Sowilo

Just testing, wasnt sure how to upload gifs from tapatalk.

Yup! Everything is under control! Thanks for the check in! I'll be posting a week update sometime tomorrow. Spoilers (it got better).

That's awesome! Congrats!

The good and the bad and the ugly. (1/7 - 1/13) Good - Meal prep goes well. I had plenty of prepare meals 5+. I've had plenty of time to listen to sermons and podcasts. I set the phone aside every day for 2-3 hours and haven't missed it. Bad - while I've had no trouble waiting until noon to eat, I've had trouble stopping at 9. I don't feel hungry, but I'm snacking. Bad habit, it'll take time to fix. Ugly - haven't read at all. Missing the motivation. I did read 3 chapters Henry Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson. Maybe I should switch the reading goal to that book.

I'm going to do what workouts I can. I don't have access to a box so I'll have to make due with the equipment I have at home (barbell, jump rope, pullup bar, old gym bag full of dirt...that's about it right now)

You're awesome! Thanks for the encouragement!

Week update as we start a new week. 1. Meal prepped for last week. 4oz teriyaki chicken, cauliflower and broccoli, and a half cup of rice. 2. I only successfully followed my IF and calorie goal for 3 out of 5 days. 3. I did not crack open Adam Smith this week. 4. I listened to 4 podcasts from Element Church in Santa Maria 5. I put my phone aside on 2 of 4 days. Overall this week was hard. Started the challenge late and spent most of the week sick with 3 sick kids. No excuses, I can do better.

Headspace is a good place to start. They have an intro course of 10 guided meditations 10 min apiece, which is free.

Here is why potty training and having infants sucks. Every child is sick, and waking up and having to go down past the kitchen every hour from 8pm until 6 am when everyone wakes, I pass by my eldest son's potty training rewards. Gummy bears and york peppermint patties... Tired, worried and frustrated one may hypothetically indulge, especially when waiting for bottles to warm. That being said, I did intermittent fast M-Th. Today will have to be one of my noon IF days.

Thanks! I plan for a nice easy reintroduction. I'll stay in this forum for now, it's been almost 2 years since I've done a challenge. I may be a bit rusty. [emoji4]

Just hoping to give you some encouragement! Remember to take everything a day at a time. "The most important step a man can take is not the first step, but the next step." - Brandon Sanderson Oathbringer

New Year same story but just like a choose your own adventure book this ending can change. I've decided to do my challenges in a minimal frills sort of way. Between work, a wife, and three children under three time is a precious commodity and I find my purse thin. However, I realize that sometimes support of one's goals requires accountability and support. Even if it is nothing more than making sure I post what I do on a public forum every week. That being said, here are my year long goals (see link below). (https://docs.google.com/document/d/19pfeeup1RLS-zzdLLFjz6xJLHh0eOmYxOBoXAjw9K_Y/view?usp=drivesdk) The plan is to every challenge work something from each of the following Body, Mind, and Spirit. Smart Goals Body - Abs are made in the kitchen (Do or die goal) Every week I will prepare at least 5 meals to take for lunch. (Protein, Veg, Carb) Body - Not eating won't kill you Every week (Sun to Sat) I will intermittent fast (no food before noon, no food after nine) 5 of 7 days. Mind - Mind on my money and my money on my mind Every week I will spend 15 minutes 4 days a week reading and making notes on Adam Smith's “The Wealth of Nations” Spirit - Listen and Learn Every week I will listen to at least two sermons or religious or philosophical commentary on the Christian faith. Spirit - Presence Every week, while at home for 4 of 7 days I will place my phone “on the charger” and not use it except for necessities (ex: answering a text from my wife) for a minimum of 3.5 hours. This makes a total of 5 goals, but I think it is achievable as two of them are not gradient goals but do or die goals.

Awesome! Added myself and the WODs I have done!

1) Lack of time to properly warm up/cool down. Honestly, lack of time has led me to injuries that I shouldn't have if I had warmed up properly. When you sometimes have only a 1/2 hour in a day to get some work done it pushes you to throw yourself in to situations that you know are not ideal. E.g. I finished grading essays for my students last week and had ~20 minutes left in lunch. I didn't warm up as I normally do and I definitely strained my elbow ligaments. Now I can't grip anything without pain and will be out from lifting for who knows how long. 2) Being strong vs. being a well rounded athlete. I love being (relatively) strong, but at the same time I miss being able to run a sub 6min mile, do back hand springs and be able to touch my forehead to my knees. Focusing on lifting only one loses other things. However, being strong can make many of those things easier. Keeping everything in balance is a struggle. 3) No lifting partner. When you're on your own day in day out your motivation goes in wild swings. When in college I had teammates and tons of partners to lift with and work out with. These days I'm on my own. With no one expecting me to show up in the weight room then it is so much easier to simply say f*%& it and go have a burrito.

