Limits

For the 2nd part of my training, I decided to do some running. It was a good type of excercise for legs but if I only did that, my training would not be balanced. I had to think of something that would train my arms too. Although in the 1st part of my plan, I had the "Punching the air" kind of exercise that my father used to do, but that wouldn't be enough to train my arms. I needed something more.

After a while of thinking, I figured out one such exercise. 'I could lift more weights' I thought. It seemed stupid but it would be effective at the same time. Although I was carrying all that weight on me, why not lift some more?

But that was too crude to be considered as an exercise for my hands. I needed something more. Then it hit me "If I can run on my legs, why not 'run' on my arms?" I said out loud. It was again stupid idea on the surface but then again, I found out that when I try to follow my own way, I always seemed to get stupid ideas.

Although it seemed stupid on the outside, it would actually train my arms very well. My arms would be under the same weight as my legs and this would produce balance. I now had my training plan but I needed to assign some times to fill in the day.

'First thing in the morning, I will train the 1st diagram from the Strength Manual. Then I would do my father's exercises as a warmup for running. I think my father used to do them for about 30 minutes but I'm different and will need to practise all of that for longer in order to gain some kind of effects. Then I would run on my legs for 2 hours and then on my arms for 2 hours' I thought. All of that would result in about 5 hours of training. Which was not a whole day. In that case, I would just rinse and repeat the running after the hunt and rests.

My plan was a bit crude but it was a plan nevertheless. The day was not over yet so I started with light exercises to warm my body up. I stretched like my father did and then repeated the same set of training exercises for an hour. I found that it was very tiring to do them when an hour passed. 'So father was not doing any type of useless training but something useful'. If it was useless then I wouldn't be so tired after that kind of training even with the weight on. I took a rest and decided to eat something while I was at it.

Shelly smelled the food from afar and came running for some as well. We ate together and I asked Shelly "So how are you doing? Does the lack of vision still bother you much?". Shelly shook its head and seemed to be proud of itself. I didn't have much to talk about with Shelly. Maybe because it never answered and simply nodded its head or drew something. It didn't bother me much but maybe it bothered Shelly. I asked "Shelly, do you think that we should talk about something other than training or food?"

But Shelly didn't seem to know how to answer. After a while it just shook its head. Then Shelly drew something on the ground and it seemed to say that it didn't need that and it just wanted to stay with me.

I was a bit relieved because how could we hold a conversation? I would have to wait for Shelly to literally draw something on the ground, then figure out what it meant and then respond. Awful lot of job to ask or answer one question. I was relieved due to the fact that Shelly didn't need to have interesting conversations in order not to be bored. I then remembered that Shelly was still a turtle, it could sleep for a long time and didn't really have very active life before it met me. 'I guess we are quite well matched partners' I thought.

After we ate the food, I said to Shelly "If you want you can go rest now. I shall continue a bit more". Shelly was a turtle and lazy in nature, I didn't have to ask it twice in order for it to go and sleep. I on the other hand started to run. I didn't want to run off too far away and so I ran around in circles of about 500 metres radius.

I began to sweat a bit when I ran for 10 minutes and thought 'I should change my initial plan from 2 hours of running to 1 hour of running. Just after 10 minutes I'm starting to get tired'. After running for half an hour the sweat was pouring from me like river. I decided to stop, I could feel my leg muscles giving way.

"About half an hour to drain my energy and after a meal too. I think this will be the new interval. 30 minutes of running, then rest and then running for another 30 minutes". I would then change that to 'running' on my arms and repeat the same process.

I needed about the same amount of break in order to regulate my breathing. After my break, I ran again. This time I barely made it to 30 minutes mark and simply collapsed onto the ground. 'I think this training is the most straining one I ever did'. Out of fear for my muscles and general health, I checked over my body but fortunately found no damaged muscles or skin. It was getting darker as the days were shorter and nights longer. I was too tired to continue any training that day and went back to shelter.

I laid down in my bed and started my work on the 2nd diagram. I tried modifying the position in small details trying to find an optimal way of doing it. Then I hit the bullseye "I think I found what I've been looking for all this time". A small detail that I changed in the pose was all that I've been missing. Now when I looked back and added in the other positive effects, the diagram became complete and most suitable for me.

The 2nd modified diagram now displayed the pose that could be described in this way. Both legs would be placed on the ground but as far apart as it is possible. Then the practitioner would have to crouch which would create a sort of rectangle between the practitioners legs and ground. Both hands were straightened out but no longer in front of the practitioner. One hand would be straightened towards the skies while the second hand would point towards the ground. The head would be slightly tilted upwards while the back would be straightened.

It was a bit different and in some regards complete opposite of the normal 2nd diagram but to me, this seemed as a perfect diagram that I could practise. I tried calculating the time I would be able to spend in that pose and figured that maybe 5 minutes would be possible with all that weight on me. Without it maybe 10 minutes, that would be under ideal conditions and not guaranteed at all. The 2nd modified diagram pose was much harder to maintain compared to the 1st one.

There was another good news. It seemed that both diagrams used different hidden muscles and I would be able to practise both every day. Bad news was, the 2nd diagram again produced huge amounts of stress on my hidden muscles and it could be practised only once every day, just like the 1st diagram.

I was thrilled with myself and though 'Now I have 2 diagrams completely modified. This means I will not have to worry about trying to modify the 3rd and 4th diagram. It will take me some time to master those first two'. I then closed my eyes, relaxed and went to sleep.