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dorminchu · 3 years

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WIPs [James Bond, Pokémon Lost Silver]

Wahey! Here are two mostly brand new scenes below the cut, just to prove I'm not dead! Note: Please view the post on the main page for correct formatting.

INSULT TO INJURY CHAPTER I: A THOUSAND DETAILS [REVISED]

Graduation from Oxford was a quick, unemotional affair. Madeleine had no extended family to invite—no one else of import, besides her short-term friends. The matter of her attendance was something to be addressed and then forgotten about. It was a little tragic. She tried not to let this show on her face when she had to make her commencement speech.

The ceremony went along as expected. Things were not as interesting when she could pretend her life was just as safe and boring as anyone else’s. As she was wrapping up an individual figure in the stands, no more remarkable than any other, caught her attention. It was an older man, perhaps in his early fifties, hidden partially behind sunglasses and a smart dress-hat. With a nauseating thrill she recognized his hat as well as his smile, the angles in his face a little more pronounced. To Madeleine it was like he was sneering. She did not let this discovery rattle her. If she hesitated it was on account of the crowd and her nerves and nothing else.

But when she was done, succeeded at the podium, she could only think: How long has he been standing there? Why didn’t I notice? They did not speak to one another, as it would surely draw unwanted attention. Not that it mattered. His presence was enough of an affront; why give him further opportunity to wound her pride by acknowledging him outright?

“I’m sorry,” she’d said to her roommate, “I’m really not feeling well. Just take me home.”

Even then, when she was perfectly alone, the memory of him took up residence where physical space would not permit. She tried to dredge up some residual emotions for the man who less so resembled a father and more an anonymous pen pal in recent years. Perhaps it was best for his pride if she continued to avoid him, rather than put him in a situation that would force him to admit his own daughter's indifference.

Her cotenants would be out for a while, glad to be around other normal people who didn’t skirt around crowded rooms, casing the doors and windows. Most of them, by now, thought Madeleine to be frigid, or else exceedingly studious. They’d given up a long time ago trying to invite her along on group dates—it was a losing proposition. She did not drink anything. She didn’t talk unless someone initiated and then she was perfectly reasonable. She would quietly, scrupulously vet what was offered. The other women were under the delusion that she was trying to compete with them, and the men were usually uncomfortable being scrutinised without a lick of pretence. Madeleine found it a little funny, but she was the only one.

So she didn’t mind being left behind. Most of the time. She looked around the room. It had served its purpose during her enrolment. Now it seemed intolerably small, like a holding cell. She had never thought about it this way before. Suddenly she wanted to be anywhere else.

At times such as these, she almost wished she hadn’t decided to go straight-edge—then, maybe, they would keep some alcohol in the flat. She had no friends she could call on without inviting scrutiny. The only other comparable colleague was Arnaud, a fellow Sociology major in her year. She found him tolerable enough to engage in polite conversation, though she did not want to give him or anyone else the wrong idea.

Or, hell, why not? She could use a drink.

⁂

Three years to that day, they were still talking. Well, her colleagues at Oxford would have likely referred to them as friends-with-benefits with a healthy measure of condescension—but this was misleading. It would imply some level of emotional investment. For Madeleine, he was a means of insurance. Whenever he turned up dead or missing, she’d know it was time to move on. Now, Madeleine was not completely heartless. She had taken Arnaud’s advice and transferred over to the 8th arrondissement, with the understanding that they would be rooming together. And Arnaud was easy to get along with and she could afford him the same courtesy. She had someone to come home to and he knew enough about her work ethic from their college years, and her demeanour, to not ask where she had been. She knew enough surface-level information about him that she could still keep up appearances with his friends, as well as her own colleagues at the office—to be discarded, once he outlived his purpose. The clinic was within walking distance from the flat. Open to the general public, rather than more exclusive clientele, but that suited her fine. Each day bled into the next and the seasons changed in rote, predictable manner. She’d go to bed and wake up thinking: Maybe today will be it. They’ll come to collect me. But it had been three years. The lack of apparent danger soon directed her thoughts towards various methods of escape. Usually, Madeleine found solace in identifying the root of other peoples' troubles; a faulty marriage brought on by substance abuse, or more permanent debts that could not be repaid so easily. Most were less extreme and involved simple conversations that were, in Madeleine’s view, no more impactful than the change in weather. She kept no photographs. She had a work computer that stayed in the office. She stuck to using burner phones. She did not discuss her life before Oxford or the Sorbonne with anyone. The only décor was a pot of faux flowers from an elder client; for her falsified birthday, of course. There was even a little hand-written note. The longer the pot stayed on her desk, the more disingenuous Madeleine felt. She'd investigated it a few times when she was alone, looking for wires, but never could prove her suspicions. She got rid of it anyway, just to be safe. The client never brought this up again but Madeleine could souse the hurt in her eyes the next time they met.

LOST SILVER: HIDDEN

Part of the wall had a give to it like rotting flesh. It caught on his fingers, porous and thin. Momentarily freed from the push of the unown Gold threw his body into the weak spot.

It didn’t stick to his skin but tore as like wet paper. Clean break.

Falling forwards into an empty void. Crashing on all-fours. The unown were gone. Ground had no texture but simply existed beneath him, impossibly smooth and cold. There was no light from the tunnel behind him. All the sound fell away from his ears. He felt himself screaming just to hear something but could only feel the physical strain in his lungs and throat. Unown frequency reached him through tinny speakers—overridden by static. He put his hands to his ears. It did not stop. He could feel the blood pounding in his head. Suddenly the tiny screen lit up. His hands caught on plastic. He clutched it desperately, staring into the harsh, inexplicable light of the LCD screen. A voice broke through static:

“Where do you think you are?”

Gold froze. He—

—falling forward again. Jerked out of time and space as though by an ally’s Teleport—familiar loss of footing followed by an abrupt solidity beneath his knees. Shock giving way to nausea. The last time he’d teleported anywhere was at the behest of the old guy who wouldn’t take no for an answer, and his abra, back at Indigo Plateau. He doubled over. His chest felt tight. He began dry-heaving, desperate for air—the serrated, raw feeling in his throat and chest told him he’d been screaming.

Dry, dusty earth beneath his fingers was baked over. The fresh air he drew into his lungs tasted warm. It was dusk. A thin layer of perspiration on his face and his palms. His stomach settled gradually into queasiness. He didn’t remember teleporting or what he had been doing before his arrival. He couldn’t recall why he was here, either.

“Hey, kid. Finally awake?”

Gold blinked. He straightened himself out and tried not to look as shaken up as he felt. The man in a lab coat and glasses looked down at him impatiently.

“We’ve been waiting for the last hour.”

Gold had no idea how to respond. His legs were shaky. He held up a hand to wave off any attempts at sympathy. “Teleport,” he got out hoarsely.

The man scoffed. “I don’t need an apology. I’ve got all the notes on my desk about what to expect down there. Nothing a tough guy like you can’t handle. We’ll be inside whenever you’re ready.”

The aide was nicer. “Gold, right? Prof. Oak’s told me about you.” She looked around his age, maybe a couple years younger. Her hair was dyed an intense shade of blue and pulled into twin ponytails. She was dressed for the season—just a pair of bright yellow athletic shorts and sleeveless red shirt, white jacket. Her body was toned—Gold had the fleeting thought that she could have been his twin, but her accent struck him as native to Kanto. She had her own POKéGEAR, too; clipped neatly on her bag, rather than on her wrist.

“Oh, uh—has he?”

“Only good stuff, don’t worry.” She extended a hand. “You can call me Kris. That other guy is Mr. Ito.”

They shook. Her gloveless hand was warm and soft, which surprised him. Gold noticed her belt—two standard pokéballs, a moon ball and a lure ball respectively. “You’re a trainer, too?”

“I’m more of a researcher. Lately I’ve been working on the Unown Mode feature of the POKéDEX. We’ll have to set yours up first, before you go down there.” She reached out towards the ‘DEX at his hip, suddenly very businesslike. Gold hesitated. She smirked. “What? I’m not gonna screw it up, I’ve done this enough times by now.”

“I never said—”

Kris inclined her head without waiting for an excuse. With a sigh, Gold handed over the POKéDEX. Kris walked over to the nearby desk. She clicked on a lamp and studied the screen for a few seconds. She whistled. “Wow! They weren’t kidding. Two-hundred and fifty on—” Mr. Ito clicked his tongue and she scowled “—yeah, okay.” She toggled through the settings with an air of aggression that suggested this was not the first time she’d been reprimanded. Gold’s amusement was undercut by the hope she didn’t break any of the buttons. Then again, he knew from firsthand experience that it could take a lot of punishment. “You’re pretty handy with that.”

#wip #lost silver #james bond #trainer gold #trainer kris #madeleine swann #mr white #for like a second #original characters #fanfic #fanfiction #writing #slight tone dissonance

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lavendermiilk · 4 years

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HIT, HIIT…or HIIRT? – Theory To Practice

“To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe

The ARXFit Alpha providing this particular session’s HIIRT train caboose. Huh…

Curious as to what the differences are between HIT, HIIT and HIIRT? Well, what follows are what I consider to be the high points. Tomes could be written on the similarities between these methodologies, but I think the following gives a pretty good overview.

