Tag: fitness

I’ve been bad at updating, but here goes.

Krav is happening. I missed last Monday for sport club banquet and the Wednesday before that for a visit with my mom. Attendance isn’t too great, but we have a core following. We’re going to kick our personal training into high gear soon. We have about a month before CIC 2 starts.

I’m still going to the gym. Here are some set lists. The day I did 3 sets of everything, I was working out alone and had time constraints. I did that in about an hour!

Last Saturday (04-21) I went to the beach. I took a walk, rolled around in the surf, and played games. I even did a cartwheel.

Today I went to the gym, but my knee hurt, I was grumpy, and my friends weren’t there, so I bailed. The Argo Fit incentive program is over for the semester, and that bummed me out too. I walked around on the track a bit before I went home.

Krav tonight was good. I participated as much as I could without upsetting the knee (I have no idea what I did). Naturally tonight’s class was all about getting up from the ground. The good side is that my students think I’m badass for doing one-legged squats.

Tomorrow the plan is to hit the gym after office hours. It’s already the last week of classes!

Yesterday instead of going back to the gym, Nik and I took a walk outside. After that, I took the cat in the back yard on her harness so that she could pretend to be a big forest cat in the tall grass. We even got some yard work done.

Today Nik dutifully got up and went to the gym. He told me I deserved to sleep in, so I did.

When I did get up, I had my weekly weigh-in. I am down 3 lbs from last week (and down 5 lbs from my fitness assessment Tuesday, but I take that with a grain of salt because I was not weighing in under my usual controlled circumstances). I knew that being diligent in the kitchen and actually going to the gym would help, but I didn’t think I’d see such a change in a short period of time.

I intend to go to fencing practice tonight.

Krav on Monday night was productive. We all warmed up together. Then Eddie taught the class while the rest of us covered most of the material in P1. Then we did the closing actions together.

I finally made it to Body Fat Tuesday! My day percent is up to 37.5. I hit the elliptical after class (with the mask). I was hangry and didn’t like the particular elliptical I was on, but I did the thing.

Nik and I lifted weights yesterday morning. I got lightheaded at one point even though I’d eaten breakfast. It passed. I don’t know what was up with that. The only thing I can figure is I went too fast. Here’s the set list.

Last night was my turn to teach at Krav. We covered mounted chokes on the ground. Everyone was huffing and puffing at the end of class, and everyone was doing the technique, so I’ll call it a win.

Today I was starving after class, so Nik and I came home for lunch. I’ll get some cardio in later – our schedule is wide open today.

Since Monday, Nik and I have been making a more concerted effort in the kitchen. We’re eating lots of veggies and chicken. The meals are great. What really hurts is the moratorium on sweets. We’re cutting sweets and alcohol (entirely) until I get home from CIC.

I’m finally back!

On Monday, I helped teach my first Krav class of the new year in the new venue. I had my usual first day jitters, but Eddie and Michael were there with me, and we made a great team.

On Tuesday, I hit the gym after class and did 30 minutes on the elliptical with the mask on. I did half the run set on 2 on both sides. I did the next 15 minutes at settings 2 and 3 and the final 15 with both sides set on 3 (the max is 4 on each side – I’m not sure what elevation that mimics).

Today Nik and I woke up early and hit the gym (like we meant to Monday). We lifted weights. Then I went to the beach with Emmers and took a walk. Tonight Michael and I took lead (with Eddie mixed in as a very enthusiastic student) at Krav. It was a busy day.

Tomorrow my plan is to do another 30 minutes on the elliptical after my office hours.

I lied in my last (real) entry. I went to Krav by myself that day. We talked out the lesson plan for the weekend seminar. Since attendance looked like it might be low, I bowed out. Now I’m working out when I can do regular classes on a weekly basis. It’s kind of a drive, but I need the practice – both doing and teaching.

I spent last weekend at the Renaissance Faire with the fencing club. I did lots of walking around and two fencing demos per day.

I didn’t go to fencing or Krav this week. I’m preparing for Gulf Wars, mostly making clothes for my students. We leave early Wednesday morning.

My spring break has started (as of the end of my office hours at noon on Thursday), but I feel like I don’t have any time off. I’m taking a break tomorrow to go to the beach. It’s too cold to swim, but I’m looking forward to having a nice walk and enjoying some time in the sun.

