Osu

[Kishi]

9 minutes ago, Urgan said:

 

Sounds like the day after finals when you've had 2 projects, a paper, and 4 exams to prep for weeks and all of a sudden those aren't a thing anymore. 

 

Yeah, actually, that's exactly what it feels like. It feels weird to have so little to do. Good weird, honestly, but weird just the same.

[Kishi]

Tuesday was a wake up call.

 

S&S went well. Elbow is feeling fine. I'm gathering comments from the peanut gallery and the management has noticed me outside. They see me curled up next to the bell and ask if I need help or if I need to go to the hospital. Yes, everything is going according to plan. Soon my protest will have them buying actual heavy kettlebells and I won't have to farmer's walk these things from various points in the parking lot.

 

Karate afterward, though... I did not give a strong performance. I don't think it was a reflection of my nutrition or anything like that, but I didn't execute well on a bunch of basics and I got to see some video of myself sparring from last week. It... was not good. My stances are really sloppy, and I'm not following through on anything. Personally, I'm kind of bitter about that whenever it's pointed out - the few times I do follow through, they don't work, or I get countered for it, or else I get judo done to me... but that's just ego talking. Truth is, those things are happening to me whether I follow through or not. Instead of being bitter and arrogant about this, I need to embrace the suck, be humble, and get obsessive about fixing this. K-sensei has recommended to me that I take the rest of the year through to January and work on this stuff on the heavy bag, so that's what I'm going to do.

 

Truthfully, I should be grateful for this. Like I said, last time I went to practice on the bag, I really didn't have a lot of direction. Now that I know what to fix, I can build sessions around that. I can also work on keeping stance in movement via shadowboxing, and I can use the camera on my phone to check on my movement. I've even picked up some drills to force myself to relearn the 'chop' of roundhouse.

 

It's honestly good to have a direction to go in on this. I'm not happy about it, but if I want to get better, this is what I'm going to have to do. I just hate this feeling that I'm being sent back to remedials or something.

 

I'm not going to be able to do judo tonight - like I said, I'mma go pick up something for my bro for his birthday. But I've also got gym clothes with me; if it works out, I'm going to hit the gym and see if I can get to work on this.

[Mistr]

2 hours ago, Kishi said:

Truthfully, I should be grateful for this. Like I said, last time I went to practice on the bag, I really didn't have a lot of direction. Now that I know what to fix, I can build sessions around that. I can also work on keeping stance in movement via shadowboxing, and I can use the camera on my phone to check on my movement. I've even picked up some drills to force myself to relearn the 'chop' of roundhouse.

 

It's honestly good to have a direction to go in on this. I'm not happy about it, but if I want to get better, this is what I'm going to have to do. I just hate this feeling that I'm being sent back to remedials or something.

 

Oh yes, been there. My sympathy. It is humiliating to find out that you are screwing up something you thought you were doing right. Especially when you realize you've been doing it wrong for a long time. I get this a lot in seminars. I go to do a technique that looks familiar and it doesn't work with a new partner. Or the instructor demonstrates a different variation and I struggle to follow along, much less make it work. Just like being a beginner again.

 

There is part of my brain that wants to say "a black belt ought to be able to...".  Well, in a perfect world that might be true. In the real world, the best martial artists keep studying and learning all their lives. One of the 7th dans said that she really admired one of her senior instructors because he reshaped his aikido. He met a karate sensei at an event and was amazed at his power. So he started as a beginner, even though he was a senior instructor in aikido. If he cared that people saw him making mistakes on the mat, no one could tell. The alternative is to become one of those martial artists who insist their style is best and won't take any criticism.

 

Have a great Thanksgiving!

[karinajean]

On 11/15/2017 at 10:04 AM, Kishi said:

Karate afterward was good. K-sensei's talking about taking me up to NYC at some point to go to the original dojo and to throw me into another gauntlet. Which... oh boy. That might be the test coming up. That was how he tested me last time. I told him that all my training was based around the last test, the last gauntlet and how I'd gassed out at the final minute. And he was like, "WTF, Kishi? Do you remember? You did two hours of judo prior to that, which was stupid by the way, and you still did the gauntlet. And the only time you gassed out was the final minute." My response was, "And?" He was incredulous. He said most people would have quit, just kept their white belts. I told him I couldn't imagine doing that after everything I'd been through to get to that point. We walked away from each other laughing over how absurd I am. It was good.

 

I WOULD LIKE TO FOLLOW UP ON THIS POINT because I live a little bit outside of nyc and it would be cool to know when you're in town! 

 

3 hours ago, Kishi said:

 

Karate afterward, though... I did not give a strong performance. I don't think it was a reflection of my nutrition or anything like that, but I didn't execute well on a bunch of basics and I got to see some video of myself sparring from last week. It... was not good. My stances are really sloppy, and I'm not following through on anything. 

 

..... I have some awesome videos of me punching myself in the face when I block someone elses punch. UM. this is a thing that will happen. It's good you got to see the video  though, I think it's easier to correct things I can see for myself.

[Kishi]

On 11/22/2017 at 1:17 PM, Mistr said:

Oh yes, been there. My sympathy. It is humiliating to find out that you are screwing up something you thought you were doing right. Especially when you realize you've been doing it wrong for a long time. I get this a lot in seminars. I go to do a technique that looks familiar and it doesn't work with a new partner. Or the instructor demonstrates a different variation and I struggle to follow along, much less make it work. Just like being a beginner again.

 

Yeah... it's not like I'm alone in that, though. K-sensei's been on this journey for 25 years, and he's had to go through this multiple times. He says he made Ikkyu before he ever realized he didn't know how to throw a proper punch, which is similarly fundamental to movement. And the way he explained it, he did remind me that I've gotten a lot better. He just wants the good things I'm doing to be even better, and he sees this as the thing that is holding me back. It stings, but. It stings less the farther I go.

 

On 11/22/2017 at 1:17 PM, Mistr said:

There is part of my brain that wants to say "a black belt ought to be able to...".  Well, in a perfect world that might be true. In the real world, the best martial artists keep studying and learning all their lives. One of the 7th dans said that she really admired one of her senior instructors because he reshaped his aikido. He met a karate sensei at an event and was amazed at his power. So he started as a beginner, even though he was a senior instructor in aikido. If he cared that people saw him making mistakes on the mat, no one could tell. The alternative is to become one of those martial artists who insist their style is best and won't take any criticism.

 

Oh yes! I'm not opposed to being a beginner - I'm a beginner in two other arts, and I don't expect any special treatment. What bothers me is having told myself that I'm not a beginner and finding that there's something very important and fundamental that I need to be better at. But, that's the way, right? Have to find your way back to things every now and again.

 

On 11/22/2017 at 1:17 PM, Mistr said:

Have a great Thanksgiving!

 

Thank you!

 

23 hours ago, karinajean said:

I WOULD LIKE TO FOLLOW UP ON THIS POINT because I live a little bit outside of nyc and it would be cool to know when you're in town! 

