[The Most Loathed] learns....slowly

[Jittersthe.Clown]

It was a really good session of D&D.  I enjoyed it quite a bit.

[KB Girl]

Good to see you working on snatch! Still recommend lighter weights If I were training you you'd be doing 10 minute sets with 12kg!

What is kettlebell 'trots'?

 

Also a bit of devil's advocate: just because you feel the burn of doing something you haven't done in a while doesn't mean they are an important part of your program, it just means you havent done it in a while and arent used to it anymore. (not that I dont think you should do those KURT workouts, just find a better reason.)

 

Laura now more determined to find something else / go back to studying?

[The Most Loathed]

Good to see you working on snatch! Still recommend lighter weights If I were training you you'd be doing 10 minute sets with 12kg!

What is kettlebell 'trots'?

 

Also a bit of devil's advocate: just because you feel the burn of doing something you haven't done in a while doesn't mean they are an important part of your program, it just means you havent done it in a while and arent used to it anymore. (not that I dont think you should do those KURT workouts, just find a better reason.)

 

Laura now more determined to find something else / go back to studying?

I don't own pro 12s. 16 is as low as I can go. But i'll spend more time with those.

 

Kettlebell trots are when doing my kettlebell workout makes me need to go to the bathroom so bad that I have to stop the workout. Runners get the trots so I just stole their term. I find that Long Cycle really does it, I think the actual, manual working of the abdomen plays a role. It's almost only ever a factor after a day or two off from training and/or undisciplined eating in between.

 

I would agree that feeling it isn't a good tool for deciding which training tools work best, although it is probably the most popular one. I could make the case that Kurt workouts are what built the base I used to get my first Rank 1 performance far more than the consistent LC workouts I've used since that have plateaued so much or I could make that case I that I just really enjoy them. I think instead I'll make that case that variety is something I really struggle with, especially in the winter when I don't have any barbell access so making good use of circuits, whether they are an hour of a Kurt workout or just your basic 10-20 minute model is extremely good accessory work for me. 

 

Laura wants to go back and get a masters degree in Speech Pathology. To be fair to her, she has talked about this since she was in school for her first on, 15 or so years ago, so it's not exactly out of the blue. There's a lot of history and subtext in this particular conversation that I can't hope to convey in this medium. All I can really say is that she is good at what she does but it's pretty unfulfilling she will also be good as a speech pathologist and I can't possibly say how fulfilling it will be. 

 

01/19/2016

Oh god, my quads hate me.

I believe that jumping is super important. There is no other metric of strength or power that is as closely tied to longevity as the ability to generate power from ones legs. The exact mechanism of that correlation is unknown but they've tested the geriatric population and the tie is there. Now there is some question as to whether it's the chicken or egg, do you have poor longevity because you can't generate power (for a lot of reasons) or can you not generate power because of your longevity. In addition to that, I'd like to see myself generating more power in my kettlebell lifts, well actually more acceleration. I can lift the bells but I'd like to see them moving faster. 

Adding the jumps into Mondays workout, I think was a very good thing but it was a little aggressive and I knew that at the time. A smarter me might have added in 20 or 25 then added 5 more per week for the rest of the year. But I opted for the "go until it breaks" strategy. It's not broken but wow, my quads are angry. 

 

bodyweight: 217.8

eat: smoothie, left over roast and frozen veggies for lunch. Quark, saurkraut and protein bar for supper. Two rye crackers after Pilates

train: pilates. My second mat session. we had the lady who owns the place as our instructor. She was really good. I'd like to learn more from her. My favorite of the night goes as follows: lie on your side with your bottom arm straight up (except your horizontal so it just runs along the floor and your rest your head on it) and your top are resting on your side. Now flex your body like a banana so your feet both come up as does your head. Pull your bottom elbow in with your lat so you are getting some support from that as well (like a turkish get up where you've rolled all the way to your side)

mediatate: yep. I like these very quiet sessions I'm doing right now. It makes me wonder how I'll feel when I eventually go back to the more talkative session with a different emphasis.

geek: not much. I read a bit and listened to my favorite YouTube D&D live play stuff

 

Today I'm not sure what I'll do training wise since my quads are still a mess. It may be mobility or maybe cleans. Just not sure

Tomorrow I'm off from work. I will still work about half a day but at my leisure. I have a massage in the AM then I'm meeting with my old lunch time gaming group over lunch. 

