Category: stretch

[19]stretch: too-easy^too-hard #Rahul

Posted on by tiger40490

k_Promethean_struggle

Yoga is much harder than jogging. As I describe to Rahul, in terms of sustainable self practice, I am unable to find a “mid_point” between
* too tough, too painful, too frustrating … This includes all the “hard stretches”
* too easy and no effect, wasting my time. This includes most of the “easy stretches”

In fact, in both cases I fail to see any lasting improvement. Promethean torment.

Q: How about jogging? Revealing question, worth 64-million-dollars!
A: I could see my fitness maintained@ mid_point.

Q: how about push-up and chin-up?
A: ditto, to a lesser extent

Q: So why am i not seeing my flexibility maintained?
Huge mis-perception.
Blatant double-standard

I need a new yardstick to measure my result and progress. With this new yardstick, I hope to reboot my yoga practice. Here’s a more realistic self practice regime:

  1. celebrate (reward) the small achievements esp. the maintenance
  2. aim at 1 minute of easy stretches every 2 days. If a hard stretch feels easy then go for it.
  3. Otherwise, avoid the hard stretches completely as they generate self-hate, defeat, frustration,… If you focus always on your weak subject (eg: Chinese compo) then you always see yourself as weak, uncompetitive, lagging behind.

— suffering .. With yoga, i tend to believe no pain zero gain

I think in reality, Rahul might be right — some mild discomfort, mild effort can have non-zero benefit.

On a broader level, some folks believe that going to the gym/stadium without heavy workout, without heavy sweat and breathing … is ineffective. I feel a few minutes of workout/stretching is better than nothing and far from useless.

##absorbency[def#2]: 难度rank #wellness,xx

Posted on by tiger40490

See also my blogpost on profit lock-in.

  • Each individual has limited disposable time.
  • Each individual has limited physical+mental energy. In other words,
  • Each individual has limited absorbency
    • eg: Before the /advent/ of goggles, The amount of /abuse/ a top swimmer’s eyes can tolerate determines her maximum amount of monthly practice and her competitive performance …. See https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-37064144
    • eg: After doing a few hours of coding drill I usually find it hard to continue… mental /fatigue/.

After much soul searching, here is my ranking of toughest absorbency /endeavors/. I mix 3 “domains” diet^workout^gz, to rank across them.

Note the ranking fluctuates. In some month, chin-up feels toughest,  but after 2 months coding drill would become the #1 toughest

Note that sometimes I have no “power surge” in any of these domains.

  1. — current ranking by “Spicy” and difficulty, like a pyramid, regardless of value
  2. [f] gz: coding drill requires more absorbency than QQ.
    • don’t forget review, requiring lower absorbency
  3. gz: localSys self-learning requires the highest absorbency # harder than employer-assigned project.
    • [t?] helps protect this nice job
  4. diet: fight the wrong-time temptation esp. with home cooking. Office is easier. Stop eating after 11pm.
  5. workout: stretch is the toughest workout by far, but at home on MRT a few minutes a day is doable
  6. [f] workout: chin-up # Note strength training is important as we age
    • push-up is easier
  7. diet: starch+fat abstinence [1] # harder than increasing raw veg
  8. gz: experiment and refresh blog on c++, socket, java,,
  9. [f] workout: jogging in TPY stadium # harder than group sessions
  10. [t==relatively temporary or short-term, not so strategic]
  11. [f==some “endeavors” can hit lower /resistance/ so the effort can, incredibly, become free-flowing and rewarding]

[1] Note overall calorie restriction is a high-level long-term endeavor and doesn’t belong to this list.
[2] 10Y is a nice number. ROTI of any effort always starts “decaying” within months. See long-term-planning: doubter QnA #一劳永逸

Note these chores do not induce mental fatigue:

  • commute
  • healthy food preparation
  • research on investment, nutrition
achievable x% @52 weeks
uphill journey,
against gravity		 sustainable
daily/weekly		 mildly
enjoyable		 10Y
strategic [2]		 depletes absorbency
#fatigue after a while		 Any gentler
uphill path?
gz coding drill 9 <- 22 % 5% #rare 7Y y on MRT; 温故知新
gz localSys/proj 11 % 21% 3Y self-img,
job protection		 y print out
gz QQ 77 <- 88 % 60% y not really
BMI resist wrong-
time temptation		 11 % 3Y yes effort avoid home
@dinner time
BMI starch abstinence 44 % 3Y y
健身 yoga 2m/session 44 % never 7Y y
健身 yoga 30m/session 4 % = 2/Year never 1Y y group sessions
健身 yoga class 77 % 33% 1Y n NA
健身 chin-up 11 % 1% 1y
健身 push-up 44 % 7y
健身 jogging 55 % 30% Y stadium
misc 应用题 facetime 19% no yes requires my patience
+his absorbency

 

yoga !!visPgress !!long-term effect@@ Tyler chat #faith

Posted on by tiger40490

I actually feel really strong and powerful. I wonder why I feel so motivated to keep up the effort. I think it’s about prevention .. of body aging. Tyler@RetroFigness agrees.

