rancher

I am still alive! Unfortunately I am calling this one a complete bust. The day after my last post a series of events unfolded with a complete lack of internet, bronchitis, utter mayhem at work, and finally a reawakening of my sciatica which has almost passed, but has left me hobbling like an old wizard for a couple of weeks now. So, I will be redoing level one, probably with some changes. Thanks for the encouragement along the way everyone... now I have a *LOT* of catching up to do in the forums!

I think I might start with something like this, and if it doesn't work then look to buy something that will. Thanks!

Eesh, I don't think I can pad quite that much. I'm only 120# and 5'5" so it's probably not for me. I wonder if they do a youth version

That looks great, thanks! I guess the lack of skinny-ness means I probably wont be using it in summer, but I can live with that. In winter I can get pretty damn puffy with several layers of clothing, hopefully that will be enough to pad it out

I usually drag my firewood out of the forest on a big, cheap plastic sled and simply loop the rope around waist and... pull. It is not comfortable at all and I have to hold the rope up to stop it sliding down to my legs. The system works, but there has to be a better way. Now that I am getting into fitness, not only would I prefer to wear some kind of waist belt/chest harness for the sled, I could use it for training too. We have tons of stuff to drag around here from tires to logs to children, to children in tires, children on logs, etc. Does anyone have any recommendations for a budget harness to buy/make/jerryrig? I have the padded waistbelt from an old hiking backpack and was wondering whether I could somehow attach D-rings. It should certainly be more comfortable than the bare rope. Thoughts?

How have I missed this thread until now? Though I am fairly sure I have SMART goals I will double check over the weekend. #2 minichallenge already done. I keep playing with my sig, probably always will, and I am an apprentice assassin who also follows cmwanderin, Akuyo and 0gravity. I wish I had the time to follow more, this forum is bigger than I thought!

Those last two vids are freaking insane! Thanks for sharing the inspiration. One day, eh? I do love watching parkour and freerunning vids in manmade environments, but seeing people moving quickly, efficiently, and yes beautifully, in natural environments is - for me - much cooler. I live next to a forest and know that I still look like a lumbering drunken idiot in there, rather than an agile, lithe, assassiny machine. So... does natural movement count as one skill? I dunno. I hope so. If not, I'm going with cmwanderin's vid because man, that is awesome.

This. I desperately want to be able to run long distances on trails again and if I let myself realise just how far I am away from that goal I know I will get demoralised and probably just give up on yet another goal. So, one step/block/day at a time, and eventually we'll get somewhere. I have no idea where, but it will be somewhere How did today go?

I'm doing pretty great right now, thanks! Work is keeping my internet time to a bare minimum, but a 12km hike and two workouts done this week keep me right on track. Unfortunately this morning's workout has burned up my strength and desire to go spend two hours shovelling all of the gates and pathways out again... I may just put that off until tomorrow

Just dropping in to say hi and good luck

Just wanted to share today's trail-breaking snowshoe hike. Another 2km closer to Rivendell!

Cheers. I can tell it certainly flared up, but it isn't agony and with a bit of sensible body management I should be able to keep it under control. I have what is known as "a bad back" in the medical industry. No official diagnosis unless I am willing to pay for private care, so for now I'll try to keep it under control myself.And if you ever fancy a vacation up here, even in sweatybuggysummer ( ) I get 20% of each booking I bring to the ranch

Part-time homesteader is probably closer to the truth now, but I am a farmer at heart! Thanks Blaidd. I expect to stick with the assassins for the rest of the winter and then mosey on over to the scouts once the lake thaws and people start putting their crosscountry skis away and the trails allow biking again

Thanks! We're pretty lucky on the eggs front. Despite losing over half of this flock to a raccoon a few months back, our coop is so much nicer than the other coop on the property that their chickens keep coming to our coop to lay, LOL! So now we're getting 6 per day from 4 hens, and the other coop is getting 9-11 from 18 hens.Very sorry to hear about the old injury Take it slow (certainly slower than me ) and you too will be enjoying the pleasure/pain fun-ness of pushups soon! Good luck with your challenges, I'll be following along.

