BitterOyster Trains Mind, Body and Pokemon

[BitterOyster]

Hi, I'm BitterOyster. I'm a Lycan Ranger and some things I do are strength training, gym classes, bushwalking, swimming, rucking, gardening, running, keto, weight loss, and bike riding. I may not be built like your typical Lycan but that's my race because I hear the call of the wild, and like any canine, I'll eat chocolate until it kills me!

 

I'm on a quest to become a Pokemon master.

In my first challenge I travelled Kanto collecting 8 badges.

Then I faced off against the Elite 4, a gauntlet of the strongest Pokemon trainers in Kanto.

On the tail of that victory I challenged the Champion but my team was swept by Charizard (I injured my knee in my first Krav Maga lesson).

With our spirits low my Pokemon and I headed back to Pallet Town to recover. I decided to travel around Kanto once more to find the ultimate power that would finally topple the champion.

In the parallel universe where we don't have Pokemon, I wanted to explore and sketch all the natural wonders of my locality in the year before I move away, so I made a map of the places I wanted to visit and followed along with my Pokemon journey.

 

Our first stop was Mt Moon where I drew historic buildings.

Then we toured the Safari Zone and set sail on the S.S. Anne.

In Viridian Forest I learned from nature.

 

Who knows what adventures await?

 

 

[BitterOyster]

Got a lot done today - dug in the edging for one garden bed, picked up 40kg of sheep manure. There's no more large volumes of digging to do so I'm glad I've got a pile of tiles for edging out the front and soil that needs to be shifted, because I actually really started to enjoy having manual labor with heavy things to do at my own pace. Just over a year ago I did zero exercise apart from some walking - I love who I'm becoming.

 

Later I headed to the beach with my housemate, but the water was unexpectedly chilly, so we went to the gym pool instead where I took the opportunity to do stretches in the water.

 

Tomorrow - more garden edges, pick up heaps of newspaper, soil. Body Pump (endurance/strength class) at the gym.

[BitterOyster]

Inspiration post - I don't exactly follow this but it's something I think about a lot.

[BitterOyster]

Good weather so a huge workout in the garden yesterday making new garden beds from scratch - layering sheet mulch, dragging a full bin of lawn clippings, carrying heavy bags and shovelling. Normally I'd spread the work out over more days but I'm in a hurry to get stuff planted and settled before I leave for Christmas. All the hard physical work is done now, except for the 2 crappy beds which I'll convert into the better beds I was making yesterday. But they're good enough to start growing soil enrichment so they can wait until after Christmas.

 

Pump weights for my own reference next year -

Chest 10kg bar/3kg dumbbells

Back 7.5/10/10

Triceps 2.5kg overhead/2kg kickbacks

Biceps 2.5kg plates all reps but not too easy

Shoulders 5kg bar, 1.25 plates

[BitterOyster]

As I continue to be Easily Excited By Beans, I've got dwarf beans producing right now, soy beans and scarlet runner beans planted, and I'm currently excited by this.

[BitterOyster]

http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2015/12/how-i-went-from-weight-lifting-to-bodyweight-exercises-and-still-gained-strength/

[BitterOyster]

Update on the ongoing R&D phase for my next challenge.

One of the goals will involve surviving summer. I've refined my health potion (homemade electrolyte drink) and bought some teas that taste good as iced teas, unsweetened with no milk - not easy to meet all those requirements but they make life easier. Next step is to buy a tea brewing bottle to make them portable, maybe as a reward for the challenge.

In order to keep track of new habits I may be starting I've been looking into productivity apps and have tried out many but haven't found one that does exactly what I want without an ongoing subscription. At the moment I'm settling for Google Keep and Google Calendar, which has the bonus of not installing new apps on my phone.

Considering adding art into my challenge, currently revamping my desk (I lost my sweet postgraduate workspace when I graduated) and reconsidering my workflow.

[BitterOyster]

Back in my hometown. I need a more specific plan or the days are going to slip away from me. I had a headache from travelling but took the dog for a short walk. Tomorrow a short walk or swim and some pushups and squats will be fine but on Boxing Day I'll go for a longer walk.

[BitterOyster]

I'm not a fan of New Year's resolutions. It frustrates me to no end to see people failing and I hate the self-deprecating jokes about the inevatiable failure because I know it's not inevitable, but most people would rather work harder for 3 months than work smarter for the whole year.

