SymphonicDan

Thanks guys I also see I'm not the only one working on handbalancing this challenge (although I guess that's pretty standard for the Assassins' Guild?) I'm going to start taking the challenge seriously tomorrow with the first weights session, and possibly some handstand conditioning. I also need to do some reading on that, as the strategy of "just do handstands a lot and think too hard about them" hasn't rewarded me much so far...

I like good healthy food and I like people trying out anything vaguely related to acrobatics. *subbed*. Also good to see someone picking an ambitious goal and then still be working on it some months later rather than having given up

Nice challenge! I was recommended to check out your thread and I wasn't disappointed I'm just getting into some gymnastics stuff (working on back tucks and handstands this challenge, amongst various other things) so it's good to watch from afar at someone who's already competent. Good luck Nationals prep. *subbed*

One such site is Verbling.com (although there may be others). Not sure what their current range of languages is... I tried it once for French but lots of the people on there have poor microphones or aren't paying attention so you may as well try speaking French to a distant thunderstorm. It was a new site at the time, so it might now be much better. @Harika: What's your motiation for learning Serbian, by the way? I love their (version of the Cyrillic) alphabet, with the separate letters for /lj/ and /nj/ etc., but it's otherwise a reasonably obscure language (although I guess you get mutual intelligibility with most other languages spoken in what was once Yugoslavia)

So I'm fresh into the Assassins' Guild having just finished the Level 1 challenge Current stats: - Male, 23 years, UK - always been overly thin, only recently gained some more muscle density: 6'1" (1m85) and 70kg (155lb) - used to do quite a bit of athletics (jumping and sprinting) - main interests now are gymnastics/tricking (only recently picked this up) - also strength train (my upper body was pretty weak until recently) an play football (soccer) You know how sometimes there's something you really want to do, and you always assume that one day it will, despite putting in zero effort to make it more likely? Maybe it's going travelling, or perhaps it's getting a job you love? Well since the age of 15 I thought that backflips were awesome and that clearly one day I would be able to do them. Well, last summer - 7 years on - I still couldn't. Simply because I'd never really gotten a concrete plan for learning. You can't just waltz out into a park and throw a backflip for the first time expecting things to end well if care at all about your safety... So last summer, I started going to a gymnastics club, where I could learn all sorts of cool stuff, including backflips. I've made some progress, but it turns out that my co-ordination is really poor, so it's been taking longer than expected. So this challenge is the one where I want to fully own this move! It will represent: an improvement in co-ordinationincreased core strengtha gateway to more advanced gymnastic movesa pretty damned cool trick to throw Challenge #1: Perform a safe unassisted backflip (+2 DEX, +1 CHA) At the moment, I can do it onto crashmats with two spotters and land it most of the time. To qualify this, everything needs to be done safely A: backflip on solid ground, without practising on crashmats or with spotters earlier in that session B: backflip on solid ground, only after practising on crashmats or with spotters earlier in that session C: backflip on solid ground with spotters D: backflip on a padded surface without spotters This is coloured green, to match the grass on which I hope to be throwing some of these when the British summer arrives Another thing I've been working on for far too long, and need some focused effort in order to properly master the skill, is: Challenge #2a: Become proficient at hand-balancing (+1 DEX, +1 STA, +1 STR) Currently I usually lose my balance immediately as I'm not sufficiently vertical. My best attempts are where I manage to fight against falling one way, before immediately falling the other way... Also, I cannot walk on my hands at all... which is something else I'd like to learn! I might make a video of my progress (or lack of progress) if I get enough decent footage... A: handstand for 10 seconds (twice, so it's not a fluke) B: handstand for 6 seconds (twice, so it's not a fluke) C: consistent and serious training (more than just doing handstands a couple times each week) D: some training (more than just doing handstands a couple times each week) Challenge #2b: Learn to walk on my hands (+1 STR) Did I say I'd never learnt to take even a single step on my hands? Taking a hand off the floor scares me. A: 10 steps B: 7 steps C: 4 steps D: 2 steps This is all coloured purple, to match my face if I ever manage to hold myself upside-down for this long... Challenge #3: Consistently strength train (+2 STR, +1 STA) I'm currently training 1-2 times per week, doing full-body high-intensity low-volume workouts to help with various sports that need more upper body strength. I should continue this, along with good resting and nutrition, and start making clear notes on progress. The following only count if I make clear notes on the sets/reps/weights: A: 13 sessions between now and end of challenge B: 12 sessions C: 10 sessions D: 7 sessions This is coloured crimson, because it's an intense colour and i like it Challenge #4: Look after my shoulder (+1 CON) In January I injured my right shoulder while setting up the bench press. Some activities aggravate it (some shoulder stretches, some weights exercises) so I need to go sufficiently easy on those. This challenge exists to dissuade me from doing anything silly... A: shoulder recovers completely as far as I can tell C: shoulder stays at least as okay as it is now This is coloured grey as it's boring but necessary Challenge #5a: 30 minutes Spanish practice 4 times per week (+2 WIS) This is a continuation from last challenge A: 4 times each week B: 22 times in 6 weeks C: 18 times in 6 weeks D: 12 times in 6 weeks Challenge #5b: 15 minutes Spanish speaking practice 3 times per week (+2 CHA) Last challenge I kept saying I would do more of this, and never did. So now I'll commit to it A: 3 times each week B: 16 times in 6 weeks C: 13 times in 6 weeks D: 7 times in 6 weeks This is coloured yellow, to reflect the sunshine that falls on most Spanish-speaking countries So the challenge may as well start now, although I won't be counting the 5th/Spanish challenge until Monday. So if I suddenly find myself handstanding tomorrow, that's cool and that counts for the challenge Good luck to everyone starting their challenges! Play safe and play hard!

