Fitness notes - July 2012

July 3 -
Tuesday I walked laps around the track for half and hour while listening to Pimsleur Spanish. Every two laps I did half a lap of bounding. Really felt it the next day!

July 4 -
Wednesday I did another 30-minute "Pimsleur walk" (without bounding), followed by about ten minutes of handwalking / free handstanding practice. I'd say I'm at an intermediate level, in so far as I I'm confident about hopping up into a handstand, I can do decent bent-leg handwalking, can hold some good straight handstands for a few seconds now and then, and am very comfortable tumbling down to try again. Having an open, grassy area makes such a difference. One other encouraging factor is that, according to Patrick Barrett in How to Do a Handstand, it's harder to handstand on grassy, uneven surfaces, so, who knows, maybe I'd do even better on a basketball court. In college I was known to amble on my hands down the dorm room hallway from time to time, so it's just a matter of getting that feeling back. Hand balancing is so much fun, even in failure!

July 5 -
Thursday I did  a Quick Mass workout.

July 6 -
Friday night I rode a bike around Sanxia for about half an hour, then came home and trained my tripod headstand with leg motions, and did some stretching. Felt a good soreness in my neck and traps the next day or two. High five!

July 7 -
Saturday I rode my bike for about half an hour and, in between, did ten minutes of handstand training. Believe it or not, I felt most sore in my right glute and left hamstring. All the hopping up and landing worked my lower body harder than my upper body. In the course of reading the next day, I found that Barrett explicitly mentions this fact in his How to Do a Handstand.

July 8 -
Sunday we had a lunch and family time with my mother-in-law's family, and by the time I got home, I was pooped. Rest is the other half of training! I was incredibly hungry all weekend, and by Sunday night I was up to 104kg.

July 9 -
It was my birthday, and a grueling day dealing with visas, buses, the baby, etc. so I ended up having some beers with a friend. Not the best form of recovery, but hey, I'm not Arnie. OR AM I???