From the path the spinal column takes it would probably put pressure on your Trapezius as well as the small muscles of your neck like the Scapulae. In your chest it would most likely shear the Serratus muscles as well as your Abs by causing your spine to shift slightly. I'm not a doctor or even what I would consider an expert on the subject. That being said, I anecdotally know that I lose power when my neck is out of alignment when doing Front Squats or any other lift for that matter. I would suggest doing some shoulder mobility drills, rolling out your Traps on a lacross ball, or using a foam roller in the same area. If your more mobile in your shoulders it will be easier to keep them in proper position and not have to lose good neck posture.

I may be misunderstanding what you mean by being 'under load'. As I understanding it 'under load' means that you are using weight and loading it on your shoulders, back spine, arms etc... Whenever you lift weights you are 'under load' You're absolutely right, the video does not talk about front squats, but it does talk about spinal position. When lifting even light and minor weight spinal position is ultimately important. You want to keep the neutral position throughout the movement regardless if it you are doing a front squat, back squat, bench press, deadlift, running, jumping, etc... The neck is part of your spine and when you move it out of alignment you lose power and put pressure on other parts of your body to help keep you aligned.

It is more about having a complete neutral spine/neck. This is Kelly Starett, a great mobility coach. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn_h3_3KbSc

I love how fast you are dropping under the bar. Think about it as if you are trying to pull yourself under as fast as possible. I was watching your second video and I noticed that your second pull was not a pull. You lever the bar upward in what looked more like a reverse preacher curl. The bar needs to take a straight path off the floor and then upward as well through the second pull. When the weight gets heavier you won't be able to do that. I would suggest practicing with PVC or a broom handle and simply working form over and over. Then go back in and try it with just the bar!

Did my lifts today and uploaded them if anyone cares for a look! 95kg male, I should have gone up in weight slower for my squats as I bombed out my 3rd lift. Check out the album!

I am in somewhat of a similar predicament, at 210lbs and ~24%BF, I am trying to drop to ~180lbs and ~12-15%BF. If your goal is to lose the fat and the weight I would consider attempting to simply keep your performance where it is. Keep weightlifting, but do it for maintenance for now. You're not attempting to win a powerlifting competition, you are looking at this as a lifetime goal. Drop the weight and try and maintain as much strength as possible. Once you're to a BF% you are comfortable with, switch to maintenance and ramp up the fueling and lifting. I've only been doing this ~2 years so I don't have all the experience myself. Hope this helps.

Sowilo likes this idea so much Sowilo forgot to write in the 1st person. 95kg Male

This is great advice. Right now I am doing the run ~4 times during the week along with one of the individual pieces, then taking a rest day and then I'll actually do Murph. I have a 30lb vest that can be converted down to a 10 or 20lb vest. So I'll use it at its heaviest right now in the hopes that it will feel light when I drop it to 20lbs. We'll see! If I have time I'm going to keep doing some powerlifting as well, I don't want to lose my raw strength!

So you were doing 5 days of specific training. That seems very doable and maintaining my raw strength. For your "murph" wod day, you actually did the full workout?

Hi all, my brother challenged me to a "Murph" competition at the end of February. For those who don't know, Murph is... 1mile run 100 pullups 200 pushups 300 squats 1mile run in a 20lb weight vest or body armor I've never even attempted Murph before and I am wondering how some of you might go about training for it. Up to this point I have been doing some running and crossfit workouts, but have been mostly focusing on my weightlifting and powerlifting. I know those will not help me as much for this so I am thinking about putting most of my lifting on hold for the rest of February and only lifting enough to maintain my lifts. Does anyone have any decent programs to aid in pullup and pushup fatigue. Currently I can do ~15 unbroken strict pullups and ~60 unbroken pushups. I am not very worried about the squats, I've done over 300 before broken up into sets of 20. I did run today 1mi in a 30lb vest and did 10x10 pushups, finishing the run in 10min and the pushups in another ~12min. Any help at all would be great.

I totally agree with this. Set the cardio at the end of the workout not the beginning and simply do enough warm up sets to get your muscles working.