New Year's Part 1: Resolutions Suck

Okay, so it's New Year's Eve!  New Year's Eve means resolutions!  Yaaaaay!  So, show of hands, who can tell me why new year resolutions suck?  You there, in the back!  Yes, that's right!

NEW YEAR'S EVE RESOLUTIONS ARE UNFAIR.

Why, you ask?  I mean, I want to make a fresh start, and the new year is the perfect time and date!  A fresh start for a fresh year! Well, excellent question asker, new year's resolutions are unfair to you, dear reader.  More often than not, you're trying to make a drastic, huge change in your lifestyle, in ONE DAY.  Your body doesn't like that, your subconcious doesn't like that, and everything that makes you, "you," is going to struggle against it for all it's worth.  This, in turn, will make those changes very difficult to maintain over the long term, and end up leaving you frustrated or disappointed.

Your body doesn't like change.  You may want change, in your head, but your body doesn't like it.  Heck, changing your favorite brand of soup, or your preferred route to work, or what time you have your coffee, all of these things are relatively difficult.  Typically resolutions are much bigger changes than that, and we want them because we're impatient, and want a better life.  There's nothing wrong with having goals like that, but making the jump all at once is going to leave you frustrated and disappointed.  Instead, you want something else...

A PLAN!

So what is a plan?  Well, first of all, a plan is incremental.  Let's say you want to quit smoking.  Quitting smoking is HARD.  Going "cold turkey" is HARD.  Instead of going cold turkey, you want to instead buy the patch or gum, and just cut down on the number of cigarettes you have per day until you wean yourself off.  By the same token, you don't want to just tell yourself, "I'm only eating salads and oatmeal, going to the gym fives times a week, and drinking a gallon of water every day."  Start slow, then work yourself up.  I'll start with myself, and my own goals for the year.

A NEW CHALLENGER APPROACHES!

Name: Dan Wallace

Height: 5'10"

Weight: 210 lbs

Skills:

• Martial Artist
• Fitness Enthusiast
• Skilled Gamer
• Adventure Seeker
• Writer
• Computer Expert 

Summary: Unfortunately, due to a combination of injury, and stressful, over-packed life, I've fallen out of shape.  I'm honestly not happy with where I'm at at the moment, and I want to set some goals for where I'd like to be by the end of this year.  Remember, these are GOALS, not plans.  Goals are different from plans.

Goals(by December 31st 2013):

185 Toned, muscular pounds.

Full range of flexibility back(ideally I'd like to have the splits down by the end of the year).

Able to do 100 pushups consecutively.

Run a sub 2:45 Tough Mudder(ideally I'd like to finish in the top 5%, but I'm being realistic here =P)

OKAY

So those are my goals, so how to we lay out a plan?  My dad used to have a phrase: How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.  So we look at goal #1, and lay out our first bite.  I want to be 185 toned, muscular pounds by the end of the year.  As we know, physical appearance and weight is driven as much by diet as anything else, so I'll attack that first.  I'll be working my way down to The Fighter Diet, but I'm going to start this week by switching to skim milk in my morning cereal for my first meal, and then not getting a greasy egg sandwich once I'm at work.  If I feel the need to eat something at work before lunch, I'll have oatmeal, or granola, with fruit.

Workout-wise, I'm going to set a goal of working out twice a week to start.  One strength workout, and one cardio.  I'm going to be using the Ezio Auditore workout as my base layout, and probably embellishing a bit once I get into the swing of things.

Let's look at these short term goals again.

This week, I will...

Do 1 cardiovascular workout.

Do 1 strength workout.

Eat skim milk with my cereal, and have oatmeal instead of an egg sandwich for my second breakfast.

These are relatively small changes to my everyday life, that I know are WELL within my ability to do.  I could say that I'm going to also eat salad for lunch every day, and that I'm going to work out every day until Friday, but even though I'm used to physical regimens and diet plans like that, it's been long enough that my body is out of practice!  So I'm setting the bar below what I think is really pushing myself, because I know it's easy, and I want it to be.  Additionally, these steps are MEASURABLE.  I'm not vaguely stating, "I will try to eat better," I'm being affirmative and saying, "I will eat skim milk and oatmeal."  No wiggle room.

Make your plan easy, and measurable, and you'll find it easier to stick to.

