9/30 I actually slept ok last night--in bed around midnight, fell asleep within about 30 minutes, woke up at 7:30 (when my wife got up), tried to fall back asleep for another hour or so before giving up. (I've been trying to sleep extra to help with exercise recovery.) It is now around hour 68 of fasting. I have had some trouble with diarrhea today. From what I've read: - This may be due to drinking coffee in the morning (though no issues on other days when fasting) - It could be an electrolyte imbalance (I may have overdone it on salt) - Not sure what else it would really be caused by - It is more likely to lead to dehydration or other issues if you get diarrhea while fasting... But I otherwise feel fine, so still planning to break the fast around 72 hours. (If I start feeling unwell in any other way I'll break it sooner.) I did have some more salt earlier today, and a few hours ago I took some electrolyte drops in water (I forgot I had those til I was digging around earlier, they have potassium & some other stuff in them too, not just sodium). I was going to exercise normally today (and already did my shoulder rehab exercises), but opted not to just now... I was hoping the stomach issues would be ok by now, but it feels like it probably wouldn't be, don't want to risk it. So, rest day today.
9/30 continued I broke my fast at 72 hours, with: - Salad: tomato, cucumber, parsley, olive oil - Sauteed spinach with a lot of butter (4-5 tablespoons) - 4oz smoked salmon - 1 avocado No further food. 10/1 Got about 6 hours of sleep (~1 am - 7 am). breakfast (~3 hours after getting up): leftover salad, ~1.5 cups (tomato/cucumber/parsley/olive oil), 9 large olives (mixed types), 2/3 cup of pistachios, 2.25 oz sharp cheddar cheese Walked 30 minutes, then striking training (1/2 orthodox 1/2 southpaw @ full power unless otherwise noted): 20 rear mid/low mix roundhouses 20 upward rear palm strike (sorta like an uppercut) 20 lead reverse chop 20 lead palm strike 20 switch kicks 40 (20 lead palm strike, rear palm strike) 30 lead elbow strike 30 rear elbow strike This took just under 17 minutes; I pushed the pace a bit and took fewer, shorter breaks. 15 min steam (lower temp than usual, didn't turn it on early enough to fully heat up), cool shower after. (Will post other food later, haven't eaten since breakfast, will likely just have one more meal today.)
10/1 continued 2nd meal: K-Town style chicken with veggies & purple sticky rice, 550 cal 1/2 cup pistachios 3rd meal: BBq beef with greens, mac & cheese. 620 cal 2.25 oz cheddar cheese (240 cal) some cantaloupe, a few baked potato chips And then I decided to watch Cobra Kai... and ended up staying up past 4 am binge watching season 2. ~3 cups of ice cream over the course of this, also finished off a jar of olives (~20 left) and 2 string cheese sticks In bed around 4:30 am. 10/2 Got up at 11:20. 1st meal (~2 pm): steak & mushrooms w/ gravy, rice & quinoa mix, broccoli, carrots. 440 cal My shoulders have been a bit messed up, especially my left one. This started prior to resuming regular exercise ~2 weeks ago; I'm pretty sure a lot of it is how much time I spend on a computer with my shoulders hunched forward. The striking exacerbated it at first, so I have been doing my shoulder rehab exercises more regularly (so it is a little better than it was before resuming exercise, but still not great). When I land strikes, especially with the left arm, I sometimes get a jolt of discomfort in the shoulder. I think I'm doing too much shock absorption there due to not engaging the lat. Of my shoulder rehab exercises, the shoulder abduction hits that area the best. I do notice some discomfort in the first few reps I do every day. Making sure to pack my shoulder & really engage the lat on that side mostly mitigates it. If I get sloppy with using my lat, I do get discomfort (on either arm, worse on the left) from trying to generate too much force through those shoulder muscles. So, I need to work on proper muscle use when landing strikes; I'll incorporate much slower technique work on my punches until I feel like the proper muscle memory is there to do it consistently at higher power. (I will probably also keep doing some full power striking, I can't really help myself.) I've also been having minor inflammation in my right big toe again. The problem, as far as I can tell, is that I am allowing the arch of my foot to collapse inward (over-pronation). This has been a problem for me in the past, it seems I need to pay more attention to my stabilizer muscles in the ankle & foot, especially on the mat where it is fairly easy to let the arch collapse due to the squishy flooring.
