Awww ... cool! I'd love to walk the Inca Trail.

It's on my list, but I think it'll be more like a special birthday ship cruise with the Machu Picchu tour at the end - there's a cruise that starts in Florida and goes around South America taking in various stops including The Falklands, even Antarctica, I think and then around, terminating in Lima where the adventurous can go walking.

That sounds awesome.  Which cruise line is that?

Oh yes of course!  The shop is still so new, and don't have a nice website set up, so my current portfolio is on facebook for now:

Enjoy!

 

Ooh (skin) shinies....  One of my nergas will probably always be appreciating and wearing skin art.

I really love the color work/shading in the mostly red w/purple fuzzy Asian looking whatsit.  I don't know what it is, but it really wanted that damn egg, and I love visual mysteries.

It's on my list, but I think it'll be more like a special birthday ship cruise with the Machu Picchu tour at the end - there's a cruise that starts in Florida and goes around South America taking in various stops including The Falklands, even Antarctica, I think and then around, terminating in Lima where the adventurous can go walking.

Pull ups with 100 lbs strapped to your legs is great too....working my way up to that.

Being small my whole life, I like the strength I get from lifting. Pound for pound I'm very, very strong but that doesn't mean much when your much larger martial art sparring partner gets his hands on you. Not a comfortable position.....

I'm also starting a blog soon. Figured it's about time I stop telling myself, "others have done it better already" and put my words out there. That's what it's all about.

Somehow I made it through my entire life without ever picking up real weights...most likely a combination of enjoying long journeys outdoors and a distaste for "working out".  But as a significant number of my readers are strength coaches or straight-up powerlifters, I figured I had better step up my game.

I have to say that lifting barbells feels about a million times less pointless than "working out" on machines.  When I squat or deadlift, I've actually accomplished something, not just pulled on a cable -- and there is real-world utility to the movements (picking up or supporting something heavy).  

Not to mention that, just like they say, heavy squats will get you stronger more quickly than anything else.

JS

We would have to hold complicated stances for long periods of time and if we faltered....CRACK!! He would come down on us with the bamboo cane. But he never yelled....ever. Very quiet man, made him all the more frightening especially to a 10 year old. Lol

Hung Gar being a southern style of gung fu, the stances are extremely low relative to other styles so I feel your pain.

Glad I left the formal styles though...too damn restrictive for me.

Back to moorland and hill walking for a few days ... try to ease up 

We all have our tools of choice….

Our fencing session last night was quite a work out - lots of footwork, knees bent, gauging distance and reaction. Very energetic! Between that, hill walking, fell running and lifting no end of rocks around (at my step-sons, now my neighbours and next my own house when we move) I'll be proper fit!

I shake my head every time I pass a modern gym because I can't imagine enjoying a workout that is so stationary.  I try to make even my strength workouts be full of motion.

What a huge amount of fun. Although we're still very green and have not yet learned all the moves and techniques, we're already putting together good bouts.

Fencing develops a strong connection between mind and body - it's problem solving, reactive and so rewarding when you put together a response to an attack which buries your foil in your opponent's chest, often requiring a counter-riposte when they sense what your reply will be.

We're learning foil, in the French manner. Our master is actually a sabreur, by choice, which is the sabre and can be used along the cutting edge as well as the point. The foil teaches discipline, precision and control. I can't wait to pick up a sabre, though!

If you're thinking it's all flashing blades like in the Three Musketeers, or Zorro, you're on the right lines - beginners to tend to wave it around in panic, but as we're learning, it's more about delivering the weapon without it being touched through a fast, straight attack, or through a series of feints and disengages. Those flashes of the blade are all about putting your opponent's point where you want it in order to put yours in their chest!

Huge fun! Any other fencers here?