monks again :-(

[RisenPhoenix]

There appears to be something going around the Monks again :-(

 

Seriously.  Don't we normally wait for week 4 before this malaise sets in usually? >.<

[Kishi]

Ta ma de! The Reavers must have been carrying something with them!

[Hugh]

Grrr. Feeling better today but gym/swim timetable has been moved around due to bad organization, so here I am sitting outside the fitness suite on my laptop instead of getting a nice relaxing swim in...

[Teirin]

Gah, not cool.  Can you sneak anything else in today?

[Kishi]

No good, bro. You should go for a walk.

[Hugh]

Gah, not cool.  Can you sneak anything else in today?

 

Karate this evening, so it's not a total loss. Wednesday's kinda my rest / active recovery day anyway so I don't begrudge not using the gym, I was just looking forward to a nice swim... and the hot tub.

 

 

No good, bro. You should go for a walk.

 

They're a bit funny about anyone detaching from the class, otherwise I would have. I got some "chair aerobics" in this morning though, so that was something.

also two and a half hours of karate class this evening  

[Cheechoe]

CHAIR AEROBICS!!!