montecristo73

Peggy, hadn't seen your thread until now. How are you? How's the challenge going so far? Wishing you all the best!

Hey!!! I hadn't seen this thread until now! How are you doing? I was out of town for several days and started this challenge a week later. Which is fine; last time I started pretty much halfway through. Great goals! Keep doing your best as usual. By the way, I can tell you that tracking your expenses to notice the spending patterns is one of the best things you can do. I did it for about 3 months and it became a huge step towards becoming debt free (which I'm about to accomplish soon!)

Day 5 Going to Krav Maga class today was a considerable challenge. This morning I reaped the results of going to the gym yesterday and training so hard. I had a lot of pain on my chest, arms and legs, and my shoulder injury was bothering a bit. Also, I felt very tired. I was supposed to leave for class at 5 pm, and at 4 pm I decided to stay home because I was too tired. However, at 4:45 I told myself "stop being such a baby, get up and go to class today." I did a couple of exercises to see how "functional" I was and realized that even though doing pushups was very painful I could handle other exercises. I decided to show up and see what would happen. There were not a lot of people today in class, which was great because I got to ask more questions and got more corrections from my instructor. We did several warmup exercises such as traditional pushups, scissors abs, mountain climbers, spider pushups, burpees and yoga pushups. We also did an exercise called "shoulder tap" where you face a partner in fighting position and you have to try to tap his/her shoulder and try to avoid being tapped by him/her. Sounds simple, but after coming from all the other exercises it is very exhausting. Surprisingly I was able to make all of the exercises without major problems. When we moved onto stretching, before the fighting drills, I realized that the pain on my shoulder was pretty much gone. It seems the movement and the heat helped. By the way, I began to incorporate these stretching exercises to my morning routine and I feel a lot better after getting out of bed thanks to them, so I definitely recommend doing stretching first thing in the morning if you haven't done it yet. The drills for my level included jab and straight punches combinations, groin kicks (a classic in Krav Maga) and a combination of a hand-plucking technique (to free yourself front a front choke hold) with a groin kick followed by a burst of combatives. I can tell you, grabbing someone who is well-trained in Krav Maga by the neck is a really, really bad idea. Great day, great class! Learned a lot! I'm glad I got up and decided to show up.

Day 4 Today I went to the gym with my brother to work on goal #1. The last time I had been at the gym was 2 weeks ago, and were coming today to lift heavy! We did an upper and lower body circuit of 4 sets, leaving arms and triceps out for today. The routine consisted of bench presses, lat pulldowns, bar shoulder presses (behind neck) and leg presses. All exercices were taken from maneagable weights until the very maximum I was capable of handling. In so doing, I broke a few records on my first day at the gym after 2 weeks. The shoulder and leg presses were especially a nightmare. Then the routine ended with a superset of pullups and pushdown (3 sets) which I managed just fine thanks to my first challenge. I did 15 pullups after weeks of not doing them, and right after such a taxing routine, so it was not bad at all. I'm working tonight, so there's no Krav Maga for me tonight. I will definitely go tomorrow. I just hope this day at the gym won't mess my plans for tomorrow!

Day 3 A total waste of time regarding the challenge... I was called to the meeting from work and it took longer than anticipated. So, I lost another opportunity to go to the cardio class, and with that all opportunities for this week. My friend from Japan comes to visit me on Monday, so that's another class that I will miss. I definitely need to rearrange the grading system. I will think about something tomorrow. But I'm happy to see my friend after such a long time. It's been a while since I have a chance to talk to someone in Japanese all the time. My shoulder is still bothering me a little. Less than yesterday, but enough to not let me go to the gym today. Oh, well, the Titans score one against my unit today. Tomorrow is another day...

