Jake1989

Amazing suggestion. I recommend reading it while listening to an 80s soundtrack... The Cure is a good place to start.

I basically echo everyone else here. I, too, obtained ring MUs well before I got my bar MUs (and then stringing them together was another issue to tackle). Everyone has a bit of a different style, and it takes some finesse to figure out which method works best for you - highlighting your strong points and covering for some weaker points. A couple suggestions:

• Bar Kip v Bar MU.  There is definitely a difference between a bar kip and a bar MU. Depending on what your goals are should determine what's best. A bar kip is a lot less strenuous and a good go-to for parkour movements. However, if you're standards are more strict (CrossFit, for example), you might be forced to do a bar MU. The line tends to be drawn on where your feet are. I usually hear that if your feet or toes are in-line or above the plane of the bar, then this is a bar kip, not a MU.
• Hips up, Delay your pull. Your kip starts out strong, but you cut it off by pulling too early. Run through some practice kipping where you're getting your body as parallel to the ground as possible. It doesn't work for everyone, but try to keep your legs locked and straight when you kip to help really get them up. Once you're close to the bar, then pull. Pull only at the last minute. Freeze frame this video at 0:35 for a good example of when you should start pulling.

Day 16

I've been terribly sick for the last 5 or 6 days, so a lot of my goals have been on hold for the time being. I'm at about 85% recovery, but still a day or two away before being fully functional. I'm negating some days of the challenge to reflect this.

Level 3 Update

          QM 1.06 | QM 1.07 | QM 1.08 | SQ 3 | SQ 4  

D01 4/13      -         1        no      $11.15    -

D02 4/14      -         -        no        0.00    -

D03 4/15      9         -        yes      22.93    -

D04 4/16      -         -        no        0.00    -

D05 4/17      -         1        yes       0.00   0:20

D06 4/18      12        -         -        1.50   0:20

D07 4/19      -         -         -        1.41   4:00  

WK1 TOTAL   12/20      2/2       2/5     $36.99    6/8  

D08 4/20      -         1        yes       0.00    -

D09 4/21      -         -        no        0.00   0:25

D10 4/22      -         -        yes      13.06    -       DISEASED

D11 4/23      -         -         -       10.87    -       DISEASED

D12 4/24      -         -         -        5.81    -       DISEASED

D13 4/25      -         -         -       23.55    -       DISEASED

D14 4/26      -         -         -        0.00    -       DISEASED

WK2 TOTAL   12/20      1/2       2/3     $53.29    1/2  

D15 4/27      -         -         -        0.00    -       DISEASED

D16 4/28      -         -        yes       0.00    -       DISEASED

WK1-2 TOTAL 12/20      3/4       4/8     $90.28    7/10 

Day 9

I took today off of the gym to rest my hand, and am seriously contemplating taking the rest of the week off. I paid a pretty hefty price for a big olympic lifting workshop on Sunday and I want to be as injury and sore-free as possible for that.

Today I signed up for a hand-balancing class here in Los Angeles at the LA Cirque School for $35. I'm hoping that this will be a great step inreally figuring out freestanding handstands. I debated whether or not this is a "necessary" or "unnecessary" expense (which has to do with one of my goals this Challenge.) For now, I've decided to mark it as necessary since it's not frivolous and it's in accordance to the Challenge. I may change my mind later.

During this rest time I should be stretching more though- something I haven't been doing. I have pretty terrible flexibility and it's eventually going to be a big part of a future challenge for me, so I may as well work on it now while I have some down time. (I could also pump out a bunch of air squats for The Hunt in the name of House Stark, but, again, I want to be sure I'm totally rested for this weekend.)

