Knightwatch

Excellent start! As to the steady progress, my roommate / competitive strongman competitor buddy often tells people to add only 5 pounds at a time, or even 2.5 (he bought a couple 1.25 pound plates and keep them in his bag just for this reason). People think that's not enough, but extend that over 52 weeks. You start putting up some SERIOUS weight over time. Keep up the good work!

haha, I love the baby rows. I used to do the overhead niece press. Woot on stepping up to the next level! Keep up the good work!

Your workout are making me jealous! Way to go! When does StrongLifts have you drop down to 3 sets? Think you'd be able to attack the weights even harder if you knew you didn't have to spread it out over 5? Even if just on the squats, perhaps... Keep up the great work, man!

This is a pretty excellent reason why so many people do the exact same things for years and don't progress. Definitely worth tracking everything! Good start! Looking forward to reading along!

DAY 5 Aaaaaaand, we're back! THE LIFTS So, I thought we were doing the bench, too, since it's programmed into the 5/3/1 protocol we've been following for a while. But they decided to drop it, leaving the other three, making it an "official" Crossfit benchmark WOD. "CROSSFIT TOTAL" total of 1 rep maxes in the PRESS, DEADLIFT, and SQUAT * unlimited warmups * 3 offical attmepts PRESS, STANDING STRICT 45 x 5 95 x 5 135 x 3 155 x 2 170 x 1 180 x 1 185 x 1 (new PR!) DEADLIFT 135 x 5 225 x 3 315 x 2 365 x 2 385 x 1 405 x 1 420 x 1 (ties an old PR!) SQUAT 135 x 5 185 x 3 225 x 2 275 x 1 315 x 1 325 x 1 (new PR! (comparatively sad, I know!)) CROSSFIT TOTAL: 930 OK. So. I'm obviously happy with this, as I hit two PRs and finally got back to an old third PR. Hooray! But really, comparatively speaking, why am I so weak on the squat? Given where the other two lifts are, it ought to be a bit higher. Definitely making a 1000 pound Crossfit Total a new goal for this year. PULLUPS PRACTICE Just wanted to mess around a little after I was done with the three big lifts. Did a couple sets of 10-12 with regular kipping. Then I practiced the butterfly kip, and managed about 10. Woot! THE EATS Breakfast: protein shake, with milk, egg white, frozen berries, yogurt, greens supp, and whey. Water and supps. Coffee with cream. Snack: Larabar, handful of cashews, jerky. Water. Black coffee. Post-Workout: protein shake, same as above. Dinner: TBD THE LIFE STUFFS * productive, if chaotic, day at work. * I've discovered a love for blue agave sweetener. I don't know if this is horrific or awesome news, health-wise. * relaxing hard tonight. * will likely be doing Mobility WOD 2 this evening. * attending a stoutfest tomorrow at noon at the greatest bar on the plant, and having friends up evening for some RPG-ing. Diet will be out the window for about 24 hours. Will try to manage workout tomorrow morning and Sunday morning to mitigate damages. Hope all are keepin' on!

So what are the best resources for gathering useful intel on the shambling hordes (or, God help us, the sprinting packs)? While not the first reported sighting, that classic documentary "Night of the Living Dead" should be required viewing. On the other end of the timeline, the recently collected footage popularly titled "The Walking Dead" is quite illuminating to the zombie hunter of today. Surely Max Brooks seminal works, "The Zombie Attack Survival Guide" and "World War Z" should be in each library. What are our other favorite sources of zombie intel?

Thanks guys! Today is off to a rather not-awe-inspiring start, but I'll pull it together. Won't be lifting too heavy tonight, since we're going all out with 1 rep maxes in four lifts tomorrow, in a lil' in-house competition workout. So I'll likely do something quick, conditioning-based. One thing I've noticed myself slacking on is the water intake. I've lately been using a big ol' gallon jug at my desk, but that's too easy to put off. Reckon I'll go back to aiming for a certain number of Nalgene refills a day. Also, skipped the morning ritual today, and half-assed it yesterday. Slippery slope. Refocus on that tomorrow. Daily details later! Keep strong, Rebels!

