[Brooke]

June 16th

I got my bike back from the repair shop today and celebrated with a 45-minute ride and then five minutes with the sword.

Also spent some time cleaning up storage areas in preparation for further renovations to the training space.

Weekend adventures included hiking out to harvest devil’s club and do some trail maintenance.

[Brooke]

June 10th

Day 3 of cyclist training. I rode for ~45 minutes in total but paused to rescue an exhausted bumble bee who was floundering on the pavement of the old highway. She rode home on my knuckles and received some honey.

Rescuing the bee reminded me of an important personal truth: Compassion is the height of human achievement.

As students of fencing, we dedicate ourselves to the practice and preservation of the art, but what good is it to be a world-class fencer with a rotten heart? As one of my personal mentors, Mike Panian has said: Character matters.

Martial arts training is an excellent crucible, but what do we do with the dross that rises to the surface? Do we stir it back into the pot and tell ourselves that we’re just fine? Or do we have the courage to examine that nastiness and begin the lifelong process of refinement?

Personally, at the end of my life, whether I’m being judged at the pearly gates, having my heart weighed against Maat’s feather, or simply contemplating my choices as my brain is being flooded with endogenous DMT, I would like to remember that I chose love and compassion over personal glory. Paradoxically, this may end up making me a better fencer.

[Brooke]

June 9th

I took my bike out again and received more mosquito bites in five minutes of riding through the woods than I have all spring. At least it inspired me to pedal faster.

10 minutes with the sword, attacking the rope and practicing basic phrases. Right shoulder still complains a lot, but it will get stronger with time.

Today I met a tiny old dog that looked like a chihuahua crossed with a pot roast. Elderly pets are the best.

[Brooke]

June 8th

First sunny day in a while. I took the opportunity to get out on a 30-minute bike ride and followed that up with 15 minutes of sword time.

I need to work towards moving my training session earlier in the day.

[Brooke]

June 7th

Sleep hygiene checklist:

Bedoom is dark? Yes.

Bedroom is quiet? Yes.

Bedroom is cool? Yes.

Bedroom only for sleeping? Well, I no longer hang out in my bedroom, but I’m guilty of browsing on my phone in bed. I will be more intentional about no devices in bed other than for dream journalling, and while my sleep schedule is fairly healthy, I could also stand to be more consistent in terms of when I go to bed.

Today’s practice was 15 minutes long and focused on building up my endurance while paying attention to healthy body mechanics and my injured shoulder was definitely feeling it. For the present, I want to focus on building a sustainable practice habit and increasing my physical fitness.

[Brooke]

June 5

“Rest” day today.

I had very long and complicated dreams, including a segment where I was trying to deliver a pizza during some kind of war. I am stopped at a checkpoint, my package is inspected, and I am told that I may not proceed because I can’t fight with a pizza. I say watch me.

5 mins with the sword today. I had the intention to go on a bike ride but it rained heavily most of the day and I am a big baby.

I also agreed to livestream the Fifty Shades movies for an open-mic roasting by a very rowdy and opinionated group of women. One movie down, two to go. It went, uh, well.

[Brooke]

June 4th

Another awful night of sleep. I allowed my practice of bedtime meditation to be disrupted by the move and I plan to reinstate that. Meditating within a couple hours of sleep also has the benefit of increasing one’s chances of having lucid dreams and it would definitely be neat to spend more time as a dragon.

I realized this morning that taking the time to make myself a healthy and satisfying breakfast has been an important act of self-care that puts me in a more positive mood for the day. I thought I was just making cool-looking noodle bowls.

For today’s training, I increased my practice time to 15 minutes, spent primarily with the sword dummy. Then I arranged some slightly-heavier-than-last-time objects, picked them up, and put them down again.

[Brooke]

June 3rd

So I woke up from a truly disturbing nightmare at around 3:30, then proceeded to stay awake until exactly 4:20 AM just for the sake of posting “blaze it” to my Discord server. Priorities.

Food remains much the same: Rice or rice noodles with vegetables, beef, and egg. I’m not getting tired of it, but I do need to perfect the art of scrambling an egg into the hot rice without completely atomizing it.

Anyway. Today I increased my sword time to ten whole minutes—just some cutting at the rope with an emphasis on good posture and groundedness. I put an inexpensive resistance band around my knees to remind me to keep them externally rotated. Afterward lifted more heavy objects and put them back down again.

P.S. Yesterday while grocery shopping I saw a bee the size of a small child. I didn’t have my phone with me and couldn’t take a picture so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

[Brooke]

June 2nd

Dreamed about lions.

Rice, eggs, and beef bowl for breakfast. Went grocery shopping but became stupid and forgot to buy broccoli.

Moved the barbell and resistance bands into the salle. Found medicine balls and skipping ropes but no dumbbell. Where is the dumbbell? I am manifesting finding the dumbbell. I love the feeling of having found the dumbbell. Dumbbells come easily and abundantly to me. I have found the dumbbell. I am the dumbbell.

Installed the rope and spent 5 minutes beating it up, as well as a short lifting session with the barbell followed by a cold shower. Not for the testosterone-boosting telepathy benefits, but because my shower is literally a curbside rescue fiberglass stall fed by the garden hose.

[Brooke]

June 1st

Woke up exhausted. Made a bowl of rice vermicelli with beef, egg, and vegetables that ended up lasting all day.

I brought some weight plates into the training space. Where is my dumbbell? Why did I only buy one? What was I trying to prove? Answers to these questions and more at some indefinite point in the future. It’s probably in the crawl space.

5 minutes warming up with flow cutting followed by lifting heavy objects and putting them back down. The new salle is hot as Satan’s buttcrack, with about as many flies, but less airflow.

This is my training log.

[Brooke]

March 4th

Drank too much water. Productivity definitely lowered due to frequent toilet breaks.

30 minutes of active training! Started with flow cutting to the rope, and then worked on specific “phrases”, including a simple parry-and-thrust combo from multiple guards, and a more bougie attack-to-miss followed by deflection and fendente.

Very short sets (~1m/ea) and switching hands every set keeps my tiny brain occupied.

[Brooke]

Thurs February 18th

1) Food: Turkey wings and more moose salad. Avocado supply is good. Tomato supply is depleted. Lettuce is critically low.

2) Mobility: Day 4 yoga. Actually got this done before noon for once. Progress?

3) Practice: 30 mins watching vids and 15 minutes aggressively beating up the rope!!!

Goal for tomorrow is to do yoga and practice before noon.

[Brooke]

Weds February 17th

1) Food: Chicken salads, more chicken, plain yogurt with berries.

2) Mobility: Day 3 yoga. It was more active but less difficult??? ~35m

3) Practice: 20 mins of unarmed poste progression.

✌

• This reply was modified 5 years, 4 months ago by  Brooke.

[Brooke]

Tues February 16th

1) Food: Moose salads, cheese, boiled eggs, and one cucumber (rage-eaten after peeling boiled eggs.) Success?

2) Mobility: Day 2 of a 30 day yoga series. Approximately 37 minutes of oof.

3) Practice: ~20 minutes on foundational cuts form plus 10 or so minutes just beating up the rope and knocking stuff over in the living room.

Good job Brooke.