Kaizen Taekwondo
the spirit of a fighter
![[108/365] Ill-advised, by pasukaru76 on Flickr](http://www.kaizentaekwondo.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/5268559005_c6f09bdd10_z-90x90.jpg "[108/365] Ill-advised, by pasukaru76 on Flickr")
Deadlift Day
0**First things first: Fitocracy is officially out of beta and open to everyone! There’s also an iphone/ipad app if you have one of those, and an android app coming soon. So get yourself over there – my username is Bethanyn, look me up and say hey!**
They say this spring will be one of the worst ever for pollen counts – and therefore for allergies. I don’t doubt them at ALL. My head’s felt like fuzz for most of the last couple days, and lifting has not been fun. Fortunately it’s deload week, so lighter weight than the last few.
![[108/365] Ill-advised, by pasukaru76 on Flickr](http://www.kaizentaekwondo.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/5268559005_c6f09bdd10_z-300x199.jpg "[108/365] Ill-advised, by pasukaru76 on Flickr")
Following up on starting Wendler’s 5/3/1 System, I have to say I’m impressed. Not only did I lift more than I ever have, I did so with relative ease! On overhead press I did 5 reps with a weight that I couldn’t even get into position three weeks ago. It’s also a good fit for my personality. Even when I’m on a day when I don’t feel like lifting, or it’s not my favorite lift (see: squats), I only have to do 5-rep sets with heavy weight, and it’s easy to push myself through. The workouts feel fast but tough, and I like it.
I’ve also gotten a lot better about my diet in the last couple weeks. I think I’m getting a better idea of how to track what I’m eating in a way that doesn’t make me crazy, and actually works for me. I even managed to cut out soda for almost four whole days! Hah. Yeah. I’m still working on that. I was doing well until I was stuck in my office on campus, with three hours to go, and I was DONE. Couldn’t focus on a thing, and I had to cave and get some caffeine to make it through the rest of the afternoon. On the bright side, I was productive.
Ok, does that cover all my bases? Want to hear about all the bits I’ve banged up? Oh fine, why not. Quickly: My foot is starting to get back to where I was, although it’s not quite there yet. I skipped any extra workouts last week, and I think that helped. My shoulder is what it is, and that’s painful. Some things are fine, some things feel like it’s being stabbed with broken glass. I can’t decide what to do about it, I’ve been to the doctor so much lately that I don’t want to go back…but I probably should get it looked at eventually.
…And today, my dog ate 3 protein bars, chewed up a ball point pen, and destroyed one of the pages from my workout log (why?). I love my pets. /facepalm
Latest Workout
-Like the title says, it’s Deadlift (and abs) day, and deload week:
See it at Fitocracy
Tunes: Shaka Ponk – My Name is Stain
Spring Break
0Ah, spring break. As per usual, I had all kinds of grand plans for what I was going to accomplish with a week off, and I ended up doing a whole lot of none of it. But since this is usually what I do, I wasn’t too worried about it. I plan, and if things don’t happen, then they don’t.
What I did do during break was get back in to see my chiropractor, which was badly needed. He fixed me up as much as he could, and we are hoping that re-straining it was just a blip and that I’ll get back to normal soon. I just wish that getting back to normal didn’t take so long. It IS feeling better, little by little, and I am going to try Krav again tomorrow morning and see how it goes – the only thing that worries me is that I’m teaching at the University class tomorrow afternoon, and then there’s a slight chance that one of my fellow grad students will try Taekwondo tomorrow night. If so, that’s a lot to put on my foot in one day…I think if I’m feeling iffy, I will have to just accompany her as emotional support, not as an actual participant. I taught Taekwondo tonight, and although my foot wasn’t the worst it’s ever been, it certainly wasn’t pain-free – and after the latest setback I don’t want to push too hard.
Latest Workout:
- Well, there have been a lot between my last post and now, but today’s was teaching Taekwondo for 3 hours. Which isn’t exactly heavy cardio, but it’s not nothing, either.