Friday is just a normal day, definitely training

Saturday I have family in town but I'll try to get something in.

Sunday is a normal Sunday for me.

[KB Girl]

Re Laura: I hope that she does end up finding it more fulfilling then. At least the studying will probably do that for her for a while at least.

 

Re jumping: YESSS! 

[peelout]

What kind of jumping do you do?  Up to a platform?

[The Most Loathed]

What kind of jumping do you do?  Up to a platform?

I have a box in my garage that I use when the weather is nice. Just your basic box jumps work great. This week I did TRX jumps. So, standing on the floor, holding the TRX handles, jump as high as possible from both feet then land on the feet and use my lats and legs to slow my legs then explode out of the bottom position of a squat and repeat. Jerks and burpees work too, 

 

Bodyweight 216.4

Food: found it cumbersome to log but food has been very disciplined, roast, a little bit of root veggies, a little aioli for flavor, shake for breakfast. Supper was shrimpin coconut rice but a reasonable portion.

Train: off, my legs were sore and I have a pretty open schedule so I needed to figure out a good time to take a day off.

Meditate: I did. Lots of quiet time, think I might have dozed off at one point. ooops

Geek: Totally. I started the last D&D session with the origin story of the world we're playing in. I decided that I think I'll try to find an excuse to open each session with a short world story, hopefully it will eventually tie to the plot in some way and not just be me blathering for 10 minutes. Yesterday I wrote the next story. Now I need to build encounters.

 

Today I'm headed down town for my massage of the month. I have sore muscles so this will help but also be uncomfortable at parts. While I'm down there I'm meeting some friends for lunch and games. Tonight is lamb and rice and a light workout.

[The Most Loathed]

Bodyweight: 217.7

Food: not my best day. smoothie for breakfast, two protein bars, cheeseburger for lunch with steamed bun chaser, dinner was rice and lamb, Quark late because I was pretty hungry

Train: no, this is the first of hopefully very few times where I had to work at night. To be fair, they moved the deadline up on me by a week and a day and I still cranked it out

Meditate: no. my day was spent walking around and carousing. i'm happy with how the day was spent but I should have made an effort to do this

Geek: after my massage I met with my old lunchtime game crew and we played Bang! The Dice Game.

 

Random observation, my scale has the bodyfat calculator thing where it sends an electrical charge from one foot to the other and attempts to calculate my bodyfat percentage. I have thick, muscular legs so it has always run a little high. I've never done a more accurate method but I'd guess it has historically been 5-10% off depending on hydration, DOMS and actual bodyfat. Lately my bodyfat has spiked on this scale, not relative to any actual gain in weight or dramatic change in body composition. 

I am currently showing my bodyfat at 40+%. This works out to ~120lbs of lean mass and 90-100 lbs of fat. I'm happy to say this is not true but pretty funny.

 

Here's a video about Bang! The Dice Game. It's a good little party game. I've not played the original Bang! but most people seem to think the dice game is slightly better.

[RisenPhoenix]

Ahhh, bodyfat scales.  I kinda want one just to constantly laugh at the number that it gives.  Kind of like how I want a scale that auto-calculated BMI, since my BMI never looks right.

[The Most Loathed]

Friday 01/22/2016

Bodyweight: 217.3

Food: Good food day, planned lunches. I don't recall what supper was but it was made at home

Train:

LC 20 kg 9:00

Some other stuff that I don't recall

Row 10:00

Meditate: yep

Geek;D&D planning

 

Headspace has a running meditation so I threw that on while I did my rowing. It was a really good . I did get lost in it and suddenly look up and it was past 10:30. It was great.

 

Saturday 01/23/2016

Bodyweight: 216.6

Food: worst food day in a while. We went out with friends to the Surly Brewery. I had a couple beers, brisket, cornbread and cauliflower. Surly brewery is kind of a big deal around here. It was ok. i doubt we'll go again but I'm glad we did it once.

Train: nope

Meditate: none

Geek:nothing in particular

 

Sunday 01/24/2016

Bodyweight: 218.1

Food: recovery food day. smoothie for breakfast (which was great for my near-but-not-quite-slothbelly) Don't recall lunch. supper was more grilled cod that i really should have eaten and squash. 