 

OH YEAH THAT'S A THING. I don't really know how that's going to go, if I'll be following along on everything or what, but if I can arrange it, it'd be cool to be able to meet you!

 

23 hours ago, karinajean said:

..... I have some awesome videos of me punching myself in the face when I block someone elses punch. UM. this is a thing that will happen. It's good you got to see the video  though, I think it's easier to correct things I can see for myself.

 

Yup! It's true. It's like a mirror you can carry with you, which honestly led to an idea in my shadowboxing...

 

*

 

So, Wednesday, I went to the game store and picked up a gift card for my brother. After that, I went to the gym and spent some time working on shadowboxing and the heavy bag. I used the camera on my phone to record my movements, but the fact that I was recording made me want to go extra low and keep everything lined up proper. It gave the legs a nice burn, tell you what. Then I went and played on the heavy bag for a couple of rounds... and I was done.

 

Kind of unnerving to be on the bag for so little a period of time, but that was all I needed.

 

After that, I went back to the car and discovered that my starter wasn't working anymore.

 

Fortunately, it happened in about as good a situation as I could hope for. The gym's in walking distance of home and also a bunch of grocery stores, and it was cold enough that I could get things like meat and veggies and they be okay on the walk back. So I made it back home, cooked dinner, and went to bed.

 

Woke up this morning to the good news that I've some hidden reserves of cash which I was not informed about. Mom has apparently been stockpiling the rent I've been paying her as some kind of secret savings to help me when the time came that I got out of here. But, since I'm at the end of the month without a credit card to rebuild, we've decided to tap the hidden stuff instead. Frankly, I kind of wish she'd just been honest with me from the first - I would have been down with the idea - but I guess she didn't trust me to not try to wheedle it away from her or something. Admittedly, there may be some precedent for that. At least she's willing to help me with it, and I'm grateful.

 

And fortunately, this all happened on a holiday weekend, so I can take the time to get this fixed without burning leave or falling further behind on my cases.

 

So, today. T-Day. Gym was open, so I went. Sets x Reps as follows:

 

Front Squat

3x45

5x5x50

4x4x50

3x4x50

6x2x50

1x1x50

Total Volume: 3,435 lbs.

 

2-Leg Assisted Ring Pull Ups

5x5

6x4

6x3

7x2

1x1

Total Volume: 82 reps

 

Flat Knee Raises: 2x6, 12

 

And I would have left it there, but it was T-Day, and I felt a finisher was warranted. You know, extenuating circumstances and all that. So, I decided to go nuts with KB swings. I found a 24 and went nuts with it. Managed 250 uninterrupted swings. Grip was definitely frying toward the end, but you know, the fact that I couldn't just drop the thing forced me to pioneer some new strategies for preserving my grip on the fly which I wouldn't have bothered with if I'd had some grass to swing on. So! Another thing to be thankful for.

 

After that, we went to visit T-Day with some friends of my brother's. It was far too much food and fine company. I ate to the point of being in pain, but as this is a rarer thing now, I didn't mind at all.

 

Tomorrow, we will get the car fixed. I have a bad feeling about how this is going to go - it's going to be back to the dealership since they're the ones who'll have the part in stock, and while I can afford the repair, I'm paranoid that they're going to try to get me on the manifold again. Especially because the starter is located next to the air intake manifold. Like I can just see that happening, and while I could do both of those things, it'd wreck the savings and I'm so. Tired of having start over and over again on this.

 

But tomorrow is sufficient for its own troubles.

[Kishi]

So remember that big huge problem I thought I had with the starter?

 

Turned out it was just a super-weak battery. Dad went and jumped my car with me, and that was enough to get it started. Went and got the battery replaced, and that was the end of it.

 

I'd like to tell you that I was super-productive with my Black Friday but reality is... I didn't do much. Once I got back home I had dinner with the folks (as opposed to supper) and it was all manner of meat and starches, and I just didn't feel like doing anything. I wrote enough words to catch up to my quotas for the month and that was that. I did go to Kali, though, which was a lot of fun. We played around with the grappling aspects of it - lots of using the opponent's arm as a lever and using the body to pull or push in one direction or another. Kind of reminded me of the trapping hands stuff we used to do back in kung fu (a long time ago), but with an emphasis on gross motor control rather than trying to fire back a rabbity jab.

 

Today we will be practicing movement. Handstand work, time on the bag, shadowboxing positional stuff, and going to run. I seem to have lost the strap for my heart monitor, but it shouldn't be hard to get a new one, and I know what my pace is right now in terms of not going too fast. So... yeah. That's the docket for the day.

[Urgan]

On 11/24/2017 at 12:04 AM, Kishi said:

Woke up this morning to the good news that I've some hidden reserves of cash which I was not informed about. Mom has apparently been stockpiling the rent I've been paying her as some kind of secret savings to help me when the time came that I got out of here. But, since I'm at the end of the month without a credit card to rebuild, we've decided to tap the hidden stuff instead. Frankly, I kind of wish she'd just been honest with me from the first - I would have been down with the idea - but I guess she didn't trust me to not try to wheedle it away from her or something. Admittedly, there may be some precedent for that. At least she's willing to help me with it, and I'm grateful.

 

 

I'm glad it was just a battery. WHEW.

 

I don't believe that is what she was doing at all. Some parents believe in making kids pay rent and some don't. Sometimes people don't really need the rent money, you know? My father-in-law paid rent to a family friend for years and she only collected it (a pittance because he is severely Disabled) as insurance that he would get out of his house and socialize. Also as a way to check up on him in a dignified way.

 

Maybe it was started as a way to get you in the swing of budgeting for living arrangements even when things get hard? I dunno about the exact reason, but everybody parents in their own way.

[Kishi]

On 11/25/2017 at 5:12 PM, Urgan said:

I'm glad it was just a battery. WHEW.

 

Yeah. I was staring that problem in the face, and the next thing I knew,

 

 

On 11/25/2017 at 5:12 PM, Urgan said:

I don't believe that is what she was doing at all. Some parents believe in making kids pay rent and some don't. Sometimes people don't really need the rent money, you know? My father-in-law paid rent to a family friend for years and she only collected it (a pittance because he is severely Disabled) as insurance that he would get out of his house and socialize. Also as a way to check up on him in a dignified way.

 

Maybe it was started as a way to get you in the swing of budgeting for living arrangements even when things get hard? I dunno about the exact reason, but everybody parents in their own way.

 

I mean, me either. Ah, well. In the end, it is better that the money was available and I didn't need it. It's not really productive to think on it. And since the 'rent' is already budgeted, might as well keep socking it away.

 

*

 

Saturday and Sunday have both been good days.

 

Saturday, I went and practiced handstands, shadowboxed, worked the bag, and ran. I forgot the band for uchikomi work, but eh. The practice, by and large, felt good, even though it took a couple hours to accomplish. I'm annoyed at this handstand progression, though - finding the balance is a real trick and I'm really prone to overshooting and trying to fall backward. Still, I am getting better - I was able to hit the position twice in a row before I messed up on the third. So.

