Eureka

I am here for all of this!

Love the title of your challenge! And the gifs!

Truth and double truth. I also appreciate the No COVID News except the what you need to know bare bones. Any Insta accounts you recommend? Also....I used to hang out with the Warriors, but I am jumping ship to the Assassins too!

Hello! It has been several years since I have frequented the boards, but in that time I have learned a lot about how I like to train and I used to be in the Warriors guild for my challenge, but Assassin I think is much more my style. I am used to traveling a lot (though not right now!) and I love doing bodyweight exercises. I am training to get my first pullup and I would love to do handstands too. I think I would do bodyweight all the time, but I do enjoy a good deadlift now and then. Mind if I come hang out?

Marauder! I have been off these boards for awhile but I wanted to come back and see how you are doing. So this challenge doesn't look like your best, BUT....still keeping up meditation is amazing. You're still making progress. I bet you are so much further ahead then a year ago before you joined NF too. You got this!

I will give that a go! Thanks for all of your help!

Definitely. I was just barely making it there and taking 3-4 minutes rest in between. I stagnated at the 115lbs mark and was working on that weight for quite a few sessions. I pulled back in the last handful of sessions to 95lbs but even that feels a bit much.

It flares up when squatting, but afterwards I can feel it when I sit up and down mostly. If I put pressure on the spot above my knee I could feel it hurt, but that has gone now since I last squatted (April 7). I think my whole squat is pretty slow. I try to work on driving up with my hips, but I feel slow if that makes sense. Would that affect it? I'll have to research more on tendinitis. Thank you for your reply!

I've developed a pain in the top of my knee when I do squats, even without any weights. At first I just 'felt' the top of my knee when squatting, but it wasn't really painful, so I kept on pushing through it, but now I am really not liking that feeling and I am unsure what to do. Looking at a diagram of a knee I think it is my quadricep tendons on both knees that are bothering me. It flares up just as I approach parallel and gets worse the farther past parallel as I go. I started lifting regularly in September and progressed fairly steadily into the new year but the last couple of months I have missed sessions here and there and did take a week break a couple of times as well. So my progression has suffered and I deloaded from 120lbs to 95 lbs but even that was a struggle and I often would feel dizzy under the weight and just generally the whole thing felt off. My other lifts have taken a hit too, but not like squats. I've been reading various articles on form check and knee issues, but I did post a form check video awhile back even. I double check that my toes are pointed out, and my knees don't cave in, etc. etc. Should I go cold turkey on squats for awhile? What do I do in its place? Has anyone experienced this before and worked through it? I'd greatly appreciate any thoughts or advice. I

I hope you manage to avoid sickness altogether! You might need the Fallout Shelter Protocols again. Well done this challenge (and on real adulting) and I'll check back in when I return later next month.

Nice boxing moves! I am picturing you like that gif with an affro and a sheen of sweat too! haha I hope your challenge rounds out fabulously and I will check on your progress mid March when I am back!

Challenge Summary Q1: The Push is Still Out There. I started off the challenge being able to do only two reps at the lowest incline on the power rack (13 inches) and have since made my way up to sets of five. This challenge the limits of my sanity were definitely tested as I was really hoping to eke out a pushup off the ground by the end of it. I finally broke and posted a thread in the bodyweight section of the forum asking for help. Fellow nerds were able to help me out and one success story came through where it took her a year to get from a high incline to a proper pushup. I am nearly at the 6 month mark of this journey so I just need to stay the course. Another nerd reiterated that I am seeing steady progress, so why change anything? They're right. So although if you'd told me at the start it would take almost a year to do a full pushup I would have gasped in despair, I've done basically nothing to work on my pushup progression in the 29 years before that (such a lazy baby I was), so if it takes a year, it takes a year, and if it takes more than a year at the progress I am seeing now, I will have another freakout and then get back to business. At this rate I'll do a pull up when I am 80....but won't that be a neat party trick? As for workouts, I only completed 8/12 a combination of scheduling and just disappointment over my progress letting me slip. That being said, I still revved up to compete in the NF virtual competition and it rocked! Here was my Competition Workout yesterday with my three attempts (ignoring warm up sets as usual) Squat: 125lbs/56.67kgs 130lbs/58.97kgs 135lbs/61.24kgs PR! And that folks is using the BIG plates! Bench: 85lbs/38.56kgs 90lbs/40.82kgs PR! 95lbs/43.09kgs Fail.....I tried twice waiting 5 minutes in between but no luck. This would have been at the first big ish plates (25lbs each). I still did hit a PR however and at the end of 2015 I distinctly remember trying this weight out for kicks and couldn't even lift it off the rack. This time I lifted it and got it a few inches off my chest....so it's still progress! Deadlift: 165lbs/74.84kgs 170lbs/77.11kgs 175lbs/79.38kgs PR! The best thing about this was that (give or take an occasional pound) this is my bodyweight! I can deadlift myself! Pushups Level 18x5x1 Level 17x4x1 Q2: 6/8 So I did accomplish a bit more yoga then last time and the sessions I missed were because of scheduling (and a nasty freezing rain bout), but a home practice alternative remains elusive. Q3: I did play around with the instant pot quite a bit, but mostly for grains and beans....that being said it cooks them delightfully. I've got beef and chicken broth down too. Now to just work on adding in more protein. LUYL: Italian: Started off slow but we picked up steam and we finished Unit 4 last night which was the original goal. Trip planning has begun but no bookings yet. Skiing: Missed two sessions this month (one because I got on the wrong train and the other the faulty weather). I did manage some cross country as well and I am gearing up for the big test which is a legit ski holiday this week. I feel ready! I have no gifs I can think of that relate to skiing and XFiles...so Mulder in a Speedo? That is tangentially related? Thanks to everyone for the support as always! This challenge was a bit of a slog, but finished strong and I am glad for a timely break this next week with a family ski trip followed by more yurt camping (not intentionally planned together but that is how the scheduling goes). I am plotting a mini challenge for myself when I am back.

Thank you! I needed to hear this. I think the trainer at the gym messed with my head saying it could be done in under 3 months. I also had a similar starting point, and even if it takes a year, I'll take it! Also, your profile pic is a dream! I am on holiday this next week and won't have access to a gym so I will give knee pushups a try again. I tried them months ago but couldn't do them properly so I abandoned them for varying inclines, but they are hopefully worth a try again! Along with a real life example from dancezwithkittehz I also needed to hear this. As I said above I think my expectations were highly skewed from the gym assessment and my progress is just going to take more time. Thank you for taking the time to go through my challenges and reassure me of this fact! I did manage an extra pushup at the lowest incline yesterday so my progress is still chugging along. Cultivating patience and enjoying all the side benefits are things I need to do indeed. Thank you! I'd love to hear other pushup success stories too if anyone has them!

I was looking up form articles yesterday for review and came across this one. Basically saying a T formation isn't recruiting as many muscles as you can. I always focused on the arms in closer as that was what was required by the military. Looking at the article though my hands are parallel to my body so it looks like I could wing them out slightly to make that arrow formation. Still can't do any of the variations (at least to the ground)!

Will post an end of challenge summary tomorrow, but I posted my lifts! All PRs! Squatted the big plates, deadlifted my bodyweight and even though I missed the last one on bench, my second attempt was still a PR. I remember trying to lift 95lbs on bench at the end of last year and I couldn't even get it off the rack. This time I got it off the rack, lowered it, and then lifted it a couple inches off my chest before failing. All in all....success!