[The Most Loathed] learns....slowly

[KB Girl]

I don't know that it did. If anything it just made me want to move farther away from competition. I hate the act of competing but can get into the idea of a community. Locally though, there are three of us. I'm happy to get together and lift anytime but working up to travel to a meet just doesn't excite me. It costs time, money and stress. All of my forays into the US scene have been mediocre at best. 

 

That said, I'm still building my training plan around kettlebells and I'm planning a training holiday in April (more on that later) and a comp in May. It's just that's where I'm drawing my comp line in the sand. I'm not planning on Nationals or Worlds. Which is not to say never, just not right now. 

I'm sad you had mediocre forays into the sport scene. For the growth of the sport having positive experiences at competitions is really essential. 

Why do you hate competing? You're doing it only to provide a goal for your training then?

 

i'd like to hear any ideas.

Jerks - agree with setting time goals, since maintaining rack is probably worst for you. 

 

Half snatch - do 180 reps with a starting weight (20?) and then work up to doing the same with 24, then 28. i'd split it into two different training types, one with light weight, single switch and one with heavier weight, multiswitch (1 is grip endurance, the other actual endurance)

 

Snatch - seriously, stick with 16kg until you can do atleast 160 reps with a single switch without tearing your hands. The weight needs to be light if you want to focus on gripping and grip-changing properly.

[The Most Loathed]

I'm sad you had mediocre forays into the sport scene. For the growth of the sport having positive experiences at competitions is really essential. 

Why do you hate competing? You're doing it only to provide a goal for your training then?

That's exactly why I got started with it, to have a concrete and arguably less abstract goal to work towards.

I've always hated competing but loved training. I enjoy playing and experimenting physically and I really love it in a setting where there are multiple people working together and feeding off each other. For this reason, I loved wrestling practice in high school but hated the meets. I've always hated competing because

1) there's no opportunity for experimentation and self improvement. This is when you strip away all the interesting bits of training and just do the safest things to the highest amount of suffering you can handle.

2) competition requires so many non-training factors align to give you the best performance possible

3) people who fail at comps are emotionally crushed despite solid and consistent training, people  who shine at comps get all puffed up and egotistical despite inconsistent habits and training, so comps don't necessarily reflect a good practice.

4) I don't like dick waving

Jerks - agree with setting time goals, since maintaining rack is probably worst for you. 

 

Half snatch - do 180 reps with a starting weight (20?) and then work up to doing the same with 24, then 28. i'd split it into two different training types, one with light weight, single switch and one with heavier weight, multiswitch (1 is grip endurance, the other actual endurance)

 

Snatch - seriously, stick with 16kg until you can do atleast 160 reps with a single switch without tearing your hands. The weight needs to be light if you want to focus on gripping and grip-changing properly.

Excellent advice. Thank you.

[The Most Loathed]

good news/bad news

Last night I did not get to play Pandemic Legacy. I has a sad.

 

We did solidify and book lodging for a hiking trip we had been talking about and I guessed would never come to fruition. In late June I'm headed to Colorado for a week. We'll be staying in a very nice cabin but I'm planning to summit three 14ers while there.

[KB Girl]

That's exactly why I got started with it, to have a concrete and arguably less abstract goal to work towards.

I've always hated competing but loved training. I enjoy playing and experimenting physically and I really love it in a setting where there are multiple people working together and feeding off each other. For this reason, I loved wrestling practice in high school but hated the meets. I've always hated competing because

1) there's no opportunity for experimentation and self improvement. This is when you strip away all the interesting bits of training and just do the safest things to the highest amount of suffering you can handle.

2) competition requires so many non-training factors align to give you the best performance possible

3) people who fail at comps are emotionally crushed despite solid and consistent training, people  who shine at comps get all puffed up and egotistical despite inconsistent habits and training, so comps don't necessarily reflect a good practice.

4) I don't like dick waving

 

Excellent advice. Thank you.

No problem!

 

Very interesting. It seems people either love or hate it, I've heard a lot of comments also at worlds of people who dislike it and same split in my team. I suppose I just can't really relate... while I also don't like dick waving... I really really love the high pressure situation of competition, it brings out the best in me, pushes me beyond my limits.. plus I really like the social aspect of the whole thing. Your third point... failure to perform as well as you hoped it always dissapointing, but crushed seems too heavy a word! People need some perspective. Consistent habits, training and practice >>> competition performance in terms of dick waving rights. (Another reason I like NF, people seem to have that straight here!). 

