Knightwatch

Not too shabby! Kept up a decent bit of lifting last week, but fell off on three elements: 1) rucking 2) diet 3) posting here for accountability in elements 1 and 2 😬😬😬 But, back in business! Eating well again (well, well-ish) these past couple days, and getting back to the ruck tomorrow. And I’ll update with yesterday and todays workouts later!

Kept things pretty simple today, but man, simple worked. 03AUG2023 - THU SUPINATED GRIP LAT PULLDOWN 150 x 8 150 x 8 150 x 8 150 x 8 alternating sets with… FRONT SQUATS 135 x 5 155 x 5 175 x 5 185 x 5 WOD 10 rounds of “mini-cin” 3 pullups 6 pushups 9 air squats *wore a 20# vest CASHOUT 3 times though of 6 unilateral lat raises each side, 6 unilateral front raises each side, 12 cable rows

Yess! Good luck with your efforts as well them! We got this!

01AUG2023 - TU WARMUP 3 rounds of 10 pushups, 10 barbell strict press STRICT PRESS 95x 8 115x5 135x3 155x2 175x1 185x1 STRICT PRESS DROP/STRIP SET 145x6 into 115x8 into 95x10 into 6 pushups WOD 10 dumbbell pushups 10 dumbbell curls 10 dumbbell overhead press 10 dumbell pushups to stand 10 dumbell curl to overhead press 10 beach bodies (pushup to stand to curl to press) 150m farmer carry with two 2pd KBs 10 dumbell pushups to stand 10 dumbell curl to overhead press 10 beach bodies 150m farmer carry with two 2pd KBs 10 beach bodies 150m farmer carry with two 2pd KBs Whew. That was a rough one. This morning’s weigh in: 243.3 Abd that’s that. Taking a rest day from harder training, but will likely do a ruck a little later on.

Ob I would love that, friend! We can crank Punch a Dragon In The Throat music.

31JULY2023 - MON AM SESSION WARMUP 3 rounds of 10 air squats, 10 lunges WOD 20 minute AMRAP of 20” stepups, with vest CASHOUT short mobility/stretching routine AFTERNOON SESSION WARMUP 2 rounds of 10 RDL and dead hang from bar DEADLIFT 135 x 5 185 x 4 225 x 3 275 x 2 315 x 1 335 x 5 385 x 3 425 x 1 445 x 1 And then, because one of my training buddies turned 62, we each did 62 burpee pullups, a few reps every minute on the minute. Whew. On a related note, yeah, age really is just a number. He kicks my ass on a regular basis!

Oh, and weighed in this morning. Starting weight, 245.3. Here’s to seeing the 230s at some point this challenge! Hope everyone is off to a good start. Let me know anyway I can help anyone!

30JUL2023 - SUN WARMUP 2 rounds of 60 seconds bike 12 band pullaparts 12 band pass thrus 2 ring dip negatives 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps of incline DB bench, 70s chest supported DB rows, 70s 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 reps of pushups abmat situps 3 rounds of: 12 row cals 12 lat raises, 20s 12 row cals 12 reverse flys, 20s cashout: 1.25m ruck

Yesss! We do indeed!

