I’ve finally started getting invited to fitness influencer events! I got email today offering me a chance to get early access to a new line of athleisure clothing if I attend their event!
Sadly, their event is in Los Angeles. And, based on the images, their clothing line is for women. I’d look funny wearing their short skirts and tight tops for skinny girls.
Still, once I show up on one brand’s radar, surely other brands will start noticing me.
Note: I have no interest in being a fitness influencer or a brand ambassador, or getting early access to athleisure clothing. I don’t even really have any interest in free athleisure clothing, although I’m not sure I’d turn it down, because that’s just the sort of ethically ambiguous guy I am.
Pictures of me in exercise clothing, so that future firms know what they might get:
If that doesn’t make you want me wearing your athleisure clothing in my content, well, I guess you probably don’t want me wearing your athleisure clothing in my content.
I’ve scarcely fenced with the students since the groups split a year ago. It was made clear that I was welcome to come train with the student group, but most of the training sessions were the same time as my group was meeting, and anyway my shoulder and elbow issues meant I had to reduce the amount of training I was doing, so I ended up training with my own group.
That changed this week when the student group had a “fancy-dress fechtschule,” and invited the TMHF members to join in.
A fechtschule (which just means “fight school”) is a particular kind of contest where the point is not so much to “win” (although you want to do that too), as it is to display artful fencing. To encourage that the rules call for only head hits to count, and prohibit things like thrusting (too likely kill your opponent), grappling, pommel strikes, etc.
Because only head hits count, it seemed reasonably safe to wear just masks and not full protective gear, enabling a fancy-dress version, which seemed to me like great fun. Many of the women showed up in dresses or gowns of one sort or another (some in heels!). Many of the men wore suits. I wore a coat and tie.
The call for attending was simply to wear “the most formal thing you own that you are willing to fight in.”
After a youth during which I couldn’t imagine “dressing up” any more than absolutely necessary, somewhere along the line I figured out a few things, one of which was that men’s dress clothing is actually more comfortable than casual clothing, because it is altered to fit well, rather than just being “the right size.” These days besides wearing dress clothing whenever it will give me an advantage, I also wear it anytime it seems like fun. (While traveling—on a plane or a train, and while in a station or an airport—you get much better service if you’re wearing a coat and tie than if you’re wearing shorts or sweats.)
It has taken most of three years, but I’m finally doing a pretty good job of keeping my arms extended while doing longsword. (Partly I just needed to develop the habit, but I also needed to build strength and endurance in that arms-extended posture.)
It was glorious fun. I even did okay in the contest. (I think Milosh went easy on me.)
Jackie bought a dress from Wool&. They claim their dress is so versatile, durable, and easy to care for that you can wear it every day for 100 days. If you do, and provide photographic evidence, they’ll give you a $100 gift certificate. Here’s a picture of @jackieLbrewer on day 25.
In the Joe Pickett novels by C. J. Box, the locals wear Carhartt, while the folks from away wear L.L. Bean. That tidbit stuck with me, and is why this story caught my eye.
“Just as Patagonia sells rock-climbing jackets to bankers, Carhartt now sells logging pants to baristas.” — Source: NYT
I wore a lot of Banana Republic clothing back in the mid-1980s.
the company retained its moral center. “They weren’t colonialists. It’s not about an actual safari. It’s about a spirit of adventure, and a spirit of imagined territories,”
Last year I used my consumerist impulses to motivate myself to get out for runs—I’d buy running gear, and then feel like I had to go for runs to justify the purchase. 🏃🏻♂️ This year I’m running anyway. But that doesn’t mean I can’t buy new running gear. This handsome top is perfect for runs when it’s just about freezing.
I got rid of a bunch of clothes I didn’t wear, and made enough open space in my closet that the clothes I have left can almost go in without needing to be mashed up against each other.