My stuff on my person: * front pocket wallet with money clip, holding cash, debit card, drivers license, LTC, medical insurance card * 4-6 quarters * simple folding knife * keys, which I try to keep compact, but include a small micro flashlight * smartphone * small moleskine notebook and pen (if i'm wearing a jacket / have the pockets. if not, it's in my bag) * fisher space pen (not a huge fan of the ink or anything, but love the size) * white handkerchief that I always forget is there, but is just waiting a weeping lady in distress. In a messenger-style bag: * nalgene bottle * small first aid pouch (needs updating badly) * bandada * lighter * leatherman wave and a few extra bits * streamlight stylus pro flashlight (sometimes on person, depending on clothes worn / pockets available) * small bit of duct tape * small bundle of 550 cord * larger moleskine notebook and extra pens (and the small one, if not on person) * kindle * Acer netbook * usually some other non-kindle book * small "tool pouch", holding a few loose odd-and-ends in some coherent manner (another lighter, pens, small bit driver, paperclips etc) * pack of cigs (i'm not a smoker much anymore, but I've found a lot of occasions to offer them in stressful situations, etc) * stainless steel Sharpie * a little pouch containing rosary, some prayers etc, pocket new testament and psalms * firearm, if carrying, and not on person And, some other stuff I'm sure, but that's pretty much the base. In the winter, hat and gloves will be stuffed in there, that sort of thing. May seem like a lot, but consider that each individual item is pretty small. It really not all that cumbersome in a messenger bag.

So, we're nerds. And nerds tend to carry stuff. How do you carry your stuff? Does your job (the one that doesn't involve the suppression of non-stationary cadavers, of course) require you to carry around a lot of tools or gadgets or tools to fix gadgets? Do you have a system to navigate all your junk, a way to organize your life? And if so, can you start adding some other stuff, without sacrificing space or weight too much, that'll also get you out of a jam when a dirty stinkin' zombie shows up? So what do you have with you most days when you leave your front door? What's your EDC? Rebels, report!

Hmmmm. So I'm thinking I'll make two; one geared more for survival in the wild, that'll be stored in my emergency pack but then transferred into my "first line" upon grabbing the pack, and the other a more "EDC" or everyday carry based urban "survival" kit. Y'know, less about actually surviving a night in the wild, and more about being "that guy", johnny-on-the-spot.

DAY 3 THE LIFTS Rest Day! But I just did MobilityWOD 1 this evening, accumulating 10 minutes in a squat. I was able to last 4 minutes my first segment before having to stretch out, whereas last time I tried it, I got about 90 seconds. Progress! Finished up with a three minute segment, and then two 90 second segments. Then I just did a few sets of light pushups and squats to work some kinks out. THE EATS Breakfast: 2 eggs scrambled with tomato, onion, pepper, mushrooms, and turkey. A handful of strawberries. Water. Coffee with cream. SnackFail: I might have had a Skor bar. Oops. Lunch: Big ass salad with cajun seasoned chicken. Wasn't fond of the heavy dressing they included, so I used it quite lightly. Water. Back coffee. Snack: a couple chunks of delicious Chimay cheese, fresh baked small baguette (only ate half) and local mustard. Dinner: ground beef with broccoli, mushrooms, and peppers. Water. Tea. One beer. THE LIFE STUFFS * picked up a few more components for the emergency pack firekit. It's surprisingly hard to find a small, simple lightweight waterproof container. But I'm cobbling something together. * realized I better file those taxes. Right. * realized I love sunflowerseed butter. Holy cow, so good.

Thanks, guys! OK, this most likely a rest day for me. Well, "active rest". I'll be doing mWOD day one tonight, and will like work in some real light bodyweight stuff, just to stay loose. Pretty banged up at the moment, with a kink in my neck, a jammed up and slightly swollen thumb from last night's workout, a creaky left knee, and a tender right foot. Hey, what do you want, I'm old. The other thing I'll work on tonight is Z-Day related, and that's building up a firekit for my bug out/emergency/go bag. Also, I need to update my personal first aid kit and start thinking about a larger one for said BOB. I'll update with details later. Hope everyone's day three is going well!