Train:

LC 20 kg 7:00

LC 20 kg 25 reps

Snatch 26kg 50/50 x 2

 

circuit

 TRX Row 15 

 TRX atomic Push ups 10

 TRX squat 10

 

Meditate: I did ten minutes, unguided post workout it was great.

Geek: nothing in particular. I am working on reading a sci fi novel by a guy I know. It's pretty good. It's not amazing but it's pretty good. I'm glad I'm reading it but I'm not really looking forward to talking to him about it because i'm not totally sure how to approach the conversation.

 

I was listening to Robb Wolf's podcast and Jim Laird was talking about how he's have his athletes meditate for ten minutes post training. I've been doing that for a couple weeks as much as I could but that redoubled my desire to do it.

 

Planning for the week 01/25

Monday: Row, swinng, burpee

Tuesday: LC 20 kg. snatch 16 kg, thruster 20 kg (no pilates class this week)

Wednesday: off

Thursday: LC 24 kg, snatch 16 kg, circuit

Friday off - family in town

Saturday: off - family in town

Sunday LC 20 kg, snatch, circuit or row

 

Another weekend, another set of guests (it doesn't end). This time my parents are coming to town to go to The Container Store. The plan is to go out for dinner once and cook dinner at home once. I would guess we'll out out for one breakfast and in for one breakfast. That leaves a lunch to solve on the fly. 

 

Our current home project entails getting rid of stuff. I did a big clean out of my stuff a couple years ago. I have enough clothes to get through the week without doing laundry but not much more, I have just the books I want to read and reread, I got rid of CDs and DVDs that I wasn't watching consistently. Laura was a little behind on the process but is really starting to pick up on it now. On top of that, we're moving on to some things I neglected like cleaning out the kitchen cupboards. I'm really excited for where this part might go. this weekend we got rid of a ton of stuff. We have a ways to go though.

We're considering ripping out a cupboard and replacing it with open shelves. I'm a little worried that when it comes time to move, we'll need to put it back how it was. However, since we're talking 5-10 years, that's probably fine. Odds are good we'll just change out minds in that much time anyway.

[peelout]

Our current home project entails getting rid of stuff.

Here is a way to help you on your declutter project although I doubt you will want to try it:

My wife has always had trouble getting rid of things, especially if it had to do w/ the kids.  All kinds of stuff that was never used anymore just couldn't be gotten rid of.  I've got a great marriage, but that was kind of an irritant to me.  Then we got a bed bug infestation last summer.   Suddenly she found she had no problem getting rid of things.  Decluttered the entire house.  That was the one silver lining in spending about $10K, lots of hard work, getting weird looks buying hundreds of glue traps, washing every clothing item in the house and running up to 6 washing machines at a time at a laundromat, sleeping in hotels on nights after 4 different exterminator treatments, and becoming an amateur expert on bedbugs.  But at least we no longer have clutter. And no bedbugs (although 6 months later and I still inspect every inch of the bed and frame twice a month).  

 

FYI on most likely places to get bedbugs:

1)  hotels

2)  movie theaters

3)  garage sales

 

Oh, and awesome job on the exercise consistency.

[The Most Loathed]

Here is a way to help you on your declutter project although I doubt you will want to try it:...

 

Oh, and awesome job on the exercise consistency.

It took me a bit to figure out that you were recommending bed bugs as a solution (jokingly). You're right, I'm not committed enough to give that one a shot.

 

Also, thanks. I've dialed back by a workout or two a week and it's really helping me get in the good workouts I need and not stress about the crappy ones I'm missing.

 

01/25/2016

bodyweight:217.3

eat: cal: 2600, fat:151 carbs: 133 protein: 220, smoothie, cottage cheese mixed with sour cream, 3/4 lb beef, 15 oz veggies, curried shrimp with rice noodles 

train:

LC 20 kg 10:00 85 reps, snatch 16 kg 25/25 x 4 (no rest, just hand switches), 20 kg thruster 5 x 10

meditate: Attempted my day time 20 minute session but there was an anxty meeting next door and I spent 15 minutes trying to focus on myself rather than that before giving up. I did 10 minutes post workout

geek: drew maps for the D&D game and posted them to our Facebook appointment, man I'm bad at maps.