Hey there nerdfriends! I’m back, and it’s time to get really, really serious about my longterm health. Couple recent doctors appointments haven’t gone especially well, and I can kinda feel the clock ticking. All the strength training in the world won’t help me live an awesome life if I’m not HEALTHY to go along with it. I need to lose a good good chunk of weight, lower my blood pressure and cholesterol, and start fixing some lingering injuries, aches, mobility limitations, and weaknesses. So, it’s game time. Good old fashioned hard lifting and the archetype of the vigilante street level hero still informs my journey, but it’s time to drop some of the silliness and get real about the unsexy parts, like eating vegetables and getting sleep and having pill boxes. So yeah, I’m getting older, and I’m sure as hell all beaten up. I’m tired. But I’m not down quite yet. My “city” still needs me. So maybe I just need to start fighting smarter and dirtier. It may get a little grim and gritty up in here, but let’s get to work. LOSE 5+ POUNDS Long term goal here is to lose 40-45. Can’t do that, though, until I lose 10, and I can’t lose 10 until I lose 5. Simple enough. At least two check ins a week. BUILD A MORNING BODYWEIGHT ROUTINE This is deliberately vague at the moment, as I’m not sure what it will evolve into. Some combination, but simple and quick combination on mobility, some pushup and pullups, or at least hangs, and maybe lighting quick pump work (banded curls or rear delt stuff, etc) Again, may look different by the end, but need to start getting the blood moving earlier on. RUCK 3+ TIMES A WEEK I’ve been largely sidelined from anything involving steps for months and months and months, from some of the worst plantar fasciitis I’ve ever had. It’s FINALLY starting to improve. Still a little tender in the mornings, but my foot doesn’t “wear out” by mid afternoon the way it was for the past half year or more. I’ve just started to reincorporate some rucking, but I’m starting light and slow. Furthest I’ve gone is 2 miles, and that’s fine. Over the next several weeks I’ll sloooowwwwly increase the distance and frequency, but even if I’m still only doing a mile or two at a time, that’s fine. I’ve rushed into this stuff too many times in the past, and am currently grateful to do it at all. Three or more times a week. I’d rather do it more frequently for shorter distances than wear this stupid heel down again. LIMIT EATING OUT OF CONTAINERS I’m a snacker. It’s a weakness, but it is what it is. I think I can have a healthy relationship with it and be fine there, but one thing that’s holding me back is being MINDLESS about it. Thus, I’m going to try my best to not eat out of the container anymore. Meaning, if I want some Oreos, I can have some Oreos. But I need to put a few on a plate so that I can’t “accidentally” inhale a whole sleeve. Hell, if I want even MORE Oreos, I can do that too. But I need to get my ass up on the couch, take them back out of the pantry, put a few more on the plate, and put the package back again. At the very least, I expect this to raise my awareness of my junk intake. WEEKLY CLEAN AND JERK PRACTICE Lifting is still the cornerstone of my training, but I’m probably not going to be hitting a ton of PRs anymore in the big 4. Not saying they won’t come, but between age and mileage, well, I’m not exactly setting new records weekly these days. One element of lifting I’ve NEVER been personally great at is the oly lifts. Frankly, I’m starting to appreciate them more as I begin to think more about longevity, and the value of being quick and mobile. Snatching a lot is still not gonna happen right now, though maybe I’ll be in a different place down the road. But I’ve got an ADEQUATE power clean and pretty damn good overhead pressing strength….but I’m absolute trash at jerks, getting back underneath the bar. So, it’s something I want to work on consistently, if for no other reason than to be better at coaching the movements. I can literally strict press more than I can jerk well. So, on either power clean days or on overhead days, I’m going to spend just a little bit of time working on that, even if I start really light. BONUS LIFE THING: BASICS OF VIDEO EDITING This is pure bonus credit, but I may look for a Udemy class or something on the very basics of video editing, as I’d love to start making higher quality content for my gym. But we’ll see. If anyone knows an easy place to start, I’m all ears.

