Kishi Says Empty

[Kishi]

On 6/9/2017 at 10:29 AM, Urgan said:

 

Dang, sorry to hear that. FWIW, I have had, sluggish, no-appetite zombie days and they are the least fun ever. Maybe they're related to how hard we work vs calories in? Not sure. We can't go full throttle 100% of the time without taking a break, huh? Glad to hear it cleared up quickly.

 

Well, it did! Kind of! Sort of. Not sure what happened. Read below...

 

*

 

So, I thought I was better. And then I wasn't. And then I was.

 

The fever broke and everything, like I said, but it's like my stomach changed its character. The huge appetite that I was carrying with me back when I lifted weights... it went away. I went to have lunch with my coworkers and I found myself feeling full on a lot less food. After work, I went out for pizza and comedy and got full again.

 

The past few days have been this recurring cycle of eating what feels like so little food compared to what I'm used to and feeling so little appetite. I went to go help my friend on Saturday, ate a couple slices of pizza, and almost didn't eat again for the rest of the day. Eventually I did my training on GB and worked up some appetite, but Greek yogurt and kefir were enough.

 

Tonight, I went out with my folks, after practicing handstands and SLS. I took in yogurt, kefir, and protein, and then went to dinner. There was so much food, and I ate and ate and ate... and couldn't finish.

 

Naturally, I've been thinking furiously since this happened. WebMD of course is useless - I have everything from indigestion to food poisoning to constipation and should be dead any day now. None of which is really true. If anything, it feels more like I'm courting food hangovers like I did in the old days, back when I believed in things like love and cheat days.

 

None of this does anything to address why I feel this way. So, let's review what's changed. I'm not really lifting anymore. I'm overcoming resistance, yes, but it's not the same thing, not exactly. Most of my physical expression now is based in lengthy practice with comparatively brief spurts of intense effort (judo being the exception). Most of my strength adaptations now are going to be neurological rather than muscular. Everything is tied around relative strength as opposed to absolute strength.

 

All of this to say that I suspect my body is attempting to autoregulate me down from where I was before. Because I have no more nausea, and I'm moving as well as I was... but I have no more appetite either. Of course, it could just be the last throes of whatever it was and my body getting back on track too, but it's a way slower recovery than it was last time.

 

 

I dunno.

 

Anyway, let the other goals slide for the past few days while I tried to sort this out. It's not sorted yet, but time marches on.

[Teirin]

On 6/2/2017 at 6:02 PM, mightstone2k said:

That prospective student sounds like so much fun to play with! People like him made me happy when I was still training regularly.

 

No, I'm not a masochist in my martial arts. I was the class enforcer people that were being colossal dicks got to play with me, and my instructor let me do as I please (within reasonable limits). Which meant more hitting more harder. Thems were the days.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I have also done a turn as club enforcer.  It was kind of hilarious at times.  Mostly one 14 year old who mistook senior students restraint as an incapability to do anything to him.  I favoured groundwork as it was very safe but effective. 

 

You also get this face at times.

 

 

On 6/3/2017 at 3:32 PM, Kishi said:

To be clear, though, that's an obstacle no matter what level your judo is. Either you play with someone who outplays you, or you play with someone who won't play by stiff-arming you (a thing that rookies do to feel better about themselves that I never learned and is subsequently used against me a lot. It can be played around. But it's a dick move). I tell myself to do judo because it plays well with karate and covers a lot of the ranges of grappling and groundwork that karate doesn't. I just... have a hard time applying discipline to get into a situation where it feels like I'm not learning anything except what it feels like to get dunked on.

 

That's a personal problem, though, and the fact is I've used judo in karate to good effect. I rationally know that there's value in it. It's just really hard to get over that hump on a Saturday morning.

 

So, if that's the obstacle, then I need to find another way to attack it. Fortunately, the dojo has actually presented a good way around it. The students have realized that there's a wide range of skill represented, so it's split into a beginner class for novices and an advanced class for the senpai. Even better, the beginner class is set up on Wednesdays. And I no longer have the Iron to keep me away.

 

Okay. Personal Mini-Challenge - Go to Judo on Wednesday.

 

It absolutely is.  The novice class is good.  Hope it helps you get comfortable with your Judo level and some perspective.  I suspect you've got an odd view of it since you've been doing so much mixed training, and primarily working with a few upper level Judoka at most.   

 

Also, bless you for never stiff-arming.  That and excessive turtling in groundwork are in no way useful to training.

 

Yay for more Judo!  I am biased on that one.  Also, I stole your mini challenge idea.

 

On 6/4/2017 at 4:14 AM, Kishi said:

Yeah, exactly. I don't mind losing, but I want to feel like there's a way I can improve. You get stuck with someone who's got 50-60 lbs on you as a novice, there's nothing to do but just get your shit rocked. I know that getting someone to move period is a win, but it feels awful hollow when you're the one who ends up on the ground.

 

 

It's a bad feeling to have.

 

 

It is, and ego can get in the way there too.  It's still a problem as a more senior student.  I used to have trouble in groundwork with the big guys.  One had 100lbs on me and used to be on our national rugby team.  As a yellow belt, he pretty much just sat on me (black belt).  Happens sometimes.  Good training though, even when it doesn't feel like it. 

 

On 6/5/2017 at 0:16 AM, Shotokan said:

Not at all.  People who come into a dojo and make a judgement in one session, based on their self proclaimed expertise, don't belong in a dojo. 

 

Cheers to that.  Especially if they bail early "because they're tired."

 

On 6/5/2017 at 2:35 PM, Mistr said:

 Going to judo on Wednesdays sounds like a good thing to test for a few weeks. Say, for the rest of this challenge.

 

It seems strange to me that any competitive martial art would have sparring as the main form of practice for new people. Of course you can't throw someone who is bigger or more skilled than you are. @Teirin could say more about strategies for teaching judo. In aikido the standard method is to take turns. The senior person takes falls to help the junior person learn. Of course the senior person could block or reverse the technique. The new people would never get the hang of it if we did that. We practice reversals on other senior people, where it is a fun game instead of an exercise in frustration. Levels of the game.