Good work It looks like you know exactly what direction to head in next. Make sure you keep drinking decent amounts of water (especially when taking lots of protein) and sleeping plenty... I know exactly what you mean about the resting between sets... I was in there yesterday for 30-35 sets of 8-12 exercises (depending how you count) and it took 2 hours 20 minutes! Really need to get that down to < 90 minutes... One suggestion is to superset two exercises... so rather than doing: AAAAABBBBBCCCCCDDDDD you can do ABABABABABCDCDCDCD (for example) As long as exercises A and B are dissimilar, and C and D also dissimilar, you can pretty much use a set of one exercise as a rest from the other. Doesn't really work if you're working on 1-rep max stuff, but it can be useful the rest of the time.

Good challenge, glad I took part More details are in my challenge thread (in signature) but in summary: Results: AACC Improved my heavy lifting, although a shoulder injury put an end to progress there (and it's still only semi-healed) Improved my Spanish listening (still more work to do here though...) Did almost-daily small amounts of conditioning exercises (core sets, grip strength, pistol squats, etc.) Small improvements on backflip (still not ready to do it unspotted) Defied the cold weather (7'C so not too bad) to do an outdoor gymnastics session (I'm usually pretty bad at getting outside when the weather is poor) I'll be moving to the Assassins' Guild and continuing where I left off as soon as the next challenge starts, whenever that is Good work everyone!

Mission accomplished! Had a long full-body weights workout with a friend today, 4 sets of each of 8 exercises, mostly near failure, so that's my 36th/36 conditioning session completed, and a good way to finish the 6-week challenge. Results: Challenge #1: 100kg combined military press and bench press: >> progressed from 83.5kg (184lb) to 92kg (202lb) in under 3 weeks before a shoulder injury (possibly from getting into the bench press awkwardly) meant that I was better off easing off on the heavy weights for a while. Still, a results goal is a results goal, so this was a partial failure: grade C Challenge #2: winter outdoor gymnastics session including a backflip: >> weather has been nice in England so I had a grass session working on handstands, cartwheels, plyometrics etc. back in January, so I get a grade C for this too. I also started some more indoor sessions which is in the spirit of this, and had some progress on a backflip, but nothing to push me up to any higher grade. Challenge #3: conditioning exercises on 36 days out of 42: >> just about achieved, with 36 exactly grade A Challenge #4: 30 minutes' Spanish practice 4 times each week: >> achieved, with two bonus sessions and some longer sessions. Definitely noticed an improvement in comprehension. Next challenge I should concentrate more on speaking in Spanish, as this time I kept saying that I should do more of that... but hardly ever did... anyway, grade A Thanks for the support from people following this I'll be shifting over to the assassins for the next 6-week challenge, and already have some ideas for challenges written down. Stat points have been updated... I'm going to need more STR and DEX and CHA so I'll be chasing those through February and March...

