Machete

Actually what sucks is all the opportunities I see; it's giving me a really hard time focusing. I mean everyone here probably knows how much I like trying to do everything, and end up not doing anything. Haha. Well at least for the next few weeks, these 3 things come first. Great to be back!

Surprisingly calm, given the situation. There's something comforting about the fact that you're not the only one obsessively worried about possibly dying every time you step out of the house. 😆

Well the sleep is a challenge thing. Which you did. And you got a pretty big jump against your deficit.

Late for the party as usual. I assume this total, or is it for the week? I like this visual. Makes me feel like a cybernetic organism.

How long do the sessions take? Also hi. You're back, I'm back; it's just like old times at the monastery.

Hey, I'm back. Hit a rough 6 weeks, which followed the two months of things just not going my way. But after wasting spending like 3 straight weeks playing Fallout and Wasteland, I'm back. I've got my priorities straight, and I'm getting ready to grind. The pressure is up, and no matter how much I dislike it, I seem to work best under pressure. CODING - 7/18 The plague has revealed how unreliable my unimpressive source of income is. I always planned on betting on myself, and staying a full-time fitness professional, but it might not be the best time to do so. I also realized I put all my eggs in one basket and have no other skills. The wife suggested that I apply to a coding boot camp and get into tech. I'll keep training people, but more semi-professionally. That way I take my own advice, and do it purely for the love of it and not because I've been eating instant noodles for 3 weeks. Task: 1 hour of coding daily COACHING - 2/18 So I got fat. I haven't tracked a macro in years, my training is irregular, and I can't even finish S&S. My T-levels are apparently low, and I feel like butt all the time. I don't know if it makes training hard, or it's because I'm not training. In any case, I joined an 8-week 1stPhorm Transphormation Sprint as a participant. I uploaded photos of my dadbod, and I have someone coaching me to call me out on my BS. I'm in such horrible shape, I did like 5 Front Lever Negatives last week and I was sore for 4 days. I drank a double scoop of whey and had a headache and felt like I needed to puke for the next 12 hours. Unacceptable. Task: 160g of protein, 1 hour workout daily SOCIAL DISTANCING - 2/18 Okay, I do this anyway. Aside from sharing memes on Instagram, I haven't interacted with people other than my wife since we were locked down. I realized I'm always so self-absorbed in my challenges that I forget to support the other people who are here supporting me. Task: Reply on another person's thread daily 18 days left on this challenge...

Here to soak up the knowledge. I've always been flexible, and I seem to respond well to training, so I never really had to work too hard on it. This can become a problem, because when people want to learn about it they instinctively go to the flexible guy, and he doesn't necessarily have all the answers; he's been doing splits since he was 6. Back bends/bridges are so easy to just learn inefficiently. (Or would it be efficiently?) It was even a problem with an L7 gymnast I used to train, because you can totally get away with it. Performed properly though they're pretty much the anti-slouch solution. Like 99% of the people I train could use more hip and thoracic extension. Throw in some dorsiflexion there and you've got yourself a minimalist flexibility routine. *writes notes

Sorry for the disappearance. I had another one of those phases. Life's a mess, but I'm coming up with a plan. I just joined the 1stPhorm Transphormation Challenge. I'm paying and I have a coach to keep me accountable. When I try to coach myself I tend to dick around, because I know that my coach is full of shit. So right now it's water, macro tracking, and daily workouts. Both my gyms have closed, obviously. I didn't really put a lot into my online platform enough for it to be a reliable source of income. Wife is stressed-out, I'm planning for a long plague period, so I'm currently working on learning JavaScript and applying for a coding bootcamp.

Okay, a wrap-up on Week 2: Missed 6 days out of 7, and this is prompting me to try to figure out what is going on. > I covered 4 extra afternoon classes which is usually the time I work out. > I totaled 41 hours of sleep, usually going to bed between 2 and 3. > I eat one step above garbage. > I either go to jiu-jitsu or work on handstands on other days. > I haven't done it not in the house. So what I'm thinking is: > Push the workout as early as I can, and create that habit. > Go to sleep before 12 so I can add more hours and wake up earlier. > Get some protein and greens and water. I'll start MFP ASAP. > Set a 2-a-day quota. > Swing even if it's with a 16 at the other gyms. We'll see how this week goes.

I have a 28, but my 24 is an Ader. Haha 😝😝 Funny enough, Pavel isn't even from Russia; he's from Belarus. His business partner John Du Cane of DragonDoor is the marketing master behind the RKC. I've been told 16, 24, and 32 are the classics. Those three are all I keep in my corner to keep it minimalist. The 40 will eventually make itself up there. I'm always tempted to buy more in-between sized, but it would go against the concept of minimalism (and of me being broke 😝). But I do believe it is. Pavel talked about that in JRE when he said he does thing in reverse, looking at what the strongest do and reverse-engineering it, rather than testing a hypothesis. Ah, Freedom Units! I've seen those 2kg increments, and they felt quite weird. Like, I didn't know what to do with a 22kg 'bell I was just staring confused at it. 😆 Gonna agree with @Kishi on this one; I'd go with Q&D twice a week. If you're not feeling so hot, just do the minimum (8 minutes for Snatches). Maybe some light Goblet Squats and Get-ups to keep those joints mobile. You could even do both, Snatches on one day Swings and Push-ups on the other.

