Hi comrades and welcome to the first improvement megathread of February!
I hope everybody had a great January and is ready to continue making progress and kicking ass this month.
As usual, some discussion ideas:
- Do you want to share something you've done in the previous week? Everything counts, nothing is too small.
- What would you like to do next week?
- What aspect of life would you like to improve?
- Do you have any streaks? For example, "sober for one day." Feel free to post your streak every day in this thread.
- If you don't have a continuous streak, did you manage to abstain from something for a day or more?
- Did you come across some useful information or resource that might help others?
:unity:
Stepped on the scale this morning. Dropped below 220 for the first time since high school
ignore that it was 5 pounds higher than right before i ate dinner last night but still that's pretty lit
and all this even before i've hit the gym
Hi im about to have a lesson in 5 minutes
did a skype lesson with a metal drummer.
We're talking about left foot technique specifically playing the 130-170 range. I do recall that my right leg, I spent some time doing leg motion instead of ankle technique and i never did with my left. Basically finding the ratios of leg/ankle is what i havent done yet on my left leg oops!!!
This week I was mostly focused on touching grass, I went to the cinema three times to see some Oscar movies. I went jogging one day. I ate healthy and lost some weight. Next week I want to continue making progress in those areas
Killers of the Flower Moon - 6/10 - It's a solid, well made movie but I was a bit disappointed and wouldn't recommend it to most people, just watch Goodfellas for the fifth time instead
Oppenheimer - 8/10 - It's not perfect but it's entertaining at the very least, definitely recommend
Poor Things - 9/10 - I enjoyed it a lot, it's my favourite of the three I've watched
KofFM is a rough movie, especially if you only see the first half like I did.
I liked Oppenheimer.
We should get live.hexbear to do poor things
Dear Weekly Improvement Megathread:
I would like to make an apology
Yesterday I promised to take a picture of the little screen on the elliptical machine after I was finished running on it for an hour
I fucked up and accidentally hit the stop button after about 35 minutes. I still ran almost a whole hour. The runtime of two episodes of the BBC comedy show Ghosts (2019), in fact. Burned almost 350 calories and slightly burned off some of the fear of going into the gym
Sorry for no screenshot. will post one soon. Still ran good though
gotta make this routine is the key. twice a week is the current goal. fuck it, even 15 minutes twice a day as long as i can actually get in the gym I'll count as a win. i can always go longer later
Try to minimize ways that can prevent you from getting into the habit.
If you can't make it to the gym, maybe run outside?
If you can't make it to the gym, maybe run outside?
PFFFFFT. i'd rather just head to the gym. It's on my way home from work so my plan was to toss my gym clothes in the back of my car and swing by after work. Should be able to muster up enough energy for half an hour on the elliptical there
Nice. After work workout is great to build routine.
Maybe its no problem for you, but the biggest thing that messed up my routine is when I forgot/"forgot" to bring gym clothes.
Things I did this week:
-Worked out 4 times
-Got my disabled uncle playing guitar again. He's so happy. Mobility is an issue for him.
-Mostly met my calorie and protein/macros goals, I think 6 of 7 days.
-Went to the bar to meet new people, apparently my gym has nearly 20 people who go once a week.
-took my supplements and meds every day (just creatine monohydrate for now)Things that didn't go so well:
-too much time on internet and hexbear.
-I should brush my teeth more often.It was my turn on the toothbrush this week, but u can have it next Mokey. THEN FrumpyAer.
mokey practice
Arm technique:
[v] Upstroke, 65BPM. 5 mins each arm. Not sure how useful this is honestly. I'm not going to spend a ton of time on this.
[v] Rebound stroke, 100BPM. 5 mins left arm. I can't actually play this this fast, I think the issue is that my stick isn't bouncing enough in my hand. Working on press rolls should open my hands up.
[v] Triple Stroke 65. 5 mins each arm. This can open my hands up too. I'm watching the back of my stick and noticing that the left doesnt travel as much as my right.
Foot technique:
[v] Heel Down. Left foot. 70-80 bpm. 15 mins. Beater slightly digs in, pedal stays with boot, do not try to bounce the pedal. I made some changes from last week and gained about 10 BPM from the changes. I might be at my goal of 90BPM sooner than later. My right foot can go 95 but I'm not trying to match here.
[v] Full leg left. 125-140. 2.5 min x 4. Flam between the ball and then heel. Go slow for the first bit and get the motion down and then play 8th notes. I took a lesson with a metal guy who basically pointed out the stiffness of my ankle in full leg and that I'm not trying to incorporate any leg for midtempos. Midtempo playing utilize mixes of leg and ankle motion.
120 and below is all leg, 130 is mostly leg with some ankle to 170 where its mostly ankle and little leg
[v] Ankle Technique left leg. Experiment using more leg. 170-155 down. 2.5mins x 4
Groove Studies: [v] Jazz ride with permutation worksheet. Bass drum on 3 and its partitions. Now it sounds like reggae lol. I discovered a way to play a 2 beat the feels like the way I play my 4 beat. Very happy. 30 minutes.
[v] Sextuplets 60 benny greb app. 10 mins. Just play sextuplets but the click goes out for two bars.
[v] Sextuplets 60 10 minutes. Just 10 minutes of playing sextuplets in the pocket. Only difference with this is subdividing in my head differently. Sextuplets can be felt in 3 or 2.
[v] Triplets 60 benny greb app. 10 minutes. Same as above.
[v] Triplets 60. 10 minutes. Same as above.
Listening/Ride Cymbal:
[ ] Listen to Recordings, take notes.
We're listening to Ray Brown right now. I need to take this more seriously. Just doing it in the car 4x a week isnt enough.
Transcribe:
[ ] Minority
I need to force myself to work on this too, I always put this one off. I rarely get to it.