Lots of updates! Firstly, I was saying (response earlier to cobaltsword) that I was thinking of adding some variation off "try new sports, for example capoeira" to my next challenge. Well on Thursday I went to the weights gym and bumped into a couple of guys I vaguely know who were off to a capoeira class (one of them trying it out for the first time) ...so sure enough I joined them. It's pretty cool, reasonably simple to learn the basics, still takes some effort to do the basics well, and a good full-body workout with the benefit of concentrating on something other than the effort. (I don't know about you guys, but I generally prefer sports where I'm concentrating on execution rather than driving myself to continue... some sports like football are intrinsically that way, and others like weights are like that if you're interested in the process and possibilities... I'm sure running can be that way too for some people, but I've never found it that way). Anyway, I'm veering massively off-topic Capoeira was good and I'll probably go back some other time. I went to do weights briefly afterwards. Challenge #2: more progress on backflips, since now I'm getting the landing right rather than just spinning and hoping I crash into the floor standing up rather than at some other orientation... Challenge #3: I need to do conditioning every day this week in order to get my 'A' grade for this,,, and so far I've kept on top of that. Challenge #4: just need to do one more Spanish session this weekend to complete this challenge. I really should do more speaking practice, enough so I can feel confident enough to start talking Spanish with real people.

Thanks cobaltsword - you may be pleased to know I'll be joining the Assassins' Guild along with yourself. Will the next challenge be beginning on Monday February 24th (if you know)? I don't yet have concrete plans for the challenges, but I'll probably go wiith a mixture of result- and process-based goals like this time as that seemed to work well. I'd like to get some new gymnastics moves down (backflips, handstands, ...I have a longer list) and maybe try out some new sports just out of interest (capoeira, hopak, ...again I have a longer list) as well as continuing to build up a base of strength. I'll probably have another look around the local guilds to see if I find any more cool ideas that are appropriate for me Challenge #3: grip strength, raised pistol squats, and some handstand training (felt some good progress with handstands, I'm looking forward to trying these again later tomorrow at gymnastics (Wednesday)) Challenge #4: lots of Spanish on Monday; none today as I was out eating tasty Polish food with some friends instead

One week to go, so here's an update on how things look: Challenge #1: (get combined military press and bench press to over 100kg) >> achieved grade C with 41kg for military press and 51kg for bench press. >> not going to pursue this any further as I'm taking it easy for the last three weeks of the challenge to recover from a shoulder injury Challenge #2: (do a backflip outside) >> achieved grade C with a decent gymnastics session outside, but havent yet graduated my backflips from the clutches of spotters >> progress was stalled slightly by the shoulder injury >> may still get grade B if I make solid progress this Wednesday in gymnastics, but I consider it unlikely (and I'm not going to take risks) Challenge #3: (do some basic conditioning on average 6 times per week) >> achieved grade C, need 3/7 days next week to achieve grade B, but need all 7/7 days in order to get the grade A after a lazy (and sociable and fun) 5th week. >> I have seen noticeable improvements because of this conditioning... I can feel a stronger grip strength when I'm cycling, stronger core in handstands, and I've gotten my leg strength back up to its previous height (good to know I'm not just working out for the sake of it!) Plus, it probably helped keep me fit while I was avoiding shoulder-reated sports yay Challenge #4: (practise Spanish 4 times every week) >> achieved grade B (22nd day today) and just need 4 days next week to get grade A >> listening comprehension has indeed improved (I think, it's difficult to quantify) In more recent news, I hit the weights gym today for a general all-body workout. Felt good Good luck to everyone else participating for their last week! Those stat points won't earn themselves, and more importantly you won't feel as awesome if you stop putting in work where it's worth it

Shoulder's healing well (doctor said it's probably just a tendon injury which takes about 2 weeks to heal) so I've skipped gymnastics today to be on the safe side, and hoping to get back into everything fully in the last week of the challenge (although taking care...) Monday I had an epic game of football and was too tired afterwards to bother with any conditioning or Spanish. Tuesday I was out for a meal with friends. Today: Challenge #3: grip strength training and some slow pistol squats on a chair (my quads feel like they're about to pull if I do them without the non-pushing leg hanging down... I can't decide whether they need more strength or more stretching?) Challenge #4: 40 minutes Spanish done! (and I can feel the difference compared to 4 weeks ago yay)

