Beyond Kung Fu Body

http://coolmaterial.com/gear/kung-fu-sutra-condom-pack/

My 90 days and beyond wrap up

Ren and Jen have done a great job at summarizing the year for them, and a lot of what they say is 'me too'.

I've no background in martial arts, so it was great to start at the bottom and work on up. I saw my body change, lost weight, gained tone - not quite Ren style, but still.

The last 1/3 was a struggle - in part travel, but (ain't it always) mostly about me and the willingness to keep showing up. I did keep it going, but sporadically. I'm not sure if that's better than nothing - I guess it is.

Next week, I'm intending to reset from day 43, to re-do what I didn't do before.

Thank you Patrick for leading this, thank you Jen for bringing both your practice and your emotional journey into this, thank you Ren for bring both your practice and your approach to life into this.

Gasso

Michael

hanging on...

Hi everyone

I'm disappointed about how I've let the program dissipate over the last couple of weeks. "Sporadic" would be the best, by which I mean the politest, way to put things.

I've stayed good-ish on the diet, with occasional forays into chocolate being the biggest hurdle.

And the exercise has been mainly skipping, some of the strength, and the stretching. The whole agility thing with the ping pong balls got too much...

I'm still going to Day 90, and I've an intention to reset at Day 60 and recommit to the process.

The messy November

OK folks. I know I'm silent, but I'm still here.

First, kudos and deep bow to Ren, Jen and Pen, I mean Patrick, for showing up so regularly here. I appreciate that.

I'm now waiting to fly back from the UK, where I've just been attending the funeral of my friend Anton. Back in Canada for 3 days, before flying back to the UK for some previously scheduled client work.

So I've been battling the lack of structure and routine this month, with feeding myself partially out of my control and exercise options also a little limited - I've spent 6 days just on planes, and will have spent a grand total of 6 days in my own bed (and therefore preparing my own food.) I haven't thrown in the towel, but feel like I should hit rewind and go back 20 days to reconnect to the program and work on it from there.

(In fact Patrick, seriously, is that something I should do? I mean - for some of the exercises, I'm farcically unable to do what's asked - in particular, chin-ups. I can do 1, 0, 0, 0, 0 for the routines)

I realise I owe you a photo too, Patrick. It's coming ~

On the road home

Just packing up in Canberra, heading to Sydney today, and then tomorrow flying back to Canada. And while it's been a fine thing to be in the same time zone as Ren and Patrick, I have to say the diet and exercise have taken a bit of a battering. "Ad hoc" would be a polite way of putting my commitment to things, which has confirmed I'm a weak, spineless man...

And - I'm missing the discipline of the eating and the exercise. The rest of the month is messy too, with two trips to the UK, but I somehow think it's going to be easier to do what I want to do, as I'll be out of the Black Hole of Temptation that is my parent's home.

And I've also had a lot of fun in Australia. So it's not all regret...

Ping Pong + Kung Fu

How it's really done

6 minutes...

...before finally stumbling on the skipping. A Personal Best. Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week.

Diet: done.

Workout: done.

Sense of moral superiority: in place.

Week 7: farce and debarcle

OK, back on line after 7 days away. Which was wonderful, but played merry havoc with my exercise and diet. Did some skipping and some stretching, but not much else. And ate... well, didn't eat well.

I'm still in Oz, but for the next week have a home base and a better chance of managing and shaping my environment to shape my behaviour. Actually really looking forward to completing a full workout, while fearing it equally.

Day Something: on the road to Oz

So we are about at the half-way mark. Thing have definitely slipped around the edges, but what I'm noticing is that my eating has really shifted noticeably - much much reduced carbs, much smaller dinners, much more veg, and gazillion times more eggs. And I'm now pinging around between 187 and 189 lbs. I always considered 189lbs a target weight, as that was my never-shifting weight when I was at university. So to be back there again and even a little below is kind of amazing.

I ended up skipping in a hotel corridor the other day in an effort to get some exercise in. My room was tiny, no gym in the building, and snowing outside. A couple of very odd looks from guests wandering by, but got 2 x 5 minutes skipping in. Not the whole thing, but a little something something which is important.

Really looking forward to the trip to Australia. My mum's 70th birthday, and time hanging out with my nieces and nephews (ages 3 to 7) with whom I'm striving to be an engaged and totally cool uncle. That, and it's easing into summer there, so two or so weeks of warm weather I hope.

Back on the road, path

I'm off traveling for another three days this week, back a bit, and then off to Australia for three weeks to spend time with my family - my Mum's 70th birthday. Not sure how the diet thing is going to work there, were it's not typical to have an egg white and an apple for dinner...

Last week was a bit of a mess - missed a few days exercise, wasn't great either on the diet.

But I'm back, stretching and flexing and eating...

whining

OK, I know I'm wingeing here. I'm sure that's the kung fu way.

But my workout time feels like it's doubled because of the bloody targetted whatsits. I do an uppercut, then have to wait for everything to settle down before I do another. In the meantime the sun has risen and set...

New week, new weight

Monday morning weigh in: 189.2lbs. The lightest I've weighed for at least 10 years. And there appears to be occasional muscles showing in various places, although I'm not ripped, shredded and rippled like RenJen.

Found the workout today to be a struggle. Sit ups hurt, the dips were hard, the targetted stuff boring and impossible, the back kick incomprehensible.

The stork was fine.

an espresso

not on the banned list (at least, not mine) and I make a really good espresso at home each day (none of this Starbucks bollocks I'm afraid, Ren) - grind my beans, draw my espresso.

But today, went to a new store that just got a really good write up in Toronto. Ordered a double espresso. Gave the woman a $5 tip on a $2.50 coffee, A. because I've never done something like that before and B. because it makes this Not Just Another Coffee.

