So cute!

Aaaawwwwwwwwww so fluffy!!

Nice

Very cute

Day 761

​​​ Challenge:
- Day 13 Daily Abs
​ Combat Day. I guess my initial plan to do a combat workout has really changed. I have to be doing a jumping spinning back kick for Mastery. In general class we worked on the spinning back kick. Mine totally sucks. Even doing the darned thing slowly, I lack balance. Therefore, I have to take another step back (so to speak) and work on the plain old back kick. And that was today's task. Probably also tomorrow's and the day after's and... Once the back kick is good enough (I'd like to say perfected but I don't think I've got the time for that!), then I'll work on the spinning part, until finally we get to the whole jumping thing.
Walking. I realised I've been a bit slack logging this. You probably all think I'm still in Bute! But I finished those 21,300 steps, then took in San Francisco at 38,000, then went to the Isle of Cumbrae for a quick 21,300, and now I'm in Nepal (57,000).

It was a very exciting day today. Look!

So totally cute! Unfortunately, I did count my chickens before they hatched so got only three eggs. One went missing , one got broken , but one hatched!

Day 760

​​​ Challenge:
- Day 12 Daily Abs
​ Programme:
- Day 7 Spartan Trials
Pull Day. As foreshadowed last week, I increased the weight for the hamstring curls. Each plate weighs 4.5kg so it's quite a noticeable change. The left leg took it in its stride, but the right leg - yikes! It was a struggle to get through each set but it was do-able and no particular ill-effects have followed. Definitely a Good Thing, then. That right hamstring obviously really needs it. I was surprised because I hadn't thought it was so much weaker than the left - a little, yeah, but not so much. I am pleased with it, though. With them both, really, considering that I've strained each of them over the last couple of years. I am particularly pleased with the left (the one that was damaged in 2020, so it's had longer to recover) because when I was doing instep kick last night, I was aware of how my knee was generally either near or at my shoulder, both at prep and recovery. If only I could get this range when I'm not doing a ballistic exercise! One day.

Day 759

​​ Challenge:
- Day 11 Daily Abs
Programme:
- Day 8 Spartan Trials
Arms and Legs Day. Much the same as last week except, instead of plank jacks, I did slider hamstring curls. Yikes, they really work those hammies!

Taekwondo general training. Warm-up was some running, including relays. Then we did some punches then another two laps of jogging. 20 pre-squats, a lap, 20 diver squats, 2 laps, etc. The GM wanted to work our quads today. Drills - jab, power (aka punch), cover, first standing in the same place, then moving forward and back. To complement this, we partnered up and used pool noodles as legs to kick the partner who had to block with the hand down low, or with the shoulder (kind of like a shrug) if the "kick" were high. The GM used me to demonstrate the shrug - nice to know I'm good at something! On to kicking - only ten each leg of instep, turning, and down. Finished off with more partner practice with back kick. One person held two paddles at waist height and the idea was to perform a back kick in such a way that the front paddle hit the back paddle. There were many contenders so it was hard to choose but I have finally concluded that back kick is officially my absolutely worst kick. And to have to add a jump to it... well, it's one of the seven circles of hell!

Day 758

​ Challenge:
- Day 10 Daily Abs

One of those days when something else takes priority and you spend the whole day doing it and feel absolutely exhausted at the end of it. It was supposed to be an arm-and-leg day today (not going well this week!) but that's been rescheduled to tomorrow - and I hope I can get finished what I started today so I can get to that!
Elite started back tonight. I'm not doing it this term. It conflicts with Mastery on Fridays and I wouldn't like to do only one class each week. Besides, it's probably best that I focus on Mastery right now. Perhaps next term.

Hot weather rain sounds amazing

Day 757

​ Challenge:
- Day 9 Daily Abs
​ Programme:
- Day 6 Spartan Trials
This was supposed to be a combat day but in light of last night's Mastery, I think I'll have to change things again. Back to a focus on the splits. I think the main problem I have with that is probably due to my adductors so I'll be working on them for a bit. Today, then, I used Marcy for some weighted hip adductions, then onto the floor for side leg raises and some Copenhagen plank. And, because not only are they fun, but they also work the adductors, some slider plank jacks!