Okay first update in 4 days, so let's split this up into good and bad news: - My shoulder did not feel good at all on Thursday, so I decided a Doctor should see it soon - Shoulder felt much better since, although not healed, and I have got a Doctor's appointment to discuss it - I reckon that I had a partial dislocation (internet description seemed to match very well) but I'm not qualified to guess - Today I went to the weights gym for the first time since the injury, and safely managed a proper weights workout (moderate intensity) - bent-over rows seem to aggravate the injury so I stopped that after 2... deadlifts are just about okay but not okay enough to go heavy on them yet... - 35kg went up fine on the military press for 2-3 reps; on bench press machine 45kg was fine (didn't use barbell as that is probably what injured me) - my right knee is now feeling very sore when I do anything like a squat, maybe I hurt that on the leg press machine but I think it's healing already - and I've kept up the Spanish and the general conditioning so at this rate I'll be getting A's on both, with room to spare yay So I'll continue going to gymnastics and weights but taking it carefully, unless the Doctor advises something contrary... like bandaging me up like an Egyptian mummy which would make backflips a little tricky haha. Unrelated, I'm also going to try intermittent fasting occasionally, just to see how I feel on that. I do exercise in the evenings, so I'll be feasting on all sorts of healthsome goodness in the evening afterwards, and then I guess fasting until a lighter meal in the afternoon at work... or maybe on weekends I'll eat a big meal in the evening and then fast for 20 hours or so until the next evening... I'll see... I've read about it so now it's be time to experiment Challenge #1: treading water rather than getting out of the water, while my shoulder heals Challenge #3: grip strength, core strength, push-ups, weights gym, slow pistol squats (over the last 4 days... I skipped Thursday) Challenge #4: been listening to YouTube videos, recording myself speaking, listening to the radio, and today did some writing en español. Also, I'm now on at least a 'C' grade for this, having practised 18 times yay Thanks for the support guys, it's when I'm broken that it's most appreciated

So, gymnastics happened today, and my shoulder behaved for backflips and handstands yay ...and then I tried some pull-ups later and was immediately in pain... although it went away immediately too so that was fine... just clearly I shouldn't be doing anything resembling a pull-up until it's actually properly healed. So here are the updates for the last couple day, colour-coded as always for Rogaecia, and anyone else who appreciates technicolour: Challenge #2: Backflips were okay today... no real improvement, but in my mind I understand the rhythm better for when to tuck up and when to unfurl for landing. Otherwise I often spin slightly too fast, my feet don't touch the floor and I land on my back haha, which is fine when I'm on the bouncy tumble track, but not for when I try them on terra firma... Challenge #3: lots of leg stretching and grip strength training yesterday; gymnastics exercises today Challenge #4: no Spanish on Tuesday, but got 40 minutes done today Tomorrow I'll probably go back to the weights gym and be super careful... I haven't done muuch weights stuff for 10 days so it'll be good to get back into at least something

Fair point actually - I was thinking of situations where you're hanging from a bar (or precipice or in whatever other similar physical situation) and need to pull yourself up... but you can always kip in those circumstances so the dead hang really isn't a problem. It's certainly possible, as i did it, Pull-ups were done so that my chin was the height of the bar (for example by touching it with my chin) and with no kipping. Maybe it helped that I'm reasonably light (70kg/154lb in December) and near the end was practising about 3 times each week, even if only briefly. The dead hang was the most difficult part of the motion to begin with, but after my lat strength had build up, the difficulty switched to getting enough height on the last rep. For about 3 weeks my PB was stuck on 9 1/2 as I couldn't quite get a sufficient height (at least touching my chin on the bar) on the last rep.

It feels like my shoulder is slowly healing, yay ...I did a single handstand today to investigate how it felt, and it seemed fine, but a dull ache told me that I should continue taking it easy for now. Occasional ice packs seem to have helped, along with switching to my left hand for lots of stuff. Is it just me, or are actions like brushing one's teeth reasonably difficult to co-ordinate when done with the unfamiliar hand? Anyway, two of the challenges can continue while the others go on the back burner: Challenge #3: core exercises on Saturday; lazy on Sunday; core and grip exercises today Challenge #4: Spanish listening Saturday/Sunday/Monday. Yesterday I even made a private recording of me speaking Spanish... it was pretty helpful, so I'll do more of these. Now I'm just off to the kitchen for more ice pack treatment... then rest day tomorrow and on Wednesday I'll contemplate whether gymnastics is a good idea...

