BenWo

Week 9 - Day 2 11/6/2014 Tabatas Beat Your Boots - 8x8 Lunges - 8x4 Good Mornings - 8x6 Not nearly so bad as the burpees, thankfully!

Week 9 - Day 1 11/5/2014 Intervals Push ups - 3x12 Military press - 3x12 Close Grip Push ups - 3x12 (hip height) Dips - 3x12 (assisted) Wow those dips, had a lot of leg assist by the last few but my arms were shaking for a good while afterward, so no doubt I got a good workout! Managed to fall back behind due to life crap eating up the little motivation I could muster, but got back into it today when I finally just turned off my brain and told myself "go. do. it."

And that's almost exactly how I felt too! It was like I had the strength of an infant or something, not only in the pushups, but on the jump as well.

Happy Halloween everyone! It annoyed the hell out of my wife that I was doing my workout an hour before we were supposed to leave for a halloween party, but I did it anyway! Week 8 - Day 5 10/31/2014 Stappers Back Lunges: 100 Let Me Ins: 80 Push-ups: 60 (hands on ground) I upped the push ups to regular style, so it felt like much more of a balanced workout this time. In other news, I've been eating way too much candy this week, I may have to really tighten things up on the push to thanksgiving.

That's the spirit! And completely agreed, having this group has been a major motivator. I know I would have fallen quite a bit behind without it! And now the regular update! Week 8 - Day 4 10/30/2014 Intervals Leg Lifts: 3x12 Hyperextensions: 3x12 Russian Twists: 3x12 Swimmers: 3x12 Seems like out of the 5 workouts per week we have now only 2 of them are complete ass-kickers. The rest are more like this setup, where I get some good core work, but I scarcely have to break a sweat. My hamstrings are still sore from w8d2 though, guess I need to work on more good mornings!

Week 8 - Day 2 10/28/2014 Ladders Back Lunges: 36 OLRs: 28 Squats: 45 Good Mornings: 54 Tried to take all these nice and slow, all went well. Good Mornings are one of those exercises that look like nothing to watch but after a few reps you're not laughing anymore! Week 8 - Day 3 10/29/2014 Super Sets 2x Pulls Ups: 5 (unassisted) Let Me Ins: 12 2x Let Me Ins: 5 Let Me Ups: 12 2x Let Me Ups: 5 Let Me Ins: 12 (underhand grip) I was not looking forward to this day coming back around, given my hatred for Let Me Ins, but I have solved the problem! I was trying to figure out some weird way to attach a bar or something at the same height when I thought of my wife's resistance band set. They have actual handles and I realized that they would work great to loop over the doorknobs. After using this modification the whole workout went great, and no complaints about the Let Me Ins! It also really feels like I was able to concentrate on working the arm and back muscles instead of struggling with my grip on a towel and my form! So I would highly recommend finding some other method beyond the silly towel for these things. Pics of the new method:

I'm pretty with you guys on the burpees, but I'm still going to do them. :-p If you look at my post for that day I only managed 3 in each set, and even some of those were pretty bad form!

Week 8 - Day 1 10/27/2014 Push ups: 64 (hands hip height) Rocking Chairs: 40 Burpees: 24 Holy hell, this was a workout of pure evil! After the push ups everything else I was barely getting the reps out.

Thanks everyone! I am super pleased with the results I've received so far, I just still want to be better! Looking forward to the next challenge.

Thanks!The YAYOG program actually goes for 10 weeks, so that will be continuing. I think I'll just keep up all of my current activities at this point until the next challenge, then readjust with my goals on that one.