But yes, I do love competing. Not even sure why. I love trying to get all those stars aligned. I love the mental challenge. 

[Rooks]

That's exactly why I got started with it, to have a concrete and arguably less abstract goal to work towards.

I've always hated competing but loved training. I enjoy playing and experimenting physically and I really love it in a setting where there are multiple people working together and feeding off each other. For this reason, I loved wrestling practice in high school but hated the meets. I've always hated competing because

1) there's no opportunity for experimentation and self improvement. This is when you strip away all the interesting bits of training and just do the safest things to the highest amount of suffering you can handle.

2) competition requires so many non-training factors align to give you the best performance possible

3) people who fail at comps are emotionally crushed despite solid and consistent training, people  who shine at comps get all puffed up and egotistical despite inconsistent habits and training, so comps don't necessarily reflect a good practice.

4) I don't like dick waving

 

 

Very interesting. It seems people either love or hate it, I've heard a lot of comments also at worlds of people who dislike it and same split in my team. I suppose I just can't really relate... while I also don't like dick waving... I really really love the high pressure situation of competition, it brings out the best in me, pushes me beyond my limits.. plus I really like the social aspect of the whole thing. Your third point... failure to perform as well as you hoped it always dissapointing, but crushed seems too heavy a word! People need some perspective. Consistent habits, training and practice >>> competition performance in terms of dick waving rights. (Another reason I like NF, people seem to have that straight here!). 

But yes, I do love competing. Not even sure why. I love trying to get all those stars aligned. I love the mental challenge. 

 

I'm oddly with both of you on this one.  I do find training to be cathartic.  It's something that is mine, I own it, it's all me to just get in there and get better.  

 

That said, I like the edge that a comp will give me.  It focuses me to know that if I do the work laid out before me, that I can put all the ducks in a row, and perform well at that competition.  And without that competition, how do I know where I stand?  There has to be some value to being able to succeed and perform well on a set day, right?  

 

I do disagree that all people who are successful at meets are egotistical.  Yes, some get that way, but the greats are the ones that work hard, stay humble, and still dominate.  

[The Most Loathed]

I do disagree that all people who are successful at meets are egotistical. 

Just to be clear, this is not what I'm saying. 

What I;'m saying is that there are people who are egotistical who do have success and this validates them and their ego. I do realize that to some degree that's a pointless gripe as a truly motivated ego will always find validation and I guess I'm actually thinking of a specific person I knew years ago. He was not a great person and a poor trainee but when it came to competition he would dig into a massive reserve and produce astounding gains. This to him was evidence that his training was good despite constant injuries and bad habits. This drove him to become a full time, professional trainer, something he had no business doing. I don't keep in touch with him and don't know or care how he's fairing as a trainer, trainee or person. 

writing that also makes me realize how that person has colored my views on other people in the community.

[Rooks]

Just to be clear, this is not what I'm saying. 

What I;'m saying is that there are people who are egotistical who do have success and this validates them and their ego. I do realize that to some degree that's a pointless gripe as a truly motivated ego will always find validation and I guess I'm actually thinking of a specific person I knew years ago. He was not a great person and a poor trainee but when it came to competition he would dig into a massive reserve and produce astounding gains. This to him was evidence that his training was good despite constant injuries and bad habits. This drove him to become a full time, professional trainer, something he had no business doing. I don't keep in touch with him and don't know or care how he's fairing as a trainer, trainee or person. 

writing that also makes me realize how that person has colored my views on other people in the community.

 

Fair enough.  And I get what your saying.  We had a gentleman on my high school wrestling team who was 5 years older than me who was the exact type your talking about.  He was a 2 time state champion and he never worked a day in his life.  He was just one of those freaks of nature.  That said, as soon as he tried collegiate wrestling, he was washed out in under 1/2 a season when he suddenly wasn't dominating everyone and had to work to make the team.  

 

But yeah... he was a blowhard who was just blessed with enough athletic prowess to beat D3 wrestlers in Wisconsin without effort.    Thanks for clarifying.

 

P.S. all this chit-chat makes me want to start looking for potential wrestling coach positions again...

