Timewasted

Spartan Fitness 10-29-2011 from Slasheur on Vimeo.

My size 34 pants have been getting looser and looser over the last couple of months and especially over the last few weeks since going paleo.  Today, I packed up my size 34s and bought several new pairs of size 32 jeans.  Today is a great day.   Thanks to the right diet and working hard at <a href=”http://www.spartanfitness.net/“>Spartan Fitness”</a>, I feel the best I have  in years.

On the one down side,  I landed on my ankle wrong in boxing  Saturday.  Injuries are part of the deal though, so I’ve kind of gotten used to being a little banged up.

I haven’t posted in about a week. Last Wednesday, I had a great time at practice, but ended up with a few injuries. I didn’t realize just how bad they were until the next day. It turns out my toe was fractured and I had bruised rib. I figure things like this are bound to happen, so I’m taking a few days to partially recover before going back to the gym. My goal is to get back on Thursday for boxing, and hopefully conditioning before hand.

On a completely unrelated note, a couple of months ago I had a hardware meltdown on my web server. I started comparing the cost of hosting it myself with the cost of a remotely hosted machine, and it appears to come out pretty even. Yesterday, I discovered Webfaction and decided to switch back to a remotely hosted service. As of now, this site is being hosted at Webfaction. So far, I am very happy with the move. They support PHP, which most of my blog sites are using, and Python/Django. You have a shared plan, but can host multiple domains, so it works out pretty well. At $15 a month for the second tier plan, there is no beating it. Hopefully speeds and reliability will stay up. All in all though, this allowed me to finally drop cable TV at home. That’s a move I am glad I am making.

Friday night was great. I got to do the usual drumming with the boys of Out of the Darj and a new student, Malek. I’m really impressed Malek’s ability to pick up the techniques. He’s going to be really good if he sticks with it. He certainly seems pretty motivated so far. Next Saturday night we play at the Zivah hafla. It should be great show.

Apparently I needed sleep this weekend. I ended up skipping Boxing for the sake of sleeping in Saturday. I did get up about 5:30, to go to the rest room, but soon realized my arms and quads were really sore. The thought of having to climb 600 feet on Jacob’s Ladder was night something I could bring myself to overcome. Too bad, as I really missed going, later in the day. I did, however, get to spend most of the afternoon at Rairoad Park. Birmingham has really done well this time. The park was full of people. Deanna and I had a nice picnic of Purple Onion and met Megha, Vikas, and Jasmine for some frisbee time. Deanna and I finished the evening by receiving our $150 store credit at 2nd and Charles (for a bunch of books we traded in) and having coffee and the Powerful Stuff at J Alexanders.

Today was freakin’ awesome. We slept in, had some coffee, and then went to Yoga. I had a good time and got a great stretch. I don’t go so much for all the psycho-babble, but it is decent exercise. I spent a little time in the afternoon working and preparing for Tuesday’s Android presentation, and finally went to the park to run. Today was the first day I’ve managed to hit 3+ miles without stopping in over 10 years. It felt awesome. I could have even kept going, but I think that was enough for today. Now, relax away the rest of the weekend and get ready for work, MMA101, and BJJ tomorrow.

Today was awesome.

Wednesday I decided to take the day off. I went to the track, in Leeds, and ran a little. I didn’t make two miles without stopping because I ran a full mile all out. Man, I’ll be glad when I can get two miles up to that pace.

Thursday was conditioning and boxing. I gad a great time, but I feel it today. Sparring at the end of class was great. The guy I was boxing was a lot better than me (but hell, most of them are) and caught me with several great head and body shots. I like getting hit though, because it reminds me to keep my guard up. I’m looking forward to Saturday’s boxing class. I can’t get enough.

Last night was seriously intense. We did conditioning for about 50 minutes. The goal was to take the muscles to failure through each set of stations, focused on legs and through to arms. I made it fine and decided that I should stay for Muay Thai. While I’ve made it through 2 classes before, this was the first time doing so after conditioning. I was already tired and at what I thought was my limit.