Level 3 Update

          QM 1.06 | QM 1.07 | QM 1.08 | SQ 3 | SQ 4  

D1 4/13      -         1         no     $11.15    -

D2 4/14      -         -         no       0.00    -

D3 4/15      9         -         yes     22.93    -

D4 4/16      -         -         no       0.00    -

D5 4/17      -         1         yes      0.00   0:20

D6 4/18      12        -          -       1.50   0:20

D7 4/19      -         -          -       1.41   4:00  

WK1 TOTAL   12/20     2/2        2/5    $36.99    6/8

D8 4/20      -         1         yes      0.00    -

D9 4/21      -         -         no       0.00   0:25

Day 7

One week down! I was super productive today, and pretty proud of it. I'm mostly pumped about the fact that I feel like I made a huge leap in my Latin studies. (For anyone who's familiar, it's highly inflected and the word order is very different than English.) I realized that Latin speakers, essentially, spoke like Yoda. Understanding this was like a light bulb moment. I feel like like I'm decoding and more like I'm reading a natural flowing language now.

Bummer news is that my left hand has been bothering me. It's been like this for about a month, but even more so the past week. Whenever there's weight in palm from a bar, it hurts pretty terribly where my thumb meets the palm. So push presses, jerks, and the like are wildly uncomfortable. I have a big olympic lifting seminar I paid a pretty penny for coming up this Sunday, and I'm praying for better usage. I have it wrapped right now - one of the coaches thinks I have strained or sprained a tendon.

Level 3 Update

          QM 1.06 | QM 1.07 | QM 1.08 | SQ 3 | SQ 4  

D1 4/13      -         1         no     $11.15    -

D2 4/14      -         -         no       0.00    -

D3 4/15      9         -         yes     22.93    -

D4 4/16      -         -         no       0.00    -

D5 4/17      -         1         yes      0.00   0:20

D6 4/18      12        -          -       1.50   0:20

D7 4/19      -         -          -       1.41   4:00  

WK1 TOTAL   12/20     2/2        2/5    $36.99    6/8

Go poke your nose into SymphonicDan's assassin challenge and ask him how to advance your handstands.

-

Just took a look! So good stuff. I'm realizing that this free-standing handstand business is going to be much more of a progression than I originally thought. Thanks for the tip!

Day 6

Other than the Red Wings getting totally slaughtered today by Tampa, It'd say it was a good day. In the spirit of a good karma during Game 3, I'm just going to leave this amazing shorthanded spin-o-rama from Game 1 here...

Maybe Tampa should have seen this coming:

I just re-tested my pullups, and got 12, but it was again on my home bar, which isn't great. I'm also still pretty sore from a workout I did on Thursday. (10 strict pullups and 10 strict ring dips, 5 rounds for time.) Tomorrow, I plan on knocking out my four-hour Latin study session at the library. And to put myself into a good atmosphere, I'm going to the Beverly Hills library... much nicer than the one closest to my home. I have work to do (reading) for my regular job, so I probably won't have time for an actual workout, but I'm going to try to spend 30 minutes at the park working on hand balancing... just really gotta try and find that sweet spot.

Speaking of, any suggestions from my fellow Assassins on free handstand progressions and exercises would be great. I've definitely got the strength, it's more about getting up into the free handstand and holding it. I can do a yoga headstand, salamba sirsasana (below), for about 7 seconds, but it's awfully shaky.

Level 3 Update

          QM 1.06 | QM 1.07 | QM 1.08 | SQ 3 | SQ 4  

D1 4/13      -         1         no      11.75    -

D2 4/14      -         -         no       0.00    -

D3 4/15      9         -         yes     22.93    -

D4 4/16      -         -         no       0.00    -

D5 4/17      -         1         yes      0.00   0:20

D6 4/18      12        -          -       1.50   0:20

Can I just say that I'm completely envious of your forum organization? Is that weird? Your goals, how you outline them, and your images are incredibly well put together!

Keep up the good work.

(I may steal some of your ideas. I means, assassins make the best thieves, right?)

