umbongo

04/06/2013 Trial No.1 *will be edited tonight* Trial No.2 Today I had A LOT of free time.. well I say free time but it wasn't like I could mosey about the place doing whatever the hell I wanted. Today was exam day on my course so I had 8 hours as per usual of lessons however there was nothing that I was particuarly required to do except administer the exam so.. I read... I would hazard a guess that today I spent perhaps 5-6 hours reading Trial No.3 Also threw in some wall-supported handstands in between the groups holding myself up there for stints of 1-minute, most days I give myself a half hour break when someone can't make a lesson for some reason and I head out to the local piazza and decided to bang out some pistol squat sets on a bench using the dangling leg method. Sun was shining, it was fantastic. Not a very heavy session at all as it's stretched out over the day, I also try to fit in a set of push-ups between lessons so by the end of the day I will have completed around 180 and this is done twice a week. Trial No.4 Over lunch today I met a nice old fella called Ivan who's retired but is an adamant writer and reader of sociology which led to a particuarly laborious discussion, especially when it's not in your mother tongue, of how the masks we wear are much like the borders of the countries which we are from... in the end he gave me a copy of a journal for which he writes. In all it was a delightful salad.

03/06/2012 Trial No.1 20 Minutes of sitting meditation complete. I came across the insight timer suggested by Ergoland in his post, which you can find here thinking yay woo I will be able to keep logs of what I complete and can browse over my accumulating time and my phone rings at 19 minutes on the clock and the record of that particular session is wiped clean. ho-hum I know that I did it Trial No.2 2 Hours of escapism into Eldest, one of the inheritance saga. Trial No.3 So I jumped up on the wall, facing toward the wall walking my feet up and shuffling my hands closer to the wall, and gave these handstand push-ups ago! woo! Ok so I didnt push it too much, I had to leave for work and had not so long before eaten. I did however decide to try and stay put for a minute and repeated this a few times. OHSUM! No sqauttingz Trial No.4 Today I spoke with a nice chap named Luca whom I had never met before and this was not just 10-minutes it turned into an hour. Interesting character, a hopeless artist (his own words) as there is no work for an artist in this country where most people are forced into being engineers by their parents or face having their inheritance taken away. He visits London reguarly for the exhibitions, speaks english and is Italian so we managed half an hour in each between the two of us. Thrilling. Yes.

Solemn in demeanor, a young Druid approaches to be beset his initial challenge. "Namaste, Siblings." He offers to the crowd before beginning to read the scroll handed to him. Of the Arcane Arts: Trial No.1 Floating Buddha Baby 20 Minutes of sitting/walking meditation per day, minimum. That's one or the other. If I can find the time to watch at least one episode of Dragon Ball per day or burn 20 minutes without realising by scanning these forums/youtube then I can make time for this goal. I am also booked on the Goenka retreat in July, of which I'm sure some of you have heard. This retreat involves 10 hours of meditation per day for a period of 10 days without any social interaction, one meal per day and no outside contact. However, the retreat is designed for beginners and the experienced incorporating guided programs. This, hopeing it doesn't actually overlap with my brother's stag night, will be one of the most difficult things I have ever done! and my preparation has thus far been abismal! [Wisdom, 1] [Constitution, 1] [stamina, 1] A: 7 Days per week, B: 6 Days per week, C: 5 Days per week, D: 4 Days per week. Trial No.2 Feed The Inner Flame Recorded Hours per Week of hearty Literature! Oh, my. This one does excite me. I have found myself reading more books these last 6 months than any other period of my life however it has been very unregulated, some weeks I would disappear into a world of fantasy for a back-to-back ride on Saphira (Eragon's dragon in the inheritance cycle) soaring over the hadrac desert until being teleported into the world of super-grammar and the eloquence of Steven Pinker. When this happens I tend to lose track of the other things that we must do, you know.. food shopping, preparing lessons, speaking to your friends etc etc. Even as they say- Mediation is the key to Sopravivation, this goal isn't a way to mediate my intake as I would never restrict myself of something in such a way as it would quite simply not work. This goal is purely to increase my awareness of that which I do.. do. [Wisdom, 2] [Charisma, 2] A: Hours logged every 2-3 days. B: Hours logged every 4-5 days. C: Hours logged every week. D: Hours unlogged. Of the Martial Arts: Trial No.3 Cock It and Lock It 4 Pistol-squat and handstand push-up focussed sessions per week. I have fallen in love with the chase of the pistol-squat in this recent period. They are extremely rewarding in many different ways, one of which being you feel and look like a ninja especially if done wearing a bandana and throwing ninja stars into the tree opposite. Anyway, I've just taken off with these squats and currently perform them on a raised platform, usually a tree trunk, with one leg hanging down and bringing it out in front of me and forming the L-Sit when I feel at a point stable enough to do so and finally expliding up into the standing position attempting to keep that L form as much as possible. Hopefully one day I will be able to maintain the L throughout the entire movement but in order to that practice and regulation is required! The second aspect of this trial is progression toward the handstand. Now I don't know why but I always chicken out of jumping up onto my hands, even with a wall behind me! Thus I highlight this here in order to face my fear and stick a finger in its ear. A wet one. Maybe with a bit of jam on, too. So the incorporation of some set/rep structure of handstand-push ups here is the goal. (I will work on this with scrutiny once I have found some limits that need to be broken etc, it's a bit lame as is, I know...) [strength, 2] [stamina, 1] [Dexterity, 2] A: 4/week. B: 3/week. C: 2/week. D: 1/week. Of the Social Arts: Trial No.4 Everybody Touches Themself 10-Minute conversation with one new person each day. You never know who you will meet and what wisdoms you may gain. I try to do this as it is however sometimes my nerves get the better of me and I wimp out! [Charisma, 2] [Wisdom, 1] A: 7/week. B: 5-6/week. C: 3-4/week. D: 1-2/week (how sad is D!) "I bear no ego here, I invite your criticisms so that I might yet become more than a simple caveman" Were his parting words.