[Rooks]

Our current home project entails getting rid of stuff. I did a big clean out of my stuff a couple years ago. I have enough clothes to get through the week without doing laundry but not much more, I have just the books I want to read and reread, I got rid of CDs and DVDs that I wasn't watching consistently. Laura was a little behind on the process but is really starting to pick up on it now. On top of that, we're moving on to some things I neglected like cleaning out the kitchen cupboards. I'm really excited for where this part might go. this weekend we got rid of a ton of stuff. We have a ways to go though.

We're considering ripping out a cupboard and replacing it with open shelves. I'm a little worried that when it comes time to move, we'll need to put it back how it was. However, since we're talking 5-10 years, that's probably fine. Odds are good we'll just change out minds in that much time anyway.

 

Wife and I did a very similar thing last year.  Starting at the beginning of the year, we each tried to get rid of 1 thing per week.  Small stuff (like items of clothing) had to be judged by the other party for when it was "1 item".  Goal was to try and get to 50 things a piece.  Think we both made it to 30 before we just having too much trouble to keep up the 1 item per week.  That said, I find it easier to keep an eye out for things that can go now that I'm pseudo-trained to look for it.  

 

Got rid of a ton of stuff, made some decent cash selling items on Craigslist, and I still feel like we have too much stuff.     Good luck with your quest.

[The Most Loathed]

Wife and I did a very similar thing last year.  Starting at the beginning of the year, we each tried to get rid of 1 thing per week.... Good luck with your quest.

thank you. I have to say that getting rid of one thing a week would be tough for us. We tend to be "all in" or "all out" kind of people. When we go on a decluttering binge, it's multiple garbage bags in a couple hours. But then we'll not touch it for a week. 

I realized after we cleaned out the cabinet and the counter, I should have taken a photo before and after. Alas that is lost to time.

 

I ended up looking for a bit of a distraction today because a co-worker was being an ass and I needed something to redirect my attention. I took a couple hours and read through my old threads here and learned some things

• You guys are awesome and I thank you for your time, attention, help, kind words and (dare I say it) friendship. Seriously, thanks
• I have it in my head that the past year has been a waste of training time. It hasn't. I haven't been as productive as I might like but I've done good things and I have made incremental improvements. For a 36 year old who has been training more on than off for 20 years, incremental improvements are good.
• I increasingly am seeing myself in a monkish kind of way, not because I'm isolated (I'm not) but because I think I can make the world better by practicing a deep, personal practice that is mental, physical and emotional.

 

now here's some music that I've been listening to at work

[RisenPhoenix]

I ended up looking for a bit of a distraction today because a co-worker was being an ass and I needed something to redirect my attention. I took a couple hours and read through my old threads here and learned some things

• You guys are awesome and I thank you for your time, attention, help, kind words and (dare I say it) friendship. Seriously, thanks
• I have it in my head that the past year has been a waste of training time. It hasn't. I haven't been as productive as I might like but I've done good things and I have made incremental improvements. For a 36 year old who has been training more on than off for 20 years, incremental improvements are good.
• I increasingly am seeing myself in a monkish kind of way, not because I'm isolated (I'm not) but because I think I can make the world better by practicing a deep, personal practice that is mental, physical and emotional.

 

Ah, coworkers.  Gotta love 'em.

 

Re-reading old threads is always interesting.  I go back now and then to read my first challenge thread when I joined NF, and it's a world of a difference.  Been debating going back and reading all of my threads, just to see what the  narrative looks like at this point.  Amazing the connections and (I'll say it) friendships that can pop up on the internet.  Anyway, you is good people, and it shows in your thread.

 

 

And I get your monkish ways.  Quite well. (You know, besides being a GL for them here.)   I've been told that when I lift I'm weird, because I zen out, rather than try and pump up like a lot of lifters will do.  So yea, Monk versus Barbarian outlooks I get.

[The Most Loathed]

And I get your monkish ways.  Quite well. (You know, besides being a GL for them here.)   I've been told that when I lift I'm weird, because I zen out, rather than try and pump up like a lot of lifters will do.  So yea, Monk versus Barbarian outlooks I get.