 

I've been using my phone to monitor depth on shadowboxing. It's... striking how low I can feel versus how low I actually am. Legs burn enough to make my feet sweat, even when I'm barefoot.

 

Ran at my speed for the desired time. Heart rate was pretty high, if the handles on the treadmill are to be believed, although I didn't exceed my Maffetone number. I still think that I'mma need to get that strap replaced, but it's not so urgent.

 

Oh, there's one other thing! I took my measurements on T-Day prior to shenanigans. The method has been: run a cloth tape measure around my middle at my navel. Stand straight, with the braced core of good posture, but not sucking in. Run the measurement three times and take the average of that measurement. The reason I say this is because my averages have been pretty solidly in the 35" range for a while. This Thursday, after having adjusted my nutrition and returned to baseline, my waist trended down into the 34" range, the first time it's ever done that since I started doing the measurements this way. Combined with my weight, it yielded a trend down to 17.2% body fat - the lowest it's trended so far.

 

I'm sure the past few days have done me no favors, and I must admit that I'm pretty tempted to take up some kind of fasting again, but fasting isn't magic and I'm just recoiling from the excesses of the holiday. Like @Urgan said - it's not broken. It doesn't need to be fixed.

 

Trained today as follows:

 

Dips, with 35 lbs assistance:

4x5

2x4

3x3

6x2

3x1

 

DL

1x5x45

1x5x65

1x5x95

1x3x135

3x5x160

4x4x160

4x3x160

6x2x160

4x1x160

 

Hollow Body Squat Thrusts

EMOM: 10 squat thrusts. Done for 5 minutes.

 

RKC Planks: 2x15s

 

Two things different: one is that I've done multiple singles of my strength moves, which I hadn't done before. The other is I've started counting the warm up sets in weighted work as part of the overall tonnage again. It's still a lower volume than it was prior to dips being in the picture, but that's not a big deal.

 

Squat thrusts are basically a grounded burpee without the push up. There was a food truck where I normally do my sprints at the gym, and someone had taken up the versaclimber when I was there. And, I wanted to test out my theory of movement - that my problem with the burpee was spinal flexion rather than the move itself. And TBH, these felt really good. I moved through them about as well as you could expect. Someone else was doing something similar, only with dumbbells, and spinal flexion so bad as to be cartoonish. That poor man. I hope his back tolerates that.

 

Anyway, D&D afterward and just hanging out with brilliant people. A good close to the holiday. Here's hoping I get down early enough to make a good night's sleep of it.

[Mistr]

Glad to hear that your car problem was only the battery. Sounds like everything else is going well.

 

I admire you watching recordings of your form. I watched part of my nidan test. I still haven't watched any of my other test videos. Good for you on working to make your technique better.

[Kishi]

16 hours ago, Mistr said:

Glad to hear that your car problem was only the battery. Sounds like everything else is going well.

 

So far! Things are either going well or else are not going as badly as they could. Which I like to think is another definition for 'well.'

 

16 hours ago, Mistr said:

I admire you watching recordings of your form. I watched part of my nidan test. I still haven't watched any of my other test videos. Good for you on working to make your technique better.

 

Guh. It's so difficult. I hate watching myself make mistakes. But this is what I have to do to get better. Ego will not help me.

 

*

 

I didn't get good sleep for Monday. Probably had too much sugar prior to getting to bed; I've been more sensitive to that for a while now, but it was something I'd forgotten. So, sleep was not so great. Fortunately, Monday was a rest day. I spent it stretching and doing more gaming. My character, who is a wooden golem, lost a bet and lost an arm in the doing, but it was against an evil creature who was going to take some manner of life or limb from the party anyway and I was the one who could afford to lose. Unfortunately, his favored weapon is a spear; fortunately, he's good enough that he can offset the one-arm penalty and kept his favored arm. So, it could have been worse.

 

Unfortunately, between stretching and gaming, I didn't get a lot of time to write yesterday, and we're down to crunch time on the Writing Month. I can write a lot of words over lunch, but I've got a sinking feeling I'm going to have to skip class at some point this week in order to get the writing done. Oh well. It happens. I spend so much time out on the mats anyway that I don't actually have anything resembling a life; I can afford to miss one night if it comes to that. Hopefully it doesn't come to that.

 

Today's docket: S&S and Karate. 'kay then. Let's get it.

[Kishi]

Yesterday was a really good day.

 

When I got to the office, I received a Thank You card from one of the claimants I'd recently made an approval for. That's not normal; most of the time, we deal with people who aren't exactly prone to gratitude. But this guy proved to be an exception, and it was a really nice way to start the day.

 

I had my quarterly review and, contrary to my expectations, I have either met or exceeded most of the agency's expectations of me. I make good decisions and I make a lot of them, apparently more or about as many as most people around here. We'd recently had some changes in what we emphasized around here, and my supervisors were deeply impressed that I not only managed to survive those changes, but apparently have managed to thrive with them as well.

 

It was news to me, but I'll freaking take it.

 

Afterward, S&S, which was uneventful. That was good. Got a message from manong asking if we could shift Kali from 7:30 to 6:30 on Friday nights. This is an annoyance, since that means I'm effectively cutting out S&S to do it, and I don't really see any other place I could put it. OTOH, though, this will present my elbow with even more rest, and I know from prior experience (logged here!) that I can skate by on one S&S session per week. I wouldn't necessarily go out of my way to recommend that, since program minimums call for 2x/week, but it seems that the mat time and the other things I'm doing are covering the gaps that I want them to.

 

Come to think of it, I'm not sure if this is a temporary change or a permanent one. I suppose we'll see. Probably one of those temporary things that'll transition to permanent when he sees the value of it, as tends to happen.

 

Karate was afterward. Biggie showed up. After so long with no sign of him, I had thought he'd restrict himself to Kali and judo, but he finally did show up. We practiced side kick all night. It was great; I got to practice following up, which is something that I've been missing for a while in my side kicks.

 

Sparring was interesting. First was me and Waifu. Lots of working on control and effective movement. Kept good stance throughout.

 

Next was K-Sensei and Biggie. Which was fascinating to watch. It was like a study in contrasts - K-sensei is a tall, thinner guy who fights at longer range; Biggie is a tall, bigger guy whose background is in Thai Boxing. The first exchange between them, Biggie just barreled through and clinched. After they separated, K-sensei made him respect the reverse punch. He kept Biggie at range and managed to rock him, and every time Biggie tried to advance, he got stuck. Eventually, K-sensei relented as a conscious decision to allow the guy to work, but as someone who was watching, it was fascinating to see this concept that he's talked about but we've not really had the chance to address.

 

Next was K-sensei and me. As I got up, I thought about all the training I'd done to keep my stance in movement, and I thought to myself, Okay. I don't care how much he hits me. I don't care if I get lit up. No matter what happens, I will keep my stance.

 

I sank into it when we started... and all of a sudden, it was like everything worked. I could move well, stick him when he came in, follow after him and even reach him when I followed up. I even freaking managed to sasae him, which shifted him enough for me to do a bastard harai goshi and land him on his back at the end.

