Favorite Class

Through my life of playing Dungeons and Dragons, Neverwinter Nights, Diablo, Pathfinder,  Assassin's Creed etc., there has been one characteristic that has remained a constant. I love playing a very specific type of character. He's a loner, not necessarily bad looking but probably covered in lots of scars, has a lithe and sinewy build, but primarily he's equipped with a very specific set of skills.  He can run, jump, climb, flip, or sneak his way in or out of any situation.  Not one for words,  if he's backed into a corner, he let's his hands do the talking.  

Basicallly, the characters I love playing when given the opportunity to build a person from scratch are.... the complete opposite of myself. When gaze is cast upon me, the words lithe and sinewy are as far from lips as would be emaciated and anorexic. While not abounding in elephantine stature, I definitely have a few extra pounds to shed. Sneaking is definitely out of the question. Along with the aforementioned issue of stature, grace is one of those qualities I have yet to adequately develop. Climbing I have some experience with, primarily with trees, but since I can yet do a pull up, some of the more impressive stuff is out of the question. And hand to hand combat? Unlike my fantasy counter-parts, I am a man of many words and revel in their use. I love violence as much as I love getting punched in the face. I can't speak for you, but getting punched in the face is on day "to don't" list. Does this make me enjoy playing those characters any less? Absolutely not. It's great to get out of your own mind for a while and live a life completely foreign to your own. So I figure, why not apply that same philosophy to fitness? When I'm running, why not pretend that I'm running along a castle wall? Or running amidst a horde of orcs, dodging and twirling around arrows, swords, and enemies all heading towards you? One of my favorite scenarios is actually to put myself in the mind of a shaolin like monk. My running is part of my kung fu training and each run brings me closer to being a kung fu master so I can go out into the world and fight evil, avenge me father, or protect my village. I'd love to take credit for this idea of applying fantasy role playing to the realm of fitness. I take a lot of my cues in this regard from Darebee and they're wealth of resources. They are dedicated to providing free fitness resources for geeks like me and, presumably, you. For example, they just posted a wonderful article entitled "RPG Fitness." 

It's a great read an I recommend it to everyone who love fantasy role playing and is interested in getting involved in fitness. They also recently launched an actual fitness role playing game called "Age of Pandora." I give it 5/5 stars, 2 thumbs and two pinkies up in a shaka salute. You take the role of someone who awakes in a completely foreign and hostile world. You don't know who you are and what's going on. So you have to go on quests, collect pieces to puzzle together your identity, and fight to survive. There are decisions that affect the flow of the game and, consequently, the development of your physique. In fight or flight situations, choosing to fight will develop your lats, obliques, and arms while fleeing will develop your legs and give you a very healthy cardiovascular system.

That's actually from another one of their "Choose your Story" workouts called Hero's journey. They also help provide you with wonderful advice on how to achieve your goals. If you want to bulk up, they have workouts designed for strengthening and toning your body. If you're looking to slim down (get lithe and sinewy), they have high burn workouts that are going to be more your speed. They even have specific regimens based off of different role playing tropes. The assassin's week long regimen includes a lot of those high burn, high speed, high intensity work outs (otherwise known as HIIT). Personally, I went with the fighter regimen. That's why today's workout is another Bruce Lee tribute. 

Can you tell I love kung fu movies? So if you're like me, I think you'll really like these workouts. Or even if you don't like them, if you're like me then you already have plenty of experience role playing. And role playing can be applied to many areas of life other than just games. And hopefully, as I get closer and closer to my fitness goals, the gulf of separation between me and my characters will close. At least the physical bits. Well, I have to run (literally). Wish me luck.

Backgrounds

Man, backgrounds are really hard to choose. I want something that encapsulates the entirety of blog at a glance. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, and I think I've easily written that many. How good they are or not is another matter. What I want my background to convey is my geeky fascinations (comics, kung fu, movies) and my fitness goals. That's why superheroes like Daredevil and Iron Fist appeal to. Sure, Daredevil may have a little extra something under the hood, but at the end of the day he's still just a really well trained fighter. Heck, Iron Fist had to train himself for years to earn his super power. I also grew up loving Kung Fu movies. That's another reason why they appeal to me. Batman, the classic trope, is ultimately just a super ninja. And a billionaire. And the world's greatest detective. But I digress. Spiderman has the reflexes of a spider. Angel has the anthropomorphic anatomy of a bird. But Daredevil, Iron Fist, Batman, Misty Knight, Nightwing, Green Hornet, and so many others had to put in hours of blood, sweat and tears to be at the top of their games. Unfortunately, I don't have the resources or time to dedicate to become a Kung Fu master. But I do have the time and resources to learn a thing or too. Firstly, something I recommend to everyone is the Tai Chi and Qi Gong course offered by the Great Courses Plus. Although to become part of the beta test club you need a pass-code. Right now I know that "Conspiracy" is functional, although I don't know for how long. Another great, free resource that I'm taking advantage is Darebee. On staff they have an international martial arts champion and he helps them design wonderful martial arts themed workouts. In fact, later this month they're doing a Katana themed workout week. I'm really looking forward to that. In fact, most of my workouts come from Darebee. For a long while, they had routines based on superheroes; until Disney and DC forced them to take down anything related to one of their intellectual properties. Although, if you look on the internet, I'm sure you can find the Batman, Daredevil, and Captain America workouts and so forth. Today I did the Bruce Lee abs workout at level 2.

Man. Bruce Lee, what a guy. He was a real life super hero. Bruce Lee once kicked a man so hard that it broke someone else's arm, His one inch punch was described as being hit by an SUV. And while he had great abs, I most remember him for his lats. I swear that guy could take flight, a la flying squirrel, with those things. Makes me wish I could do pull ups. By the way, I can't do pull ups. But I'm working towards that. They're the ultimate back exercise. But I digress. I want to share with you all the things I love, all the things I'm involved with. And picking the perfect background that expresses all of that in one glance is really hard.