22 Hours

It's been a nice last few days.

Wing Tsun Saturday; always learning loads and always feeling inadequate.

Parkour Sunday, with the satisfaction of learning protection without the thought of psychological/legal consequences.

Finally got dragged down by a cold Sunday night (still feel weak...twice in a year is a terrible infraction), and slept. A lot. 22 hours in the last 48. Thought about practicality, and similarities (and differences) between training and the task, what about workouts that chain or circuit exercises in a similar way to how they're completed outside the gym (e.g. if you can't do muscle ups, perhaps chaining chinup-dip is a helpful way of practicing top-outs on a climbup), slow compound exercises that don't utilise momentum, but work muscle groups that are often used together. Why not do squats-to-upright row, slowly on medicine balls? Its training shoulder and leg groups at the same time, which are often utilised together. Why not make physical workouts the same duration as the task your training for, or twice as long, and then do them in half the time? I've trained exclusively strength for the past year or so, and I know that I can do the first few reps, very very well. After that, form and technique begin to suffer. I think the gym is a great tool, but is both over and underestimated in what it can achieve; overestimated, because people (like me) spend too much time there, and not enough on technique, and underestimated; because people don't explore how structure and time management and options can improve so many other, 'non-gym-trainable' (its a word, I swear) qualities, like coordination and spirit. There's a preconception that the gym is for narcissists, biceps curls, and 3 sets of 10; as opposed to an anvil to forge yourself as you see fit.