 

To be clear, this probably had a lot to do with him being tired out and playing more defensive after his round with Biggie. But even so! To do what I had trained to do in a non-compliant context... that felt really, really good.

 

So, uh, yeah. That was yesterday.

 

So far, today's going well. Judo tonight; if I can, I'll stop by the gym to work on foam rolling and mobility stuffs beforehand.

[Urgan]

38 minutes ago, Kishi said:

When I got to the office, I received a Thank You card from one of the claimants I'd recently made an approval for. That's not normal; most of the time, we deal with people who aren't exactly prone to gratitude. But this guy proved to be an exception, and it was a really nice way to start the day.

 

I had my quarterly review and, contrary to my expectations, I have either met or exceeded most of the agency's expectations of me. I make good decisions and I make a lot of them, apparently more or about as many as most people around here. We'd recently had some changes in what we emphasized around here, and my supervisors were deeply impressed that I not only managed to survive those changes, but apparently have managed to thrive with them as well.

 

It was news to me, but I'll freaking take it.

 

Nothing like a giant pat on the back.

 

38 minutes ago, Kishi said:

Afterward, S&S, which was uneventful. That was good. Got a message from manong asking if we could shift Kali from 7:30 to 6:30 on Friday nights. This is an annoyance, since that means I'm effectively cutting out S&S to do it, and I don't really see any other place I could put it. OTOH, though, this will present my elbow with even more rest, and I know from prior experience (logged here!) that I can skate by on one S&S session per week. I wouldn't necessarily go out of my way to recommend that, since program minimums call for 2x/week, but it seems that the mat time and the other things I'm doing are covering the gaps that I want them to.

 

Come to think of it, I'm not sure if this is a temporary change or a permanent one. I suppose we'll see. Probably one of those temporary things that'll transition to permanent when he sees the value of it, as tends to happen.

 

Guess you can roll with it a bit and either find a way to shift your schedule, happily continue as is, or decide kali at that time isn't gonna work. 

 

40 minutes ago, Kishi said:

Next was K-sensei and me. As I got up, I thought about all the training I'd done to keep my stance in movement, and I thought to myself, Okay. I don't care how much he hits me. I don't care if I get lit up. No matter what happens, I will keep my stance.

 

I sank into it when we started... and all of a sudden, it was like everything worked. I could move well, stick him when he came in, follow after him and even reach him when I followed up. I even freaking managed to sasae him, which shifted him enough for me to do a bastard harai goshi and land him on his back at the end.

 

To be clear, this probably had a lot to do with him being tired out and playing more defensive after his round with Biggie. But even so! To do what I had trained to do in a non-compliant context... that felt really, really good.

 

[Mistr]

Yay for getting recognized for your good work!

 

Yay for keeping your stance and seeing results!

 

Go Kishi!

[Kishi]

18 hours ago, Urgan said:

Nothing like a giant pat on the back.

 

 

18 hours ago, Urgan said:

Guess you can roll with it a bit and either find a way to shift your schedule, happily continue as is, or decide kali at that time isn't gonna work. 

 

Pretty much. At this point, I'm kind of leaning toward leaving it as is. I could shift S&S over to Saturday, but I'm worried about "crossing the streams," so to speak. And besides, it's not like you can't use bodyweight for S&S's goals; I suspect that the Saturday practice is covering the same bases as I'd be covering with S&S, but differently.

 

19 hours ago, Urgan said:

 

 

 

15 hours ago, Mistr said:

Yay for getting recognized for your good work!

 

Yay for keeping your stance and seeing results!

 

Go Kishi!

 

Things going right just doesn't get old.

 

*

 

Wednesday was a relatively easy day. Judo wound up being just a lot of practice. Nice and easy-paced. I got to work on practicing some of the steps in my sasae and working on combination throwing. The brown belt who we studied under thought that a makikomi-type throw would combo well, and it did, but it was the first night I'd really practiced anything of the sort and the typical foibles of that kind of practice were there. We also practiced some leg throws and sweeps toward the end; those movements presently aren't legal in judo because they aren't flashy enough to sell the sport. But they were fun. I was particularly fond of single-leg sweep since it ends with you standing over the guy in a stance that's very, very karate-esque. Illegal as hell in shiai, too, which I frankly don't understand because it's actually really pretty and makes a big effect that people can see. But that's a white-belt's understanding; if I survive long enough, I'm sure I'll come around to seeing what's going on. Or shoot. Maybe the rules will change too.

 

So, you know. Fun practice.

 

I haven't run measurements yet this week, but the mirror doesn't seem to be favoring me this week. I think I may have made a miscalculation. My baseline approach - 100 g CHO per day - has assumed for a while that the carbs you find in nuts and avocados don't really count. So when I've been calculating my energy needs, I've been using those as a dispensation for more carbs. So, like, if I had 20 g CHO from nuts and guac, then I would allow myself another 100 g on top of that.

 

Thing is, it worked. But it doesn't seem to be this week. Somehow I've been getting a lot of carbs from nuts and guac, and when I throw my 100g on top of that, my caloric totals have shot significantly higher. That, I think, might be throwing me off of what I'm trying to accomplish.

 

So... I dunno what to do. I'll stay the course the rest of the week, because bodies are weird and this might just be temporary bloat prior to me doing terrible things to myself and burning that energy off. But if this winds up being an uptick again, it seems reasonable to adjust again. I've got a couple ideas how to do that, but I'm not sure which to do since they each come from different schools of thought - one being that calories are all that matter, and the other being that hormonal management is the bigger win. Both ultimately will result in a net loss of calories, but I'm not sure whether or not they'll result in a net loss of function as well.

 

The one idea is to take up a fasting regimen again. I'm thinking the old Eat-Stop-Eat protocol where you skip a couple meals a couple days of the week whilst keeping everything else the same. Maybe modify it just a touch to take in micronutrients - take my vitamins and fish oil and such - but beyond that, just keep that schedule. This lets me keep breakfast, a thing which I've seen my body likes, whilst also getting the benefits of a fast. This will also let me keep my CHO up where it is right now, which frankly has me feeling good.

 

The other idea I'm thinking of is to reduce my baseline from 100 g to 80 g and see what happens that way. This will also result in an overall drop in calories, and it is the simpler approach. But OTOH, carbs are rocket fuel, and I do have intense efforts in my training. I'm not sure that a drop there would be helpful, and I'm not sure if I want to enter into my training feeling like I'm dead.

 

I honestly could see doing either one or the other. I don't think I want to do both at the same time, at least not yet.

 

Of course, there's a third option too - don't change anything and just focus on my training for a while. After all, I'm pursuing gainz in front squat and pull ups, and while the added energy is sitting on my gut, I don't know that it isn't being useful.

 

Just things to think about, I guess. Anyway, cluster sets and karate tonight. Let's freaking go.

