Latest Training

 Long time, no write. Let's just say messing with your dietary restriction too much can really mess with your life. Thankfully I've come out and away from that with a better appreciation for living with a little more vitality and energy. It's easier when you're eating. That's one part of why I haven't been able to bring myself to write, not having enough energy to get to it on top of all the other things going on. Additionally, I would blame a circuitous buddhist rabbit hole for keeping me away from the keyboard. I've been through a lot of different experiences that may be too hard to put into words at this point, especially as they fade and distort in my memory. I feel a little sad that those experiences weren't put down along the way so i could process things a bit better but better late than never. I've also gotten married! And I'm working a pretty physical job so that has definitely put me in a place where I just wanna rest when I get home.

Now for training updates:

Working back into my climb ups but level 2 is very dependent upon wall grip. I would love to get a solid level 3 again but it will be awhile.

I've touched on my acro skills consistently in the last 3 years such that I've been able to maintain most of my skills but not push beyond them really.

Here's my list of fitness/flexibility goals from a year or so ago:

Strength/Strength Endurance
20 pulls
20 dips
20 pistols with kettlebell
20 HSPU
10 HSPRSU
LSIT 1 min
V-sit
front lever 30 sec
back lever 30 sec
Planche 30 sec (straddle)
straight arm press

Aerobic
Run 5-6 miles regularly
bike8-10 regularly

Flexibility
Frontsplits
Middle splits
Pancake
needle
back bend
kick over
front walkover
backwalkover
split planche

Parkour
9 foot broad jump
belly button box jump
basic flips and acro back. Set goals based on location/routes/video"

Okay so some of these things are ridiculous but a lot of it is just stuff I had in the past but lost after hormones/ not eating right/ not training. At some point I lost the will to interact with any of these kinds of goals and got into a more ephemeral spur of the moment style of parkour.

Anyways, i'm excited to start writing a little again just to start tracking my progress and making the best of where I am currently at. Honestly though I'm in a pretty good place mentally/physically but it also feels like I'm just sort of waking up again.

Training Log 11-14-17 New cycle

Though I've oscillated a bit on my more structured training, I've made progress with my handstands and can almost do my handstand press from a tuck planche consistently, I did it once the other day and almost cried with joy. I'm going to be strong again. Being as strong as I was before gave me a certain kind of power and control that I never truly appreciated. And the funny thing is, I wasn't even that strong! At least not compared to where I wanted to be. Here's what i've got going for right now. As far as reps and sets are concerned, I don't think I'll be going  past 6 reps. If I can make 3x6 consistently for 2 workouts, i will just up the weight and start back over from 3. The grease the groove stuff will make up for the lack of volume in the more structured routine. Also I'm trying not to overload myself since I've got a lot going on with my other skill training.

Structured: 3x per week

W pull ups +10lbs

Ring dips ->W dips

Deadlifts 185

Pistol progression

GTG: 5x per week

muscle up negatives

handstands

BABL presses (bent arm, bent leg presses)

Weekly training schedule

M: parkour jam

T: gym jam, tumbling, acro

W: nothing, cuz band practice rn

TH: Jiujutsu class

F: Parkour Jam

sat-sun: hopefully a climbing  gym trip, definitely at least one parkour session.

PK sessions have become more like "movement sessions" where I primarily work on parkour but I also start playing hacky sack and messing around with the hula hoop. The main reason for this is a lack of manipulatives in parkour. I'm trying to cover all my bases: walking, running, jumping, climbing, swimming balancing, lifting, carrying, throwing, striking, grappling. I've added inverting and acrobatics. I'm lacking in striking and only getting a small part of the grappling piece that I want

Log 7/05/17

Got a new job teaching gymnastics and it inspires me to see kids training so hard and at a much higher level than I'm used to seeing or being. It makes me just want to train hard and acquire a bunch of gymnastics strength skills.

I'm preparing myself for grad school stuff. It's a long way off but I'm set on my path right now and I know generally what I need to do to get where I want to be. For philosophy in particular I'm realizing that I need to understand complicated arguments for several different sides of any given topic. I think when I stopped studying philosophy officially after my undergraduate degree, I would read about different topics/arguments but with a mind to discard bad reasoning. So as soon as I would see a misstep in the logic of something, I wouldn't bother with it. Instead I need to have a more exploratory mindset with every view I come across so I can map out the philosophical landscape. Lately it has been all about political philosophy which is something I avoided altogether. I'm excited to explore things much more now. Switches are flipping in my brain and it is a good thing.