First, a couple of definitions:

HIT – High Intensity Training: The area covered by the overarching umbrella of classic High Intensity Training (HIT) is wide indeed, including such broad-stroke methodologies as classic, single-set-to-failure HIT, and various super-slow routines. Included too, are all manner of TUL (time under load), repetition tempo, and rest period manipulations. Methodologies here are largely those popularized by Arthur Jones (of Nautilus fame) and bodybuilding’s Mike Mentzer.

Note: for info on “training to failure” see this post.

HIIT – High Intensity Interval Training: Most studies on classic High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) focus on only sprint (running) and/or cycle sprint sessions, because that’s what’s available and most easily studied in a lab setting. A good article summarizing HIIT, and its positive effects, here.

HIIRT – High Intensity Interval Resistance Training: At it’s most basic, HIIRT is a powerful burst of output (typically 20 – 80 seconds), followed by a scaled rest period. Wash, rinse, repeat. Think HIIT Tabata sprints — but with heavy resistance exercises. Brief, brutal and basic are key words here. I’ve fused elements of CrossFit, and the work of folks such as Scott Abel, Istavan Javorek, and Joel Jamieson (in addition to whole slew of others) — along with my own, 35+ years-in-the-trenches experience — to create my own methodology. Hints of HIT? You know it. Shades of HIIT? Yeah, that too. I come from a background of slinging iron as a way of bettering performance on the track and on the gridiron. I came of age in an atmosphere that knew no S&C dogma — if it worked, it worked, and that’s all that ultimately mattered. And that’s the credo I operate by today.

HIT, HIIT, or HIIRT — what’s the difference?

Generally speaking, the distinction lay in the overall intent of each individual “set” (or output burst). HIT attempts to attain total muscular failure (within an allotted time window) in the targeted musculature, whereas HIIT and HIIRT attempt to attain as many repetitions (or highest cumulative work or power output) as possible within a set, or established time period. With HIT, each exercise is generally performed once through, to failure. In HIIT or HIIRT, an exercise may be performed 2, 3 or even many more times within a workout. I say “generally” here because there is much overlapping and gray area within these methodologies. HIIT is definitely a conditioning-biased protocol — i.e., Metabolic Conditioning, or MetCon, for short — whereas we can consider HIIRT a hybrid of both HIT and HIIT. And a HIIRT session may be, depending upon how it is set up, strength, hypertrophy, or MetCon (strength endurance) biased. Confused? Don’t be; this will all make sense soon enough.

Can you give an example?

Sure. Here’s an example of what I consider to be a classic HIIRT workout: six distinct exercises, 3 upper body dominant exercises alternated with 3 lower body dominant, all set in a circuit format. Each exercise is performed all-out, full-bore (as many reps or the most force and/or power developed as possible) for 1 full minute. Then, rest for 1 full minute before beginning the next exercise in succession. Wash, rinse and repeat. Each exercise will be performed twice during the 2-round duration of the workout. If you’re doing the math, we’ve got 24 minutes worth of work and rest here. Even allowing for some degree of spillover, we can still get this workout done in 30 minutes. Brief, brutal, basic…and extremely effective. Consider this scenario:

(A1) Tbar swings (A2) Powermax 360 push-pull/cross-punch (30 secs each exercise, shift on the fly) (A3) ARXFit leg press (A4) ARXFit flat press (A5) Reverse lunge iso hold with dumbbell curls (30 secs each leg, shift on the fly) (A6) Blast strap rows

The actual exercises are not so important at this juncture; what is important is the overall workout setup. I could crank the intensity up a notch here by reducing the rest period between each exercise to say 45 or even 30 seconds, by bumping-up the work period, or by increasing the exercise resistance. By virtue of me using resistance exercises here I’ve just morphed a classic HIIT setup (which could have used sprints, hops, jumps, bodyweight exercises, etc.) into a resistance-based interval circuit, or HIIRT, with, in this example, a decidedly MetCon (metabolic conditioning) bias.

So achieving total muscular failure is not a goal of a HIIRT session?

Not necessarily. Remember when I said that there are no hard lines of distinction between these various protocols? Consider the following, more strength/hypertrophy-biased (as opposed to the previous example’s MetCon-biased), upper body emphasis HIIRT workout:

(A1) OmniFit pec flye x 5 hyper reps (A2) Leverage machine flat press (negative emphasis, to failure), 50X0 (A3) Bent over row 20X0, 7 reps short pause, 7 more reps

(B1) Hip press with bands, (negative emphasis, to failure), 50X0 (B2) Russian leg curls 30X0, 7 reps short pause, 7 more reps

Notice the very HIT-like feel of the flat press and hip press execution.

*note: the (for example) 30X0 annotation denotes the exercise repetition tempo in the eccentric, pause, concentric, pause format. 30X0 would, therefore, be performed with a 3 second negative, followed by no pause leading into a fast-as-possible concentric, with an immediate return to the subsequent negative. Note, too, that there is a profound difference between “exploding” into the concentric portion of a movement, and “jerking” into the motion. There is a time and place for ballistic, “jerking” movements for sure — just not with this protocol.

Two rounds of each can certainly be accomplished in 30 minutes if the rest period between exercises is held sufficiently brief (i.e., less than 1 minute). Extending the rest period will require eliminating the pre-exhaust exercise (in this case, the OmniFit flye), which is fine, considering that if a client is not yet up to the fast-paced nature of the workout to begin with, they probably aren’t in need of a pre-exhaust anyway.

So what are the advantages of HIIRT vs other forms of training?

Well, what we’ve done at Efficient Exercise is essentially turn what would be considered a huge disadvantage (a 30-minute session time constraint) into a decided advantage for the client. Not only do Efficient Exercise clients need only invest an hour or so per week in the studio to achieve an optimum level of health, but that investment pays huge dividends when it comes to effective fat loss and muscle gain.

How does HIIRT maximize fat loss?

Well, there are many ways and associated reasons, but here are the main points to consider:

The bottom line? In order to maximize fat loss, we must elevate growth hormone secretion, minimize insulin spikes, improve muscle insulin sensitivity, and keep cortisol under control. This is best achieved by keeping training sessions brief, brutal, basic and intermittent.

The other side of the coin is, of course, muscle gain. To induce muscle growth we must stimulate protein synthesis in muscle tissue. Protein synthesis is initiated by an exercise/movement that most effectively:

And the take-home message is this: Recruit and fatigue as many muscle fibers as possible, as fast as possible, and ensure adequate post-workout recovery and nutrition following the workouts. Remember, exercise ought to be considered a high-amplitude signal that subsequently affects the body’s on-going, anabolic hormonal milieu. Too much is too much; too little is too little. Profound, I know — and yet it is so very true.

So how do we get these two processes to work hand-in-hand, creating an anabolic environment for muscle growth, while at the same time forcing the body to use fat stores to help meet energy demands?

Note: diet plays a HUGE role here as well. The focus of this section, though, is exercise protocol selection.

1. Stimulate muscle growth with compound exercises, performed for 6-20 repetitions to failure (if strength/hypertrophy is sought), or for max work or power output (if MetCon biased).

The repetition range, together with the execution tempo, will determine the nature of muscle fiber recruitment. We want to recruit, tax and fully exhaust as many fibers as possible, including slow twitch, intermediate, and fast-twitch fibers. As with all strength exercises, slow twitch fibers are recruited first, then as the muscles fatigue, intermediate and finally fast twitch fibers are recruited if and only if the set is continued until fatigue sets in.

Muscle growth is best achieved when the exercises are performed with controlled eccentric movements and continuous tension. Make an effort to minimize momentum unless the nature of the exercise dictates otherwise.

2. Improve insulin sensitivity by performing a sufficient volume of work.

Multiple (2 or 3) sets performed within the 6-20 repetition range is best for depleting muscle glycogen (and stimulating protein synthesis). During HIIRT training, muscle glycogen is broken down at a rapid rate, which results in improved muscle insulin sensitivity and increased LPL (lipoprotein lipase) activity on muscle tissue, causing nutrients to be preferentially partitioned towards muscle tissue. Insulin sensitivity increases on muscle cells when glycogen stores are low. When this occurs, nutrients are partitioned into the muscle tissue and fat stores are broken down.

3. Increases in testosterone.

4. Maximize GH production with short rest interval HIIRT circuits.

GH is most effectively released performing strength circuits where both upper and lower body muscles are fully taxed, and keeping rest intervals short.

HIIRT leads to a significant drop in blood pH (via the rapid breakdown of glycogen and subsequent release of hydrogen ions), which in turn triggers increased production in GH.

An interesting aside: contrary to popular belief, it’s not lactic acid that causes muscle burn; this is actually the result of lowered blood pH creating an acidic environment, thereby resulting in that old, familiar, muscle burn and fatigue. The brain senses the situation and increases output of GH.

We know that testosterone is important for recovery, shedding fat and building muscle — but what’s so great about growth hormone?

Plenty. GH has been shown to stimulate fat breakdown (lipolysis), increase the utilization of fat, and decrease the use of carbohydrate as fuel. GH has beneficial effects on muscle mass, bone density, body fat, and it can help reverse some of the age-related changes in lean body mass (sarcopenea).

GH has also been shown to act as a suppressive on myostatin. And myostatin, you may remember, inhibits muscle growth and is a negative regulator of muscle tissue. Higher GH release means lower myostatin expression; lower myostatin can result in increased anabolic activity and an increase in androgen receptor expression.