Tomorrow we're going to take a look at another new challenger in our New Year's Resolution Showdown, so come back for a female perspective on things!  Until then, make sure to follow me on Twitter,  like the blog page on Facebook, hit up the Tumblr, and continue to be awesome!  Happy new year! Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace

The Lara Croft Roundup

Another character down, another video game legend analyzed!  Let's take a look at what we covered in our time with her!

Character Breakdown: Lara Croft
We took a first look at Lara, and what makes her a legend.  Her athleticism, confidence, and skills are all laid out for our road plan.

The Lara Croft Workout
In the Lara Croft workout we focused on functional strength for body management, acrobatics, and climbing, with a cardio program to keep us going relentlessly from tomb to tomb!

The Skills of Lara Croft
We dipped a bit into parkour for our skills of Lara Croft post, with precision jumps, as well as examining different types of climbing, and then moving into options for learning some sharpshooting skills.

The Mind of Lara Croft
Lara Croft's defining self confidence and wit come under the microscope here, and we discuss the difference between confidence and arrogance, as well as my personal methods of building self confidence.

Lara will continue to raid tombs on the small and large screen in the years to come, and hopefully now you have a toolset to begin emulating this iconic heroine.  Tomorrow will begin a special two-part New Year's Eve/Day post on resolutions, and the fitness goals we set for ourselves.  My wife and myself will both be profiled, and we'll be laying out our fitness plans for the year!  Until then, make sure to follow me on Twitter,  like the blog page on Facebook, hit up the Tumblr, and continue to be awesome!


Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace

The Mind of Lara Croft

I hope I do not offend any fans of the series with this, but...Lara Croft is not exactly known for being a psychologically deep and complex character.  At least, not in any of her current incarnations.  The new reboot seems to feature a deeper, more vulnerable Lara, so whether this remains the case or not after the next game remains to be seen.  That said, there is one mental characteristic that Lara has in spades, and that is self confidence.

So what is self confidence, exactly?  It is frequently confused with arrogance, which I'm sure Lara also has a bit of, considering her aristocratic upbringing.  But arrogance is not a substitute for self confidence, and the self confident are not necessarily arrogant.  Well, to find out, let's go to...the internet!

A Google search gives us the web definition of, "assurance: freedom from doubt; belief in yourself and your abilities."

Wikipedia tells us "The socio-psychological concept of self-confidence relates to self-assuredness in one's personal judgment, ability, power, etc., sometimes manifested excessively. Being confident in yourself is infectious if you present yourself well, others will want to follow in your foot steps towards success."

Wikipedia also grants us this quote from Raj Persaud, "Promise yourself, no matter how difficult the problem life throws at you, that you will try as hard as you can to help yourself. You acknowledge that sometimes your efforts to help yourself may not result in success, as often being properly rewarded is not in your control."

I personally really like that quote, because I think it gets us on the right track here, especially when we're talking about Lara Croft.  Lara faces many unknown dangers all the time.  She's an explorer and adrenaline junkie, and as such, she must often face challenges with only her wits, skills, and tools to rely on.  The attitude of "I will throw my best at whatever comes my way," is the only way one can function in such a situation, and as such, Lara embodies self-confidence with her attitude and approach to life.

So how does one build self confidence?  There's a whole crapload of books and articles out there on it, so I'm not going to spoonfeed you stuff you can find with ten seconds and a google search.  Rather, I'm going to relate some of my personal methods and experiences with self confidence.

First of all, I'm going to come right out and admit that I sometimes have self confidence problems.  This may sound odd, considering I'm a black belt, run my own dojo, have a wife, etc.  Certain experiences in my life, however, mainly a bad relationship that went on for way too long have soured much of the time I've put into life doing things that build self confidence.  As such, I am still sort of "rebuilding" myself, if you will.  Here are some of the things that I, personally, am working on to further this goal.

Work Out
This may sound a bit cliché'd, but working out and being in good shape go a long way to helping my confidence level.  Knowing that I am physically capable of handling most things thrown at me helps quite a bit in general, day-to-day confidence.  It also helps keep hormones in your body in balance, which can assist with some of the negative mental situations that antagonize your self-confidence.

