2013!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

First blog post of the year!

I trust that you had a happy and healthy Christmas and New Year holiday! Our holiday was better than I could have ever imagined, but I am looking forward to a few things: losing the expanse of waist tissue that I accumulated over the holiday season and regular training again. So my mind is cluttered with training and fitness goals, but I will do them in "Challenge" format. But before I talk about a new challenge, I must revisit December's challenge.

It worked. Sort of.

I was able to complete nightly TCC/Qigong before bedtime 25 nights out of 31. The times that I was able to complete the routine I slept much more soundly and have reduced my medication by about 33%. Which isn't bad when you think about it. I have also memorized the 18 movement Shibashi routine and can perform it at will. I will continue performing qigong, but not nightly as I am conducting 2 challenges simultaneously for the month of January. Before bedtime I will be conducting nightly vipassana (mindfulness meditation) sessions in an effort to help aid relaxation and continue the practice of meditation. I have been practicing vipassana on and off for a while now and have introduced nearly all of my clients to it with pretty amazing rezults. I am using a guided meditation free download from Tara Brach, who authored probably the greated book on meditation... ever. Check the end of the post for the copy.

Simultaneously, I am also using intermittent fasting for the month of January to boost and aid fat loss. There is a new book out based on the Leangains/Martin Berkhan approach that I am using as a guide. For my feasting window, I am utlizing a primarily whole foods and Paleo approach. I am also using a food journal and writing down everything I am consuming for the month of January. So far, so good. February will bring 2 reports, one on vipassana and the other on IF. How exciting is that!

I am itching to train so bad that I can hardly stand it. Although I am tremedously blessed that our academy took a much shorter break this season and I was able to train several days over the holiday. Right now, as far as non-bjj training goes, I am using an interval approach to bodyweight calisthenics and am incorporating bumps, hip escapes and triangles, as well as sprawling on the swiss ball and other bjj type movements into the routine as a way to enforce bjj movement patterns. I also picked up Rodney Yee's Ultimate Power Yoga and will be giving it a test run as well.

Have a great week!

Oss.