One genuine question to ask yourself: what's the point of going down into a dead hang in the pull-up? I'd say there's a very significant point, and that is that many motions in sporting situations where it's useful to do a pull-up (or have equivalent strength) you'll be doing it from a dead hang. In June last year I was in about the same situation as you were at the beginning of the thread (2-3 chin-ups and perhaps one dodgy pull-up) and I set myself the target of achieving 10 dead-hang pull-ups with full RoM. I finally managed it on 16th December, and the two sticking points for me, and their solutions were the following: Coping with the dead hang: - place hands closer together (about 10cm gap between thumbs) - use the assisted pull-up machine to practice lots of perfect symmetric controlled repetitions of the lower part of the movement. Do full pull-ups here if you prefer, but concentrate on that weakest part of the motion. - isometric holds of the point just before you switch from lats to biceps are useful too (so just where you'll transition out of the dead hang) - use a bar with narrower girth (some of the difficulty can be in your grip strength... if you can't touch your thumb with any finger when wrapped around the bar, you may want to consider a narrower bar if possible. Getting past the 6-8 mark: I was stuck around this area for a long time... just shy of the full 10. This was the point where my muscles were totally strong enough for pull-ups, but tired out too fast... the solution is to train them to work for longer (not to get stronger necessarily) - using a pull-up machine, do sets of 10+ on the highest setting, and as soon as that becomes too difficult because of the muscles tiring, set it to an easier setting. I did this precisely once and in the next week burst through the deadlock that'd been there for a couple months Happy training - you'll get there well before August if you train properly (dead hang or not)

So my shoulder still feels nearly as injured as yesterday, which is no fun. It feels like there's some inflammation there, so I'm still hoping it'll heal by itself. I'm basically halfway through this challenge now, and I've been a good student, so I've assigned myself attribute points ready for when I "officially" hit level 1 next STR: 1.0 (strong lower body, weaker upper body which I'm working on improving) DEX: 1.5 (used to do high jump and some sprinting... I'll mainly interpret this as "physical skills" where I currently score about average I guess) STA: 1.5 (I'm not really a long-distance person, but I'm used to doing sport 5 days each week which is sort of stamina) CON: 2.5 (I look after myself pretty well, with heathly food, regular sleep, etc.) WIS: 2.0 (always teaching myself more stuff, both about fitness and other topics) CHA: 1.5 (leaving 1 and a half points remaining for charisma, which I can't really judge myself) Current challenges provide 1 extra attribute point each: Challenge #1: powerlifting goal: +1 STR Challenge #2: gymnastics goal: +1 DEX Challenge #3: conditioning goal: +1 STA (ooh, and today did 4 grip strength sets and 3 ab exercise sets towards this goal) Challenge #4: education goal: +1 WIS

Argh, I may have injured my shoulder! I was working on the bench press with about 83% of my maximum weight when I noticed my right shoulder feeling increasingly awkward, so I stopped immediately. The joint feels unhappy in a few ranges of motion, so I skipped anything shoulder-related (pull-ups, deadlifts, squats, etc.) and did some sets of the leg press machine, and some bodyweight ab exercises instead. I don't know what actually caused my shoulder to play up (bench press? too much stress on it recently? some other random movement aggravated by weights?) but in any case, I'll be resting that until it feels happy again! I have the next few days off anyway due to other commitments, so it's got a good opportunity to heal (yay, being optimistic about everything as always...) Challenge #1: GOOD NEWS: I did actually lift PBs in both bench press and military press today! Bench: 51kg (112lb) up from 50kg, and Military press: 41kg (90lb) up from 40kg. Total is now 51+41=92kg, getting me a grade C (and if my shoulder doesn't heal quickly, I'm not going to even try bettering that...) Challenge #3: various conditioning exercises at the gym Challenge #4: he escuchado al español hoy por más de una media hora, so that's 3 this week already (I'm aiming for 4 Spanish sessions/week)

Quite a lot of gymnastics progress today I had another indoor handstand session, followed by the proper gymnastics class: Challenge #2: backflips are coming along nicely... my friend took a video of the attempts with spotters so I can see where to improve, and I'm now feeling quite comfortable in the move - the next hurdle to surmount is spotting where the ground is so I can land on that rather than on my front/back. Three more sessions this 6-week challenge to get the backflip properly sorted... Challenge #3: handstands and a set of ab exercises (backflips totally count as ab exercises, much more intense than sit-ups!) Handstands felt a lot more stable today when I focus on keeping my arms straight, my core strong, and my weight over my fingers. Didn't try handstand walking properly... I keep promising to myself that I'll try it to get over the fear, but never bother... Challenge #4: 30 mins Spanish, using various sources Tomorrow: plotting to lift some weights again, and hopefully raise one of my lifts a little more...