One article I read recently pointed out that New Year's comes after the holidays where people often endulge so it's a reaction to that. I think that's a big mistake, because if you use your health/fitness goals to try to make up for overeating and undermoving in the holidays you're subconsciously making a dichotomy between pleasurable holiday stuff and ascetic self-discipline. The way I prefer is to find the fun in exercise, do things I'm excited about, and look forward to big meals when I'm hungry.

[BitterOyster]

http://m.mentalfloss.com/article.php?id=72775

This is reassuring. I haven't fully taken a break over the holidays but I'm always worried about losing fitness. I haven't been exercising long enough to have experience with this and I thought it happened much quicker.

[BitterOyster]

http://sourcesofinsight.com/create-if-then-plans/

 

This is a really good idea! Often a plan for change goes awry when it's more about what you want to change than the actions that entails on a day-to-day basis. And of course you need to plan for less than ideal conditions and be able to redirect triggers for behaviours you don't want.

[BitterOyster]

http://blog.any.do/2015/03/a-simple-to-do-list-hack-for-a-braver-life/

Interesting that I see this a hell of a lot in the 6-week challenges. Sometimes related to fantasy characters (e.g. a warrior needs to be strong and smart so I'll train and study, a ninja needs to be nimble so I'll do mobility work) but the important thing is that we don't just make a list of things to do, but relate them to what we gain from them and why we want those abilities.

[BitterOyster]

I've gotta have a daily drawing habit. This is an important one I've had on and off so I've thought a lot about how I'm going to tackle it seriously. Firstly as a low-stress, short-time sketching habit, but later down the track I'd really like to get serious about exp grinding up to a way higher level and expanding my skill trees. It just occurred to me that I've also wanted to start doing no-backlit-screen time before bed to help with sleep, so that could team up with the drawing. Only problem is that I use the computer for reference material. So, if I find something from the garden or the kitchen to sketch and save it until night that could work, or draw from memory.

[BitterOyster]

Planning to start the 100 days of keto challenge in the next round on April 12. Keto is a controversial diet and it's not for everyone but it works for me and I've spent the last 3 years either on keto or low-carb Paleo.

 

Lately I've been getting sick of eating the same things for dinner but haven't had time/energy/money to try new recipes. So I'm making a rotating menu of 12 recipes, each making 4 serves, and I'll run through it twice, so 2x12x4= 96 meals. I'm sure I can figure out the remaining 4. That way I can't say I'm eating the same thing all the time because each one will only be repeated twice in the hundred days. Some of these dinners are tried and tested favourites, others are new and I'm going to be adapting recipes to the right macros.

 

• Beef stroganoff
• Pork and fried cabbage
• Corned beef with sauerkraut
• Butter chicken
• Thai chicken satay
• Taco bowls
• Chicken and vegetable soup
• Steaks with garlic and bacon brussels sprouts
• Beef stew
• Chicken parmesan with stir fry veggies
• Chicken asparagus casserole
• Beef chow mein

[BitterOyster]

Other projects:

 

Use Facebook less - going great! Down to once a day. Considering cutting down to once a week, but I'll have to install a messenger client because I get important messages through the chat.

 

Drawing - using stuff from the garden was a great idea! Injuring my leg made it not so great since I can't walk much. I hit on the idea of doing themed sketch pages. I just can't resist a theme. So far, objects on my desk and a page of veggies from the kitchen. Once I can walk, seashells, leaves and so forth will make good pages. I also want to do more landscapes, whether urban or nature.

 

Learning webdesign - much more confident with CSS now. The intro to Javascript that came with the CSS course was not enlightening. If I choose to continue with Javascript it will need some concentration but I'm capable of that.

 

Minimalism - going well. The biggest obstacle at the moment is my collection of craft stuff that I'll totally get around to using one day (not). I got rid of my knitting and sewing supplies other than a basic repair kit, admitting that 'someday' will never come for that stuff. 'Someday' is likely to be at least two years off for the jewellery making if I'm being totally honest so it may never happen either and I might be better just dumping the lot. On the other hand, I don't think I should cut off avenues for generating income in the future. Sure, that potential income is useless clutter if it remains a dream, but I will definitely be paying for space on market stalls and learning to sell online for my art so the jewellery making can piggyback on the other business. But it still needs honest scrutiny.

[BitterOyster]

A while ago I was looking at tertiary level concept art courses and getting really frustrated because I don't want art to be the main part of my career yet so I'm not willing to dedicate time and money to something like that, but I'm not satisfied with where I'm at either. I have a bachelor's in illustration so my noob gainz are behind me and I have some confidence but I'm not up to entertainment industry standard. I know what it takes to get to that standard and it includes a huge number of hours in life drawing and a lot of feedback on projects, which is what these courses force you to do. Doing a little at a time is fine for beginners, but from my level to where I want to be requires a serious commitment. A commitment I'm not willing to make, yet I keep wanting more skills.