I get a great sense of accomplishment from doing these projects. They do bring me joy, but I’m also getting tired. Between sewing and school, I’ve felt like I’m just re-doing the same projects. It’s discouraging. It helps when I see a nice (finished) piece of garb that I’ve made.

I’m looking forward to War, but I’m also looking forward to the time after that when I can focus on Krav and school.

The last few days leading up to MCA were brutal. It seemed like there was a ton of stuff to do and not a lot of time to do it, and then there were days when we couldn’t work ahead, so we had all this idle time. It’s hard to explain.

Anyway, I left off on Wednesday. Let’s get caught up.

Thursday: I didn’t have much time, so I did 15 minutes of cardio (elliptical with the mask on) and then met up with a handful of people for extra fencing practice. We all kind of phoned it in, but I fought a few passes with everyone.

Friday: We had regular club practice and then did a few hours of setup. We didn’t have time to go to the gym, but I definitely got my steps in (and then some).

Saturday: THE BIG DAY. I fenced every tournament that I was eligible for (minus the sword and dagger tourney). I did good fencing but didn’t advance very far. I did have some issues with fighting my gear, but I mostly stayed in my headspace. I had taken off and packed up most of my gear when the King and Queen came to me and asked me to participate in the championship tournament at the end of the event. I was honored and gladly obliged. Again, I didn’t advance, but I did good fencing.

That’s me on the right.

I took it easy yesterday. Today I’m headed back to the gym. Everyone in the club is pretty spent, so I think we’re going to check in with the club fencers and then go lift instead of fencing. My legs are really sore, so I feel like a day off won’t kill me.

In other news, I compiled a bunch of superhero-inspired workouts to share with my friends, and I took photos of some sample workouts from a book I got from the library. I’ve deleted BodySpace since it wasn’t really meeting my needs. We’ll see if compiling workouts helps or if it’s just another form of research rabbit hole that I can fall down without doing any actual work.

My bane mask came in!

First I wore it around the house for about half an hour trying it out. Then I wore it to the gym and did 30 minutes on the elliptical (plus a cooldown, but I took it off for that part). I even bumped the setting up on one side (it has switches 1-5 on the right and left) for the last five minutes of my run. I felt pretty good. It took me a long time to get my heart rate up to 140 bpm, and my average heart rate was 136.

Since that was a success, I tried wearing it for warm-ups at fencing. I did my two laps but had to take it off and rest a second before doing the rest of the warm-up (high knees, etc.).

Fencing practice was okay. We warmed up and did a couple drills. Then I fenced with a new person, and a couple more people wanted to fence with me. My hands weren’t so tired that I couldn’t hold my sword, so that was nice.

In other news, I’ve lost 3lbs. I missed Body Fat Tuesday last week, so that stinks. I’d like to know how the body recomposition is going now that I’m primarily doing cardio. However, I’m seeing progress with my fitness in other ways, so I don’t mind not getting a fat percentage documented this month.

This morning I tried to wake up at 7 but couldn’t. Tried again at 8 and 9 to no avail. I thought I succeeded around 10, but i just went downstairs and napped on the couch until almost 11. My body is spent.

I gave myself the day off from the gym. I did go to fencing, but I only warmed up and helped some newbies with a few skills. I left an hour early to go edit a dissertation.

My plan is to get back in the gym tomorrow after office hours instead of trying to go in the morning.

Today Nik took some of our students to an event. I had an online class meeting this morning and didn’t want to miss, so I didn’t go to War College.

I weighed in this morning. I’m still sitting at 202 lbs, but I feel stronger, and I think my clothes are fitting a little better, so I’m not letting the number on the scale get me down. We’ll see what my fat percentage looks like in a week or two.

Since I couldn’t fence at the event today, I’m doing 100 lunges to get my practice in for the day. I’m not aiming for a particular target. This is about body mechanics. I want to make sure I’m following the sword into the lunge, and once I’m there, I’m checking the placement of my knee in relation to my toe.

Tomorrow is a regularly scheduled practice day at the park. I’m a little apprehensive about going. I don’t want to see the people who saw me break down last week. I don’t want my mental condition to overshadow my other characteristics. I know I’m the only one who sees it. That’s the great thing about having an invisible illness. Logically, you know other people can’t see it. But when it weighs on you like this, it’s all you see in the mirror. We’ll see how I’m doing tomorrow. All I can do for now is take things one day at a time.