A waist is a terrible thing to mind (stunt training edition!)

L

le_squish

New member
At a glance:



Height: 5'4" (grew a couple of inches after graduating college somehow)

Starting weight: 178lbs (June 2009)

Current weight: 152lbs

Goal weight: 115 - 120lbs

Age 25





About my goals:



It's been a while since I have been here (gosh, it seems like I start most of my entrys like this), but I feel I need to start keeping track of my progress now more than ever, and I figured I'd just start a new journal here. I've been working in the film industry for a while now, mostly working in camera and editing (currently I'm working as a media person for an organization, sort of an office job), but for a long long time I've been interested in stuntwork. I just recently was introduced to a few stunt people and have gotten a little taste of what it's like as a stunt performer and I really think it's something I want to pursue in addition to my work as an editor and camera person. I have been competitive in gymnastics, skiing, and horseback riding (it's been about 8 years since, but it's something), and for the past month or so I've been looking into training in martial arts tricking, parkour and rock climbing.



When I graduated from high school, I weighed about 120lbs, was pretty active in soccer and skiing, then all that changed once I went to college. I just didn't have a lot of time to be active with the workload I took on. After graduating college I was around 170-175lbs. I worked really hard after I graduated and was able to lose about 20lbs. I've pretty much been maintaining that weight for the last 2 years and now I'm at about 150lbs. I really really really need to lose about 30-35lbs and get myself in shape if I'm actually going to pursue a career in stuntwork. I know I will find inspiration and motivation from the people here, so I really hope I can stick with it this time.



My goals for daily exercise:



-run 1.6 miles in the morning (every day)

-bike 4 miles to and from work, totaling 8 miles (mon-fri)

-parkour 1 hour (mon-fri)

-martial arts tricking 2 hours (just tue & thurs)

-rock climbing 2 hours (sat only)



As far as food, I want to try and stay in the 1200-1500 cal/day range. I will try to drink at least 3 liters of water a day (not really including water I drink while exercising) and up my fruit and veggie intake by incorporating them into each meal. I'm also taking a daily multi-vitamin, fish oil, calcium, and glucosamine. I also try to get lots of antioxidants (I love blueberries and goji berries!), and I ALWAYS wear sunscreen :) (not really weight related but still very important!)



Today:



Today was rough! I was hoping to really get down to business and try to make today count as my first official day of a healthier lifestyle and start my training schedule. It didn't happen. First, I woke up really late so I didn't have time to pack a healthy lunch or my clothes for my parkour class and I didn't have time to get my bike tires pumped up to ride to work. So I ended up grabbing a bowl of frosted mini wheats for my quick breakfast and taking the metro. Then, things were a bit hectic at work and I used that as an excuse to wait until I was staaarving at 2:30 to go get lunch and of course, I had fast food. Ugh, it's really obnoxious when I convince myself that I should have fast food. It's always "well, its faster, so I can get back to work sooner, and it's also really cheap compared to some of the healthier options around here", so I end up getting it. I know, it makes no sense! UUUGHH!! Well, I'm going to try to not beat myself up too much for it. I'm aware I'm an emotional eater but it's just so tough to pull through it sometimes and just let go of that idea that eating this or that will make me feel better. So anyway, I was feeling really bad about it and went home and came onto this site and started reading. I forgot how inspiring and motivating it was to read about other people successes (and struggles) with their weight loss and getting fit, so now I'm hoping that tomorrow I will be good. I hope I can do this!
 
I took some "before" pictures this morning so I thought I'd share! I think it looks like most of my weight is in my stomach, honestly. I'm not sure why. I'm wondering if it's due to a certain kind of food I have been eating or a certain something over the years? I have always heard of having a "beer belly" but I don't drink at all, so I don't know.