As far as training is concerned it has been mostly full of
Hangs
L sits
One arm lock off training
A bit of climbing
Some tumbling
Handstands/press training
And pk!

Log 6/26/17

Enjoyed a weekend of training again. Went to the sfij early to help set up bars with Davis crew and we jammed until about 8 or 9 I believe. I'm enjoying so much more strength lately, tumbling is getting stronger, handstand stuff feels easier. On Sunday we did some heavy squats and deadlifts and a shift in of stretching. Still pretty beat up right now so mostly taking it easy today.

Instead of training so much I'm hoping to mostly just stretch and focus on my philosophy studies. Trying to finish "buddhism as philosophy" by mark siderits. It's a short introductory to some of the philosophical ground that buddhism covers. It's nice to see buddhist thought laid out in a more organized argument form. Aaaand gotta study for that GRE.

Log 6/21/17

Trained my broad jump and some kips yesterday. I usually start out with jumps from my knees to emphasize hip drive. Then I jump with no arms to emphasize just my leg power. Then I do the full jump. Probably should just add some basic hops for my calves/ankles.

My kip is generally pretty disastrous right now but I do it well every once in a while. Need to be stronger with my horizontal pull and my compression.

Food:
Rice and broccoli
Apples
Bagel with hummus and chips
Some soy protein based chicken tenders
Some pectin fruit strip things

Log 6/20/17

Been coaching gymnastics again and it has been pretty inspiring. I am lucky enough to be shadowing the higher level boy's team. They train up to 4 or more hours 3 to 5 times a week. That dedication! It's cool to get a better understanding up close regarding specific techniques and training methodology. The secret seems to be just an insane amount of skill training.

The movements these kids are doing are all connected as far as form is concerned so they get so much repetition with, say, L holds for almost every event. I was under the impression with my own training that I would train some L holds but not much more than a minute or two accumulated. Now I am seeing it as a fundamental body position like standing or squatting. It should be easy.

Ate pretty well:

Salad with tomato, olives, and onions w/spring mix
Rice and broccoli with green onions
Some apples
Fig bars at work and some fruit snacks
A banana.
Was at 76.5 kg yesterday. Hoping to get back down to 70 kg first.

Slept on yoga mat on wooden floor with no blanket. My stoicism meter is increasing.

In general I seem to be just getting a lot more stuff done lately. I'm finally starting to push myself a little harder than I have been in life because I have reasons for moving forward. I'm living with more purpose and that gives me so much more resilience, openness, conscientiousness. I'm one lucky duck right now and I hope I can just maintain this momentum.

Daily log 6/18/17

The heat was hot and the ground was dry and the air was full of sounds.

It's been stupidly hot out. So hot that it's hard to train during the day. Early morning and evening training is where it is at. Was able to press up into a handstand from a crow position.

Got a lot of life stuff going on lately, trying to get myself out to Sweden as in August for trainings and other things. Need to take GRE's. Been inspired to actually start doing things for my potential future so that I won't be impoverished forever. This is not my usual mode of thought. My ideas about minimalism and capitalism are clashing with some other philosophical views from those old existentialist philosophers. Will see where this all goes but it is exciting to explore a new avenue because I think I was stuck at a dead end with my other ways of thinking.

06/12/17

Parkour run through Davis. Switched to my vapor gloves since my feiyues unceremoniously died the other day. I must have understood that they wouldn't last the year but I sorta tried.

Run was good,  was shown a bunch of cool new spots in Davis. Worked through some big acrobatic movements. Feeling pretty beat up now. First day of a new job starts. Teaching gymnastics again. I think I will enjoy it.

Daily Log 06/11/17

Blew through my feiyues yet again. Had this crazy idea I could make them last for an entire year. I think it was about two months. This is actually pretty good as far as feiyues go. I may have some backup vapor gloves I can use. I must have neglected them over winter since they bleed water straight through like sunken ships. Mostly acrobatic laden parkour stuff this weekend and some bar work. Jenny added a new platform in the backyard which has created a lot of interesting opportunities and saves energy because we no longer have to swing a bunch to get momentum. We can just start from the platform. Managed a handstand descent down two 2-3ft ledges. It's getting easier! Hardly stretched at all or did any calisthenics unfortunately. Was stressed out a bit regarding family stuff and my training mentality just fell apart. Perhaps things would have been worse without my meditation practice but it is in moments of high stress that my motivation to seek cessation blossoms. Slowly but surely.