You killed it, brother. Great work

Tuesday 21st May - Hit the wall Not in that way... I eat way too much pasta for that to happen.. Hit the climbing walls today a great "rest" day with some danza d'aria thrown in really working the core (I don't know what it's called in english) Feels great to see all the training in action, looking forward to gettin out to play tomorrow Xx

These are great tips, I really appreciate the responses. Exploding up from a seated position is the easier part for me Now this is probably because it's not from floor level, from which I can barely shift my ass! However the part I find most challenging is lowering myself onto the bench, 1-legged. I try to lower myself, hips first, as slowly as possible but at a certain point it's as if I begin to give way and I don't connect with the bench in as smooth a motion as I would like- more of a thud. Trawling through LexPhoenix's thread I came across a tutorial for progression where you stand on the box with the leg usually in the L-position, dangling. This is very attractive but I am yet to discover an object in this city upon which I can perform this movement and won't break my neck if all goes wrong!

Tonight was great fun, bouncing off walls (definitely not in the way I used to!), seeing how high I could jump, cat hangs, cat hang pull-ups and trying to jump from cat hang to a higher cat hang (I will freak when I can eventually pull this off, it will be awesome). Everytime I decided to reach the top of the wall, dips are done (sets of 5). Only half an hour - forty mins on the way home from work but it's great to have that excitment building up inside you to release your inner child after being inside on such a beautiful day.

Monday 20th May - New beginnings So I posted last night about looking for some help with pistol-squat progression which came back really positive for me and I discovered this awesomely bodyweight-synergetic exercise called flowfit and this is the result... 1 Hour yoga routine taken from www.doyogawithme.com Followed some progressions for the dynamics of a level 1 flowfit routine and then played with that in the park for about an hour Finished up with 90° leg raises 3 x 10, 3 x 10 sec L-sits on the rings, 6 x 4 chin-ups. I kept it light on volume today as, weather permitting, I'm heading out to play tonight on a few good walls which I have discovered and a playground that I'm hoping will be empty by the time I finish work.

Thanks, Elastigirl, LexPhoenix's thread has been a great help. Finding lots of other helpful information there too I will keep the pole idea in mind, too. Thanks, I-Jo

Good Evening, Assassins. Today I built myself a bench with which to begin my progression of the pistol-squat starting with this 'pistol-box-squat'. However, being a DIY noob it isn't adjustable and is therefore finite relative to this particular purpose. When I am seated on the bench my hips sit just below my knees as recommended and for now it is difficult enough to maintain complete control whilst attempting to reach this level of flexion. I am planning to target pistol-squat progression as one of my objectives in the next 6-week challenge and in order for this to go as well as possible I must attempt to sate my desire for first-hand knowledge. If you are a pistol-squatter, what progression did you use to get there? what kind of apparatus did/do you use for your progression? what other types of exercises did/do you use in conjunction/to aid your pistol-squats?

Thanks for your message on my thread, man. How was the GP?

Sunday 19th May - Saluta Cesare 1hr 15m +/- (Time keeping is not a strength of mine) - 15km Touching the feet of Giulio Cesare in Classe marks the half-way point of the run. Ave, Cesare!

Saturday 18th May - Feel the burn, Reach for the after-sun! Same dealie as Wed 15 plus 2 sets on top of the box routine, I know it's not a big push and there are no excuses! Objectively however, I did drink a bottle of wine on the friday and the it was incredibly hot for my fair skin yogying in the park, I am now sporting the farmers tan - if this were a 6 week challenge, I would remove my CHA ;p

Stand tall with yoir binoculars and foam finger! You cant still do bicep curls.. 10 beers each arm throughout the dday should equate to some sort of exercise

I use thai fisherman's trousers (I didn't steal them from any specific poor fisherman just the general purpose type) during the colder months and hemp pyjama-trousers in the hotter which wick quite nicely for myself and I'm a natural heavy sweater.