DAY 41 - Crossing the finish line! That's it, challenge 1 is in the bag! All I had left was the handstand practice, so that wasn't a big deal at all. No major breakthroughs on it, managing something like 3 seconds of freestanding before I begin to fall over. So time to recap the challenge and award some points! Woo! YAYOG: I fell slightly behind at one point, but picked the pace back up and finished on schedule! That's a total of 25 workouts during the challenge, so I award myself an "A"! An "A" grade get's me full points for this goal: - STR +3, CON +1, WIS +1, CHA +2 Handstands: These went really well, despite my falling and scraping myself up halfway through the challenge. I also fell slightly behind on these but was able to bring my count back up with a couple extra sessions in the last two weeks. Finished all 30 practices, got another "A"! - STR +2, STA + 1, DEX +1 Running: I still wouldn't say I have "fun" when I'm running, but at least I like having a goal and trying to better my time each time I go out. This goal wasn't actually that hard to meet since it was only once per week. Again, made all 6 runs I set for myself, a third and final "A". - STA +3, WIS +1 Happily, hitting all three goals keeps the math pretty easy as well! After totalling everything up my new stats are as follows: [ Cyborg Assassin ≡ Level 2 ][ STR 7.8 ≡ DEX 1.8 ≡ STA 5.8 ≡ CON 2 ≡ WIS 4 ≡ CHA 3 ] I've also made decent progress on my main quest! Weight: 173lbs (-7lbs) Bodyfat: 16.5% (-1.9%) And with that I am officially declaring my allegiance to the assassin's guild! It's been a great time going through my first challenge, but this is just the beginning. I've got go learn some ninja moves!

Hey everyone, I'm Ben and I'm just wrapping up my first challenge over in the Level 1 forums. I popped over here to check out how the assassins do stuff and I just really had to post to say that I love this mini-challenge. Looking forward to joining in with you all in the next go-around! And just let me know if I can help in any way to take down Shredder...

I am pretty dang proud actually, and thank you. Looking forward to moving in with the assassins for the next challenge! Day 40 - Winding down. YAYOG: It's done. Today I completed Week 7 of the program and I'm feeling good. Obviously it doesn't end here since it's a 10 week program, so I will be going straight to the end of it. This is also just the beginner level YAYOG, there are 3 more levels of 10 week programs included in the app. So I should be set on workouts for quite a long time. Handstands: I'm sooo close I can feel it! I've only got one session left to do tomorrow to complete the goal. Can't stop me now! Running: Completed. See day 38 update. Not really a lot to say I guess! I'll be back tomorrow to announce when I've finished that handstand and do a wrap-up on the challenge!

Week 7 - Day 5 10/24/2014 Oohhh so "Stappers" are just really quick circuits without any rest between. Back Lunges: 100 Let me Ins: 80 (kill them with fire) Push ups: 60 (hands hip height) Since completing the workout I realize I should have done knee height push ups or something, because my legs got worked way harder than my arms. Let Me Ins are still stupid IMO, I'm about a hair's breadth from replacing them all with close-grip Let Me Ups or something like that. I'll try to continue following the program as prescribed, but I'm close.

Week 7 - Day 4 10/23/2014 Tabatas Russian Twists: 12/12/12/12/9/10/10/12 (near as I can recall, minimum was 9) Beach Scissors: 4x12 & 4x12 (switched sides half way through) Standing Knee Raises: 8x12 Holy crap. I believe I had said at the beginning that I was slightly afraid of the tabatas! These things killed in so many places. The russian twists really got me, I think my form had broken down a by that 5th set because I was feeling it a lot in the lower back. I tried to tighten up my core again from there out and the next sets were better. Everyone else having fun too?

Day 38 - We're gonna make it! YAYOG workouts: These are going great, aside from when I hate it... But I got all my workouts in last week and so was able to start this week right on schedule on Monday! I only have 2 workouts left for a 100% score for this goal too. Tracking my eating has been going great as well. Today after eating lunch and planning out my dinner I entered all the info into MFP and found out it clocked in at 8 calories under my goal. Handstands: I'm still not quite hitting a freestanding handstand, but man have I gotten way more graceful in my practice! I can kick-up to the wall with only a light tap of my foot rather than what started as something of a *crash* from my legs hitting it. I'm continuing to try and push myself to use as little assistance as possible. I was hoping to have hit a 15 second handstand by the end of this challenge. Perhaps it can yet happen. As for the frequency, I'm basically back on track, as long as I do 6 days instead of 5 this week I'll total 30 practices. Running: I took a run on Saturday last week and just did my 6th run out today! I've been keeping my distance exactly the same (2.03 miles) since the second week so I could more accurately track my progress. I was going to put this in a wrap-up post for the challenge but since I did the last run today I don't want to wait any longer! Here's a table of my running progress: Date Avg Min/Mi Mile 1 Mile 2 Notes=================================================================Sep 17 11:36 09:47 12:10 2.58 milesSep 25 11:04 10:19 11:38 Worst TimeOct 02 10:44 09:22 11:52 Oct 09 10:06 09:18 10:39 Best Time!Oct 19 10:26 09:47 11:10 Oct 22 10:15 09:24 11:00Aww man, I wish I would have pushed to get 10 seconds faster today! But times aren't the only progress, I've become a lot more consistent while running. Today I was able to take the fewest walking breaks of any run so far. So with that I've officially earned my "A" for running.