10/1 adendum Forgot, also had an apple before bed. 10/2 continued Striking training Spent 5 minutes warming up (jump-rope, walking around, plank, wall pushes) 1/2 orthodox, 1/2 southpaw, low power & fairly slow, working on using my lats & chest to push my arm forward as my hip moves forward, tensing the striking hand as I throw it. 30 jab 30 cross 30 lead hook 30 rear hook 30 lead uppercut 30 rear uppercut 20 jab 20 jab (wallpad) 20 cross (wallpad) 20 jab (full speed light/medium power) 20 cross (full speed light/medium power) 10 cross (shadowbox) This took about 30 minutes, and though it wasn't hard cardio-wise, I did work up a good sweat by the end. 15 minute steam, cold shower after Meal 2: pesto & sausage penne w/ some veggies & beans & cheese 660 cal 2.25 oz cheddar cheese 240 cal ~1/2 cup (shelled) pistachios
10/2 continued Meal 3: Chicken tikka masala w/ chickpeas, rice w/ veggies, 550 cal 1 avocado Way overboard dessert: ~2 cups ice cream a bunch of milk chocolates (maybe 20 or 25 dove chocolates) In bed around 1:45 am 10/3 Up around 11 am. Meal 1 (late, around 3:30 or 4pm): Swedish meatballs with cream sauce, cauliflower potato mash, peas and carrots. 640 cal. Striking training (~7 pm) Warmed up with ~140-150 jump-rope reps over 2 sets (~80-90 first set, 60 second set), walked around a bit after each set. (~5 min total time warming up) 1/2 orthodox, 1/2 southpaw, went relatively slow & low power on the punches working on muscle activation at the right times and just overall technique (a few faster/more powerful). Kicks were full power. 20 jab wall pad 20 cross wall pad 20 jab 20 rear low/mid roundhouse kick 20 cross 30 jab 30 cross 20 lead roundhouse mid/low, no switch 20 lead uppercut Took about 23 minutes for the strikes today. 10 minute steam, cool shower after.
10/3 continued Meal 2: K-Town style pork with veggies & purple sticky rice, 550 cal (the one from the 1st was also pork, wrote it down wrong) 3 oz smoked salmon (100 cal) Meal 3: Olives (1/2 lb, pitted), 2.25 oz cheddar cheese (240 cal), 1/2 cup pistachios 10/4 Rest day. Meal 1: Kielbasa sausage, eggs, cheese, a little bit of potatoes. Half a piece of toast with butter and jelly. Meal 2: Cauliflower shell bolognese (520 cal) Meal 3: Five guys hotdog Five guys bacon cheeseburger 2 patties Dessert: Bunch's crunch 420 cal Kit kat 210 cal
10/5 Fasting today. I plan to do a 48 hour fast, and then fast again for 24-36 hours later this week. 1 hour mobility/stability work (didn't wear HR monitor) Static kettlebell holds, various other stability stuff such shoulder tap from tabletop. Some standing kettlebell rows. Did some triggerpoint/rolling on my left shoulder. Striking training I put on my HR monitor right after the 1 hour of mobility/stability stuff. My left shoulder is still having issues and not really improving, despite doing shoulder rehab exercises regularly. I'm going to go really easy on punches to let it rest. As such, today was all kicks. 1/2 orthodox, 1/2 southpaw (unless noted otherwise), full power unless noted otherwise 20 lead teep (wall pad, low power) 20 rear straight knee 20 rear roundhouse medium power 20 rear round knee 20 lead teep 20 switch kick 20 switch knee 20 rear teep 20 switch kick (orthodox only, needed some extra attention significantly worse than from southpaw) 10 rear roundhouse (southpaw only) 10 switch kick (orthodox only) My rear roundhouse kick from southpaw is ok, but not nearly as crisp & powerful as the rear roundhouse from orthodox. My orthodox switch kick (so hitting with left leg, same leg as for southpaw rear roundhouse) is significantly worse than my southpaw switch kick (hitting with right leg), so I gave it some extra work. I am actually surprised at how crisp my southpaw switch kick felt since I don't really practice it much, but I guess practicing my orthodox rear roundhouse has a lot of cross-over since its hitting with the same leg.
