hoxton

Alrighty, a bit late but here's the weekly round -up. Weight - stuck at 75kg, been like that for around 8 days hopefully break through this plateau soon. Flexibility - Can touch my toes and get into a full twist which is great. Massage - This has turned into a habit now which is ace. I don't really have a routine I just do it as and when at regular intervals. Abs - Happy to say I've got to the end of the progressions for this. Hollow, Arch, Forearm Plank, Side Forearm Plank all held for 1 minute successively. Squats - Not so good. Sort of stopped doing them this week, not sure why. Water - Much better not recording it on the app but got a litre water bottle which I fill up and drink two and a half times a day, seems to work. Reading - Total fail, haven't touched the book since week 1!

Ahh no thats al kavadlo hes a bodyweight writer trainer. This is the picture ive been using as a goal.

Hello! Nice to have another Brit on the forum. Best of luck with your goals they seem great. Im also currently trying to lose weight and have have found that if I carry a bottle od water with me and am drinking that I get less cravings for snacks. Perhaps this might help you too.

I have been working flexibility an awful lot this challenge and yesterday I managed to get into the Full Twist Position. At the beginning of the challenge I was miles away, i'm so stoked that my stretching is paying off!

What about using bodyweight squats first. They are a great way to strengthen all the tendons ligaments and muscles without putting your body under dangerous load. If the knee is buckling its a teel tale sign that theres too much weight on it.

I did not know this, but, I am definitely getting enough calories, I ate a whole roast chicken for lunch today, my scales will punish me tomorrow, no doubt about that. I just can't seem to stop eating when there is food in front of me! In other news I got a bit over excited and did some push-ups today, not a great idea. My wrist feels ok but I definitely should not have pushed that hard. I forgot for a moment that this challenge is "Hoxton Does Less" more is for next time. Anyhoo. Managed to beat the forearm plank today which is awesome! So that's 60sec Hollow Body 60sec Arch Hold 60sec Forearm plank The next challenge is to raise my legs for the forearm plank, i'll start at chair height and keep going until i'm in a forearm stand. Also a quick update on flexibility. I CAN TOUCH MY TOES WITHOUT WANTING TO CRY!!! Many thanks to Pavels book relax into stretch, I have tried many different techniques over the last year and NOTHING comes close to the information in his book.

Okay so i've decided to do something about the stagnation of my weightloss. I re-read some of Mr Dukan Rules and found out the the type of yogurt I am snacking on is not allowed. also I am not allowed soy sauce or lea and perrins, a staple in most of my suppers. also it could be down to not drinking enough water and eating/drinking too much dairy. SO: Every time I go to have a coffee, i'm either going to have it black or choose water instead. Im going to cut out the fruity yogurts all together. also I'm getting on myfitnesspal and seeing how much I am consuming.

Recipie... Hmm my favourite has got to be my breakfast. Its a Oat Galette with smoked salmon and fried egg. A kind of healthy Eggs Royale. Get 2 tablespoons of oat bran and 2 tablespoons of fat free greek yogurt and 1 egg white (save the yolk for later) and a pinch of salt. Mix all together, spoon into a pan in a med-low heat, fry for about 3 mins, you don't need hardly any oil. Important tip, do not tough the galette when it's frying, not even a little, at this stage it just turns to mush if you move it. Flip it over, spread mustard on the top side and lay down the smoked salmon on top, this way it warms through. In the spare space of the pan fry 1 egg and add the yolk of the other (double yoker!). Takes about 3 mins. Put the galette on the plate, stick the egg/s on top. One awesome breakfast!

Also check out Relax into Stretch by Pavel you can get it at dragondoor.com its an awesome book.

Check out Erin Motz 30 day yoga challenge on youtube. She's awesome and its free.

Yeah I guess thats possible. The general trend is down though so ill keep at it.

Try body weight squatting onto a box and then as you get used to it slowly squat onto smaller objects until youre at full ROM.

Week 4. - End Of! Okay, good things first. Booze, none, sweet! That's ONE WHOLE MONTH! yeah it feels good, sort of, actually if i'm honest I haven't noticed any improvement apart from not having wasted the days after drinking feeling sorry for myself. But the boost in productivity has certainly been a welcome one. Stretching, can touch my toes, excellent! I have started using PNF Stretching and have noticed SIGNIFICANT results especially in my hamstrings. Hollow body holds, managed to hold the advanced hollow and arch for 60second each, sweet. My core strength continues to grow, happy days, moving on to forearm planks which should be a lot of fun, this is the last progression for this challenge so after hotting the 60 seconds it's all about resting less in between and getting better form. Squats, moved from bucket to step, awesome, thank you very much. Moving into close stance squats has been tricky but using something to sit on has increased my strength and ROM significantly. I am not squatting onto a step (about six inches high) hopefully this will become easy over the next week and I can lower it again. Fingers crossed by the end of this challenge I will be able to do 10 close squats un-assisted! Wrist, feels good, not better but good. I have been stretching (mildly) my wrist around twice a day and using to rotational exercises that Jaex suggested and it feels good. My goal is for it to be string enough to bear my weight in the press-up position by the end of the next challenge. The not so good. Water intake, is up but still failing to record it. I just suck at remembering to put it in my phone so I may switch tactics and find an easier way to record it. I seem to be drinking enough, I think... Weight, I pretty much stayed the same this whole week which is frustrating, especially as I had the opportunity to cheat a couple of times and did't. Gah, it's annoying not to see progress on the graph, i'm pretty sure I'm still getting thinner but without empirical proof it's a bit if a guessing game. Didn't skip as much as I should have done. ​I skipped twice this week which is two times less than I should have. Didn't read any of my massage book Honestly i've ben so knackered this week I have managed to read two to three sentences before switching the lights off and going to sleep. I'm going to start a day-time reading time this week. Haven't been massaging as much as I should. I have been massaging and fairly regularly but not as thouroughly as I would like. Need to step this up a little bit. Moving into week 5. Concentrate on the weak spots in the not-so-good list. Keep dieting, I will see my abs! Finish the damn book.

