Warg

@amar2396: Apparently you've worked out (or still work out) according to the CC program for some time. Can you tell me if I've got it right in the first post? How did you start ("New Blood", "Good Behaviour" or something else)?

Not only have I been neglecting my own thread, but also all of you guy's challenges. I'm sorry, and hope to catch up tomorrow afternoon. At the moment I just want to announce, that my hunting quest finally yielded a job interview. Yay! My appointment is tomorrow, 10 a.m. Whatever the outcome, hopefully I'll get momentum out of this.

I'll think about it over the weekend and will probably start with one of your suggestions on monday once this challenge is over. Thanks for the advice! I had very bad form from the 2nd set onward. I think my triceps can't take the load yet. The second day I tried the diamond pushups I almost fell flat on my face on the third rep (did a warmup set of 10 regular pushups that day). I've fallen behind on updating my challenge thread, so you won't find that workout there yet. Ok, then my joints are probably ready, but my muscles aren't ;-) (BTW, the progression standard to step 2 (incline pushups) is 3x50 wall push ups. So one would spent some time in the volume range you mentioned). Looks like I didn't do my homework before investing in the book. ;-) Anyway, I got the kindle version so my investment amounts to around $7 (5,65€). Doesn't hurt too much.

Thanks for the input, guys! Yes, that's what I've read so far as well. The author strongly advises against it. His reasoning is that the joints are slower to adapt to bodyweight training than the muscles do, so everyone should start with step one (in this case wall pushups) regardless the fitness level. I could definitely meet the beginner standard (1 set of 5) for standard pushups and probably even for close pushups (diamond pushups). As I'm not aiming for a beach body in the least amount of time possible, but to steadyly develop my strength, I thought why not try starting with excercise variations that seem too easy for me but will help prevent injury in the long run? I'm just a bit confused about the self coaching part of the book. What I've posted above is how I understood his programming but I feel that it contradicts what he calls "The smart way" and refers to someone who is roughly at my fitness level (In the example that guy progresses to standard pushups only after 5 months which seems slower than what I would expect following the program I outlined above). I tried to do this in the current challenge. As I was way above 3x10 with my pushups, I tried to proceed to diamond pushups but found them to be much too hard for my current fitness level. This is why progressing slower and probably starting at a much easier level seems to make sense for me. Thanks for pointing me to Waldo's site, too. I think I can benefit from his articles once I've gained some experience.

I just finished reading "Convict Conditioning" and want to start training according to it. Alas, the "Self Coaching" chapter wasn't as detailed as I had hoped. So I'm still not sure how to start the program. First of all, Paul Wade recommends warming up by doing a 2-4 sets (depending on the individual) of easier variations before proceeding to the working sets. But how do I warm up when I'm at step one with an excercise? Then, how do I determine the rep counts of my working sets? Here's how I understood the program. Let's use push ups as an example. From what I've read, I'd probably do one set of wall push ups for as many reps as I can do with perfect form or until I meet the rep count for the the intermediate standard (whichever comes first), then pause and continue with a second set given that I met the intermediate standard's rep count on the first set. Then, after meeting the intermediate standard on my second set, I'd add a third set and add reps to each set until I meet the progression standard. I'm supposed to do this using the "New Blood" program until I'm at stage 6 of all 4 excercises. Then I proceed to "Good Behaviour" and include the other two excercises. At this point, I'll probably be experienced enough to decide when to try the "Veterano", "Solitary Confinement" or "Supermax" workout. Is that about right?

Thanks for the heads up, lullaby! Despite my low posting frequency I'm still here. I'm quite busy with real life at the moment, so posting here is not a priority at the moment. But I only missed one workout by now, so I'm still doing ok with my fitness quest. Alas, my search for progressions led to me dicking around. The workout I did this week so far was like this: Diamond pushups 5 , 5, 5 Leg Raises 10, 10 , 8 Chin Ups 1.5, 0.5, 0.5 I planned to do lunges, but skipped them because I walked 12km (7.8 miles) that day (Our car broke down this week so we decided to fetch our dog's food by walking to the shop and back). Although this doesn't look all that bad written down, I didn't feel satisfied with that workout. I bought "Convict Conditioning" for my kindle and am currently reading it to get some inspiration for a new workout. Question: Should I just squeeze out the Chin Ups as above or should I take a step back and do inverted rows instead?

It worked pretty good regarding the workouts. We had to change schedules again to be able to train together, so this week was tuesday, thursday, saturday. See below for the two workouts I haven't posted yet. The diet quest is mediocre, usually I have more than one cheat a week, which is undesireable, but I'm still doing pretty good. I added more veggies this week and feel better, so I think I'm on the right path. Regarding my life quest I improved last week thanks to the things I did following the week 2 mini challenge. I sent out 2 job applications this week in contrast to one in the first three weeks. I'm still not where I want to be, but it's getting better. My biggest problem at the moment is that I get bored with the workouts. The push ups part is still ok, but I'm way into endurance training with the squat rep counts. At the moment I can't decide if I should modify my fitness quests, i. e. changing to variations that are more demanding, diamond push ups and split squats for example, so that I get to rep counts that will improve my strength rather than my endurance or if I should just follow through with the thing I started for the remaining two weeks and then think about another workout altogether. Here are the workouts from thursday and today: Set Push Ups Squats 1 14 34 2 16 40 3 12 34 4 12 34 5 >=17 (8) >=49 (51) Set Push Ups Squats 1 14 40 2 16 45 3 12 40 (15) 4 12 40 (0) 5 >=17 (13) >=54 (0) I repeated the push up workout because I couldn't get the minimum reps in the last set on tuesday. Didn't work today either, but I improved. I had to stop the squats early because I felt stitches approaching. Probably my stomach was too full.