 

Judo heavily teaches randori as a primary practice at every level.  But it isn't just throwing everyone in to fight with no rules on day 1.  Aspects of what you describe are built into it.  Newer people are usually paired with senior people.  The newer people get to work with someone who can fall and handle themselves, and the senior one works on control and technique without muscling it too much.  Favourite tool:  the senior student can't use thumb and index finger in their grip.  Forces them to guide more and haul less.  It is still in the form of an active fight, just a restricted one.   With very new people, the senior one often won't be trying to throw them at all, just getting them to move and work to try the techniques on a moving opponent.  If the new person does it right, the senior will go with it. That said, most will be doing full randori with people their level within a month-ish of joining.  It'll be carefully paired and supervised with restricted throws, but they will be fighting.  More groundwork to start, but standing as well.  It's also why we push breakfalls very hard and teach the throws in certain orders, so that the newbies aren't wrecking each other with huge throws.  Also, mats :-) 

 

Traditional class flow:  bow-in, announcements, warmup, breakfalls, groundwork technique(s), newaza randori, throwing technique(s), standing randori, cooldown and bow-out.  One or more of those may end up missing because of working on others more but none should be omitted regularly.  Breakfalls do take up a much larger chunk with new people though.

 

On 6/5/2017 at 5:29 PM, Kishi said:

Whoops! My bad. Most of our training was newaza and uchikomi afterward, typically based on whatever throw sensei was feeling that day. Sparring was not the majority of our training. But, really, there just wasn't a lot of organization in what we were doing or how we were learning. I never got the chance to actually figure out what throws would work well for me beyond osoto gari, so that was my one move. It's hard to fight well in judo without at least two moves. I was also really preoccupied with trying to make things pretty as opposed to just getting the other guy on his back.

 

I hope that a more structured class will let you feel out more techniques.  You def want more than one throw!  I've rec'd this blog before for analysis and footwork, and the linked new series in there is great as well.

 

On 6/8/2017 at 11:16 AM, Kishi said:

In a good way. I went out to Judo last night and had a lot of fun.  It was perfectly calibrated for someone like me. The guy who opened up our class took us through a Neila Rey workout as the warmup. And I was all . To be clear, I was dead. But :D. After warmup, one of the blackbelts said I looked familiar, as I should - we trained together in Durham, by which I mean he threw me like a ragdoll and I jumped back up like a marionette. I like this one, though - he's pretty chill, and while he gets in there and scraps, he'll take you back through afterward to the point where you should have done something, show you what to do, have you do it, and then continue on from there.

 

Afterward, we did uchikomi where I got to work on ousoto and sasae. I got pointers and everything. And then... that was it. No randori. Feel a certain kind of way about that, but it's more surprise than negativity.

 

 

Good class.  Not all of them need randori.  Just most of them :-)  The instructor sounds good for showing you where you can do things and what went wrong.  Pausing mid-fight to give guidance when needed is a good thing.  I hope he does that as well as the afterwards guidance.

 

On 6/8/2017 at 11:31 AM, Urgan said:

Sounds like a good time. In my utterly non-expert opinion, not doing randori in a novice class sounds like just the thing. 

 

Judo incorporates randori early and often.  It's an important part of training.  It does have restrictions though.  We don't break the newbies.

 

On 6/8/2017 at 1:30 PM, Mistr said:

 

Sounds like they had plenty of things to keep you moving without randori. Especially considering how you felt the morning after.  Sounds like the instructors are giving you the type of feedback you want. Awesome!

 

I don't teach randori in my basic class. The newer students don't have the skills to do it. We did work on giawaza exercises specifically to train for randori in the intermediate class. How to keep moving, how to set up the interaction so that nage is in a good position when uke makes contact, being ready to change if the first move doesn't work. Bonus points for throwing uke #1 into uke #2. Skills, not techniques.

 

Neat :-)  I do wish we did more work with multiple opponents.

 

On 6/9/2017 at 11:07 AM, Kishi said:

 

I wound up running a low-grade fever, as well as getting chills and losing my appetite, this despite not having eaten anything. So no karate last night. No kettlebells either. I stayed awake long enough to get home, take a nap, climb in the shower to get over my chills, then climb back in bed. I got down at 2100... but then I popped awake at 0600 today and felt great. Fever's broken, and I'm ravenous.

 

Weird, getting a 24-hour bug like that. Wonder if I got it from Judo. :| Anyway, that's done. Still planning to take it easy today, though.

 

Take care man!  Training areas are prime for spreading disease.  Congrats on finding the workout parks too!

 

TL:DR I babble about Judo a lot, but randori is indeed important :-)  Sorry for the wall of text.

[Urgan]

Maybe you have just shocked your system a bit with stopping lifting and starting judo in the same time?

 

8 hours ago, Teirin said:

Judo incorporates randori early and often.  It's an important part of training.  It does have restrictions though.  We don't break the newbies.

 

I mean, it'd have to or else you'd have to keep replacing the newbies. Lol. Accommodations must be made for those of us who lack the skills plz.

[Teirin]

1 hour ago, Urgan said:

I mean, it'd have to or else you'd have to keep replacing the newbies. Lol. Accommodations must be made for those of us who lack the skills plz.

 

Very much so!  According to Judo history, that was one of the prompts for Prof. Kano (our founder) to start his own school.  He wasn't happy with how many new students were getting injured working with senior students.  You can train hard, but safely.  We're also generally less hardcore these days :-)

[Treva]

12 hours ago, Kishi said:

Naturally, I've been thinking furiously since this happened. WebMD of course is useless - I have everything from indigestion to food poisoning to constipation and should be dead any day now. None of which is really true. If anything, it feels more like I'm courting food hangovers like I did in the old days, back when I believed in things like love and cheat days.

WebMD will tell you that you always have cancer.  It's dumb like that.  If you're not dead, great!  Not dead is great.  So good.  

You could just be post-fever weirdness for a little bit?  There are normal fluxes of hungry and not hungry, and it make take a few days for things to settle out?

12 hours ago, Kishi said:

All of this to say that I suspect my body is attempting to autoregulate me down from where I was before. Because I have no more nausea, and I'm moving as well as I was... but I have no more appetite either. Of course, it could just be the last throes of whatever it was and my body getting back on track too, but it's a way slower recovery than it was last time.