Daily log 06/08/17

Failed almost immediately with eating the one meal a day. Going to take it a little easier and just slow it down to two since my activity level is pretty high and it messed me up almost instantly. I think it makes more sense to taper and oscillate meal frequency. Some days, nothing at all. Other days, up to two big meals. Will see if I can handle myself only going with two max.

I gained almost a foot on my broad jump. Up to 97 inches from 86 inches only the week before. Have been doing jumps from my knees to engage my hips more so it's probably just a significant technique change. I want 9 feet!

Worked on some handstand press up negatives, pulls, dips, and pistol negatives. Did 6 pull ups too. Just gotta build consistency. Been going to wonderland as often as possible and putting myself through a warm-up even if i don't feel like training. I ignore the lazy voice because I know I will be somewhere else mentally by the time I'm done warming up. It's important not to take one's thoughts so seriously sometimes.

Daily Log 06/07/17

Trained tumbling stuff at davis diamonds. My russian fronts are super high now and I can usually combo out of them. Tried to throw some cart fronts and fulls but was less successful I love the idea of switching from front tumbling to back tumbling which is why I wanted the cart-front flip but since I lack the power/technique I ended up trying some back half twists to roundoff and was pretty successful though I had a hard time keeping my arms up for the transition. Some light stretching before and after but not enough volume with that .

Spent a lot of time reading through "Buddhism as Philosophy" by Mark Siderits and it is a refreshing read to what I am used to with the usual buddhist texts. The in depth analysis of Buddhist doctrines helps deepen my understanding and refine my motivations mainly because the author is showing the more specific reasons behind certain claims, while discarding common misunderstandings. It's a good thing to have at least 5 rationalizations for why you're practicing something and the book doesn't disappoint. In particular I was just reading about the doctrine of non-self as it relates to the more conventional concept of self. Illuminating. Will write up a review and analysis after combing through it. It's a textbook but it's short and very clearly written for the most part.

Ate one big meal of spaghetti, bread, and soup for lunch. Then a mango later on. But I want to try just having one meal a day for a month. I'm inspired by re-reading this paper called "the metabolic winter hypothesis":

"In 400 BC, hippocrates wrote: “We must consider [whether] food is to be given once or twice a day, in greater or smaller quantities, and at intervals. Something must be conceded to habit, to season, to country and to age.”

I just love this. The concept of eating once a day feeds my inner ascetic. Not sure why I fetishize being an ascetic but it just makes me feel good to try to live simply in a world full of constant excess. It's part of why I sleep on the floor, why I eat plant-based, why I try not to give/receive material gifts. I suppose it makes the times that I do break these "rules" feel more valuable.

Back to the paper though, Cronise points out the the modern contrast to hippocrates' musings about food. Nowadays the meals do not stop, we are hardly ever in a fasted state so we rarely pull into our reserves which will just continue to accumulate left unchecked. Will see how I feel after a week of this and decide if I can continue.

Daily log 6/05/17

Parkour run! Only ended up going through a few spots on our run since we got distracted by the obstacles around us which is a good thing. It's nice to find a shady spot to train. I can do my handstand press up on a low wall now just barely. I can't wait to get stronger and stronger. Not sure if I'll be teaching gymnastics but I want to be ready if I do so I gotta a get all my gymnastics type strength up.

Had some major slip ups with diet again. I'm noticing that it only happens at moments where I am not quite all there and I just impulsively go for something, not allowing myself to think it through. If I can trigger myself to stop everything when I get an impulse, I can meditate and recreate the associations that strengthen my resolve. I'm finding my patterns and realizing the places where I need to be strongest:

When eating out somewhere, movies/restaurants
Riding by the store after not having eaten in a while and I realise I have money
Just before or after training (the rationalization starts there, "i need the calories")

Daily log 06/01/17

Trained some isolated jumping techniques along with some max broad jumps. Hands behind back. Jumping from the knees. One footed jumps. My max broad jump is 7' 4". So yeah I could use a bit of a power boost for sure. I would be pretty happy if I could get past 8-9 ft. And I can't imagine what it would be like to have enough jumping for a 10 footer.