[Sloth the Enduring]

There's so much here.  I'm not used to it.

 

I really like competition.  It gives me something to work toward and to focus on and it gives me a measuring stick.  MtBiking is different though, not a whole lot of dick waving.  Instead there's lots of good-natured socializing at the types of races I pick.  And while you do have to have your ducks in a row and the stars aligned, the people who win have put in the suffering in training and have been smart about it.

 

Three summits in a week?  Sounds like a lot and like a lot of fun.  I keep trying to get our yearly road-trip to be Colorado but I keep getting vetoed.

[The Most Loathed]

01/04/2015

Sleep: Good 10:15 - 5:00

Eat: Ok had my lunch which was a little light, supplemented with almonds and protein. Full serving of Rogan Josh for supper which was probably more than I needed

Train: off as planned

Meditate: done. I could tell I was out of practice with the holidays. It would have been  good idea to do two ten minute sessions rather than one twenty minute session. It was still time well spent.

Geek: posted to the D&D event in two weekends

 

If I can moderate my eating a bit more, this kind of plan will be totally satisfactory for the rest of the week while our friend from Japan is here. That said, I'm really in the mood to make potstickers so I may do that on Wednesday.

 

I'm examining my place on NerdFitness a little bit. I'm not thinking about leaving or anything just asking myself if I'm doing it right. This is a very social place, especially for a workout forum. That can be great, especially for noobs but for everyone. The trade-off is the time. It takes time to really get into the community and participate. I remember spending quite a bit of time looking for the right GIF or rereading a person's thread to get the context of something they are saying or doing. Time is a little harder to come by than I would like. I've been trying to liberate some but it doesn't come easy. 

A large part of me really wants to just put my head down and move forward like a draft horse. Some of this is just my innate tendency, some is that I believe that this is how long term success is achieved especially in fitness and part is a reaction to all of the people who need the opposite. I'm asking myself if this is the right thing to do. I don't have a solid answer at this time. My sense is that the typical answer will come back, moderation. To some degree I already do that but should I do it more. Should I sacrifice the stability and control of a battle log for a challenge and accept the noise that comes with it (and there is a lot)? What would I gain from that. Should keep my log exactly where it is and just try to embed myself into on of the groups and to what end?

I dunno.

[Sloth the Enduring]

Finding the right gif is time consuming.  You weren't actually asking for advice, but may I suggest a middle path.  Keep the battle log, it works for you, but seek out people you connect with and be a part of their threads or seek out the other kettlebellers (who are mostly S&Sers right now) and comment and encourage them like a wise old uncle

 

I might be missing something, but if you're not here for a social aspect of some sort, there isn't a whole lot of reason for you to be here.  KBGirl is just about the only qualified to comment on what you're doing.

[RisenPhoenix]

Re: Competition

 

Maybe it's the aikidoka in me, but I'm not a big fan of competitions, pretty much for dealing with the dickwaving that happens.  What I do like is being able to use an event to push me forward/focus my training.  I don't exactly get that in aikido ( *insert long talk about senpai/kohai relations here and how it should effect training while I rarely see that happen given my experience level* ), so for a while I was training for a Spartan race.  And then I was training as though I was competing in a strength meet.  And then I was just training to hit the 1,000 pound club (which I still haven't made).  But I'm kind of internal - I don't actually need those things to exist, as much as I need to think they exist.  Kind of zen, I guess.  Dunno, but that's my take.

 

Re: Finding a Place

Yea, I totally understand this.  I've felt like a terrible guild leader the last few months, because I've barely been able to keep up with the newbies in my guild.  I just don't have the time to sit, analyze, point out what they are doing wrong, and offer constructive criticism.  That, and Kishi usually beats me to the punch.  But beyond that, I think it's a fairly natural progression once someone has been here long enough that Battle Logs make more sense - we don't need to build habits as much as the newbies, we just need to stay the course.  Yea, we might have some targets to hit, but it's a longer road than a 4 or 6 week challenge.  Hell, I was fully expecting to hunker down in my battle log for the foreseeable future, until Staci announced a new challenge format.  Figured I needed to do a few more challenges to help the newbies/point out hiccups when Staci inevitably asked the GLs.

