BenWo

So hey here I am getting into my first 6 week challenge! Hoping I've got the right idea with the info for an initial post Main Quest To reduce bodyfat to 10% and to build strength and agility. Strength and agility wise I'm looking to build towards things such as a handstand pushup and planche. Goal 1: Continue YAYOG program. STR +3, CON +1, WIS +1, CHA +2 I joined a pvp challenge thread for the YAYOG program over here, and plan to see the basic program through to the end. Workouts are 4 times a week for the first 6 weeks and 5 times a week after that for a total 25 workouts during this 6 week challenge. The program also includes tracking meals in MFP to stay limited to a 2000 calorie diet. A = 24 workouts B = 22 workouts C = 20 workouts Goal 2: Practice Handstands. STR +2, STA + 1, DEX +1 If I want to get to that handstand push up one day I'd better learn to do one. I'll need to practice my handstand progressions for at least 5 minutes 5 days out of the week. A = 30 practices B = 28 practices C = 25 practices Goal 3: Go for a run. STA +3, WIS +1 I don't really like to run for it's own sake, but I love it if I'm playing something. Still, I need to get out at least once a week for a couple miles to build up my stamina. A = 6 runs B = 5 runs C = 4 runs Motivation I want to really see what I'm capable of. I've never had that much upper body strength and want to change that. I'm also a big fan of obstacle events, especially the various Ninja warrior incarnations, it would be great to be able to participate in things like that instead of just watching from the sidelines. - Oh yeah, I also wouldn't mind looking pretty damn good. [ Stat point allocations for each grade will be 100%, 80%, 50% for each A,B,C respectively. Overall stats will be rounded to the nearest tenth after any additions. ] Starting Stats Weight: 180lbs Bodyfat: 18.4%

Week 1 - Day 2: Completed! 9/9/2014 Back Lunges: 45 One-legged Romanian Deadlifts: 28 Squats: 66 Swimmers: 36 My legs have always been stronger (lots of Soccer all through high school) so today didn't feel nearly as difficult as the first day. I've been doing squats and lunges for the past month already, so those were easy enough to jump in to. Swimmers didn't seem too bad either, though I certainly did feel them by the end. The Romanian Deadlifts were a surprise though. I haven't done those before and my hamstrings seemed really tight. I had to go pretty slow to get a good range of motion without hurting myself. I'll definitely be targeting those muscles for a much more thorough warmup before the next leg day...

Thanks for looking all of that up! I guess I'll try going for lower rep ranges next time, since I was pretty close to failure on my highest counts.

The problem with not following the prescribed rep counts on iPhone would be then keeping track of what you've done, almost easier just to track the ladders manually than try to force it to work with the app. I can't believe that the app will keep you at that low of a rep count for very long though, maybe the iPhone app just forces you to start kinda slowly on the first workout?

Week 1 - Day 1: Conquered! 9/8/14 Push-Ups (hands knee height): 71 Let Me Ins (towel on doorknob): 64 Seated Dips (knees 90°): 75 Let Me Ups (knees 90°): 58 Wow that was a good workout, my arms felt pretty much destroyed after finishing! I tried to keep a moderate pace and difficulty so that I could hit a reasonable rep count at the top of each ladder (aimed for about 10). The Let Me Ups, being last, were probably the hardest, I only made it up to about 7 reps before having to decrease. With the Let Me Ins I just couldn't figure out what was really supposed to be working, place I felt it most was probably in my legs! It also seemed like doing them more quickly amounted to not much more than humping the door... Great job to those who've completed today already and good luck to those who are about to start! Putting up any numbers puts you ahead of no numbers!

Yeah it's odd it doesn't notify you. Ready and waiting - I'm totally excited for Monday to roll around! I'm really interested to see how much this program will be pushing me.

Just figured it out, for android at least. Go to friends in the dropdown menu, click friends tab at top of the screen, then click the small "friend+" icon at the very top right. On the next screen pick the "by email" option and then you can just put the mfp username instead of an email. I sent requests to everyone who provided their mfp name so far, hope you got them!

Oh thanks, set it to public now! . Still looking for how to add friends in the mfp app.