Change your perception. Be mindful of the everyday consequences of losing flexibility. Some people stay flexible and /supple/ as they age but most people lose it.

My blind faith — yoga will have (or already had) semi-visible long-term impacts on the inevitable aging of my body.

My blind faith — the Less effort I put in now, the earlier my wellness (chiefly flexibility) will decline. Tyler said this should not be blind faith as there is real evidence.

This is another example where perception improvement is (at least) as important as physical improvement.

The key moment is when I observe old people — The flexible ones vs the stiff ones.

  • I can’t afford to let my body go tighter and more stiff more fragile.
  • Whether or not yoga works, i must do it.
  • My body is a gift from my parents and I need to take care of it.

The strength of this inner faith is proportional to my absorbency, commitment, tolerance of pain, …

stay-in-Shape requires Luck+effort

Posted on by tiger40490

k_not_only_luck

As men grow (horizontally) through middle-age, we are expected to grow in some ways, and lose in other ways, but each individual is (very) different so the so-called “norm” can be completely misleading and counterproductive.

  • grow in ranks — we are expected to grow in ranks, but actually 90% fail to, including me.
  • shape — many men and women start losing shape. I’m actually lucky and diligent in this respect. My wife is just lucky.
    • many guys I know personally try very hard but still can’t get in shape
  • fitness — many men and women start losing endurance in heart/lung.
  • muscle strength — many men start losing muscle strength, unless they keep up the exercise
  • bone density — many women start losing bone density
  • joints and mobility — many start having joint pains
  • flexibility — many men start losing flexibility
  • eyesight
  • Some techies start having difficulties on the job market, sometimes (not always) outperformed by younger candidates.
  • Some guys start having difficulties in bed, as expected.

## recent personal efforts -} tangible payoff

Posted on by tiger40490

k_soul_search

These positive experiences are the precious positive feedback loops I seldom see in people’s lives, supposed to reinforce positive behavior change but in reality not so motivating. (Reality in human nature is far from ideal.) Very likely the positive behavior will stop, replaced with shopping, leisure surfing, movies, gaming, binge, or loafing.

  • — Strictly-visible progress —
  • coding drill and c++ QQ muscle building -> more tech wins .. MS and SCB offers
  • muscle building -> higher income at MS
  • burn rate is kept rather low
  • weight loss and pull-up
  • massive, huge perseverance -> a few yoga poses improving slightly
  • improvement in lifelong eating habit — raw veg diet
  • improvement in lifelong eating habit — skip and delay meals, a form of intermittent fast
  • improvement in lifelong eating habit — starch dependency reduction
  • improvement in lifelong eating habit — no food after 10pm except fruits and raw veg.
  • improvement in lifelong eating habit — sleep before the dreaded appetite kicks in, a form of intermittent fast

yoga turns out 2 b%%most heroic self-mastery

Posted on by tiger40490

To achieve more progress in my yoga practice, more membership is not the key (need to rely on self-practice). I need to feel that the importance deserves more time more /sunshine/.
* Analogy — when I realized the importance of frequent workout, I decided to reduce the difficulty and hit 5/wk
* Analogy — when I realized the importance of coding drill, I spent months doing hundreds of coding questions

I could never have envisioned yoga to take such a place in my life, and shape my self-image.

  • It’s heroic because I don’t really see much progress. Very limited positive feedback. 知其不可而为
  • It’s heroic because of the spirit of 愚公移山
  • It’s heroic because it’s an obvious weakness and shortcoming, since middle school. Through my life, I seldom take on my obvious weakness domain
    • Chinese composition
    • leadership
    • chin-up
  • It’s heroic because I experience repeated setback whenever I try to establish some self-practice in my spare time. All other things I set my mind to, I have had more success than in yoga, even though all started from a weak position, on an uphill BATTLE  —
    • driving practice; hand-writing; Chinese compo; weight loss; raw-veg diet; cutting starch; calorie restriction; early rise; quant self-study; coding drill; ..
  • See my email to Ashish [[include a bit stretch in your routine]] sent 31 Oct 2016 .. torture
  • See yoga centers: no other choice given home practice is way too hard, utterly unsustainable

Absorbency — is highly relevant but not a central feature here, since yoga is less about cognitive saturation

yoga: severely insufficient reward4huge effort

Posted on by tiger40490
  1. yoga centers : luxury (like gyms) but no other choice
  2. yoga turns out 2 b%%most heroic self-mastery

.. provide the background. A shocking conclusion is .. Reward is severely insufficient given the huge effort and the lack of visible progress.

I have endeavored to (semi-consciously) create some immediate and tangible rewards, often in the form of food shopping, but tcost is prohibitive. To support 50 minutes of yoga class, I may need to allocate 2.5 to 3 hours !