Day 2 After almost 2 weeks of not attending Krav Maga class because of a family trip, and feeling sick and with pain in my shoulder yesterday, I finally showed up for class today. As you can see below, even though I was away from home, I took the opportunity to exercise whenever I could. However, they were body weight exercices focused on strength rather than endurance. So I was really out of shape for the requirements of the class! The warmup exercises were not that long, but I was almost out of air by the time we started with the drills. Our first drill consisted of jabs and straight punches combinations against mitts. This drill was longer than usual, and because I was out of condition I got tired really fast. Keeping the hands up while you are tired is hard as hell. I was getting dizzy. Thankfully we got a much needed watering break. Again, I see the benefit of cardio class right here. We did other drills that included punches and kick combinations, and by the time we were finished I noticed I was sporting some bruises on my left arm, but then again so was everyone else on my level, so I looked at them as my marks of pride for working my ass off in class. It's good to be back! It seems to me that I will probably have to rearrange the point system for the cardio goal. Yesterday I was feeling sick, so I missed the first cardio class. The next one is tomorrow, but I was called from work and I was told there would be a special meeting that I have to attend, so it's possible I will miss the class again. Also, I have a friend from Japan coming to visit next Monday, which is the day where I will have the 3rd class and it's almost sure I will have to miss that one too. Normally, I penalize myself when I'm lazy, not when things outside of my control intervene. If I miss the class tomorrow, I will consider a new grading system or rearrange the goal, because with cardio class only on Mondays and Wednesdays I have not much options to play around with days. We'll see what happens! See you tomorrow!

Day 1 It seems like a tradition for every challenge that as soon as I start some unseen difficulty arises to make things harder. Last time it was my chest injury. This time, right on the first day, my shoulder impingement kicks in spontaneously. I could barely raise my right arm to pick something from the fridge. I decided to stay home, give it some rest and try again tomorrow. However, this totally messed up my schedule for this week, as cardio at the Krav gym is offered only 2 times a week and this thing already made me miss one. Obviously, practicing the Chinese getup was out of the question. Pushing up with your hands is a big part of it, and I can't right now. I don't expect to be able to go to the gym tomorrow either. It's fine, I guess. Better to rest and be ready than to hurt myself further and complicate things for a longer period of time. So I concentrated on my life goal by editing some of the content to be offered on my future website. There are 2 books that will be offered for free. They are both in English and Spanish. One of them is already finished in Spanish, so I worked on the English version a little. The other one is more than halfway done in either version. I will look into webpage services tomorrow, and if I'm feeling better in the afternoon I will try to go to Krav Maga this evening. See you tomorrow!

Awesome! This is the perfect follow up to your last challenge! Wishing you the best!

