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My smithing experience

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Today's practice:

Morning recharge:
Arm swings, several minutes
Neigong, Noi sau baat sik, 9 sets
Youth restoring calisthenics
Dands, 20 reps in 2 sets
Baithaks, 10 reps
Flexible Steel Joint Mobility Minimum, 31 reps each:
Neck - extension, flexion, rotations and sideways tilts
Tea cups - each hand separate and hands together, both directions
Spinal wave - all directions
High kneel spine rotations
Basic tactical frog
Split switches

Diet:
Whole30 guidelines
Intermittent fasting - 16 - 18 hours, eating only lunch and dinner
Only water for drinking
 
Today's practice:

Morning recharge:
Arm swings, several minutes
Neigong, Noi sau baat sik, 9 sets
Youth restoring calisthenics
Dands, 20 reps in 2 sets
Baithaks, 10 reps
Flexible Steel Joint Mobility Minimum, 31 reps each:
Neck - extension, flexion, rotations and sideways tilts
Tea cups - each hand separate and hands together, both directions
Spinal wave - all directions
High kneel spine rotations
Basic tactical frog
Split switches

Diet:
Whole30 guidelines
Intermittent fasting - 16 - 18 hours, eating only lunch and dinner
Only water for drinking

Today I did my recharge in the evening, as morning was too busy today. It felt as good as in the morning, but I gotta say I missed it during the day.
 
Today's practice:

Morning recharge:
Arm swings, several minutes
Neigong, Noi sau baat sik, 9 sets
Youth restoring calisthenics
Dands, 20 reps in 2 sets
Baithaks, 10 reps
Flexible Steel Joint Mobility Minimum, 31 reps each:
Neck - extension, flexion, rotations and sideways tilts
Tea cups - each hand separate and hands together, both directions
Spinal wave - all directions
High kneel spine rotations
Basic tactical frog
Split switches

Diet:
Whole30 guidelines
Intermittent fasting - 16 - 18 hours, eating only lunch and dinner
Only water for drinking
 
Sunday 13th of February and today, 14th of February

Today's practice:

Morning recharge:
Arm swings, several minutes
Neigong, Noi sau baat sik, 9 sets (skipped on 13th of February)
Youth restoring calisthenics
Dands, 20 reps in 2 sets
Baithaks, 10 reps
Flexible Steel Joint Mobility Minimum, 31 reps each:
Neck - extension, flexion, rotations and sideways tilts
Tea cups - each hand separate and hands together, both directions
Spinal wave - all directions
High kneel spine rotations
Basic tactical frog
Split switches

Diet:
Intermittent fasting - 14 hours
Only water for drinking

This weekend was a bit loose from my end, gotta figure out a way to always follow what I want. I do feel a bit more tired than I would like, most likely because of what I ate. No regrets however, it just confirmed effect of food on my energy/mood/quality of sleep.
 
Today's practice:

Morning recharge:
Arm swings, several minutes
Neigong, Noi sau baat sik, 9 sets
Youth restoring calisthenics
Dands, 31 reps in 3 sets
Baithaks, 20 reps
Thoracic bridges, 10 reps
Flexible Steel Joint Mobility Minimum, 31 reps each:
Neck - extension, flexion, rotations and sideways tilts
Tea cups - each hand separate and hands together, both directions
Spinal wave - all directions
High kneel spine rotations
Basic tactical frog
Split switches

Diet:
Whole30 guidelines
Intermittent fasting - 16 - 18 hours, eating only lunch and dinner
Only water for drinking

New exercise is Thoracic bridge, exercise to open up body and fight sitting in the chair. This is probably one I need most out of all I do so far. My hip extension is pretty much non-existent.

As for regular weekly summary, Baithaks are cool exercise, definitely can build up stamina if practiced as one long set (as it should be). Only thing I gotta be more careful about is arm backswing, as sometimes I swing too vigorously I guess and occasionally pull my shoulder. Other than that my leg joints in general feel better, not as crunchy as they were. Dands definitely made my shoulders/arms stronger, as I can almost breeze through all 31 reps of them. I still do split them to several sets to make sure I'm not building up unnecessary fatigue tho. Regarding Neigong practice, I am getting into it a bit by bit. Now during my 5th or 6th set, I feel warmth on my palms, in between shoulder blades and dantian. Given how my sleep is heavily under optimal and that after neigong I feel as fresh as could be, it really is something worth practicing diligently.
 
