raptron

Thanks for all the well-wishing and support, guys! I am really liking deadlifts. They make me feel beastly and awesome. My hands disagree, but they're big old babies who will cry even more when I get to working the uneven bars again. Tonight is a rest night. I'm planning on doing my stretching before bed again like yesterday because I was nice and relaxed and fell asleep in record time. However... RANDOM SIDE QUEST UPDATE #1: Every nerd knows you need the right equipment before taking on difficult battles. Today, I prepped myself with some gear for the coming weeks. A quick visit to the thrift store and a date with a pair of scissors and now I am ready to BRO OUT:

With the coffee in a in a mason jar with a travel lid...

You can also just let them thaw for about a minute and then just munch on em.

Oh hey! Those are all fun things to be working toward! Other than gymnastics class, what kind of drills and things are you doing to work on them?

Don't mind me, this is just a drive-by sub.

YAY! Another gymnastics person! Alsoooo: I have allllways loved valdezes! They may or may not have been my drunk party trick in college. Beam was my favorite event, though I know it is many girls' arch-nemesis. Good luck with your son and his hip circles! I am not looking forward to getting on bars again, but it's so much fun when you are little! I bet he loves it. DAY TWO: Gym-gym day today. Not nearly as fun as gymnastics class. Warm-up 1/2 mile walk to gym 1500m row (7:30 minute) Quick joint roll-out + Achilles, quad, and shoulder stretches (don't count toward daily stretch requirement) My shoulder wasn't actively bothering me, but I wanted to give it another day of rest, so no low bar squats today. Split squats with Dumbbells: 3 sets of 5 on each leg @ 60 lb 5 sets of 5 on each leg @ 70 lb Overhead press: 3 sets of 5 @ 30 lb 4 sets of 5 @ 40 lb 1 set of 3 @ 50 lb (<-- failed set of 5 reps) Deadlifts: 2 sets of 5 @ 65 lb 1 set of 3 @ 85 lb 1 set of 2 @ 125 lb 1 set of 5 @ 145 lb 1000m row cooldown (5:15 minutes) 1/2 mile walk home I still need to do my 20 minutes of stretching, but I have to raid, so it's going to be a nice, soothing pre-bedtime activity! If my shoulder is back on track by Thursday, I'll try out my low bar squats again.

This is way better if you've played Borderlands or Borderlands 2, but is pretty great even if you haven't.

Yeah, I'm also in Somerville... I have very likely brushed shoulders with some of you nerds without either of us knowing.

Yes, ma'am. Well, at least that's what *I* meant: http://rabbitfoodformybunnyteeth.com/diy-workout-shirt/

Yeah, man. Cut the chit-chat and give us the deetz.

Out of sight, out of mind, I think! Though frozen bananas are even more delicious...

Woo Girl Mindy:

"Give me all the lobster and crab you have. Or else."

I will brotank it soon! I just need to find a promising first victim. I kind of want to incorporate handstand flip cup into every day life, not going to lie. But then again, I would probably spend all day on my hands if I could.

Climbing is so much fun! I look forward to hearing more about your ASCENT! And, adventure time with your son is probably the best life quest I've ever. <3

Danggg! I LOVE THAT SKIRT! Best of luck!

Firstly, I am not cool enough to have made my first bro tank today like littlewings, BUT I did wear this to the gym, which is a tank that I TURNED INTO A BATMAN TANK... for a midnight showing of Batman Begins in 2005........... BUT ANYWAY! DAY ONE: Monday Gymnastics Class! I'm probably not going to do this for every class, but I'm going to do it this time to give you guys an idea of what it is like. If you want me to find a fun GIF to explain what a skill is, I ABSOLUTELY will, just say so. 20 minutes of stretching Warm-up conditioning: 10 hanging tuck leg lifts 10 straight leg lifts 10 straddle leg lifts 5 negative pull-ups, 5 negative chin-ups 15 arch/hollow swings 15 touch knee, touch toe bicycle crunches each side 2 floor lengths of ... we call them bug jumps, but you get in a push-up position and try to bounce your hands + feet off the ground at the same time. 15 minutes of straddle press handstand work: I can do them from a 3-4 inch mat, so I was working mostly from there. Team handstand competition: Imagine flip cup, but with handstands. You have to try to hold yours as long as possible, and when you go down, the person next on your team has to go up. Team with the last person in a handstand wins! I was anchoring the team -- totally destroyed it Round 1, biffed it Round 2. Lots more handstand work. Cartwheels good side/bad side. Aerial cartwheel drills: dive cartwheels + one handed cartwheels Round-offs Back walkovers + Valdezes Standing back handsprings Connected round-off back handsprings. Front handsprings Front handspring step-outs Then we opened up the floor for cross-tumbling. Last week was the first time I had done my round-off, back handspring tuck in 10 years, so I was pretty keen to try again. Example (not me, some cheerleader -- I don't wear shoes): My quads were really sore from the weekend (lots of dancing... in heels... and I guess I did some squats too), BUT I did do a few passes of round-off, back handspring tucks. First one: horrrrible, horrible. I knocked my ankles together and just had no height coming off the ground, so I under-rotated at jammed my left ankle into the floor something terrible. It took me a while of doing some easier passes of front handspring step-out connections to try again at the very end of class. I did my back tuck again, and while I was tired and it wasn't perfect, I made the rotation, I didn't hurt myself, and I nipped any potential psych-out trauma in the bud. THAT WAS CLASS PRETTY MUCH! Now I am going to devour some food. <3

@LorenWade: That GIF isn't even FOR YOU.

EXCITING UPDATE #1: Recreational Team Open Gym this Saturday! I'll get to check it out and hopefully learn when the new session officially begins! Tonight's Agenda: Two hours of mixed-level gymnastics class from 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM. I'll let you guys know what we do.

TIME TO FIIIIIGHT! (Though hopefully not with ourselves!)

Yay, EG! Have a great time on vacation! You've accomplished so much already and I can't wait to see the new things you try out in the next few weeks.

Great goals! 5x a week might be a bit much if you are going from 0, but you know yourself better than we do, of course. I'm in the same wagon as you as needing to cut down on eating out. It's become a pretty bad fallback when I am tired at night or forgetful in the morning. One of the things I've done to try and combat it for lunch: try to keep a store of food in my work refrigerator like spinach, baby carrots, cottage cheese, some dry goods, etc. Even if I forget to bring my lunch, sometimes I can scavenge enough food from my work stores or at least use them to supplement a smaller, purchased lunch. Good luck this challenge!

Oh gosh, now I want a husky/corgi more than anything.

That looks pretty "together," IMO!

I mean... HI!