Talk it Out
Talking to someone you trust who cares about you can also really help.  I confide in my wife a lot when I'm feeling unsure about myself.  She's always in my corner for me, but more importantly, she isn't just a "cheerleader."  Building confidence isn't about ignoring your flaws, it's recognizing them, in addition to recognizing your strengths, and reconciling these thing with yourself.  This, in part, is what separates self-confidence from arrogance, in that the arrogant person believes they have no flaws, whereas the confident person knows they have flaws, but that their strengths counter-balance these flaws, and help them feel more complete as a person.  My wife doesn't just give me a "you're amazing" line.  She says yes, you have these problems, and you should work on them like this, but keep in mind, you also do these amazing things.

Take Chances, and Forgive Yourself
One of my favorite lines from any movie is from We Bought a Zoo, and the line is, "You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it."  Now, existing in hollywoodland, this phrase comes true in both instances it's used.  I can tell you that this is not always the case, at least in the idea of those twenty seconds will give you the results you desire.  However, that's where part two comes in: forgiving yourself.  

You do something stupid, and out there, totally sticking your neck out, you get shut down, in some way, for whatever reason.  It sucks.  It might even be embarrassing.  Even if it is embarrassing, however, you need to let it go, and move on.  Holding on to embarrassment doesn't help, and it will keep you from your next "twenty sections of courage" opportunity.  The movie line isn't wrong, then, if you take this approach, as the great thing that comes of it then will be you own rising self confidence.  As you make every mistake, you realize that mistakes happen, everyone makes them, and you can move on just fine.  Which brings us to...

Practice
Everything in life gets better with practice.  Seriously.  Every skill, trait, or ability you desire, will get better with practice.  Even self confidence.  How do you practice self confidence, you ask?  Well, you need to work at it, first of all, like anything else you would practice.  You're not always going to like it.  But you need to do it anyway.  Go outside your comfort zone, even just a little bit, at least once a day.  Seriously, just try it.  Do something you don't feel you can do(even if it's something small).  Say hello to someone as you walk past them.  Strike up a conversation in an elevator.  Attempt to learn a new skill.  Ask someone for help.  Go somewhere that makes you feel uncomfortable(please nowhere too dangerous =P).  Seriously, just think of something that gives you the sensation of, "Oh gosh, I don't think I can do that!" and attempt it!  Start small, and simple, and build your way up. Remember, one thing a day.

Self-confidence is something that comes with time.  It's not easy for anyone, at least starting out.  Remember that everyone feels uncomfortable, or afraid, or singled-out sometimes, and that's okay.  That's even what makes it okay, is that everyone on earth probably has the thoughts running through their head that you do sometimes.  We're all human, we all make mistakes, and we all get scared.  Admitting this is sometimes the best thing for your confidence level, it's sort of the old public speaking adage of "imagine the audience in their underwear."



Keep pushing yourself to be a bit more adventurous than the day before, and you never know, you might be raiding tombs someday!

Today being Friday, we won't see each other again  until next monday, New Year's Eve!  I'll probably throw up the Lara Croft roundup sometime over the weekend, and I'm thinking of doing something special for the new year, rather than jumping right into our next character.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do, yet, but we'll see next week!  Until then, make sure to follow me on Twitter,  like the blog page on Facebook, hit up the Tumblr, and continue to be awesome!


Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace

The Skills of Lara Croft

Sorry for the brief break, folks, didn't have a buffer of posts going into the holiday and didn't have much time to write.  That's okay, we're getting back on track with the skills of Lara Croft.

The first thing that we really encounter in Lara Croft is her acrobatic and athletic skills.  The Tomb Raider games feature a lot of platforming elements, and as such, Lara spends quite a bit of her time running, climbing, jumping, and swimming, to make her way to her destination.  The first thing we're going to take a look at is her jumping, with an element of parkour known as the precision jump.

The precision jump is for making long, accurate jumps onto pinpoint landings, possibly from a similarly confined space.   In order to properly take off and land, you need to get your whole body into the motion.  The idea is to properly calculate the arc of the distance you need to travel, so you land coming "down" on the target, rather than "forward" into it, so you don't have to worry about killing any forward momentum.  This is good when jumping from ledge to ledge in a rickety old tomb, or, in a more common application, on a railing, or a small rock or boulder.  I will not attempt to write down a step-by-step tutorial on a precision jump and will, instead, hook you up with a video from Urban Current!

