Small Milestone/Victory

Discussion in 'Health and Fitness' started by Mitch, Oct 17, 2022.

  1. Grond

    Grond Valued Member

    Congratulations!

    I just finished a 2 year cardio improvement program and celebrates it with a low calorie week half fast. Suddenly dropped 8 lbs which was a little concerning, but that's probably mostly water I'll regain.

    I consider that whole period a success with a good ending, but also that it's time to move on. If exercise science has taught us anything it's that people plateau in all sorts of ways, and to move beyond you need to trick the body and not necessarily do what it's used to or expects.

    Now I can't stand the idea of stepping on a treadmill and I've also moved onto almost pure anaerobic training. At this point in my life it's probably just as important as heart health which has been my primary goal since about 2020 (thank you COVID).
     
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  2. Grond

    Grond Valued Member

    Congratulations!

    I just finished a 2 year cardio improvement program and celebrates it with a low calorie week half fast. Suddenly dropped 8 lbs which was a little concerning, but that's probably mostly water I'll regain.

    I consider that whole period a success with a good ending, but also that it's time to move on. If exercise science has taught us anything it's that people plateau in all sorts of ways, and to move beyond you need to trick the body and not necessarily do what it's used to or expects.

    Now I can't stand the idea of stepping on a treadmill and I've also moved onto almost pure anaerobic training. At this point in my life it's probably just as important as heart health which has been my primary goal since about 2020 (thank you COVID).
     
  3. icefield

    icefield Valued Member

    When Gleason first brought out CrossFit it was hated on for three reasons.

    It had a cult like mentality under him, some of their ideas in the beginning were patently wrong (getting strong from doing 5 singles of a lift once ever other week for example, the whole 20mins of anaerobic training giving the same benefits as an hour's aerobic training would be another and my personal favourite) and because they charged a fortune to become certified under them when ipf powerlifting, or your countries weightlifting organisation offered the same sort of courses at a fraction of the cost.

    Perceived injury rates were another but they actually in the long term turned out to be no different than other lifting sports
     
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  4. Smitfire

    Smitfire Cactus Schlong

    So Iain Abernethy residential completed. An absolute blast, if tiring and hard on the brain (because of detailed content and intensity not through heavy contact!).
    Basically two hours of training (one hour on one topic and then an hour on another) followed by an hours rest from 8:30am to 7pm for 2 days. With some extra sessions for most of day 1 and a long recap/summary session on day 4.
    I was worried initially that my back would give up on me but luckily that's feeling OK. Can't say the same about elbows and forearms though. :)
    Highlight of the weekend was part of the "dealing with multiples and groups" session where we did an 18 person pad drill with half the group with pads while the other half had to hit any pad they saw. Chaos but in a good way.
    Also got some additional details on pre-emption, various kata bunkai, escapes from the floor, two of Iain's own kata and more besides.
     
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  5. Mitch

    Mitch Lord Mitch of MAP Admin

    Well Jeal, as the young folk probably said years ago :D
     
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  6. hewho

    hewho Valued Member

    It's not a health and fitness related milestone, but I've been invited to interview to read law at Oxford University, so I'm classing it as a small victory!
     
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  7. Mitch

    Mitch Lord Mitch of MAP Admin

    That's awesome, good luck!
     
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  8. hewho

    hewho Valued Member

    Thank you mate! Pretty nervous, but also excited!
     
    Mitch likes this.
  9. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    I just looked at my training summary of 2022 I was going to do for my training log here - as I recoded my trainings with my Polar watch and chest strap - and I found out I managed to again outtrain myself from the previous year. My total in 2022 was 458 training (activity) sessions and 757 training/activity hours, which means that just barely passed the threshold of training (on average) 2 hours a day!
    It doesn't have any real meaning, but it feels like a small, insignificant milestone :)
     
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  10. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    I started going to gym classes focused on kettlebell stuff pretty much exactly a year ago. Only once a week, missing some. I only went three times in October and today for the first time after like 5 weeks.
    One of the exercise we focus on is TGU.
    I had a quick progression up to 28 kg, but I was stuck there for the last half a year. I tried only pressing up and holding the next, 32 kg kettlebell, but just holding it up was pretty harsh on my wrists and I was nowhere close to lifting myself off the floor.
    I had a 5-week break now and I thought maybe it was time I just did it. And I did! And actually it went rather smooth, for both left and right sides! I managed 2 reps even on the right, on the left my arm started wobbling a little on the way down and I wanted to play it safe, so I just lowered it on the florr carefully.
    32 kg TGU was a bit of a milestone that felt pretty insurmountable even in my last class. But I was doing karate quite a bit in the meantime, so I guess... it helped? Or maybe just getting some distance from it. It is a little victory of no real consequence, but I am pretty happy about it ^^ So, onto the next goal: 36 kg!
     