Happy Weekend! Rambling and Videos
0You made it! Unless you read this sometime in the future and it is not the weekend, in which case…hang in there?
I switched teaching days at Taekwondo this week, so I went in to teach twice. I could have waited and started next wednesday instead, but I didn’t really have anything to do, so I went. I’m not sure if that was a good call or not, though, as my foot was not happy with me. I don’t really understand why – it’s been sore this week, yes, but Taekwondo on monday went ok (not great, but not that bad), and it felt pretty good Tuesday and during the day on Wednesday. After all that, I wasn’t expecting teaching to flare it up so much that night, but it did. Ah well, not much to do about it but more ice and stretching.
Thursday I took as pretty much a day off – it’s spring break next week, so I don’t have any homework hanging over my head, and the weather is beautiful, so why not enjoy it? I teach on Thursday afternoons at the Krav Maga class my instructor has at the university, so I did do that, but oddly enough that didn’t bug my foot. Not that I’m complaining, mind you! I got a pretty good workout from that class too: we had odd numbers, so I partnered off with one of the girls for pad work and drills. Yay sweat! I actually like it when that happens, it’s a little selfish but I like getting the workout. I had been afraid to go to Krav that morning for the sake of my foot, knowing I would have to teach in the afternoon, so it worked out pretty well. I got my workout, my foot didn’t get stressed too much.
And Friday? Dog park, errands, sitting around, playing Fallout. So…not much of anything. I did put in a hard lifting workout tonight, though. During The Ultimate Fighter again. Nothing like watching highly athletic people to get me in the mood to sweat. I just started on Wendler’s 5/3/1 lifting program, and I’m really liking it so far. It gives me some focus and direction, instead of just lifting in a semi-consistent way and hoping it eventually shows results. The breakdowns really help me focus and feel like I’m doing something productive that’s going to give me strength gains, and the weight calculations mean I’m not burning out before hitting my heavy sets. A detailed breakdown can be found here, and a calculator (based on your current lifts) is here. Don’t get discouraged if you’re like me and see your lifts down on the ‘untrained’ side of the scale (Well, you can hate it. I hate it. I hate it SO MUCH. It’s great motivation – use it as such, not as a reason not to lift).
The Wendler system is one of many things I’ve picked up from people on Fitocracy – seriously, the amount of knowledge floating around on that site is ridiculous. I learn just from reading other people’s workouts and posts, without even trying to go in and say ‘I need to figure out a better lifting program.’ It’s just happened naturally as I’ve gotten engaged with the people there. Heck, the fact that I’m consistently lifting AT ALL is because of the same thing – I started with the simple competitive desire to get more points and badges (arbitrary rewards? Yes please), and it has quickly evolved into a serious part of my fitness routine.
And finally a couple videos, just for fun and inspiration.
“But I can’t lift heavy! I just want to ‘tone,’ I don’t want to get bulky!” Dear every girl who has ever said this: This lady is the WORLD RECORD HOLDER for female raw powerlifting. Your argument is nonsensical, false, and in-fricking-valid.
And this, which is just beautiful. I want to be her, but with more hitting things.
Enjoy, and happy weekend! Wear green, be merry, have a happy St. Patrick’s Day.
Workouts:
-Ok, I was being a little thick and didn’t realize that linking to Fitocracy workouts is kind of pointless if people aren’t already on Fitocracy. I wasn’t posting them here because they can get pretty long, but I think I will go ahead and do it for now. If it bugs you, let me know.