DAY 2 THE LIFTS So this was an interesting workout. And by interesting I mean it hurt a lot in a very short period of time. Warmed up with some stretches, pullups, dips, situps, back extensions, and overhead PVC squats And then... METCON WORKOUT With a continuously running clock, complete 1 clean and jerk in minute one, 2 clean and jerks in minute two, 3 clean and jerks in minute three, and so on, untill you cannot complete the prescribed reps within the minute. prescribed load: 135 pounds score: 9 rounds + 4 reps So, in exactly 10 minutes, I did 49 135lb clean and jerks. Holy crap, that hurt a lot. I finished rep nine in minute nine literally a second before the minute was up, giving me exactly zero rest before the next "round". Managed to pull out another 4 or 5 (since I'm not sure, I gotta go with the low number) in minute ten, and then spend some time on the floor. After that, I practiced my butterfly kipping pullups a little bit, stringing together 8 at one point before thinking about it too much and losing the rhythm. But it's coming along. Then when I got home, I sprinted a hill three times, getting 41, 39, and 38 seconds for times. Man. That made the ol' butt-ox bhurn something fierce. And now I'm going to down a protein shake and go stand in the shower for a long time. THE EATS Breakfast: shake with milk, egg white, greens supp, a small bit of yogurt, frozen berries, and vanilla whey. Glass of water with supps, cup of coffee with some cream. Lunch: salad made of spinach, onion, peppers, mushroom, dried cranberries, and shrimp. Balsamic dressing. Water, black coffee. Post-Workout: shake Dinner (planned): spicy ground beef, broccoli, mushrooms, pepper. Water. Snack: TBD THE LIFE STUFFS * Looking at personal training certificate programs again. * Finished up a book on my kindle at lunch. * Straightening up my apartment tonight, including laundry. Will put a few items from it into donate or discard bags.

Yeah, that's a good idea, and would likely help me improve in my crossfitty pursuits, as this is largely the sort of thing we do there. For instance, today's workout...

Great start!

I can already tell this thread is going to kick ass all over the place.

Oh, and one other thing, the most dreaded part. "Before" pic. I warned you! Sorry for the weird angle, but the only workable mirror is in my bathroom which is cramped. Weighed in, too, at 228.1. Gah. 200 is my long(-ish) term goal.

Thanks! OK, quick update. I got in about 20 minutes of very casual walking tonight when I decided to hoof it to store down the road for something instead of drive. Also, add one Larabar and a piece of jerky and glass of milk to the EATS. OK, food is mostly prepped for tomorrow. Got a big ol' salad with shrimp made up, and veggies cut to add to my eggs in the morning. (or as a post-workout meal; might go with a shake tomorrow morning depending on how I'm feeling) Also, tomorrow's Crossfit WOD looks fun. On a continuously running clock, one Clean and Jerk with 135 in minute one, 2 in minute two, 3 reps in minute three, and so on until you can't complete that minute's reps. Looks like one of those sessions that sounds pretty easy, but gets really awful really fast. Can't wait. OK, off to bed! Strong work on day one, Rebels!

Well, a somewhat inglorious start to this challenge, but for somewhat acceptable reasons. So, got a call mid-day from my folks, who were going to be passing though town and wanted to meet me for dinner. Well, part of my whole "be-a-better-person-and-value-what's-important" aspect of my challenge would be to value my family. So, plans had to change some to accommodate them. So today wasn't perfect. Oh well. That just gives me more opportunity to make tomorrow stronger. THE LIFTS So, I started the day with something of a plan, but had to change it around a lot as my folks-meeting plans evolved. I ended up doing just about the simplest things ever. ONE ARM DUMBBELL OVERHEAD PRESS, RACK RUN 45 x 5 50 x 5 55 x 5 60 x 5 (up to this point, all were done as strict sets. the following were push presses) 65 x 5 70 x 5 75 x 5 80 x 4 85 x 3 So these went pretty well. Old wrist injuries are still holding me back some; hard to clean and stabilize an 85 pound dumbbell one handed with a junky wrist. Ah well. PULLUPS 5 5 5 5 And that was it. Like I said, I was way strapped for time. Kept it simple. THE EATS Breakfast: 3 eggs scrambled with diced tomato, onion, pepper, and a small sprinkle of cheese. Water. Coffee with cream. Snack: meal replacement shake Lunch: steak sandwich light on cheese, peppers and onions and mushrooms (like I said, plans had to change) Dinner: beef brisket with minimal (for me, anyway) bbq. Cucumber salad. One beer, one black coffee. THE LIFE STUFF * Eased into a morning ritual. I'll try to keep it going tomorrow. * Had a lovely time, as always, talking with my folks over dinner. I am truly blessed. * Picked up some fresh meat and produce. Jelly beans beckoned me. I resisted, by some minor miracle. * About to chop some veggies for tomorrow, and plan on being in bed quite soon. So tired!