今ã‹ã‚‰ç™¾å¹´ä»¥ä¸Šå‰ã€äººé¡žã«ã‚る天敵ãŒç¾ã‚ŒãŸï¼Žï¼Žï¼Ž Over a century ago, mankind had to face a new enemy… The Titans... The difference of power between mankind and their newfound enemy was overwhelming. Soon, mankind was driven to the brink of extinction. The surviving humans built three walls: the Maria, the Rose and the Sina. They then lived the next century in peace, under their protection. However, in year 845, a Colossal Titan and an Armored Titan appeared out of nowhere. Instantly, the walls were shattered, along with the peace of everyday life. Mankind abandoned Wall Maria, losing a fifth of their population and a third of their territory as human activity was pushed back to Wall Rose. Now and over the course of the next 6 weeks mankind must step up to the challenge and face impossible odds by battling the Titans, taking back Wall Maria and, hopefully, the world beyond. This is the record of Montecristo73, a soldier in the 34th Cadet Unit and a hopeless nerd for life who will embark on the glorious and honorable journey of sticking his blade up some Titan butt! So challenge #3…….. here we go!!!! (I was traveling with my family for a week when the challenge began, although I was able to sign up in time, so now I'm left with 5 weeks to complete the challenge.) Once again, here's my main quest: TO BECOME A SUPER STRONG WALKING HUMAN WEAPON In other words, to make your punch against me be your last, by means of both brute force and ninja skills. This is being done by becoming stronger through weight lifting, proper nutrition and rest as well as being a regular Krav Maga practitioner. Here are my goals for this particular challenge: 1. GET STRONGER TO CUT THROUGH THE NAPE OF THE TITANS' NECK (Survive 5 weeks of my new weight lift training.) Bringing a Titan down is no easy feat. You must approach the Titan's back using your three-dimensional maneuver gear and apply a precise sword slash at the nape of the neck: the tried and true weak spot for Titans. Considering that Titans don't just stand there while you attack, this is a one-chance offensive move, so you gotta make sure you are strong enough for that sword strike to do be effective. Since I'm attending Krav Maga training 3 times a week, and now I will include some heavy sessions of cardio each week (more about this on goal #3) I do not have all the strength and the recovery time to go 5 times to the gym as I used to. Also, heavy Krav training will sacrifice some of the efforts in the gym unless I adapt to a new weight lifting plan. For the remainder of the challenge I will now go to the gym 2 times each week and instead of working on 2 muscles each day, I will target ALL muscle groups, concentrating on perfect form and high intensity, in order to gain mass and strength. At the end of the challenge I will see the results, judge and adapt if necessary, but at the very least I have to show up each week and do the necessary work. A: 9-10 workouts B: 7-8 workouts C: 5-6 workouts D: 3-4 workouts F: 0-2 workouts (+3 STR, +1 STA) 2. GET UP QUICKLY OR GET EATEN (Learn how to perform a Chinese get up/kick up.) There's a strong possibility that you could get knocked down by a Titan during a fight. Happens all too often. In this case, the speed with which you can recover, get up on your feet and make use of the three-dimensional maneuver again means the difference between regaining a predatory position and becoming ham in their sandwich. One of the quickest and coolest ways to get up from the ground is the Chinese get up/kick up, which is shown in this video: My goal here consists in learning to do this effectively. So I either learn it or I don't. I learn it, I get an A. I don't, I fail. (+3 DEX) 3. IF ALL ELSE FAILS, TRY TO OUTRUN THAT TITAN (Survive 5 weeks of cardio training and improve condition and endurance.) The very last place you want to find yourself while fighting a Titan is on the ground. However, shit happens from time to time such as a malfunctioning steel wire axle or lack of gas in the canisters of the gas-powered mechanisms, which leave you with nothing but your two good ol' legs to make a last effort to get your soon-to-be-eaten ass to safety. The chances of surviving such a case is like 1 in… oh, forget it! You are dead. You are SO dead. But you want to try and run anyway. And if you're going to run, you better be in the best condition possible to do so, 'cause you won't be running a happy 5k but a dash through hell itself. THIS is the one challenge that scares me the most, because cardio has always been my biggest hurdle. Since my teen years I've had problems with cardio because of my thyroid problems (hyperthyroidism), and while it's currently under control, my endurance is not at its best. In our Krav Maga gym we have a 1-hour cardio class before Krav and it is extremely challenging. It also includes some strength training in it. I decided to try it out last week. However, it was so tough that after about 20 minutes of trying to keep up with the rest of the class, I began to feel dizzy and sick and I had to excuse myself to go puke my guts out. One of the guys who is taking both this class and the Krav class tells me that this cardio class is tough even for him who is an Airborne Soldier, and he believes that the training we do here is actually tougher than the training he did at the Army. Realizing this scares me even more. But I will still do this. I don't know how, but I will. When I do punch drills in Krav class I realize that if your cardio isn't in top shape it's all too easy to bring your hands down and be open for a punch in the face. So I WILL do this. I expect to puke in the next few classes as well, but I will do this. Since I can only go to cardio class 8 times at most in the following 5 weeks, here are the numbers... A: 7-8 classes B: 5-6 classes C: 3-4 classes D: 1-2 classes F: 0 classes (+4 STA, +1 STR) 4. CREATE THE FINANCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE TO REPAIR WALL MARIA (Launch website for the promotion and selling of my information product.) Once the wall is reclaimed from the Titans, it will need to be repaired from the damages it suffered from the Armored Titan. This will require money, and so a monetary resource infrastructure must be put in place to make this rebuilding process as smooth as possible. For the longest time my plan to sell an information product that I have worked on for years has taken a back seat for some of the dumbest reasons. Although the product offers high value to the specific market it is aimed at, I have let time pass by under the ridiculous and deceiving premise that someday it will get done. Not anymore. It happens now, or it never will. And since I'm not willing to let all those years of developing it go to waste (or all that I had to go through to learn what I will be offering), the bare minimum for this goal will consist in launching a website for this product even in the roughest form possible. As with goal #2, this is an either/or kind of goal. Website launched: A. Not launched: a big nasty F, as in FFFFFFUUUUUUUUU…!!! (+3 WIS) So here goes! Let the battle begin! Oh, and Colossal Titan approves this message! There's something about him that reminds me of Miley Cyrus...

