Cobaltsword's Journey

[Elastigirl]

Glad you kept at the training,The council thing sounds awesome.

[Nymeria]

I'm glad everything is going so well (except the ankle sprain, but you seem to have handled that wonderfully)!  I'm sure you'll have no trouble at all with training for the Spartacus Run.  Also, the Council thing sounds like a lot of fun.  

[Twilight]

Welcome back!

[cobaltsword]

Another belated update, but time seems to be slipping away from me. ^^

My time is split up with preparing for the Model EU simulation this friday/saturday, going to my courses and training on the side. I can be happy if I have time to do some things I really enjoy, like gaming, what with all the papers and university books I need to read.

But as I said, Friday/Saturday is the Model EU simulation, my Position Paper as Austria has been sent to the 'jury' and now i'm just amassing the documents I deem important and preparing my introduction speech (the position paper). I'm both excited as scared, I'm of course going to do my best but this is the first time I do this kind of thing. Also, apparently the jury will choose a student amongst the 28 participiants to recieve the prize of Best Diplomat during the Simulation and he/she will get the opportunity to join the delegation of the International Model UN simulation here in brussels this year where hundreds of international students will come to simulate the UN. SO just to say, pressure is building but I'll do my best ^^

Training wise, everything is going well, because of my upcoming two complet simulation days i'm going to have to reset my rest days (thursday/sunday) to the days of the simulation. Else i'll be inactif too long. But yesterday I had a good training session: I warmed up with 10min of jump rope, then muay thai punch combo's and 7 sets of Neila Rey's Dauntless workout, to warm down with muay thai punch combo's again and 10min of jump rope. I felt awesome afterwards ^^ took a good cold shower and then went out for some well deserved sushi Tonight is Muay Thai training, looking forward to it. You want to know something funny? The trainer (swell 27y guy) learned I do parkour and asked if he could join me once, so I said sure XD so once i can run a bit better, i'm taking my MT trainer on a Pk run XD

I'm getting better at running too, which is good because the Spartacus Run is looming closer. I need to start running more often in the week to get back up to speed in so far my ankle permits it. The balance and stability exercises i've been doing every day are really working wonders ^^

That's about it i think again, i'm laying off the Challenges for now because I just can't balance it with daily life right now, but i'll try to update this thread more often.

(fun confidence boost bonus: during my muay thai punch combo's warm up, my gf that was sitting nearby watched and told me I've changed a lot. I'm looking, and acting more and more like a boxer I've changed a lot according to her. Always a boost to hear things like that ^^) 

[Twilight]

(fun confidence boost bonus: during my muay thai punch combo's warm up, my gf that was sitting nearby watched and told me I've changed a lot. I'm looking, and acting more and more like a boxer I've changed a lot according to her. Always a boost to hear things like that ^^) 

 

Very nice indeed.

[Elastigirl]

Sounds like you are smashing everything. Glad to hear it is going so well for you.

[Nymeria]

Good luck with the model EU simulation!  

 

It's awesome that your MT trainer wants to do parkour with you!  I hope your ankle recovery continues going well.

 

I'm finally going to "officially" do parkour, rather than just screwing around on my own.  At least, my knee is okay enough for me to try the intro class at the local parkour gym.

[cobaltsword]

New belated update, i know these are becoming a trend but it's just hard to sit down and write all of this down at the moment because my days are fuller than they've ever been X)

 

Okay training wise everything is going fine, i've found some very neat new workouts and i'm looking for some good calisthenics workouts (if anyone has suggestions they're welcome because it's extremely hard to find some workouts Oo), muay thai wise i'm improving but not as well as i want because I'm lacking the time (or materials to train as hard as I want). Also, yesterday i've run a good 6 km since a long time and i'm glad that endurance wise it was fine, the only thing was that my ankle held me back, but the longer i went the better it got. So i'm thinking of just doing my shorter runs again, and one longer run to get my ankle back in the game because on May 2nd i'm running the Spartacus Run, and I want to kick ass

 

Also, I'm kind of in a rut right now training wise, I seem to be losing weight but I think it's muscle mass decreasing, allthough i'm not entirely sure. So i've been looking up on how to rev up my metabolism, anyone of you got some suggestions? I'm starting to get at a loss for how to get to the next level because i'm treading in waters i know nothing about X)

 

Allright, school wise. And this is the biggie,

now i mentioned I participated in a simulation organized by my university where 28 students were chosen to simulate the European Council for two days, debat on various EU topics and come to conclusions. It was awesome, i had a great time, met some great people and learned a lot. (I represented Austria btw)