Research shows that circuit strength training (and high intensity sprint training) are both effective methods for naturally elevating GH secretion in healthy adults. It is my opinion that these effects can be greatly enhanced by adding a resistance exercise element — HIIRT — to the mix.

*Also*: please check out my post ARXFit, and the Perfect Rep. Because all of this methodology is less-than-effective unless the basic building blocks are solidified. And yes, ARXFit for sure enables a perfect repetition, but the lessons learned here can for sure be applied to conventional exercise methods.

Heal thyself, hone thyself, change the world – Keith

This content was originally published here.

from https://makingthebest.com/hit-hiit-or-hiirt-theory-to-practice/

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kylo-ren-writes · 5 years

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Pumpkin, Part ?

Pairing: Kylo Ren x Reader

Request: @df841 requested:

“Hi, so I was re-reading Pumpkin right now and it still has me all giddy with the feels. And I was wondering if you could write something with them during the holidays. Where the reader never expected to meet her love in a pumpkin patch, and the holidays are coming up. Like always, Kylo is sort of a Grinch about it, but he'll do anything to make you happy. Choosing out a Christmas tree, wearing an ugly sweater, making cookies. Pleeaasse 🎅 ❄ ❄ 🎄 🤶 😊This would be awesome❤💚”

Warnings: fluff.

A/N: Fun fact! I don’t particularly like Christmas either, so I feel Kylo’s pain! haha. Me being lazy and not bothering to look at which part this is supposed to be. I still haven’t finished the last one I was working on, oops... But anyway, merry Christmas to you all! And I hope you enjoy! Also you don’t have to read the other parts to read this one. (gif not mine!)

Nearly two months had passed since you had unexpectedly met the love of your life. Is that too dramatic? Probably, but you couldn’t be happier! Nor can you help it or would want to.

No, you never expected to fall so in love with the arrogant stranger from the pumpkin patch and for that one date with the stranger to go so well. But yet, here you were, living in Kylo’s apartment (since he basically forced you to move in, although, you were very willing to be that much more closer to him) with your very first Christmas together coming up fast.

It’s all very surreal for you and even odd. Never before have you been so captivated by one individual person. Especially a man, not that you had anything against men. They just all somehow seemed to be the same to you and even... boring? But not Kylo.

Kylo couldn’t be compared to anyone, or at least that’s how you view him. And no you don’t care if it is biased.

With Christmas coming up so fast, you already have a list of every holiday themed activity that you want to do with him. You know Kylo will hate every minute of it, because for some reason the man hates holiday’s, but you also know that he loves to make you happy. So, you will definitely (and unashamedly) use it to your advantage.

The door to the bathroom opens and Kylo steps into the bedroom from the shower he has just taken. A towel is wrapped around his hips with water dripping from the ends of his nearly shoulder length hair onto the wood floor.

You smile up at him as you look up from the list of Christmasy things in your hand, an already suspicious look on Kylo’s handsome features.

“What is that?” Kylo asks as he turns towards the dresser that holds his underwear.

“Oh this?” You muse as you lift it up. “It’s a list...”

Kylo pulls off his towel and pulls on a pair of black underwear to replace it, giving you a wonderful view of what lies beneath for a few very brief seconds.

“A list?” Kylo turns to you as he lifts the towel to dry his hair, leaving the rest of his body bare open to your stares.

Even though you are used to Kylo’s body, it never fails to mesmerize you every time you get to see it.

You shrug nonchalantly at him with a sly smile lifting the corners of your mouth. “It’s a Christmas list of all the things I want to do with you. Like what we did for Halloween...”

Kylo’s immediate reaction is to groan, a deep, pained sound emitting from his throat. You can’t help but chuckle at the sound, smiling even more brightly.

“Why do you like to torture me?” Kylo asks as he approaches the bed. His large, heavy body is plopped down in front of you within seconds. His weight makes your body bounce the slightest.

You lift a brow. “Why don’t you like holidays? Literally everyone likes holidays or at least one holiday.”

Kylo scoffs, and you’re sure that he just rolled his eyes, but his grumpiness is too adorable to make you actually upset with him.

“Fair enough.”

The first activity you make Kylo do is bake Christmas cookies with you. It’s also where you learn that Kylo hates sugar cookies because they’re “too sweet” and have “more calories in them then they are worth.”

Okay, sure, man of muscle. But then again, you suppose he didn’t get so nicely built from eating sugar cookies. Yet still, it is (almost) Christmas after all! It’s the time of the year where it isn’t supposed to matter what you eat.

After you had pointed that all out to him, he had kindly told you that he was letting you have them. You only snorted.

While the cookies baked, you managed to coax Kylo to indulge in hot chocolate with you. He wouldn’t accept any marshmallows, although, you were secretly fine with that. More for you.

Next came the ugly Christmas sweaters that you had managed to find in a mall for 20% off. They were both bright shades of red and green with sprawled messages over the front of “Ho ho ho,” and “merry Christmas!”. Yours had Santa Claus on it and Kylo’s had a reindeer on his, because it was adorable and you couldn’t help yourself.

Convincing Kylo to wear the damn thing though was probably the hardest feat yet. Actually, convincing Kylo to do anything that he didn’t want to do was difficult.

But all it took was a pouted lip and soft, doe eyes to get Kylo to relent. He grumbled, glaring at the ugly, knit sweater as he unbuttoned his black dress shirt. When it was on, you squealed and jumped up and down with glee, grinning at the miserable man before you.

You forced yourself not to laugh at Kylo’s displeasure, and instead wrapped your arms around his neck in a hug instead.

“Thank you, Kylo,” you had muttered. “It means a lot to me.”

You couldn’t see what his expression was, but it had softened into the tiniest of smiles, and Kylo hugged you back.

The last thing you managed to get Kylo to do with you, other than watching horrible (as Kylo says) Christmas movies and decorating your shared apartment together, was picking out a Christmas tree!

It is the thing you are most excited to do, and something you are sure Kylo shouldn’t mind too much. Unless of course if the man decides he can’t stand a little cold, winter air. But knowing him, he will probably complain about it.

Kylo is the one driving the two of you to the tree farm you had googled the night before. It’s only twenty minutes outside of the city, and you’ve got a venti Starbucks hot chocolate to keep yourself warm.

“I’m so excited!” You exclaim, grinning at him. “This has to be my favourite part of Christmas.”

“You’ve said that about everything we’ve done,” Kylo says flatly. His focus is on the road.

You roll your eyes. “Yeah, but this is my favourite. Out of everything.”

“Still.”

“Kylo.”

“Yes?”

“Stop being such a grinch,” you say, your voice flat yet still amused.

Even though Kylo isn’t looking at you, you can still see his eyes roll. It makes you smile.

When Kylo pulls the car up to the tree farm and into a parking space, you’re practically opening the car door before he can actually park.

There are plenty of people around; Children race around, playing in the snow while their parents find the right tree; Young and older couples leisurely walk around, taking their time as they decide. It feels even more special watching them all and makes you even more excited.

“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!” You chant like an excited child, opening your door. You don’t hear the heavy sigh that leaves Kylo’s mouth as you leave him behind.

All of the beautiful trees before you are practically mesmerizing, leaving you with your mouth hanging open and a twinkle to your eye. If it weren’t for the obvious fact that you are grown up, you could probably pass as a child.

Kylo comes up behind you, an amused expression adorning his face. “I didn’t think we came all the way here for you to just gawk at them,” he teased.

You snapped out of it then, elbowing him and rolling your eyes. “It’s just so... beautiful,” you mutter.

“They’re trees,” Kylo says as he furrows his brows.

“But they are Christmas trees! That makes them special.”

Kylo’s arm wraps around your waist, pressing you close to his side as he urges you onward. “But of course.” His tone is sarcastic, but you ignore it.

There has to be hundreds of trees to choose from, all of them different sizes and heights. How were you going to decide, or rather, how were you going to find “the one.”

“How about that one?” Kylo points and you follow his direction, frowning at his choice: It’s lacking in branches and pine needles.

“It’s... a little bare,” you scrutinize.

Kylo takes in a breath and points at another. “Okay, that one then.”

The next tree he points at is leaning to the side, and it’s an off green colour. You frown, looking up at him. “Are you just trying to pick one so we can leave?”

“Maybe,” Kylo shrugs. He avoids your gaze.

You sigh. “Kylo. This is our first Christmas together... don’t you want it to be... special?”

Kylo stiffens beside you as you both leisurely walk around the trees. “I’m sorry...” He sighs. “Yes, of course I do.” He stops and turns to you, his free hand coming up to cup your face. “I know I have been--”

“A Grinch?” You grin at him, cutting him off.

“I was going to say difficult...” He frowns. “But yes, a Grinch. I’m sorry.”

You lift yourself up on your tip toes while you smile and kiss him, hands planted on his chest. Kylo kisses you back and presses you closer to him. “I love you Kylo,” you mumble. “Even though you hate holidays.”

Kylo chuckles lightly and pecks your lips. “I love you, too, and, you make holidays more bearable.”

The side of your mouth turns up in a smirk. “Even though I make you do holiday activities with me?”

“Yes, even though you insist on participating in tacky, holiday activities.”

You scoff and lightly slap his chest. ““Christmas isn’t tacky!” You defend.

“Sure it isn’t.” Kylo isn’t being viscous. An amused smile is adorning his handsome face while he teases you.

You roll your eyes. “Grinch.”