All this is super possible.  Give it a few days?  fighting fevers that actually have to break is no fun, and bodies sometimes don't always know what to do with the post phase.  Curse you acute phase reactants and interleukins!!  There's even this thing called anorexia of infection, which is a thing where you're not hungry because you're body's fighting a disease, which may be totally and completely unrelated.  It could also have been a gnarlier bug with lots more attitude than just a fever.  

TL;DR there are lots of reasons and not all of them are cancer or plague stop scaring people WebMD ohmygawd.

I also think the whole change up in your workout schedule sounds like it could be a bit of an overhaul, and your body may be adjusting to the new ways it's burning energy too.  You know your body best, of course of course.

 

I hope you feel better soon and that judo works out for you!!  Also yay for not stiff arming people.  there are dick moves like that in fencing too, that of course are taught to novices with explicit instructions to NOT USE THEM until you're a professional jerk fencer with slick mastery level moves.

[Kishi]

9 hours ago, Teirin said:

It absolutely is.  The novice class is good.  Hope it helps you get comfortable with your Judo level and some perspective.  I suspect you've got an odd view of it since you've been doing so much mixed training, and primarily working with a few upper level Judoka at most.

 

And you know, it did. The guy I got paired with for uchikomi actually sounded just like me. Not sure if that were a good thing or not.

 

10 hours ago, Teirin said:

Also, bless you for never stiff-arming.  That and excessive turtling in groundwork are in no way useful to training.

 

Thanks! As someone who's dealt w/ both of those things, I agree.

 

11 hours ago, Teirin said:

Yay for more Judo!  I am biased on that one.  Also, I stole your mini challenge idea.

 

Hey, I will take it. And I hope you enjoy the personal mini!

 

11 hours ago, Teirin said:

It is, and ego can get in the way there too.  It's still a problem as a more senior student.  I used to have trouble in groundwork with the big guys.  One had 100lbs on me and used to be on our national rugby team.  As a yellow belt, he pretty much just sat on me (black belt).  Happens sometimes.  Good training though, even when it doesn't feel like it. 

 

Mm. So this is one of those cases where if that happens, I need to just suck it up and deal.

 

12 hours ago, Teirin said:

Judo heavily teaches randori as a primary practice at every level.  But it isn't just throwing everyone in to fight with no rules on day 1.  Aspects of what you describe are built into it.  Newer people are usually paired with senior people.  The newer people get to work with someone who can fall and handle themselves, and the senior one works on control and technique without muscling it too much.  Favourite tool:  the senior student can't use thumb and index finger in their grip.  Forces them to guide more and haul less.  It is still in the form of an active fight, just a restricted one.   With very new people, the senior one often won't be trying to throw them at all, just getting them to move and work to try the techniques on a moving opponent.  If the new person does it right, the senior will go with it. That said, most will be doing full randori with people their level within a month-ish of joining.  It'll be carefully paired and supervised with restricted throws, but they will be fighting.  More groundwork to start, but standing as well.  It's also why we push breakfalls very hard and teach the throws in certain orders, so that the newbies aren't wrecking each other with huge throws.  Also, mats :-)

 

That underlined part, tho? Not so much at the last place. Mostly it was just whoever got up, and no real restriction on throws. Not a lot of regulation, you know?

 

12 hours ago, Teirin said:

Traditional class flow:  bow-in, announcements, warmup, breakfalls, groundwork technique(s), newaza randori, throwing technique(s), standing randori, cooldown and bow-out.  One or more of those may end up missing because of working on others more but none should be omitted regularly.  Breakfalls do take up a much larger chunk with new people though.

 

The flow at this new place is very like that. I can't say for sure which parts if any are omitted regularly, because I'm not a regular. Yet. Wouldn't be fair to pass a judgment.

 

12 hours ago, Teirin said:

I hope that a more structured class will let you feel out more techniques.  You def want more than one throw!  I've rec'd this blog before for analysis and footwork, and the linked new series in there is great as well.

 

Oh, heck yeah! I'm up to about 2-3 or so. I'll have to take a look at that blog again sometime, though.

 

12 hours ago, Teirin said:

Good class.  Not all of them need randori.  Just most of them :-)  The instructor sounds good for showing you where you can do things and what went wrong.  Pausing mid-fight to give guidance when needed is a good thing.  I hope he does that as well as the afterwards guidance.

 

Yup! He definitely does that.

 

13 hours ago, Teirin said:

Take care man!  Training areas are prime for spreading disease.  Congrats on finding the workout parks too!

 

Thanks! I'll try to be careful.

 

13 hours ago, Teirin said:

TL:DR I babble about Judo a lot, but randori is indeed important :-)  Sorry for the wall of text.

 

No no! It's good to see your enthusiasm. It's infectious.

[Urgan]

34 minutes ago, Treva said:

Also yay for not stiff arming people.  there are dick moves like that in fencing too, that of course are taught to novices with explicit instructions to NOT USE THEM until you're a professional jerk fencer with slick mastery level moves.

 

How do you get this job?? Inquiring minds want to know. 

[Kishi]

3 hours ago, Treva said:

WebMD will tell you that you always have cancer.  It's dumb like that.  If you're not dead, great!  Not dead is great.  So good.  

 

Yeah, but I thought maybe I'd have to work a little harder to get the cancer prognosis rather than just being told I had something possibly emergency worthy in the first go? Oh well. WebMD remains useless.

 

3 hours ago, Treva said:

You could just be post-fever weirdness for a little bit?  There are normal fluxes of hungry and not hungry, and it make take a few days for things to settle out?

 

3 hours ago, Treva said:

All this is super possible.  Give it a few days?  fighting fevers that actually have to break is no fun, and bodies sometimes don't always know what to do with the post phase.  Curse you acute phase reactants and interleukins!!  There's even this thing called anorexia of infection, which is a thing where you're not hungry because you're body's fighting a disease, which may be totally and completely unrelated.  It could also have been a gnarlier bug with lots more attitude than just a fever.

 

I mean, I wanted to go on a cut, but not like this. Not like this.

 

Well, I did take weight last week and it's all holding about where it has for the past while. I'll try to keep the totals about the same this week and we'll see what happens.