Hmm, that sounds fun. I'll think about it. Thanks!

Thank you! And good question... Any suggestions? Thanks so much, peggysr!

I completed what has got to be one of my toughest challenges, not because of the goals themselves, but because I began the challenge injured to the point were, for several days, I could barely move. (The story of how I got injured and the funny drama around it is on my challenge thread, so I won't go over it again here.) I could only begin slowly halfway through week 3, which allowed me only 3 weeks to meet my goals when everybody else was already halfway through. At one point I thought of giving up, and gave myself every "sensible" excuse to take things easy and to not beat myself over the head about failure. But that is all too easy. Perhaps 80% of completing a challenge is not about doing things that are difficult, but about being able to shut your mind up when it's begging you not to try to do them in the first place. So here's a recap of my goals for this challenge where I fought the King of Monsters: Godzilla! MAIN QUEST: TO BECOME A SUPER STRONG WALKING HUMAN WEAPON In other words, not only to be strong enough to rip your arms out of their sockets like a Wookie, but to know how to do it even if you were charging at me with a war hammer. 1. DEVELOP ATOMIC BREATH ATTACK DODGE TECHNIQUE RAISE MY CURRENT WEIGHT LIMIT OF SQUATS (140 lbs) BY 80-90 LBS BY THE END OF THE CHALLENGE WITH 12-15 REPETITIONS IN AT LEAST ONE SET. STATUS: ACCOMPLISHED!!! 225 lbs (limit raised by 85 lbs) GRADE: A POINTS ACQUIRED: +2 STR, +2 STA 2. PRACTICE LIFTING MONSTER'S TAIL FOR HAMMER THROW FINISHING MOVE 135 LBS OR MORE ON DEADLIFTS (HAVING NEVER DONE DEADLIFTS BEFORE) STATUS: ACCOMPLISHED!!! 185 lbs (goal surpassed by 50 lbs) GRADE: A POINTS ACQUIRED: +2 STR, +2 STA 3. GO FULL FORCE AGAINST GODZILLA'S GROIN ATTEND AT LEAST ONE KRAV MAGA CLASS FOR EACH WEEK OF THE CHALLENGE STATUS: ACCOMPLISHED!!! GRADE: A POINTS ACQUIRED: +2 STA, +2 DEX 4. AVOID GETTING DISTRACTED BY TOKYO'S NEON SIGNS MAKE A DAILY SKILL PRACTICE SCHEDULE AND FOLLOW IT EVERYDAY STATUS: ACCOMPLISHED!!! GRADE: B POINTS ACQUIRED: +2.25 WIS From this challenge I learned that keeping a focused mind is even more important than what your body is actually capable of doing at any point. If it was up to my body, I would have quit a long time ago and I would probably still be in recovery. By staying focused, not only did I end up meeting all of the goals in a shorter amount of time, but the recovery process itself was completed faster. With goal #4 I realized the importance of setting very simple goals that you can also have fun with. This goal completely changed when I realized that the schedule I had prepared was not taking into account that I needed time to take care of unexpected responsibilities with work and family, and that it was too stiff and strict to really work and allow me to have fun with it. For example, the 4th week found me busy installing a new PA sound system where I work and I had to supervise this for long hours. Exhaustion was another point not taken into account. Some days when gym and Krav classes happened together my body was demanding a lot of rest. And then, there was family and friends, whose company is more valuable than any skill development. So I dropped the original schedule and focused on doing something, anything from the skills set each and every day. It was much better for me to practice during times when I felt like it than having to follow a stiff schedule as if it was a chore. Something, anything is better than nothing, and this is the way things worked out for me this time. So, as you can see, the lizard got owned in the end and I happily move onward to the next level on my personal quest! Overall grade: A

Loki, if I were you I would stop judging the diet by pants size. Diet is about mantaining a healthy lifestyle. Pants size is a result of various things that you know such as exercise (weightlifting, body weight exercices and cardio), diet and resting, not to mention the psychological effort to stay on track. If you judge the diet by the pants size you are actually judging it by about 25% of the whole equation. It's like having a car with only one wheel and saying it is crappy because it won't take you were you want to go. This will only make you frustrated with your progress and will make it easier for you to fall back into bad eating habits because you will think "what is it all good for in the end?" Keep on doing what you're doing even if the change in pants size takes a little longer. If you do what you have to do you have no option but to reach your goal eventually. And if you stick to the diet, by the time you do reach the size that you want you will already have a strong as concrete healthy eating habit that now WILL play a major role in helping you stay on that size. Stay focused! Be stubborn against your "weaker self". Kick it in the balls! Oh, wait...