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  11. Xue Sheng

    Xue Sheng All weight is underside

    Small Milestone

    After years of Yang Taijiquan, stopping Yang Taijiquan, starting Yang style and then stopping again. Then going back to other styled (Chen, Wu, Sun, even a bit of Wu/Hao), I finally came to the realization that my biggest issue is not that I am board with Yang style, it is I am tired of being stagnant. I'm on a plateau and have been on it for years, due to knee issues, arthritis issues and lack of training partners who are interested in Taijiquan, as it was originally, with the martial art intact. I was trained that way, but virtually no one, in my area, wants that any longer. Talks with my shifu only compounded my frustration. He is in his late 80s, possibly 90 now and is content training just those who want form only. He really does not want to train the martial side any longer nor does he want to help me with a refresher. And I understand, he is much older than he was when he was training me and my group of old martial arts dinosaurs,

    I also realized that pursuing virtually any other style would require a 2 to 3 hour trip in any direction to get to a teacher. And that would be pretty much starting from scratch. Not that I am against that, if it is close, but it was not making any sense. (although I am still going to dabble in Sun style, it intrigues me from my Xingyi background POV)

    Small Milestone: I have decided to get off the plateau.

    There is one person locally who I can meet with and do some push hands, but that will likely be only once or twice a month. There is also another group, I may have mentioned them on MAP before, that has a push hands class. They are Yang style, from a different lineage and their form is different, but the teacher has consented to allow me to go and work with their push hands group based on my background. I have trained a bit of this lineages push hands before, about 30 years ago, and he was ok with that. And he said when they do their form at the beginning of class, I can do mine in the back. (the local push hands class I was going to was forcing me to do their CMC form before class and I had a hard time with that). Also set up a reading curriculum to help me get off that plateau, many of the books are from YMAA, but I did train with Dr Yang a few times over the years and I have read some of his books before and they did help me at the time.

    I am going on vacation the first part of next month and when I return I think I will give this push hands group a call and make sure it is still ok for me to go. Of course it is 2 hours away, but hopefully I can get there 1 to 2 times a month or more, and I am not starting from scratch.

    Did the Yang long form again last night for the first time in a few months, felt good, and I think I many be headed in the right direction again.
     
  12. hewho

    hewho Valued Member

    Not martial arts related, but I just received the grade of my first assignment on my law degree. Mid 2:2 which is a pass, but with plenty of room for improvement.

    I also sold a bundle of personal training sessions today, which was my first block booking since moving to Sheffield. Happy days :)
     
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  13. Mangosteen

    Mangosteen Hold strong not

    Unrelated but my first child was born yesterday morning.

    I instantly love them
     
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  14. Anth

    Anth Daft. Supporter

    Congrats Mango! Hope you're all doing well :)

    My milestone/victory is nowhere near as massive as that but last month I donated blood for the first time. I've wanted to do it for years but between work and other problems I haven't been able to and didn't even know my blood group. A couple of weeks after donating I got a message to say the blood had been issued to a hospital in Lincoln (nowhere near me) so it's nice to know that ten minutes sat in a weird chair will potentially help save someone's life.
     
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  15. hewho

    hewho Valued Member

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  16. Mangosteen

    Mangosteen Hold strong not

    How do you go about donating in the UK?
    I was on the anthony Nolan register before but I'm aging out of the donation age group
     
  17. hewho

    hewho Valued Member

    Home - NHS Blood Donation is the quickest route to donating. You can check if you're eligible, sign up, and book an appointment.
    Donation process is fairly straightforward, but they recommend giving yourself at least an hour. You rock up, fill out a questionnaire while having a pint of water, have a quick screening where they check your answers, and your iron levels, and then you're taken to a nice tilting chair, and set up :)

    Once you've filled your bag they pop a little pressure dressing on, and you sit at a table with biscuits and more water. Once you're feeling ready you leave, and go about your day. Some time later you get a text message telling you that they've used your blood.
     
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  18. Anth

    Anth Daft. Supporter

    Yep, that's all I did :). There's sessions all the time in places like community centres so you don't have to go to a hospital or anything (I went to the university sports centre) and plenty of sessions on evenings too. I have to wait until March before I can donate again but for the sake of half an hour or so out of my day it's worth it.
     
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  19. Anth

    Anth Daft. Supporter

    Another minor victory from me. After a few years of going back and forth on the idea, I've gone and bought myself a rowing machine. I started a new job last year where I'm sat at a desk all day (munching a packet of biscuits when I'm working from home) instead of shifting around five tons of groceries every night so even though I'm around the same weight I was a couple of years ago that weight seems to have migrated to my belly :(

    £179 at Argos later and now I have the daft thought of a "couch to 5k" type thing on a rowing machine. I've had a quick go on it to see how quiet it is (quite), to make sure I don't have a heart attack and to make sure I have the space to keep it handy enough that I'll actually use it. The plan is to roughly follow British Rowing's 500m beginner plan with the third session of the week being karate (that I got back into when I started the new job). After that it'll be one of the other plans until I get at least some fitness back.
     
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