 

3 hours ago, Treva said:

TL;DR there are lots of reasons and not all of them are cancer or plague stop scaring people WebMD ohmygawd.

 

WebMD WHY ლ(ಥ Д ಥ )ლ

 

3 hours ago, Treva said:

I also think the whole change up in your workout schedule sounds like it could be a bit of an overhaul, and your body may be adjusting to the new ways it's burning energy too.  You know your body best, of course of course.

 

Well, you're not wrong about the training being an overhaul. And like I said, I'm not sure that my body isn't telling me, Whoa, man, you don't need this. Not now. Like I said, last weigh-in I was still ~190, even after a couple of days of not as many calories.

 

Too soon to tell, though.

 

4 hours ago, Treva said:

I hope you feel better soon and that judo works out for you!!  Also yay for not stiff arming people.  there are dick moves like that in fencing too, that of course are taught to novices with explicit instructions to NOT USE THEM until you're a professional jerk fencer with slick mastery level moves.

 

Thanks! I've got high hopes for this, and it felt good to be out on the mats again.

 

Also, yeah, you can't play if someone's just keeping you out like that. It's not fun.

[Teirin]

9 hours ago, Kishi said:

Mm. So this is one of those cases where if that happens, I need to just suck it up and deal.

 

*shrug*  there's always someone better.  Or bigger.  Or something. 

 

9 hours ago, Kishi said:

That underlined part, tho? Not so much at the last place. Mostly it was just whoever got up, and no real restriction on throws. Not a lot of regulation, you know?

 

Officially Not Good.  There are times when you can do that, but not with newbies.  Be very careful with clubs like that.  You always have the right to back away from a match you're not up for.  If they give you shit, walk away.

 

9 hours ago, Kishi said:

Yup! He definitely does that.

 

Excellent 

[chemgeek]

I second Teirin. Be super careful about clubs that don't restrict throws etc by ability.  That is a good way to literally break the newbies.

[Kishi]

11 hours ago, Teirin said:

*shrug*  there's always someone better.  Or bigger.  Or something.

 

Yup.

 

11 hours ago, Teirin said:

Officially Not Good.  There are times when you can do that, but not with newbies.  Be very careful with clubs like that.  You always have the right to back away from a match you're not up for.  If they give you shit, walk away.

 

1 hour ago, chemgeek said:

I second Teirin. Be super careful about clubs that don't restrict throws etc by ability.  That is a good way to literally break the newbies.

 

Now, see, I just thought that was normal. I didn't know it wasn't. I will comport myself accordingly.

 

*

 

Right. Not dying any faster than I was before. So.

 

WEEK 3

GOAL 1: -/-

 

GOAL 2: 1/1

 

GOAL 3: 1/1

 

GOAL 4: 1/1

 

A good day. Monday being as restful as it is, there's not a whole lot to report. I spent the day making sure I got up from the desk to stretch every half hour. When dinner time came, I was able to eat the full amount. Bodily pain is well-managed and under control. I think I need to get that elbow rolled again, though - might need to make a daily habit out of that. It doesn't hurt any during training, but it will get set off by other things outside of training and it still feels really tight on the inside.

 

Still, on the whole I'm moving better and I feel lighter, even though I'm not a different weight (or, if anything, heavier).

 

Had a hard look at the scenes I planned last night and then cut out the scenes that didn't have anything to do with the central idea. It was the vast majority of them. T_T Welp. Would have had to happen eventually.

 

Got to bed on time last night but could have used more sleep. Oh well.

[Treva]

23 hours ago, Kishi said:

Yeah, but I thought maybe I'd have to work a little harder to get the cancer prognosis rather than just being told I had something possibly emergency worthy in the first go? Oh well. WebMD remains useless.

 

23 hours ago, Kishi said:

WebMD WHY ლ(ಥ Д ಥ )ლ

Totally.  Deep dark secret is that when one is trying to come up with a diagnosis, you run through all the possible types of causes, one of which happens to be neoplastic aka cancer.  Which is why technically everything COULD be cancer but no, WebMD, not EVERYONE gets to be so special as to have cancer.  No.  *screams*  

 

5 hours ago, Kishi said:

A good day. Monday being as restful as it is, there's not a whole lot to report. I spent the day making sure I got up from the desk to stretch every half hour. When dinner time came, I was able to eat the full amount. Bodily pain is well-managed and under control. I think I need to get that elbow rolled again, though - might need to make a daily habit out of that. It doesn't hurt any during training, but it will get set off by other things outside of training and it still feels really tight on the inside.

Yay you're eating again!!!

 

Glad the scene writing is going apace.  Cutting stuff is the worst.  Also makes a tighter story.  but the worst.  You's right, it'd have to happen sometime--sooner better than later?

[Kishi]

17 hours ago, Treva said:

Yay you're eating again!!!

 

Yeah! And it is a huge relief. Feels good to enjoy food again.

 

17 hours ago, Treva said:

Glad the scene writing is going apace.  Cutting stuff is the worst.  Also makes a tighter story.  but the worst.  You's right, it'd have to happen sometime--sooner better than later?

 

Definitely. Usually, I get a few chapters in, then can't shake the feeling that something's wrong and wind up flailing and scrapping the whole thing. This time is different - I have someone I'm talking to about it, and it's keeping me honest. Also, the notecards make it feel a lot less fatal.

 

*

 

WEEK 3

GOAL 1: -/-

 

GOAL 2: 2/2

 

GOAL 3: 2/2

 

GOAL 4: 2/2

 

One of the coworkers brought a cough and doesn't cover her mouth, and now it's spreading throughout the office. Sniffles everywhere. Sigh.

 

So far the supplemental vitamin C is doing its job, and I'm not feeling rundown or anything, but you can bet I'm not exactly pleased about this.

 

Anyway, went and played with GB Core work yesterday. Scaled back FL, which made everything easier. I probably need to be humble about it and scale back way far, because I only make about 12 seconds or so in the hold for this progression before I start to shake. As opposed to my handstand work, where I don't tremble at all and can hold for the required times without any real trouble.

 

It's not like the dynamic stuff - if you hit a point where your reps start to grind instead of coming smooth, you know you're at a limit. Bodyweight strength training is #HardMode. True story.