Thread got strangely quiet over the last 24 hours! Hope everyone's just out hitting their goals! Week 7 - Day 2 10/21/2014 2x Back Lunges: 5 Toyotas: 12 (dear god these still hurt by the end) 2x Lunges: 5 Side Lunges: 12 2x OLRs: 5 Calf Raises: 12 Week 7 - Day 3 10/22/2014 Let Me Ins: 3x12 Let Me Ups: 3x12 Let Me Ins: 3x12 (underhand grip) Towel Curls: 3x12 Went well overall. I still hate Let Me Ins, I need to figure out a system that I can use an actual stable bar to pull on rather than the doorknob/towel nonsense.

Week 6 - Day 4 10/19/2014 2x V-ups: 5 Russian Twists: 12 2x Hyperextensions: 5 Swimmers: 12 2x Supermans: 5 Leg Lifts:12 Week 7 - Day 1 10/20/2014 Military Press: 57 Push-ups: 50 (hands knee height) Close Grip Push-ups: 45 (hands knee height) Seated Dips: 51 (knees bent) I was a bit concerned that my shoulder that has been sore might prevent me from hitting very many reps on the push-ups, but it was barely an issue! So glad about that. Also agree with Aces about feeling strong! I wasn't sure how the close-grip push ups would go after the regular ones, but I felt pretty good just grinding them right out.

Ok so I came over here specifically to update my progress before bed, but now my phone is dead, so I can't get my rep counts... :-P I just finished up the first day of week 7 though! I'll have to put my real update in tomorrow.

Well I'd be remiss if I didn't link to the article from Chris Salvato that Steve posted - http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2013/10/24/how-to-handstand-better-than-luke-skywalker/ Googling around for "handstand progression" brings up a ton of other good links as well... Thanks! Can't believe we're in the last week! :-O

Hey balesom, been a few days, how goes the challenge? Hope your visit to the doc went alright!

Wow thanks! This challenge and especially the YAYOG PvP group have been really good motivators to stick with the program. Id also highly recommend the YAYOG app, it's great that I've been able to get good workouts in even when I'm being a bit mentally lazy!

Week 6 - Day 3 10/17/2014 2x Pull Ups: 5 (unassisted) Let Me Ins: 12 (here we go again) 2x Let Me Ins: 5 Towel Curls: 12 2x Let Me Ups: 5 Let Me Ins: 12 (underhand grip) My left shoulder has been fairly sore over the last few days but always felt better after I'd stretch and loosen up. Today I think I found the culprit: The overhand grip Let Me Ups. On the last two reps I could really feel it in that exact spot and it has been moderately sore ever since. It's not painful, but feels more like a deep joint soreness, like some kind of weird deep DOMS. I'm going to try to keep stretching and moving and hopefully it'll feel better in a couple days when we come back around to arms.

Oh geez I totally thought I had replied over here last week, I must have become distracted and forgot to hit "post!" Anyway, I'm up in Cedarburg, and yes a Packer fan. Been a crazy season so far! And thanks for the yoga recommendations, I like the sound of the chromecast-able videos. And of course a belated Happy Birthday to you! My rule for eating is that "special events" are automatic cheat days. I don't mean like stuff-your-face and be a pig cheat, but enjoying a reasonable amount of whatever treat is offered without guilt. There's always the next day to go super strict, and MFP even has an easy weekly calorie view, so you can see how a small cheat really doesn't count for much if it's spread out over a lot of healthy days. Oh great job on the YAYOGs! I've noticed a bit of drop-off in the last few weeks so good work keeping it up!