yesterday; windshield wipers, variations of pull ups, pulls up + 100lbs, sprints

evening; luk sau, pushing and pulling in chi sao, sparring paradigm, drilling from sparring position, tabata

Morning; tabata, sprints, bag work; straights, kick drills, 3 rounds of general bag work.

“I don’t have no fear, I’ll take on any man here…” Massive Attack – Protection

My body is still trying to find its set point. I’ve dropped to under 160lbs now. Ideally want to go up, not down, but I’ll continue my nutrition regime mixed with regular fasting and intense workouts on an empty stomach.

Stuff that was difficult is getting to be easy; fingertip dips, 2 finger push ups, windshield wipers. My pull ups are getting crazy heavy and my dips are returning to my peak levels from a few years ago. I need to bring up my squat weight. Every time I go, I can squat more and more.

Breath…

Only Breath by Rumi

Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu
Buddhist, sufi, or zen. Not any religion

or cultural system. I am not from the East
or the West, not out of the ocean or up

from the ground, not natural or ethereal, not
composed of elements at all. I do not exist,

am not an entity in this world or in the next,
did not descend from Adam and Eve or any

origin story. My place is placeless, a trace
of the traceless. Neither body or soul.

I belong to the beloved, have seen the two
worlds as one and that one call to and know,

first, last, outer, inner, only that
breath breathing human being.

Rumi

evening; pull ups with 100lbs added on a dipping belt. Dips with 85lbs added. Leg raises; Tabata.

“Who are you?” He asked.

I was tired but the feeling was good. One of work having been accomplished.

“I am ‘me’, here now. Training pretty hard”.

“WHO ARE YOU?” He demanded, his voice bellowing.

“I am no-one special. I am just plain me trying to work out. Trying to keep up with these guys”. I pointed to the people around me. Mostly men, lifting weights or sauntering around casually. “Just trying to keep up, with them”

“Be not like them. These external manifestations of ‘no’ thingness. Be limitless. Do not keep up; excel.  Your path is yours alone to travel. Not one based on the lives of others’.  Do what they cannot do. Think, and the thought gives rise to action. Act and the action gives rise to motion. Move, and you will move freely. Once you are free, you are liberated.”

I continued to train.

A shrill voice in the background;

“Be… just be”.

morning; sprints, windshield wipers

That Side spoke thus, this morning:

“Hunger is beyond the oversimplification of merely meeting ones needs, or satiating a desire to feed. It is a frame of mind. An animal who is hungry is desperate to survive. It will stalk its prey and will use the hunger as a mechanism to move with intensity in the direction of its goal. Use this frame of mind, hunger, each time you move towards your target.”