Concurrent Strength & Endurance Training 2016: Cycle V

Anyway, thanks for the encouragement!

You're welcome, you just seemed a bit down on yourself a few posts back.
I know one thing that worked for me when loosing weight was fresh squeezed lemon juice and water as soon as i'd wake up.
It kick starts the metabolism like nothing else I know, along with cutting calories of course. I was surprised by the result I got from
such a small change. I think apple cider vinegar does the same thing if it's the organic, cloudy stuff, but apples make me fart so I skipped that one.

What genre of music do you play Lee? I know you're a bass player. I'm kind of a jack of all trades, rubbish at all of them. I did develop a software synth that made it into a music magazine once. Probably my only musical claim to fame.
 
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well, my lifting hasn't been happening. somehow, i tried to restart lifting and volleyball simultaneously with decreasing the amount of sleep i had been getting. not a great plan for avoiding new feelings in your knees to re-introduce that many different movement directions at the same time.

in my running, i have been trying to be really disciplined about starting out super slow and forcing a really slow pace for the first half and then when i turn around to slowly let it rip however it wants (it = my legs, feeling, the entire running experience....). you know: in preparation for forcing myself to go really slow for a very long time so as not to burn up prematurely in the 50-mile attempt. plus, doesn't all the folklore tell us that negative splits are great for training, keep you from getting hurt, and no-one has the discipline/faith to actually do it consistently?

one side-effect from running on the chip-n-seal is that apparently, i am becoming known to all the farmers along my route. the last few weeks they have been (and still are) out a lot harvesting. they always wave to me: vigorously from the giant pick-up trucks, in a friendly manner from the combines, the tractors pulling grain carts, the cabs of the semis pulling the hopper trailers, and even the wives driving the various SUVs despite talking on cell phones [currently illegal in my state :) ].

recently, a not-super-young guy driving a mini-van pulled over and asked in a very friendly manner: "wow, man. how do you do what you do?" of course, the answer is: take off my shoes and put one foot in front of the other... he was super nice and, you guessed it, eventually let it slip that when he was a kid, way back in the day, he would always run around barefoot. i always find it amusing how people will be amazed at the whole barefoot thing and then remember that they used to do it, too....
 
Um is this the last week of the cycle!

Glad your getting the motivation back Lee, same situation here I just don't have the attention span for the gym right now. Its funny the switch to the evenings for me and mornings for you wreaked havoc. I do enjoy sleeping in late though.

Two weeks BA, hopefully the weather cooperates and drops a fresh layer of leaves for you to run on.

Ok next goal 180kg DL by the end of the year!
 
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You're welcome, you just seemed a bit down on yourself a few posts back.
I know one thing that worked for me when loosing weight was fresh squeezed lemon juice and water as soon as i'd wake up.
It kick starts the metabolism like nothing else I know, along with cutting calories of course. I was surprised by the result I got from
such a small change. I think apple cider vinegar does the same thing if it's the organic, cloudy stuff, but apples make me fart so I skipped that one.

What genre of music do you play Lee? I know you're a bass player. I'm kind of a jack of all trades, rubbish at all of them. I did develop a software synth that made it into a music magazine once. Probably my only musical claim to fame.
Yah, I do feel bad about allowing all my progress to dissipate in a cloud of sloth. I was really doing well at the end of last year, and might've even beaten Abide to the 180kg deadlift! Now he's remotivated to get there by the end of this year. I'll be lucky to be much over 315 by then.

For losing weight, I just need regular exercise. A few years ago, lifting and running, I got down to 210, which isn't too bad for my frame, with no dietary restrictions, plus I hate dieting or overthinking nutrition in general. I have a pretty healthy appetite and don't like processed snacky type stuff, with the exception of spicy pistachios or cashews, and of course beer. But I only have a few at a time.

Our music is free jamming, with all the accumulated influences we've listened to over the years: jazz, rock, punk, ambient, experimental. Lately we've been taking jazz standards like "Autumn Leaves" and using them modally, in order to get away from the free-jam tendency to jam around a pedal. So there's more inherent harmonic and melodic structure to play around with, but it's still very loose and improvisational. We don't rehearse and I sometimes look over the tune just a few hours before a jam session. The actual tune is close to unrecognizable most of the time once we go over the head a few times. The main thing with free jamming is having people who really listen to each other. Especially as a bass player I appreciate a fairly egalitarian guitarist or treblist. I'm not interested in providing a groove for some wanker to solo over endlessly. I have a very active, Jaco or Chris Squire style of bass playing, so I need a drummer and guitarist who know how to work with that. Fortunately, I got them now. What I like when I listen back on a jam is hearing all the interactions and the evolution of the different ideas.

Over the last 7-8 months I've been mildly obsessed with upgrading my gear and trying different kinds of basses, or experimenting with different bass parameters--different pickups, different number or strings, different materials, different shapes, etc. Since high school my main axe and often only axe has been a Fender Precision fretless. But lately I've been getting into six-string basses. Really opens up the possibilities. I think I have accumulated enough knowledge through online reading (besides BRS I now participate a bit on a bass-oriented forum) and trail and error to commission a fully custom, six-string, semi-hollowbody, fretless bass. I've already designed it, and I know of a luthier in New England who can engineer and construct it. He specializes in this sort of thing at fairly reasonable prices, considering the time that goes into a unique creation. It will take 6-12 months to make though. I'll finance it by selling a few of the experiments that didn't turn out to be that useful to my evolving playing style. It's been a fun 'journey' much as running and lifting have been these last several years. Really learned a lot. Now everything is starting to feel more or less settled, kind of like running was just before I had to give it up, or lifting has become. I pretty much know what kind of lifter I am, and now I know what kind of modern bass style I want to pursue. Pretty sure it's the six-string. I have a solid body six-string already, and a semi-hollowbody that was semi-custom, but the latter didn't turn out quite as good as it could've, so I'll sell it at a loss when the other one is finished. I'm also selling my '62 Fender Jazz fretted to help pay for the new basses. People are willing to pay a fair amount for vintage, but I really have no use for a fretted bass these days.