[Urgan]

8 minutes ago, Kishi said:

I haven't run measurements yet this week, but the mirror doesn't seem to be favoring me this week. I think I may have made a miscalculation. My baseline approach - 100 g CHO per day - has assumed for a while that the carbs you find in nuts and avocados don't really count. So when I've been calculating my energy needs, I've been using those as a dispensation for more carbs. So, like, if I had 20 g CHO from nuts and guac, then I would allow myself another 100 g on top of that.

 

Thing is, it worked. But it doesn't seem to be this week. Somehow I've been getting a lot of carbs from nuts and guac, and when I throw my 100g on top of that, my caloric totals have shot significantly higher. That, I think, might be throwing me off of what I'm trying to accomplish.

 

So... I dunno what to do. I'll stay the course the rest of the week, because bodies are weird and this might just be temporary bloat prior to me doing terrible things to myself and burning that energy off. But if this winds up being an uptick again, it seems reasonable to adjust again. I've got a couple ideas how to do that, but I'm not sure which to do since they each come from different schools of thought - one being that calories are all that matter, and the other being that hormonal management is the bigger win. Both ultimately will result in a net loss of calories, but I'm not sure whether or not they'll result in a net loss of function as well.

 

Assuming, after a week or two, you are still unhappy, IMHO the simplest and least extreme variation from what has recently worked great might be enough to goose along some more progress without resulting in feeling like death warmed over. Ain't nobody got time for that. 

 

10 minutes ago, Kishi said:

The one idea is to take up a fasting regimen again. I'm thinking the old Eat-Stop-Eat protocol where you skip a couple meals a couple days of the week whilst keeping everything else the same. Maybe modify it just a touch to take in micronutrients - take my vitamins and fish oil and such - but beyond that, just keep that schedule. This lets me keep breakfast, a thing which I've seen my body likes, whilst also getting the benefits of a fast. This will also let me keep my CHO up where it is right now, which frankly has me feeling good.

 

The other idea I'm thinking of is to reduce my baseline from 100 g to 80 g and see what happens that way. This will also result in an overall drop in calories, and it is the simpler approach. But OTOH, carbs are rocket fuel, and I do have intense efforts in my training. I'm not sure that a drop there would be helpful, and I'm not sure if I want to enter into my training feeling like I'm dead.

 

I honestly could see doing either one or the other. I don't think I want to do both at the same time, at least not yet.

 

You have two really simple options for changes, one of which I think you may be missing (at least, it's not articulated here and in fact appears to be assumed away!). 

1. Lower your carbs a bit.

You have that one, obviously, but I would lower it by less (from 100 to 90) AND log/track how much you're getting from healthy sources, because, The More You Know and all that. You may find you are compensating for the intensity of your training with the good stuff if you do not have that trend line already at your disposal, IDK it's unclear how you're handling those, so. If you don't have hard data that your gross intake is stable, then start here.

 

2. Compensate with other macros

If you want, you could take the calories lost by shaving off some carbs and put them into the other macros, with an emphasis on lean protein sources. Calories stay the same, carbs drop, and muscle-building materials are in plentiful supply, because honestly you can't get enough of them lol. It's not going to reestablish a deficit, but if you are not overly interested in that, this would keep you stable but would also give your gut something to keep it busy and that requires calories to do, too. 

 

28 minutes ago, Kishi said:

Of course, there's a third option too - don't change anything and just focus on my training for a while. After all, I'm pursuing gainz in front squat and pull ups, and while the added energy is sitting on my gut, I don't know that it isn't being useful.

 

This is always a good default, particularly for the short term. If you end up shaking up your routine again, doing as little to your diet as you feel the need to will be useful in staying close to what has worked well. 

[Kishi]

1 hour ago, Urgan said:

You have two really simple options for changes, one of which I think you may be missing (at least, it's not articulated here and in fact appears to be assumed away!). 

1. Lower your carbs a bit.

You have that one, obviously, but I would lower it by less (from 100 to 90) AND log/track how much you're getting from healthy sources, because, The More You Know and all that. You may find you are compensating for the intensity of your training with the good stuff if you do not have that trend line already at your disposal, IDK it's unclear how you're handling those, so. If you don't have hard data that your gross intake is stable, then start here.

 

Well, I've been tracking my intakes via MFP. But could you clarify what you mean by tracking how much I'm getting from healthy sources? At this point, my carb intake is mostly sweet potato and rice; occasionally some fruit. Are you telling me that I should be including the carb content from nuts and avocado? (For full disclosure, I do count the carbs in other fatty sources like eggs and high fat dairy as I figure they don't have the mitigating factor of being fiber sources). I also eat a handful of carrots at lunch, but I can't see that particular veggie has having enough carb content to make a difference.

 

But yeah, I'm pretty good about knowing what the line should be on a given day and not going over it. Yesterday was the first day I'd gone over on my own, and even then it was only by 4 grams. But then again, that's what creep is made of~.

 

1 hour ago, Urgan said:

2. Compensate with other macros

If you want, you could take the calories lost by shaving off some carbs and put them into the other macros, with an emphasis on lean protein sources. Calories stay the same, carbs drop, and muscle-building materials are in plentiful supply, because honestly you can't get enough of them lol. It's not going to reestablish a deficit, but if you are not overly interested in that, this would keep you stable but would also give your gut something to keep it busy and that requires calories to do, too.

 

I'm not particularly invested in a caloric deficit; if I can get the same results without, that's perfectly fine with me. At present, my protein sits in a window of .7-1g/lb LBM, so anywhere from 107-152g protein/day. A typical day is ~130g. I suppose I could trade one macro for the other; I'm assuming, then, that I'd have to shoot for a specific target amount of protein per day in order for that change to make any sense.

 

1 hour ago, Urgan said:

This is always a good default, particularly for the short term. If you end up shaking up your routine again, doing as little to your diet as you feel the need to will be useful in staying close to what has worked well. 

 

It's also worth considering in light of the fact that a shake up just happened this week that I didn't intend. But OTOH, given that Kali is a lighter, movement-flow-based thing, it's not really going to use up as much energy as the other stuff I'm doing.

[Urgan]

28 minutes ago, Kishi said:

Well, I've been tracking my intakes via MFP. But could you clarify what you mean by tracking how much I'm getting from healthy sources? At this point, my carb intake is mostly sweet potato and rice; occasionally some fruit. Are you telling me that I should be including the carb content from nuts and avocado? (For full disclosure, I do count the carbs in other fatty sources like eggs and high fat dairy as I figure they don't have the mitigating factor of being fiber sources). I also eat a handful of carrots at lunch, but I can't see that particular veggie has having enough carb content to make a difference.

 

I just wasn't sure how you were handling tracking macros if you cut out carbs from certain sources is all. I have a very IIFYM approach to these things personally--while much of what I eat is whole foods, a lot is not and I count it all as if it came from the same caliber of food. You're trying to juggle recomp/deficit life while I'm not really doing that right now, so I totally get not wanting to starve yourself of certain good foods for the sake of a carb cap. 