Thanks to d3li9ht for pointing me over to this challenge in chat! So heya, I'm Ben. I'm 5' 9" and 184 lbs. I'm aiming to get down below 170 lbs and get a lot stronger. I just bought the YAYOG app and after looking through things I'll be doing the BASIC program. I've been doing the beginner bodyweight circuit for a bit longer than a month and this program looks like a nice organized way to step up my workouts. Using the calorie calculator linked it looks like I'll be aiming for about 2,000 calories daily. I'm bwochinski on MFP, but don't know how religiously I'll keep to logging. I'll be starting with something like a M T R F schedule, and then see where I can fit things when it goes to 5x weekly. I don't currently have any other workouts planned, but that will probably change once the next 6 week challenge gets rolling. Excited for Monday to roll around, best of luck to everyone!

Thanks for the poke, childofscorn. So at this point I've been doing the beginner bodyweight routine for almost a month. It's been going extremely well and I even posted in the woot board that I achieved my first goal for pullups in the circuit, 3x5 real full pull ups! I've also been pushing through progressions in the other exercises. On wednesday I managed 3x12 diamond pushups, so will be trying out the next progression there, uneven push ups I believe. I will also be looking to progress in bodyweight squats, so we'll see how that goes. Happily my wife has also joined me in doing the bodyweight circuits, though I've helped her getting started with earlier progressions on a number of the exercises. It's nice to have someone else doing things with me as well though! Finally, we also purchased a body fat monitor so I'm going to be tracking that (hence the goal in sig) to whatever accuracy I'm able to get. So far it's at least been quite consistent in readings. And now I'm off for a vacation over the long weekend, everyone enjoy!

Thanks everyone! I've been able to squeeze out the 3x5 every workout since, so it wasn't just a fluke!

I've been working on pull ups for about 2 months at this point, even from before I found nerd fitness. I started with your stereotypical pull ups, just moving myself about the height range of my head - chin over the bar, head below the bar, repeat. After coming here and reading a wealth of information on the subject I found that a true BEASTLY pull up is done from a dead-hang, every rep. Just even reading that I knew I was in trouble, and it was humbling to even try more than one at the start. My goal for about the last month has been to hit 3 sets of 5 of true dead-hang pull ups within a bodyweight circuit routine, and today I finally DID IT! Actually I made 6/5/5. I've been stuck around 5/4/4 for weeks, so this felt like a pretty big deal for me! Oh and the pants: today I'm also wearing a 34 waist for the first time in years! W00t!

I've just recently started with bodyweight exercise and I use the Iron Gym pull up bar you linked. It's worked well in a couple doorways now, even when the doorway trim has felt "cheap." Big plus for a more temporary housing situation is that absolutely no screws or mounting hardware is required and it has rubber pads on the main points of contact to prevent scratching. I believe this is also the bar I've seen Steve use and recommend. The York bar looks to require screwing into the door frame (brackets are shown in the customer images), so I don't think you'd want to bother if concerned about your deposit.

Hey everyone, I'm Ben. I've decided it's time to start up a battle log so that I'll be keeping track of my progress and have a journal to look back on as time goes by. My goals are first to drop some bodyfat and get fit, and secondly to become impressively strong. (Being able to do a planche would be badass.) I started with the Beginner Bodyweight workout about two weeks ago, but had to put it on hold on account of our moving into a new apartment last weekend. (Tried to carry some furniture down a flight of stairs after doing the workout, it didn't feel good, or safe.) Now though I'm back at it and loving it. I also just found out yesterday (thanks myFitnessPal) that I've lost 23lbs so far this year, so things are already off to a good start. I'm aiming to keep this updated at least weekly with my thoughts and progress, so of course thanks to those who bother to read.

Hey huge congrats, that's frickin amazing! Just goes to show what raw willpower can accomplish.

Hey there everyone, I'm Ben. I'm 31, have an amazing wife and daughter (she's nearly 5), and I'm here because I want to be stronger, lose a little weight, and look good. I've always been in decent shape, what I'd consider residual fitness from playing soccer throughout high school, but found myself passing the 210lb mark at the start of this year. And I'm just 5' 9". Really though the big kick in the ass to get me to get off my butt and get fit comes from being inspired by my wife. She's had thyroid issues all her life and her weight has been up and down over the years. At the start of this year she decided to really take charge of her health and as of now she has lost over 60lbs and has no intention of deviating from that trend! Thanks to her bringing changes to our diet and encouraging us as a family to get out for walks this summer I've already dropped to 188lbs as of today. With her amazing transformation underway I began thinking over the last few weeks about transforming myself and, being a nerd, inevitably found my way here! I initially clicked through to the site for the beginner bodyweight routine and just did my first session of it today! It didn't sound too hard when I first read it but your perspective definitely changes going into the third circuit! So great to be here, I'm looking forward to learning from and with everyone!