Excellent goals, and a fine start! Looking forward to following along!

And we're off. I started the day by chugging some water and a lil' ritualized prayer, which I'm hoping to continue through the challenge. Other things I want to include in my "morning ritual" will be an easy walk around the block (not for fitness, just for fresh air and to organize my thoughts) and some real basic calisthenics. I'm thinking a set of pushups, squats, a plank, and some basic stretches. I'll see what deveops. For breakfast I had some eggs scrambled with red pepper, onion, tomato, and a touch of cheese, and I'm having a meal replacement shake right now. I'll probably have a salad with protein of some sort this afternoon pre-workout, and then head to the store for some fresh, healthy groceries. Full daily writeup to come later on. Hope everyone's off to a strong start!

Word. Can't wait to follow along.

Food's prepped for the morning. Workout generally planned if I can't make Crossfit, but I'm pretty good at winging it. Work to-do list is done. Grocery list is ready to pick up after the gym. Some words recently recently directed at me are echoing in my head. Yeah. Everything's gotta change. It starts tomorrow. Good luck to everyone!

OK, enough is enough. I have six weeks, and I'm sick to death of mediocrity, especially self-imposed mediocrity. So this sounds like a pretty excellent opportunity to make some totally unreasonable goals, and then proceed to smash though them. By the tail end of May, I want to be a very different animal. I want to be stronger, faster, tougher, leaner and generally better. I'll keep doing Crossfit, trying to better my performances every week. My specific strength goals are as follows: BENCH PRESS 275 lbs SQUAT 345 DEADLIFT 435 CLEAN 225 OVERHEAD PRESS 225 complete 21 unbroken KIPPING PULLUPS The clean, ideally, will be a power clean, though a squat clean will be acceptable. The overhead press will be in whatever manner I can manage, either a pushpress or a jerk. And given that they're the same load, I'd like to combine them into one movement, but, failing that, separate attempts will be acceptable. Why 21 pullups? For whatever reason, it's a standard rep number in a lot of the Crossfit cornerstone workouts. For speed work, I'll be doing intense metcons via Crossfit, and short sprints on my own. The runs will be timed weekly, hopefully improving each test. Speaking of running, I want to run 2.5 miles. It's a common physical exam standard, and while I don't plan on doing any of those anytime soon, I'd like to know that I could. For this challenge, simply completing a run of that distance will be acceptable. I will also refocus my efforts in martial arts and boxing. I'll train the heavy bag at least once a week, and hopefully more, and incorporate other training as I'm able. I'll also reconnect with my most recent instructor and see about attending, at least, a seminar and discuss options for continuing training in JKD. I'll become more durable by practicing Mobility WODs on a regular basis. I will complete, at least, the first 14, with a bonus if I cycle through each twice. I will also become more durable by incorporating basic tumbling and jumping into my routines. Nobody will ever mistake my for a parkour expert, but I will use this as a base to begin incorporating movement more often. http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/the_lost_art_of_movement_capacity I will get leaner. I'm not going to put a definitive number on this, but 15 pounds would delight me. Mostly this will be determined simply by how I feel, and how I look. Before and after pics will be taken and posted. My apologies in advance. I will do this by drinking a lot of water, not mindlessly snacking, and dramatically reducing the grains in my diet. I will incorporate some intermittent fasting, and likely a week long cleanse via massive vegetable intake, as described here: http://nerdfitness.com/community/showthread.php?2741-a-seven-day-plan-from-Chad-Waterbury. I will live a simpler, reflective life, with personal improvement and athletic training being my primary focus for the next six weeks. I will continue to rid myself of clutter, and will appreciate the joy of less. I'll cut as much toxic interpersonal nonsense from my life as possible, and concentrate on what is important in life, looking for ways to improve the lives of those around me. I will begin a morning ritual based around prayer and awareness. I need to change many things in my life. By the end of this challenge, I hope to look, feel, and be a new person. And away we go.

Great introduction! Welcome to the boards, and I hope you find it a supportive, knowledgeable place. Let us know how we can help!