Day 5

One work week done in this challenge so far. Things started out rocky, but have improved. I even set a new PR in my front squat this morning, jumping from 215 to 225. When I'm getting this heavy though,. I'm just hitting parallel. I need to work on negatives so I can get this heavy weight down to my ankles.

And, side note, loving this extended Assassin's Creed music I found on YouTube. Seems fitting to share it here.

Level 3 Update

          QM 1.06 | QM 1.07 | QM 1.08 | SQ 3 | SQ 4  

D1 4/13      -         1         no      11.75    -

D2 4/14      -         -         no       0.00    -

D3 4/15      9         -         yes     22.93    -

D4 4/16      -         -         no       0.00    -

D5 4/17      -         1         yes      0.00   0:20

Any ideas on why the spreadsheet won't let me add my own?

For this week, so far, I can add 1.5miles for House Stark.

Day 4

A little bit of a rough start to this challenge, but it's still early. Where I'm at:

QM 1.06

I tested my max pull-ups at home the other day and got 9, but I know I'm capable of about 12. (My home bar is a removable pull-up bar in a door frame, so it's not as secure to go full out.) I was planning on testing at the gym yesterday but I saw that the WOD called for 5 sets of 10 strict pull-ups and didn't want to wipe myself out before it.

QM 1.07

I've read one script early in the week at work, and am hoping to knock one out tomorrow as well.

QM 1.08

This is harder than I thought it'd be. I have a terrible case of RBF... haha. I'm at 1/4 right now.

SQ 3

I didn't define my goals until Tuesday, but I had eaten out on Monday, so this is a little skewed. I'm at $34.08, $4.08 over the weekly average. The hard part will be not spending money over the weekend. This is also going to be one of the harder ones, but I feel pretty determined.

SQ 4

I haven't even started this yet, but if I knock out sessions Fri-Sun, I won't be too far behind.

Level 3 Update

          QM 1.06 | QM 1.07 | QM 1.08 | SQ 3 | SQ 4  

D1 4/13      -         1         no      11.75    -

D2 4/14      -         -         no       0.00    -

D3 4/15      9         -         yes     22.93    -

D4 4/16      -         -         no       0.00    -

Hello everybody!

 

I am a respawner from Belgium. 

I really need some accountability, especially in the nutrition part of the equation. I am struggling with an unsatisfying situation at work at the moment. I have eaten my stress up. Put on 9 kg since  september 2014. I am slowly losing it now, I restarted crossfit 6 weeks ago and I have had a healthy diet for 3 weeks. 

 

My challenge is a mindfulness one actually, I will be experimenting a breathing technique that will help me calm the anxiety and the stress whenever there arrive. 

 

 

Maya, I have been IMPRESSED by your amazing transformation! Aerial looks amazing! I have always wanted to practice it! 

 

Thanks for having me here!

Hi, WonderNatarella! I'm also respawning. (I was still very active when I left, but left the accountability of this community... which I missed.) I also was struggling with work satisfaction before I found my new job about a year ago. The only advice I can say is to have some great hobbies outside of work so that that the grind of 9-5 doesn't totally consume you. (And I'd say that fitness is a great one to have!)

Good luck!

Dude... Yuen... these videos of yours are super inspiring! Keep up the amazing work!

QUEST - ONLY THE FEARLESS WILL PREVAIL
My main quest has been better defined now that some time has passed. I am still focused on pursing overall fitness. I'm okay with not being the strongest, and not being the fastest swimmer, but would love to be "pretty good" at most things. It's not measurable yet, but this is the general direction. I'm also still focused on solidifying meaningful, lasting relationships with those that are around me. Added to this main quest, is the pursuit of knowledge, both within my field of work and outside interests. This main quest seeks to balance out these three aspects. I still don't know how to measure this, but I think I'll know when I'm there. (And I've already made some great progress in Levels 1, 2, and 2.5 (the extended period of time spent venturing between 2 and 3).
 