Wednesday:
- Taekwondo:
- 3:00:00 || just for fun (+1200 pts)
Thursday:
- Krav Maga:
- 1:00:00 || practice (+529 pts)
Thursday:
- Krav Maga:
- 1:00:00 || practice
Friday:
- Stiff-Legged Dumbbell Deadlift:
- 25 lb x 5 reps (+82 pts)
- 35 lb x 5 reps (+87 pts)
- 40 lb x 5 reps (+90 pts)
- 45 lb x 5 reps (+93 pts)
- 50 lb x 5 reps (+97 pts)
- 50 lb x 5 reps (+97 pts)
- 35 lb x 10 reps (+100 pts)
- 35 lb x 10 reps (+100 pts)
- 35 lb x 10 reps (+100 pts)
- 35 lb x 10 reps (+100 pts)
- 35 lb x 10 reps (+100 pts)
- Sigh…I’ve run up against my home-gym limitations again. I might have to (gasp) go to a gym, during the (gasp) daytime.
- Flat Straight Leg Raise:
- 10 reps (+5 pts)
- 10 reps (+5 pts)
- 10 reps (+5 pts)
- 10 reps (+5 pts)
- 10 reps (+5 pts)
- Standing Dumbbell Shoulder Press:
- 15 lb x 5 reps (+31 pts)
- 20 lb x 5 reps (+34 pts)
- 20 lb x 5 reps (+34 pts)
- 25 lb x 5 reps (+36 pts)
- 30 lb x 5 reps (+39 pts)
- 20 lb x 10 reps (+44 pts)
- 20 lb x 10 reps (+44 pts)
- 20 lb x 10 reps (+44 pts)
- 20 lb x 10 reps (+44 pts)
- 20 lb x 10 reps (+44 pts)
- One-Arm Dumbbell Row:
- 25 lb x 10 reps (+45 pts)
- 25 lb x 10 reps (+45 pts)
- 25 lb x 10 reps (+45 pts)
- 25 lb x 10 reps (+45 pts)
- 25 lb x 10 reps (+45 pts)
Current Tune: Skrillex – The Devil’s Den
Anatomy tool
0Read a post referencing a nifty browser-based 3D anatomy tool called Zygote Body. It’s based on one of google’s open-source projects, and free to use. It’s pretty nicely done – there are male and female models, and you can slide between layers, from skin to muscles, all the way down to nerves. It’s pretty cool to play around with, and helpful to anyone interested in anatomy. The only drawback is that it will only work in an open-GL browser, so you’ll have to load up Chrome or something similar to use it.
Outer (skin) view:
Outer Muscle view:
Zoomed-in, shoulder view at tendon level. Look, it’s the tendons I messed up!
New laptop for moi!
0Woohoo! I am writing this to you from my brand spankin’ new laptop. It wasn’t exactly in my plan to get a new one, but when my current laptop started taking a couple solid minutes to unfreeze if I opened a third firefox tab or a new document, I got the feeling it was time to upgrade. Actually I spent a couple months trying to get it to limp by as it gradually slowed down before it got to that point, but it finally got beyond my skill to help it. So, new laptop! I still need to transfer all my old data over, but it’s surprising how well I can function within a few minutes of cranking up a new machine.
I’m a little bummed, my foot is still a little sore from last week. But it’s better every day, so it’s once again a patience game. And as I said, it’s still worlds away from where it was. Teaching Taekwondo last night felt a little rough, but I got to the last class before feeling like sitting for a minute. Considering I started out sitting whenever I possibly could, even during the first half hour, because I was so sore, I figure I’m not doing too badly.
This cake is a lie. Because it's not my cake. But it should be.
Ok, momentary interlude: it is, as of this minute, my birthday (it’s my blog, I can plug my birthday if I want!). :)
The nice thing about being only slightly sore and much more motivated than I was a few months back is that I can still lift. I have avoided squats for the sake of my foot…and more than possibly because I really don’t like squats…but otherwise I’ve gotten good lifting sessions in. Feeling sore muscles again after so long is a really nice feeling.
And with that, I leave you, slightly older than when I began. Seriously, when did I get this close to 30?
Latest Workout:
- Yesterday: Teaching Taekwondo, 5:30 – 8:30
- Tonight: Bench, Curl, Skullcrusher, Row, Abs
Current Tune: Emeli Sandé – Next To Me. On friggin repeat.