 

After that, practiced running, then went to the dojo. Practiced moving off of center line and body jabbing. As to sparring... well... have you ever had to deal with someone whom you trust just hitting you harder than you expected him to? That was me, unfortunately, as the person doing the hitting. Although, that being said, I did do some good things. Moved around a lot more, and managed to make a body hook. Got thrown a few times for my trouble, and need to start brushing up on clashing and clinching again. Also, need to figure out a smarter way out of corner beyond laterally shuffling out behind a jab.

 

The road goes ever on.

[Kishi]

ACH. MY BACK.

 

WEEK 3

GOAL 1: -/-

 

GOAL 2: 2/3

 

GOAL 3: 2/3

 

GOAL 4: 3/3

 

So, went to practice snatches and also to do judo. Wow. Those two do not mix well for me. When I was practicing snatches, I felt a lumbar extension. So, like, I get the bell up, but there were a few reps where I wasn't stable - either I'd have to step to catch or my arm would go back too far. I did feel it, but I didn't think anything of it - just minor things, what's the worst that could happen.

 

Anyway, I went to judo and I felt the soreness and realized, oh God, snatches are the culprit. Resting was probably the smarter move. But I went to judo, which is not restful. I didn't realize the mistake until after everything was said and done.

 

No points for pain management given that I was dumb. I thought I'd be able to manage cooking, but that happened late, and after that all I could think of was getting to bed, which I barely managed. No scenery either.

 

On the bright side, though, I'm up and walking, and the mobility routine that I do at my desk feels really good. So, you know, there's that.

 

In any event, need to reassess what I do on Wednesdays. Snatching doesn't really serve a purpose beyond being a brief, intense exertion, something I can do to help me improve in martial arts. Well, that's not doing it for me anymore. Doesn't matter how strong my heart is if I can't move without pain. I'm already addressing that kind of stuff with the run practice, S&S, the 'warm up' at judo, and even GB as those moves get harder and you string 'em together.

 

Sooo, I'm thinking I may need to change this up to a day for working on mobility. There's not a lot of time to do anything else, and there's a gym space here at the office I can use for that kind of thing. Shouldn't be hard to make something happen there, given that it'd be the end of the day, when most of the office is emptying out.

 

Anyway, that's the state of things right now. Probably light practice tonight, if I can help it.

[Urgan]

+1 Living and learning. Yesterday was a good day, you were able to solve a pain mystery. You could move snatches to another day or ax 'em. You have no shortage of training either way. 

[Kishi]

22 hours ago, Urgan said:

+1 Living and learning. Yesterday was a good day, you were able to solve a pain mystery. You could move snatches to another day or ax 'em. You have no shortage of training either way. 

 

Yeah, that's kind of how I feel about them. Kind of ambivalent, you know? And truthfully, if I'd gone as far as I meant to go with them, I wouldn't have been able to keep them on Wednesday nights anyway. They would have needed too much time.

 

*

 

WEEK 3

GOAL 1: -/-

 

GOAL 2: 3/4

 

GOAL 3: 3/4

 

GOAL 4: 4/4

 

Things are getting better. Back is still really stiff/sore, but it gets better as the day goes by. Getting up and moving really helps this.

 

I went out yesterday and hit up swings and get ups w/ the 35, just to get some practice in. They felt good. The snap-brace of swinging felt really good, and between that and an aspirin afterward I was able to go do karate without any real problems. I was able to practice movement and spar afterward, and everything felt really good.

 

I was hoping I'd wake up this morning with the pain mostly resolved. Not that lucky, though. ; Still can't bend over w/o bracing myself like I'm about to do a RDL. Still, it is better, and since I'm not loading my spine up with heavy loads, I'm sure it won't interfere with training. Since today probably means more easy swings followed by the flow class that is kali, I'm not too worried about it.

 

Of course, the swings might not happen today on account of thunderstorms supposedly rolling through the area at some point. Meh. We'll see about that.

 

In the meantime, K-sensei's talking about having us go play w/ a kyokushin dojo that sprang up in Raleigh. Oh boy. Need to start practicing for that. Also need to keep working on stretching my back and mobilizing.

 

Writing and getting to bed on time happened. It was all good.

[Urgan]

14 minutes ago, Kishi said:

Yeah, that's kind of how I feel about them. Kind of ambivalent, you know? And truthfully, if I'd gone as far as I meant to go with them, I wouldn't have been able to keep them on Wednesday nights anyway. They would have needed too much time.

 

Ain't nobody got time for ambivalence. You can always take them back off the training shelf later when conditions are more favorable, right? Or not. Whatever, lol.

 

15 minutes ago, Kishi said:

In the meantime, K-sensei's talking about having us go play w/ a kyokushin dojo that sprang up in Raleigh. Oh boy. Need to start practicing for that. Also need to keep working on stretching my back and mobilizing.

 

Oh boy. All the different training styles, yes?

[Treva]

On 6/15/2017 at 9:33 AM, Kishi said:

In any event, need to reassess what I do on Wednesdays. Snatching doesn't really serve a purpose beyond being a brief, intense exertion, something I can do to help me improve in martial arts. Well, that's not doing it for me anymore. Doesn't matter how strong my heart is if I can't move without pain. I'm already addressing that kind of stuff with the run practice, S&S, the 'warm up' at judo, and even GB as those moves get harder and you string 'em together.

 

Sooo, I'm thinking I may need to change this up to a day for working on mobility. There's not a lot of time to do anything else, and there's a gym space here at the office I can use for that kind of thing. Shouldn't be hard to make something happen there, given that it'd be the end of the day, when most of the office is emptying out.

Hey, at least you figured out what the problem was.  Sounds like good body awareness for building good habits.  I know very little, but replacing a bad-back thing with a mobility-thing sounds like putting a fixer in where you were having a problem before.  Supporting all of this.  what sort of things do you do for mobility?

 

Oooh.  Oh your office has a gym space?  That sounds hella convenient.  And it saves you time from having to drive over to the gym or a different space?

 

On 6/16/2017 at 9:26 AM, Kishi said:

In the meantime, K-sensei's talking about having us go play w/ a kyokushin dojo that sprang up in Raleigh.