I considered mentioning that my idea of monk had nothing to do with they way they've chosen to identify them here. I totally get why they made the choices that made, from a D&D character class perspective but they've built strange boxes for themselves and their guilds as a result. the kind of monk I'm referring to would be more identified as a druid on this forum.

 

01/26/2016

body weight: 216.6 I can already see I'm going to need to chart these and look at running averages to get any sense of whether I'm doing anything or not. My instinct is that I'm fairly stagnate but that number is a lower number that I know I was looking at a few weeks ago

eat: breakfast was smoothie followed by leftover shrimp curry. Lunch was beef, frozen veg, snack was protein bars and almonds and supper was eggs and bacon

train: no,  Laura was having a crappy day so I offerred to trade wednesday night for tuesday night and hang out with her. 

meditate: yes and it was great

geek: no

[RisenPhoenix]

I considered mentioning that my idea of monk had nothing to do with they way they've chosen to identify them here. I totally get why they made the choices that made, from a D&D character class perspective but they've built strange boxes for themselves and their guilds as a result. the kind of monk I'm referring to would be more identified as a druid on this forum.

 

Wait, you can nail down a consensus about how monks define themselves here?  Cuz I have a hell of time figuring that out.

 

 

But in any case, I still get it.  It's suffering for your art.  Which just happens to be kettlebells and what not, rather than punching people.

[The Most Loathed]

I'd swear I typed this up before. It was only that I realized I had forgotten something that I came back to add it and found no post.

 

Wait, you can nail down a consensus about how monks define themselves here?  Cuz I have a hell of time figuring that out

This is what all guild leaders and leaders in general say, "All my people are special snowflakes, you can't put them in your little box". The truth is, there is a description on your guild that will draw some and repulse others. As a result, you do have a "type" just as the Rangers and Assassins do. If you go through each thread and study them in detail, you'll say that they're each so different, there is no type. This is the nature of people. 

My job is all about measuring groups of people and I hear this all the time, that a group of patients, employees or whatever are unique and not catgorizable. In practice I have never found it to be true. It's just a question of perspective. What Tommy Lee Jones says about people in this clip is true of uniqueness as well as intelligence.

 

01/27/2016

body weight:217.6

eat: no macros, breakfast and lunch were typical for me. Supper was Indian but I ate reasonably. More in notes

train: very limited, 1A LC 24 kg 5:00/5:00

meditate: yes, not as great as the day before but did my 20 minutes and it was not bad

notes: Last night ended up a bit of a mess

First, Laura came home early because she's not feeling well. Not horrible but not well. When I got home, a little early, I was feeling kind of tired so I laid down for a 45 minute nap. 90 minutes later I woke up on my own and realized I had set my alarm incorrectly and it hadn't gone off (and wouldn't for 23 hours and 15 minutes more). No huge deal but now I've pushed the evening schedule back 45 minutes.

Laura was on the hook to make chicken thighs last night but really wasn't feeling it, she wanted to order in Indian. I told her to go ahead, I 'd take the dogs for their walk then come back and lift until food arrived (our Indian place is real slow). I did this. When I got home I changed into gym clothes, went down stairs, warmed up and got to work on one arm long cycle. 

First off, the long cycle was way harder than I expected it to be. I've not done 1 arm long cycle in a while and especially not with a 24 kg. I'm going to need to hit it more often. The biggest issue in the lift though was that my lifting shoes are increasingly hurting my feet. I've had them a couple years but given that they cost $100 and I only wear them a few hours a week, I expect them to have some life left. So maybe it's a good thing that eight minutes into my work set I hear Laura answer the door. The food is here.

At ten minutes, the first switch back to my left hand, I called and headed up so we could eat. It was by no means a bad night, just not what was expected at all but that's ok.

 

Tonight is mini-meatballs, glazed carrots and legit workout. I'm thinking Rowwer, burpees, swings.

Tomorrow family arrives so it's out for dinner

Saturday family is still in town so no workout but I plan to cook dinner (although the other two meals may be out)

Sunday family leaves, I want to lift but also need to do meal prep for next week.

so far my big project is on track so I haven't had to trade much home time for work time which makes me quite happy.

[RisenPhoenix]

Oh, we totally have a type.  It's the type that glorifies in suffering for their art.  The details are different, but we have a type.  I'm mostly just causing you trouble.