 

I realised though, it's not all or nothing. I have skills in some areas and gaps in others, and I expect myself to have all the gaps covered by yesterday, I'm torn in many directions at once, and I never get started. But a course addresses one subject at a time, and a year is over before you know it. So why not use this year to put myself through art school for free? I can't give it full time hours, but I can tailor the syllabus to my needs and attack my weak areas. Since I have all the subjects planned out for the year, I don't need to feel guilty about not working on weak areas.

 

March - sketching habit, get website going.

April - Faces

May - Drapery

June - Anatomy: head, neck, torso

July - Anatomy: shoulders and arms

August - Anatomy: legs and hips

September - Backgrounds, composition

October - Animation

November - Character design

December - Storytelling

 

I was planning to write out goals for each of these but with my changing work schedule and other commitments it's hard to know how much time I'll have. But the basic structure will be small repetitive exercises daily, more focused study of the anatomy/drawing books and tutorials I have, and one more in-depth project for each.

 

I didn't write goals for April and I've found myself a week in without a clear plan. I'm not in a headspace to set very structured goals at the moment but I want to get out of my comfort zone so I'm challenging myself to do 100 small watercolour sketch portraits in April. Gulp! 100! That means 4 or 5 a day to make it before the end of the month. It's crazy, but it's Ranger crazy. The other part of this module will be studying from Andrew Loomis, the master on learning to draw faces, and one full page detailed portrait.

 

I've started to dream about setting up on the street and doing 10-minute portraits for strangers. Faces are my #1 weak spot so I don't want to charge for the portraits - I have a plan for that. I want to print my business cards onto watercolour paper, do the portrait on the back, snap a quick photo on my phone and hand it over to the passerby for free. That way I'm advertising myself but I don't have the pressure of paid customers.

[BitterOyster]

https://medium.com/@lesliejwier/re-framing-strong-and-healthy-is-the-new-sexy-b1fbcd6466cd#.2l6ulwv7g

Love this article by a fellow Rebel.

[BitterOyster]

 

 

 

I like this! This is why I try really hard to see the bigger picture. The most important part of my calendar is the white space in the margin where I write weekly and monthly goals. I also have some stuff I look at over yearly or 6-monthly periods and work from general to specific.

[BitterOyster]

Ok, I like triangle diagrams.

The Three Stages of Failure and How to Fix Them

[BitterOyster]

 

[BitterOyster]

http://www.knee-pain-explained.com/knee-strengthening-exercises.html

Planning a knee strengthening routine, so far:

 

Sitting:

Long arcs

Knee marching

 

Standing

Wall sit

Kick backs

 

Lying:

Straight leg lifts

Glute bridge

The clam (glute)

Lying adductor/abductor

 

I really hate getting down on the floor but these need to be done every day. Wonder if I can do these in bed in the morning or if the soft surface will mess it up. Hmmmmm what if I lay my yoga mat out permanently next to my bed.... Maybe get a beanbag so I can drink my morning tea and then get on the floor. Or add a grok squat to the routine, I love those.

[BitterOyster]

Straight leg lifts - 10-20

Glute bridge - 5sec, 10-20 times

The clam - 3sec, 10-20 times

 

Long arcs - 5-20 times

Knee marching - 1min

 

Wall sit

Kick backs 5-25

Resistance band adductors/abductors - ?

 

 

 

[BitterOyster]

 

[BitterOyster]

Ongoing quests update:

• haven't established a regular drawing habit. Too many things going on right now, so I'm taking a break and tackling that at a more opportune time.
• Less Facebook - going really well! I only check it once a day now. I mostly use it for keeping up with events in community groups and markets, so I could probably drop it to twice a week.
• Knee - very improved, squatting again, but still need to see a new physiotherapist to improve stability.
• Webdesign - I reached the end of the free lessons, now studying graphic design on Lynda.com, going really well
• Lights out before bed - was working REALLY well, and also meant my kitchen was staying clean, but since I started working early mornings it hasn't worked because I have to go to bed so early. I might focus on a morning routine involving cleaning the kitchen instead.

[BitterOyster]

www.menshealth.com/fitness/assisted-pullups

 

Assisted pullups on a power rack?!?!?

Awesome!