BUt i stepped up my game too, because in two weeks, i'll be participating in the Brussels MEU, which is the same principle. Except it's students from all over europe (200!) that come together to simulate the major institutions of the EU, i've opted for the European Council or the Council of the European Union (two different institutions ;D). So i'm part of those 200 students, and we'll be doing this simulation for 5 days! (hope my training won't suffer Oo)

i'm so hyped and excited and scared at the same time and i still need to hear what country i'm going to be, the suspense is killing me but i'm going to get my answer soon i think

 

that's it for now, i'll edit this post if i've forgotten anything now i need to cook (veggie stuffed peppers this evening )

 

just know i love that you guys are out there, and allthough i'm not writing anything i'm following everyone of you and support you in everything. You guys are the best, let's keep rocking!

[Elastigirl]

Congrats, that sounds like an amazing opportunity!

[Nymeria]

Also, I'm kind of in a rut right now training wise, I seem to be losing weight but I think it's muscle mass decreasing, allthough i'm not entirely sure. So i've been looking up on how to rev up my metabolism, anyone of you got some suggestions? I'm starting to get at a loss for how to get to the next level because i'm treading in waters i know nothing about X)

If you're still doing a lot of strength training, you shouldn't be losing that much muscle mass.  I guess if you're mostly running and not really doing much strength training, it would be possible to be losing a lot of muscle and fat.  I would either recommend adding enough protein shakes to the diet so you're no longer at a deficit (or at least at a smaller deficit), or making sure you get enough proper strength work in to preserve more of your muscle.  

 

Congrats on the MEU!  That sounds like an awesome opportunity for you!  I'm sure missing 5 days of training won't affect you at all in the long term, so don't worry about it.  

[Twilight]

Oooh wow, congrats on the MEU!

[Nymeria]

How are things going for you?  I hope you can find some time to drop by and update all of us.  

[cobaltsword]

How are things going for you?  I hope you can find some time to drop by and update all of us.  

 

Thanks for the message, it's indeed hard to find the time to drop in and give you guys some updates. I'm in the middle of study sessions and typing this out in my 15min break (i work according to a 45-15min schematic )

 

These last few days have been exhausting because university is just pilling up the work and thanks to their awesome organization of my exam session i'm forced to delve into my courses big time. To clarify; the exam periode here is may/june which is about a month in time -> 4 weeks and a half. I have 6 exams and somehow they managed to put 5 of my exams in the first 2 weeks of the sessions and leave a two week gap between my before last and last exam X) thus i'm already with my nose in my books studying, especialy because I have only 1 week to prepare before the exams instead of the usualy 2 weeks.So now i'm on easter 'holiday' until the19th then 3 more weeks of courses, 1 week prep and then exams XD it's going to be a tough period but i'll push through i'm sure

I still need to go talk to my faculties' secretary concerning my master studies because of my peculiar situation: beng half second year and half third year bachelor, i don't know wha it'll be next year. But there are two options: either i'm half a third year next academic year, or i'll be half third and half 1st master (but this seems improbable). I'd like to try and get in the Institute for European Studies for my masters (a focalized institution attached to my political sciences faculty) or if i can't get in a master in international relations with focus on peace and conflict (and after a second master in european construction perchance, we'll see). But first I need to talk to my secretary, but i'm kind of scared, i hope they won't be annoying but i fear my academic progress is going to be slowed down next year...pffft, not fun.

 

On a cheerier note, my training is going well, running 6km at least once a week (usually on the weekend) and my ankle is getting better with all the mobility/balancing/strengthening exercises i'm doing and running. I still do my parkour as often as I can and muay thai 2 times a week and i'm getting increasingly better.

I bought a book that's going to help me improve too: Complete Calisthenics. I'm going to start dabbling in calisthenics, as an Assassin I think that will be the best bet seeing as it focuses around BW movement, strength and muscular endurance. Some exercises in the book seem soo hard. But I can't wait when the moment where i'll be able to do them

 

(back to studying now...and i'm back for another 15mins)

 

I have come to the conclusion that I've changed a lot since I started these challenges, in the past I would've looked at those exercises and thought 'i can never do that', but now i look at it and think 'i can't wait to do that and feel awesome while doing them'. It seems my mind has shifted from thinking i can't do things, to knowing I can do what I send my mind to achieving.

 

In that context, I present a sweeping declaration!