 

So I understand.  I've learned the location of a thread is not ultimately that important.  You find your people, and at the end of the day, they are going to find you wherever you are to offer encouragement and advice.  Sometimes it'll make branching out a bit trickier, but that's best left for when you feel you have time for it. (At the moment, I'm trying to find the newbies in my guild because work is slow and it may help my sanity.  Time will tell if that's the case.)

[The Most Loathed]

I might be missing something, but if you're not here for a social aspect of some sort, there isn't a whole lot of reason for you to be here.  KBGirl is just about the only qualified to comment on what you're doing.

It's fair to call out that I'm here for some socializing. I've had digital workout logs in a variety of places going back over a decade (t-nation, farmstrength, wordpress). No platform was totally satisfying and no community is totally satisfying. My favorite platform, Wordpress, had the most freedom but least community but it lasted the longest until NF. Over the years I waffle from needing interaction to needing focus. When I first came to NF I was in an interactive kind of mood. I found the guilds to be very open and chatty but extremely unfocused.  Over the last couple years I've had mixed success in actual performance but I've gotten deeper and deeper into the idea of performing my practice for its own reasons and further and further from the performative aspects of the forums. 

In the time I've been here I've spread myself super thin, keeping up with over a page of different threads each days and I've really drilled down to having fewer than ten threads to check per day (which is closer to where I am these days). I found myself feeling that I was being disrespectful to people by barely glancing at their thread and posting some vague platitude of positivity and moving on without really knowing what was going on. So I decided to try and really understand what was going on with each person I was following. This meant a dramatic pruning of who I followed just for a factor of time. 

As I watch the forums spin on I still see the scattered approach most people are taking. I still see lots of posts that amount to "you can do it" regardless the circumstance. I see alot of folks who get the initial burst of success that everyone gets then spin away, "respawning" every three or four months with "sorry I've been away" type posts. 

 

There are two things I think when I read this back to myself

1. these are my issues not other peoples. If people are happy "respawning" every 12 weeks, good, have fun. Some people may really need to work for four weeks then take four weeks off as the wind down, take time off and gear up.

2. Something I've felt for a really long time is that I wish there was a place on NF for people who are ready to move past that stuff. I have no idea how you gate that for people. How do you stay inclusive while seperating people. You probably don't

 

Third thing. I call the above "thinking out loud" and it's often how I do my best thinking and my poor often often has to sit and listen to me talk through something (rather than write) if I need to think out loud...she's patient with me.

 

01/15/2015

Sleep: good 10:15 - 5

Eat: If you worry to ask me if I "Ate like and asshole" today, I'd probably not look you in the eye as I answered. I had an Egg McMuffin for breakfast, I had a big bowl of delicious ramen for lunch and I had homemade breakfast burrito for supper. On the scale of the Standard American Diet, I was above average. On the scale of my usual diet, well below average. I don't really regret any of it, especially not the ramen but I acknowledge that I could do better.

Train: hey I did something

Snatch 16 kg 74/75. roughly 5:00 per hand. I haven't done snatches regularly in a long time and I can tell. My forearms were dying. My breath and hands held up fine. The weight is light enough that I'm not sure it's really ensuring that my technique is perfect but I need the reps

Jerk 20kg x 2 3:00, rest 3:00 16kg x 2 3:00

Meditate: I attempted post workout but it wasn't a good time. I got about halfway through and decided it would be better to start again tomorrow. I was too busy thinking about needing to go get Laura, which I really did need to do.

Geek: Taught our friend from Japan (Elastigirl are you seeing this) Machi Koro. It's a card game designed and published in Japan. We had a copy but my wife swore she'd never play it again after the first run through. Then, this year, she said she wanted to play it again. so we have it again. (head shaking)

 

Tomorrow I am off from work.

Lunch, I dunno, maybe more ramen, maybe good for me stuff at home. I'm planning to make pot stickers for supper. I used to make these a few times a year but they were so damn much work that I quit after one particularly large batch a couple years ago. I've been talking about them more and more over the last month or so. Tomorrow I put my money where my mouth is...then I put them in my mouth.

I may get another light training session in too. This will likely be my favorite condition circuit of rowing, burpees and swings.

[Sloth the Enduring]

I found the guilds to be very open and chatty but extremely unfocused.  Over the last couple years I've had mixed success in actual performance but I've gotten deeper and deeper into the idea of performing my practice for its own reasons and further and further from the performative aspects of the forums. 