Worked on some lache to pre up yo a highhh bar but technique is crap so I'm barely getting to the bar and just falling back off of it. Hands crapped out after a series of half hearted attempts.

Managed at least one good muscle up on rings. I can only do maybe 5 pull ups and 6 dips. I think my body just remembers how to do muscle ups on rings and I have not so bad shoulder flexibility.

Aaaand some handstand negatives on the edge of the box. Nice to get a taste of a semblance of an echo of a ghost of my previous handstand ability. Hopefully it will come fast with dedicated training.

Food
Bowl of rice and broccoli
A bowl of grapes
Can of barley soup
Watermelon
Piece of baguette with mustard and avocado
Whole wheat spaghetti with homemade pasta sauce full of veggies, one bowl.
Didn't feel like I stuffed myself today and I managed to have only about one serving for whatever I was eating rather than a massive container of rice or multiple servings to infinity.

Daily log 5/31/17

Went to Davis diamonds but I was pretty tired so I threw a few good tricks but was mostly enjoying talking with some of the others.

Currently reading the second book in the Nexus trilogy and I'm realizing where I got that whole "mind programs" idea and it makes me want to develop the concept a little further. For whatever mental state I want to put myself in, I need to know the exact pathway to get there. So it is much like a program in the sense that I am in one state of mind, I execute a few lines of code, then I'm in the desired state. The lines of code are just the appropriate thoughts and associations that change my mental state. It's going to be important to create programs that are not too specialized, otherwise they won't work for the general category of things I need them for.

A program for food cravings has gotta be pretty easy. Essentially I want to bypass the part where I eat shitty food, and go straight to the mindset of craving healthy food, or perhaps for certain occasions, not craving food at all.

For parkour, I could certainly use a program for resolve and commitment to a jump I know I have the technical ability for. Most of the time I have to just keep drilling a technique until I happen to fall into the correct state of mind but again, why not bypass that?

It's the same with learning someone's pk route. I've specifically trained my eye to learn the movements right away instead of having to go into all of the over complicating explanations of "where this hand goes and where to out this foot."

Daily log 5/28/17

Went to nut tree boulders for bouldering and a little bit of rock hopping. I exhausted myself on one route but it helped me see where i was weak with my hand strength. Gotta get some climbing back in the rotation.

Went swimming, no breath holds this time, just fun.

Daily log 5/26-27/17

26th
Did judo and skateboarding. Need to work on my ukemi more. Went to a nonparkour party and actually had fun.

27th
Trained at the pit, handstand eccentrics and headstand pushups. Even muscle up on rings! Getting stronger and building momentum.

Motivated by this talk: https://youtu.be/Urd0IK0WEWU
Can't tell if this guy is just a nut or what sometimes but he says a few things in here about responsibility that stokes my inner fire a bit.

Video of some training: https://www.instagram.com/p/BUpBiCPF-xW/

Daily log 5/26/17

Rest day for the most part but I still skateboarded for about 5 miles. Also didn't do my L-sits at all. Failed the second time trying to fix my bike for a completely different reason.

Turned in a job application at a gymnastics place. Might be teaching gymnastics again. I miss it, to be fair, though I despised it for awhile. A lot of my strength stuff came directly from gymnastics and I think coaching it again will give me the incentive to build up certain gymnastics/tumbling skills. I know how strong I could potentially be. I'm not there yet. Think I'll make a post about some of the benchmarks I used to have so I know what I'm going for again.

Started the second book in the Nexus trilogy by Ramez Naam. It's a sci-fi about this nano drug that wirelessly connects up people's minds. I love it so far though it has some pretty stock tropes and lines in it. The overall idea plays out well. Need to do a full review of it when I finish.

Food
Rice and broccoli with pasta sauce
Bananas
2 Veggie burgers on sourdough
Something called a vegan coq monsieur which is essentially a ham and cheese mcmuffin. Still unhealthy but not as mad as the original
Some lentils w/ carrots and onion
Watermelon

Daily log 5/25/17

My bicycle tire popped again and I failed to fix it though I had all the back up tools because my pump is faulty. I'm reluctant to get it fixed if it forces me to run/walk or skate everywhere instead. But the money saved over time cycling and not taking the bus may win out for me. Worked on a big ol lache pre and failed on it a bunch of times by not sticking it. I actually did one that was pretty good but it felt like a fluke I could tell that my problem was mostly mental so I did a few forfeits. I made one slightly good pre at the end and avoided having to do a bunch of L sits. But I still ended up having to do 100 pullups, 100 pushups, and 50 pistols on each leg. Pretty much ended my pk session and turned it into struggle town. I noticed that though I had to suffer through these reps, the necessity of them put me in a much more open mindset, not nearly as reluctant to do some work. "I must do these things so I will do these things" versus "these things are optional so maybe I can stop this point or that point".