Cool to hear about the software synth. This summer we were jamming with a keyboard player who had somehow rigged up all these analog patches to a computer and a foldout keyboard. Really cool. He actually has a PhD in composition so it was nice he was willing to jam with us, but from his side, I don't know if he gets to jam with guys as 'free' as us, so it was mutually beneficial. Our guitarist made an album of the five jams, shrinking each one down to 7-10 minutes. It's almost listenable to an outsider.
 
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well, my lifting hasn't been happening. somehow, i tried to restart lifting and volleyball simultaneously with decreasing the amount of sleep i had been getting. not a great plan for avoiding new feelings in your knees to re-introduce that many different movement directions at the same time.

in my running, i have been trying to be really disciplined about starting out super slow and forcing a really slow pace for the first half and then when i turn around to slowly let it rip however it wants (it = my legs, feeling, the entire running experience....). you know: in preparation for forcing myself to go really slow for a very long time so as not to burn up prematurely in the 50-mile attempt. plus, doesn't all the folklore tell us that negative splits are great for training, keep you from getting hurt, and no-one has the discipline/faith to actually do it consistently?

one side-effect from running on the chip-n-seal is that apparently, i am becoming known to all the farmers along my route. the last few weeks they have been (and still are) out a lot harvesting. they always wave to me: vigorously from the giant pick-up trucks, in a friendly manner from the combines, the tractors pulling grain carts, the cabs of the semis pulling the hopper trailers, and even the wives driving the various SUVs despite talking on cell phones [currently illegal in my state :) ].

recently, a not-super-young guy driving a mini-van pulled over and asked in a very friendly manner: "wow, man. how do you do what you do?" of course, the answer is: take off my shoes and put one foot in front of the other... he was super nice and, you guessed it, eventually let it slip that when he was a kid, way back in the day, he would always run around barefoot. i always find it amusing how people will be amazed at the whole barefoot thing and then remember that they used to do it, too....
It really is funny how people think doing anything barefoot is some super-human feat, or incredibly gross, or both.
 
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Um is this the last week of the cycle!

Glad your getting the motivation back Lee, same situation here I just don't have the attention span for the gym right now. Its funny the switch to the evenings for me and mornings for you wreaked havoc. I do enjoy sleeping in late though.

Two weeks BA, hopefully the weather cooperates and drops a fresh layer of leaves for you to run on.

Ok next goal 180kg DL by the end of the year!
Yeah, although I think there's still a chance the early morning routine could work, at least some of the time. I think I just have to be flexible. The rigid programming of 2014(13?)-2015 got me great results, but I got too hung up on weekly progress. Got make sure the great doesn't get in the way of the good, or however that saying goes. Just do something on those days when time or energy or motivation don't permit a more intense workout.

It's funny neither one of us has reached the 400lb deadlift yet.
 
Our music is free jamming

Thanks for the reply Lee, sounds really interesting what you're up to. I'm well into African polyrhythms at the moment, really interesting to run to once you unravel it.
I did a lot of pub blues back in the day, I had an original dobro and played slide. Sadly had to sell it to keep a roof over my head. Happy memories though, used to jam along with the most amazing harmonica player who was one of the original skinheads (not the dumbass racist kind that hijacked the culture) And like everything the more we drank the better we sounded.
 
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Thanks for the reply Lee, sounds really interesting what you're up to. I'm well into African polyrhythms at the moment, really interesting to run to once you unravel it.
I did a lot of pub blues back in the day, I had an original dobro and played slide. Sadly had to sell it to keep a roof over my head. Happy memories though, used to jam along with the most amazing harmonica player who was one of the original skinheads (not the dumbass racist kind that hijacked the culture) And like everything the more we drank the better we sounded.
Yah, I played in some cover as well as original bands back in the day, in college, post-college, and Japan. Covered some of the Ska Revival bands in college like The (English) Beat, The Specials, and Punk/New Wave like The Clash and (early) The Cure. I even played guitar in a college blues band. But my love has always been free improvisation. I just love the feeling of picking up my bass and having no idea about what's going to result. Just play and listen and play. My first exposure to this approach was to Oregon and some of the European ECM stuff in the 70s, and then I backtracked through Miles Davis and others to BeBop, but never got that good. But that helped provide more of a foundation for making jamming interesting. With lesser chops and limited creativity, a lot jammers' jams tend to result in Grateful Dead dreadfulness. So I've been going through old standards, walking the bass through changes, and trying to get myself out of my muscle memory patterns with some finger exercises. It's been fun so far. And now my son is showing interest in music. Good to have music back in my life. I also recently got a guitar synth and midi control in a few basses, so I'm beginning to explore that.

African polyrhythms are amazing, and great background music for exercise, I agree. Very relaxing yet energetic. The guys I jam with right now are more what I call "textualists," more into sonic exploration and jazz-style 'accent' drumming. It would be fun to have a second jamming group that was more rhythm-oriented, but I don't have the time or motivation to seek them out. Maybe in a few years.
 
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But my love has always been free improvisation

I think that's where we have different brains Lee, I definitely respond better to pattern and structure over improvisation, not only in music but in life too. I can see you're more of an 'explorer' from traveling to music. I might be talking nonsense but that's the way it seems to me.
Anyhow I don't want to disrupt you're thread too much, when I find an upper body muscle I might be able to chip in, I feel a bit like Abide with the footwear, a bit of an impostor. Nice to talk though, I miss the old crew and banter.
 
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