When you say play I think of kaiju going at it.  Wonder how accurate that is.

[Kishi]

On 6/16/2017 at 9:41 AM, Urgan said:

Ain't nobody got time for ambivalence. You can always take them back off the training shelf later when conditions are more favorable, right? Or not. Whatever, lol.

 

Well, it's kind of like Dan John says - the heart doesn't win any awards for brains. It'll beat-beat-beat for just about any kind of stimulus. But I'd like to git gud at it some time... just, you know. Not right now.

 

17 minutes ago, Treva said:

Hey, at least you figured out what the problem was.  Sounds like good body awareness for building good habits.  I know very little, but replacing a bad-back thing with a mobility-thing sounds like putting a fixer in where you were having a problem before.  Supporting all of this.  what sort of things do you do for mobility?

 

Thanks. As far as what I'm gonna do... I don't really know. Most of what I do these days involves short little bursts of activity throughout the day - getting up to stretch out my hips from the desk, or doing movement flow for 5 minutes prior to engaging in strength work. I have Kelly Starrett's Deskbound, but while he offers a bunch of prescriptions for movement routines, they're pretty short and involve relatively a lot of equipment that I can't necessarily cart around with me. I'm pretty sorely tempted by GB's stretching routines - they're good, long, seem to involve a minimal amount of equipment, and are designed to fit in with the other stuff I'm doing, but each one's like $100 a pop and I'm at a time of the month where I'm not made of money.

 

I've still got a few days to figure this out, but I just don't know.

 

27 minutes ago, Treva said:

When you say play I think of kaiju going at it.  Wonder how accurate that is.

 

On 6/16/2017 at 9:41 AM, Urgan said:

Oh boy. All the different training styles, yes?

 

Ha ha. Ha. Okay. This is kyokushin:

 

 

It's basically a full-contact style. No face-punching, but you make up for it by face-kicking and generally just bareknuckling it out. Because you don't have to worry about getting punched in the face, it lends itself to a very... tanky style of play. Wade in, trade blows, be tough, say osu a lot because that shit hurts. George St Pierre is a good example of kyokushin being applied in a mixed setting.

 

Contrast that with shotokan:

 

 

Yes, I know, Lyoto Machida calls it Machida-ryu, but it's shotokan. It's way more cautious, way more mobile. It's a snipey, head-hunting kind of style, way more focused on moving and scoring big hits and counters. Very boring to watch when done well, which is why nobody liked Machida back when he was champion in the UFC.

 

So... it's going to be interesting. Like most mixed-style matches, it's a trick of playing your game and refusing to let them play theirs. Of course they're going to approach with the exact same mindset. Hoo boy.

 

*

 

WEEK 3

GOAL 1: 0/1

 

GOAL 2: 4/5

 

GOAL 3: 4/5

 

GOAL 4: 5/5

 

Well, yesterday was yesterday.

 

Finally got rained out of training in the field. Didn't have a contingency plan in place for that, so went and sat down in a Sheetz and just kind of chilled. Felt unnatural. But honestly, it's not that bad to take a break every now and again, I guess. And there was Kali afterward. Manong says I'm taking to the flows really well. I've still got to work on getting my hips into sync with my arms, and also creating a path for the blade. But it is happening. And we also began to play with some of the crossover applications - I was able to spot tai otoshi in one of the flows as the end result of a set-up combination, which I thought was pretty fascinating given that tai otoshi isn't one of my throws. Can't seem to figure out how to blend shotokan into this yet, but I think there's some kind of translation happening here to account for things.

 

Pain management was pretty good yesterday. Woke up stiff, but got better as time went on. Was able to go to practice w/o painkillers, which I thought was a good sign. Today, woke up stiff again, but once I got up I recovered about the same amount of mobility and it's getting better as the day goes on. I'm finding I don't have to tense so much, but rather having to breathe if that makes sense. So I exhale when I bend forward as opposed to bracing - it's a softer brace. Better. I'm thinking/hoping that it's a muscle thing rather than a bone thing. Bone things scare me.

 

But I just stood up and did a couple of forward bends nice and easy. No painkillers, much less pain. It's getting better. I'm sure if I took the time to foam roll this shit out and maybe do some flossing-type movements, this would resolve. As I think on it, that's kind of what it feels like - a little bit of bone, a little bit of nerve.

 

Didn't manage my bedtime very well though. Still got up in the morning, but not so good, you know?

 

Took measurements today and I'm down a couple of pounds. Calculations seem to indicate I lost some useless weight. Very good.

 

Now to train and see if DM-san is willing to work some things up with me today.

[Kishi]

Welp, 'nother Monday. Better catch this up.

 

I managed some sleep this weekend, though not as much as I would have liked. It's another reason to go to bed early - my room gets warm and bright in the mornings, so if I want to get any sleep at all, earlier is better.

 

Pain management made some solid leaps this weekend. I realized that some of the weakness I was feeling in my leg was something I could solve with neural flossing; one application of the movement took care of about 90% of those symptoms. Back pain improved as well, and I'm pleased to report that as of today it's almost gone. There's still some stiffness there that's not completely healed, but it's been getting progressively better each day. My body is less hesitant and more willing to move.

 

Saturday I did GB upper body training, and the name of the game there was tension. The movements are familiar, but harder with this element. I think I've realized a way to keep a hollow body without sticking my butt up in the air when doing push ups, and the result is a move that is a lot harder. I also realized my cadence was off on one of the progressions, which means I'm going to have to dial that one back. Again. No pain in my elbows, though, which I'm going to take as a win. I've also managed to avoid doing things in such a way as to exacerbate the symptoms there. Hopefully, that means healing.

 

Sunday, I did HS training as well as SLS. After that, I filled up on BCAAs and went to work on the heavy bag for... I think 7, maybe 8 rounds? Not exactly fighter numbers, but not a bad amount. Tried to play w/ kyokushin-rule striking, so lots of lower punching and high kicking. Felt really good after that, so, I decided to run a test that I saw on T-Nation: got on a treadmill, set the speed for 6 MPH, and ran a mile. It was easy, even after all the training I'd done already. That's a good sign for cardiovascular health.