Next there is climbing!  There are two major categories for climbing, climbing with ropes, and bouldering.  Bouldering is typically smaller rock formations, without ropes, from the perspective of solving "problems."  Routes are rated by difficulty on different scales, and are approached as a challenge and problem solving experiment.  Regular climbing, with ropes, has to do more with ascending heights, and traversing large distances.  Both are usually done with groups(and are much more fun that way) and both should most likely be attempted and learned under the eyes of a more experienced person.  I would recommend checking in your area for a local rock-climbing gym.  If you can't find this, then check out these climbing organizations and see if there's a club in your area!

Finally, there's her shooting.  Lara is an expert marksman, in both firearms and archery.  First, let me start by saying that dual wielding pistols and sub-machine guns, as she does in game, is pretty unrealistic.  Even if you can handle the recoil with one hand, your aim is going to be crap.  It's much better to use one hand, with the other reinforcing or gripping the stock(depending upon the type of weapon you're firing).  That said, learning a gun is still a damn useful skill.  Weapon ownership varies from state to state and country to country, however even if you can't own a weapon, there's good odds you have a local sport shooting range to take advantage of.  You can typically find these by asking around at local sporting goods stores.  Sometimes sporting goods stores will also offer deals in partnership with local ranges for lessons and whatnot.  Just make sure you let them know you're interested in it for recreational target shooting...with all the unfortunate violence that's been going on lately, you don't want to be labeled as just another psycho.

There is, of course, more to Lara's skills, as there is with every character we profile, but I think these should give you a good jumping-off point.  If you enjoy parkour, check out the rest of Urban Current's videos.  They're excellent tutorials, and I learned a lot of what skills I have in the art from them.

That's it for today.  Tomorrow we take a look at Lara's motivations and mental characteristics, with the Mind of Lara Croft.  Until then, make sure to follow me on Twitter,  like the blog page on Facebook, hit up the Tumblr, and continue to be awesome!


Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace

The Lara Croft Workout

Just a reminder, there's still the ongoing quest, Activate the Book of Faces  I haven't been plugging it much, lately but we are quite close.  Just 10 more likes and we'll reach the goal of 50 Facebook fans, which means an extra character post over the weekend.  Go like the page, and share it with your friends!  Remember, if we hit 100 likes, I'll do an vlog post as well!

Anyhoo, now that we've got that out of the way, let's get down to business with Lara.  In both her original games and her reboot, Lara lives a very active life.  We see her running through caves, tombs, temples, and other locations, dealing with unsure footing, risky ascents, and fearsome fights.  Lara is lithe, but strong, and has the endurance to reach her goals without fail.  We even see a large obstacle course in her backyard for training, complete with cargo nets, jumping obstacles, and other manner of challenges.

As I have before I cannot recommend getting involved with Mud Runs more.  They present unique, fun challenges that you don't find in everyday life.  I participate in the Tough Mudder, but there's also the Warrior Dash, the Spartan Race, and other awesome, local runs to check out.

At any rate, as with most smaller, more svelte characters, I'd recommend the Fighter Diet(man, we need to do a big guy again soon, I want to use that diet plan more...).

Equipment Needed:
Chinup Bar
Towel
Newspaper

Cardio:
Level 1(beginner):
Walk at a brisk pace for thirty to forty minutes.  Make sure to keep your heart rate elevated.  Once this seems relatively easy, move on to level 2.
Level 2(intermediate):
Begin to work jogging into your walks.  Jog for a minute, walk for four.  Every five minutes stop and do twenty jumping jacks.  Keep increasing the jogging:walking ratio until your jogging for the whole half hour/forty minutes.
Level 3(Advanced):
Now you're going for speed.  See how many miles you can squeeze into your run.  Continue to stop every five minutes, but this time, instead of doing twenty jumping jacks, do ten burpees(without the jump or the pushup).
Level 4(Tomb Raider):
Still going for speed, but this time your burpees have a pushup when you hit the ground, and when you're coming up, instead of just standing, perform a tuck jump(jump as high as you can in the air and pull your knees to your chest).  Also, do fifteen instead of ten.