 

33 minutes ago, Kishi said:

I'm not particularly invested in a caloric deficit; if I can get the same results without, that's perfectly fine with me. At present, my protein sits in a window of .7-1g/lb LBM, so anywhere from 107-152g protein/day. A typical day is ~130g. I suppose I could trade one macro for the other; I'm assuming, then, that I'd have to shoot for a specific target amount of protein per day in order for that change to make any sense.

 

You might be able to play games with fat macro, if your body handles that well enough (i.e, you find a number that you can train on without carb flu funtiems), especially should you find yourself forced to further modify your macros. You could totally increase protein based on these numbers, it would NOT be crazy at all to move that average closer to 150. Whether you need to is up for debate, but that's a strategy you could take in lieu of choosing deficits or fasting in the near future. 

 

40 minutes ago, Kishi said:

It's also worth considering in light of the fact that a shake up just happened this week that I didn't intend. But OTOH, given that Kali is a lighter, movement-flow-based thing, it's not really going to use up as much energy as the other stuff I'm doing.

 

Precisely. Changing food while changing your training schedule is a god recipe for wheel-spinning. You may find this to be easier to meal plan for in the long run, maybe not. We shall see.

[Kishi]

18 minutes ago, Urgan said:

I just wasn't sure how you were handling tracking macros if you cut out carbs from certain sources is all. I have a very IIFYM approach to these things personally--while much of what I eat is whole foods, a lot is not and I count it all as if it came from the same caliber of food. You're trying to juggle recomp/deficit life while I'm not really doing that right now, so I totally get not wanting to starve yourself of certain good foods for the sake of a carb cap.

 

Nah, that makes sense. And it would be simpler. It would also track with what Sisson has said most lately - namely that fiber is fiber, but fiber tends to lock away carbs and make the body work for them from those sources. It doesn't mean that there aren't carbs in those sources, though.

 

20 minutes ago, Urgan said:

You might be able to play games with fat macro, if your body handles that well enough (i.e, you find a number that you can train on without carb flu funtiems), especially should you find yourself forced to further modify your macros. You could totally increase protein based on these numbers, it would NOT be crazy at all to move that average closer to 150. Whether you need to is up for debate, but that's a strategy you could take in lieu of choosing deficits or fasting in the near future.

 

I mean. As far as fat goes, it's just a thing I throw on top of protein to get to whatever number I'm trying to hit. It seems to suit me well regardless of carb flu state. Having played with both low carb and low fat diets, I find I feel better on a higher fat diet; carbs seem to be the wild card here.

 

Protein could probably be shifted higher even starting today, as keeping an average closer to 150 is still within the norms.

[Kishi]

So, a funny thing happened on my way to hitting 150 g of protein. I managed to hit it, no sweat, but doing so made for less room for fat, and even accounting for the fats that Chipotle throws on its rice and budgeting extra carbs as I've been doing, my overall calorie count took a dip.

 

Interesting. Very interesting. Maybe Probably, that's the small change I need to focus on for now. It's the smallest, simplest tweak I can think to do, but just looking at the data from yesterday it had a significant impact. This does track with some prior observations, but I hadn't gone looking for it deliberately, and if @Urgan hadn't pointed it out I probably wouldn't have even thought to connect the two.

 

Fascinating. And as always, lady, you have my gratitude for putting up with my shenanigans.

 

Anyway, training wound up being a bear last night. I stayed late at work to get NaNoWriMo won, but I managed it! Somehow! I didn't end up completing the project I started with, but I took the insights I learned from it and applied them to my original love - Fight Club With Magic - and broke free of my cycle of writing and rewriting the first three chapters over and over and over again. I feel like a new writer in a lot of ways, and I don't think I'm being hyperbolic about that.

 

But yeah, training was a bear. The compressed time wasn't a problem, and I managed to get a big jump in overall volume on Front Squats, but it came back to haunt me. Let me explain.

 

Front Squats

3x35

5x5x55

4x4x55

3x3x55

6x2x55

5x1x55

Total Volume: 4,065 lbs

 

Ring High Rows: 1x9

Jackknife Pull Ups:

3x5

2x4

2x2

7x1

 

Flat Knee Raises: 2x9, 13

 

So, yeah. Front Squat volume was high, but I pushed on each set until I got to the point where I was having to grind through a sticking point on each set. Not failure, not technically, but hard. And the pull ups were a surprise. I'm still cleared to progress to a harder variant, but I don't like the fact that I dropped straight from sets of 4 to sets of 2. Hindsight being what it is, it shouldn't surprise me. The goal is to achieve harder and harder progressions of pull up; eventually, I'd like to achieve the one-arm. Every progression I've ever seen agrees that each step in progression comes hand in hand with a drop in volume. So I get it. But going from sets of 4 to sets of 2 feels like I left strength on the table, and I don't like that feeling.

 

Elbow's not really hurting, but there is a dull ache in there this morning. The forced rest from S&S will probably help; all the same, it's probably not a bad idea to stay on this progression for a bit and focus on my control.

 

Anyway, legs were tired going into karate, and we continued our Leg Day work - kicking from the wall, working on stance. Holy snacks it was terrible. But I convinced myself to embrace the suck, and to my surprise the pain didn't last. I kept working on stance when holding pads, when hitting pads, when practicing movement, and somehow the pain just went away. I'm pleased to report that even though K-sensei was harder on me last night, things still worked. I had a harder time keeping stance, but I managed to work judo in and I managed to keep fighting from stance, and I was more cognizant of the loss of my stance as a bad thing that I needed to correct. I'm also pleased to say that my legs don't hurt today. It was a lot of suck to deal with, but it was dealt with.

 

Also, the dojo has some drama going on. A big part of what we're doing is based around wounded veterans, and we had applied for grant status through the VA. We apparently managed to get that, but the guy who's apparently bankrolling the place didn't work to renew that grant over some kind of petty bullcrap. Like he apparently didn't like the process? Or didn't like the grant itself? I dunno. It's unclear, but it leaves us needing to make some headway and get more students. J-sensei isn't too concerned, but it's the principle of the thing. I'm going to have to see about just being obnoxious on Facebook about this, since it's the place where my voice is loudest to advertise for it, but I don't mind that.

 

Oh! Also! Remember Biggie? It turns out that he's kind of an asshole, and it's not just me. I brought this up in a prior challenge, but some time ago, I had to skip a class and K-sensei wound up having to deal with an unruly prospective student. He came in late, accused my teacher of peddling bullshido, mouthed off that most of what we did didn't work during practice, and then begged out of sparring. It turns out that Biggie was that unruly student.

 

Knowing that now about him... whew. I'm angry at him. Like I can't believe how knowing that they're one and the same person has lowered my esteem of him, but there it is. Come in and beat on me and try to tell me what to do? That's one thing. Whatever. I'm not skilled enough to overcome the gap between us that his size and his strength creates. I have to stomach that. I can deal with that. But treating my teacher like that? Trash-talking our part of the program like that? That is not okay.

