ExRx.net

My low-carb diet has gotten shot to hell in the past few days, with people taking me out to dinner or bringing me Japanese food for lunch. It's near the end of my work here in Japan so I can't say "No" when the boss wants to buy me sushi or the someonebrings me homemade food. I figure this'll continue for 1-2 weeks. Either I can have the good grace to eat the food and enjoy myself, or I can resist and miss out for little good purpose. I'll just ensure I get my protein and my good fats and avoid desserts/sugars. Bad enough I'm still on meds so I can't drink beer...

I'm also feeling more "fat" than "big" lately, and my brain is beginning to miss my abs. So after this WS4SB3 modified cycle I'm going to aim for fat loss.

(Addendum to this - boss took me out and I ate 28 pieces of sushi. Ahem. At like 50-70 calories or so per piece...that's 1400 calories. All carbs and protein and healthy fats...but a bit much for one meal. Still, someone else was paying and the head chef likes me, so I just ate whatever he suggested.)

Now what?


It's pretty much official, I'm leaving Japan in mid-August. I don't really want to. I'd like to spend a month or so in the US, but I'd like to live here. Better pay for the work I do, and lots of fringe benefits - like, most of the officials in the MMA organization I'm in already know me, I've had people meet me the first time and recognize me from my last fight, I've got a lot going on here. But it's not to be...no job locally, so I think it's better to go back to the US than to move across Japan for another position. It's not too late to get another job in Japan, but there aren't any right here, and I'm not crazy about moving and starting over again.

So in the next week, I'm leaving my apartment to travel around Japan by train. No set plans...and I'm thinking about my workout.

I'm probably going to have almost no time to workout, and no facilities. So what to do?

- short hard metcons, using only my bodyweight. I figure burpee ladders, pushup ladders, and circuits with squats, reverse crunches, v-ups, lunges, etc.
- gymnastics practice. Handstands for time, planks, planche progressions.
- explosive jumping.

If I get sufficient time, I think I can do this:

- warmup (mobility drills)
- explosive jumping
- gymnastics practice (sub in as "ME" work)
- short metcon.

My diet is going to go to hell. It already has, I've had beer and noodles/rice/high-GI veggies and fruit three days in a row and it's likely to keep up for a while. Lots of goodbye parties and last-chance-for-Japanese-food situations. I'm not going to worry about it, I'll just enjoy myself. There isn't that much damage I can do in a few weeks, and my preference for low-carb eating options will keep me from going overboard.

So that's the plan. In mid-August I'll be back in the US, and I should be able to resume ME work almost immediately and start training MMA as soon as I get my new (used) car registered in my name and insured.

I'm trying to picture you doing explosive jumping and gymnastics on the train! I've heard that the trains there are pretty smooth, but I think the handstands may be tricky.

I'm feeling sad for you, because I know how much you have enjoyed Japan, and I know what it's like to love an adopted country. If the day comes when I leave PNG knowing that it's for the last time, I'll be sad indeed. I trust that you'll have a chance to go back to Japan again some day.

Who gets your sled?

I'm going to give it to the kids, tell them to show the new teacher how to use it when she shows up.


Tonight I went drinking with my buddies. One of them is a construction worker and bodybuilder and MMA fighter. He's built like a tank. We arm-wrestled and it took about 3 seconds, if that, for him to crush me right vs. right, 1 second for left vs. left. He's actually gotten significantly stronger and larger. Crazy. I know he lifts heavy, too. I told someone I can grip a 120 kg deadlift with a normal grip, and he said "Deadlifts....hard work, aren't they?" His forearms are bigger than my biceps.

Good luck through the transition. Hope to hear from you soon.

Andy

Thanks Andy. I'll be fine.

I'm in a net cafe in Kobe right now. Not much time to exercise, but a young Japanese couple wanted to practice their English so they treated me to beer. I think that counts for something.

The real irony is I got a job offer...after I bought my (crushingly expensive) one-way non-refundable ticket home and shipped most of my luggage back to the US. They sat on my resume a few weeks, apparantly waiting for a sufficient number of applications to arrive. So they called me too late. Even if I stay, it'll cost me lots of time re-shipping my stuff back from America, like my kendo armor and my winter clothes! Going to take some thought...

Peter, I'm sure you will do what's right. This is a test to make you think about what you really want to do. Good luck.

Stu

Kendo armor? Hmmm....

There must be a lot about Kendo that I don't understand!

Tough decision. Would the job be back in Niigita?

Kendo armor. And my uniform. Can't train kendo without it. About $75 to ship it to the US, at least as much to ship it back, the cheap and slow way. About 10x as much to replace it.

Gave away all my furniture and exercise gear, threw out clothes and shoes I couldn't fit, left stuff I'd need in Japan for the person taking over my old job, too. I made all my final pre-departure moves.

The job would be in Niigata, but now, it's more like "I have to move to Niigata" because I already moved out! Aargh.

Anyway I didn't take that job; they found another candidate so I'd have to forfeit my plane ticket just for a 50/50 chance of getting it. Not worth it. Amusingly, or maybe not, I got two other interview requests for the next week. Lucky for me one of them is for a place in NY.

Anyway, my workouts:

I'm going to eat low-carb, cutting diet style, for a least a week or so, while I try to burn off this excess flab I got.

My plan is to start WS4SB3 on Monday. Not sure if I'll do a normal 4-day cycle of it or if I'll do the compressed 2-day approach plus 2 other days of mixed gymnastics and metcon. I'm thinking maybe I should do it as written for once...be weird doing curls again! In any case, my lower body maximum effort work will be trap bar deadlifts, it's been a long time since I did them and I bet I'm going to be able to go much heavier.

I've got a chinup bar, but it's too low to do it with weights hanging, and I'm not sure of its weight limit. I've got to work with what I've got - a wide selection of bars and dumbbells, a bench...and that's about it. A grassy yard to jump in. I can make that work.

Peter--Are you back in the US?

Yes, back in New Jersey. Are you going to be on the East Coast at all, near New York City? PM me if you are and I'll try to find a way to meet up with you. Washington DC is too damn far if that's where you are now.

I'm going to start at my former MMA gym this week (here: http://www.thaing.net), and I already emailed DeFranco's Training and Cressey Performance about training.

Editing later - and I already got an answer from DeFranoco's Training so I'm going to set up a time to go visit there. About 22 miles one way from where am staying - it's that annoying NJ round-about path - but I think I will be doing some training there in the near future. Awesome. Not cheap, but this is an investment in my MMA career, and something I should have done 10 years ago!

Pete, let us know how all about DeFranco and his methods.Looks great on his site, but I'll bet once you start training with him, he can spot weaknesses and tailor stuff up to fit your specific needs. I'd be dieng to hear what he has to say in person.
Tim

Nope. Nowhere near. I'm from plain old Washington, not the DC kind. Actually, we'll be spending most of our time in Idaho, where most of my family is. We'll probably be somewhere in your neck of the woods next year, so if it's possible I'll get in touch.

Doc, you from anywhere near Spokane? Got a good friend in Colville, about 90 miles north , close to the Columbia, and the border.Have done the crossing into Bonner's Ferry a few timesm and then into Kalispel (Mt).