Urgan Shows Up, Does the Thing

[ixaera]

5 minutes ago, Urgan said:

I seem to love tipping forward on reps when I’m not paying close enough attention, gonna have to work on THAT because how stupid is it to pitch forward at any point in a squat?

 

Same deal here. Fortunately has only happened once so far, but on Wednesday I lost my thoughts somewhere and managed to lean forward due to inattention. OOPS. Rescued the rep, barely.

 

7 minutes ago, Urgan said:

That’s right, I told my mom to eat more. Good God, the circle is complete.

 

Haha, that's amazing. She's lucky she's got a daughter looking out for her!

 

Sounds like a good day

[Urgan]

6 minutes ago, ixaera said:

Same deal here. Fortunately has only happened once so far, but on Wednesday I lost my thoughts somewhere and managed to lean forward due to inattention. OOPS. Rescued the rep, barely.

 

Goodmornings are hard and incredibly unsafe at sufficiently high intensity. Let's avoid doing them by accident. 

7 minutes ago, ixaera said:

Haha, that's amazing. She's lucky she's got a daughter looking out for her!

 

Sounds like a good day

 

It was really funny, but it was also instructive. BAD THINGS HAPPEN IF YOU DO NOT EAT ENOUGH. It was incredibly good, but physically taxing as well! 

[Mistr]

Great day yesterday!

 

I am impressed that you are already learning breakfalls. I'm working with my beginners on rolling all the way over backwards. I'm not happy with the form of most of my intermediate students either. Their front rolls are pretty good, but their back rolls are not. More drills. We usually don't introduce breakfalls until someone has been practicing more than a year and is comfortable with front and back rolls. The dojo is also working on learning soft falls. These are used in the same situations as breakfalls, but don't involve the hard body-hitting-the-mat landing that you described. Put soft falls on your list for later.

 

Interesting observation on food and lifting. I did upper body weights yesterday and so far I don't have DOMS today (crosses fingers). A little stiff, but then again everything is a little stiff. I hope this means that my eating habits are okay. I so don't want to take time to weigh my food and calculate my macros. Plus I want to get stronger, more endurance and lose another couple pounds. A girl can dream, right?

[Urgan]

3 minutes ago, Mistr said:

I am impressed that you are already learning breakfalls. I'm working with my beginners on rolling all the way over backwards. I'm not happy with the form of most of my intermediate students either. Their front rolls are pretty good, but their back rolls are not. More drills. We usually don't introduce breakfalls until someone has been practicing more than a year and is comfortable with front and back rolls. The dojo is also working on learning soft falls. These are used in the same situations as breakfalls, but don't involve the hard body-hitting-the-mat landing that you described. Put soft falls on your list for later.

 

It's kind of like getting a sample under very controlled circumstances--we never just did them on our own like we do with rolls. I really appreciated the opportunity to start taking a crack at a technique that is obviously going to come into play several belts from now. That gives me a good running start at being comfortable with the very uncomfortable. It definitely feels advanced! Oof. I am 100% positive I need to figure out training volume for ukemi, because it is a thing. My shoulder blade tells me so. No prizes for guessing where my mobility is going to be focused on today! Ironically, front rolls are giving me more trouble than back--once that was not the case. 

 

12 minutes ago, Mistr said:

Interesting observation on food and lifting. I did upper body weights yesterday and so far I don't have DOMS today (crosses fingers). A little stiff, but then again everything is a little stiff. I hope this means that my eating habits are okay. I so don't want to take time to weigh my food and calculate my macros. Plus I want to get stronger, more endurance and lose another couple pounds. A girl can dream, right?

 

You can do more than dream, definitely. Unless you're waaaaay under your activity levels, you shouldn't be crippled. A little stiffness is completely natural after lifting. As long as you can make training progress every other day if you so choose to organize your training that way, then your food is within an acceptable range. I have never weighed a single meal, so that's definitely not necessary unless you are an elite class lifter! At that point it's just probably not necessary. The main thing is you have enough calories to feel energetic throughout the day and enough protein to recover and build muscle for next session. For protein you should aim for at the very least 1g of protein per lb of lean body mass, but, given we aren't always sure of what that is, per lb of body weight is what I shoot for, hence my 115g protein benchmark! Other than protein, lots of veggies blah blah blah good enough. If you aren't sure what that much protein looks like, you can track what you eat for a week or two to get a feel for what you need and wing it from there. I track every day because if left to my own devices I will eat 1400 calories and shrivel up and die. Or something. Keeps me honest. 