 

I really want to stew on this and lash out, but I've learned enough about managing myself that indulging in an emotion makes it easier to feel and easier for it to take over you. And that's not constructive or useful in this case. Truth is, as... unamused as I am with the pettiness of all this, at the end of the day, I'm not a teacher, and I'm going to have to share matspace with this guy whether I like it or not. Disciplining this person is not my job. Bearing him is, and that's not going to change regardless of how I feel about it. Indulging my temper will not make this better, and could in fact make this worse. The teachers are all already aware of this guy's problems. I have no further responsibility.

 

Whooooooo. Anyway. It's Friday. Today we get to test out this new Kali and chill idea. Should be fun.

[Urgan]

16 minutes ago, Kishi said:

So, a funny thing happened on my way to hitting 150 g of protein. I managed to hit it, no sweat, but doing so made for less room for fat, and even accounting for the fats that Chipotle throws on its rice and budgeting extra carbs as I've been doing, my overall calorie count took a dip.

 

Interesting. Very interesting. Maybe Probably, that's the small change I need to focus on for now. It's the smallest, simplest tweak I can think to do, but just looking at the data from yesterday it had a significant impact. This does track with some prior observations, but I hadn't gone looking for it deliberately, and if @Urgan hadn't pointed it out I probably wouldn't have even thought to connect the two.

 

Fascinating. And as always, lady, you have my gratitude for putting up with my shenanigans. 

 

 

If it works as intended, it won't feel like starving to death in a gulag to live and train lol. You know the exact change you've made, so you can react accordingly as December rolls on. Hopefully the dip isn't significant, but if you develop a trend of feeling poorly all you need to do is bump cals back up a bit and that should give you energy back. Energy r important. 

 

You're welcome, of course. Hopefully this does the trick.

 

26 minutes ago, Kishi said:

But yeah, training was a bear. The compressed time wasn't a problem, and I managed to get a big jump in overall volume on Front Squats, but it came back to haunt me. Let me explain.

 

Front Squats

3x35

5x5x55

4x4x55

3x3x55

6x2x55

5x1x55

Total Volume: 4,065 lbs

 

Ring High Rows: 1x9

Jackknife Pull Ups:

3x5

2x4

2x2

7x1

 

Flat Knee Raises: 2x9, 13

 

So, yeah. Front Squat volume was high, but I pushed on each set until I got to the point where I was having to grind through a sticking point on each set. Not failure, not technically, but hard. And the pull ups were a surprise. I'm still cleared to progress to a harder variant, but I don't like the fact that I dropped straight from sets of 4 to sets of 2. Hindsight being what it is, it shouldn't surprise me. The goal is to achieve harder and harder progressions of pull up; eventually, I'd like to achieve the one-arm. Every progression I've ever seen agrees that each step in progression comes hand in hand with a drop in volume. So I get it. But going from sets of 4 to sets of 2 feels like I left strength on the table, and I don't like that feeling.

 

Elbow's not really hurting, but there is a dull ache in there this morning. The forced rest from S&S will probably help; all the same, it's probably not a bad idea to stay on this progression for a bit and focus on my control.

 

Anyway, legs were tired going into karate, and we continued our Leg Day work - kicking from the wall, working on stance. Holy snacks it was terrible. But I convinced myself to embrace the suck, and to my surprise the pain didn't last. I kept working on stance when holding pads, when hitting pads, when practicing movement, and somehow the pain just went away. I'm pleased to report that even though K-sensei was harder on me last night, things still worked. I had a harder time keeping stance, but I managed to work judo in and I managed to keep fighting from stance, and I was more cognizant of the loss of my stance as a bad thing that I needed to correct. I'm also pleased to say that my legs don't hurt today. It was a lot of suck to deal with, but it was dealt with.

 

Sounds like it worked out if you did what you set out to do--not perfectly to expectations, but expectations can be unrealistic in context--and you are not in any serious discomfort in new or old locations. Seems to me like you just plain wore yourself out but didn't overdo it. That's a lot of pullups, man. 

 

29 minutes ago, Kishi said:

Oh! Also! Remember Biggie? It turns out that he's kind of an asshole, and it's not just me. I brought this up in a prior challenge, but some time ago, I had to skip a class and K-sensei wound up having to deal with an unruly prospective student. He came in late, accused my teacher of peddling bullshido, mouthed off that most of what we did didn't work during practice, and then begged out of sparring. It turns out that Biggie was that unruly student.

 

Knowing that now about him... whew. I'm angry at him. Like I can't believe how knowing that they're one and the same person has lowered my esteem of him, but there it is. Come in and beat on me and try to tell me what to do? That's one thing. Whatever. I'm not skilled enough to overcome the gap between us that his size and his strength creates. I have to stomach that. I can deal with that. But treating my teacher like that? Trash-talking our part of the program like that? That is not okay.

 

I really want to stew on this and lash out, but I've learned enough about managing myself that indulging in an emotion makes it easier to feel and easier for it to take over you. And that's not constructive or useful in this case. Truth is, as... unamused as I am with the pettiness of all this, at the end of the day, I'm not a teacher, and I'm going to have to share matspace with this guy whether I like it or not. Disciplining this person is not my job. Bearing him is, and that's not going to change regardless of how I feel about it. Indulging my temper will not make this better, and could in fact make this worse. The teachers are all already aware of this guy's problems. I have no further responsibility.

 

Let me get this straight. He came in and made a royal ass of himself as a prospective student and...still showing up regularly now? It sounds like he already got schooled or was drunk AF/out of his mind that night. If he still believes what he said at the onset, then he's clearly a lunatic. Otherwise he has implicitly or explicitly eaten those words. 

[Kishi]

50 minutes ago, Urgan said:

If it works as intended, it won't feel like starving to death in a gulag to live and train lol. You know the exact change you've made, so you can react accordingly as December rolls on. Hopefully the dip isn't significant, but if you develop a trend of feeling poorly all you need to do is bump cals back up a bit and that should give you energy back. Energy r important. 

 

You're welcome, of course. Hopefully this does the trick.

 

Absolutely! And if it doesn't, well, then at least I know, and can avoid wheel spinnage.

 

51 minutes ago, Urgan said:

Sounds like it worked out if you did what you set out to do--not perfectly to expectations, but expectations can be unrealistic in context--and you are not in any serious discomfort in new or old locations. Seems to me like you just plain wore yourself out but didn't overdo it. That's a lot of pullups, man. 

 

Yeah, that is a lot of pull ups, isn't it?  Anyway, wearing myself without overdoing it... that's good, I think. Given that I'm only doing this kind of thing twice a week, with lots of recovery, I think that's going to be okay.

 

Also, the next progression of pull ups will not involve legs, so that'll probably even things out. Just have to stay careful.

 

57 minutes ago, Urgan said:

Let me get this straight. He came in and made a royal ass of himself as a prospective student and...still showing up regularly now? It sounds like he already got schooled or was drunk AF/out of his mind that night. If he still believes what he said at the onset, then he's clearly a lunatic. Otherwise he has implicitly or explicitly eaten those words.