It takes you and Kylo exactly two hours and thirty minutes to find the perfect tree, something that wasn’t too short or too tall, or too thin. It was the perfect shade of green and it came with the fresh scent of pine that was going to liven up your living room for the next few weeks. You couldn’t wait to decorate it with Kylo, and yes you had already told him that he was going to help you.

The workers at the farm had processed and loaded the tree up to your car without you or Kylo having to do any work. Now you just had to get it home safely, which wasn’t going to be a problem since the weather was so beautiful today.

Kylo surprisingly wasn’t grumpy at all on the drive back. He held your hand and there was a comfortable silence between the two of you. It felt nice, sweet. Your first Christmas together was going to be something you remembered for forever.

When you and Kylo arrived home to your shared apartment, it was a bit of a hassle to bring the tree up. Thank the lord the building has a working elevator, but getting the tree inside without wrecking it was a bit of work and careful maneuvering. But the two of you managed.

Now, the tree is situated in your apartment in front of the large window over-looking the city. It stands beautiful, but bare. The ornaments and lights you had bought a week prior out of anticipation sit unboxed in front of it.

In the kitchen, Kylo is making the two of you hot chocolate while you mentally plan where you want to hang everything. You couldn’t be more excited and you want him to hurry up, because this is something you must do together.

“Kylo! Hurry up!” You call out to him as you untangle some of the lights.

Kylo makes an unintelligible noise from the kitchen before he walks out minutes later, two steaming mugs of hot chocolate in both of his large hands. He hands you one. “Careful, it’s hot.”

You take a cautious sip and sigh in delight before setting the mug down onto the coffee table, and urge him over. “You will have to do the upper portion of the tree and I’ll do the bottom,” you instruct him.

“I’ve never put up a tree before,” Kylo says as he picks up one end of the lights.

Your eyes widen the slightest as you pick up the other end. “What? Why?” How could anyone go through Christmas without a Christmas tree? It was unheard of to you.

Kylo shrugs. “Since I moved out of my parents’ house, I mean. Although, I’m sure you can guess why.” He smirks.

“Because you are the actual Grinch?” You quip, smirking back at him as you begin to drape the lights over the bottom branches of the tree.

Kylo helps you as you work your way up. “Holidays just don’t do it for me. They’re depressing, really.”

You frown. “They don’t have to be. Not when you are with the right people.”

“True,” he simply says.

Kylo takes over hanging the lights once you hit the mid point of the tree, and a comfortable silence falls between you.

The decorations are next.

“These are so pretty,” you comment as you gaze down at a cute reindeer ornament. You had gotten it and the other decorations at the same time as the ugly Christmas sweaters. Speaking of which, you were wearing yours right now.

Kylo doesn’t comment but he nods, wordlessly hanging various different decorations up on the tree. It doesn’t take long with the two of you, and within twenty minutes, you’re ready to add the last touch, the star. Or, well, Kylo will have to do it. The top of the tree is too tall for you to possibly do it without a chair.

“Quick, add the star!” You exclaim excitedly as you hand the golden thing over to him.

Kylo grunts, and does, and you squeal out of delight, earning a look from the Grinch that now stands at your side after he backs away from the tree.

You cling yourself to Kylo’s arm, squeezing the muscle as you beam at yours and his hard work.

You’re both looking at the tree, admiring it. It’s all lit up with all of the beautiful decorations and the star.

“I love it,” you whisper.

Kylo turns his head down to gaze at you, a small smile lifting up the corners of his mouth. He loves seeing you happy as much as he loves making you happy. Kylo wraps both arms around you, nuzzling his face into your hair.

You giggle and press your face into his chest. “Thank you Kylo for doing all of this with me. I means so much to me.”

Kylo smirks. “Of course. Just like I said earlier today, you make Christmas more bearable.”

Your arms wrap around his waist as you roll your eyes for the twentieth time today. “Well, I’m happy that you at least aren’t as miserable as you seem to be,” you tease.

However, even though he knows you’re teasing, Kylo frowns the slightest. “... I’m not miserable... I actually don’t mind... doing all of this stuff with you. It’s nice, actually.”

You fake gasp, mocking surprise. “Really? You mean to say that you, Kylo Ren, known Grinch impersonator, is enjoying Christmas?”

This time Kylo rolls his eyes. “Only because of you.”

“Right.” You giggle, lifting your hand up to cup his angular jaw. “Or maybe because your heart is actually bigger than you like to pretend it is.”

Kylo shakes his head, smiling. “Maybe.”

You hug him tightly, overcome with all of the loving emotions you feel for this man. “Oh, I love you so much, Kylo! Meeting you was one of the best things that has ever happened to me.”

“One of?” Kylo smirks.

“The best.”

Kylo seems satisfied with that answer as he hugs you to him, nuzzling his nose into your hair. “Merry Christmas, Y/N.”

You smile into his chest, the happiest you have ever been, with the man you love more than anything in the entire world.

“Merry Christmas, Kylo.”

#kylo ren #kylo ren x reader #kylo ren fanfic #kylo ren fanfiction #kylo ren imagines #kylo x reader #kylo ren x you #kylo ren imagine #kylo fanfiction #kylo fic #kylo ren au #christmas au #pumpkin fic #kylo ren star wars #star wars kylo ren #star wars au #star wars imagine #star wars fan fiction

83 notes · View notes

thekrazykeke · 7 years

Text

Don’t Deserve You

Fandom(s): DCEU, Suicide Squad

Relationship(s): Rick Flag x reader

Summary: Right and wrong, good and evil. They’re all pointless concepts created by ignorant humans who didn’t understand that everything in life isn’t black and white, but shades of grey. Or alternatively, the reader reluctantly enlists an estranged relative’s help against an obsessed stalker.

Warning(s): Slow burn. Obsessive character(s). Eventual romance and smut. Angst. Pre-Suicide Squad.

Tagging: @lovelylittlekittn @punkrockwxnnabe @whyarentyoulaughingj (if anyone else wants to be tagged, just let me know)

It was early morning dawn. The sun had yet to rise over the clouds and walking down the darkened streets with an unhurried gait was a rather plain looking male dressed like an office worker in a white button down, beige slacks, and dress shoes, he was carrying a rectangular package. Pausing at the end of the street corner, with careful steps, he walked up the stairs of an apartment complex, gently sat the package down before knocking three times on the door marked 2305 B.

There was no answer.

Brows pulling together, he knocked again, a little harder. Waited for another few minutes but there still wasn’t an answer. Looking to the right and to the left, he tried to peek through the windows but the dark curtains obscured everything from view. Leaning away from the glass windowpane, tapping his fingers against his thighs, sucking on his teeth, he bobbed his head up and down shallowly. Okay, no one was home, no one would be able to enjoy his gift. So he’d just check back later. No big deal. Although he reassured himself, he all but stomped back down the stairs, retreating back the way that he came with a more frustrated air, shoulders hunched. Five, ten, fifteen minutes passed before the curtains fluttered a bit, and (e/c) eyes could be seen peeking around, trying to take in the surroundings. Another ten minutes passed before the door cracked open a bit and a copper skinned arm shot out, snagged the package and the door was quickly shut again.

‘Call GCPD. Call the Commissioner, like he said to.’

Pacing back and forth, form vibrating with restless energy, periodically, you glanced at the parcel which sat innocently on the living room floor, unopened. Biting your fingernails, growing increasingly anxious about what the next course of action should be, you flinch when there was knocking on your door. Three soft knocks and then three firmer ones after you didn’t answer. Ducking behind the couch, you covered your hand with your mouth, trying to remain quiet, far too aware that someone, a man, was trying to peer through your window and see if you were there.

‘I should have left the package outside.’

Again, there were more knocks, followed by the man leaving his finger pressed on the doorbell, so that it let out a continuous, irritating buzz sound. After two minutes of this, you knew you couldn’t just sit there. Heart pounding in your chest, you silently begged for him to go away, get bored and leave you alone.

“Y/N. Open the door, okay? I won’t hurt you. I just want to talk.”

Determinedly holding your silence, you carefully lowered your hands so that it was flat against the floor, raising onto your haunches. There was more knocking, though it actually sounded like he was pounding on the door now and trying to turn the knob; that was your cue. You sprinted into your bedroom just as the individual punched a hole through the door, reaching a hand in to try and open the lock.

Slamming your bedroom door shut, then locking it, you then shove your dresser in front of the door, briskly walking over to the bedroom window before easing it open. You could hear the stranger trying to get into the bedroom so you stepped a foot out onto the fire escape, putting a little weight on it to make it go down quickly. The sound of the dresser scraping against the bedroom floor made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and you hurriedly began running down the fire escape steps. Bare feet touch the cold asphalt and you can’t even register any of that as you run as fast and hard as you can away from your apartment.

You do not pay attention to the man yelling for you to come back. Eventually, you come across a diner and the elderly woman, about to start her shift, takes one look at your attire, how panicked and out of sorts you are, before inviting you inside, she makes a pot of tea, then offers a cup to you, which you gladly take, sipping the hot liquid carefully while surveying the area.

“Do you have a cellphone I can use?”

On the flip phone, in an empty diner except for a kind old lady, you do not dial the number for Gotham’s Police Department, but someone with real power to actually do something to protect you. It’s nearly seven in the morning when a single black sedan pulls up in the driveway of the diner.