[Mistr]

20 minutes ago, Urgan said:

You can do more than dream, definitely. Unless you're waaaaay under your activity levels, you shouldn't be crippled. A little stiffness is completely natural after lifting. As long as you can make training progress every other day if you so choose to organize your training that way, then your food is within an acceptable range. I have never weighed a single meal, so that's definitely not necessary unless you are an elite class lifter! At that point it's just probably not necessary. The main thing is you have enough calories to feel energetic throughout the day and enough protein to recover and build muscle for next session. For protein you should aim for at the very least 1g of protein per lb of lean body mass, but, given we aren't always sure of what that is, per lb of body weight is what I shoot for, hence my 115g protein benchmark! Other than protein, lots of veggies blah blah blah good enough. If you aren't sure what that much protein looks like, you can track what you eat for a week or two to get a feel for what you need and wing it from there. I track every day because if left to my own devices I will eat 1400 calories and shrivel up and die. Or something. Keeps me honest. 

 

I think my stiffness is mostly due to my age, not my activity level.   I feel better the more I work out.

 

I've been winging it on my eating habits. Lots of protein and veggies, limited carbs, very little processed food. This has mostly been working since I'm now in my target weight range. I can look in the mirror (or just look at my middle) and see if I'm having a good day or a bad day. According to the body fat measuring device in the clinic I am about 28% body fat. So at 154, that gives 111 lbs lean body mass. The harder part is figuring out how much protein I'm eating. I should just weigh some portions of chicken and pork roast to get an idea of how big 100g is, then adjust for the protein percent.

 

On good days I can trust my body to crave the right things. Bad days I just want chocolate and sugar. 

[Urgan]

3 minutes ago, Mistr said:

I've been winging it on my eating habits. Lots of protein and veggies, limited carbs, very little processed food. This has mostly been working since I'm now in my target weight range. I can look in the mirror (or just look at my middle) and see if I'm having a good day or a bad day. According to the body fat measuring device in the clinic I am about 28% body fat. So at 154, that gives 111 lbs lean body mass. The harder part is figuring out how much protein I'm eating. I should just weigh some portions of chicken and pork roast to get an idea of how big 100g is, then adjust for the protein percent.

 

On good days I can trust my body to crave the right things. Bad days I just want chocolate and sugar. 

 

I'm very reluctant to tell you to diverge from current trends if you are happy and well-fueled...so I won't! Do your thing and the moment you are unhappy with how you feel is the moment to seriously reevaluate what/how much you eat. For informational purposes, by all means get familiar with how much protein are in your average food portions. I don't get too lost in it on the day-to-day, however. If a pack of chicken breasts says 1.54lbs and there are 6 of them, I just do the division based on the number of chicken breasts that will be eaten per serving. A quick look-up in MFP tells me the protein count in .25lb worth of chicken! Any more fussing than that and you're burning calories worrying too much, IMHO~ I make liberal use of the recipe feature in MFP, enter the measures of the ingredients going into dinner and divide them up into how many servings we got out of it and BAM. Nearly instant macros. 

 

Some days, chocolate is medicine. Or so I tell myself.  

[Urgan]

Going the extra air mile...

[Urgan]

5-20-2016

Curse you, Mephistopheles!

 

Lifting

Mind the knees; mind the back

Rest day~

 

Ukemi

Roll 5x per side

REST DAY THANK YOU

 

Food

Protein: 17/20 - 120g

Protein protein protein. Tacos and beans and all the protein.

 

Sleep

Lights out: 11:50PM -- 5/10

Wake up: 8:30 AM -- 7/10

All of the itching and tossing and turning. Couldn’t quite get comfortable due to my right shoulder blade incessantly whining at me. Woke up around 5AM to use the bathroom. Sleep fail. On the plus side, I woke up less immobile than yesterday. Score!

 

New razor + get unsore + time will hopefully improve things. I may have just found my dairy threshold. Luckily it’s pretty lenient, so I can still have the occasional frozen treat if I am smart. Big if. Probably still dealing with a dairy...issue of some kind, darnit. (The good news is the tension in my shoulder eased up greatly over midday, but...)

 

Mobility

No slouching

Days since last tension headache: 0

Stretch and mobilize: 18/28

Not nearly as sore all the way around as I anticipated. Unfortunately late in the evening some heinous headache action descended upon me and clubbed me with a baby seal. Ugh. Lying on my side appears to be verboten--head position impacts it immensely. Neck and back mobility have done diddly to help thus far. So...I traded shoulder issues for head ones. GIVE ME BACK THE SHOULDER ISSUES, I DID NOT MAKE THIS BARGAIN, IT BLOWS. Clearly I need to put a barbell on my back. Stay tuned.