Today's practice:

Morning recharge:
Arm swings, several minutes
Neigong, Noi sau baat sik, 9 sets
Youth restoring calisthenics
Dands, 31 reps in 3 sets
Baithaks, 20 reps
Thoracic bridges, 10 reps
Flexible Steel Joint Mobility Minimum, 31 reps each:
Neck - extension, flexion, rotations and sideways tilts
Tea cups - each hand separate and hands together, both directions
Spinal wave - all directions
High kneel spine rotations
Basic tactical frog
Split switches

Diet:
Whole30 guidelines
Intermittent fasting - 16 - 18 hours, eating only lunch and dinner
Only water for drinking
 
Today's practice:

Morning recharge:
Arm swings, several minutes
Neigong, Noi sau baat sik, 9 sets
Youth restoring calisthenics
Dands, 31 reps in 3 sets
Baithaks, 20 reps
Thoracic bridges, 10 reps
Flexible Steel Joint Mobility Minimum, 31 reps each:
Neck - extension, flexion, rotations and sideways tilts
Tea cups - each hand separate and hands together, both directions
Spinal wave - all directions
High kneel spine rotations
Basic tactical frog
Split switches

Diet:
Whole30 guidelines
Intermittent fasting - 16 - 18 hours, eating only lunch and dinner
Only water for drinking
 
Today's practice:

Morning recharge:
Arm swings, several minutes
Neigong, Noi sau baat sik, 9 sets
Youth restoring calisthenics
Dands, 31 reps in 3 sets
Baithaks, 20 reps
Thoracic bridges, 10 reps
Flexible Steel Joint Mobility Minimum, 31 reps each:
Neck - extension, flexion, rotations and sideways tilts
Tea cups - each hand separate and hands together, both directions
Spinal wave - all directions
High kneel spine rotations
Basic tactical frog
Split switches

Diet:
Whole30 guidelines
Intermittent fasting - 16 - 18 hours, eating only lunch and dinner
Only water for drinking
 
Today's practice:

Morning recharge:
Arm swings, several minutes
Neigong, Noi sau baat sik, 9 sets
Youth restoring calisthenics
Dands, 31 reps in 2sets
Baithaks, 20 reps
Thoracic bridges, 10 reps
Flexible Steel Joint Mobility Minimum, 31 reps each:
Neck - extension, flexion, rotations and sideways tilts
Tea cups - each hand separate and hands together, both directions
Spinal wave - all directions
High kneel spine rotations
Basic tactical frog
Split switches

Diet:
Whole30 guidelines
Intermittent fasting - 16 - 18 hours, eating only lunch and dinner
Only water for drinking
 
Today's practice:

Morning recharge:
Arm swings, several minutes
Neigong, Noi sau baat sik, 9 sets
Youth restoring calisthenics
Dands, 31 reps in 2sets
Baithaks, 20 reps
Thoracic bridges, 10 reps
Flexible Steel Joint Mobility Minimum, 31 reps each:
Neck - extension, flexion, rotations and sideways tilts
Tea cups - each hand separate and hands together, both directions
Spinal wave - all directions
High kneel spine rotations
Basic tactical frog
Split switches

Diet:
Whole30 guidelines
Intermittent fasting - 16 - 18 hours, eating only lunch and dinner
Only water for drinking
 
Today's practice:

Morning recharge:
Arm swings, several minutes
Neigong, Noi sau baat sik, 9 sets
Youth restoring calisthenics
Dands, 31 reps in 2sets
Baithaks, 20 reps
Thoracic bridges, 10 reps
Flexible Steel Joint Mobility Minimum, 31 reps each:
Neck - extension, flexion, rotations and sideways tilts
Tea cups - each hand separate and hands together, both directions
Spinal wave - all directions
High kneel spine rotations
Basic tactical frog
Split switches

Diet:
Intermittent fasting - 14 hours
Only water for drinking
 
Today's practice:

Morning recharge:
Arm swings, several minutes
Neigong, Noi sau baat sik, 9 sets

Diet:
Whole30 guidelines
Intermittent fasting - 16 - 18 hours, eating only lunch and dinner
Only water for drinking

Today I did not manage to get either calisthenics or mobility routine in place, as I woke up a bit later and had a dentist appointment. Given that one of my wisdom tooth got extracted and I was recommended easy regime for the next two days, I will skip those exercises today. Tomorrow I will see how it feels.

Now for the weekly summary, not that much to report. The problem with my shoulder during baithak arm backswing was caused by improper dand technique. I left my shoulder a bit too loose and it went to weird positions. After fixing that, the pain is almost gone, just some small echoes from time to time. The thoracic bridges are awesome. They really improved my t-spine mobility and probably even helped with the shoulder issue. As for hip extension, I still have a looong way to go there and plan to complement it with some hip stretch, either kneeling lunge stretch or wall hip flexor stretch. Generally I am feeling more and more confident about my movement quality day by day and I will start preparing for Simple&Sinister program during March with plan to start it in April.
 
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Be careful about that extraction - last thing you want is a dry socket or similar complication. Myself, I'd rather lose a day or 2 off exercise than aggravate the extraction. Philosophically, I treat such needed breaks as short layoffs - sort of following Pavel T's tactical periodisation idea. Or you could think of it as preventative rehabilitation.
 
@oab Yea that's exactly my thought. I generally don't push things when not necessary, so I took those two days off. On that note, I do not treat those as a "wasted" in regard of missed exercises, but rather as you mentioned a tactical periodisation so that my body can process what it had learnt in those past days. Thanks for the comment by the way! :)

Tuesday 23rd of February and today, 24th of February:
Not much practice done, just some very light, mostly stationary Neigong. The tooth extraction hit me a bit harder than anticipated and movement in general was not very pleasant. Tomorrow should however be OK and I will try to do all the exercises again.
 