Day 41 And so it has come to this… the final battle with the Lizard King, the creator of more than 25 unsolicited obstacle races for Japanese residents, the sultan of radiation, the Green Giant's pet, the remodeler of Tokyo: GODZILLA!!! (Cue in epic drum soundtrack) After being set back for half of the challenge by King Kong (a.k.a. "my ex Krav instructor" pictured below)… …I did everything I could to recover just in time to complete a challenge that seemed like a lost cause at one point. King Kong, FYI, was recently visited by good ol' Miss. Karma who broke one of his fingers during training, and while I don't get happy about anyone's misfortunes it serves as a reminder that in life what goes around comes around. So be nice, people. Having gotten rid of the injuries caused by this moronic overgrown gorilla, I began to work hard to meet the goals of this challenge in half the time given. As reported yesterday, I was able to meet the first 2 goals successfully, with the original 6 weeks values that would grant me an A. Here they are again: CHALLENGE #1 - RAISE THE WEIGHT LIMIT OF SQUATS (140 lbs) BY 80-90 LBS BY THE END OF THE CHALLENGE WITH 12-15 REPETITIONS IN AT LEAST ONE SET. STATUS: ACCOMPLISHED!!! 225 lbs GRADE: A POINTS ACQUIRED: +2 STR, +2 STA CHALLENGE #2 - 135 LBS OR MORE ON DEADLIFTS (HAVING NEVER DONE DEADLIFTS BEFORE) STATUS: ACCOMPLISHED!!! 185 lbs GRADE: A POINTS ACQUIRED: +2 STR, +2 STA Things start looking bad for the monster! And now here are the results for the 2 remaining goals… CHALLENGE #3 - ATTEND AT LEAST ONE KRAV MAGA CLASS FOR EACH WEEK OF THE CHALLENGE STATUS: ACCOMPLISHED!!! GRADE: A POINTS ACQUIRED: +2 STA, +2 DEX Tonight I went to class, thus scoring the final point for earning an A. The original goal was to attend at least 6 classes (one for each week of the challenge). For this goal I only had 2 weeks, as I only dared to start training on Krav on the 5th week to avoid putting the recovery process at risk. So the very minimum was 2 classes. But I went to 3, and I would have scored 4 days but the school canceled class on one of the days I was going. Here I am training like new in my current Krav Maga Worldwide club, with a noticeably bigger guy than me. And so, Godzilla gets another shower of heavy electric punishment from me. And now, the last goal… CHALLENGE #4 - MAKE A DAILY SKILL PRACTICE SCHEDULE AND FOLLOW IT EVERYDAY STATUS: ACCOMPLISHED!!! GRADE: B POINTS ACQUIRED: +2.25 WIS This is one goal that was completely changed when I realized that the schedule I had prepared was not taking into account that I needed time to take care of unexpected responsibilities with work and family, and that it was too stiff and strict to really work and allow me to have fun with it. For example, the 4th week found me busy installing a new PA sound system where I work and I had to supervise this for long hours. Exhaustion was another point not taken into account. Some days when gym and Krav classes happened together my body was demanding a lot of rest. And then, there was family and friends, whose company is more valuable than any skill development. So I dropped the original schedule and focused on doing something, anything from the skills set each and every day. It was much better for me to practice during times when I felt like it than having to follow a stiff schedule as if it was a chore. The reason why I'm giving myself a B is because although I did something every single day, I did not vary the things on the list much. I concentrated mostly in practicing Hebrew language and didn't focus much on music as I originally intended. But as I always say, something, anything is better than nothing, and this is the way things worked out for me this time. With this, I give the King of Monsters the finishing move….. ….and... down... he... goes!!!!! Godzilla gets finally owned and I take one more step forward on my main quest TO BECOME A SUPER STRONG WALKING HUMAN WEAPON