 

 

(Though seriously, Staci asked the monk GLs a while back for help on making NF Academy quests, and we couldn't think up things that they hadn't already done, simply because martial arts are so varied that you can't shoe horn all arts into a single set of over arching quests like "Punch 1000 times," simply because some arts don't punch.  But for warriors and rangers, lifting 1x body weight is always an option.)

[The Most Loathed]

Oh, we totally have a type.  It's the type that glorifies in suffering for their art.  The details are different, but we have a type.  I'm mostly just causing you trouble.

 

 

(Though seriously, Staci asked the monk GLs a while back for help on making NF Academy quests, and we couldn't think up things that they hadn't already done, simply because martial arts are so varied that you can't shoe horn all arts into a single set of over arching quests like "Punch 1000 times," simply because some arts don't punch.  But for warriors and rangers, lifting 1x body weight is always an option.)

yeah, I don't envy GLs and their challenges. I recall the assassins and their challenges. They were doing pistols, pull ups, push ups, parkour and that kind of thing. They always had some folks who were super excited but there were always a bunch of people who were less so either because it didn't like up with their goals or they had already done it and all kinds of other things. It's a pretty impossible job and I totally respect that.

[peelout]

 

• I have it in my head that the past year has been a waste of training time. It hasn't. I haven't been as productive as I might like but I've done good things and I have made incremental improvements. For a 36 year old who has been training more on than off for 20 years, incremental improvements are good.

 

 

Waste of time?  Most of America does nothing for fitness and deteriorates rapidly every year after age 30.  Even if your workouts only kept you level w/ the year before, you would have achieved more than most of the country by not going backwards in fitness. And when you are 55 like me, you will be able to do things maybe 5% of the rest of the people your age can do.  It's kind of a payback for me.  When I was young i was scrawny and crappy at sports and got picked on a lot in high school.  I'm not a he-man now, but I do get a kick out of being in better shape than most other people my age are..  

[The Most Loathed]

Waste of time?  Most of America does nothing for fitness and deteriorates rapidly every year after age 30.  Even if your workouts only kept you level w/ the year before, you would have achieved more than most of the country by not going backwards in fitness. And when you are 55 like me, you will be able to do things maybe 5% of the rest of the people your age can do.  It's kind of a payback for me.  When I was young i was scrawny and crappy at sports and got picked on a lot in high school.  I'm not a he-man now, but I do get a kick out of being in better shape than most other people my age are..  

Yeah, I'm really starting to see this in my peers. Someone I graduated with was complaining on Facebook the other day about how hard it is to get off the floor. We're 35-37, we should not be struggling to get off the floor. We're losing a few steps here and there but the floor is well within our grasp. I've always been stronger than my peers but in basic life things I shouldn't be exceeding them. 

 

01/28/2016

Bodyweight: 216.4

Eat: had left over curry in the and decent food the rest of the day, didn't track macros but am pretty sure I overate slightly

Train: no, *sigh*. Laura asked me to spend another evening "hanging out" with here because she had a shitty day at work. I did it because I know she feels better when I do but I really hate these evenings. We don't even do anything together, she's on the computer like always and I'm doing chores. I guess it's just having someone around who's not actively making her feel crappy. 

Meditate: yep. 20 minutes of good quiet time. Part of me says I need to just keep doing what I'm doing, part of me suggests that I add in a separate reflection time. In meditation I'm trying to quiet my mind and just let the here and now be the here and now, no strings, no expectations. I'm wondering if some deliberately carved "reflection time" wouldn't also help. 20 minutes where I spend a few minutes getting quiet but then spend a few minutes thinking about specific aspects of the last day or so. No change yet, just thinking out loud.

 

Here's one for RisenPhoenix (sit down and try to not get to excited, I'm just thinking), I've been thinking about aikido. i haven't been totally happy with my recent foray back into Pilates and don't really feel like doing yoga as a practice. These are all find practices but I'm not feeling them right now. I'm been tossing around other ideas. One thing I have wanted since I was a little kid was to do a martial art. At first my parents wouldn't let me, then I didn't have time or money, then the only ones I could think of (Thai boxing and BJJ) just didn't' sound like much fun, but I'm thinking about it again. I've been reading your stuff (even though I don't comment a lot) and it reminded me that when I moved into the Twin Cities I had looked into Aikido and Judo as options but not done much with the idea. 