10/5 continued 15 min steam after the striking training, cold shower after that. Continued fasting, in bed around 1 am. 10/6 Up around 10 am, slept ok actually despite the fasting. Striking Training I warmed up with ~140 jump rope reps over 2 sets, and walking around a bit. My left shoulder feels not so great still, possibly worse today than yesterday despite the rest. (I did do shoulder rehab exercises today, they went fine, but later on the shoulder tightened up.) So mostly kicks again today. I did do 40 palm strikes though to get some extra rest in (they are much less energy intensive than kicks), and to keep working on using my shoulder properly. 1/2 orthodox, 1/2 southpaw, full power (unless noted otherwise) 30 rear straight knee 20 lead teep 20 rear mid roundhouse kick (southpaw only) 30 rear mid roundhouse kick 20 lead teep (medium power) 20 lead palm strike (wall pad medium power) 20 rear palm strike (wall pad medium power) 20 switch kicks 20 switch kicks (orthodox only) Took 32 minutes (not including warm-up). Some of my left leg kicks clicked a little better today, but still needs a lot of work (switch kick out of orthodox & rear kick from southpaw). I have trouble getting the hip thrust portion of the kick to work... I think when I switch from southpaw->orthodox, my leg positioning is better (allowing good hip thrust on the switch kick) compared to the orthodox->southpaw switch. Also all the other leg muscles seem to just work together better in my right leg kicks to make them hit crisply and with good power... I try to replicate it on the other side with mediocre results, hopefully with more work it will get there eventually. 8 minutes steam, cool shower after. I plan to break my fast in a little while, which will be around the 48 hour mark.
10/6 continued Broke fast at 48 hours with: Cucumber tomato and parsley salad with a little olive oil, 280 calories of smoked salmon Some spinach sauteed in butter 10/7 Rest day. Meal 1: Cucumber tomato and parsley salad with a little olive oil, Cheese nuts and dried fruit pack (180 cal) 1/2 a banana Meal 2: Pork chop with potatoes and carrots 650 calories Cheese, nuts, and dried fruit 180 calories Meal 3: Olive and pepper salad 500 cal (but didn't eat all the oil, so probably more like 200-300 calories, as there was quite a bit of olive oil left). Manchego cheese 720 cal (I should have had half the cheese, oops) Around 200 calories pistachios Dessert (too much...) Giant heath bar 560 calories Ice cream, not sure how much, somewhere around 2/3-3/4 of a pint maybe? Guessing ~800 calories. Later snack: An apple 10/8 Weight this morning: 305lb (~138 kg) Taking another rest day--I don't feel so great today, migraine is coming on. I was already planning to do a lighter week this week--aim to do striking training 3-4 times this week instead of 5, then I'll go back to 5 for the next 2 weeks. (2 weeks of 5/7 days training, 1 week of 3-4/7 days training, repeat. I'll adjust as needed.)
10/18 Well, I ended up just not exercising at all for 10 days. I started eating more poorly & staying up later (and not sleeping in later, so sleeping less), and feeling really low energy, and just kept telling myself I'd do it tomorrow. I didn't fast longer than 20ish hours (once) during that time. Anyway, yesterday I did about 45 minutes of light stretching/triggerpoint/rolling/mobility exercises. Today I did my shoulder rehab (shoulder is still not good). I did 40 minutes of exercise today. About 10 minutes warming up with jump rope, walking around (while catching breath after jump rope), and wall push-ups (even knee pushups kinda tweak my shoulder right now if I don't keep perfect form, and I am not great at keeping perfect form). Then 30 minutes on the heavy bags, didn't track strikes. I did most stuff in both orthodox & southpaw. I am finding kicks off a punching combo hard to do on the banana bag--I will try to play with repositioning first. 20 minute steam, cold shower after. Weight right now: 309 lb/140 kg.
For me, it is always the hardest to make myself do some exercise after some time doing nothing. Good to hear you were able to! The gyms where you are are still closed, I suppose?
Yeah it gets hard when I have taken a break for a bit. My BJJ & Muay Thai gyms are both open for small group classes, but my wife has convinced me not to go at this time, especially since I have bags at home. I am not sure what my local athletic club is doing; I think they have some tennis courts open (just a snippet I recall from an email), but I don't know about the other areas with weights/cardio equipment, the pool, etc. I'm pretty much just laying low--I have very little need to go out as I am working from home, and I don't get stir crazy not going out I don't tend to worry as much as my wife does though... we both are at higher risk of complications due to being pretty obese, and she teaches (in person right now), but she is fairly careful (more so than the majority of her co-workers. E.g., she eats outside so her mask isn't off inside). I don't know that I'll wait until a vaccine comes out to go back to class (which is what my wife would prefer I do), if a vaccine doesn't come out until 2022.
I've been fasting today, and plan to continue until at least tomorrow, maybe longer. Exercise today: Shoulder rehab (repeated on other side after each set, blue resistance band). 20x abduction, 20x rotation @ neutral, 20x rotation @ 90, 12x reverse fly, 10x Y-fly, 20x abduction with last 5 reps slow on the eccentric portion). I took the trash out to let the shoulder rest a bit longer before I started hitting the bags, then went to my heavy bags. (HR monitor started when I got to the bags.) Warm-up: Leg swings. Shoulder rotation/arm swings (both directions). Ankle, wrist, knee, and hip rotation. 2 short jump-rope sets (60-65 jumps each), walking around after the first set to catch my breath a bit. Then I put on wraps & gloves while I caught my breath, and worked various strikes/combos on the bags. A little bit after I started one of the 4 carabiners holding my banana bag up snapped; it is a fairly small carabiner and the point where it locks together had very thin metal--the carabiner had gotten twisted around and the weight of the bag went on that thin metal and it snapped (is my guess). I couldn't find the metal that snapped off, nowhere on the mat. Its possible it flew off some other time and I didn't notice, and the bag just hopped out of the gap today. Anyway, I spent a while trying to fix it, forgot to pause the HR monitor. Had to call my wife down to help me get a new carabiner in there, and the only ones I have were almost too big, took a lot of tries to get the chain over the screw area (which had a lip at the top of the area); once it was over the lip it fits fine. I had another pause, brief this time, after 40 min when I cut my elbow. It was a small enough cut that I just blew on it for a few minutes until it clotted and then resumed. (I have learned not to just resume without letting it clot; I toss blood drops all over the place.) 20 minute steam, cold shower after.
I see, well, staying inside is indeed the prudent thing to do. Yep, I agree working from home is a great advantage. Although I do like to go outside for a walk on a bike, if I have no other activity. That is one of the things we are still allowed now, though. For now at least. Ah, being a teacher is one of the worst jobs right now, I guess :/ I hope she will be able to avoid the virus. Wow, but waiting for a whole year is rather tough :O Hopefully the vaccine will be finished soon, or at least perhaps the virus will start spreading slower again so that normal life is possible.
I got a headache last night & decided to end my fast early, at around 20 hours. Eating didn't help the headache, so it probably wasn't dehydration/electrolyte balance, but rather an exertion headache. I ended up taking some advil a little after eating and that helped. I also forgot: weight after my steam yesterday was 305lb/140kg Exercise today: Shoulder rehab, then put on my HR monitor (after some brief house chores), so my HR was still up a little from resting. Warmup: 3 sets of jump-rope, ~60 jumps each set. Walking around between sets to catch my breath. A few wall push-ups. Worked various combos/individual strikes on the heavy bags. At ~30 minutes into the graph above I stopped and fiddled with my phone for a bit to set up my camera, and recorded some videos. The first spike into red there was a video I didn't keep as the camera angle was really bad. I'm not super happy with the other two camera angles, but good enough. Videos are here: Morik's Bag work progression. 15 minute steam, cool shower after. Weight right now: 302.4 lb / 137.2 kg
10/22: Rest 10/23: Rest, fasted all day (since ~2 am on 10/22, when I had a jar of olives, ~400 calories). One set of 20x shoulder abduction on each side with blue resistance band (so partial shoulder rehab). 10/24: Some strength training (warm-up/mobility, standing see-saw rows, goblet squats, low plank with resistance band around ankles & leg step-outs, some static kettlebell holds). One set of 30x shoulder abduction (blue band) on the injured shoulder only (so partial shoulder rehab). 15 minute steam, cool shower. Its currently ~3:30 pm, so about 36 hours fasting now. I plan to break my fast in a few hours. Weight right now: 298.3lb / 135.3 kg
10/25 Broke my fast yesterday at around 38 hours (sauteed greens & garlic, olives, smoked salmon). Today I did my shoulder rehab exercises & then some heavy bag work. I started with 3 sets of 60 jumps on the jump-rope. I wore my big 16 oz gloves today instead of my minimally padded bag gloves, and did a lot more punching on my 150lb cloth stuffed banana bag--usually I have to limit how many punches I put on it as my hand starts getting messed up. (E.g., tenderness & swelling on the top of the hand, etc.) This is with handwraps on--the bag gloves just don't have enough padding. I can punch my water-filled aquabag with them for however long I want, at full force, with no issues though, so I usually just wear the bag gloves & do only a little punching on the bigger bag (to toughen/condition over time). With the 16oz gloves on I didn't have any issues today throwing the majority of my punches at the cloth stuffed bag. Anyway, worked a lot of punching combos into kicks, as well as some kicking on its own. When I got out of breath/needed rest, I worked elbows, hooks, and uppercuts on the water bag at low to medium power, or just walked around at a steady pace focusing on breathing. I tried to pay attention to my guard hand when kicking, keeping it in a good position guarding my head. It isn't hard for me to do when I'm thinking about it, I just need to ingrain it so I don't go back to dropping that hand when I kick without thinking about it. 15 minute steam, cool shower. Weight after steam & shower: 301.0 lb / 136.5 kg
10/26 & 10/27: Rest 10/28 Heavy bag. Got distracted by a few things after I turned on the monitor, actual exercise started at around 5 minutes. Warm-up: 100 jump rope reps, two 30 second planks. Mostly punching the aquabag today. My banana bag has a twisted strap that has the attached carabiner and chain sort of locked into a position I couldn't fix on my own, and I didn't want to hit it too much and stress out that chain. I'll have my wife help me fix it later. 15 minute steam, cold shower after. Weight: 302.0 lb / 137 kg
10/29 & 10/30: Nothing but laziness 10/31: Half-and-half strength training & self care. Figured out more specifically what is wrong with my left shoulder, got it feeling quite a bit better with triggerpoint using the large peanut & hitting some spots up near the top of the arm. (Not the triceps, medial deltoid maybe?) Anyway, I will adjust my shoulder rehab exercises--the rotation @ neutral is probably the best thing for it, so I'll emphasize that over other stuff. A bunch of other foam rolling/triggerpoint; my knee was bugging me on squats, turns out my calf was super tight--used a large peanut on a lot of the calf, focusing tender parts, 95% eliminated the knee discomfort. Exercises (I think I did 3 sets of each): Goblet squats (just 12kg, still working on the pattern & doing the movement correctly without any knee or other discomfort). See-saw rows (if I lose focus and use the shoulder instead of my back it tweaks the left shoulder, but if I do them properly no issues with the shoulder) with 14kg kettlebell in each hand Swiss ball bridges. 20 min steam, cool shower. 11/1 Spent 10 minutes foam rolling/triggerpoint, especially the calf & shoulder. Shoulder rehab (repeated on each side, blue band): - abduction x 20 - rotation @ neutral x 20 - reverse fly x 12 - rotation @ neutral x 20 Then I swept my mats & put on my HR monitor afterwards for some heavy bag work. Warmup: - 86 jump rope reps - 80 jump rope reps - 30 second plank - 80 jump rope reps I am catching my feet much less often with the jump rope these days--it becomes more frequent as I get fatigued and stop focusing as hard (2nd set above I caught my feet a lot, which is why it is flatter on the HR monitor due to breaks from having to reset position), but the 3rd set I managed to do all 80 and only caught my feet once. (On the first set I think I caught them only once as well.) I skinned my knuckle (first knuckle, maybe 2mmx4mm area completely ripped the skin off) last time I worked heavy bag. I was using an older pair of hand-wraps that have developed this big crease running down the whole wrap in the middle, I think as I sweat into them it makes the wraps not sit quite flat, and they start to slide around and cause friction. I'll probably get rid of the ones that have this crease (I don't know what I did to them, several other older pairs are still nice and flat...) I guess I could try ironing them or something... though I probably won't bother, as they are starting to thin out anyway. Anyway, I worked open hand strikes today as my knuckle isn't quite healed yet. The first all-green section after the warmup (~11-18 minutes) I worked palm-heel strikes at low to moderate power into wall pads and a little at the aquabag. Then I focused on kicking for most of the rest of the session, with occasional breaks to just work elbows & palm strikes (both high intensity/full power & slower pace/less power). I went back to practice the 'golden kick' a faster roundhouse kick used by some fighters in Thailand's golden era of Muay Thai, see The Golden Kick – How To Improve Your Thai Kick for an explanation by Sylvie, along with a diagram & some videos. I haven't really been practicing it much lately, just doing the regular (slower) kick that goes in more of an arc. I feel like I made a little breakthrough here--previously when I was practicing it, the first part (just moving the leg forward & up) was still kind of slow for me, as I was putting power into it from the hip & and then putting more power as I rotate at the end of that motion. I figured out how to actually be faster here--I lift my leg up much faster with no power at first, almost like to check a kick; it is much faster and uses a good bit less energy than the way I was throwing the leg forward before. And then a quick hip rotation after the leg is lifted. I still struggle with kicking off a punching combo; not sure if it is just how things are with a heavy bag that isn't moving around like a pad holder would... It is hard for me to put a little pause to reposition, I keep trying to throw the kick right after the opposite-side-punch and end up being more at kneeing range and mangling the kick. I'd say I did roughly 50% kicking, 30% elbows, 20% palm strikes. 15 min steam, cold shower after. Weight: 303.2 lb (137.5kg) I have been eating too much ice cream & way too much halloween candy (my wife took the bag and left it at work, so no more halloween candy).
Phew took 2 weeks of just not exercising, oops. Worked heavy bag kicks & elbows for 30 min, shoulder rehab before, a couple jump rope sets to warm up (~35 jumps each set), 20 min steam after. Weight after steam: 306.9 lb (139kg)