Muay Thai consisted of fast rounds of striking combos (kicks, punches, knees) for 2 minutes, then ab work for 1 minute (pikes, Marvin Hagglers, crunches), followed by feeding pads for your sparring partner. We did this non-stop for about 50 minutes.

I felt exhausted, but pretty good last night. Apparently I didn’t eat enough last night, because this morning brings with it some nausea. A little breakfast and some coffee and I should be good to go. Today is an off day, so I plan to run a couple of miles after work and work on a presentation for next week’s Tech Mixer University. Let’s hope the work day goes fast.

It’s now Tuesday morning and I am sore!

Sunday I went to Yoga with Deanna. Admittedly, I kind of thought of yoga as a bit of a joke, at least compared to the work outs that I normally do through the week. While it is generally much more relaxing, it’s not a joke. I was sore yesterday morning. The long stretches and holds in certain positions can certainly help build some strength. For physical exercise, it may be a good starting solution. It won’t replace cardio any time soon though.

Monday I went to MMA101 and BJJ. MMA101 was all about ground control from the bottom and kimuras and arm triangles. LOTS of fun. Wednesday apparently wraps up the 101 class and it starts over again next Monday. It goes through Boxing, to Muay Thai, to clinch control, wrestling, and BJJ. I apparently came in about the middle when I started a month ago. BJJ last night was about passing guard and getting the rear naked choke. I’m bruised and sore, but had a hell of a time.

Tonight is conditioning. When I got up, I seriously debated whether I needed a day off. I think I can hang.

If you are reading this and in the Birmingham area, seriously think about giving Spartan Fitness a try. You’ll have to work hard, but I promise the results are worth it. Beside feeling a hundred times better, in just a month, I’m thinking more clearly and have more energy throughout the day.

Yesterday’s boxing turned out to be very interesting. I was the only one who showed up for the 9am class. The gym was full of the advanced and pro guys that come at 8, so I worked one on one with the boxing coach and one of the advanced guys the whole time. I was dead tired after an hour, but it was great. It was a whole different world boxing with people who know what they are doing. It was hard for me to land anything and easy for them to find an opening and show me where my defense is weak.

Something I need to work on pretty hard…don’t turn your head when you get popped in the face.

I slept more than 10 hours last night. That may be the first time I’ve done that in a year. I guess I really needed it. This morning, Deanna and I are off to Yoga and then back home to enjoy the rest of the day in pajamas. Nice ending to the weekend.

The gyms boxing coach ran conditioning last night. Brutal is the only word I have for it. I really enjoy his classes though.

Yesterday I was feeling pretty nauseated the entire day. I felt like I needed to throw up the entire conditioning class, so I decided to leave afterwards and give my body a break. I think I may be pushing a little too hard, too soon. I caught a little hell for skipping out before boxing, but I plan to go hard on Saturday morning. A day of rest is exactly what I think I need.

Deanna wants me to go to Yoga on Sunday morning, so as long as I’m not hurting from boxing Saturday, I think I will give it a try. I don’t plan to do it too often, but it’s worth going with her once.

I don’t plan to weigh in every day, so no update today. We’ll give it a few days and see how I’m doing next week. Overall, I’m feeling really good today. Most of the knee pain is gone and I’ve got good energy. I still have a slight need to hurl, but hopefully that will pass by tomorrow morning.

MMA101 was nice and light last night. There were a lot of new folks, so we did basic jabs and strong hand straight punches with gloves and focus mitts. Honestly, it was just what I needed after a hard workout yesterday morning. I could have stayed and handled BJJ, but I didn’t want to over do it and I had already told Deanna I would be home for dinner.

This morning’s weigh in was 184lbs. I’m feeling a little dehydrated and my right knee is hurting today.

Tonight is Conditioning, if my knee can recover enough before then. I think it should be fine.