I know my neighbor is way into Aikido and could tell me all about the local schools so I have a local and trusted resource. I have money and time. I'm old to be learning a skill from scratch but that might make this the perfect time. Nothing like learning a new skill that will take decades to get good at.

so like I said, just thinking but I wouldn't be too surprised to see I go do an intro class or two in a month or so.

[RisenPhoenix]

Yesssss, GROW my aikido army!

 

*ahem*

 

I mean.

 

Yea, if you have any questions, let me know.  Aikido skews older, and it was a conversation my Senpai was giving on the mat actually earlier this week while he was teaching.  His opinion is that if you start in your teens or 20's you are way ahead of the curve.  He started in his early to mid 30s, so he has a point.  So the whole "Too Old to Do It" thing shouldn't be really a big concern (not that it seems to be for you according to your post).  I'm also of the opinion that aikido is a, uh, smart-attracting art.  It's learning curve is pretty steep, but the result is I've seen crazy intelligent people practice the art.  Seriously, you can't swing a bokken stick in my dojo without hitting someone with a PhD.  And from what I've seen, that holds true in other dojos, too.  No idea why.

 

Anyway, clearly I'm in favor of you giving it a shot.  I will say try for a month, because the first couple of classes you will seriously feel like you don't know your left foot from your right.  But you probably have really good body awareness, which is a huge plus in aikido, so you might get by faster.

 

I'm gonna shut up now before I start rambling.  Since clearly I could speak for a long while on the topic.

[Rooks]

Always thought Aikido was pretty neat, specially once I got interested in Greco-Roman wrestling and started learning how to throw people.  It was fun understanding when someone was pushing against you just right, you could initiate a movement that would take almost no effort to complete, but from an outsider perspective seemingly appear to be you exerting large amounts of effort.  By the time I was a senior in High School I was even fairly attempt at throws, especially for a small wrestler (throws seemed to be more of a bigger guy move).

 

That said, if I were to pick up a Martial Art these days, I'd lean towards Krav Maga, but that'll have to wait until the kiddo is older at this point.  Either way, I say go for it.   Sounds the situation is right, and you clearly aren't one to worry about "looking foolish".  Just get in there, learn stuff, and know that you are still making yourself better even at the ripe old age where people struggle to get off the floor.  

[Sloth the Enduring]

In the space of my time at my current school I've seen people go from it's hard to get off the floor to I need to ride a scooter to get around the school.  And they aren't much older than me.  I don't understand it, but it does motivate me to keep active.

 

Aikido sounds like a lot of fun, even if I'm not smart enough for it.

[The Most Loathed]

Always thought Aikido was pretty neat, specially once I got interested in Greco-Roman wrestling and started learning how to throw people.  It was fun understanding when someone was pushing against you just right, you could initiate a movement that would take almost no effort to complete, but from an outsider perspective seemingly appear to be you exerting large amounts of effort.  By the time I was a senior in High School I was even fairly attempt at throws, especially for a small wrestler (throws seemed to be more of a bigger guy move).

 

That said, if I were to pick up a Martial Art these days, I'd lean towards Krav Maga, but that'll have to wait until the kiddo is older at this point.  Either way, I say go for it.   Sounds the situation is right, and you clearly aren't one to worry about "looking foolish".  Just get in there, learn stuff, and know that you are still making yourself better even at the ripe old age where people struggle to get off the floor.  

I was a biggi-ish guy (160) and was pretty good at throws so I totally hear you. I did freestyle wrestling for two summers and got really into throws from the feet, well, that and headlocks, I loved dragging people around the mt in a headlock.

 

I've looked at assorted martial arts at various times in my life including Krav Maga. I think that if I thought I would have to get in a street fight that would be higher on my list since that seems to be what it's geared for. For me, my desire to do martial arts has never been centered around the notion that I would use them in a fight. I mean, I'm not interested in Tai Bo because it's a little too far from being a practical art, but I'm just really interested in the form and its mastery and having the feedback of another human doing weird things and providing a dynamic feedback I can't generate in another way. 

 

In the space of my time at my current school I've seen people go from it's hard to get off the floor to I need to ride a scooter to get around the school.  And they aren't much older than me.  I don't understand it, but it does motivate me to keep active.