Here are my measurements as of this morning:


Bust - 40"

Waist - 33"

Hips - 39"

Upper arm - 12.25"

Upper thigh - 24"


And my weight: 151.2lbs


So far I have ran 1.6 miles for my morning exercise. I was hoping to go 3.6, but I started feeling not so great, so I figured 1.6 was fine. I've got parkour and tricking tonight (if I get let out of work early enough!) I'm working from home this morning, and I've decided that I will start riding my bike to work starting on Monday. I want to map out a good route since I live in a city and it's a little more complicated to ride your bike around sometimes, so I will do that on Saturday. Plus, we have a very important person visiting our office this week and I've been told that I need to look my best and not show up to work all sweaty from a 4 mile bike ride. I've been trying to keep track of my running miles and time at dailymile, so if you are interested in connecting with me, my profile is: http://www.dailymile.com/people/dominique_m


Here's what I've eaten so far today:


Breakfast - Greek yogurt with fruit and granola parfait (about 230 calories)

I also had a GU energy packet before my run (100 calories)


That's it! I hope today won't be too crazy at work so I can go to my classes and I can eat lunch on time!
 
Well, yesterday I ended up working from home and I worked until about 1am. There was so much work I had to do and I was so stressed out and being home made it really difficult to not snack a whole bunch. Luckily I stayed under 2000 calories, but I definitely could have been better considering all I was able to do was go running in the morning. I had to miss both parkour and tricking. This week has been so crazy! Tomorrow should be the last crazy day, but I wasn't able to get any official exercise or training in today and tomorrow is going to be another long, late work day, so I probably won't get to do much tomorrow either. I'm going to try really really hard to make it to tricking though! Luckily the open gym doesn't start until 9pm and it goes usually until at least midnight, so I hope I can make it. Next week my workload should be back to normal, and I can't WAIT!!!


Anyway, today so far, despite not being able to get lunch until 3pm, has been okay (no fast food at lunch!) except for not being able to get any exercise. Here's what I've eaten today:


Breakfast - flax oatmeal (210 cal)

Snack - Werther's toffee candy (23.3 calories)

Lunch - 1/2 Teaism chicken bento box, which is just chicken, rice, ginger/cucumber salad, sweet potatoes (about 400 calories, probably a little less though)

Dinner - 1/2 Teaism chicken bento box (about 400 calories, probably less)

Dessert - chocolate covered banana pop (130 calories)


Total: 1163.3


A little low, but since I was so high yesterday, I'll take it I guess. I might have a cup of fresh fruit later so that might bring it up about another 100 calories.


Okay! That's it for now. Hopefully I can start racking up some miles on my dailymile profile starting this Friday!
 
AHello. I am feeling the same way with you about the fat in my stomach. I think that my fat is concentrated in my belly. I am going to the gym usually 3 times per week and doing treadmill for 1 hour and exercising with organs for another half hour. Although i am making exercises for abs i can't really reduce my waist measures. I don't know if there is any way or exercise that has a result to reduce belly measures. After dieting for 3 years i have managed my weight to be under 130lbs, about 127 lbs. The last year i gained 20 lbs and it's difficult to lose them this year. Although i try not to overeating, some times i can't avoid chocolate and my main meal is late at night. After eating i am going sleeping. I really want to lose this fat in belly in 2 months because i have to be present in a happening at the end of June and i really need to be slim. I hope to get motivation in this thread about losing weight.
 
AAby is a spammer. Please ignore him/her/it.

I've read that a big reason that people carry belly fat is stress. Unfortunately, we can't spot trim our fat, without surgery. Have you tried any strength training?

Sent from my LS670 using Tapatalk
 
Originally Posted by imaninjadangit

Aby is a spammer. Please ignore him/her/it.
I've read that a big reason that people carry belly fat is stress. Unfortunately, we can't spot trim our fat, without surgery. Have you tried any strength training?
Sent from my LS670 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...



I haven't done much strength training specifically. A lot of the classes I am taking though combine cardio with strength training, but they are definitely focused on cardio and calisthenics type stuff. I'm not entirely sure though! I definitely feel like I'm getting a full body workout. I have a chin-up bar at home and some weights that I will use sometimes while watching TV or in between chores. I have heard a lot about strength training increasing metabolism, which is something that I need to target, I think. As for the stress, yeah I definitely had a lot of that during the time I gained a lot of weight, haha! Luckily I'm not as stressed out anymore! Thanks for the comments!