Day 40 Goooooooood mooooorning, Japaaaaaan!!! And the rest of the world, too!!! Hope all of you have been doing great. My final showdown with the king of monsters has started! And it looks better than I ever thought. I went to the gym this morning. It was actually my last day at the gym for this challenge. Here's what I have to report: CHALLENGE #1 - RAISE THE WEIGHT LIMIT OF SQUATS BY 80-90 LBS BY THE END OF THE CHALLENGE WITH 12-15 REPETITIONS IN AT LEAST ONE SET. STATUS: ACCOMPLISHED!!! Let me be clear about the way this was accomplished. As you know, I only had 3 weeks to complete the challenge because of my recovery from injury. Because of this, I decided to cut all goal weights and practice days to half values to grade myself accordingly. I decided to eliminate leg presses from this challenge, as it was making things more complicated than they should have been, and I focused only in squats. Now, because of the problem I've been having with my knees, my brother also decided that I would do squats with a weight machine instead of doing them with a bar, because the knee pain could make me lose control of the technique and cause additional injury, to the back, the knees or both. So the goal for those 3 weeks would be to add 40-45 lbs (instead of 80-90 lbs) to my latest squats limit. My squat limit was 140 lbs, which means I had to reach at least 180 lbs to get an A. The result: I met the challenge by doing squats with 225 lbs!!!! So I reached the original goal for the full 6 weeks challenge by adding 85 lbs to my limit. Here's the weight machine I worked with, and you can see I had already reached 200 lbs which was the maximum weight for it. Here are 25 lbs that were added to the machine's limit to reach the original 6 weeks goal. All sets were done with 15 repetitions. GRADE: A POINTS ACQUIRED: +2 STR, +2 STA So... the first kick at Godzilla's balls gets connected with powerful results, as you can see below... CHALLENGE #2 - 135 LBS OR MORE ON DEADLIFTS (HAVING NEVER DONE DEADLIFTS BEFORE) STATUS: ACCOMPLISHED!!! Hey, watch the language, lizard!!! As with squats, the idea was to cut down the weight goal, but I was never sure how much would be a fair amount. Being indecisive about this proved to be a good thing, because today I aimed for the original 6 week goal of 135 lbs… reached it… and then surpassed it by reaching 185 lbs!!! GRADE: A POINTS ACQUIRED: +2 STR, +2 STA The beat-up continues successfully... Tomorrow I will be going to my Krav Maga class. If I attend class tomorrow, it will be 3 classes by the end of the challenge, which is half of the original 6 week challenge goal. For this specific challenge I only had 2 weeks to complete it, because even though I started working out at the end of the 3rd week, I gave myself additional time to rest before attending this class not to risk the recovery process. Granted that I can only go twice a week and that they cancelled class on one of the days I could go, 3 days in 2 weeks is not bad at all. So… IF I go to class tomorrow I will award myself an A for going 3 times (instead of 6 times) in only 2 weeks (instead of 6 weeks). Also, as you know, I brought down the practice schedule from doing it as written (which was not possible when tried to be carried out against work and other responsibilities) to doing at least one thing on the skill list everyday, no matter what it was as long as something was done every single day. Done that way, it looks like it will be an easy A. See you tomorrow! All the best to you!

Thank you very much! By the way, it's a little late for this but I hope that you are not offended with me battling Godzilla, knowing you are Lizardfolk. Thanks, my friend! Thanks for following my progress and for your words of encouragement. How have things been going for you? Hey, there, zombie-killing machine! How's everything? Thank you, rogaecia! Yes, sometimes you want to capture all the coins in the game, but you also forget that there's a timer ticking and sometimes it's not as you would like. But that doesn't mean you can't catch a few and add to the score.