I adulted hardcore today….I got out of bed. Lol, no really it was a mega drag today because THE ITCHING SCREWED MY SLEEP. I forced myself to go to the store and found a shower caddy that is superior in just about every way to our old one, spent some quality time reorganizing it and my bath stuffs, leading to much cleanliness.

[Urgan]

 

5-21-2016

Oops.

 

Lifting

Mind the knees; mind the back

Squat - 45 1x5

            75 1x3

            95 1x2

            135 1x1

            157.5 2x3 - belted

BP -    NA

OHP - 45 1x3 - belted

          58 3x3 - belted

DL -    NA

PC -   47.5 5x3

Did the thing, it wasn’t really all that intense. The bar helped me feel better for a little while at least.

 

Ukemi

Roll 5x per side

I did backward rolls and abbreviated forward rolls because my back had had enough.

 

Food

Protein: 18/20 - 117g

Barely got it, but greater than 115 it is!

 

Sleep

Lights out: 12:50AM -- 4/10

Wake up: 8:30~ AM -- 6/10

UGH. So...best position was on my back with my eyes closed. Except when I pass out I can be in whatever position and once I wake up again, we play the Toss and Turn game to find a decent position again. Life is such a bastard, sometimes. I don’t think I woke up around 5 or anything this time, but things are a bit blurred between yesterday and today so it’s just a guess. I did end up awake around 2-ish and had trouble getting back to sleep, so I had to get up and reshuffle the deck chairs on the Titanic a bit in order figure out what was keeping me awake (I think it was temperature, but who honestly knows?). On the plus side, I don’t think itching was an issue--can’t eliminate that my preoccupation with the tension issue just overshadowed it...hence my refrain of “time”--it’s the only way I’ll know for sure what works.

 

I sorta woke up around 8:30, but drifted in and out of sleep because to be perfectly frank I did not want to open my eyes and/or get up. Because PAIN. Guess what? I was right. Pain.

 

Mobility

No slouching

Days since last tension headache: 0

Stretch and mobilize: 19/28

Specifically, the pain is over my right eye and at the back of my head, classic. I have tried massage, rolling with lacrosse ball, applying heat via the rice pack, a hot shower, and even magnesium bath. Nada. It makes me cranky because I can’t do my usual things at all--not even curl up on the couch and listen to videos. Sigh.

 

I did some stretching of my back and lower body, too, just because

[ixaera]

2 hours ago, Urgan said:

Specifically, the pain is over my right eye and at the back of my head, classic. I have tried massage, rolling with lacrosse ball, applying heat via the rice pack, a hot shower, and even magnesium bath.

 

Blech Sounds like give-in-and-ride-the-monster time  Hopefully it doesn't last too long. 

 

At least you got Things Done.

[Urgan]

2 hours ago, ixaera said:

 

Blech Sounds like give-in-and-ride-the-monster time  Hopefully it doesn't last too long. 

 

At least you got Things Done.

 

I have the dumb. It's shoulder/back side of traps, mostly if not entirely right trap. It's SERIOUSLY angry, so I had to roll the entire muscle. Will do the left one soon-ish to be obscenely thorough. BAH. It feels better to lie on the floor than anything else. 

[Urgan]

5-22-2016

Warrior of Light in lieu of relevant picture because I am Sick of This

 

Lifting

Mind the knees; mind the back

Rest day

 

Ukemi

Roll 5x per side

REST DAY

 

Food

Protein: 19/20 - 115g

Oh boy, squeaked by today...I am not proud to say I ate chocolate to make quota, but there it is. I’m making some slight allowances given my greatest achievement today once again was getting out of bed.

 

Sleep

Lights out: 12:20AM -- 4/10

Wake up: 9:30AM -- 6/10

Okay, so plus side...plus side….uhm...I’m not itching?? I didn’t wake up in the night? Sleeping on my side was a no-go...luckily I fell asleep on my back quickly. This is a first for me. I intentionally fell asleep on my back.

 

Mobility

No slouching

Days since last tension headache: 0

Stretch and mobilize: 20/28

My traps got The Treatment twice. I’m seeing a glimmer of hope that they will allow me to live normally in the future. I can’t lie down comfortably on the couch, driving is not the most pleasant ever, I can’t play any games for any length of time greater than 5 minutes before my head starts acting up, yet for some reason videos are okay-ish. Go figure. But I have had a few stretches where I wasn’t really hurting per say, sooooo that is a 185% improvement over yesterday. Optimism for tomorrow is up.

[Urgan]

MAY WEEK 3 DEBRIEF

Kid, you've got a looooooong way to go...

