Omega v1.1

Ring dips: 5, 5, 3, 3 chin ups: 8, 6 wall handstands (seconds): 40, 24 false grip ring rows: 8, 8, 8, 8 pushups: 16, 15 negative straight-arm pulls 3x5 seconds ring knee raises: 10, 10

Ring dips: 5, 5, 4, 3 chin ups: 8, 7 wall handstands: 40, 32 false grip ring rows (feet under rings) 8, 8, 8, 8 pushups: 20, 10, 9 ring stag raises (per leg): 2, 2, 2, 2 knees to elbow: 5, 5

Ring dips: 5, 5, 3, 3 Chin-ups: 8, 7 Wall handstands (seconds): 40, 26 false grip ring rows (30 degrees): 8, 8, 8, 8 pushups: 20, 12, 6 ring stage raises (per side): 2, 2, 2, 2 front lever pulls: 8, 8

Improvised ‘5x5’ rings workout. Circuits of: ring dips: 5 pullups: 5 neck bridges: 5 ring knee raises: 5 close hand pushups: 5

Ring dips: 4x3 chin ups: 8, 7 wall handstands (seconds): 40, 33 false grip ring rows (45 degrees): 8, 8, 8, 8 pushups: 16, 15 ring knee tucks: 5, 5 with pause at top of each rep

Ring dips: 4x2 chin ups: 7, 7 wall handstands (seconds) 40, 30 false grip ring rows (45 degrees): 4x8 pushups: 15, 15 ring knee raises: 4x10

Straight bridges: 12, 12 squats: 30, 30 split squats: 12, 12 (per leg) bench assissted pistol squats: 10, 10 (per leg) drinking birds: 5, 5 per leg

Assisted ring dips: 8, 8 chin ups: 7, 7. Wall handstands: 2x 30 secondsring. ring rows: 8, 5, 3. pushups: 15, 12, 8. hanging leg raises: 6, 6.

Assisted ring dips: 5, 5, 5, 5 chin ups: 7, 6 wall handstands: 2x 30 seconds ring rows: 8, 5, 3 pushups: 15, 12, 7 hanging leg raises: 5, 5

Ring dip negatives: 2x 10 seconds ring dips: 2 chin ups: 7, 6 wall handstands: 2x 30 seconds ring rows: 8, 5, 3 pushups: 12, 12, 12 hanging knee raises: 15, 15

Ring dip negatives: 4x8 second descent chin ups: 6, 6 Wall handstands: 30 seconds, 27 seconds ring rows: 8, 6, 2 pushups: 12, 12, 12 hanging knee raises: 15, 15

Mixing some things up now, adding and taking away to create a more complete workout. It’s now a cross between the Kavadlo brothers ‘Get Strong’ programme and the NF rings muscle up progressions. unless otherwise stated, 60 seconds rest between all sets. ring dip negatives (lower from top position unassisted and then push up with use of one foot): 4 x 8 second descent. No pause between reps. chin ups: 5, 5 wall handstands: 2x20 seconds ring rows: 8, 6, 2 (working towards 2x8) pushups: 12, 12, 10, 2 (working towards 3x12) hanging knee raises: 12, 12

Face pulls: 8, 8, 8 ring rows: 10, 9, 5 pushups: 20, 12, 7 hanging knee raises: 15, 15 Chin up: 5, 3 assisted ring dips with feet off the ground at the top: 7, 6

Face pulls: 8, 8, 8 ring rows: 10, 10, 4 pushups: 20, 11, 6 hanging knee raises: 15, 15 straight bridges: 15, 15 Chin up: 5, 3 assisted ring dips with feet off the ground at the top: 5, 5

ring rows: 10, 10, 5.5 pushups: 20, 13, 4 hanging knee raises: 15, 15 straight bridges: 15, 15 Chin up: 5, 3 assisted ring dips: 10, 7/3

ring rows: 10, 10, 5 pushups: 20, 10, 6 hanging knee raises: 10, 10, 10 straight bridges: 10, 10, 10 Hanging scapular retractions: 10, 10 Assisted ring dips (1 foot on the ground): 10, 10

2 circuits of the following: 20 squats 20 close squats Split Squats: 10 per side Bench Assisted Pistols: 10 per side Drinking Bird: 5 per side Next time I want to work through 3 sets of these. Then I start working on getting my form perfect.

2 minute wall headstand ring rows: 10, 9, 5 pushups: 20, 9, 5 hanging knee raises: 10, 10, 10 straight bridges: 10, 10, 10 straight arm ring supports: 3 sets of 20 seconds bar hang: 60 seconds

Leg day: Squats: 20 Close squats: 20 Split Squats: 10 per side Bench Assisted Pistols: 10 per side Drinking Bird: 5 per side Straight arm plank: 60 seconds Side planks: 30 seconds per side Wall sit: 45 seconds Frog stand: 30 seconds Flex hang: 30 seconds Straight bridge: 30 seconds On thursday I'll try for 2 circuits of the squat variations and try to do a full 60 seconds on the wall sit.

