Asclepias tuberosa ‘Butterfly Weed’ (orange)
Tanacetum parthenium ‘Aureum’ Golden Feverfew (white)
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Staggering results
Small daily improvements are the key to staggering long-term results.
~ unknown
slip:4a302.
Back on the wagon
I’ve been resting/recovering my shoulder for almost 5 weeks. Yesterday, I did 80 reps (broken into sets with rests) of push-ups/pull-ups/body-weight-squats and 8×10 second handstands… The pullups sucked, as I was standing on (I think it is the) 1-1/2” resistence band. Well, not standing, but keeping my knee bent to lessen how much force the band is adding. It’s probably 15 pounds or more at the bottom, and goes to zero before I reach the top of the pull-up. It made for a good forearm burn, but no hint of shoulder problems. So I think it’s safe to get back into this level of effort regularly. (My shoulder is definitely still in recovery though.)
Today I’m going to set up the precision bar. (The scaf is all there, but I pulled out one of the precision-jump bars for something else). I’ll do at least 4×20 to get back on the horse for bar-precisions.
The rest of this week I’ll stick to “easy” and just repeat the 80-reps workout Wednesday and Friday. I’m working further on hand/skin improvements. I did the first 40 pullups bare hands (on the indoor, 1” bar; I think the larger outdoor scaf is easier on the hands). When it’s starting to hurt, I put gloves on and save my hands for the next workout. So I’ll keep doing that. I’ll also work at getting off the band.
I was just reading an article about something like “sprint weight loss”. The idea is to leverage your short-term motivation to push your weight down, and then settle back to your regular eating/living routine. So I’m working on sticking strickly to my 16/8 IF this week. I’ve slowly eased down to wobbling around 220 pounds now, and have touched 218 once. So I think a couple weeks of diligent IF and actively thinking about carbs (that is, avoid them) again will get me to “wobbling around 218 pounds”. Which would be a great thing to help with pullups.
I’ve also now gotten an honest assessment of what happens if you take 5 weeks off from the body weight workouts. Definite back-sliding (no duh) but it’s not a train-wreck-total-start-over. So I hope I’ll feel more comfortable reigning things in for future injury, or injury-prevention, situations that arise.
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Moving forward
I really struggle with believing that small, daily efforts lead to long-term changes. On the treadmill of life, I always seem to want to start sprinting to get ahead, especially when the treadmill picks up speed working against me. I find little injuries or other setbacks are really demoralizing. Curiously, I don’t seem to be demoralized by the things I’m not yet able to do. (“Scale that wall? meh. Some day, maybe, not really a major concern though.”)
So any time I manage to go to a class, or an event, or a simple workout, or a run, or whatever… and I put in solid effort without injurying myself or pushing anything too far (pushing “too far” is for special occasions ;) …well, after those workouts, then I really feel vindicated and motivated to continue my journey.
This morning I managed to get up, get out the door, run and do my QM work alone. It was nothing major; Just a half hour of easy running and a half hour of “easy” QM.
It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.
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Lady Liberty
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Grow
I just wanna go on more adventures. Be around good energy. Connect with people. Learn new things. Grow.
~ “THEKHOOLHAUS“
slip:4a27.
Atlantic City’s north-end beach
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What makes it great
Of course it’s hard, it’s supposed to be hard.
~ unknown
If it was easy, everyone would do it.
HARD is what makes it GREAT.
slip:4a29.
Another setback and refusal to quit
About three weeks ago, I over-did it… raking in the yard. :^/ I’m presuming that was just the final straw on top of everything else I’ve been doing.
At that time, I paused all my 10K workouts, but have continued training parkour, running, and even doing some shoulder-intensive quadrapedie conditioning work (shoulder loading modes which don’t cause pain). Watching the calendar tick away to my one-year deadline on the 10K project is the hardest part. Unfortunately, it would be a miraculous come back to make it at this point.
I’ve decided that I’m not giving up on the 10K goal. I’ve never tried (let alone completed) anything of this scale, so I *really* want to finish it. I’ll either pull off a miraculous come back, or I’ll simply be happy with over shooting the date. To that end, after a good two weeks off from the five exercises, I’m going to start back into doing some numbers. I may even start pullups with resistance band assistance to be 100% sure I do no further damage to my shoulder.
I already have a good, morning recovery habit (stretching, and dynamic range of motion stuff) which I am now doubling-down on to do in the evenings too. I had been focusing on hips (hip ROM being something I really need to work on) but I’m reorganizing to be focused on shoulders. I’m rather happy about my (apparent) ability to pause one goal/focus to retool for this shoulder recovery work. In the past, I’m sure I’d have just tried to *add* shoulder recovery to my overflowing pile.
I continue to shave off fractions of pounds. I was “around 223” and am now wobbling around 221, seeing 220 occassionally. (Some quick body-weight strength checks, and performance in parkour, lead me to think I’m not loosing significant strength.) Weight is the best thing for me to work on at this point as it translates immediately to less “strain” and easier next-day recovery. I’m planning my most ambitious parkour trip ever in late-July and August, and it will involve weeks of all-day moving. It’s also (obviously) the go out and play time of year, so my general activity level goes up.
In other news, I bailed out of a possible trip to rock climb in Colorado, partly due to time constraints, but mostly due feeling it was “off-focus” for me at the moment (if that makes sense).
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Bonsai
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Your whole life
People overestimate what they can do in a single day and underestimate what they can do in their whole lives.
~ unknown
slip:4a299.
Sarah P Duke Gardens
Perspective and scale; Tiny moss or a hill covered in tall grass? Bald Cypress tree or the leg of an enormous dinosaur? Towering Red Oak tree or a single neuron? Moss on a rock or an Alpine mountain face with a distant forest? Spending the morning trying to exercise my visual perspectives.
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Lilium ‘Louise XIV’
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No one knows
No one but you knows how hard you work, how many hours you put in behind the scenes, so rely on yourself for approval, not the outside world.
~ unknown
slip:4a328.
Saturday morning
Nice warm-up run and some conditioning with QM variations. We’re going back to basics this summer.
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Looming overhead
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Assert integrity of purpose
Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safer. The creatures of the common place. The slaves of the ordinary.
~ Cecil Beaton
slip:4a76.
Live bait
7′ pull-up bar, “water fall” bars, 7′ long clear railing, gap challenges, adjustable precision bars… my new live-bait trap for scaf-loving humans. There’s an LVPK women’s event tomorrow (Saturday)… so I’ll be investigating this beastie! Who’s in?
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Spring is here!
Sun is shining, birds are chirping, and there’s something new coming in scaf-land…
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The Atlantic
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