In the time I've been here I've spread myself super thin, keeping up with over a page of different threads each days and I've really drilled down to having fewer than ten threads to check per day (which is closer to where I am these days). I found myself feeling that I was being disrespectful to people by barely glancing at their thread and posting some vague platitude of positivity and moving on without really knowing what was going on. So I decided to try and really understand what was going on with each person I was following. This meant a dramatic pruning of who I followed just for a factor of time. 

As I watch the forums spin on I still see the scattered approach most people are taking. I still see lots of posts that amount to "you can do it" regardless the circumstance. I see alot of folks who get the initial burst of success that everyone gets then spin away, "respawning" every three or four months with "sorry I've been away" type posts. 

 

There are two things I think when I read this back to myself

1. these are my issues not other peoples. If people are happy "respawning" every 12 weeks, good, have fun. Some people may really need to work for four weeks then take four weeks off as the wind down, take time off and gear up.

2. Something I've felt for a really long time is that I wish there was a place on NF for people who are ready to move past that stuff. I have no idea how you gate that for people. How do you stay inclusive while seperating people. You probably don't.

 

I can't disagree with any of this.  Personally I could use more truthing and tough love in my life when it comes to training, but the positivity is nice. There aren't a whole lot of places, virtual or real life, where people are actually encouraging.  Anyway, I suspect it doesn't bother me because I'm also in a constant cycle of getting fit, falling off the wagon, and hitting it hard again.  I hope you find what you're looking for, I'd miss your sage advice if you went elsewhere.

 

I couldn't find a gif that fit the conversation, I'll leave this instead

[KB Girl]

The thinking out loud is a large part of the reason I love NF (doing it and reading it too!) 

 

Some annoyances I recognise, empty encouragement being one of them.. I'm most happy when I can go around critiqueing peoples form or giving training suggestions x) 

The respawning... well, I feel like I do some of that myself. But looking back, I do think that it leaves me better off each time. This challenge I'm again focusing on some aspect of housekeeping, and this morning in the shower I realised how much good habits I developed from the last couple of times (I now always clean the bathroom sink+toilet while I shower). 

 

The challenge starts are overwhelming, the amount of people.. I sometimes thrive on it, but also sometimes dislike it. It's the best time to get to know 'new' people, but sometimes they're gone again just as quickly. My ideal situation is simply hanging out with a couple of good people, which does always happen. There are those you've been with for a loooong time, so you know all the context, you know what's going on in their lives better than you do some of your RL friends. I mostly enjoy that, and if that wasn't here, I wouldnt be here. 

I think you recognise that last bit, it's why a battle log does work for you, because you have your people that will drop by regardless of challenge time or not. 

 

Advice? If you need more interaction, make a challenge and see if you find some new friends. If you're good with the amount of interaction but are thinking you'd like a little 4 week focus to your goals, then just have your challenge right here in your battle log. 

 

And don't bother with gifs. And skim all the replies in a topic. Especially with these rangers, I can't keep up with them. pff.

[RisenPhoenix]

+1 to what Sloth and KBGirl said.

 

I have yet to figure out how the main Monk GL fits in time to work, write, and pretty much comment on everyone's threads.    Though I admit, Monks as a guild are super unfocused - but a bajillion martial arts will do that.  I've had to take a step back and prune.  This challenge I'm trying to find new people, and give them actual encouragement, not empty platitudes - because that bothers the hell out of me, too.  Means I tend to stalk the actual friends I have here a bit more than I should.  I want to see how they are doing, but I just don't have the time to annoy them the way I would like, if I want to keep being a Mod/GL here.  Granted, a large portion of those people I would regularly poke here I now have access to their phone numbers and facebooks to harass them there, so that makes life a bit easier for me.

 

And don't bother with gifs. And skim all the replies in a topic. Especially with these rangers, I can't keep up with them. pff.

 

But definitely this.  Outside of very few threads (like your Battle Log), I skip most people's comments and replies, except for the original poster.  Too much to do otherwise.

[peelout]

Stopped in.  Thinking of starting KB"s so wanted to followl

 

KB's, machines, and free wts all work muscles.  I'm getting tired of free wts and machines and am thinking of KB's as a way to keep it interesting.  Can you tell me what you like about KB's over free wts?