 
LEVEL 3 - A SLIGHT CHANGE IN DIRECTION (Assassin's Guild)
There's been a long time off between Level 2 and Level 3. Most notably, I started a new job. (All the work from Side Quest 2 has launched into a new aspect of my main quest.) I'm not just as focused on honing my skills needed for my new job, while also balancing the fitness aspects of being an master assassin/ranger. Therefore, this challenge will focus heavily on WIS and CHA, two of the skills that are newly needed.
 
Quest Mission 1.06 - Assassin Guild Membership (repeat)

Objective: 10 second handstand; bar muscle-up; 20 strict pull-ups

This is a repeat mission from Level 2 that was failed. I already have the bar muscle-up, so the focus is on the handstand and 20 strict pull-ups. Each of the three exercixes will be worth the same. The handstand and pull-ups will be graded on a scale, and achieving a bar muscle up is a pass/fail. 

Reward: +2 DEX, +1 STR
 
 
Quest Mission 1.07 - Apprentice's Working Beginnings

Objective: read 2 scripts each week while at the office

Multi-tasking is a huge skill to have, and getting a chunk of my reading done while at work is necessary, although at times difficult. This is graded on a weekly basis, either 0%, 50%, or 100%. The grades are accumulated at the end of the challenge to determine success.

Reward: +2 WIS
 
 
Quest Mission 1.08 - Apprentice's Charisma Beginnings

Objective: positive image portrayal in the office

This task is a bit more qualitative, but the idea is to be sure that I'm putting forth a friendly, empathetic, helpful tone in the office. I tend to get very focused and can come across as dismissive at times, so I need to work on this. This is graded as a percentage of total days (30 days at work total). I can pretty easily gauge how I'm doing based on others' responses toward me throughout the day.

Reward: +5 CHA
 
 
Side Quest 3 - The Fiscal Merchant

Objective: limit unnecessary spending to $180

I need to be better at saving money, so I'm limiting the amount of "unnecessary spending" to $180 for these six weeks ($30/wk). Unnecessary spending includes clothing, eating out and coffee, movie tickets not needed for work, alcohol, groceries outside of normal diet etc. Necessary spending includes regular bills, groceries (including one guilt item each week), "drinks" for networking, gas, etc. 100% success is spending $180 or less. Every $5 over the limit deducts .2 from the final score.

Reward: +2 WIS
 
 
Side Quest 4 - Linguistics Latin I

Objective: study Latin for 15-minutes 4x per week, study Latin for 4-hours 1x per week

I've been studying Latin, but I'm very early on. Diligence is key here. I'm great about studying on the weekends for hours, but I miss during the week. This is graded on a curve. The four 15-minute session is equal to the one 4-hour session.

Reward: +3 WIS

I prefer to wear running shorts while at the gym- not the short-short ones, but ones that come just above the knee, have some sort of dri-fit material, and are lined.

The problem is that these all tend to be pretty pricey. The cheapest I've found are Adidas that run around $30 each. Does anyone know of a brand that'll put less of a dent in my wallet? I don't think Champion has anything like this. Under Armour and Nike are both more expensive than Adidas.

my buddy hikes in the NB minimus trail, but I don't think she runs on dunes, just the regular trails around tampa-weedon, HRSP, etc., 

 

have you tried coming to st pete and going to the running store downtown? there's another huge running shoe store in international mall last I checked (I work across the street).

I loooove the NB Minimus shoes for running. They're amazing. However, they're not great for keeping sand out. I've seen some people wear sleeve-like socks over their shins and the top of their shoes in order to keep sand and rocks out, but I have no idea what they're called and how effective they are.

I am sure you meant 270 pounds.  Correct?

You're totally right - typo on my part. I edited it just now.

I've never actually posted in the Woot room, but I gotta say I was super pumped to finally hit a double bodyweight back squat today (135lbs -270lb squat). It's something I've wanted for a while. Ironically, I hadn't back squatted in quite some time but the programming today called to attempt a new 1RM. I was previously at 240, set about 4 months ago.