There is routine to his behaviors. He arrives at A.R.G.U.S. HQ precisely at 0700, greets and exchanges some war stories with the security personnel, Jonathan, for ten minutes. Then has a doughnut and lounges with expensive cup of coffee for half an hour in the break room, sipping his beverage and occasionally sharing a ‘hello’ or two with the techies and scientists. He isn’t required for duty until 0900 at the least. As a creature of habit, he does not like his patterns to be changed at all, unless it’s necessary.

Yet, here he sits, in a plush chair, in the office of who he deems to the Devil’s wife, Amanda Waller. Rick had only met her once, during the hiring process, when his superiors advised him against working for the woman. Meeting her again was a little disconcerting, especially since he hadn’t even had a cup of coffee and his brain felt muddled because the current assignment she’d just issued, well, it just wasn’t registering.

“I think that I misunderstood what you just said, ma’am.” The words came out sounding faint, which wasn’t his intention, as any sign of being anything but firm and in control, would have Waller taking advantage.

“Flag, let me be clear. This is an assignment you are not allowed to refuse.” Waller’s features were expressionless as always. “Protect your charge, keep her safe. Don’t underestimate her just because she’s a civilian.”

Incredulity swept through him but before he could say anything, you did. “Um, excuse you? I’m sitting right here. I have a voice, rights and opinions. Recruiting your lapdog to protect me is an errand in failure. We’re not doing this.”

Gritting his teeth, Rick tried to speak again. “Now, wait just a damn minute–”

Amanda cut him off. Again. “I respect you have rights and opinions, but because you keep making the wrong choices, I’ve elected to revoke those rights and reject your opinions.”

“You can’t do that!”

“It’s already done. Case closed.” Making a cutting motion with her hand, she silenced you and you sulked in your seat. “As I was saying, Flag, this is a mission you’re not allowed to refuse. Protecting Y/N is your number one priority. You will live together, sleep together…” For some reason, Rick felt his neck become uncomfortably warm. “Be the picturesque newlywed couple living the suburban dream until Andrew Lehman is apprehended and behind bars. If either of you step one toe outside of those mission specs, then you will not like the consequences.”

Glowering at the woman, you slowly stood from your seat. “I fucking hate you.”

Gaping, Rick watched as you strode out of the room, quietly shutting the door. Looking back at his boss, he croaked out, “Who was that, exactly?” No one had the balls to talk back to Waller, let alone curse at her.

Amanda rubbed at her temples delicately. The silence dragged on for a lengthy amount of time, just as it started to get uncomfortable and he was about to leave too, she spoke, sounding, dare he think it, exhausted. “My younger cousin.”

His entire world view shifted.

#dc #rick flag #dc imagine #rick flag imagine #black reader #rick flag x reader #suicide squad imagine #suicide squad #thekrazykeke

127 notes · View notes

txny-archxr · 4 years

Text

HIT, HIIT…or HIIRT? – Theory To Practice

“To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe

The ARXFit Alpha providing this particular session’s HIIRT train caboose. Huh…

First, a couple of definitions:

Note: for info on “training to failure” see this post.

HIT, HIIT, or HIIRT — what’s the difference?

Can you give an example?

So achieving total muscular failure is not a goal of a HIIRT session?

(A1) OmniFit pec flye x 5 hyper reps (A2) Leverage machine flat press (negative emphasis, to failure), 50X0 (A3) Bent over row 20X0, 7 reps short pause, 7 more reps

(B1) Hip press with bands, (negative emphasis, to failure), 50X0 (B2) Russian leg curls 30X0, 7 reps short pause, 7 more reps

Notice the very HIT-like feel of the flat press and hip press execution.

So what are the advantages of HIIRT vs other forms of training?

How does HIIRT maximize fat loss?

Well, there are many ways and associated reasons, but here are the main points to consider:

So how do we get these two processes to work hand-in-hand, creating an anabolic environment for muscle growth, while at the same time forcing the body to use fat stores to help meet energy demands?

Note: diet plays a HUGE role here as well. The focus of this section, though, is exercise protocol selection.

1. Stimulate muscle growth with compound exercises, performed for 6-20 repetitions to failure (if strength/hypertrophy is sought), or for max work or power output (if MetCon biased).

2. Improve insulin sensitivity by performing a sufficient volume of work.

3. Increases in testosterone.

4. Maximize GH production with short rest interval HIIRT circuits.

GH is most effectively released performing strength circuits where both upper and lower body muscles are fully taxed, and keeping rest intervals short.

HIIRT leads to a significant drop in blood pH (via the rapid breakdown of glycogen and subsequent release of hydrogen ions), which in turn triggers increased production in GH.

We know that testosterone is important for recovery, shedding fat and building muscle — but what’s so great about growth hormone?

Heal thyself, hone thyself, change the world – Keith

This content was originally published here.

from https://makingthebest.com/hit-hiit-or-hiirt-theory-to-practice/

0 notes

otaku-douchebag-ponytail · 4 years

Text

HIT, HIIT…or HIIRT? – Theory To Practice

“To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe

The ARXFit Alpha providing this particular session’s HIIRT train caboose. Huh…

First, a couple of definitions:

Note: for info on “training to failure” see this post.

HIT, HIIT, or HIIRT — what’s the difference?

Can you give an example?

So achieving total muscular failure is not a goal of a HIIRT session?

(A1) OmniFit pec flye x 5 hyper reps (A2) Leverage machine flat press (negative emphasis, to failure), 50X0 (A3) Bent over row 20X0, 7 reps short pause, 7 more reps

(B1) Hip press with bands, (negative emphasis, to failure), 50X0 (B2) Russian leg curls 30X0, 7 reps short pause, 7 more reps

Notice the very HIT-like feel of the flat press and hip press execution.

So what are the advantages of HIIRT vs other forms of training?

How does HIIRT maximize fat loss?

Well, there are many ways and associated reasons, but here are the main points to consider:

So how do we get these two processes to work hand-in-hand, creating an anabolic environment for muscle growth, while at the same time forcing the body to use fat stores to help meet energy demands?

Note: diet plays a HUGE role here as well. The focus of this section, though, is exercise protocol selection.

1. Stimulate muscle growth with compound exercises, performed for 6-20 repetitions to failure (if strength/hypertrophy is sought), or for max work or power output (if MetCon biased).

2. Improve insulin sensitivity by performing a sufficient volume of work.

3. Increases in testosterone.

4. Maximize GH production with short rest interval HIIRT circuits.

GH is most effectively released performing strength circuits where both upper and lower body muscles are fully taxed, and keeping rest intervals short.

HIIRT leads to a significant drop in blood pH (via the rapid breakdown of glycogen and subsequent release of hydrogen ions), which in turn triggers increased production in GH.

We know that testosterone is important for recovery, shedding fat and building muscle — but what’s so great about growth hormone?

Heal thyself, hone thyself, change the world – Keith

This content was originally published here.

from https://makingthebest.com/hit-hiit-or-hiirt-theory-to-practice/

0 notes

the-yaoi-galla · 4 years

Text

HIT, HIIT…or HIIRT? – Theory To Practice

“To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe

The ARXFit Alpha providing this particular session’s HIIRT train caboose. Huh…

First, a couple of definitions:

Note: for info on “training to failure” see this post.

HIT, HIIT, or HIIRT — what’s the difference?

Can you give an example?

So achieving total muscular failure is not a goal of a HIIRT session?

(A1) OmniFit pec flye x 5 hyper reps (A2) Leverage machine flat press (negative emphasis, to failure), 50X0 (A3) Bent over row 20X0, 7 reps short pause, 7 more reps

(B1) Hip press with bands, (negative emphasis, to failure), 50X0 (B2) Russian leg curls 30X0, 7 reps short pause, 7 more reps

Notice the very HIT-like feel of the flat press and hip press execution.

So what are the advantages of HIIRT vs other forms of training?

How does HIIRT maximize fat loss?

Well, there are many ways and associated reasons, but here are the main points to consider:

So how do we get these two processes to work hand-in-hand, creating an anabolic environment for muscle growth, while at the same time forcing the body to use fat stores to help meet energy demands?

Note: diet plays a HUGE role here as well. The focus of this section, though, is exercise protocol selection.

1. Stimulate muscle growth with compound exercises, performed for 6-20 repetitions to failure (if strength/hypertrophy is sought), or for max work or power output (if MetCon biased).

2. Improve insulin sensitivity by performing a sufficient volume of work.

3. Increases in testosterone.

4. Maximize GH production with short rest interval HIIRT circuits.

GH is most effectively released performing strength circuits where both upper and lower body muscles are fully taxed, and keeping rest intervals short.

HIIRT leads to a significant drop in blood pH (via the rapid breakdown of glycogen and subsequent release of hydrogen ions), which in turn triggers increased production in GH.

We know that testosterone is important for recovery, shedding fat and building muscle — but what’s so great about growth hormone?

Heal thyself, hone thyself, change the world – Keith

This content was originally published here.

from https://makingthebest.com/hit-hiit-or-hiirt-theory-to-practice/

0 notes

fangirl-with-a-shoulder-fettish · 4 years

Text

HIT, HIIT…or HIIRT? – Theory To Practice

“To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe

The ARXFit Alpha providing this particular session’s HIIRT train caboose. Huh…

First, a couple of definitions:

Note: for info on “training to failure” see this post.

HIT, HIIT, or HIIRT — what’s the difference?

Can you give an example?

So achieving total muscular failure is not a goal of a HIIRT session?