I'm so glad this week is almost over! It's been so so so busy and I'm really bummed I haven't had a lot of time to exercise and go to my classes. The parkour classes are pretty expensive and I just feel like I wasted a bunch of money because every night for the past 2 weeks I haven't been able to leave work early enough to go. Hopefully that will change next week. Last night I was so grateful to make it to my tricking session at open gym. I went for 2 and a half hours! I got home around 12:30am and was EXHAUSTED but I had so much fun and I felt really good that I went. I am really improving in my flips and tucks! I still can't land it on the floor but there's been a significant difference since I started and I'm no longer landing on my lower back/butt as much! I just have to jump UP more! Also, I am getting much more confident in my back hand springs. I am able to do it unspotted on the floor. My goal is to be able to do two in a row by the end of May. I also didn't go crazy in the calorie department either, which is GREAT but considering the amount of running around and exercising I did yesterday, I probably should have consumed more calories. By the end of the day I had had about 1107 calories total.



Breakfast - egg cooked in a little olive oil w/ whole wheat toast (about 200 cal)

Lunch - 1/2 roast beef sandwich from Au Bon Pain w/ 3/4 bag of Cape Cod potato chips (410 cal)

Snack - 2 Werther's candies (47 cal)

Snack - veggies, hummus, 2 bites of baked chicken, pita break triangles (this was for a reception for a work event, but I think I probably had about 200 cal worth of food)

Dinner - 1 cup lentil soup (150 cal)

Dessert - chocolate (about 100 cal)



Total: 1107 (I think I did the math right)



Not only did I go to the open gym last night but I also was running around all day lugging heavy equipment and doing photography for various events throughout the day for work. I definitely worked up a sweat! The bad thing was I forgot my water bottle at home so I didn't have enough water either. I gotta get better at remembering my water bottle!!! My goal for next week will be remembering my water bottle everyday, riding my bike to work, and going to bed early enough so I can get my lazy butt out of bed early enough to go running in the mornings! I want to see more miles in my dailymile profile!!!
 
I think I will make Sundays my weigh-in day... Yeah, I've just decided I will make Sundays my weigh-in day.


I've been writing down what I eat for the last few days and it really helps me stay on track I think. I used to think I did fine just tallying calories up in my head, but it makes it so much easier to see it on paper and I don't miss anything. Yesterday I think I did pretty well with food. I was so so sooooooo close to caving and going down the street to grab a burrito from this awesome burrito place and I DIDN'T! I pulled through! I'm so proud of myself! I had soup instead which filled me up really nicely. Here's what I had for the day:


Breakfast - egg white/cheddar/bacon on a skinny bagel from Au bon Pain and small coffee w/cream and Splenda (360 cal)

Snack - 3 small squares of dark chocolate (70 cal)

Lunch - half grilled chicken sandwich w/ bag of Cape Cod chips and diet coke (435 cal)

Snack - Gu energy packet (100 cal)

Snack - cup of berries w/Truvia and rice cake (100 cal)

Dinner - 1 cup chicken and wild rice soup with pita bread (187 cal)

Dessert - Banana Baby pop!!! (so good 130 cal)


Total: 1382


Not bad. I want to start packing my lunch because every time I go to Au bon Pain for lunch I get a bag of those delicious Cape Cod potato chips and even though I'm still staying in my range, potato chips and diet soda really aren't the best for weight loss! Also, I just... didn't exercise yesterday, which was really disappointing. I got off work a little early and went home to go clean the apartment because it is a MESS and I always use that as an excuse to not workout or train or something. It was such a gorgeous day out and I just sat inside. I didn't even clean!!!! Oye. Well, today is a new day and I hoping to ride my bike down to work to figure out a good route. That should be about 8 miles. Have a great day everyone!
 
Hi, squish! Thanks for stopping by my journal~


I just wanted to say that I think it's so excellent that you're training for stuntwork. I don't know much about movie stunt training, but tricking is just about the coolest thing I've ever seen humans do, and it's really incredible that you have the drive to push yourself that way. You must be a really amazing athlete. (Also impressed that you can keep to any kind of diet at all while eating at Au bon Pain! I would probably just get croissants for every meal if there was one near me.)
 