I did my first NaNoWriMo in 2006 and won it. Since then I've taken part every year (including a few half-assed attempts) and only "won" one more time. I'd love to have a NaNo accountability group here, so count me in!

That's quite impressive for just three weeks! Keep it up!

1. Goal allocation: Q1: Push through boundaries (100 push ups program): 2 STR, 1 STA Q2: Take the leap (200 squats program): 2 STR, 1 STA Q3: Eat like a predator (primal diet): 2 CON LQ: Go Hunting (Job search): 1 WIS, 1 CHA 2. Mid Challenge Summary: Q1: Push through boundaries: A 100% Q2: Take the leap: A 100% Q3: Eat like a predator: D 50% LQ: Go Hunting: F 10% 3. Challenge allocation: Q1: A 100% 2 STR, 1 STA Q2: A 100% 2 STR, 1 STA Q3: D 50% 1 CON LQ: F 10% 0 WIS, 0 CHA

Yes, you're right. I got confused because the push ups and squats are structured in 6 week programs, I'm in different weeks on both. I really thought I was just two weeks in. Here's today's workout: Set Pushups Squats 1 12 38 2 17 47 3 13 34 4 13 (8) 30 5 >=17 (6) >=47 (0) As you can see, I didn't get the reps I'm supposed to in both exercises, so I'll step back a week on both in the next workout. Now I'm kicking myself for not doing the last set of squats, but at the time, I felt like I couldn't do any more.

1. Pinpoint the quest in your journey that is giving you the most uphill (or one that you're struggling to achieve) 2. Search through NF (forums or articles) to find one that is able to offer some assistance 3. Apply it to your challenge (no collecting underpants here). 1. It definitely is my life quest: Job Hunting. During the first three weeks I managed to cough up only one job application. 2. Browsing through the blog archives I found the How to build your Batcave and 30 Day Hard Hat Challenge articles. 3. Living in a small apartment at the moment, I needed to settle for less than perfect. In my son's room there's a cupboard that's the perfect height for a standing desk. He agreed to let me use it as a workspace while he's at school, so I can minimize distractions there for the better part of the day. I can browse for job offers, write job applications and hone my programming skills for when I find a job. I put an appointment into Google Calendar for 9:30 a.m. monday through friday to hunt for jobs/write applications for one hour. The Google calendar reminder will be my hard hat. I'll also print out a monthly calendar for the Seinfeld Strategy part of the hard hat challenge.

Thank you, I'll keep at it. But the official level up day is still one week away IIRC.

Results from my exhaustion test earlier today: 25 Push ups (7 more than at the beginning of the challenge) 61 Squats (19 more than at the beginning of the challenge) I tried for a 26th push up, but couldn't squeeze it out. I probably could have done a few more squats but only in bad form. I'm satisfied with the improvement in squats, but I hoped for 30 push ups. Anyway, I improved and that's what counts!

Today's workout: Set Pushups Squats 1 12 31 2 13 38 3 10 31 4 10 31 5 >=15 (11) >=45 (46) So I'm at my limit with the push ups again. Barely managed to do the required squats reps in the exhaustion set. Anyway, tomorrow is rest day and on thursday we'll see if/how much I improved by now. Probably my character's mentor will want to kick his ass soon as the food and hunting challenges don't go very well at the moment.

It's amazing to see how you follow through with your challenge. Hope you are ok and the nausea was nothing serious.

You're doing great! Keep it up, bud!

So, today I did the workout that was originally scheduled for friday: Set Pushups Squats 1 10 27 2 12 34 3 9 27 4 9 27 5 >=13 (13) >=38 (38) My son did his workout on friday but missed one last week because he had a cold so we are both at the same point right now. One more workout on tuesday, then the exhaustion sets on thursday. Im really curious about the outcome. I think it's time to say Thanks to you all! If it weren't for this community and my son, I'd have started skipping workouts this week. ...ok, I spent about 15 minutes looking for an appropriate animated gif. And "The Avengers" is on TV right now. So...well...thank you in plain text. (Where the hell do you all find those gifs?)

Yes, pretty much. I'm not yet ready to get into too much detail about my health issues in this forum but it's nothing I'm not used to. Usually it doesn't last very long and I can keep it at bay by eating clean. I think my cheats from last weekend triggered it. Thanks for your concern.

Yesterday shit happened. I had to pause due to health problems. Feeling much better now, so I will be able to continue the training tomorrow. Thus my exhaustion sets will be postponed to thursday.

Cool! I bet you sometimes want to punch the pumpkin in its grinning face after your 5th set of snatches ;-)

That sounds awesome! Are there any pictures of your home gym online?

Our workout is done for today: Set Pushups Squats 1 9 24 2 11 30 3 8 22 4 8 22 5 >=11 (12) >=34 (40) Can't wait for next tuesday when we try out our max reps after the first two weeks of training.

Did 1, 2 and 3 last week.

I'm online again, so here we go: Not so well. I payed an unplanned visit to my parents last weekend and ate too much of the wrong food. No junk food but homemade food that's high in carbs. And I had a few beers in the process, so basically I had four cheat days from Friday to Sunday. On the other hand, I sent out a job application a few minutes ago. 2 more to go to meet this week's goal. The next workout is this evening. I arrived late yesterday and had some errants to run, so we postponed to Wed, Fr, Sun for this week.