The Indoor Flood
0So I just got done lifting, and found a lake. Or a river. However you want to look at it, there was a whole lot of water on the floor when I came out of my room. My roommate’s ginormous fish tank requires a lot of strange maintenance, including the fact that it gets super-filtered water. As in, better than what we drink kind of filtered. So there’s a filter…thingamajig? It lives in the laundry room, and he fills up buckets to swap out a percentage of the water in the tank every few days. This is not a <em>fast</em> filter, so he can leave a 5 gallon bucket for a couple hours and it won’t be full, which is why it was unattended tonight.
Hint: It did not look like this.
But apparently one of the hoses came out of the hoses came out of the bucket, and as he was gone and I was sequestered in my room to lift (door closed to keep the dog and cat out from under my feet), it ran onto the floor for quite a while. All I can say is thank goodness it was the basement, and that the basement has concrete floors. In the end I just got an extra forearm workout from wringing out every bath towel we own, and I don’t think anything was damaged. I’m a little worried about what’s going on under the bathroom sink, though, since the water went under the laundry room wall, under the vanity, and out onto the bathroom floor. I can’t get under the vanity, so I’m not sure what we’ll do about that.
Ah, the adventures of my life. Exciting, eh? Anyway, other than the water adventure, lifting went better tonight than it has the last couple times. I’m not sure if it was the sinus infection still sapping my energy or what, but I seem better now. My foot is still sore (grr), so I’m trying to give it some love – no at-home taekwondo practice, no squats, etc.
Oh, and I almost forgot! I spent some time this weekend sprucing up around the blog, and I designed a new logo. I’m pretty pleased with it, it’s a little vintage-fight-poster inspired, and much more ‘me’ than the default logo text, but still plays well with the current background. You like?
Latest Workout:
- Lifting: Arms, Chest, Back, Abs
- Full workout on Fitocracy
Current tune: Dixie Chicks – Lubbock or Leave it
Friday Fight Night
0
Today was not me at my most productive, but at the same time I didn’t feel UNproductive. So that’s a win? I got a lifting workout in tonight, while watching The Ultimate Fighter premier. Haven’t watched TUF in forever, but it was on, and I happened to actually be aware of it being on.
The pitch this year is that it’s “live,” which was the main reason I was interested. Not because I actually care in the slightest about fights being live, but because it might cut down on the amount of inane “human drama” they force viewers to watch before fights. Probably they’ll still manage to cram in plenty of pointless between-training stuff, but I’ll give it a shot. Notable moment: the guy who got a completely broken big toe (like, flopping around in strange directions broken) and kept fighting for the rest of the round, not even a wince. Even threw some kicks with that foot, used it in submission attempts – Hard freakin’ core. And then he lost (meaning he doesn’t get to be on the show)…ouch.
Anyway, I got a workout in. I was pretty beat, and I’m not sure why my energy level was so low, but it could have been worse. Watching something while I lift seems to keep it from getting too terribly tedious. I wanted to work through some tkd stuff, but my foot is still pretty sore from the last few days, so I decided to give it some rest. The good news is that ‘pretty sore’ now means something pretty insignificant compared to what ‘pretty sore’ meant a few months ago.
Latest Workout:
- Tonight: Bench, Row, Fly, Deadlift
http://www.fitocracy.com/view_workout/5186202/
Current Tuneage: Kap Slap – E.T. Feels Starry Eyed (Club Mix)
Make it count.
0I thought I’d kicked the deathcold, apparently not quite. Apparently it turned into a nasty sinus infection, with the result that I’ve had a headache…since Monday. Yesterday was the worst, and when I finally got to the doc for meds. So now I’m medicated, hopefully I can finally be done with this ridiculousness.