Originally Posted by BlueJae


Hi, squish! Thanks for stopping by my journal~



I just wanted to say that I think it's so excellent that you're training for stuntwork. I don't know much about movie stunt training, but tricking is just about the coolest thing I've ever seen humans do, and it's really incredible that you have the drive to push yourself that way. You must be a really amazing athlete. (Also impressed that you can keep to any kind of diet at all while eating at Au bon Pain! I would probably just get croissants for every meal if there was one near me.)
Click to expand...



I would definitely not classify myself as an amazing athlete... but thanks! Tricking is pure awesomeness, it's true. I go to a gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays with a bunch of local trickers in the area and oh... my... goodness... it's like the rules of physics don't apply to them. I just started so gravity still applies to me :p but I am learning a really basic combo right now. It's a butterfly kick into some-sort-of-basic-martial-arts-kick-that-I-can't-remember-the-name-of-right-now kick (still learning the terminology;)). If done correctly it's really cool! I just haven't been able to get it quite yet. Once I do, I will try and post a vid here though! My tricking "coach" says it's good to put yourself out there and show what you can do even if you don't think you are good and are self conscious being around all these amazing trickers because it will push you to try harder and ultimately get better. And as for eating at Au bon Pain, yeah it can be a battle with the baked-goods, but I've had to deal with a lot of that where I live because I live in a city that is obsessed with cupcakes. I am also obsessed with cupcakes. Everyday I walk down the street I am bombarded with cupcake paraphernalia and easy access to cupcakes. It's gotten easier but I've learned to put up my cupcake/baked-goods blinders when I have to!


Today was good, I think! I went to a climbing class for a few hours and learned how to belay. It was cool! Then it was my turn to climb and I thought that the beginner course they blocked out looked super easy so I scrambled up there just fine about half way then noticed that my arms were really starting to feel like jelly and then they started shaking! Ahh! It was a little scary! I didn't realize how tired I would be after the first climb I ended up going a few more times, but man, my forearms are going to KILL tomorrow. I thought it was kind of funny that they named the courses after comic book heros. I mastered the Silver Surfer, Catwoman, Aquaman, attempted the Flash, but fell on that one. They had a Hulk one but I wasn't going to touch that. It looked so difficult! I will try and make it a goal to do that one maybe in a couple of months after more practice. I will conquer the Hulk!!! I really need to work on my upper body strength and coordination first though.


This morning I slept in a bit before going climbing and didn't have time to post the results of my weigh in so here it is: 148.8lbs!!!


Small steps :)
 
Hey, sub-150 high five! I've just made it past that milestone as well. And YOU are officially more than half way to your goal weight! Well done!


Haha, rock climbing's great, isn't it? I used to climb like a fiend -- just a few years ago, really, but I'd have a hard time doing it now with the shape I'm in. It'll do for your forearms like nothing else, for sure. My younger brother's just taken it up in a serious way over the past few weeks and I swear he's put on twenty pounds of muscle since I last saw him!


Ooh, do post that video :3 It would be really cool to see what it looks like to learn a trick like that! All the videos I've ever seen were of people who've been practicing for years.
 
The last few days have been sort of a struggle. Monday I splurged at dinner and had a slice of pepperoni pizza, a cookie, and a can of soda from Whole Foods. Opps! It was delicious even though I felt pretty terrible afterwards :) I have been having serious problems getting out of bed in the morning. I have been running super late it feels like and I haven't had time to go on my morning runs. I was so diligent with it a few months ago. Hopefully I can just get myself to bed a few hours earlier or just be more disciplined with convincing myself that I won't be so tired after being out of bed for 10 minutes. *sigh* Yesterday I had a great tricking session and was feeling really confident and this morning was a little easier, so I'm hoping that will last throughout the rest of the week! I can always count of feeling better after tricking :biggrin:


Well, today I had jury duty :smash: (sorry, I couldn't resist putting that smiley there!) It was super boring. I sat in a room for 6 hours. Thank God I brought a book. I didn't end up even getting chosen for a panel, so I guess that's good that I don't have to serve anymore days. I'm basically a pro at this now! Last time I actually made it to a panel but got dismissed. I swear, if I were as lucky at winning the lottery as I am at getting called for jury duty... I haven't been eligible for that long and I'm the only one of my friends who has ever been summoned.