After I finish my traditional grip studies, its all going to be brush and transcription work. When I studied classical my teacher said that learn technique well and the music will just come to you or be easier to learn.
I also will put time into brushes again. I want to be a great ballad player.
Total Practice time (with no breaks) 2hrs 10 mins. More if I actually do my transcription and listening work.
I really like your write ups, I've never seen drumming laid out so mechanically clear
I mean its all a lot deeper than what im writing, i hope no one is trying to learn from what im writing because its only just notes of what i think i need to improve on personally.
Of course, yours are just very straightforward in explaining bits about technique in a way my drummer friends have never been able to explain. Maybe I'm just appreciating your note taking skills
Many Ls this week:
- my parents gave me a pie on the weekend and I've eaten all of it. I paced over a few days it so not that bad given it's my first dessert in a month, but still need to improve on control
- did not do any calorie tracking, haven't even re-downloaded the app
- didn't journal anything. I think I need to try keeping it around me to remember to use it
And yet still some Ws:
- tried my hand at some basic scripting at work to automate something that would suck ass to do manually. Not done yet but it's not too difficult especially with good documentation
- I've surprisingly lost a little weight
Congrats on the Ws!
Which calorie tracking app are you using? I'm using Cronometer on my PC, it's quick and easy because you can copy and paste entries.
In regards to journaling, have you tried a journaling app? I think it's much more practical to do journaling on the phone because the phone is always with me
Thanks!
The one I redownloaded is called Yazio, I was using Cronometer before and can't remember why I switched.
In my mind journaling was always putting pen to paper, so I've never really even thought about it. Seems way more convenient although I do still wanna try writing stuff down, so maybe I could physically jot down whatever I feel is important enough.
I read Atomic Habits. I liked it, fair warning it is very very slightly grindsetty, jsyk if that's a problem for you. But the info about how to build and keep habits has me successfully creating new habits without the months of trial and error it has taken me in the past.
Great info, really boring writing, super unappealing/uninspiring references, especially for people like us lol.
"Kevin is an entrepreneur from Boulder. He's been biting his nails since he was a baby in diapers. His wife booked him a manicure appointment. He still a huge baby, but he feels so confident about his nails he doesn't bite them anymore!"
I actually never finished the second half, any good info in there?
AAAAAAA I remember that part!
God's strongest soldier, Kevin from Boulder. Later stuff about structuring your environment to support the habits you want and discourage those you don't was helpful to me bc I finally have control over my surroundings for once in my gd life.Diminishing returns after that, for me. But everyone's circumstances are different so take that w a grain of salt.
Things I'm proud of:
- finished a feature-complete draft of my dissertation. Now pending approval from my chair to schedule my oral defence
- started rock climbing again after years. One session and I'm still sore days later, but it feels good
- been getting daily exercise, mostly drumming, for about a month now
- kept myself limited to 1 alcoholic drink maximum per outing. This week my friends and I went out twice, so this was my first week with more than one drink since Christmas
- came out to some friends and it went well
Sites for improvement:
- get back on a consistent sleep schedule
- snap back to former life-work balance from before my dissertation writing binge
- the constant productivity felt good, but I'd like to avoid these writing binges in the future to prevent burnout
Upcoming this week:
- having some 1:1 conversations with grad students about unionizing
- a ludicrous amount of prep work for academic job applications
- goal to get outside the house every day
Got a new standing desk but standing on the carpet hurts my knees. I plan on going back to dance this week, which I'm excited for. Still scared to weigh myself but I've been keeping up with light meals during the week and free for all during the weekend. I'm getting so used to the light style during the week that I don't really need free for all weekends but I'm keeping it anyway 😤
Grab an ergonomic standing mat, makes a standing desk way easier on the legs
made a plan to get my life back on track
main thing is planning meals throughout the week
I'm gonna buy an airfryer for my office so i can just make meals easier/cheaper/healthier
Back on track this week.
3x exercise
Ate enough everyday
Snuck in a few hours of study time at work even though I really didn't want to
Study at work is good!!!! Ultimately what got me out of my shitty jobs was carrying around a little notebook i could hide for rote.
mokey jam session
Played three songs, theyre really complimenting my feel and playing a lot less in my hand/feet got me compliments too. 🥹🥹🥹
Bye Bye Blackbird. Felt boring, should have led the band more.
Sandu. Led the band this time felt great. I've been focusing on forward momentum with my ride cymbals and I realized my hands and feet don't match, so I made that change (phrasing to the next note rather than grouping by beats) and felt that it was a lot less awkward. One good thing about all my left footwork is that I can really play the hihat. I can stomp the shit out of it on 2+4 but still back off and make pretty splashes.
You or Nothing. Felt bad at first, used more arm for the 2+4 and it made everything groove way harder. I dont practice fast so this is a good note for the future. Faster song so I could throw down my chops, people said I played fantastically. Like wtf, people really like me there. I listened back to the recording and I feel like my trading fours were good but not as clean as I'd like. Made use of a lot of the philly joe jones vocab that i know.
Talked to the house drummer, hes an older guy and it seems like hes going through some shit right now. It's heartbreaking, I hate the US, why cant we just take care of people.
The bassist is in the local symphony. He has the best life I'm jealous.
3.5 weeks into the lifting program. Probably getting ahead of myself but so far it's my favorite one I've ever done. Feels like something I can do for the long haul.
Meal prepped again, been eating good.
Burrito/taco filling!
Big batch of tofu scramble/beans/plant protein, which various chopped veggies and greens mixed in. Then I usually make some sort of potatoes/rice throught the week to add some carbs/body and switch up the vibes a bit.
It can taste pretty different throughout the week depending on which hot sauce/salsa I use any particular day.
I'm trying to steam more veggies as well to munch on the side.