[The Most Loathed]

Stopped in.  Thinking of starting KB"s so wanted to followl

 

KB's, machines, and free wts all work muscles.  I'm getting tired of free wts and machines and am thinking of KB's as a way to keep it interesting.  Can you tell me what you like about KB's over free wts?

We're starting from a faulty premise unfortunately. If someone was to ask for a beginner program from me, it would almost always be centered around barbells. They are were I started and I still use them as much as I can. When people ask me which kettlebell they should buy first I usually point them to a set of dumbbells because without any supporting community or guidance, i think they are a better choice for many people.

 

I think you're asking my why I use them so much. I tried to think of a couple bullet points to answer your question but in truth it comes down to my personal experiences. I have and do train with barbells but the kettlebells offer me the challenges I want (10 minute max effort instead of 1 RM), a more complete range of motion, many fewer injuries than I've experienced with barbells and (this is very important) fit in my basement workout space much better than a barbell.

[The Most Loathed]

01/06/2015

Sleep: usual 10:15 - 5:00

Eat: The worst I have eaten in a while. Our guest hadn't woken up by 11:30 so I went out and grabbed burger king for lunch and did some grocery shopping. When I got back he was awake and wanted to go out for lunch so I went and had a second lunch. Supper was potstickers. I'm happy to say that I haven't lost my touch in making pot stickers.

Train: no, sadness

Meditate: none

Geek: I was a food geek before I was a lifting geek or even a boardgame geek so I'm counting my pot stickers as my geek out moment

 

01/07/2015

Sleep:  Usual

Eat: not bad. Only down side what that I ate left over sloppy joe from Sunday (nutritionally not bad) and it made my intestines quite upset with me. So I spent a chunk of the day not feeling super awesome

Train: no

Meditate:  Yes. It was really good

Geek: nothing

 

Tonight is Sushi night. tomorrow we are entertaining our guest again. I'm really hoping to workout on Sunday. Definitely ready for this holiday season to end and get to work.

[peelout]

Thanks for the sound advice.

[peelout]

With regards to your comment about KH's in my battle log:

The term Keystone Habits is from the audio book "The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg.  Hands down the best self help book I ever read.  Most of those books, I read, thing great idea, try for a brief instant, and forget.  This was the only one that has made a real change in my life.

[The Most Loathed]

With regards to your comment about KH's in my battle log:

The term Keystone Habits is from the audio book "The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg.  Hands down the best self help book I ever read.  Most of those books, I read, thing great idea, try for a brief instant, and forget.  This was the only one that has made a real change in my life.

for those who haven't, go check out peelout's log. His Key habit structure (attributed to Charles Duhigg above) is magnificent and I'm totally stealing it.

[The Most Loathed]

01/08/2015

Sleep: 9:30 - 5:00, awesome

Eat: ate decently during the day. I had a protein bar and almonds for breakfast, burrito for lunch. I'm headed for sushi soon and I on't pretend I won't go one for one on sushi rolls an whiskeys. The question is 2 or 3?

Train: w00t w00t. I had 30 minutes that I knew were free so I hoped on the rower for 20 of them (10 to cool down and shower). 5km in 20 minutes

Meditate: another pretty good session although I was starting to drift towards the end

Geek: In the time I have before we leave for sushi I'm going to start transfering the encounter notes from my notebook to a google doc for the big D&D session next weekend. My goal is to get them all written up and printed out in time. I have a format I like to keep my monsters in for my convenience.

 

now, a story

Whenever we have guests we put freshly washed towels for them in the bathroom and hang our towels on some hooks out in the hallway. I always forget this. Rarely I remember before I get wet so I throw my clothes back on and run out and grab my towel. Often I forget until I'm done, I reach for the towel and realize it's not mine so I stick my wet head out the door and ask Laura to grab my towel. 

Today I did my rowing and went to take my shower. We have a guest so I wear my sweaty workout clothes into the bathroom and took my sushi-eatin' clothes  in with me. I took my shower and as I reach for my towel, it's not there. Of course not, it's on the hook in the hall. Laura's not home and our guest is a little bit shy so I don't know how he'll feel about naked me asking him to grab my towel. I look around the bathroom and see that I am standing on a relatively dry bath mat. I have sweaty workout clothes, clothes to wear out (t-shirt and jeans) and our guest's towel. I could use his towel and get him a different fresh one, it's not like we don't have a bunch. what else....