Knightwatch, human Ranger 1st Level STATS STR 13 DEX 10 CON 9 INT 12 WIS 12 CHA 10 * I used one of those online test things to get a general sense of where my stats currently stand, and then I honestly brought them all down a little bit. Why? Well, I'm thinking of myself as "first level" here, and want to give myself "room to grow", so to speak. CURRENT BENCHMARKS/PROGRESS FOR STAT BUMPS STR Press 190 x5 Squat 305 x 5 Bench Press 265 x 5 Deadlift 415 x 5 * I feel this is something that's presently within reach, but I'll have to dedicate a little bit longer to them, and get back on track with grip training. That's really fallen off. As I hit these numbers in the course of my training, I'll check them off, and then all are completed I'll get +1 STR DEX Complete all sessions from GMB Elements Reacquire rope climb skill * given that Elements presents itself literally as “move better”, I figure this is a good pairing for DEXTERITY. Rope climbs also was something I used to have pretty handily, but I stopped doing them when I was dealing with some elbow tendonitis, and never really got back to them. I’ll start layering in some practice again. CON Complete two Conqueror Challenge medals Lose 10 pounds * I’ve had to shift focus away from rucking and running for a bit while I heal up (lol) some plantar fasciitis, but I can use any more of movement for a couple conqueror challenges. Plus, cool medals as “loot”. INT Finish 8 books Accumulate 8 hours in study or practice in a non-fitness skill * Pretty straight forward, here. Finish 8 books of any length, and practice or study something for 8 hours total. Can be split among a few skills (3 hours each of Duolingo and, I dunno, researching how to get HAM radio certified, and a couple hours of lessons on guitar) That'll earn me a +1 INT, and a new set of benchmarks. WIS Read the Gospels right through Accumulate 2 hours of meditation * Another simple concept. Obviously Wisdom can be reflected in lots of ways, but a real basic one is to work on calming my mind and studying my faith. After this +1. maybe I'll explore some of those other manifestations of WIS. CHA Write and publish 3 blog entries Make 5 coaching videos for my gym * Like WIS, Charisma can take many forms. I'm thinking of it in terms of "leadership" and communication this time.

Heya friends! A bit late getting going this time 'round, but I closed one year and started another with a bout of the ol' COVIDs, multiple houseguests (post-plague, natch), and travel, so I'm really just now getting my feet under me again and ready to get moving. I've been reflecting on my "character sheet" and how, frankly, I don't think I improved a damn stat all last year. I may have even backslid! So, priority one for the next few months is gettin' a couple stat bumps. Specifically, I'm going to work on DEX and CON, because those are the two that suffered the most over the last few years. I'm dealing with a nasty case of plantar fasciitis, so I haven't been able to ruck or run or anything, and even short walks get pretty nasty. It's frustrating to no end, so I'm going to stop wishing it away and give it a good honest try to actually ADDRESS it, with stretching, mobility, and targeted exercises. It's something that's effecting real life constitution and dexterity improvement efforts, so I need to get after it and yet "it feels a little better" isn't really something that I can exactly quantify, but will be a recurring point I address here. Otherwise, again, we're working to bring up those character sheet stats, via the bench marks I lay out in the following post. Trying to be a more complete person overall, I'll work on all of them, but I'm deliberately putting aside my traditional STR focus for a bit. Not that I won't train it, and I'll still probably train it the most just by default, but I'm going to let it happen organically and not chance any specific goals or numbers right now. I'll always train strength pretty much out of habit now, but I really need to make an effort to get myself healthier and more resilient, and moving better. For goals specific to this Challenge, here's what I've got: 1) Lose 5 or more pounds. This is one small part of CON. I started the year at 254, so if I finish the Challenge anywhere in the 240s, it's a success. 2) Row 20 miles. Probably in one mile increments, but I can go shorter or longer per session as needed. This is something that doesn't bother my foot, gets my heart going, translates to CF WODs, and I figure can only help with goal 1. 3) complete 8 or more sessions of GMB Elements. Basically breaking down the whole DEX increase into smaller chunks here. 4) Finish cleaning up and organizing my office, as the start of a more thorough KdubCave overhaul. OK, that'll just about do it, I think, Longer term goals in the form of my "stats" will be on the next post, so my updates will be a blend of stuff from here and there. Happy New Year, all! Hope you guys all smash your goals!

Your consistency is always an inspiration, man, and something I need to learn from. Can't wait to see what the new year brings you!

I never realized how much my mattress was messing up my life until I got a new one. Excited for you, good luck with the challenge!

Sounds like lots of things aligned for you with that job, congratulations! Tootttally normal to be nervous, but no doubt that they are luck to have you!

May the start of your year be strong and bright! You got this!

Oh gosh, I just love love love this. What a neat idea, the reading by candlelight thing! I'm going to have to try that myself, and in fact, I wonder if a whole occasional Evening By Candlelight would help reset my system a lil'. Good luck on your Challenge this month, can't wait to see what you accomplish!