I'm not sure if it's an issue, but I was only going parallel with any squat past 230. Meaning I wasn't bottoming out. I'll work on pause squats in the future to build that up as well.

Hey everyone! I also finished last night (18:28)... Not great at all, but considering 14.5 took me 28:00, I'll take it. I'm pretty sure. Thrusters were created by the devil.

What's everyone's takeaway from this year?

For me, I just need to keep moving heavy weight, and probably add additional lifting outside of the WODs. If anyone has a workout plan for this, I'm all ears! 15.3 was my strong suit (335) since there was no weight... Even though wall balls are thrusters' evil step brother. 15.4 was my weakest since I can't clean 185 AT ALL. My max is 165. I did evrything Rx to stay consistent and wanted to be sure I crush it when muscle-ups appeared.

Super interested in everyone else's takeaways!

I hate to say this, but the latter half of this Challenge has probably been scrapped. I've had very little time for anything now that I have a new job... just trying to catch up on all the information I should be privvy to. That along with getting ready to visit family across the country for the holidays has made everything very difficult.

That said, I'll be settled in with my new company in a couple weeks and back on the wagon for the third challenge.

BUT, this wasn't a complete failure, I definitely had some unexpected accomplishments:

• PR bench press (140lbs, I think)
• PR deadlift (300lbs)
• PR strict press (120lbs)
• PR squat clean (105lbs)
• PR ring muscle-ups (10 consecutive)

I'm glad everyone else is doing phenomenal though!

Thanks Abtacha and Nuala! :-D

Day 24

4 Dec. 2013

So, not much of an update here, BUT I wanted to brag that I got a new job working for a major cable network in scripted development. I wanted to put this as my side quest for this challenge, but didn't want to be disappointed because in my line of work, it can take months and months to find a job. The reading (my current side quest) was a way to educate myself which would in turn help me in interviews and conversation.

I will most definitely miss the gym tomorrow because my current coworkers and I were out late celebrating, but I'm going to say it was worth it. :-)

Day 24 and I still have a lot to accomplish. I don't think this challenge has been thrown to crap, but I definitely need to make some moves if it's going to be successful. Now that I can take time off from the job hunt, I can focus more on these other goals.

Continuous Push-up PR: 30/60 

Quest Mission 1.03

Gym Sessions: 14/33 

Quest Mission 1.04

Run Sessions: 3/18 

Quest Mission 1.04

1-mile Run PR: untested / 5:59 

Quest Mission 1.04

Quest Mission 1.05

5-pound Weight Gain: 0/5.00 

Quest Mission 1.05

30-second Handstand: 5/30 

Quest Mission 1.06

20 Strict Pull-ups: 12/20 

Quest Mission 1.06

1 Bar Muscle-up: 1/1 

Quest Mission 1.06

Scripts Read: 15/54 

Side Quest 2

That mobility video is crazy amazing! I'd love for that to be my level 100... but more like level 300.

I'm glad I stumbled on this! I'm pretty interested in a lot of the gymnastic elements you've got going. I'll be stalking!

Keep up the good work.

Awesome! I can't do extended range yet, but I'm working on it. I can only get a normal (Rx) HSPU. I'd looooove to get a ring HSPU.... but I have no idea how to get to that point. :-P

Some vertical push-up progressions by Phylanx...

First video : straddle pike press, pike press (low), pike press (high), box pike press, HeSPU (head stand push-up)

Second video : extended range HeSPU (high), extended range HeSPU (low)

Third video : HSPU (full range, aka: shoulders to hands)

Fourth video : ring HSPUs

...

...

Hehe, no video, I can't do them yet

Another dimesion to these, once you can string a few HeSPUs together, is to do them free balancing (no wall assist).

FYI: some places (like crossfit) refer to HeSPUs as HSPUs. And they refer to HSPUs as full or extended range HSPUs.