I grab my t-shirt for going out, step back into the bath tub and proceed to dry off. It's not really absorbent so really I'm just pushing the water downwards. I get mostly dry then take my time shaving and brushing my teeth to air dry further. Finally I throw on my jeans and duck into the room where I keep my clothes (story in its own right) and grab a fresh t-shirt.

Did I do it right, I have no idea but it amused me.

 

Off to go play D&D the only way to win, as the DM.

[Sloth the Enduring]

01/08/2015

Sleep: 9:30 - 5:00, awesome

Eat: ate decently during the day. I had a protein bar and almonds for breakfast, burrito for lunch. I'm headed for sushi soon and I on't pretend I won't go one for one on sushi rolls an whiskeys. The question is 2 or 3?

Train: w00t w00t. I had 30 minutes that I knew were free so I hoped on the rower for 20 of them (10 to cool down and shower). 5km in 20 minutes

Meditate: another pretty good session although I was starting to drift towards the end

Geek: In the time I have before we leave for sushi I'm going to start transfering the encounter notes from my notebook to a google doc for the big D&D session next weekend. My goal is to get them all written up and printed out in time. I have a format I like to keep my monsters in for my convenience.

now, a story

Whenever we have guests we put freshly washed towels for them in the bathroom and hang our towels on some hooks out in the hallway. I always forget this. Rarely I remember before I get wet so I throw my clothes back on and run out and grab my towel. Often I forget until I'm done, I reach for the towel and realize it's not mine so I stick my wet head out the door and ask Laura to grab my towel.

Today I did my rowing and went to take my shower. We have a guest so I wear my sweaty workout clothes into the bathroom and took my sushi-eatin' clothes in with me. I took my shower and as I reach for my towel, it's not there. Of course not, it's on the hook in the hall. Laura's not home and our guest is a little bit shy so I don't know how he'll feel about naked me asking him to grab my towel. I look around the bathroom and see that I am standing on a relatively dry bath mat. I have sweaty workout clothes, clothes to wear out (t-shirt and jeans) and our guest's towel. I could use his towel and get him a different fresh one, it's not like we don't have a bunch. what else....

I grab my t-shirt for going out, step back into the bath tub and proceed to dry off. It's not really absorbent so really I'm just pushing the water downwards. I get mostly dry then take my time shaving and brushing my teeth to air dry further. Finally I throw on my jeans and duck into the room where I keep my clothes (story in its own right) and grab a fresh t-shirt.

Did I do it right, I have no idea but it amused me.

Off to go play D&D the only way to win, as the DM.

3, more is always better than less.

Cool story Bro. I'm going to assume old house with no storage and a wife with lots of clothes. That's why I keep mine in the basement.

Could you do me a favor and pick a different font? Tapatalk doesn't display trebuchet.

[The Most Loathed]

3

Gonna have to figure out what you mean about trebuchet later but yes, if I can make it more readable I will.

[Rooks]

It's fair to call out that I'm here for some socializing. I've had digital workout logs in a variety of places going back over a decade (t-nation, farmstrength, wordpress). No platform was totally satisfying and no community is totally satisfying. My favorite platform, Wordpress, had the most freedom but least community but it lasted the longest until NF. Over the years I waffle from needing interaction to needing focus. When I first came to NF I was in an interactive kind of mood. I found the guilds to be very open and chatty but extremely unfocused.  Over the last couple years I've had mixed success in actual performance but I've gotten deeper and deeper into the idea of performing my practice for its own reasons and further and further from the performative aspects of the forums. 

In the time I've been here I've spread myself super thin, keeping up with over a page of different threads each days and I've really drilled down to having fewer than ten threads to check per day (which is closer to where I am these days). I found myself feeling that I was being disrespectful to people by barely glancing at their thread and posting some vague platitude of positivity and moving on without really knowing what was going on. So I decided to try and really understand what was going on with each person I was following. This meant a dramatic pruning of who I followed just for a factor of time. 

As I watch the forums spin on I still see the scattered approach most people are taking. I still see lots of posts that amount to "you can do it" regardless the circumstance. I see alot of folks who get the initial burst of success that everyone gets then spin away, "respawning" every three or four months with "sorry I've been away" type posts. 