(A1) OmniFit pec flye x 5 hyper reps (A2) Leverage machine flat press (negative emphasis, to failure), 50X0 (A3) Bent over row 20X0, 7 reps short pause, 7 more reps

(B1) Hip press with bands, (negative emphasis, to failure), 50X0 (B2) Russian leg curls 30X0, 7 reps short pause, 7 more reps

Notice the very HIT-like feel of the flat press and hip press execution.

So what are the advantages of HIIRT vs other forms of training?

How does HIIRT maximize fat loss?

Well, there are many ways and associated reasons, but here are the main points to consider:

So how do we get these two processes to work hand-in-hand, creating an anabolic environment for muscle growth, while at the same time forcing the body to use fat stores to help meet energy demands?

Note: diet plays a HUGE role here as well. The focus of this section, though, is exercise protocol selection.

1. Stimulate muscle growth with compound exercises, performed for 6-20 repetitions to failure (if strength/hypertrophy is sought), or for max work or power output (if MetCon biased).

2. Improve insulin sensitivity by performing a sufficient volume of work.

3. Increases in testosterone.

4. Maximize GH production with short rest interval HIIRT circuits.

GH is most effectively released performing strength circuits where both upper and lower body muscles are fully taxed, and keeping rest intervals short.

HIIRT leads to a significant drop in blood pH (via the rapid breakdown of glycogen and subsequent release of hydrogen ions), which in turn triggers increased production in GH.

We know that testosterone is important for recovery, shedding fat and building muscle — but what’s so great about growth hormone?

Heal thyself, hone thyself, change the world – Keith

This content was originally published here.

from https://makingthebest.com/hit-hiit-or-hiirt-theory-to-practice/

0 notes

professorsudowoodo · 4 years

Text

HIT, HIIT…or HIIRT? – Theory To Practice

“To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe

The ARXFit Alpha providing this particular session’s HIIRT train caboose. Huh…

First, a couple of definitions:

Note: for info on “training to failure” see this post.

HIT, HIIT, or HIIRT — what’s the difference?

Can you give an example?

So achieving total muscular failure is not a goal of a HIIRT session?

(A1) OmniFit pec flye x 5 hyper reps (A2) Leverage machine flat press (negative emphasis, to failure), 50X0 (A3) Bent over row 20X0, 7 reps short pause, 7 more reps

(B1) Hip press with bands, (negative emphasis, to failure), 50X0 (B2) Russian leg curls 30X0, 7 reps short pause, 7 more reps

Notice the very HIT-like feel of the flat press and hip press execution.

So what are the advantages of HIIRT vs other forms of training?

How does HIIRT maximize fat loss?

Well, there are many ways and associated reasons, but here are the main points to consider:

So how do we get these two processes to work hand-in-hand, creating an anabolic environment for muscle growth, while at the same time forcing the body to use fat stores to help meet energy demands?

Note: diet plays a HUGE role here as well. The focus of this section, though, is exercise protocol selection.

1. Stimulate muscle growth with compound exercises, performed for 6-20 repetitions to failure (if strength/hypertrophy is sought), or for max work or power output (if MetCon biased).

2. Improve insulin sensitivity by performing a sufficient volume of work.

3. Increases in testosterone.

4. Maximize GH production with short rest interval HIIRT circuits.

GH is most effectively released performing strength circuits where both upper and lower body muscles are fully taxed, and keeping rest intervals short.

HIIRT leads to a significant drop in blood pH (via the rapid breakdown of glycogen and subsequent release of hydrogen ions), which in turn triggers increased production in GH.

We know that testosterone is important for recovery, shedding fat and building muscle — but what’s so great about growth hormone?

Heal thyself, hone thyself, change the world – Keith

This content was originally published here.

from https://makingthebest.com/hit-hiit-or-hiirt-theory-to-practice/

0 notes

danda202 · 4 years

Text

HIT, HIIT…or HIIRT? – Theory To Practice

“To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe

The ARXFit Alpha providing this particular session’s HIIRT train caboose. Huh…

First, a couple of definitions:

Note: for info on “training to failure” see this post.

HIT, HIIT, or HIIRT — what’s the difference?

Can you give an example?

So achieving total muscular failure is not a goal of a HIIRT session?

(A1) OmniFit pec flye x 5 hyper reps (A2) Leverage machine flat press (negative emphasis, to failure), 50X0 (A3) Bent over row 20X0, 7 reps short pause, 7 more reps

(B1) Hip press with bands, (negative emphasis, to failure), 50X0 (B2) Russian leg curls 30X0, 7 reps short pause, 7 more reps

Notice the very HIT-like feel of the flat press and hip press execution.

So what are the advantages of HIIRT vs other forms of training?

How does HIIRT maximize fat loss?

Well, there are many ways and associated reasons, but here are the main points to consider:

So how do we get these two processes to work hand-in-hand, creating an anabolic environment for muscle growth, while at the same time forcing the body to use fat stores to help meet energy demands?

Note: diet plays a HUGE role here as well. The focus of this section, though, is exercise protocol selection.

1. Stimulate muscle growth with compound exercises, performed for 6-20 repetitions to failure (if strength/hypertrophy is sought), or for max work or power output (if MetCon biased).

2. Improve insulin sensitivity by performing a sufficient volume of work.

3. Increases in testosterone.

4. Maximize GH production with short rest interval HIIRT circuits.

GH is most effectively released performing strength circuits where both upper and lower body muscles are fully taxed, and keeping rest intervals short.

HIIRT leads to a significant drop in blood pH (via the rapid breakdown of glycogen and subsequent release of hydrogen ions), which in turn triggers increased production in GH.

We know that testosterone is important for recovery, shedding fat and building muscle — but what’s so great about growth hormone?

Heal thyself, hone thyself, change the world – Keith

This content was originally published here.

from https://makingthebest.com/hit-hiit-or-hiirt-theory-to-practice/

0 notes

saintofsunflowers · 4 years

Text

HIT, HIIT…or HIIRT? – Theory To Practice

“To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe

The ARXFit Alpha providing this particular session’s HIIRT train caboose. Huh…

First, a couple of definitions:

Note: for info on “training to failure” see this post.

HIT, HIIT, or HIIRT — what’s the difference?

Can you give an example?

So achieving total muscular failure is not a goal of a HIIRT session?

(A1) OmniFit pec flye x 5 hyper reps (A2) Leverage machine flat press (negative emphasis, to failure), 50X0 (A3) Bent over row 20X0, 7 reps short pause, 7 more reps

(B1) Hip press with bands, (negative emphasis, to failure), 50X0 (B2) Russian leg curls 30X0, 7 reps short pause, 7 more reps

Notice the very HIT-like feel of the flat press and hip press execution.

So what are the advantages of HIIRT vs other forms of training?

How does HIIRT maximize fat loss?

Well, there are many ways and associated reasons, but here are the main points to consider:

So how do we get these two processes to work hand-in-hand, creating an anabolic environment for muscle growth, while at the same time forcing the body to use fat stores to help meet energy demands?

Note: diet plays a HUGE role here as well. The focus of this section, though, is exercise protocol selection.

1. Stimulate muscle growth with compound exercises, performed for 6-20 repetitions to failure (if strength/hypertrophy is sought), or for max work or power output (if MetCon biased).

2. Improve insulin sensitivity by performing a sufficient volume of work.

3. Increases in testosterone.

4. Maximize GH production with short rest interval HIIRT circuits.

GH is most effectively released performing strength circuits where both upper and lower body muscles are fully taxed, and keeping rest intervals short.

HIIRT leads to a significant drop in blood pH (via the rapid breakdown of glycogen and subsequent release of hydrogen ions), which in turn triggers increased production in GH.

We know that testosterone is important for recovery, shedding fat and building muscle — but what’s so great about growth hormone?

Heal thyself, hone thyself, change the world – Keith

This content was originally published here.

from https://makingthebest.com/hit-hiit-or-hiirt-theory-to-practice/

0 notes

n1nj4-l0v4 · 4 years

Text

HIT, HIIT…or HIIRT? – Theory To Practice

“To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe

The ARXFit Alpha providing this particular session’s HIIRT train caboose. Huh…

First, a couple of definitions:

Note: for info on “training to failure” see this post.

HIT, HIIT, or HIIRT — what’s the difference?

Can you give an example?

So achieving total muscular failure is not a goal of a HIIRT session?

(A1) OmniFit pec flye x 5 hyper reps (A2) Leverage machine flat press (negative emphasis, to failure), 50X0 (A3) Bent over row 20X0, 7 reps short pause, 7 more reps

(B1) Hip press with bands, (negative emphasis, to failure), 50X0 (B2) Russian leg curls 30X0, 7 reps short pause, 7 more reps

Notice the very HIT-like feel of the flat press and hip press execution.

So what are the advantages of HIIRT vs other forms of training?

How does HIIRT maximize fat loss?

Well, there are many ways and associated reasons, but here are the main points to consider:

So how do we get these two processes to work hand-in-hand, creating an anabolic environment for muscle growth, while at the same time forcing the body to use fat stores to help meet energy demands?

Note: diet plays a HUGE role here as well. The focus of this section, though, is exercise protocol selection.

1. Stimulate muscle growth with compound exercises, performed for 6-20 repetitions to failure (if strength/hypertrophy is sought), or for max work or power output (if MetCon biased).