Taekwondo general training. A bit of running to warm-up, and lunges. Then jumping jacks, squat jumps, tuck jumps - 20 each (that's a lot of jumping!). Strangely, no push-ups. Punching. After that, a spot of stretching, before we got into kicking - instep, turning, down, axe. As the GM wants us to do a jumping kick in Mastery, there is also a focus on that in general class. We started just slowly working the back kick, breaking it down into each step. We practised this with a partner and a pad. Then we could practise jumping and even do a little gentle kick. Yep, right... Damn, ran out of time! It was bucketting down with big fat raindrops when we left the gym. Even though it wasn't so far to the car, got absolutely saturated. There was thunder and lightning and the whole world was a beautiful yellow/orange colour from the setting sun glowing through the clouds.

Day 756

​ Challenge:
- Day 8 Daily Abs
​ Programme:
- Day 5 Spartan Trials
Push Day. Much the same as last week only I used the barbell for the military press rather than the dumbbells, and I remembered to do the 2 x 10 es tricep kickbacks.

Mastery training. First day so it was a little easy. Warm-up was just several laps of gentle jogging, starting at one lap, then climbing up to 4. It was crowded because we were in a small space, but from next week we'll be in the bigger hall which will be better. We punched - mid-section, and upper, then double. Stretched before kicking. Instep kick and turning kick. Push-ups. And then we practiced jumping with 180 degrees turn, preparatory to doing a jumping back kick. So what's in store for us this Mastery? 50 push-ups; 180 degree splits; a jumping back kick; and the usual excellence in patterns and other techniques. Got 9 weeks... Walk in the park, right?

Day 755

​ Challenge:
- Day 7 Daily Abs
​ Skills Day. This is my fun day; the day in which I look at all those things that I'd like to do but that don't really fit anywhere. Like MovNat, for example. Workout 1 of their 4-week programme. Though I didn't have a handy little tree or something to do the assisted squats with - I just used the door frame! I also did some work on hand-eye co-ordination, by throwing a tennis ball against the wall underhand and catching with the other hand overhand. Half the battle was trying to remember to catch overhand, the other half was trying not to hit the lawnmower that was next to the wall. Think I'll have to move the lawnmower next week... Continued working on the puzzle and it's almost done. Brain-training apps like Dual n-Back for when I want to think about something other than a foreign language or maths. And to finish it all off, given that Mastery starts tomorrow, checking out whether or not I remembered Koryo and Taebaek (kinda).

Day 754

Challenge:
- Day 6 Daily Abs
Combat day. What with Mastery commencing Monday, time to dust off my hand routines and etc. So many of them to try to remember!

I spent a fair bit of today doing something I haven't done for at least two years - I started a jigsaw puzzle. I used to do them often. I found them very relaxing, particularly when I got in the zone, and when I was in the mood, I could whip through one in a few hours. I would get toey if I hadn't done one for a while. I don't do less than 1,000 pieces because they are over too quickly, and I can't do anything more simply because I don't have a bit enough table. So today I finally decided to do one. Well, yesterday I started one. It was a new one but it was poor quality - the pieces didn't fit nicely (they were too loose) and so there was too much possibility of two pieces being able to fit in the same space except when you put in the piece above or below. I wasn't enjoying it at all so I tossed it. Today I started one whose quality I knew and liked. I find doing jigsaws a very meditative thing. I tried meditation - I really did. I gave it a solid go for at least a month. I enjoyed it on the whole but it never became something that I wanted to do. Rather, I had to remind myself to do it. I was a bit disappointed because I've read other people's threads when they've said how much they benefit from meditation. But today, I read this and this and others that said essentially the same things: I can get the same benefits from doing a jigsaw puzzle as I would from meditating. Plus a few more. Win/win, I reckon.

Our summer had a very chilly period, too, with strong winds, cold rain and much less warm clothes than we should've had prepared!

Day 753

Challenge:
- Day 5 Daily Abs
Isometrics - both yielding and overcoming. Things like bicep curl hold at three different angles, and bridge holds. Many and kind of varied, and I did them as they occurred to me so there wasn't actually a plan for what I did. Very flud.

It's been too cool for February, and it's been so damp this summer. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy we haven't been cruising in the high 30s, but so far we've only a couple of times even hit 31! Today was positively chilly and the girls wore jumpers to school and complained of being cold.