Kishi

Close enough if you're poor enough, right?

Congee is pretty awesome, or so I've heard. Would you recommend it?

Yup. Consistency is the king. You keep paying the price, and you'll get what you pay for.

Aw, man, seems like this Challenge has a lot more aggressive participants than last time. Though, of course, it's only the beginning. Still has that 'New Challenge' smell about it.

That McMonster sounds like the king of burgers. Can such a thing be ordered?

Well, it sounds like you're on the right track. A lot of strength training that isn't bodybuilding is more about finding practical ways to move and to use the body - hence the whole compound lifts movement. You're doing it with bodyweight, which makes it awesomely functional.

That sounds intense. Question: are you sure you want to max on your pullups all the time? It almost sounds like you're pushing for failure on each set, and it may be trickier to achieve your goals if you don't make the time to heal.

Ah, I remember seeing that shake before. It looked a little weird before... but gotta admit, it looks pretty awesome now.

Doesn't matter how small the steps are. They only have to be forward.

O.O Aw, dude. I just googled knees to elbows. That's the scary one. You weren't kidding about this beating your fears thing!

Well, yeah, man. I mean, this is the kind of community you get, where we're all trying to look out for each other and help each other meet our goals. It's a good place.

Me too. On the other hand, let's look on the bright side - I get an impromptu day off for every day he doesn't pay me. I'd rather be working, but. No sense in it if the money's not coming in. Aw, shucks. I try. I definitely hear you there, Mama T. I wouldn't really worry about the ab wheel as such, except that core exercises are part of my challenge. The wheel represents another area of challenge for me. Even if it didn't, good fighting technique relies on the core and hips for power, and the wheel is a time-tested way of developing it. And the savings account would be good. $500 put away could have paid my rent this month. As it is, I'm having to lean more on my roommates to take care of it, and that's not cool. So. We'll find a way to make that happen somehow - just might not start as soon as we could have. Hey, nothing wrong with barbells, man. They're awesome. If you're looking to get into explosive pushing strength, a good thing to do is to get up to doing 40 pushups. It was never clarified to me as to whether you do them in one set or spread them out, so I assumed it was one set. Once I did that, I was good to go. Are you on a particular barbell program at the moment?

All right! First official day of the challenge. Did we rock today? Did we blow it up like we thought we would? Yes. Yes we did. Day 9/50 - Explosive Strength Plyometric Pushups: 4x16 Lateral Jumps: 4x16 Dips: 1x8; Bench Dips: 3x20 Knee Tucks: 4x14 Power Overs: 4x2 Explosive Step-Ups: 2x14 Ankle Hops: 2x14 Part 2: Abs Ab Wheel: 3x2 Pullthrough: 3x15 Rotational Chop: 3x10 1-Leg Plank: 3x30s Notes So, today has been interesting, not just in terms of the fitness goals, but also in terms of life in general. I'm not the complaining kind, but it may get in the way of my goals. I got ready to head off to the park where I work out at most of the time, and found a wall of clouds waiting for me. 'Pshaw!' I thought. 'Just a bunch of clouds.' Until the thunder sounded off. I ran back inside to find that there was a wall of storms coming our way. It was a real opportunity to live a rage comic, so to speak. And I honestly considered delaying, but I'm 'Never Gymless' this challenge. So I decided to make the most of it with what I had back home. Home ended up posing some obstacles. To begin with, one of my roommates is a student, and he needs it quiet for his studying. Actually, he probably doesn't give a rip how much noise I make, but I try to be quiet for him. Except that explosives work isn't very quiet. Not even a little bit. On top of that, I don't have a bar to do my dips on back home. The best I can do is a bench dip off one of the chairs. So I made do. First couple exercises go off without a hitch. Second set of exercises are way too easy because I'm using the bench versus an actual bar. So I decided to up the ante and bust out 20 dips from the bench as opposed to the eight. That was awesome. Power Overs are a new movement that I've picked up since last challenge. And it's pretty much what it sounds like: you lay out a brick or a block or a medicine ball. One hand on it, one hand off, pushup position. One repetition has you exploding up and switching the positions of your hands. You start off on one side of the prop, and at the end of the rep you're on the other side. Rinse and repeat. The ankle hops came in because I freaked out when my roommate got out of his room and I didn't know if he was coming down the stairs or not. So I just bounced for 14 reps on the last one and that was that. So, that was that. The Ab Wheel is still busting my chops pretty bad. I've decided I'm going to go ahead and start using a wall to gauge my progress out, because I can't tell right now whether or not I'm getting anywhere. I think I may have a slight form problem too - my back's bugging me like crazy, and that shouldn't be happening. ... Let's see. Ah, yeah. Life goal. My paycheck's behind by about a week or so. The idea was to start putting away from that paycheck, but if that paycheck isn't here, it can't be done. If the delay continues, I might have to postpone starting it by a week or so. Also, everything that's happened today happened while fasting. Fast is over in an hour. ... Yeah. It was a big day today.

You know, I don't really remember. Hard to conceive of it not, what with the mud getting everywhere else. My priorities were to get them off and then hop in the shower after a three-hour drive, so. Being observant didn't really occur to me.

If it helps any, I picked up a pair of vibrams specifically for the race. They run anywhere from $85-$100. They suited me just fine, and I threw them in the wash afterward with no ill effect on the shoes whatsoever. They suited me just fine through the water, the trail, and the mud at the end, probably due to minimalist design and close adherence to your feet. It would mean a huge change in your running style, but it may be worth looking into.

The body's generally a pretty good indicator of what it needs, if you pay attention to it. Here's to the challenge!

You will. Believe me. Just wait 'til you read my update today and I'll show you what I mean.

Hey there, Warrior! Always awesome to hear a first-timer starting up. Can't wait to see you rock this!

Wow, way to get a jump on it, Mama T! This is a good start.

Ah, forget the party circuit anyway. It's just a bunch of drinks and drama and people thinking they're a whole lot better than they are. They can be fun. But you sound like you'd have a lot more fun busting out weighted pull-ups and getting your lifts to a higher weight. It's all up to you.

There ain't no such thing as a step forward without some fear. Otherwise, you wouldn't be stepping forward. You'd be stepping backwards, back into security. Don't worry! We're walking with ya.

Dude, that is some solid weight you're looking to move. You keep us posted on that now, ya hear?

Getting closer is great. Once you figure out your baselines, you'll be able to chart and walk a specific path versus having something vague and undefined. You want to be able to say you met your goal, versus looking to a feeling to validate it.

For the Rebellion indeed! I will definitely be keeping you posted - looks like tomorrow's going to be an Explosives day. We'll be blowin' it up, looks like. Well you know, the fact that you're pulling for me is what makes me so ambitious. You keep me accountable to what I say. If I make any of these goals, it'll be because y'all keep me to it. So, thanks!

Game of Thrones is pretty awesome. And apparently it being on HBO now has forced G. R.R. Martin to actually start writing again. Will wonders never cease!