 

I still didn't manage the clean up in my room. I think what it is is that it doesn't feel like a big deal at this point - the section I'm looking at needs dusting rather than things being moved, and that's just not as exciting a task. That's not good, though, because it's holding me back from taking care of the other places that could afford to be picked up. So, I think I'm going to focus on a pick-up task next weekend and see if that makes a difference.

 

Planned a scene, but not on both days of the weekend. Did, however, spend a lot of Saturday being creative in gaming w/ designing characters. Came up with some good ones.

 

And, that's the situation so far. Today's a rest day, relatively speaking. I'm up to donate blood today, then after that will be gaming. Whoof. Could've got more sleep last night.

[Kishi]

WEEK 4

GOAL 1: -/-

 

GOAL 2: 1/1

 

GOAL 3: 1/1

 

GOAL 4: 1/1

 

A quiet day yesterday.

 

Problematic Coworker was there when I gave blood. We were civil with one another. Nice change, but no reason to try to get back into that whole situation again.

 

At Gaming, we switched it up a bit to play some 5e D&D. I'm playing a Construct Cleric - going for this whole Deus Ex Machina thing, even if I know that what I want isn't what the concept is about - who essentially is the best-armored character in the party so far. He's snarky and grudgingly loyal, and he's all about Construct Rights. While the other players were casing the town for information, he basically stood up in the square and preached about la Revolucion. I roleplayed it out by shouting random slogans whenever one of the player characters would pass by ("Can you hear the constructs sing/01101!" "In the beginning was the cog!" "Then we move on to Phase 3! My favorite phase!") He didn't win any converts, but he was entertaining. He even got an inspiration point for that.

 

Afterward, got home and did up a chicken breast for pre-workout meal today. It was a quick, simple process. Should be good.

 

Today, hopefully we don't get rained out again. I don't know what the situation's going to be, but it's occurring to me that I really need a backup plan in the event that I can't do something outside. Maybe rest isn't so bad, but streaks of rainy days... make me itchy. Maybe, since judo warmups are based on Neila Rey, I should have some of her stuff on backlog, just as a thing I can do to fill time and work a few attributes.

 

But then again, maybe it'll dry out today and I won't have to worry about ruining the field w/ my bells. The park I'm at is pretty great, and also the field that I use is a multi-use field for soccer and track athletes. I'm kind of worried about divots in the ground or something like that, especially if it's rained and the ground is muddy, you know?

 

We'll see either way.

[Kishi]

WEEK 4

GOAL 1: -/-

 

GOAL 2: 2/2

 

GOAL 3: 2/2

 

GOAL 4: 2/2

 

Woke up to a rainy morning today. Good sleeping weather, spoiled by work. Ha.

 

Things pulled off w/o a hitch last night. Didn't get rained out, although the field was wet. Not bad enough to be ruined by the bells though. Played with the 53 and was able to pop it up past eye level without hurting myself. That was fun. TGUs afterward felt light and solid. Karate afterward was back to the basics, linking punches and kicks together. It was one of those nights where I brought my A-game on the pads, but didn't do so hot on sparring. Also, one of my shin guards broke - not the guard itself but the strap holding it together. So, I get to go looking for more equipment. Fun times.

 

Planned out a scene and got some sleep. Realized in the planning that my initial scenes weren't really in synch w/ the core story of the book, so I'mma have to excise those. This is not so bitter a feeling as it might have been, and definitely better to catch here than in the middle of the draft where I could be discouraged and rage quit to start all over.

 

And... yeah. That was yesterday.

[Treva]

On 6/20/2017 at 10:01 AM, Kishi said:

At Gaming, we switched it up a bit to play some 5e D&D. I'm playing a Construct Cleric - going for this whole Deus Ex Machina thing, even if I know that what I want isn't what the concept is about - who essentially is the best-armored character in the party so far. He's snarky and grudgingly loyal, and he's all about Construct Rights. While the other players were casing the town for information, he basically stood up in the square and preached about la Revolucion. I roleplayed it out by shouting random slogans whenever one of the player characters would pass by ("Can you hear the constructs sing/01101!" "In the beginning was the cog!" "Then we move on to Phase 3! My favorite phase!") He didn't win any converts, but he was entertaining. He even got an inspiration point for that.

Yes I love this.  triple points for the les mis reference!  Sounds like a really fun character to play.  construct rights.  Yes.  Good.  Excellent.

 

6 hours ago, Kishi said:

Things pulled off w/o a hitch last night. Didn't get rained out, although the field was wet. Not bad enough to be ruined by the bells though. Played with the 53 and was able to pop it up past eye level without hurting myself.

Nicely done!! I'm glad you had the opportunity to do the bells and I'm glad you were able to do the exercises without hurting yourself!!  Nothing like successfully swinging a heavy object.

 

6 hours ago, Kishi said:

Planned out a scene and got some sleep. Realized in the planning that my initial scenes weren't really in synch w/ the core story of the book, so I'mma have to excise those. This is not so bitter a feeling as it might have been, and definitely better to catch here than in the middle of the draft where I could be discouraged and rage quit to start all over.

Definitely.  Better not to rage quit!  Sounds like this one is something and important, so it's great that you're working hard at it.  I am sure the scenes will come, especially since it sounds like you have a clear vision of the story you want to tell and how that should materialize.

 

[Machete]

On 6/19/2017 at 10:04 AM, Kishi said:

Saturday I did GB upper body training, and the name of the game there was tension. The movements are familiar, but harder with this element. I think I've realized a way to keep a hollow body without sticking my butt up in the air when doing push ups, and the result is a move that is a lot harder. I also realized my cadence was off on one of the progressions, which means I'm going to have to dial that one back. Again.

 

Maximal feed-forward tension is such a hard sell to a lot of people (except probably Karatekas). For group exercisers who are just taught to survive the "workout," a 10-second RKC Plank is ridiculous because they're being told to stay on a Plank for 2 minutes. For recreational CrossFitters who are all about PRs, building straight pulling strength is a waste of time because they can almost kick their way up to a Muscle-Up. In the SFB the concept of dominanta is taught, where one maintains tension without having to think about it and the attention is focused on making the lift. I think my Squat sucks because there are so many moving parts and I haven't practiced enough to not have to think about them.