2. Improve insulin sensitivity by performing a sufficient volume of work.

3. Increases in testosterone.

4. Maximize GH production with short rest interval HIIRT circuits.

GH is most effectively released performing strength circuits where both upper and lower body muscles are fully taxed, and keeping rest intervals short.

HIIRT leads to a significant drop in blood pH (via the rapid breakdown of glycogen and subsequent release of hydrogen ions), which in turn triggers increased production in GH.

We know that testosterone is important for recovery, shedding fat and building muscle — but what’s so great about growth hormone?

Heal thyself, hone thyself, change the world – Keith

This content was originally published here.

from https://makingthebest.com/hit-hiit-or-hiirt-theory-to-practice/

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nepaca · 4 years

Text

HIT, HIIT…or HIIRT? – Theory To Practice

“To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe

The ARXFit Alpha providing this particular session’s HIIRT train caboose. Huh…

First, a couple of definitions:

Note: for info on “training to failure” see this post.

HIT, HIIT, or HIIRT — what’s the difference?

Can you give an example?

So achieving total muscular failure is not a goal of a HIIRT session?

(A1) OmniFit pec flye x 5 hyper reps (A2) Leverage machine flat press (negative emphasis, to failure), 50X0 (A3) Bent over row 20X0, 7 reps short pause, 7 more reps

(B1) Hip press with bands, (negative emphasis, to failure), 50X0 (B2) Russian leg curls 30X0, 7 reps short pause, 7 more reps

Notice the very HIT-like feel of the flat press and hip press execution.

So what are the advantages of HIIRT vs other forms of training?

How does HIIRT maximize fat loss?

Well, there are many ways and associated reasons, but here are the main points to consider:

So how do we get these two processes to work hand-in-hand, creating an anabolic environment for muscle growth, while at the same time forcing the body to use fat stores to help meet energy demands?

Note: diet plays a HUGE role here as well. The focus of this section, though, is exercise protocol selection.

1. Stimulate muscle growth with compound exercises, performed for 6-20 repetitions to failure (if strength/hypertrophy is sought), or for max work or power output (if MetCon biased).

2. Improve insulin sensitivity by performing a sufficient volume of work.

3. Increases in testosterone.

4. Maximize GH production with short rest interval HIIRT circuits.

GH is most effectively released performing strength circuits where both upper and lower body muscles are fully taxed, and keeping rest intervals short.

HIIRT leads to a significant drop in blood pH (via the rapid breakdown of glycogen and subsequent release of hydrogen ions), which in turn triggers increased production in GH.

We know that testosterone is important for recovery, shedding fat and building muscle — but what’s so great about growth hormone?

Heal thyself, hone thyself, change the world – Keith

This content was originally published here.

from https://makingthebest.com/hit-hiit-or-hiirt-theory-to-practice/

0 notes

yua-shizuka · 4 years

Text

HIT, HIIT…or HIIRT? – Theory To Practice

“To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe

The ARXFit Alpha providing this particular session’s HIIRT train caboose. Huh…

First, a couple of definitions:

Note: for info on “training to failure” see this post.

HIT, HIIT, or HIIRT — what’s the difference?

Can you give an example?

So achieving total muscular failure is not a goal of a HIIRT session?

(A1) OmniFit pec flye x 5 hyper reps (A2) Leverage machine flat press (negative emphasis, to failure), 50X0 (A3) Bent over row 20X0, 7 reps short pause, 7 more reps

(B1) Hip press with bands, (negative emphasis, to failure), 50X0 (B2) Russian leg curls 30X0, 7 reps short pause, 7 more reps

Notice the very HIT-like feel of the flat press and hip press execution.

So what are the advantages of HIIRT vs other forms of training?

How does HIIRT maximize fat loss?

Well, there are many ways and associated reasons, but here are the main points to consider:

So how do we get these two processes to work hand-in-hand, creating an anabolic environment for muscle growth, while at the same time forcing the body to use fat stores to help meet energy demands?

Note: diet plays a HUGE role here as well. The focus of this section, though, is exercise protocol selection.

1. Stimulate muscle growth with compound exercises, performed for 6-20 repetitions to failure (if strength/hypertrophy is sought), or for max work or power output (if MetCon biased).

2. Improve insulin sensitivity by performing a sufficient volume of work.

3. Increases in testosterone.

4. Maximize GH production with short rest interval HIIRT circuits.

GH is most effectively released performing strength circuits where both upper and lower body muscles are fully taxed, and keeping rest intervals short.

HIIRT leads to a significant drop in blood pH (via the rapid breakdown of glycogen and subsequent release of hydrogen ions), which in turn triggers increased production in GH.

We know that testosterone is important for recovery, shedding fat and building muscle — but what’s so great about growth hormone?

Heal thyself, hone thyself, change the world – Keith

This content was originally published here.

from https://makingthebest.com/hit-hiit-or-hiirt-theory-to-practice/

0 notes

zombiescantfly · 6 years

Text

Words About Games: Dark Souls 3 (From Software, 2016)

Oh, so that’s where the rest of Bloodborne went.

I love Dark Souls 1. Lots of people love Dark Souls 1. Dark Souls 2 hated Dark Souls 1. Lots of people hated Dark Souls 2. My own thoughts on Dark Souls 2 are still complicated. I like Dark Souls 3. It’s a good game that could have been very bad. It’s supposed to be a last hurrah for the series, but it didn’t take the easy way out. It tried to touch on some things from 1, made passing mentions to 2 that only bolstered my own personal theory (which I should really write a new essay for), and tried to do its own thing. Some people strangely call it nothing but fanservicey callbacks, and I really have no idea where they’re coming from. These games are connected, and referencing the first shouldn’t be looked down upon, especially when people’s complaints about 2 was that it wasn’t at all connected to 1.

So I’ll lay my stance out clear right now: I really appreciate what Dark Souls 3 did to cap off the franchise. It approached the topic of “ending the world” (as in, the series) with care and respect while still delivering a new game with fresh mechanics and a unique world. That, unfortunately, did not stop it from feeling like the team was running out of energy.

As much as Dark Souls 3 feels like a genuine effort to give fans something great to remember the series by after 2 disappointed almost everyone, it also feels like a game made out of obligation. It came out only 13 months after Bloodborne, and I feel like it suffered greatly for that. Remnants of abandoned systems are prominent in game, and screenshots from not even two months prior to the game’s release show wildly different environments and concepts. But as with Bloodborne, the mechanics are solid enough to carry the game, just maybe not to the heights fans came to expect.

Dark Souls 3 is basically the mix of DS1 and Demon’s Souls that everyone hoped DS2 was going to be. It presents a massive, sprawling world with areas that, while not crisscrossing over themselves as in DS1, are stuffed full of shortcuts and secrets in their own space. There’s nothing like the Undead Burg or Central Yarnham, but fans of Boletaria or Stonefang Tunnel will recognize what’s been presented.

That said, areas don’t have as strong of a sense of identity as they did in DS1 or 2; they’re missing a couple certain somethings that even a million polygons stuffed in every corner can’t replace. I’ll save the rant about aesthetics for later, but just remember the words “bleak” and “churches.”

Weapons take a step back from DS2’s penchant for absurdity and return to more reasonable medieval fantasy fair. Big goofy weapons still exist of course - they always have - but nobody’s running around with a poison-infused broken sword hilt or shooting fire out of a javelin. Weapon arts were introduced to give weapons a sort of “secondary moveset” to better differentiate individual entries in a single category. DS2 had a ton of single-handed straight swords, and apart from a vertical slash here or a stab there, not much set them apart. DS3’s weapon arts introduce an extra variety of offensive utility; an upward sweep to lever a shield away, a piercing stab for sudden extra reach, or even just a brutal combo that very clearly tells your opponent it was a bad idea to try and trade hits. I originally applauded DS2 for much the same thing, but after sinking 299 hours into it, it turns out that having two movesets shared between seven shortswords isn’t actually that interesting, even if an extra stab or slash gets tossed in every so often.

The weapon arts replace powerstancing from DS2, and personally I was 100% fine with that. Powerstancing was pretty uninteresting overall and actually kind of useless, unless you were using dual blacksmith hammers to stunlock people in PVP. Getting the required strength married you very quickly to one specific build, any any points not put towards powerstancing (if you planned your character around doing so) were pretty much wasted.

Dark Souls 3 brings back a more freeform approach to leveling; no more having to shove a dozen levels into Adaptability just to be able to roll well, or ten into Dexterity so you can cast a spell fast enough to actually live to see it connect. It does, unfortunately, cripple pyromancy by having your damage scale off both intelligence and faith, which led to me abandoning a pyro build because my Int was already 40 and I have all these sorceries lying around . . .

It's far from perfect. In a noble but misguided attempt to pave over the couple of oppressively powerful low level builds that allowed a lot of unevenly-matched invasions in the first couple areas of Dark Souls 1, From added odd stat requirements to all the weapons that aren't starting options. As a result, your beefy Strength dude might need to bewilderingly sink half a dozen levels into Dexterity to swing that giant club around. Coupled with an all-around nerf to Dex scaling because everyone's Dex is so high to begin with, DS3 spends most of its early to middle game as a Strength or Quality build paradise, with the occasional Sorcerer running around trying to do damage before collecting all 4 rings mandatory for making the build work.

Oh, right, magic as a whole is back to Demon’s Souls’ mana bar. You have a separate Estus flask for mana, and you can talk to a guy in the central hub to set how many of each type of flask you're carrying, pulled from a total of how many flask shards you've turned in. It works fine.