 

Aikido sounds like a lot of fun, even if I'm not smart enough for it.

yowser, I don't want to end up a scooter rider. t first, it sounds awesome, you have a vehicle that goes everywhere. But then it dawns on me how limiting it would be, that I can't possibly jut choose to skip like a little kid or take the stairs or whatever, just because and it start to sound like a prison sentence.

 

Phoenix is the third Aikido practitioner I've heard much from on the topic and it's sounded really good each time. Lots of technique practice with a small amount of controlled sparring. My only concern is that the art is based largely off of throws and joint locks and they are intended to be done safely but I'd say that there is a smaller margin of error in those things than most of us experience in our day-to-day lives. Meaning that each time you're putting your limbs at rik to practice and of course, never is that risk higher than when you're newish and your partner is newish. 

 

01/29/2016

Eat: good breakfast and lunch. supper was out, I had a French Dip and it was great. A glass of gin and tonic as well

Train: Yes, I left work early just so I could do something. Circuit: Row 1Km (4:00), burpee x 20, swing 24 kg kb 20/20, repeat, 5 round. I didn't use a clock but these usually run about 8 minutes per round and i give myself a couple minutes to recover so it takes right about 10 minutes from the beginning of one exercise to the next time I begin it.

Meditate: Yes, not my best. I got going and about 10 minutes in I hear someone dial the speakerphone from the next room. At 15 minutes in the talk is getting really distracting. Obviously the ideal practitioner would take this as a learning opportunity and try to learn to meditate through the distractions, which I tried to do, but I'm still relatively new so it was pretty distracting.

Geek:nothing really.

 

01/30/2016

Eat:breakfast was out but I wasn't out of control or anything, lunch was turkey sandwiches with homemade guac. I needed a protein bar to get through the afternoon, supper was lamb steak, chicken thighs, roasted cauliflower and roasted squash. The Cauliflower was new and was Laura's contribution and was fantastic.

Sleep:the night of the 29th (into 30th) I got less sleep than usual for a weekend. We went to bed at about ten (typical) and i got up at 5 to walk the dogs (I like to keep the schedule for them) which is typically a followed by a 2-3 hour nap on the weekend. My dad tends to get up really early. Years of waking up between 3:30 and 5 to be at work on time have taught his body that that is awake time. So I stayed up to keep him company. We chatted and stuff and it wasn't a real hardship or anything, just  cut to my weekend sleep schedule.

Train: nope

Meditate: double nope

Geek: A new game was announce, Pandemic, Reign of Cthulhu. Is it a cash grab? maybe. Do I want to play it? Yes. For those who don't know, Pandemic is a whole line of super popular games where the players are trying to fight the spread of disease around the world, together. It wasn't the first co-op game but it really made it a genre unto itself. Since Pandemic came out co-op games are increasingly common and have had lots of new twists and wrinkles. Pandemic has also achieved a level of mass market appeal seen by on a very few hobby games. Cthulhu, is out of the writing of HP Lovecraft and his peers of the time. They chose to incorporate horror elements into their stories that weren't always malicious but simply didn't care about humanity, saw it either as a resource to be harvested or just an annoyance. Cthulhu is a theme that sells in the boardgame market better than any, in my opinion only zombies come near it in terms of themes that sell. 

So this (unholy?) marriage of a titanic series of games with a titanic theme will both, sell a lot of copies (a couple thousand is big in boargames, I assume this well clear 10K) and really tick off a lot of gamers. It won't help that there are already several immensely poplar co-op Cthulhu games out there (Eldritch Horror, Arkham Horror and Elder Sign come to mind but there are more) that these are competing with for space. If people see this as just Pandemic where you call the disease cubes Cultists instead of disease cubes or if they see it as too much like other Cthulhu games, they will decry it as garbage. 

For my part, I will probably buy a copy. My brother-in-law likes Cthulhu stuff. I've bought him several books and played Cthulhu Fluxx with him plenty of times. Assuming this is the same 45 minute-ish play time and same entry level of difficulty, this will fit a niche I've been looking for for him. The other games I mentioned are a bit too much of a commitment for me to expect of him but this may be right in that sweet spot.

 

Today my parents leave, we need to do grocery shopping and workout. I may try to nap a couple hours.