 

Lifting

My lifts were okay in spite of some sleep hiccups--all good here. I'm marching along with TM where applicable, and OHP is still looking good. My back is good (other than, you know, pounding it half to death on the mat), my knees really haven't complained under the bar or walking around, which is a big deal. Who'd have thought it was a cry for dietary help, of all things?

 

Ukemi

My elbow seems to be nearly if not completely mended from armbar funtiems. Killed it once again with ukemi and nearly killed myself overdoing it. Fact: there IS such thing as too much ukemi [see updated Lessons here]. Noted. Still, in spite of the ensuing muscular carnage, I regret nothing. In optimal environment, I won't be afraid to attempt the side breakfall without an assist and that is the main thing.

 

Food

Avg Protein: 126g! 

 

Up by a single gram! Up over the course of a month--97 > 119 > 125 > 126--that is awesome. Now to maintain this level of protein without the assist from a lot of dairy. I can do some, but not very much at a stretch, and CERTAINLY not while under the pall of a tension migraine. Seriously, that was all I wanted on Sunday...a shake. Agh. NO. Not 'til I am totally clear of tension AND I know it won't immediately destroy my life. I declare myself a nutrition hero for not eating anything that is custom patented and guaranteed to make the situation worse.

 

Sleep

My sleep is improving on average, however I am not quite sure whether it's the multi, the new razor, returning to moisturizing, or quitting dairy that did it. * coughs * I really am bad at isolating variables. I still am favoring 5AM as a wake-up time, but I immediately return to sleep and my lifts don't mind it so much, so I don't mind it.

 

Mobility

Ah hahahaha....* passes out * Three days of migraine from ukemi abuse is not a thing we want to see again, but I did make some strides using mobility and heat to alleviate the pain. Also, I did a decent job of mobilizing on lifting days AND it was massage day this week. A major step in the right direction--not a perfect session, buuuuut it was obvious I had done a good thing with magnesium supplementation in terms of the level of discomfort experienced there. My back was a lot less messed up, but my hips have a long way to go, lol.

[ixaera]

Warrior of Light looks like it's trying to headbutt out of the screen, freaky

[Urgan]

Just now, ixaera said:

Warrior of Light looks like it's trying to headbutt out of the screen, freaky

 

Funny, the end + beginning of the loop DOES make it look like that's what's happening. He is too pretty for this life. 

[ixaera]

1 hour ago, Urgan said:

 

Funny, the end + beginning of the loop DOES make it look like that's what's happening. He is too pretty for this life. 

 

Halp the forces of darkness have trapped me behind a computer screen you must free me to face

THE ZODIARK

[Urgan]

 

5-23-2016

SUSHIIIIIIIIIIIII~

 

Lifting

Mind the knees; mind the back

I have reached an all-time high weight of 115.4lbs! While on diuretic supplements. That is teh funny.

 

Ukemi

Roll 5x per side

It should be aikido night, but this is our wedding anniversary, so….SUSHI and cherry limeade, clearly. I’ll be taking a wee bit of a break on this quest for the week just to make sure everything is good before beginning anew.

 

Food

Protein: 20/20 - 116g

And...this quest is blown out of the water, lol. I also managed to stay under my sugar quota by a fair margin, which is rare rare RARE.

 

Oh and I have leftovers for lunch. YASSSS.

 

Sleep

Lights out: 12:25AM -- 6/10

Wake up: 8:55AM -- 8/10

No itching AND I get to sleep before I start panicking that something is wrong AND I wake up without the Haunting of headache? What madness is this??

 

Mobility

No slouching

Days since last tension headache: 1

Stretch and mobilize: 20/28

Not much in the way of mobility today...had to go get an anniversary gift because I was grounded most of the weekend with all the whining and all the angst ever. I ended up with Uncharted 4. While in the store, I got called by a recruiter lol. Nothing is going to come of it, because she was basically like, "Yeah, they want automated testing experience...and five years of testing experience..." Yeah, well, lady, who doesn't, honestly? So, doubt she's gonna put me out there for the client to pick apart. Another stop to buy a card, got hit inside the ear by a buzzing insect on the way out of the store. Luckily it wasn't a stinging kind or it was just as surprised as I was, and we both got away unscathed.

 

Whew.

 

Got home and wrapped present, cycled dishes, mopped the floor, cleaned out my purse, and did the first half of the earth crystal shenanigans on FF1 on the PS1. Then we went to dinner, brought home dessert, and I sat on the couch being useless the rest of the night.

[ixaera]

Happy Anniversary!!

 

 

[Urgan]

26 minutes ago, ixaera said:

Happy Anniversary!!

 

 

 

Thanks!