Other news is that my Skyrim soundtrack came in the mail earlier this week and IT'S SOOO GOOD! I might be the only person who gets pumped up listening to movie soundtracks while running, but if you are like me you should listen to it! I usually have been listening to Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings, but I think Skyrim takes the cake, especially the title track! So awesome!!!
 
Kind of bummed. On Thursday I sprained my toe because I was being stubborn and stupid :banghead:. So, I was at open gym and the past couple of weeks someone has been teaching me to do a wall spin which is where you run up to a wall, throw your hands on it and push yourself around your hands vertically so your feet go over you like a cartwheel, except you tuck in. So, I have been getting really close to being able to do one, but I have been chickening out and blah blah blah. I set up a system of mats and pads to drill this, because I can't do it on a flat wall yet because I can't get my butt and legs and feet high enough yet, and I was doing fine. Then some of the other people came over because they thought the set up I had was cool to practice this move. They are all really good, so I was all like "I'm going to try it on a wall for real now!!!" and try and show off a bit. So I tried it, and it was at the beginning of the session so I wasn't completely warmed up yet, which was not a good idea. I also didn't really commit enough to really getting myself clear of the wall, which was just dumb. So yeah, my big toe got caught on the wall and went one way, and the rest of my foot and the rest of myself went the other. OOOOOWWWW!!!! It HURT! I didn't land it and practically landed on my head. I got up and was all like "no no, I'm fine!" I thought maybe I just stubbed it really bad and that it would be fine in 5 minutes, so I went ahead and drilled some back hand-springs and back tucks. That was where I really got injured, I think. The mats I was on are squishy and when I was walking all over them it bent my toes upwards. Plus I was landing on the balls of my feet a lot, which is where I was injured. I shouldn't have kept going. GRRR!! I'm trying to be patient with the healing process, but this is really frustrating not being able to train or go running. I was thinking maybe I can go swimming to try and stay off my foot and keep doing cardio. I also have a climbing class on Sunday, so that is going to be interesting... Ugh, so mad at myself. Sorry for the negative post, just needed to vent.


I'm going to see The Avengers today with my friend, so hopefully that will bring my spirits up a bit (I'm sure it will!)
 
This morning I weighed in at 146.6lbs! Yay! I have been pretty good with food intake, but exercise has been lacking the last few days due to my sprained toe. It's starting to feel better, but it's still not quite ready for me to go on a run or whatever. Boo. Oh well. Today I have a climbing class and I'm a little nervous about my toe, but I have it taped up really good and the shoes should provide some support. I'll have to be careful though.
 
What a crazy day today!!! Good, but crazy! I found out today that I will be going to San Francisco to film an interview with the author of this really big international bestselling book! I want to say who, but I'm a little nervous about posting about it on a public forum, so I won't say who, but I will say that I AM SO NERVOUS!!!! I'm not used to taking charge of filming interviews by myself, let alone with someone who has such a big name and KNOWS how an interview kinda goes and can probably tell if you know what you're doing! I know you've all heard of his book. He seems really nice on TV, but ohmygosh! I don't want to mess it up! eek!!! It's really good news, but holy God I am having a mini heart-attack over it.


Also, I found out yesterday that a good friend of a few of my tricking friends went missing and I just felt so bad about it and wanted to do something to help. I never met him, but still. Apparently they found his car a few days ago with all of his belongings still in it but he had been missing for 2 or 3 days, so everyone was posting on facebook about it trying to spread the word to keep a look out for him, and today THEY FOUND HIM ALIVE! The details still haven't been released but I guess he was in a hospital? Not sure, but I'm really glad he was found and is going to be okay.


And my new climbing shoes finally came today! I've been waiting so long! Yay!