So I had some indoor handstand practice on Monday, and took some videos that really showed how unstable I am when trying to hold the position! I think some extra core strength is needed, some practising against a wall, and to concentrate on keeping my core solid when actually trying the handstands.... I might set this as an actual challenge for the following 6 weeks, unless I essentially complete it by mid-February, in which case I'll pick something more advanced ...Anyway, brief update on challenges: Challenge #3: Monday (handstands and grip strength) & Tuesday (lots of core exercises: 60 second plank, several hollow body position holds, and some V-sit sit-ups) Challenge #4: No Spanish on Monday, but got straight back into it today Tomorrow: Gymnastics training... could this be the week I nail the un-assisted backflip?

Hey, thanks for the advice cobaltsword - I do intend to join the Assassins' Guild once I complete Level 1 Y encantado, Sparrowhawk! Me gustaría mucho practicar español contigo - muchos gracias! Pero me preocupe que ya no puedo hablar de nada en español así... voy a enviar un mensaje at tí luego, después de practicar un poco más! ... Great to see someone else in the same position as me, looking to get started with gymnastics I've been having a look at your Level 1 quest and you've got some cool updates, I'll be following your progress there! Challenge #1: Today I was feeling kinda lame and it showed in the gym... I equalled my best of 40kg (88lb) on the military press, but felt unsafe with 45kg (99lb) on the bench press so I didn't push that any harder, and just did an extended work set on 40kg to help prepare for next time. Challenge #3: bent-over rows are great for forearm training (especially if your grip is weak like mine!) Did some pull-up sets and various other exercises, so that's my conditioning completed for today. Tomorrow: planning on drilling some handstands in the random room next to the canteen in my company with an assassin-oriented employee friend, then some football.

Grip trainers like these: http://static.plutosport.com/media/8942340538398/product/ADAC11400.jpg are a standard tool (cost about £8 / $13 for a pair) and work okay to a certain point but aren't massively comfortable. I've found farmer's walks with heavy dumbbells are more effective (I've done them to failure), and I agree that the deadlifts and pull-ups described by other posters are valuable exercises.

I'm liking these ideas for supercharging porridge - I don't eat many carbs, but oats are my primary source of them. It goes well with lots of the dessert-flavour things that are healthy to eat. Usually I'll do something like this: 1) Summon the oats, milk, cocoa, cinnamon, almond and peanut butter! Damn, these photos are small. They seem to hyperlink to full-size images though, so no harm done. I eat a load of dairy, so I'm totally happy with adding a load of milk. A dairy-free alternative to this probably wouldn't work so well unfortunately. We'll be adding a lot of powders, so add about 50% more milk than you'd otherwise add. (Exception: I once got some porridge through the airport security by making it so thick they happily accepted it as a solid haha). Cocoa is healthy and tasty Cinnamon has magic properties that help your body process carbs responsibly, and is tasty too! Almonds and peanut butter are good sources of protein unless you're trying to lower your calories... I'm trying to raise mine, so nuts get added to all sorts of things. 2) Microwave the oats in the milk, they don't need to be fully cooked as they'll go back in again later. Add everything else except the peanut butter: Stiiirrrrrrr.... and microwave until it's actually fully cooked. 3) Add a spoonful of peanut butter, and enjoy Other things I sometimes add: - instant coffee (voilà - mocha porridge) - coconut milk (could substitute for real milk) - nutmeg (tasty) - chilli powder (do NOT recommend... chilli chocolate is delicious, but it doesn't work in porridge lol) - protein powder (added after the microwave has finished waving) - muscovado sugar (sugar is baaad, but if I'm feeling low on sugar I'll add a little... and if I'm going to have something a little unhealthy it had better taste damned good... so I use awesome dark muscovado sugar with character) - frozen berries (put them in right at the start and cook the porridge for 50% longer than usual and they'll defrost at about the right rate)

Challenge #2: Finally got around to an outdoor gymnastics session today ...It was 7'C, the air was dry and the ground was only slightly damp so I went to the local park after sunset for some brief plyometrics and then lots of playnig around with handstands and spin kicks. I learnt quite a lot with the handstands so I'm especially glad that I went out - it helps to push down more through the hands when losing balance - previously I wasn't really paying attention to this. Also drilled the reflex for staying upright when underbalancing. Challenge #3: yesterday, did some bridges, frog stands and some sets with the grip tool. Today, various things outside as outlined above Challenge #4: fitted in some Spanish both days - for listening both times. Getting practice at speaking isn't so easy to arrange! Tomorrow, going lifting with a friend from my workplace. Will I enjoy an increased 1RM in something for the 9th consecutive visit, or has my iron luck run out...?