And sat at my table, and savoured it - the pale swirls in the crema like Jen's incense, the dark taste that ebbs down and out, the white cup.

crap

very sad day yesterday. My best friend, lives in the UK, my age - 42. Died overnight of a massive heart-attack. Has a wife and a young son, 2 years old.

going out to dinner

a serious block on the egg white shake thing.

still, stuck to protein for the meal, albeit it with wine. So failed, but failed less than I might have.

good news, bad news

Didn't get to my workout today - just too much other stuff going on.

But did do my skipping - a record of 340 skips without stumbling.

I'll take that small victory

Day 23 check in

Hi everyone.

Tried the smoothie w. egg whites and banana and the like last night for dinner and... hey, it actually worked. It substituted very nicely for dinner, and I'm sure I'm starting to see my checkbones now.

A good work out today. The v-sit ups were a killer.

Day 22: good trends

Weighed myself today - it's my weekly check in. I'm down to 190.6 lbs... I can't remember my start off weight, but it was at least 5lbs heavier than that. So that's good. I can see results.

That said, I'm a long way from Jen and Ren's 6-pack.

Psyched to be at home all this week, which means the eating thing is going to be a lot easier to manage. That said, it's also a lot tougher diet than I've EVER done before. Dinner feels ... extreme. Egg whites and some fruit. (Do I cook the egg whites? Drink them raw? Something else). And it's Canadian Thanksgiving today, so there is a LOT of good food on offer...

Day 19 - the diet thing

The exercises I can keep up with - I'm doing OK with all of them and seem to be getting stronger, longer, deeper, higher, etc etc. Although my sidekicks look more like an accidental spasm than anything else.

But the diet is proving tough. Carbs beckon me from every corner, crooking their plump finger at me and enticing me into the darkness...

Day 15 - good news, bad news

A skipping record for me - 385 skips in a row. Hurrah!

Finally weighed breakfast and I now see just how small a bowl of porridge I get for 120gs of carbs. *sigh*

grams of stuff

Patrick asked how I'm doing with all of that - well, not that great.

I've got no real concept of what Xg's of this and X grams of that looks like, and as I'm travelling and eating out it's proving hard to figure. I did some Google hunting, but didn't get anything useful in helping convert grams to an amount of food. (Anyone got any tips?)

I'm home for 24 hrs, so I plan to weigh and eat as I go today and tomorrow.

It's Saturday morning

4am Vancouver time, and I'm finally on my way back home.

I was doing pretty well sticking to the diet, but the last 36 hours have been a write-off. It's been near impossible to track down a piece of protein, and when I had a quick meal with an old friend in Portland it was pasta and bread. I'm starting to see just how carbs based our diets are. By "our" I mean "mine"

I'm back on the road again Monday - Friday next week: Montreal, Virginia, DC and then Connecticut. Maybe I should take protein shake powder with me

Good videos

They're really helpful, not least because I now realise I was doing most of the kicks incorrectly.

Thursday ~

I'm surfacing after three days travel/hanging out with clients in Vancouver. Today I'm on the road again, heading for Idaho... that might have been a mistake.

I've kept my exercises up - I was smart enough to even bring my skipping rope along for the ride.

Eating is trending to the right direction. I don't have a scale with me, and I don't yet have a real grasp on what X grams of anything really translates to in terms of amount of food. So I'm taking my best guess, and probably over eating. But had (almost) no carbs for the last two evening meals, which is a good thing.

Diet? What diet?

OK, the whole "no carb" thing is a challenge I've yet to rise to. It's a BIG part of my diet, and even tho' I reduced the overall amount during the week, I did in fact in carbs every day and every evening.

So... my week 2 diet goal will be to also include week 1's. Maybe tough, as I'm on the road every day next week - Vancouver and Idaho.

Metrics

OK, metrics done.

Here we go: 43 flappy punches before I finally lost it.

Morning bend ended at about 3 inches above my ankles

And did a leap and marked it on a wall. Here's a picture which you can't really make sense of because of the light, but it will work as a reminder for me when the time comes to redo it.

Day 5

It's gently humbling just how low and bent all my kicks are. I clearly have hamstrings tighter than a ... well, I'm not sure what.

inclined pull-ups question

How do people do these without going to a gym? Anyone got any tricks on how to turn common household furniture into a inclined pull-up bar?

Day 4

So yesterday was a write-off. I was with a client all day facilitating a session, so 1. didn't get to my workout 2. ate pizza for lunch and 3. had some carbs (but not much - a slice of bread) for dinner.

But have worked out this morning - the video on how to do kicks helped - and I'm ready for a virtuous ay.

Day 2...

Highlights from the last 24 hours.

Dinner was carb free. Except for the pasta salad. Which was awesome. But not carb free.

Worked out this morning. Did pretty well on the skipping - just two stumbles over the fours sets - but struggled with the upside down chin ups and the tricep dips. Otherwise, got through the required sets without looking too hot and sweaty.

Semi-naked and fully-unflattering photo heading Patrick's way later today

Day 1 workout

Got through all of Day 1 with all the grace of... well, whatever the opposite of graceful is. Anything involving stretching or movement and I was ... less than smooth.

But made it through all the reps, ate fruit today, have a non-carb dinner lined up tonight.

Michael is HERE!

Day 1 and have just caught up with everyone's blogs and intros. All very cool if just a little disconcerting - seems like I'm the only one jumping into this for the first time aka with absolutely no idea with what's ahead of me. So - *big breath* - bring it on, I guess...

Right - off to print out Day 1's workout, go find a skip rope, and get going...