I said the test for my foot would be the day after I went to practice and that proved itself true, but not in the way I expected. I actually felt good, and was pretty excited about it. Unfortunately that was in the morning, and I had volunteered to spend the afternoon helping out with a conference as part of my graduate assistantship. The trick was that I had on dress shoes, and I spent a lot more time standing and walking than I had expected.
The worst part is that I didn’t even need to dress up, I just happened to be dressed up from volunteering that morning, and I didn’t want to take the time to go home and change. So I punished my foot for no good reason. I hadn’t realized that there was NO plan for getting all the tech equipment that the conference used back across campus at the end of the day – we ended up packing it all into one of the other student’s cars, and then the rest of us walked across campus to help unload. After that and the trek back to my car, neither of my feet were happy.
Ah well, worse things have happened. My foot was sore today, but not horrible. I still went to teach in the afternoon, and then to practice tonight, and it survived. I’m glad I have the weekend to recover, but it’s not horrible.
Speaking of class:
There’s a woman in one of my classes who is a nice, quiet middle aged PhD student in statistics. She was attacked coming out of a night class a few years ago (when she went to a different school) by two women who grabbed her by the hair and started to drag her away. Fortunately, a couple people happened by and saw, and that was enough to scare her attackers off. A girl in the Krav class I teach found out that a guy she used to RA for was stabbed to death last week. In his home, by his roommate.
One thing I feel really strongly about is this: everyone needs to know how to fight. I don’t care if you work a desk job, or live in some blissful suburbia, or aren’t an aggressive person. Most people don’t pick fights, fights pick them – and if you’re in one, being prepared can quite literally be the difference between life and death. I heard both of the stories above this week, and it pounded home how strongly I feel, and why. Learning how to defend yourself should be as basic as wearing a seat belt or learning to swim – everyone should do it. And defending yourself doesn’t always mean throwing a punch – sometimes it’s as simple as awareness, being willing to give up your money and the keys to your car, or knowing how to defuse a situation. But sometimes that’s not enough.
This is why I get frustrated with the Krav students when they don’t do drills with intensity. This is why it bothers me when some girls like they’ll break if they try to punch something hard. This is why I want the ‘bad guy’ in the drill to fight back. Because at the end of the day, I want them to leave with the knowledge that they know how to fight, at least a little. And I want them to be RIGHT.
All of this is to say, I had a hard time being patient when I was teaching the newer students today. I know it takes time and repetition, and I stand back and let them learn, but some days it’s hard, and sometimes I am all too aware of why they need to know this stuff.
Yesterday’s workout:
- I spent most of last night curled in a ball, moving as little as humanly possible. That headache was no joke.
Current tuneage: Yeasayer – 2080
Bonus arm-breakage
0Ah man, I almost forgot that I was going to post the Ronda Rousey armbar from last weekend’s Strikeforce fights. I didn’t watch, but saw the highlights, and her armbar on Miesha Tate was UNREAL. Totally brutal. I’m pretty sure Tate’s elbow popped on the first attempt, but she managed to pull out of it – only to end up armbarred again, with devastating results. I know there’s a lot on the line in a fight like this, but this is why we tap, kids. Also, don’t get into grappling range when you’re fighting an olympic Judo champ. Just sayin’.
WARNING: This armbar is no joke, if you don’t like seeing body parts bent in all the wrong directions (or at least appreciate the talent that went into it happening), then this vid is not for you. You’ve been warned.
For a more technical view, someone linked this great breakdown by the Gracie Academy guys – hello, new youtube channel subscription. BJJ was one of my favorite parts of mma, should get back into it.
Moved RSS to feedburner
0…hopefully it doesn’t break everything.
Oh yeah, and you can subscribe with this here handy link! Also now in the sidebar.
![[108/365] Ill-advised, by pasukaru76 on Flickr](http://www.kaizentaekwondo.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/5268559005_c6f09bdd10_z-48x48.jpg "[108/365] Ill-advised, by pasukaru76 on Flickr"){kind=small}