Strength: 
Level 1(beginner):
3x10 Chair-assisted pullups(palm away)
3x10 Kneeling pushups
3x10 Bodyweight squats
3x25 Crunches
3x1 Newspaper Crumples - Open a single sheet of newspaper completely.  Pinch one of the corners in one hand, and hold it straight out in front of you while standing, so it's hanging without touching anything.  Now, without touching the paper with your other hand, crumple it into a ball in the outstretched hand.  Repeat on the other side.  This is a basic hand strengthening exercise to get you ready for the next levels.

Level 2(Intermediate):
3x10 Pullups(palm away)
3x10 Pushups
3x10 Bodyweight squats
3x25 Bicycle crunches
3x30 Seconds chinup bar hangs - Just grab onto your chinup bar and hang free for thirty seconds.

Level 3(Advanced):
3x15 Pullups(palm away)
3x20 Pushups
3x10 Tuck jumps
3x50 Bicycle crunches
3x30 Seconds towel hangs - Drap a towel over your chinup bar, grab onto either end, and hang for thirty seconds

Level 4(Tomb Raider):
5x20 Towel Pullups - Like your towel hangs from before, but do pullups!
5x20 Clap Pushups - Push up fast and clap your hands!
5x20 Tuck Jumps
5x50 Bicycle crunches
5x30  Seconds leg lifts - lie on your back, hands at your sides, life your legs six inches off the ground, and hold 'em there.

Schedule:
Day 1: Cardio
Day 2: Strength
Day 3: Cardio
Day 4: Strength
Day 5: Cardio
Day 6: Strength
Day 7: Rest

Again, these workouts, along with all of my workouts, are a rough outline.  As you get more comfortable with them, and with exercising in general, feel free to shake things up and try new exercise substitutions.  Tomorrow we take a look at the skills of Lara Croft!  Until then, make sure to follow me on Twitter,  like the blog page on Facebook, hit up the Tumblr, and continue to be awesome!


Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace

Character Breakdown: Lara Croft

Name: Lara Croft
Games: Tomb Raider Series
Skills/Attributes:

• Resourceful
• Cool under pressure
• Witty
• Athletic
• Agile
• Marksman(bow and handguns)
• Observant
• Educated

This should be an interesting one!  We're going to be taking a look at Lara Croft, but the challenge will be merging the old teenage-boy's-polygonal-fantasy with the new realistic I'm-desperate-to-survive-but-I'll-still-kick-your-ass reboot.  For the purpose of the next few posts we're going to be considering BOTH to be canon(even though some series purists might disagree), and take the reboot as sort of a "prequel" to her other adventures on the small screen.

Lara Croft is, in many ways, a female version of Indiana Jones.  She's an adventure-seeking archaeologist, uncovering relics in dangerous tombs, leading a much more action-packed life that real-life archaeologists have assured us is not an accurate depiction of their career.  I'm pretty sure they're lying so the rest of us don't get jealous and jump into their profession.

At any rate, despite having giant triangle-boobs for most of her early console life, Lara is more than just a pretty face.  She's an educated scholar, in addition to being an expert marksman, equestrian, and rock climber.  She's also more than capable of taking care of herself in a fight.  In addition to all this, her new reboot reveals she operates well under pressure, even with the odds stacked against her.

In her workout segment, we're going to look to build an athletic, and all-around capable body, with strong upper body and hand strength for climbing and dual wielding pistols, as well as strong legs capable of carrying you across long gaps and through steep terrain.  In the skills section, we'll be taking a look at her personal arsenal, fighting style, and sundry exploration skills.  We'll also take a look at surviving in adverse conditions, much as we did with Udyr.

Finally, in the mind of Lara Croft, we'll explore the inner workings of curiosity and exploration, and how they can lead you both in an out of trouble, as well as helping you build a more fulfilling life.

That's all packed into the days to come, and I'm looking forward to tackling such an iconic character.  We continue tomorrow with the Lara Croft workout.  Until then, make sure to follow me on Twitter,  like the blog page on Facebook, hit up the Tumblr, and continue to be awesome!

Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace

Redesign incoming!

Hey folks, looking to do a new design for the blog, possibly even move to our own URL/host independent of Blogger.  Anything in particular you'd like to see improved/altered/included?  Leave a comment here or on The Facebook Page.