Exercise balls

I have often watched people at the gym performing silly looking moves on large inflated balls. How silly they look! I would never do that! *cough*

Well, my personal trainer, Anna, came bounding over to me saying I've got this for you! She handed me a handwritten sheet of paper with little stick-men demonstrating core exercise routines for the exercise ball.

Damn it! (I thought) I really didn't want to look silly! But, as she had obviously spent time on thinking these through I went through my cardio-only regime and got hold of one of the exercise balls.

YES! I probably looked silly! But, the exercises weren't easy, and it was often difficult to stay balanced. By the end of the exercises I was knackered and I really could feel their effect on my back and stomach - two areas that I need to focus on!

So, what have I learnt from this? Well, you sometimes have to look silly in order to get fit!

BTW, I weighed in at 74Kg (11 stone 9 pounds)!

Bunkai

Last night at karate was an interesting exercise in bunkai, the interpretation of the moves in a kata. That is, when you do a kata you are normally by yourself, or in a group of people performing set moves in a sequence against invisible opponents.

In yesterdays session we covered Taikyoku Shodan and Heian Shodan katas in groups of two or three people, where one person would perform the kata and the others would take the part of the opponents and demonstrate what the kata actually means.

Now, it's an interpretation so you don't need to stick to the kata exactly. Something that looks like a block, e.g. an upward-rising block (Age Uki) could be interpreted as a strike under the chin.

After acting out the bunkai we returned to just performing the kata. Everyone in the hall, about 15 adults and 20 children, performed the kata together. I was able to imagine the opponents in front of me and what they were doing. It really made a difference! Instead of: Gedan Barai to Oi Zuki to Gedan Barai to Oi Zuki, etc it was GEDAN BARAI!!, OI ZUKI!! (I'm not sure if the difference comes across in text)

I hope that we do bunkai again for other katas. Watching my video of katas and bunkai isn't the same as physically performing it with others!

A good run!

Today I went for a 3 mile run from work at lunch time. I was glad to find that last week's bad run was just a one-off. Admittedly, the hills around work aren't anywhere near the hills near home, so it's an easier run. I think the home run is good for building up stamina for normal(er) runs!

Today's stats are 3 miles in 27 minutes 40 seconds, which is an average of 6.7mph. I think that is just over 9 minute miles!

Tonight is karate night. I think I have just about got Heian Godan kata under my belt (pun intended), and I think purple-and-white belt basics are pretty similar to purple belt. The sparing is fairly easy too - but I couldn't remember any defending steps at all this morning! I should be up for grading if I attend as many lessons as I can over the next month or so!

Animosity at Japanese class

Last night was the first Japanese class since the Easter break. There were four of us there, including Emiko my teacher. I really enjoy learning Japanese, and I want to learn more and more. I have learnt a lot this year, especially when I visited Japan. However, I haven't really concentrated on it recently because I got behind on the work I wanted to do quite early on in the year.

I'm looking forward to the summer break because I will be able to learn the subjects I want to learn in the time and order I want to learn them in. Then I'll be ready for the start of the new year in September!

Last night's lesson was fairly eventful because David, an old man to whom I give a lift to and from Japanese, had had a couple of glasses of wine before I picked him up. He was noticeably slurring his words and was mumbling most of the time. I was pretty sure he would be quiet in the class, or fall asleep, or something. I hoped at least!

When David takes a dislike to someone, he is normally a little vocal about it but never offensive. That is until last night when Bob, a Columbian who David constantly complains to me, corrected David (in a very friendly manner) instead of waiting for Emiko. David, with his Dutch courage, responded with "Shut up Bob! I'm getting totally pissed off with you! Emiko is the teacher, not you!" And, for the following 2 hours David was mumbling about "not being bothered to do anything and considering going home".

Bob obliged by not interacting with David at all for the rest of the night. He wasn't upset about it at all, but I could see that David was contorted with dislike for the man! In the car after the lesson, David referred to Bob as "A f*cking conceited c*nt", language I would not expect for a man in his seventies!

I was a bystander for most of this and I was able to learn lessons from it:

• Don't let yourself get wound up about someone else because the other person will probably not care - Bob certainly didn't!
• Reacting nastily will just cause the other person to respect you less, and make things worse for future interactions - I doubt Bob has very much respect at all for David!
• You are only going to spoil things for yourself if you get upset about someone who has every right to be there too - David had a crap lesson. Bob and I just continued as normal.

If someone is upsetting you then dealing with it calmly, privately and directly with them. This should help you and the other person save face, e.g. "Bob, I don't really like it when you correct me. Will you let Emiko give me the answer first and if she doesn't know then you can help"

Doing weights at the gym

For the last 6 months I have concentrated mostly on cardio-vasuclar exercises, on cycles, step machines and running. This week I had a session with Anna, one of the personal trainers, and once or twice a week I'm going to do weights (Plus a warm-up on the exercise bike and a run on the tread mill).