 

I will set myself some new ultimate challenges:

 

- Work up to be able to do every exercise in the book Complete Calisthenics, starting with the Push-ups: I can already do 12 of 18 so we're well on the way Thursday I discovered I could do more than I originally thought, made me feel good for the rest of the day after my training session (I tried the Lalanne and Spider push-up and succeeded to my surprise)

- Work up to 30min non stop rope skipping aka Bruce Lee epicness level

 

some challenges will be added but for now this will do ^^

 

On another note i've started the Art of Manliness Journaling Challenge a while back, i'm on day 18 now, the idea being to every day sit down and write something down according to the Jump Start Journaling project of AoM ^^ up till now it's been a fun project because it has allowed me to ponder over several aspects of my being and I can only recommend the project to my fellow nerds here

 

Now I must return to my books, then go for my usual 6km run now that the sun is coming out again (must prepare for the Spartacus Run on the 2nd of may) and then fill the rest of my day with more stuff ^^

 

Oh and before I forget, i'm planning on making my own DragonBallZ cosplay costume and i'm going for Krillin's robes (basically the same robes Goku has but Krillin is my favourite character ^^).

[Twilight]

I have come to the conclusion that I've changed a lot since I started these challenges, in the past I would've looked at those exercises and thought 'i can never do that', but now i look at it and think 'i can't wait to do that and feel awesome while doing them'. It seems my mind has shifted from thinking i can't do things, to knowing I can do what I send my mind to achieving.

 

Yes! I feel the same way!

 

I hope your school stuff gets sorted satisfactorily. Good luck with the costume.

[cobaltsword]

Wow... It's been a while, a long while...

But hear me out, I never stopped training, in fact i've gotten better since the last time I've written an update on here but so many things happened in a short span of time that moments escaped me to write all of it down.

So to bring all you guys back up to speed I need to go back a few months.

My summer was mostly built around studying for my exams and training, training that has evolved a lot since I've started as a Rebel but I'll get to that. you know what i'll break it up in themes, that'll be easier.

So, schoolwise: the summer was swamped with study days to try and pass my exams and the results were thankfully reaped, with somevery good points. Now I am in a half 3de bachelor year (political sciences) that i need to finish before i can start my Master, long story short, the reason for that was an administrativ hiccup that resulted in me having only half a third year to do this year (having done my first half last academic year combined with half of my second year). But i'm not going to let it get me down because i'm using the extra time to do several extra curricular activities that i can add to my CV and will be doing so throughout the year.

I started by joining the Belgian Youth Diplomacy groupe, a student driven group that allows students interested in diplomacy to broaden their knowledge and connections. Next to that i'm going to join the Young Professionals in Foreign Policy group, an international organization for students/young professionals interested in foreign policy and international relations. Also next to that i am now officially a writer for a high class student magazine calle Eyes On Europe, i'll be writing articles for said magazine in the International Relations section and have started my first article on the topic of the TTIP. It's all a lot of work but i'm enjoying every bit of it. Next to that I need to write a paper for one of my courses on a given subject, I have to write about the End of the Greek Civil War (it's all in the theme of the Cold War) and at first I thought it was going to be dull, but boywas I wrong! it's one of the most intriguing moments of history that i've ever studied, filled with intrigues, political relations, tensions and conflict it feels like i'm an Assassin historian trying to figure out the machinations of the Templars during that part in history (Assassin's Creed nerd much? XD)

Training wise:

It's been almost a year now that i've started Muay Thai and i've invested myself fully into the art, so much that i am now amongst the best fighters in the group (trumping people that have been there longer than me) and have earned the nickname Shaolin and Stretch Master ^^ i'm usually the one who leads the stretching at the end of the course because i know aaall the complex stretching techniques, like a shaolin boss

My training week looks more or less like this:

Monday: Parkour/Conditioning training + Calisthenics

Tuesday: Muay Thai

Wednesday: Strength Weight Training + Calisthenics

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Muay Thai

Saturday: 6km run (and every third week i make 10km of it)

Sunday: Rest

On rest days I often do Yoga or train technique

Also an important note, during the summer I upped my training regimen and followed the structure of: warm up, conditioning training, technique, strength training, 2k run and stretching. This brought the results I'm going to tell you about now.

During the summer I participated in my second obstacle course, the Spartacus Run and finished it in 55min, I enjoyed myself thoroughly and was very glad afterwards considering I was still recuperating from a heavily sprained ankle.

But the big wopper happened not too long ago, on the 13th of september i participated in the Gladiator Run Combat edition, which is 9km with 45 obstacles! i stood in the elite group, which means i was in the first wave to start the course, so i stood among participants who were just like me serious about laying down the best possible time. And what a time I did!

15th place on 1900 participants!

Finished in 50min!

17th place amongst the 90 elite!