Day 32 Hello, my fellow Japanese monster hunters! This has been a nice week for me! Yes, I know Godzilla is not happy about this, as you can see below, but screw him! Looks as if he was choking on a hairball. Anyway... Although I haven't gone to the gym everyday as originally planned because of schedule conflicts with my brother, at least I went this Monday and did a great chest and triceps workout. We used cable exercises to minimize the impact on the shoulders (in the same way that elastic band exercises work). Contrary to what I expected the workout was hard, but thankfully my shoulders did not experience any pain in the following days. Neither have my knees been bothering me. I'm on my 34 day of the 100x100 pushup challenge, and the fact that my shoulders were not hurting this week allowed me to do 100 pushups Monday, 200 pushups yesterday and 100 pushups today, bringing the pushups total to 3,700. I even reached a new personal record of one rep of 60 pushups!!! Also… GREAT NEWS! I finally started to go to the Krav Maga classes and my first class was great! Obviously, this is a clear indication that I'm finally recovered from the chest injury, as I had no problems whatsoever to perform any of the exercises or routines. This really makes me happy! This class is WAY HARDER with the cardio and warmup exercises than my other class. However, much to my surprise, my condition was not as bad as I thought it would be, and I could keep up with the rest who have been used to this type of training for several months. Some were struggling more than I did. Eating healthy really pays off! I must confess that it was scary. After being injured you tend to flinch and expect the worst any minute, but these guys were very careful about safety and protection and this eased my worries. All in all, it was a lot of fun and I felt very welcome among them. I will be working on my back and biceps tomorrow, and I will try to reach my weight goal for deadlifts. If that happens, it will be my first achievement on this challenge. And if it doesn't happen, at least I will be closer. I'm just enjoying my comeback. With the skill practice schedule, it has been almost impossible to stay true to the schedule as I originally wrote it because of sudden responsibilities with work, family and overall lack of time. So instead of being too obsessive about what's written, I have instead focused on doing AT LEAST ONE of the things on the list at some point during the day. I figure it's better to do one thing everyday than doing nothing just because I have missed the scheduled time or the specific activity for that day. So, if I can't practice drums because on that day I had to be out working or meeting with my family, then I will practice Hebrew while I drive or review some Japanese before going to bed. But at least, SOMETHING gets done EVERYDAY. Time to get some earned rest, my friends! Thank you so much for your words of encouragement all these weeks! They have helped me immensely to push through the obstacles and get where I am now! Soon, the king of monsters will be tamed like a nice little puppy. All the best to you!

Thank you so much, my friend! Your words always charge me up to keep on plowing forward! How are things going for you in this challenge?

Day 27 Friday, last gym day of the week... and LEGS DAY... Man, that was horrible. Felt like puking again. Thankfully, I didn't, but the workout was darn hard after so many weeks of not exercising my legs. However... I was surprised at my reaction to a trick that my brother pulled on me. He usually takes care of the weights I'm going to lift, so I don't even ask. I just do it and trust his judgement as my trainer. I started with leg extensions at 50 lbs. I did 4 sets of 12-15 reps increasing the weights by 20 lbs or so every time. By the 4th set my brother put all the weights in the weight machine and had me do the exercise with 200 lbs. A brand new record for me. I only did 8 reps, but I didn't know I was lifting that weight until after I finished. Curiously, after that my quadriceps were almost numb, so couldn't feel any knee pain even if I had it. So I went onto squats and worked up to 15 reps of 100 lbs. That is 130 lbs short of my original goal and 95 lbs short of my updated goal. I'm worrying that I might not be able to meet this one as I hoped. We'll see... 2 more weeks to go. Anything can happen. At least, the knees were not a problem this time. This was me walking down the stairs of the gym afterwards. Good thing I've had to work all these days on installing a PA sound system. Otherwise I would have utterly failed at going to the Krav classes. This has occupied most of my time. Last Wednesday we worked on the sound equipment from 4 pm until midnight, and tonight from 2:30 pm until 9 pm. So obviously Krav and language or music pratices have been out of the picture these days. Well, my friends, time to catch some z's. Take care and I hope your challenges are being met gloriously!

As long as I don't quit, progress is being made. Thanks for always stopping by! Thanks so much! Legs day was yesterday, and thighs feel like jello today! Hahaha! I hope the deadlift goal is met sometime next week. Sicil, I sent you a message.