Aaaaand my toe seems to be doing much better. Sometimes I get a little pang on pain, but overall, I think it's 80% functional! The climbing didn't hurt it yesterday, so I'm going again today.


Okay, that's it. I just wanted to share all the craziness that happened today! Oh, and I've been staying under 1300 calories the last few days, which is surprising considering the stress I'm feeling regarding this upcoming trip to San Francisco, but I really need to keep up on writing stuff down in my food journal! I've been lazy about that!
 
Hey girl!!! Just wanna say i am totally excited for you about the interview.AGGGGGGGGGGGH....AMAZING:) oh my gosh, that must feel so surreal that you are going to interview this famous author. You must tell us all the gory details when you do it. Well done on the weight loss, you are doing fab:)


xxxxxxxxxx
 
AOooooo...I love your diary so far! That is really cool about the interview, and I agree with Irish.... gory details are a must! lol! You're doing great though....good job! :)
 
Just got back from California! So so crazy busy! I will tell you how the interview went but I have to go for now! I hope to start updating daily again soon. And maybe have a weigh in sometime haha!


Thanks for checking out my diary!
 
Wow! Such a long time since I posted! I've been so so busy! I'm at work right now but I have a few minutes of downtime so I thought I'd give a quick update on my progress. I'm down to about 142-143 right now which is GREAT! I had my first official "stunt" training session last night. This is different from going to open gym and just tumbling around and learning physical skills like tricking, break-dancing, martial arts, gymnastics, parkour, etc... In a stunt training session you learn how to fall, take a hit, look like you got punched really hard, etc. IT WAS AWESOME!!! So so so much fun. A stuntman who I've been in contact with for a few months who works in NY and LA and just did MIB3, Dark Knight Rises, and a bunch of other stuff came out and taught it for about 2 hours. I really learned a lot and despite being the most inexperienced stunt person there, I actually didn't do too bad! I was so nervous when I first got there. EVERYONE was in top physical shape. I quickly realized that everyone there had at least some stunt experience and I was scared I was going to be holding the training back. I don't think I did, though! Everyone was really nice! I also found that I was able to do some things others couldn't and that made me feel pretty good (back-hand spring FTW!!!) I also REALLY surprised myself when I was able to pull off 3 chin-ups!!!! I tried about a month ago and couldn't even bend my arms and I was able to do about 3 of them last night!!! So cool! At the end we got into groups and had 5 minutes to choreograph a fight sequence. There were 5 of us in my group, 3 small girls, medium-sized girl me (I was also taller than them at 5'4" which was surprising as I always considered myself shorter), and one HUGE 264lb guy who was like the Hulk! I swear he was 100% muscles! It was great. What we did was had all of us girls attack him and he took all of us out one by one then at the end we all ran at him again after we "came to" and he grabbed on of the smaller girls by the legs and swung her around knocking all of us out. Everyone thought our fight was the funniest, I think! I think the stunt coordinators there like it too! They recorded it on video, so I will have to try and find a way to post it.


Other than that, this coming Saturday I'm observing a stunt coordinator organize a western fight/shoot out for a western film then on Sunday I'm observing another coordinator organize a big fire gag, which should be a great learning experience.


Other than all this stunt stuff, I've been keeping up with tricking, I've been getting a lot smoother and getting "flow" as they say, haha! Also, rock climbing! Work has been keeping me waaaayyy too busy and I hope it calms down soon. I've worked in the office for the last 12 days in a row. It's a little ridiculous. After next Wednesday things should get a bit easier I think (I hope).


That's all for now, I think! I've been really low on calories per day due to me being so busy, so I need to work on that.

I'll try to keep updating more often!
 