I’m still here, yo! Fairly strong week so far, really. Just haven’t had a chance to update here. But here’s a glimpse of the last few days of training. Taking a mostly-rest day today, though I did a 2 mile ruck this AM. In other Challenge/goal/progress news, I’ve already knocked one goal off, that of finishing Unit 2 of my PN cert. I’ll be starting in on the third and final unit next week. Woot!

We're back! As usual lately, we'll be taking inspiration from the cool-ass analog-notes-takin'-Batman scene from the most recent movie, that hits me in all the right ways. I'll be sharing views of my own "Notes and Observations", this time again trying to remember that it shouldn't JUST be a workout log, but a place to sketch out any Knightwatch Project related ideas, be they programming notes, nutrition ideas, recipes, workouts to research, and whatever else. That said, here are the specific goals for this Challenge cycle: 1) accumulate 35+ miles of deliberate movement in the form of rucking, running, hiking, or walking. Morning walks with my ruck, evening constitutionals, post-lifting timed-mile shuffles, whatever. Gotta just get out there and cover some small distances, often. 2) show improvement in body comp via three scans, beginning, 2-3 weeks, and at the end of the Challenge. "Progress" can be viewed as a success in a few ways: less bodyfat without too much muscle loss, added muscle without too much fat added with it, or ideally (and least likely) less fat and more muscle. I could also just go by scale weight, but, as a trainer at my gym, I have free access to the InBody scanner thing and frankly I'm kinda afraid to see my numbers so I need to get over myself and just take it as the data that it is. 3) do at least five sessions, or one a week, of heavybag work. A vigilante needs to harden up his reflexes and fists, after all! (and more to the point, man does it ever wipe me out) This doesn't have to be super complicated, just a few rounds of light form-based work with some heavier flurries mixed in. At some point I'm gonna look into getting back into formal martial arts training, BJJ and/or muay thai, but that's just not in the cards at the moment. This will be a way to eaaase back into that mindset. 4) show improvement in both strict pullups, dips, and handstand pushups. I'm at about 5 pullups and 8-9 dips presently, and probably 3-4 full ROM HSPU. Again, this doesn't have to be crazy or specific. I'll test at the end of the challenge; do I get more, or do they feel crisper? Success. Lately it's as much a matter of not backsliding as anything else! 5) finish Unit two of my current coaching cert. I've got two more chapters in the Unit, so that should be doable, especially since I'm just starting to get back into the study habit with it. And that's it! I'll post this week's workouts so far a bit later, and lets all have ourselves a good Challenge!

I’ve been hella busy this week but I’ve continued plugging away. Diet really needs to be dialed in, but I’m getting in my lifts. As you can see there’s nothing too wild going on, basically just hitting one or two main lifts and a quick WOD. Today’s a rest day, so hoping to set myself up to finish the week and enter the weekend from a strong place.

Rest day today! Gonna get back to a lift tomorrow though. Hope everyone has head a great week 1 so far! I’m cheering for you!

Day Three! Today was a pressing/shoulder based day. Started with sets of 3 on strict press, where I worked up to 190. Happy with that given all the issues I had with my shoulders these last few months. Every set was followed up with 15 band pullaparts and one strict pullup. Then I moved onto the day’s programmed WOD, 4 rounds of rowing or skiing, more overhead work, and toes to bars; I scaled this to DBs for the overhead work, and knee raises with a smaller kip from free moving ring-like attachments. I then played with a slower paced circuit to just get in some additional movements and reps, 6 times through a garage sandbag shoulder, 2 handstand pushups, and 3 higher-then-usual-for-me box jumps. Finally, cashed out with some direct delt isolation work, cycling through front raises, lat raises, and some banded facepulls.

Day Two BACK SQUAT 250 x 5 250 x 5 250 x 5 FRONT SQUAT 145 x 10 145 x 10 145 x 10 BANDED HAMSTRING CURLS supersetted with TOES ELEVATED RDL WOD 10 rounds of 10 russian KB swings 5 pushups 5 goblet squats 2 chest to bar pullups

Day One. Not a great start mentally, given a challenging weekend, but glad I’m underway!