Thanks! Its good to be back

So today I got out the gymnastic rings. Been a long time and I wanted to test just how well my elbow has recovered. I'm pretty pleased with it: All sets had a 1 minute rest between them; I'm aiming to build muscle at this point rather than increase my strength so high reps and little recovery time. Ring rows: 15, 7, 4. The first set was to see just how many I could actually do. I think from now on however I'll work towards doing 3 sets on 10. Flat straight leg raises: 15, 15, 15. Easy stuff! Incline ring pushups: 5, 3. Never done these before. Definitely a challenge! Pushups: 10. Just wanted to do 3 sets of 'pushing' so added some regular pushups after the rings. Straight bridge: 10, 10, 10. Not done these for a while so I'm going to ease myself into bridging again. Straight arm ring supports: 3 sets of 20 second holds. Pretty easy so I'll start working towards doing ring dips again. Bar hangs: 60 seconds, 30 seconds. Got to work back to doing 3 sets of 60 second holds. Then I'll start working on pull-ups again when I feel my elbow is string enough for them. Tomorrow: leg day!

Been too long since I've added to my Battle log. Really quite sad to see that it was in 2015 and I actually only logged one workout (I've done a whole bunch since then, just not logged them). I want to be accountable though and I'm respawning so this is as good a place as anywhere else to start documenting what I'm doing. I'll keep things brief to update what has happened but then I'll just get on with logging workouts. At the beginning of February I somehow managed to get an infection in my left elbow. Within 24 hours I was in hospital and on an antibacterial drip to stop my rapidly ballooning arm from getting any worse. After 4 days of this it was decided that the antibiotics weren't working so I was operated on to have the infected tissue cut out of me. During my aftercare appointment I was informed that I should not try to do anything strenuous with the elbow and therefore my regular bodyweight strength training routines just ceased to exist. The big problem is that exercise is my main weapon I use to fight against the intermittent periods of depression that have plagued me for the majority of my life. If I'm regularly exercising, then my head keeps nice and level. As soon as I stop, that's when the darkness kicks in. Combine this with the large amounts of contemplation time I had both in the hospital and in the subsequent 3 weeks of at-home recovery time in during which I examined so many aspects of my life in minute detail and faced-up to my mortality, the last couple of months have been some of the most intense of my life. But this stops now. Anyway, I'm now rebuilding myself. I don't think of it as recovery, its more putting down the foundations of a stronger, more resilient anti-fragile me. This battle log (providing I actually keep up with updating it) will be my record of my physical developments in the upcoming months/ years. I have plans and I might details them here if I feel like it but for the time being, I'll just be recording workouts.

I've just started filling in my Quest details on the Level up website so I thought I'd add them here to. Or at least add a link to the page. https://www.nerdfitness.com/character/1671 I'll add more details here when I get the chance but I just wanted to reserve my spot before anybody tried to take it.

Day 2 Workout B 30:11 Standard Warmup Flat straight leg raises: 20 Pushups: 20 Bar hang 60 seconds Neck bridge Pushups: 10, 9 Uneven Pushups: 15/15, 15/15 Final two sets had to pause after 11 reps so I'm still not up to 15 straight reps yet. Hanging frog raises: 12, 9 (due to interference from on adorable 2 year old blowing kisses and laughing at me. Im pretty happy with my progress on the Uneven Pushups but I still think that I've got some way to go before I can classify myself as competent at them. I'm definitely seeing more flexibility in my back too with the neck bridges so I might try getting into a full back bridge in my next session to see if I can hold it. I'm still eating well and drinking just loads of water so with any luck I'll see some sort of improvement in my body composition (a reduction in % body fat) by the end of the 4 weeks if I keep this up. I was going to play the guitar for 20 minutes this evening but ended doing it for 45 and going to bed late! I was just trying some basic left hand fingering practice (stop sniggering, you kids at the back!) and started getting cramps in my hand so I'm definitely not as loose as I used to be (it's not funny and nobody is impressed by your childish giggling).

Write up for day one: My morning workout was as follows **workout A ** 25:08 Standard warmup Squats 20 Vertical pulls 20 Bar hang 60 seconds Freestanding headstand 100 seconds! I'm not feeling any strain in my arms or neck so this ended purely because I lost my balance a little and my heels touched the wall. I think I could definitely do 2 minutes so I really should start with crow pose or something next time for added balancing practice. Pullups: 9, 6.5, 3 I feel ill today (cold) so I'm calling quits here but next I need to bang it up a notch. I should have done some work on my assisted pistols but after the Pullups I just felt too beaten done by my cold. I shall resolve to do them on my next workout A day which is thursday. As for goals, I've eaten pretty well today and only drunk water. My plan is to do a plyometric centered workout on Wednesdays so I've been researching today and I'll put together something Tuesday night. I'm hopefully going to go running with some work colleagues on Friday, weather permitting (I'm not sure if they'll want to run in the rain, but I have no issues with it; if I'm going to do a Tough Mudder a little bit of water can't put me off) Finally I finished the evening with 45 minutes of guitar playing. I would've liked to have done more but there were chores to be done.