Get on the hollow body holds they're full body exercises when done properly [emoji2]

Woot! Nice one. Stretching is always great but be careful not to over do it

I love this one! Super nice stretch and not too intense, thanks for that!

My favourite wrist stretch is just to go onto all fours. I had terrible wrist flexibility and have a wrist injury to boot. I found that a lot of the dynamic stretches (moving the shoulders past the hands) were too forceful no matter how slowly I did them. Instead I found PNF stretching extremely helpful. A quick how to. Making sure that my shoulders are directly above my wrists and that my wrists are shoulder-width apart. I start with minimal weight on my hands and just my fingers on the floor (at the point where it is comfortable) not my palms. I then tense all the muscles in my hands/arms/fingers on an in breath. I don't do it really hard, just enough to feel tension. I hold the tension and my breath for a second or so, then on my out breath I relax everything (including my face) and let the stretch deepen a little. Also i let it deepen in a slow and controlled manner (over the course of a second or two) I repeat this as many times as needed to get down to the floor. You can play with the amount of tension that you apply, just be sure to back away before something gives out. Feeling a stretch is fine, sharp pain is not. At first this took about 15-20 cycles (about five mins) Nowadays it takes me around 30 seconds. The second stage is simple as well. But this is best left until having your palms on the floor with your shoulders directly above the,m is reasonably comfortable. Once you have reached the floor with your palms, you can start to add a pushing motion as well as tensing all the muscles. Don't physically push yourself away, try more to push the floor down. Have a play and see what you think, these two stretches done every day, cautiously, have improved my wrists flexibility and general health no end.

Yeah this was where i was going wrong, not eating much all day then binging at dinner. I seem to be getting better at it but it's definitely a learning curve. I've never tried to watch what I have eaten before so it came as quite a shock when suddenly I had to cut my average consumption in half AND make sure I wasn't eating beer and crisps..

Thanks! Yep it's certainly teaching me patience!

Woops Double Post!

Oh and I totally forgot to mention my wrists, so far I cannot lay them flat on the floor in the push-up position without pain in both. This due to general lack of flexibility and an injury in the left one. However I have been studying PNF stretching and have found that it is really helping. So I am adding a new goal to my quest this month, really it's a sub-goal to making my wrist get better. 1 extra point to me if: I can put my wrists on the floor with my shoulders directly above them and not feel aches or pains or have to slowly coax them into position. I.e Boom press up position, no problem, no warm up.

Today was a good day finally managed to beat the Arch Hold. 60 sec Adv Hollow Body followed by 60 sec Adv Arch Hold. Boom. Time to add this into the mix, same goal hold for 60 sec after completing the other two exercises. On the skipping front, i'm getting better, slowly. On the weight front, it's going down, slowly. I'm beginning to realise that perhaps my quest for a six-pack might take me longer than 12 weeks. We shall see.

Woot! Nice one Jaex. Well done. Im still very boring and booze free.had company drinks last night and drank nothing but water.

Yeah, it took me ages to get full ROM in a shoulder width squat, bringing my feet together has really put a spanner in the works! Weight has gone back up to 76.4kg WTF. No doubt it will be back down tomorrow. Jacking the skipping up to three songs worth this week.

Woot! Week three is DONE (Sundays are my day of rest) Stretching. My wrist is feeling a lot better but still not 100%. I feel like I am still making flexibility gains but without a structured course to follow it is hard to see. Next week i'm going to look into asanas for the areas I want to stretch. These have very clear progressions and final poses to aim for. Knowing how far to reach will help a lot I think. Squats and Hollow Body Bought a clock for timing my Hollow Holds a £2 charity shop job, should make things a little easier. My last time was: Hollow Body 1min Arch hold 40 sec Squats are still causing issue, I can't seem to get my feet in any closer so i'm changing tack and training with my feet completely together. But in this final position I only have partial ROM. So I am squatting onto a low stool, that is just beyond my range of motion at the moment. Hopefully over time I will be able to make the object smaller and lower as I gain ROM. We shall see how that goes. Massage. I'm getting pretty damn good at this, still haven't finished reading the book though! Fat Loss. Oh yeah it's been a week of ups and downs but I stayed strong and am now at 75.5kg this is the half way point so here are some half way pics. I can't see much difference yet but i'm sure it will come. Water. Again, I am definitely drinking more but just not recording it on my app. Week 4 mini quests. Finish the Trigger point therapy book Research and start using asanas in stretching routine. Actually record my water intake, no seriously, actually do it. Keep Going