And part of the reason it works fine is because there's always a bonfire not 10 minutes of first-time-playthrough time away from the last. This is a common complaint, and very clearly an issue that arose as a result of the scrapped “create your own bonfire” system that was among one of the first features announced. I don't actually know offhand if its intended mechanics were ever revealed, but its exclusion from the final game created an obvious shift in how the different areas of the game ended up. A few areas, notably the expansions, manage to capture DS1’s feel of a desperate crawl from fire to fire your first time through, but most often I found myself a bit surprised at how quickly and easily I'd gotten from one to the next.

As for those levels themselves, let's finally revisit those two terms from earlier. Dark Souls 3’s map is, like 1’s, a sprawling expanse of shortcuts and secret corners, each connected to the other in a very tangible, real sense. Dark Souls 2’s magically overlapping zones and elevators to nowhere have been chased off for good. But where 2 opted for a theme park style approach to areas and 1 guided you through a decaying city, 3 opts for a more homogeneous smear of bleak churches.

Dark Souls 1 was a carefully constructed world, and its map has been touted as one of the best, or at least one of the best constructed, since its release. It's through not only the ability to orient yourself with landmarks that were places you'd already visited, but a skilled use of light and architecture to visually separate each area while making the transition seem natural, or in the case of various manmade areas, sensible. The Undead Burg and the Depths both had relatively neutral lighting, with the latter dumping oppressive shadow on you the player; fitting for a grimy sewer. But head down the cistern to Blighttown and suddenly your screen is flooded with sickly green shades, a result of a deliberate, aggressive color grading trick that lends each area that little extra bit of personality. Darkroot Garden pairs its dark green foliage with a dusty blue, Sen’s Fortress feels almost sepia toned at times, waves of red heat roll off ancient stone in the Demon Ruins and Lost Izalith, dark water and pale ghosts in New Londo are brought together by an eerie cyan, and Anor Londo itself blazes with golden glory.

In Dark Souls 3, the sky is yellow, the ground is brown, and everything you walk next to is gray.

Dark Souls 3 tries to sell its “time of ash” schtick with a thin gray film over everything, but the result is a very boring, flat lighting scheme that sits comfortably in the middle values, never pushing itself to any real contrast between bright light and oppressive darkness. Sure, you'll pull out your torch every now and then, but it's always a hazy sort of darkness that has you saying “it would be convenient if it were brighter right now” rather than “this small circle of light is now the only safe part of this world.”

Not helping the cause is DS3’s general lack of interesting or at least unique terrain. Areas are massive, but their aesthetic is spread rather thinly across it all, getting a bit boring right around three quarters of the way through every time. The first and last areas are essentially the same (which makes sense at least, the first part of the game is spent in the lower sections of the final part); a big fantastical European castle town that ended up being more castle than town. You spend a very long time in the area each time, and it honestly drags a bit. There's only so much to be done with the same stone wall and wooden roof before the scenery runs its course, and that happens with every area. The Undead Settlement is full of crappy wooden huts, stone ruins, and not much else, but it's one of the largest areas in the game. The Cathedral of the Deep is a giant church that you first spend too long crawling on top of, then too long crawling around inside of. And on the inside, of course, is nothing but a maze of smaller churches, each one complete with the same altar, pews, and candles.

The Cathedral kind of neatly exemplifies my overall issue with DS3’s world design. It is always too much of the same thing for too long. The game world didn't need to be this big, and I genuinely believe it suffered for it. Areas stretch themselves out so much that a lot of the time you're just walking from enemy group to enemy group, going through the motions more than anything else.

One of the major strengths of both Demon’s and Dark Souls 1 was that its enemy encounters were a crafted ordeal, meant to highlight the terrain you were on or in and make you think just a bit critically about how you were going to approach. An example I really like is the small group right before the first bonfire in the Undead Burg. Three hollows are hiding behind wooden barriers, another sits up a short flight of stairs with a crossbow, and two more are over across a short bridge, holding spears and shields. Six enemies total. Entering the main area with the first three has them burst through their cover and slowly advance, while the crossbowman takes a potshot every few seconds. Far from overwhelming, even as a beginner. But if you panic and try to run across the footbridge, the spearmen start paying attention to you, and their shields will easily stop you from coming into their territory. Then the crossbow dude and the other three show up behind you and whoops, maybe that was a bad idea.

This encounter isn't all that far away from Firelink, and only a handful of other enemies get in your way. But, at least following the intended progression, it's the first complex encounter a player sees. It has a lot to teach, and it does it well. Enemies can break through cover, some enemies aren't immediately reachable (and may be bad to rush up to), some enemies are only concerned about defending their turf, shields are difficult to break through, and generally, enemies will be quick to punish dumb mistakes.

That's a pretty impressive little slice of DS1’s design philosophy. Let's look at a comparable encounter from 3.

Very close to the area where you warp in from this game’s Firelink Shrine, there's a short section of battlement with a group of six or so enemies. Most are basic dudes, one has a sword and some armor, and one has a bell of some kind. The basic dudes are docile, the swordsman will try to kill you, and the guy with the bell will start screaming and ringing if you hang around too long, waking the docile dudes up and making them hostile. This is all on a straight platform with a couple small statues off to either side, and no other terrain feature of note for this encounter.

Let's ask the same question, then. What does this teach us about the game? A few things. The biggest is that it's more important to identify targets who will have a big impact on the fight, rather than just going for the scariest looking one first. Hooking into that is the lesson that some enemies can and will drastically change the landscape of a combat encounter. Both are true throughout the game, but the second thing becomes less relevant as the game goes on.

Other than that, there isn't much to learn from this encounter, really. The terrain doesn't offer much, and the enemies don't do much beyond attacking as a group once the guy with the bell wakes them up.

What I'll call “big groups in front of you filled with lots of dudes” (Big Groups for short) make up a considerable amount of what's found in Dark Souls 3, and it seems to be inherited from Bloodborne. But in Bloodborne, Big Groups were what the game's entire philosophy revolved around, or at least for its first half. Controlling those Big Groups is how the game functioned, it's what the faster dodge, faster heal, and Regain system were built to deal with. In Dark Souls, those Big Groups just become weird roadblocks that you have to get past without the same tools.

Bringing us to my admittedly flippant opening remark, this is a single part of where I feel Bloodborne's rushed development merged with Dark Souls 3’s even more rushed development. A lot of enemies seem better suited for the prior game than the latter; they’re smaller or faster (almost universally faster), they use more projectiles, they have more aggressive gap-closing attacks, more grapples, and they appear in larger groups. They seem designed around a fundamentally different style of interaction than what's actually present in Dark Souls.

And that brings me back to how Dark Souls 3 felt like an obligation. As a videogame, it's nothing short of excellent. But as an entry in an overwhelmingly popular series, it feels more like a rushed apology for the lukewarm reception of DS2, and one that took much-needed attention away from another game while it was still being made. It doesn't feel unfinished in the same sense that DS1 very obviously was, but there's a clear lack of focus present with the way all these trailing threads hang right in front of you. Areas that are large for no reason or gain, enemies that seem dumped onto the map rather than placed, a progression through the world that never offers much choice, a muted sense of character progression, and a setting that us always comfortably close to where it was previously. I don't want to say the game's direction feels entirely without creativity, but it's obvious that the grand ideas of Dark Souls 1, left unfinished, or the ambition behind Bloodborne that had to be rushed out the door half-baked just aren't here. Dark Souls 3 doesn't feel like a game Miyazaki, the director, wanted to make, it feels like something he was obligated to make. The game comes and goes with a solid presence that's still more impressive than a lot of AAA rpg fair, but it never attempts to reach the same heights that all of its predecessors never got to. Dark Souls 1 is a deeply, deeply flawed game, but its ambition is obvious and admirable, and its lowest points are backed up by its highest managing to, if only for a moment, reach that grand goal. Bloodborne was the same way; when it worked, it was magnificent, but it fell flat just as much.

Dark Souls 3 doesn't try hard enough to be the games it wants to remind people of. It settles to be a solid action rpg that still exists in the Dark Souls essence, but it feels like a shrug. A shrug by From, given after the end of a marathon of hard work, aimed at Bandai Namco and the fans, just exhaustedly presenting something that has to be good enough. And it is. It's good enough. I enjoyed Dark Souls 3, I enjoyed its expansions, I enjoyed my time working my pet theory into what it had to say, and I enjoyed where it left the series.

As of the time of writing, we haven't seen anything from From except for a 10 second teaser for their next project and the announcement of Dark Souls Remastered, and that's fine. Beyond the expansions for DS3, we didn't see anything huge from them for all of 2017, and that's perfectly fine. Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 proved that they aren't comfortable releasing a game every year, and it seems that Bandai Namco realized that. In the current norm of a new entry into a series being churned out every year or every other, I'm more than happy to let From take their time and make something we haven't seen before, or take a surprise revisit to an older series. From is at their best when they have the time to build those grand ideas, even if the game only reaches them for a few brief moments. That's when you can see the effort, see the intent peering through whatever didn't quite go right. I personally would rather see their ambition fall a bit short than see half the ambition come to a slow trudge across the finish line.

In closing, dear From, please make Kings Field 5.

#words about games #dark souls #dark souls 3 #from software #fromsoft #namco bandai #videogame review

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