Day 25 This has certainly been a hard challenge. As you know, it hasn't been because of the challenges themselves, but because of the difficulties involving the recovery process I've been going through. Thankfully, my chest has healed properly and I have gone back to working out. However, yesterday, my shoulder injury kicked in again. SHOULDER... OUCH!! (Those who followed the thread of my first challenge might remember this has been one of my biggest hurdles with weightlifting.) I was so frustrated because I was just coming out of beating one injury only to be met with the vengeance of a dormant one. I gave it some rest but, as usual, I wouldn't stay still: I did some cleaning, did the dishes and some other minor chores like that to give the shoulder some movement, and by today it was just as new. Thought I was beaten? Munch on THIS! So I went back to the gym today and began with my very first deadlifts. My brother made sure I had the proper technique down before trying it out with weights. After a few sets with just the bar, I was comfortable enough with the exercise to put some weights on it. I reached 95 lbs on my first day with deadlifts. That means that I'm just 40 lbs away from reaching my goal, with 2 weeks to go. So I will soon be able to grab Godzilla by its tail and hurl him out of the sumo ring. Tomorrow I will be working on my legs and see how it goes with them squats. Also, I might go to Krav class at night IF (and that's a big IF) my legs allow me to even walk after the workout. I will keep you posted, my friends! Have fun and keep on pushing through the enemy field!

What a great idea! I hadn't thought of that, and yes, I hace access to a pool, so I will be giving this a try. Thanks so much for the suggestion and for following my thread with such excitement!

Day 21 Lazy Sunday afternoon. Taking things easy today. I'm slowly getting back on track. The pain is almost gone for good. On a funny note… I went to the gym with my brother last Friday and did a back, shoulders and leg workout. He was careful enough to choose exercises for me that would not put too much strain on my pecs so as not to affect the healing progress. The workout came out better than we expected and before long I was pushing myself harder. Problem was… I pushed myself harder than I should have, not because I was hurting myself, but because while I was working out my legs I threw up! Man, that has got to be one of the most horrible feelings in the world… However, after that I came back and finished the workout doing some due leg presses. Then I gave myself permission to stop. Your beat up has started, stupid lizard! Yeah! Elbow strike to the chest! Get it, you radioactive moron? I have kept up with my practice schedule as well, practicing some bass and Japanese. I have noticed however that it becomes increasingly difficult to do so while being flexible to have a social life. After all, if my family or friends call me to go out and have dinner with them or hang out, I'd rather spend some time with them in the real world than trying to stick perfectly to a schedule that keeps me in solitary confinement. I might need to adjust the times on my schedule so that it stays as a habit in the long run and not simply a chore that will end with this challenge. I also went back to the 100 x 100 pushup challenge by doing 170 pushups yesterday and 100 pushups today. No pain on my chest, thankfully. I'm on day 25 with 2500 pushups. 75 days to go. Haven't started the Krav Maga classes yet. The plan was to start tomorrow, but I will have to go and fix something with the PA system at the place I play weekly with the band, so I will have to wait until Wednesday. Gaaahhh! I just wanna go out and do it! But this also gives me some time to go out running for a couple of days and start conditioning for the training. That's all, folks. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Oh, by the way, sorry about the language, but this was just too funny not to post!

Thank you all! This is finally starting to become a thing of the past. Moving forward strongly!

Day 17 Good news, my friends! I went to the gym today and it all went great!!! I took things slowly and didn't lift heavy, just to see how my body would react to the exercise. I worked out chest, biceps and triceps. I did two combinations that included pushups. Before I knew it I had done 120 pushups on my first day at the gym after my 3 weeks of recovery, which is NOT bad at all. To make things even better there was no pain, either during or after working out. I'm going back tomorrow to work on back, shoulders and perhaps some leg exercises too. Sooooooo....... CELEBRATION MODE ON!!! I have also followed my practice schedule for 2 days this week. I practiced bass, drums, advanced Japanese and basic Hebrew. It feels great sitting behind the drum kit again! I thought of maybe starting with the Krav Maga classes on Friday, but Sicil's post made me reconsider, so I will wait until next Monday and see how my body feels. Anyway, the day ended well and so my eventual showdown with the king of monsters looks promising! Look, even he can't contain his excitement!