[miss_marissa]

4 hours ago, Urgan said:

Then we went to dinner, brought home dessert, and I sat on the couch being useless the rest of the night.

Sounds like a good night to me.

 

Happy anniversary!

[Urgan]

1 hour ago, miss_marissa said:

Sounds like a good night to me.

 

Happy anniversary!

 

It was very peaceful and no cooking to be had! Glorious. 

[Mistr]

On 5/23/2016 at 0:20 PM, Urgan said:

Now to maintain this level of protein without the assist from a lot of dairy. I can do some, but not very much at a stretch, and CERTAINLY not while under the pall of a tension migraine. Seriously, that was all I wanted on Sunday...a shake. Agh. NO. Not 'til I am totally clear of tension AND I know it won't immediately destroy my life. I declare myself a nutrition hero for not eating anything that is custom patented and guaranteed to make the situation worse.

 

Sleep

My sleep is improving on average, however I am not quite sure whether it's the multi, the new razor, returning to moisturizing, or quitting dairy that did it. * coughs * I really am bad at isolating variables. I still am favoring 5AM as a wake-up time, but I immediately return to sleep and my lifts don't mind it so much, so I don't mind it.

 

How do you feel about coconut milk? I've been making non-dairy ice cream with coconut milk and it behaves the same as ice cream made with cream. Same calories and fat too. It works well with chocolate or fruit for flavoring. There are commercial non-dairy frozen desserts that you might try as well. That would let you have a shake without the known aftereffects.

 

Yay for better sleep! Such a complicated tangle to sort out. I'm glad you were feeling better and could enjoy your anniversary.

[Urgan]

3 minutes ago, Mistr said:

How do you feel about coconut milk? I've been making non-dairy ice cream with coconut milk and it behaves the same as ice cream made with cream. Same calories and fat too. It works well with chocolate or fruit for flavoring. There are commercial non-dairy frozen desserts that you might try as well. That would let you have a shake without the known aftereffects.

 

Other than monumental laziness re: making shakes myself, the only issue with coconut milk is it's suuuuper sweet and leaves a bit of an aftertaste. Maybe if I let the idea percolate long enough.... It's taking a lot of restraint not to get one every other day like some kind of six year old lately, I think it's precisely because I should not have too much of it, you know? Psychology is lame. 

 

6 minutes ago, Mistr said:

Yay for better sleep! Such a complicated tangle to sort out. I'm glad you were feeling better and could enjoy your anniversary.

 

Hilariously, the tension pain is back. It just got tired and needed a break for a day, apparently. Poor thing * coughs *. I figure it's caused by poor sleeping posture, though it's just a guess. 

[Mistr]

38 minutes ago, Urgan said:

Other than monumental laziness re: making shakes myself, the only issue with coconut milk is it's suuuuper sweet and leaves a bit of an aftertaste. Maybe if I let the idea percolate long enough.... It's taking a lot of restraint not to get one every other day like some kind of six year old lately, I think it's precisely because I should not have too much of it, you know? Psychology is lame. 

 

Are you using coconut milk or coconut creme? Coconut creme is the stuff used in pina coladas. Tasty and loaded with sugar. Coconut milk is closer to the natural stuff. Different brands have different percent water and additives, but should not have added sugar. That is the main benefit of making your own - you control exactly what is in it. Of course, there is a danger in being able to have ice cream in half an hour without needing to leave the house...

 

Sorry about the return of your tension pain. We just need to get you a zero-G sleeping chamber. No pressure anywhere.

[Urgan]

Just now, Mistr said:

Are you using coconut milk or coconut creme? Coconut creme is the stuff used in pina coladas. Tasty and loaded with sugar. Coconut milk is closer to the natural stuff. Different brands have different percent water and additives, but should not have added sugar. That is the main benefit of making your own - you control exactly what is in it. Of course, there is a danger in being able to have ice cream in half an hour without needing to leave the house...

 

Hmm, it was labeled as coconut milk... Yes, having the power of process of elimination over food is important for such things as allergies. My nighttime itching is directly controlled by moisturizer application. I have zero problems until it's time for bed, then WHAM. Itching. This does not seem to be a normal state of affairs. Daytime itching appears to be controlled by how much dairy is consumed. It took a week and a half of heavy consumption to trigger it, so...I can definitely live with that. Once a week or slightly less seems reasonable, until proven otherwise. 

 

5 minutes ago, Mistr said:

Sorry about the return of your tension pain. We just need to get you a zero-G sleeping chamber. No pressure anywhere.

 

I would so dig one of those things. Cannot wait until I have the sense to not bring it back on the minute I get rid of it. I mean, seriously....