Missed a bunch, then got over-enthusiastic and went for the 32kg, which turned out ti be too soon. Rookie mistake. I should know better. Haha Anyway, I’m staying disciplined and only hitting 24kg until this challenge is over.

I'm appreciating the support, folks! I feel some accountability, and I've actually already hit the same amount of Swings as I did last challenge. Haha. Still not up to it though. I can't bring myself to do anything. I actually had to drag myself to my courage corner at around 2:30 in the morning to get them in, figuring if I sleep half the day, so be it; I will get this done. I'm hoping building a habit out of this will eventually make things easier. I also have my long-overdue meeting with my therapist tomorrow, so I'm hoping that gets me somewhere. Now for the original theme of this 10th Anniversary Special, I pretty much just pulled out what I've been doing in my battle log, because I am an insane person/historian. 7 years, 42 challenges. It's been quite a journey. I sent DMs to some old-timers as well, hoping for a resurrection. Fingers crossed...

Anyway, opposite for me. I'm supposed to be the hard worker and my brother is the genius. But I always feel like I only look busy when people are watching. 😟 😄 This is great! How's the house, by the way? Ahh, Melissa. My Hall Pass. See I was thinking whales as well. Whales are scary. Especially Orcas. These bastards used to regularly show up in my room when I lived in the Philippines. They won't kill you, but they're as big as your hand.

Agh! I'm hit. Push-ups for me. I'm gonna hit up some veterans I haven't seen in a while, @Bekah and @Guzzi.

No noob questions here! RPE = Rate of Perceived Exertion Thanks, coach! I’m on it!

I thought about this in someone's Facebook post about Jars of Fears. Besides spiders, of course, the last one was "others finding out your secret," and though I didn't think that was my greatest fear per se (it's spiders), it's the most pervasive in day-to-day life. It's why I sunk $50,000 in fitness education and still think I'm less than qualified to be instructing anybody most of the time. It's why I keep my head down at the VA among the real servicemembers. It's I stay in my lane, I follow the rules, and I avoid being seen as much as possible; because someday someone might just find out that I am correct--I don't deserve anything I have. But then I always think about Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon (or the star of the greatest hoax ever pulled, depending on what one believes), suffering from the same thing, maybe I can... join the Space Force?

My [cauliflower] ears were burning... the Sloth has summoned me... At your service.

I remember this feeling. When after reaching all of your goals you feel you should be at the top of the world, except you're not. You're just asking "now what?" That's why I like how that Gary V guy always talks about buying the New York Jets. Because he probably won't reach that goal in this lifetime, he'll keep working towards it--he finds joy in the hustle. This has been my issue for the longest time. I'm always blaming my depression, which is a bit of a fine line to walk, and it seems to have been kicking my ass extra-hard lately. But I'm really not doing myself any favors by skipping workouts, not eating, and drinking only CELSIUS Original energy drinks (which have no high fructose corn syrup or aspartame and are available in 10 different flavors--find it at your local 7-Eleven or Wallgreens). I'm with you on this.

Welcome, welcome. I also was 142 lbs. for several years, though I am 5'2. The gains were hard-fought, but I think I've stabilized a few pounds now. We also have 3 things in common with the miscellaneous facts. 😉

Welcome. How's it going so far?

Which part of these swamps are you situated?

Still working on that. I got it in the afternoon before work again. Yeah, it's S&S. Still the same until I get to an almost daily casual 32kg with an RPE of around 5-6.

So far, no... it's just as bad. But hopefully we get something good out of it...

. I got my ass whooped on the last challenge. But the good thing is that it's a video game, and we can always start over. It may not be where we left off, but you at least know where the traps are the second time around. What I've learned is that if I come home at night and it doesn't happen, it's probably not going to, especially if I have to cook dinner. So the goal is to get these Swings and Getups in early on during the day. WEEK 0 Sun - NO Mo - NO Tue - NO Wed - YES Thu - YES Fri - NO Sat - NO WEEK 1 Sun - NO Mon - YES Tue - NO Wed - NO Thu - YES Fri - NO Sat - NO WEEK 2 Sun - NO Mon - NO Tue - YES Wed - NO Thu - NO Fri - NO Sat - NO WEEK 3 Sun - YES Mon - NO Tue - NO Wed Thu Fri Sat WEEK 4 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat