Neighbourhood Ninja

[morsla]

miss_rynn asked if I could help vorex break into his house, last night. Keys were locked inside, the balcony had a security screen, but there were pipes up the outside wall. It only took a couple of minutes to do, and then I headed back home to cook some dinner for aeliel and delphaeus... but it made me think about a few things.

It drove home how unfit I've become. Climbing the pipes wasn't too hard - I probably could have made it to the 4th floor without much hassle, as the pipes made good footholds. I've lost a huge amount of muscle strength though - even climbing up a retainer wall beside the house was awkward, as I couldn't rely on my arms to lift me.

It's probably not too much of a bad thing, though. I've always been a very messy climber - I'm scrawny enough that I have a good power-to-weight ratio, and I can scramble up most surfaces without sparing a thought about technique. It's why I'm not a particularly good climber - I can tackle moderately difficult climbs faster than most, but I fail horribly at difficult ones. Having lost almost all my upper-body strength over the last six months, I can build it back again while making sure that I can co-ordinate my limbs as much as I need to.

It has now been six months since I got sick, stressed, and thesis-ed to the point where I stopped training. I haven't been to a class since then, and I've only practised to any real extent about five times in that period. I'm going back to my first class on Thursday, and hope to be training 2-3 times a week by July. I'm tired of not having the energy reserves I did last year.

I'm never going to be very solidly built. I've lost muscle mass to the point where most of my clothes are falling off, though - and I certainly haven't managed to replace it with fat. If my healthy weight is generally ~54-56kg, I'm probably having trouble making 50kg at the moment - despite eating huge amounts of food. It's lucky I don't fight in tournaments any more :) The top end of "lightweight" is over 120% of my body mass...

Comments

[bishi-wannabe.livejournal.com]

I find your value of "unfit" to be profoundly subjective, but your weight frightens me.

Obviously MORE SNACKFOOD is in order, even if it makes me bloat like a blimp.

[morsla.livejournal.com]

I'll just set up a refinery, to remove all the fats and sugars from the food. If I eat that part, everyone else will be safe :)

(except that the food may then be devoid of taste, too)

[harkon.livejournal.com]

Mmm... cardboard wafers....

[one-mirror.livejournal.com]

As you probably know, eating heaps only increases your metabolism in your situation! Annoyingly enough, you probably need to either switch to a purely Maccas/KFC diet, or start weight training. If you're lightly built you're not really at risk of getting horribly hugely buff if you're not interested in looking like a beefcake :D

[morsla.livejournal.com]

I've broken my uni-lecture habits of eating constantly, so I started eating large meals on a regular(ish) basis - just three in a day, instead of one continuous meal that started when I got out of bed ;) Unfortunately, all the "slow my metabolism down" plan achieved was robbing me of energy for the last few months.

Maybe I need to follow Cartman's example...

[vass]

Dude. My five closest friends all weigh twice you or more. At my heaviest I was twice you too, if you're under 50. I mean, we're all *taller* than you and most are bigger-boned, but that's not the point.

[psuedonym777.livejournal.com]

Yes, put me down for the twice more catergory. You lucky sod, I would kill for that kind of a metabolism. The whole putting on muscle easy thing is great, but as soon as you stop it turns straight to fat.

I'm glad that it was you climbing the drain pipes. I would been lucky to make it to the first floor. :oP

[miss-rynn.livejournal.com]

Mwahahaha!! Now I know your weakness, fellow martial artist. If we ever need to fight to the death (because, you know, that's what martial artists do) I'm going to drop my weapon and SIT ON YOU with my colossal weight.

[morsla.livejournal.com]

You'll have to find me first :) If I keep wasting away, I'll eventually become two-dimensional - then I just have to stand side-on, and I'll be invisible...

[miss-rynn.livejournal.com]

Curse you, always thinking two moves ahead...

[morsla.livejournal.com]

That's the problem though. I spend so long two moves ahead, that I keep forgetting what I'm supposed to do right now. And when I get there, I have to remember what was supposed to happen...

[psuedonym777.livejournal.com]

Wow. If you could figure out a way to throw yourself, you could become the world's first human ninja star..... *no pun intended*.... *well maybe just a little one*

[mousebane.livejournal.com]

Look - do you want some of my body mass - I've got a fair bit left over from what I would call healthy - we could do a body mass transplant of some kind.....no?

[vorex.livejournal.com]

It drove home how unfit I've become.

This made me laugh and laugh and laugh ...

Although I have in fact made that climb once before, I have no idea how I managed it and I think that if I'd had to try it again last night I would have done myself a serious injury in some form or another.

You might not be as fit as you were, but if you count as 'unfit' then there are some of us out here that could only be counted as 'undead'.

[morsla.livejournal.com]

It's a very relative thing, though.. I'd consider "fit" as being "fit enough to comfortably achieve things I regularly do."

In my case, there are a lot of things that I'd like to have back in my life as regular events, but I'm not capable of doing at the moment. Hence the plan to get active again, so I can do them.

You only need to be as fit as your hobbies require, within some sort of minimum "required to remain alive" guidelines. I have unusual hobbies...

Bastard

[jilavre.livejournal.com]

What a thing to complain about!?
I climbed up the side of a house, using a goddamn drainpipe AND it didn't come loose under my weight because I have virtually no weight. I am so unfit...

*gawf* It's moments like these when I hate you. ;)

Unfitness? Hmm!

[fetnas.livejournal.com]

Maybe I'm just messing with cermantics, but I think you're just confusing fitness with lack of strength. Not doing any real physical activity menas you don't put on muscle. Your body, like mine, doesn't store much fat (say between 4 and 6%) so to put on weight you need muscle. To put on muscle you need to be active.

I've put on a couple of Kilos and reached 60 since I've been doing manual labour type work. Maybe you need to get a job as a brickies labourer!

Re: Unfitness? Hmm!

[morsla.livejournal.com]

Both, actually... lack of strength, and lack of general endurance. I get out of breath running 100m to the train in the afternoon.

I'm not exactly in the most active job at the moment... maybe I should carry heavy objects back and forth between lab and office :)

Re: Unfitness? Hmm!

[fetnas.livejournal.com]

OK then! You need to do some aerobic activity to improve the cardio vascular system, improving geberal fitness, whilst increasing the level of protein in your diet to help increase muscle strength and mody mass!
Thats the plan, all you need to do is impliment!

[harkon.livejournal.com]

Well at least I can relate to your problems, plus I am so much more unfit than you are. My excuse is not only am I more lazy than you, I am more accident/injury prone so I tend to put myself/get put out of commission on a semi-regular basis.

I have also found that dropping from Meal Times = Waking Hours to only 4(ish) meals a day really hard, I am so hungry all the time. Plus eating less meat has made lose more weight, though it seems it is of the undesireable squishy weight.

[sols-light.livejournal.com]

I've suggested to Mikee that we go Rockclimbing at VicRanges in Kensington sometime soon. It won't be this weekend as he's planning on going away, but would you like to join us if we make it next weekend?

Last time I went it cost me about $25 to get in, which I thought was pretty steep until I realised I should have brought food and more water with me as it was four hours later, I was dehydrated and I still hadn't got to try some of the more interesting things like bouldering.

I also have a friend of mine who's an experienced climber and can negate the need to take lessons in belaying, which I think you probably know how to do any way, even if it's been a while.

Let me know if it sounds like a good plan and we'll try and do it next Sunday. (29/5)

[morsla.livejournal.com]

Not around for the next few weekends... thanks for the offer, though.

Most gyms have belaying lessons as legal requirement - if you haven't climbed at that gym before, you need to satisfy their paperwork by doing the course in your first visit.

[kikilon.livejournal.com]

Bwahahaha, top end of light weight so far away...

It's funny, I'm going to the gym with Peter, who's trying to gain weight (he should be heavier than you, if only just...). I'm gaining a lot of insights there. He actually went and bought protein shakes to assist him in building mass.

Make sure your vitamins and minerals are up to par as you're retraining, or you'll end up with a lot of ugly, ugly muscle burns and cramps.
Even "fresh" fruit and veg (which are still several hours to several days old, and so pretty worthless in terms of actual vitamin content) can't support a building body really. If you look at people, they're hardly enough to keep a status quo.

You get a lot of fibre since your diet is so rich in plant matter, you should think of good sources of oils and fats (the good kind), and protein.
That means nuts and seeds above all, of course, and fat fish (mmmm, eel).

And nothing beats roasted soy beans for that muscle-building protein boost before a workout...

It'll be good to see you get back into training.
Did you know people at training still ask what has become of you?

[morsla.livejournal.com]

Mmmm... soybeans :) I'm eating a lot more fish than I used to, but I don't eat nuts very often. Something I ought to change... I used to always have a jar of them at work.

Aaaah, nuts.

[kikilon.livejournal.com]

Mmmm, nuts. The perfect snackage. I think I need to go out and buy some now. ^_^
They're good for concentration, too. Something about the crunching and the oils, if memory serves (but does it ever?)...