So... since I last posted, I sorta sprained my ankle and have been out of commission this whole week. I sprained it on Thursday. I can walk on it now, but it has been such a big bummer. I was at open gym and had a GREAT session! I had been tumbling for about 2 hours by the time it happened, which is probably a good thing since i was super warmed up and flexible. I was feeling really good because I had finally mastered and landed my front tuck and figured out how to do a double back-hand spring. Then I went to do some tricking to finish off the session and I go to do a tornado kick and my ankle just buckled and we all heard a "pop" and that was that. Someone had to carry me to my car because I couldn't walk at ALL, it was so embarrassing! I had it x-rayed (my Dad absolutely insisted haha) but at least I'm sure there's no fractures, just a good sprain. I'm trying not to get too down about it since I know this sort of stuff comes a long with trying to be a stunt performer (you're going to get hurt sometime), but I was hoping that it wouldn't happen to me, or at least not right now since I've got sooo much stuff going on. It's really not a big deal, and I think I'm handling it well, but it really couldn't have happened at a more terrible time. This past week we had a big event at work that I have been preparing media for, and I sprained it right when I really needed to work really really hard. Luckily I pulled it off, but it wasn't easy. I have been working on this video installation that is being projected at the big theater/concert venue in my city. It's a pretty big deal and very exciting. I've been working on it endlessly for basically the last 2 months. I have the responsibility of going to set it up each day and break it down each night it's up this week and that is proving to be a tough job with my ankle. *sigh* It's getting done, but still, I'm really bummed. There are a few positive things I've gotten out of this experience though, I think! I've been working on my splits a lot and have gotten a lot more flexible and I've also been able to work on handstands and that's getting much better. I've lost a little bit of weight, too, despite having a small binge yesterday since I was super down and unwanting to get healthy food at the grocery store. I weighed in at 141lbs this morning! I have to stop that though. No more bad food please! Since my exercise is down due to the injury, I should be careful what I eat!
 
My ankle is still a bit painful but I can walk, run a bit, jump, and flip again, which is good. If I stay off of it for more than 20 minutes, it hurts quite a bit to get up and walk again. I'm not sure why! Once I get warmed up it doesn't seem to hurt at all, except running it a bit hard still. I hope it gets better soon, it's really frustrating not being able to go on a good run or go rock climbing. *sigh*


I had another stunt training session last night and this time it was with a much smaller group. The guy who ran it this time is a local stunt coordinator, who I've known and been speaking with a lot the last few months. There was much less tumbling this time, which was probably better for my ankle, and more fight style and high(ish) stunt falling, I guess. We used a mini tramp for the first half to simulate what it's like going off an air ram, which is like a hydraulic, compressed air type device that catapults a stunt performer through the air to simulate an explosion effect. We practiced how to land from that. It was a bit difficult at first, though. Most of us who were there have a background in some sort of gymnastics or martial arts where you learn how to fall through the air and hit the ground gracefully, which you have to try to move away from as a stunt performer. You are supposed to look completely out of control, while actually being quite in control of your body. You basically have to act! This was the difficult part for me, as trying to fail and scream as I'm flying through the air and not inherently land on my feet is the opposite of what I was taught to do in gymnastics. Obviously, in gymnastics you are supposed to land on your feet, but this time I had to control myself from rotating too much since I had to roll out of the fall on my shoulder instead of landing on my feet. It was different but I started to get the hang of it. My ankle seemed to be fine, too, which was a nice surprise.


The second half we spent time learning how to run someone down without hurting yourself or the other person. Basically, run at someone who is standing there and wrap your arm around them and take them down and fall to the ground. It's tough to explain, but if you saw it, you'd say "oh yeah, I've seen that tons of times in movies!" It's actually pretty easy, and quite fun if done correctly! You really just control your body as you're running towards the person to go right beside them and grab them across the chest and lightly push against their back to give them a little push as you're falling down. They take care of the violent twisting motion and fall to the ground. Add a big "OOMPH!" sound and it looks and sounds pretty realistic!


After the session was over we all went out and talked a bit about how to do stair falls and what sort of compensation you should expect as a stunt performer with the kinds of stunts you would be doing, and also about safety, which is above all the most important thing you need to consider in this business. I'd say it was a pretty good night!


My weight has been hovering at about 143lbs, which I'm assuming it hasn't moved because of the reduction in exercise since my ankle. Hopefully I will be feeling well enough to run again soon. I'm ready to knock it out of the 140s!!!
 
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