 

Well, he's not a regular in any of the classes. I'm under the impression his work keeps him busy, but it's also worth pointing out the dude is deconditioned AF and it wouldn't surprise me if this was an obstacle for him as far as regularly attending goes. He tends to show up, work for a bit, spends the rest of a given class breathing heavy, and then disappears for a while.

 

He's not presented as a drunkard or as being particularly psychotic. We've had a person in one night who was like that, and there's a contrast between how Biggie comports himself versus how the drunkard did. I honestly concur w/ K-Sensei's opinion that it's pure ego, and I'm kind of under the impression that he tried to backtalk again when he came to class on Tuesday. There was some conversation happening over there - no flared tempers or anything, and I couldn't hear anything, but if his behavior toward me is anything to go on, it wouldn't surprise me if he was trying to critique K-Sensei's technique during teaching.

 

Anyway, I guess it just bugs me in light of our dojo's difficulties. We need more bodies on the mats - more people to pay and more people to study with. If this truly is an ego thing, then he's not going to go back to his friends and tell them he got schooled. In fact, he will probably say nothing and hope they forget. Which means we stand to lose out on potential students. My teacher is really good. He shouldn't have to settle for only having two or three students. He deserves better. And I like this school. I want us to stay open; closing off an opportunity for us to not only stay open but to improve our craft over something so stupid as pride really gets under my skin.

[Kishi]

Kali and chill wasn't a bad idea at all. Class was earlier, and we basically went over a lot of moving with the knife and without. Manong's kind of on the control/grapple aspects of kali right now, so that's what we do. One thing we did that we hadn't done before is that he had us put on fencing masks, shut off the lights, and practice flow. In other words, I went from being blind to being blinder, to being even blinder than I normally am when these things go. It was an interesting experience - in the end, I couldn't trust my sight, but had to rely on feeling where he was going and where the pressure was. I got "cut" many times doing this, but I didn't mind.

 

Took my measurements this morning and it seems to be about what I suspected. I had a really low measurement somehow, but the other measurements averaged it out and it looks like I stagnated a bit. Technically I'm at 16.9% according to measurement, but my general finding is that if I'm within half a percent of my last measurement that I'm essentially in the range of a daily fluctuation. So. Not as bad as I was afraid it was.

 

One other thing I've noticed is that I might have been too hasty in assuming that protein automatically cut calories. I somehow managed to get 150g and still wound up with the standard amount of calories I've been hitting. Which, for reference has averaged out to about ~2300-2500 calories a day. I don't mind it, though. Just a data point.

 

Anyway, today we practice. Handstands, bagwork, stance work. Right foot's feeling a little off, so a brisk walk instead of running. Okay then.

[Kishi]

So, I let myself veg throughout most of the day and didn't get to the gym until late enough at night that I couldn't complete everything before closing. I did what mattered to me. Forearm headstand practice, hitting the bag for a few rounds, and full contact twists. There wasn't time to shadowbox or to get on the treadmill for time.

 

I'm honestly not sure what to do about these headstands, because once I find my balance I can hold them easy, but getting up into them is a trick. I've felt it before when it was hard to hold a stand, and it doesn't feel like I'm fatiguing on a muscular/neurological level. It's just... can't seem to raise up and hold.

 

I do full contact twists because it has carryover into judo and karate, if Pavel is to believed. I think I do believe him. Mechanically, it feels very like punching to me.

 

But there's no shame in staying humble and working through.

 

Anyway, strength and sprinting work of some kind today, and I will probably spend some time today on the treadmill to make up for the lack yesterday. Still think I'm going to walk - the heart doesn't care whether I'm running to make it work or not, but my tendons and ligaments definitely do.

[Urgan]

1 hour ago, Kishi said:

I'm honestly not sure what to do about these headstands, because once I find my balance I can hold them easy, but getting up into them is a trick. I've felt it before when it was hard to hold a stand, and it doesn't feel like I'm fatiguing on a muscular/neurological level. It's just... can't seem to raise up and hold.

 

If headstands are something you want to do well and you're struggling, keep right on doing them. When do you try them? Beginning or end of the training session? If they're being tried later, move them earlier (or even isolate them if you can) and see what that buys you. The first thing you do in the training session is by basic definition is the priority, right? Assuming you are in fact doing them early/first, it sounds like just commanding the power in that instant to kick up is the trouble, which is a power/movement issue, so do a few multiple times a week? I'm sure if you just keep on, you'll get it no problem. 

[Kishi]

7 hours ago, Urgan said:

 

If headstands are something you want to do well and you're struggling, keep right on doing them. When do you try them? Beginning or end of the training session? If they're being tried later, move them earlier (or even isolate them if you can) and see what that buys you. The first thing you do in the training session is by basic definition is the priority, right? Assuming you are in fact doing them early/first, it sounds like just commanding the power in that instant to kick up is the trouble, which is a power/movement issue, so do a few multiple times a week? I'm sure if you just keep on, you'll get it no problem. 

 

Well, what I think I mean to aim for - what I don't have the courage to tell myself - is a freestanding HSPU. But that means freestanding lower-level inversions first. As it is, they're programmed at the start of the session, because they're a priority on the day that I'm practicing and I'm fresh.

 

I think you're right, that it's a power/command issue, and given that I'm no longer doing this GB style, maybe there's something to going back to an easy practice done multiple times throughout the week. Then Saturdays could be a kind of 'test' day. That should make for a good morning routine thing I can do throughout the week, and Strongfirst does have an approach for this kind of thing. Man, it's like they prepared for everything.

 

*

 

Today's session was a good one! Longer than I meant for it to be, but that's what happens when you decide to make up for lost time. Lesson learned, although it wasn't bad.

 

Warmed Up

 

Assisted Dips, 30 lbs assistance

2x5

3x4

3x3

5x2

9x1

 

Deadlifts

5x45

5x65

5x115

3x135

3x5x165

2x4x165

5x3x165

5x2x165

8x1x165

 

Man, I should have started doing singles a long time ago. Could've been a lot of volume left on the table... and a farther fall after I threw dips in the mix.

 

Actually had room to sprint afterward, so sprinting is what I did. 5x15s, and managed to radically increase my distance on the last two. After that, two brief RKC planks and a single set of ring rows as a corrective for posture.

 

After that, I went for a long walk on the treadmill. It was nice. Sisson's insight about taking it easy is a nice one, and it gave me a chance to keep plowing through my reading. I had fun, and it wasn't like it was a stressor on top of other stressors or anything like that.

 

Then went home and found out that we're moving again! But it's to a house that serves my parents better, and it's not too far away from this gym which is the only place I've found to have a freaking punching bag. (like seriously it weirds me out this so hard to find). So. Brats and beans and champagne, because we're classy. I was so stuffed that I didn't have much appetite for any other junk food. Still found room for some Halo Top, though, because I need my protein.

 

The only dissatisfaction about this training is that I missed out on stance practice. Need to begin looking to correct this. I'd also like to do some of the other practice stuff we do in class, but it involves having access to long stretches of wall and that's hard to find around here. Hmm.