 

There are two things I think when I read this back to myself

1. these are my issues not other peoples. If people are happy "respawning" every 12 weeks, good, have fun. Some people may really need to work for four weeks then take four weeks off as the wind down, take time off and gear up.

2. Something I've felt for a really long time is that I wish there was a place on NF for people who are ready to move past that stuff. I have no idea how you gate that for people. How do you stay inclusive while seperating people. You probably don't

 

Third thing. I call the above "thinking out loud" and it's often how I do my best thinking and my poor often often has to sit and listen to me talk through something (rather than write) if I need to think out loud...she's patient with me.

 

Been meaning to respond to this for awhile now.  Ironically enough, because I try and read too much on NF, I don't respond to the big stuff as often as I should.  Either way, I'm very much with you on the respawning thing.  Personally, NF has become part of my fitness routine.  I do a workout, I post it in my battle log.  It's my journal.  It's what I do.  I long ago gave up Challenges as I stopped needing the motivation to figure out what I wanted to do, I just need to do it.  That said, I've found that I don't get "involved" with much in terms of the knowing what's going on with people if I don't look at the Challenge threads on a regular basis.  I'm on the outside looking in.  

 

Personally, I waffle on that going from the thought "Eh... no sweat off my back.  I'm a lone wolf and I'll just keep plugging away" then back to "Man... I wish I'd see more activity on my thread".  And, for me, when I get to that second thought, it's usually when I start commenting & subscribing on more and more threads, and find I have 50+ notifications every time I check the forums and very quickly start unsubscribing from threads and migrate back closer to my first thought as I know I don't have time to read 50 posts every time I login.  It's not that I don't like encouraging people on here, or want to be involved in the NF community, I just don't find the forum to be that high of a priority when it comes down to it.  And it seems (as with most forums) to get posts you must give posts.  

 

01/08/2015

Sleep: 9:30 - 5:00, awesome

Eat: ate decently during the day. I had a protein bar and almonds for breakfast, burrito for lunch. I'm headed for sushi soon and I on't pretend I won't go one for one on sushi rolls an whiskeys. The question is 2 or 3?

Train: w00t w00t. I had 30 minutes that I knew were free so I hoped on the rower for 20 of them (10 to cool down and shower). 5km in 20 minutes

Meditate: another pretty good session although I was starting to drift towards the end

Geek: In the time I have before we leave for sushi I'm going to start transfering the encounter notes from my notebook to a google doc for the big D&D session next weekend. My goal is to get them all written up and printed out in time. I have a format I like to keep my monsters in for my convenience.

 

now, a story

Whenever we have guests we put freshly washed towels for them in the bathroom and hang our towels on some hooks out in the hallway. I always forget this. Rarely I remember before I get wet so I throw my clothes back on and run out and grab my towel. Often I forget until I'm done, I reach for the towel and realize it's not mine so I stick my wet head out the door and ask Laura to grab my towel. 

Today I did my rowing and went to take my shower. We have a guest so I wear my sweaty workout clothes into the bathroom and took my sushi-eatin' clothes  in with me. I took my shower and as I reach for my towel, it's not there. Of course not, it's on the hook in the hall. Laura's not home and our guest is a little bit shy so I don't know how he'll feel about naked me asking him to grab my towel. I look around the bathroom and see that I am standing on a relatively dry bath mat. I have sweaty workout clothes, clothes to wear out (t-shirt and jeans) and our guest's towel. I could use his towel and get him a different fresh one, it's not like we don't have a bunch. what else....

I grab my t-shirt for going out, step back into the bath tub and proceed to dry off. It's not really absorbent so really I'm just pushing the water downwards. I get mostly dry then take my time shaving and brushing my teeth to air dry further. Finally I throw on my jeans and duck into the room where I keep my clothes (story in its own right) and grab a fresh t-shirt.

Did I do it right, I have no idea but it amused me.

 

Sushi rolls and whisky.  Damn... that's a great combo.  I'd go 3 as well.  Think I came near 25 pieces last time we went to Ichiban (which mind you was nothing compared to the gentleman next to us who put down what I think was at least 50 pieces).

 

Off to go play D&D the only way to win, as the DM.

 

Not sure a truer line could be said about D&D. Least fun IMO, but you always win.  What edition if I can be noisy?  

 

P.S.  I have finally picked up a KB.  If you have a chance for some pointers, there's a short video in my thread.