 

I think the brilliance in Foundation is the constant layering of skills (which seems to be most apparent in the FL progressions). Some say rocking a Hollow for that long isn't necessary, but I do think it ensures that one is very familiar with the Hollow Body position before adding any moving parts. Someone attempted my Ice Cream Makers one time without really having a Front Lever (I don't know about his Hollow), and it just didn't look right.

[Kishi]

16 hours ago, Treva said:

Yes I love this.  triple points for the les mis reference!  Sounds like a really fun character to play.  construct rights.  Yes.  Good.  Excellent.

 

Oh, I cracked the table up with that one. At least the Les Mis fans, which is about 40% of us. The others were all nerds about it. "But he's not digital, he's analog, he'd never actually do that." No poetry in those men, I tell you.

 

Anyway, he was a lot of fun to start with.  I hope he stays so.

 

16 hours ago, Treva said:

Nicely done!! I'm glad you had the opportunity to do the bells and I'm glad you were able to do the exercises without hurting yourself!!  Nothing like successfully swinging a heavy object.

 

Thanks! I'm just glad it doesn't hurt anymore.

 

16 hours ago, Treva said:

Definitely.  Better not to rage quit!  Sounds like this one is something and important, so it's great that you're working hard at it.  I am sure the scenes will come, especially since it sounds like you have a clear vision of the story you want to tell and how that should materialize.

 

Thanks. Yeah, I dunno if this is either something or important, but I do feel like I want this one to work. I'm tired of longer projects going nowhere.

 

15 hours ago, Machete said:

Maximal feed-forward tension is such a hard sell to a lot of people (except probably Karatekas). For group exercisers who are just taught to survive the "workout," a 10-second RKC Plank is ridiculous because they're being told to stay on a Plank for 2 minutes. For recreational CrossFitters who are all about PRs, building straight pulling strength is a waste of time because they can almost kick their way up to a Muscle-Up. In the SFB the concept of dominanta is taught, where one maintains tension without having to think about it and the attention is focused on making the lift. I think my Squat sucks because there are so many moving parts and I haven't practiced enough to not have to think about them.

 

Right, exactly. I actually thought I was doing maximal tension by trying to keep a hollow body, because I thought a hollow body necessarily meant sticking my butt up in the air when doing push ups. After getting called out for that in judo, I decided to see if I could manage the hollow while keeping my back and buttocks completely flat. Well, I did, and the result was a lot more tension in the movement, particularly when keeping the cadence smooth and under control. I do think it's carrying over some into the other moves, but it needs more practice.

 

15 hours ago, Machete said:

I think the brilliance in Foundation is the constant layering of skills (which seems to be most apparent in the FL progressions). Some say rocking a Hollow for that long isn't necessary, but I do think it ensures that one is very familiar with the Hollow Body position before adding any moving parts. Someone attempted my Ice Cream Makers one time without really having a Front Lever (I don't know about his Hollow), and it just didn't look right.

 

Yeah. I think I might have been one of those people once, but after so long on S&S and seeing how my body reacts to practice as opposed to grinding, how it reacts to taking all the good one can from a progression before moving on, I think I'm finally in a place where I can take some good from it.

 

*

 

WEEK 4

GOAL 1: -/-

 

GOAL 2: 3/3

 

GOAL 3: 2/3

 

GOAL 4: 3/3

 

And another one in the books.

 

Pain is mostly managed. Back and such is fine. Elbow is mostly okay - still some tightness, but no real flare-ups to speak of. The training doesn't seem to be exacerbating it. What seems to do the most damage right now is the TGUs, having to roll the bell on to you. You have to work a bit of an inward curl to make that happen, and I can feel a process happening there when I go to lift w/ a heavier weight.

 

Decided to do GB Core yesterday, because I thought it made sense to shift things around and make more room for S&S, and it's a comparatively brief thing. And it went well. Finally seemed to have dialed in to the right place where I can both progress and keep myself healthy.

 

So naturally, our warmup at Judo was nothing but ab work, and mostly related to sit ups. Because of course it was. Gotta love them sheering forces on your spine. Little sore on the front today, but thankfully not the back.

 

It was a good class, though. Sensei basically decided to hold a seminar since one of our brown belts is leaving to go to school in FL. He did a bunch of stuff with ippon seoi nage, then took one look at me and said, "Nah. Your throw's harai goshi." So he taught me how to step, and then he showed it to me in such a way that it felt natural. Just get your grip, then spin around and walk away. Every time I did that, uke wound up on my hip. "Stick your leg up, that's harai goshi. Stick it up between his legs, that's uchi mata." "Wait. That's uchi mata?" It was a significant moment for me. K-sensei's throw is uchi mata, so having another way to enter into it that favors me is... I mean. Wow.

 

Like if I could post the gif of the kid in the car seat just looking like he's saying "WOOOOW" because he's so psyched about life, that's what I would post. But I can't right now. But you know the one.

 

But yeah, most of the teaching was about weighing down grips and throwing from off-centerline. Just like Kali.

 

It's all connected, man.

 

Anyway, I didn't get any writing done last night because... well. Back when I was sick with my stomach bug, I decided to splurge on the nutritional course that comes with GB. It's all behavioral stuff, although it's set up so that content only unlocks after you've done things for a while. Anyway, it's a pro-breakfast crowd, which means that in order for me to progress, I need to do breakfast again. So I spent last night gathering ingredients and batch cooking. Which took long enough for me to get to bed late enough that I didn't get up early enough to actually eat anything that I batch-cooked. D'oh.

 

Fortunately, I had some sunflower seeds lying around, which is sufficient to meet the standard. For now. The ingredients, however, should be good to help me do some 2-minute omelet-in-a-cup recipes, which I'm actually pretty stoked about. What should hopefully happen is that I get the ability to spread my calories throughout the day, thus making it easier to go to bed at night because I don't have to spend so long just shoveling food down.

 

So. Tonight should be better. I've got food along for lunch, food for periworkout nutrition, and that should mean less food to eat at dinner, which should mean earlier bed time. Maybe. It's kind of transitional at this point. But you can't go anywhere if you don't take that first step, even if you do stumble a bit.