So, today was my first day, and I found it interesting how quickly my muscles became tired - i guess they get swamped with lactic acid.

At the end of the work out I felt like I hadn't done much, perhaps because I had cooled down from doing the run on the tread mill. I'll see how it goes over the next 6 weeks, I hope I notice a difference!

For my cardio routine I have dropped one of the step machines, and increased my run:

• 2 minutes 6.5kph
• 6 minutes 9.5kph
• 6 minutes 10.5kph
• 4 minutes 11.5kph

I did this run today and the last 4 minutes were the hardest, but I kept on telling myself that I would be extremely pleased with myself if I finish without slowing down. And I did finish without slowing down, and I was really, really pleased with myself!

Today I weighed 74.5Kg which is 11 stone 10 pounds.

A heavy night

My friend Lee, whom I haven't seen in 10 years but we chat daily on a talker, came to visit lastnight. It was fab to see him and we had plenty to catch up on. (I guess topics of conversations are different on-line compared to IRL).

I introduced him to J and we soon headed to Pizza Express to grab a bite to eat. We all seemed to forget it was a work night, and several beers later we staggered into a taxi and home.

None of us really remember what happened after that but this morning there was evidence of munchies, further drinking (wine and whisky) and stinking, rotten hangovers from hell!

I saw Lee off at 8, and spent the next hour and a half trying to feel better and gave up and headed to work. What a useless morning! I couldn't concentrate on anything! So much so that I asked my manager if I could go home and get some sleep before working from home.

I feel like it was worth it, cos I had a fantasic night! But, as I still feel ill I have decided not to go to karate or do a run today. Instead I'll watch tv tonight and feel sorry for myself. Ahhh...

A hard easy run

Today is my first run in a couple of weeks because of this silly lingering cough. I went out enthusiastically, but quickly found I lacked the energy to run my planned 3 miles. Forgetting to take my "magic stomach tablets" yesterday until 2 O'clock today, so I suffered indigestion and coughing a lot of the way round.

Hopefully I'll build my stamina up again over the next few weeks!

Going to the gym after ice skating

I went ice skating on Saturday at Slough Skating Arena. Not a bad night at all, despite the average age of the skaters was 12, it being disco night and a badly fitting left boot, I was a little edgy at first, but after 10 or so minutes I was skating around quite happily!

Yesterday was pretty chilled. J and I went to Turville and had a pleasant meal with our friends Dave and Jane at the little pub there, called The Bull and Butcher. It was really, really busy especially as there was a bikers convention passing through - one of them said there were 50 bikes! The bar staff were magnificent, and most were happy to chat and drink for an hour before their food came out! I felt pretty good all day, not even a twinge from the badly fitting boots!

This morning I could hardly get up! I was stiff all over and hobbling around - almost as if I had a delayed reaction from the ice skating! So, I took some time stretching before exercising this morning. Even so, I found it really hard to maintain speed on the step machines!

Gym session completed, I have only stiff thighs if I sit down for too long! I'm sure they'll be ready for a run tomorrow!

Free vend

So, I walked up to the vending machine at work pondering eating a Twix, when I noticed slot 67 was filled with Galaxy Caramels. Anyone who works at my company knows what this means...
I inserted my 50p, hovered over the Twix numbers but pressed 67 instead, retrieved my Caramel, pressed the coin return button and retrieved my change... 50p!

Now, I didn't need to put in my 50p - it would have vended the Caramel anyway.

Questions:

1. Does the fact the chocolate is free give me the right to take it?
2. Does putting the money in, giving the machine a chance to take the right amount, absolve me of any guilt?
3. Did it make the chocolate taste any worse?

Never mind.. I've eaten it now!

No run today :(

7:30 this morning I had a bit of an upset stomach (I'll spare the detail) and as I felt absolutly fine I didn't think anything more of it and went to work.

11:50 today I was just about to get changed for my run and exactly the same happened again, but worse! Again, I didn't feel ill at all but thought better of it to go for a run just in case I got caught short!

So, very disappointed, I headed home and worked for the rest of the afternoon with no further 'problems'.

J's just got home and is making dinner, a vege-shepherds pie, but with quorn pieces because we've run out of quorn mince! I still feel absolutly fine, so I'm going to risk eating!

I should be able to spend more time at the Gym tomorrow cos J is away for the night!

Milan Pavan no. 3

I have started relearning the third Milan Pavan which I think is the easiest of the six pieces. Easy enough for me to commit most of the piece including the tricky fingering to memory.

So, I got out my copy of Andrés Segovia playing the pavans and listened to Pavan no. 3. I wish that I could make such a simple piece of music sound so wonderful! He is technically superb and each he plays note is clean and resonates for just the right amount of time!