I was super proud of course and it's just driving me toget better and better.

And th element that has helped me a lot, is my Polar M400 that I got over the summer. It has allowed me to track every element of my training and allowed me to improve considerably. Case and point, last saturday I finished my usual 6k in a record 24min at an average speed of nearly 15km/h (knowing that i did it in 30min before)! So the progress is obviously there ^^

I'm going to keep on going, that's why i implemented strength training to compliment both my parkour as muay thai training for it was something i was sourely lacking >< but i'm getting better already, especially my back muscles have improved considerably (i suffered a lot from hunched shoulders a few months back)

I'll leave it at this for now, but there's more to come ^^

Keep on training fellow rebels!

[Twilight]

Hey, nice to see you! Fantastic update, so much great work.

[Elastigirl]

Congrats on crushing ALL the things-school, Spartacus, fitness. Glad to hear that it is going so well. Keep up the awesomeness!

[Blackstroke]

Awesome update!

[cobaltsword]

Hey, nice to see you! Fantastic update, so much great work.

 

 

Congrats on crushing ALL the things-school, Spartacus, fitness. Glad to hear that it is going so well. Keep up the awesomeness!

 

 

Awesome update!

 

Thanks guys, I felt like i needed to share it with you despite my very busy schedule because let's face it, I wouldn't have gotten half as far as i am today without you or the Rebellion ^^ you guys rock!

[cobaltsword]

Fellow Rebels, incoming update soon!

 

The exams are taking up my time right now but once I have a moment there will be an update on everything that's been going on on my side ^^

Everyone keep up the great work, it's not because i've been gone that i haven't been keeping an eye on all of you!

 

Cheers everyone!

[NightWatcher13]

Yay exams! Looking forward to your update

[cobaltsword]

Yay exams! Looking forward to your update

Hey nichtwatcher, your patience will be rewarded soon, i'm just so incredibly busy these last days it's crazy X] but now i've got the Tapatalk app on my new smartphone (first smartphone i've had) which will allow me to stay closer connected with you. So after the big update soon, i'll be updating in shorter message bursts a la facebook/twitter ^^ i'm off to muay thai training in a bit, looking forward to some bag work and sparring

Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk

[cobaltsword]

Fellow Rebels,

Here comes one hell of an update from last time, life’s been so full and busy that it’s been hard to crank out the updates on a regular basis and once you get stuck in this cycle of training, studying and living you kind of lose track of time and don’t find a moment to actually write all of this down.

 

But no more! I’ve vowed to return to the forums, no longer in the challenges (instead maybe mini challenges for myself), but to update my daily battle logs as often as I can. I hope that by adding the Tapatalk app with this forum on it will help me do that…

 

But for now without further a due, the update:

• School Wise:

Everything has been going swimmingly, the lighter semester (4 courses) has allowed me to take on more extracurricular activities to boost my CV and that I enjoy doing as well. The exams passed pretty well, considering the context (I’ll get to that in a minute), I passed 3 of 4 exams with high marks!

Next to that my first Eyes on Europe article has been finished and will be published soon enough, I am currently working on my second article on “Transatlantic Relations during the Obama Administration†which, even though it’s a lot of work, it is loads of fun ^^

 

Following up, I participated in the ULB (my university) Model United Nations Simulation on the 13^th of February where I represented Belgium in the UN Security Council. Within we debated on the Situation in Iraq. Which coincidently was pretty funny because originally the simulation was planned for in November last year, but as I’m sure you’ve followed the news, that was the week Brussels went into Lockdown due to the terrorist threat so the whole simulation got postponed to February ^^ It was still loads of fun and I ended the simulation (a whole effin day!) with two awesome surprises: I went home with both the Prize for Most Outstanding Delegate in the Security Council, aaand the Prize for Best Position Paper in the Security Council! Not going to lie, felt epic having to walk up to the stage twice to get both awards ^^

 

So now I’ve got the next simulation to look forward to which will be from the 21^st to 26st of March, the BMEU (Brussels Model European Union) where I will be sitting in the European Council representing the UK (my dream role!) so I’m reaaaallly looking forward to that!

• Training Wise:

My Training has been going great, but this last month I’ve revamped everything. Since November last year I’ve been keeping a log of my training routines, diet regimen, philosophy and what not to keep track of everything. And I discovered I, without knowing it fell into a rut, a comfort zone if you will where I didn’t push myself anymore. So ever since January I’ve been setting goals for myself again, to push myself further strength wise.