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Today's practice:

Morning recharge:
Arm swings, several minutes
Neigong, Noi sau baat sik, 9 sets
Youth restoring calisthenics
Dands, 31 reps in 2sets
Baithaks, 20 reps
Thoracic bridges, 10 reps
Dynamic stretching, 3 sets of 10 reps each
Flexible Steel Joint Mobility Minimum, 31 reps each:
Neck - extension, flexion, rotations and sideways tilts
Tea cups - each hand separate and hands together, both directions
Spinal wave - all directions
High kneel spine rotations
Basic tactical frog
Split switches

Diet:
Intermittent fasting - 14 hours
Only water for drinking

This week's lesson introduces dynamic stretching routine. Two movements focusing on arms and three on legs, targeting probably most important aspects of "mainly" shoulders and hips. They feel good, time will tell how much of a benefit they will be to me.
 
Today's practice:

Morning recharge:
Arm swings, several minutes
Neigong, Noi sau baat sik, 9 sets
Youth restoring calisthenics
Dands, 31 reps in 2sets
Baithaks, 30 reps
Thoracic bridges, 20 reps
Dynamic stretching, 3 sets of 10 reps each
Flexible Steel Joint Mobility Minimum, 31 reps each:
Neck - extension, flexion, rotations and sideways tilts
Tea cups - each hand separate and hands together, both directions
Spinal wave - all directions
High kneel spine rotations
Basic tactical frog
Split switches

Diet:
Intermittent fasting - 14 hours
Only water for drinking

In the afternoon I went on a short hike with my girlfriend. Something like 11km total. Beautiful weather and sights and nice test of how my physique is improving.
 
Skipped yesteday completely, felt really tired with a slight headache for wahtever reason.

Today's practice:

Morning recharge:
Arm swings, several minutes
Neigong, Noi sau baat sik, 9 sets
Youth restoring calisthenics
Dands, 31 reps in 2sets
Baithaks, 30 reps
Thoracic bridges, 20 reps
Dynamic stretching, 3 sets of 10 reps each
Flexible Steel Joint Mobility Minimum, 31 reps each:
Neck - extension, flexion, rotations and sideways tilts
Tea cups - each hand separate and hands together, both directions
Spinal wave - all directions
High kneel spine rotations
Basic tactical frog
Split switches

Diet:
Intermittent fasting - 14 hours
Only water for drinking
 
Today's practice:

Morning recharge:
Arm swings, several minutes
Neigong, Noi sau baat sik, 9 sets
Youth restoring calisthenics
Dands, 31 reps in 2sets
Baithaks, 30 reps
Thoracic bridges, 20 reps
Dynamic stretching, 3 sets of 10 reps each
Flexible Steel Joint Mobility Minimum, 31 reps each:
Neck - extension, flexion, rotations and sideways tilts
Tea cups - each hand separate and hands together, both directions
Spinal wave - all directions
High kneel spine rotations
Basic tactical frog
Split switches

Strength and conditioning - Simple&Sinister prep:
Goblet squats 1 set of 5 reps, 24kg
5 hip bridges and 10 kettlebell halos
Hardstyle plank
Hip hinge drill
Naked TGU - roll to elbow

Diet:
Intermittent fasting - 14 hours
Only water for drinking

New lesson block in The Forge targets diet, first lesson is about drinking. As this is something I don't really struggle with (at least knowledge-wise), it gives me more time to hone my skills in what I have now. Also I decided that starting today, I will do review of my Simple&Sinister skills, with goal to start full exercise beginning of April.

As for weekly summary, last week was somewhat "broken" for me. My eating habits went off the track and exercise consistency was compromised as well. It might be due to the wisdom tooth extraction, I don't know. So there is not much to report given that I did not do the new dynamic stretching consistently every day. So goal of this week is to set everything straight, perhaps refine my morning routine as it is getting fairly long now.
 
Last edited:
Today's practice:

Morning recharge:
Arm swings, several minutes
Neigong, Noi sau baat sik, 9 sets

Diet:
Intermittent fasting - 14 hours
Only water for drinking

Today is a rest day, I have caught a cold yesterday during my practice, because I had my window open a little.
 
Today's practice:

Morning recharge:
Arm swings, several minutes
Neigong, Noi sau baat sik, 9 sets
Flexible Steel Joint Mobility Minimum, 31 reps each:
Neck - extension, flexion, rotations and sideways tilts
Tea cups - each hand separate and hands together, both directions
Spinal wave - all directions
High kneel spine rotations
Basic tactical frog
Split switches

Strength and conditioning - Simple&Sinister prep:
Hip hinge drill
Naked TGU - roll to elbow

Diet:
Intermittent fasting - 16 - 18 hours, eating only lunch and dinner
Only water for drinking

Still not feeling at my best, but much better than yesterday. Good enough to do some light movement work. Reminder: no more open windows when lying on the ground during winter.
 
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