My pull ups took the longest and I switched between chinups. I never went over sets of 3. I can only do about 8 or 9 pushups before my arms start to give out. I did my pistols in sets of 10 using a vertical pole since I'm still lacking a surplus of ankle dorsiflexion. I also tried to finish by 10pm otherwise I'd have to do 30 minutes worth of L-sits today. I'm about 15 seconds in and will get it done throughout the day. I need the push to do these things sometimes. It's not a punishment in my opinion, it is just trading one kind of mental difficulty for another. Yes it's difficult for the body, but it will follow suit given even just a little bit of rest.

"The causes of suffering are internal". 

I finished this talk finally. I have such appreciation for this guy. I've done a review of his "Attention Revolution"  book and I always find his talks motivating/uplifting/clarifying. There is a lot of jargon thrown around but one gets used to it reading buddhist texts and all that. He mentions this video in the above talk and even though it is a joke skit, I think it points out the brilliance of meditative practices in that it is actually possible to "stop it" when it comes to rumination, negative ideation, etc. It's just that people don't know about this stuff so they don't think it is worth the effort when they hear a soundbite about it. They don't connect up meditation with anything that has to do with their mental issues. Obviously this line of thinking can go too far but I believe if a person can maintain their attention on the breath for even a few seconds, many of the benefits of meditation are possible with training. Quite a low bar, isn't it? (another caveat: probably doesn't work for everyone depending on certain conditions. But it's worth saying that it should work for most people) Anyway I'm in love with this idea of being both the originator and liberator of my mental suffering. I find it so empowering and it sets my priorities. 

Food log: 

Rice and veggies

Beans

3 bananas

5 pluots

Some pineapple

Strawberries

A late night veggie pizza. Too expensive Jesus. Veggies good, whole wheat bread not so bad, daiya cheese terrible.

daily log 5/23/17

Parkour run yesterday. Apparently the route we took through uc davis campus was about 1.6 miles and we ran most of it. It has become clear that my capacity for dealing with my fear and knowing my body outpaces my strength and power. I find I can often do scary jumps that the others have a hard time with but are well within their physical strength. I struggle to do jumps that they can power through. I'll catch up eventually. Ate pretty well too, all fruit and veggies and rice for the most part. I'm getting a little more accountability on that one luckily, which makes me make better choices. If I have to tell someone else that I ate something terrible, I become motivated to not disappoint them. You'd think I wouldn't want to disappoint myself first and foremost but that does not seem to be the case at the moment. This reminds me of the "internal audience" concept coming from Dr. Doug Lisle getting our internal audience to stand up and applaud us by doing the things we know are right but struggle to make ourselves do. I like this concept of internalizing esteem in a sense because one can see how it works in the external world and apply it to the internal. There are certain people that I would hate to disappoint constantly seek their approval. I will even do things that I find personally difficult in order to please them. Perhaps it is no different with the self.

Daily log 5/22/17

Finally got some parkour in. Spent about an hour or two stretching which was wonderful but I need more of it. This is my usual pattern with stretching. I max out all the positions I'm interested in, then do it again in like 3 or 4 days. So my progress is slow with flexibility because I lack the consistency required to make bigger gains.

Dragged myself out to jam on the uc Davis campus with the rest of the Davis crew in the ridiculous heat. Luckily there was plenty of shade in our spot and it only took a little bit of moving around to dissolve the discomfort from the heat.

Video:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BUYUYuJFwXQ/

This short route had some tricky footwork and I know I lost some power in my cartwheel with my bent legs. Also didn't land the best but was getting pretty tired from doing everything. Made some massive (for me) dive kongs too.

Went to a salsa class and had such a fun time. It is pretty technical stuff but I am enjoying the challenge of trying something completely different and I've always wanted to get into dancing of any kind.