That entails thus a more strength focussed routine both in calisthenics: more reps, lower sets, slower rythme… The muscles BUUURN! X]

 

Aand I’ve started a strength/muscle building routine at the gym, once a week, (coincidently today it’s my second day, gotta go this evening but I’m really looking forward to it). So once a week, I head to the gym and absolutely crush it with the heavy weights; I’ve been training on my own with 20kg for a while now but I needed to get further so a gym was the logical next step. Thus I’ve upped the weights to 30kg last time, and doing progressive overload (I’ve got a sheet and all) to build strength and muscle mass!

My gym routine is structured in: A barbell routine with middle weights, 8-12 reps for 4-5 sets (The muscle building faze) – the Bruce Lee Strength Routine, 8-12 reps for 4-5 sets – the Final Strength Routine (the 4 basic gym moves: deadlift, bench, front and back squat) with heavy weights, 5-10 reps for 3 sets – and a Dumbbell finisher for my shoulders cuz I’ve got weak shoulders X]

 

I’ll also have a specific small routine at the end for my right shoulder who’s weaker than my left, I over trained my injured left one creating an imbalance with my right one XD

I’ve figured out my PB on the Deadlift -> 90kg! as 1rep max! I’m aiming to reach 140kg deadlift. PB on the Bench and squat for now is 40kg but I’m aiming higher of course.

I’m actually aiming to reach the Gym Jone’s Standards (those are the guys that trained the cast of 300 and Henry Cavill for Superman amongst others), they’re pretty intense but I’ve already completed 2 or 3 of them. I’ll post the here once I found them again ^^ And yes amongst those standards is a 2x bodyweight deadlift, hence the goal of 140kg

On a side note, this refocus towards a more strength focused training regimen also means I needed to change my eating regimen, ie eating more on strength days. If anyone has tips, pointers, feel free to share ^^ just now that I’m a vegetarian so meat is a no go for me X]

 

A little yay moment for me personally also, I’ve been so invested in my Muay Thai training that I now get to lead the warming-ups and stretching sessions at my Muay Thai classes, so if the trainer says, I give the warming up which means me a 23year old has to ‘boss’ around way older guys XD It has done wonders for my confidence I’ll tell you that. Yesterday was the same, Head and side trainer were both absent so I lead the training together with another experienced boxer it was awesome! Everyone was huffing and puffing at the end of my warm up, while I was only warm ^^ (no worries, I dialled it down to suit everyone’s level a bit).

 

Aand on the 30^th of april I’m once again participating in the Spartacus Run (5km, 15 obstacles) with my uncle and if everything goes right, in kilt! Pics will be there ^^

 

Now on a sadder note, the reason why the my one exam did not go so well is because during the study period my girlfriend’s 13y old German Sheppard passed away (right during the Christmas break, and I was already bleu because I was not going to see my parents, they were in Cuba X] ). I’ve known Brixi for 6y myself and grown very bonded with her so it hit me extremely hard as well. I pushed on during the exams, keeping my focus and pushing my pain away, but afterwards I just crashed and became a blubbering mess (even more than before). It’s better now but the missing is still there. I mean, it’s Brixi that got me in to running in the first place, she went with me several times (the period where we bonded actually) until she got too old to go with me anymore. So now for each run, is an ode to her J She passed due to a stomach turn, but there was no reason for it, it just happened, but the vet thought there was something else as well, she had beaten a tumour a year before and he thought that it had come back in her stomach triggering the stomach turn. We’ll never really know, she’s buried in the garden of my gf’s house, in a beautiful box her brother made and I helped burying her. I’m fine now I guess, but it still hurts at moments…

 

Anyway, that was the big update I had to do, wow 3 pages X] I hope you’re still there and willing to follow me on my adventure. And I promise to give you more little updates through the Tapatalk app from now on ^^

 

Keep on training fellow Rebels

[cobaltsword]

Just got back from weight/strength training! Absolutely crushed it, gonna feel it tomorrow X] went through a strength routine, a barbell routine, a lighter barbell circuit, a dumbbell finisher and little isolation exercises for my injured right shoulder ^^

Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk

[cobaltsword]

Dang nabbit i'm feeling my deadlifting in my lower back today ^^ nothing too extensive, just that feeling you get from using your muscles, exact same feelings in my back and schouders though :] made my morning bike ride a bit harder though XD good thing today was a rest day buuut with a lot of walking and some baking too tried a recipe my mom always made when i was little. Don't know if you've heard of it, it's called Broodpudding in dutch, literally 'breadpudding'. I put them into cupcake to make it easier (and give my own twist) i have 3 kinds: plain, raisins and cinnamon! Not entirely like childhood but getting there

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