It warmed up! We had a high of -5C today which just means more difficulty dressing appropriately and more sweat. Give me -20C any day One of the downsides though is that during our super-delayed xmas party yesterday we went off-ranch for 12hrs and all of the eggs froze and cracked in the nesting boxes. Now that sucks. Still going strong on the drinking front - though I just pulled the cork on a skinny-ass bottle of ice cider we were probably regifted for xmas - and my mileage is right on track. I even improved the bodyweight workout today with 7 reps of pullups and chinups. But... my back is freaking killing me now. Old injury (Can someone barely past 30 have an *old* injury?) and I fear I may have re-awakened the beast by pushing a little too hard, too fast for me. I guess I'll know for sure in the morning. Fingers crossed...

I feel you on the exercise side of things. I may have bitten off more than I can chew on the bodyweight workouts and am trying to convince myself that I don't mind a *bit* of grinding it out. We've got this, right?

Thanks! I have been following your thread but keep forgetting to actually bloody post. Once you have the BBW down the leg workouts in the advanced are well within range, but the pullup/dip/chinup portion is a pretty damn big leap from the stuff in the BBW. I think an 'intermediate' level would be a good idea, and you can find a suggestion for it near the bottom of the 'advanced' article. I am happy with it, but I expected more from myself. Just goes to show the difference between workouts and work. I can throw feed bags around and shovel for a couple of hours but struggle lifting my own body off the floor. And I have seen how you can manipulate your own body, throwing yourself around like a lunatic It's an eye-opener and something I intend to improve!

There are two adults and two kids in our 600sqft cabin, and looking at just the cabin we live very, very minimally. But we also live on a farm, cut and split our own firewood, garden, and preserve a lot of our produce, so we ended up with pressure canners (and 1000 mason jars), dehydrator, meat grinder, etc. etc. etc. So not only do we have everything from goat hoof trimmers to spare rakes... we have all of our summer clothing stored in 55g barrels in the back of the barn, the kids beach toys are in the hay loft, the dehumidifier is in a garbage bag next to the chicken coop... you get the idea. We are also on a fairly low budget so we buy in bulk when and if it means saving money. I love the idea of living minimally, and having backpacked and lived frugally quite a bit in the past I largely know what it entails. But those days are over for me... for now

A morning of reminiscing and a little google-fu discovered this little gem on Flickr that I wanted to share, taken a couple of hours after crossing the finish line. I'm the ginger in the shades. I still have the shirt though I doubt I will ever wear it again...

Thanks for this, a couple of those look like a perfect way to wear out a pair of 8yr olds when it is too ugly to head outdoors

I started running about nine years ago, about 25 miles per week on suburban pavement, and about 7 years ago I just about made it to 50km during a winter 6hr race on Montreal's Mount Royale. Since then I pretty much stopped completely due to a constant reoccurance of one injury or another, usually my ITB. For 2015 I want to start *slowly and smartly* adding trail miles with the hopes of going for a 10 miler on trails in Gatineau Park this Fall. If I can do that without injuring myself I will be deliriously happy!

Just completed my first advanced bodyweight workout and my arms are still shaking. I can't call it a complete success as I had to cut both the pullups and chinups from 10 reps per circuit down to 5, but I completed everything else and as the article states several times... "this workout is completely scaleable". So, if I can complete another *full* workout this week then I will still count this as hitting my weekly goal of 2x per week. My drinking subquest is going great, my mileage is a little low but easily within range, and my Life Quest took a huge turn when I discovered my learners permit from 8yrs ago is still on file. And as I gained the permit before the new regulations came in I will save over $1k by not being required to take a mandatory driving course. All I need to do is retake the knowledge test and I will have my learners permit back. Time to wake up and feed the livestock!

Yeah, I am usually a fairly quiet lurker on forums, but this one is based so strongly on motivation and camaraderie that I figured I better actually, you know, talk, and stuff. So yup, watched the vids, damn impressed with the strength and agility on display... and am determined to up my game.

It's not so bad really. I cope with this a lot better than I can handle +30C which for my pasty English skin is utterly unbearable. And with our location May-September is one continuous blackfly/mosquito/deerfly/horsefly/midge nightmare. I don't go outdoors for fun in summer unless I am moving quickly. So this is my time to shine!