I will keep practicing!

I'm getting a little fed up of practicing on an awkward chair with arms, or the bulkhead above my stairs, or on the bed. I think I'll purchase a small stool which will enable me to practice with my footstool and attain a much better sitting position!

Back to the gym

Easter weekend and this damned cough have both contributed to me not going to the gym regularly over the last 2 weeks. I have been a total of 4 times this month!

Today I completed my regime without pushing myself too hard:

• Exercise bike - 10 minutes
• Step machine - 10 minutes
• Tread mill :
• 6.5km/h 2 minutes
• 9.5km/h 6 minutes
• 10.5km/h 6 minutes
• 11.5km/h 2 minutes
• Side step machine - 10 minutes
• Recline cycle - 10 minutes

I want to get my key reprogrammed soon because I want to increase the time I am running, and remove the side step machine. Although the side step machine is hard work and I can feel some benefit, no matter how hard (or not) I work it never goes above 100spm or 100 calories burned. I get no satisfaction from completing a work out on it. On top of that, I don't always get on it because it is a popular exercise with the ladies.

Today I weighed 75.5Kg (11 stone 13 pounds), which is superb considering the rich food (and chocolate) I ate over the Easter weekend! My target, incidently is 66Kg (10 stone 6 pounds).

I think I'll head out for a run tomorrow!

Guitarists are bad at sight reading

I have played the classical guitar for about 19 years, though I haven't had formal training for the latter 11 years. Through out the whole of my personal and professional training I was taught to sight read, but I never did very well. In fact I panic when I see special notation that means I have to sight read beyond the first position!

I soon discovered that the majority of classical guitarists I encountered couldn't read music very well either, and I came to the conclusion that it must be too difficult. And, after all, guitarists don't need to sight read often because they aren't in orchestras.

I read a superb article, not so long ago, about guitarists being bad site readers - but I fail to find it using Google. Despite that, I have found many articles agreeing with my observation, including one which is an interview with John Williams (classical guitarist):
http://www.guitarteacher.com.au/johnwilliams.htm

So, why aren't we guitarists good sight readers? Well, I suggest that if you ask any guitarist where various notes are in first position they will be able to quickly find all variations A to G, and most sharpened/flattened notes too! Ask them to name all the notes on the 10th fret starting from 6th to 1st strings and you'll find most, including me, floundering and working out from 5th and 7th frets!

It's not that sight reading is any more difficult on the guitar than the piano, flute or violin, it's that we don't know our instrument! We are lazy! Imagine finding a carpenter (pro or hobbyist) of 19 years experience and they don't know what their tools are called or how they use them - I'd be aghast! So why, until now, am I not so shocked at my lack of knowledge of the guitar?

I have decided this is to change, and I am doing something about it! This is my plan:

• Learn where all the E notes are on my guitar fret board up to the 14th fret
• Picture each note on the staff, e.g. Open 6th string is in the space below the third ledger line below the stave
• Practice finding these notes on the guitar at the same time imagining the notes on the stave
• For each fret, starting from the open and 1st frets up to fret 14, search for all the E notes and picture their position on the stave
• When confident, repeat with other notes, counting 3 notes up each time. Instead of learninrg A, B, C use E, A, D, G, C, F then E

So far I have worked on E and A and I will continue with the subsequent notes over the next few weeks. I will report back on any improvement!

A day in London

As we had already had a really busy Easter weekend, J and I decided today would be a good day to visit London with our friend Nat! It was a pleasantly warm day, and we headed to Greenwich Park stopping off briefly at Wagamama near the Tower of London.

The Cutty Sark is almost totally dismantled during its refurbishment, a shame as I always love the site of the ship! The park was nicely peaceful with not too many people, and we indulged in an extremely large ice cream at the top of the hill!

Next, on a whim, we decided to head to the South Bank to see if we could get onto the London Eye - something J nor I have ever done before! Thankfully the queues were nowhere near the length of those we saw during the height of the tourist season so we went for it!

Moving so slowly and so high above London gives you time to recognise the various sites and puts everything into perspective. For example, how close Buckingham Palace is to Downing Street and the Thames, and Leicester and Trafalgar Squares. The houses of Parliament also look enormous compared with the view we get from ground level!

Finally to Lee Ho Fook Chinese restaurant in China Town - one of my favourite restaurants, enjoyed by vegetarians and meat-eaters alike! Apparently, the duck is superb and a must eat!

Home now, tired and a bit grimy... I think I'll have a bath!

New blog home

So, I have moved my blog from my home-grown, hacked together, feature-less, but comfy system to this multi-featured, well established, one-size-fits-all blog system.

I'm not going to drag along any baggage from the old one, that is now archived off as a different part of my life! This new blog is me taking control of my interests, my health, my future, my life!