Shmikey

I FINISHED THE MAGICIANS. It was awesome, by the way. Now I just need to find a new read XD. Today I did some handstands with a spotter...it's still hard, but I think if I keep at it with some intensity I might be able to hit that goal of mine. The one arm pushup is elusive...I tried it on the 4th stair today, but my arms are so tanked from the AMRAP challenge that I just couldn't get to it. Maybe a floor level OAP was shooting too high? In any case, tomorrow I will be doing push exercises for strength in my arms, chest, and shoulders. This should make some positive impact on my handstands and the OAP progression. Here's hoping! OH! And my friend is definitely interested in joining the Assassin's guild! I'll be helping her get set up tomorrow. She won't be able to get in on this six week challenge, but she can do some squad challenges on the side and see how she likes the place.

Been alright...the handstand and one arm pushup goals seem a bit far off from here. I've only got a little bit of time left and I'm not sure if i'll be able to make them. Tomorrow I'll be doing some strength building push exercises for arms and shoulders, and we'll see where that gets me.

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. That wonderful feeling of ouch the next day so

just did my first go with circuit...i can tell tomorrow will be interesting. I fear the DOMS.

Good job ysabet! keep it up!

Cavemom, I highly recommend it for promotion on your list. Almost done with it, and I can't wait to see how it turns out! Today I worked on rolls and handstands. Technically, I didn't have to do rolls today, but I had quite the day at work and needed a bit of stress release. However, I tried removing the blankets from my floor before the rolls to get used to a hard surface, and found that my technique is sorely lacking (hahaha...ha...ahem). I decided to go with half the padding and got to about 50 before I went to meet up with some friends. I think I'm starting to iron out some of the kinks, and I would really like to take it onto concrete, and I hope I'll be able to do that comfortably by the end of the challenge. If not, I'll just keep at it till it works. One of the friends I met up with is interested in the rebellion. I talked to her about what I've been doing, and it turns out that she used to do gymnastics (I had no idea!) and is willing to help me develop my handstand. It doesn't seem to be a shoulder problem so much as a problem with balance. Accordingly, she'll be spotting me as I get into free handstands so that I can avoid becoming dependent on the wall, which causes me to fall forward when I attempt it free. So today, I worked on the stands as well. Still intimidating, but still possible. Tomorrow I work on core, so I'm adding the AMRAP challenge as a pre-workout workout. Prepare for burn!

The Magicians is really heating up. Today I worked on pull muscles, and my arms are pretty tanked from the effort. Tomorrow will be all about some good old handstand practice! Not too much going on otherwise. I'm pretty excited to start up the new squad B challenge!

Huzzah! Let's go get challenge 2!

Howzit going Ghost! Welcome aboard. The assassins are where it's at; we've got a great guild of very supportive folks. Right now, you've posted to the current 6-week challenge thread. We're starting on our third week today, so it may be a bit late to jump in...unless you want to anyway, that is! If that's the case, check out this thread. It will give you a run down of how our new class and stat system works. Then all you need to do is create your character, set some goals, and start going for them! The assassins like to train with the only thing you will always have: your own body. Bodyweight strength training and gymnastics, Parkour and rock climbing: these are our territory. If that strikes a chord in you, you are already an assassin. Nobody can tell you otherwise. Welcome to the guild!

Thanks for the support Rix! Today I did rolls and handstand practice: the weather continues to be awful, and so my inside rolling is all I have open to me. The natural feeling of rolling is slow in coming, but I imagine that it simply takes time...more than four days of drilling it, in any case. Supplemented with wall handstands to build up shoulder strength. I attempted to kick up into a free handstand, but I find that my form is quite poor. It really is an amazing exercise...my body is just not used to operating on that level of harmony and awareness. The third week is beginning...will I get to 10 seconds? The reality of the handstand's difficulty is becoming a bit intimidating. But just because I can't do it today doesn't mean I won't be able to do it someday. And that someday will be within the next month if I have anything to say about it.

Welcome aboard! It's awesome that you have an activity like running that you love so much. Your goals are fantastic! For the strength training, if you're looking for body weight exercises, I went with Steve's free body weight routine for a while and had great results. The Fitness guide is geared for more all-around stuff like diet, etc, along with exercise. You'll find more strength focused stuff in the Rebel Strength Guide (obviously). I recently picked up a copy of a book called You Are Your Own Gym, and it's been really kicking my butt in a great way. And go fo that Yoga! I love Yoga, it makes me feel SO GOOD.

It's on!

Woot! I know I haven't been updating much lately, but work has been taking it out of me. I'm sad to say that this week kind of blew by me, but I haven't totally neglected my goals. As it's been almost a week since my last post, I'll give a fairly general update as to how I'm doing and what I'm working on. Goal 1: I've been doing wall handstands every couple of days or so for a min of 30 secs, several times. Specifically, I've been working on my shoulder and tricep strength as well as working on my "hollow body" form to get my core up to it. I haven't been doing this nearly as much as I feel like I should...next week I'm going to have to step it up. Goal 2: did a set of 100 rolls today. It has been raining all week, and I've sort of used that as an excuse...but today I realized that I live in southern Alaska, and if I'm going to use rain as an excuse, I may as well just give up. So, I dropped down a couple blankets for padding and did my drills inside. I don't think I have the technique down well enough to take it on a hard surface yet, so the work will continue. Tomorrow I plan on doing another set of 100 to make of for my lack of doing more this week. Goal 3: Yesterday I began my interval strength training, and elevated one arm pushups were the first exercise. I managed to do 7, 12, and 6 (weird how I caught my second wind with that second set!), elevated to the height of my windowsill. I also did sets of unsupported dips to build up more of that push strength. I did a couple of them on the 4th step on the boat today and had no problem. Almost to grade D. Goal 4: I have been DEVOURING the magicians. Every night I have to tear myself away from the book just to get enough sleep. This one is in the bag so far. My handstand and PK roll goals kind of got kicked to the wayside this week...this displeases me. I will add a supplementary goal to update my challenge thread ONCE PER DAY to make sure I keep myself accountable.

My challenge continues to progress. With the squad challenge this week of handstands, I have been definitely tweaking my form and I like to think I'm making some progress. I can't wait to see where I'll be at the end of six weeks! An update on my goal for Parkour rolls: I'm changing my goal from rolling for 30 minutes to doing 100 rolls per drill session. I think that having a quantity of rolls will work better for me; yesterday I was able to put in 100 before it started raining, and in between sets (when I got too dizzy) I worked on my handstands. Once, I was able to hold it for a whole 3 seconds, which is halfway to my D grade! I think that my weakness lies in my shoulder strength, so I'll keep doing sets of wall handstands to build that up as time goes on. Kicking up into a free handstand usually sends me over, but I'm just using that as an opportunity for more roll practice. The reading is going very well. I always forget how much I really do love to read, and suppose that sometimes I just need to remind myself that I actually DO have time for it if I cut things like ADOM out. The Magicians is a great book, and I have consistently found myself going OVER my daily goal time. So that's nice. As for the one-armed push-ups, I'm able to do ladders of them up to 6 on a windowsill, so I'm going to start working down the stairs. I have 5 weeks left, and I'm fairly confident I can get to ground level by the end of the challenge IF I keep up on it. Here's a wall handstand for good measure [ATTACH=CONFIG]3125[/ATTACH]

ysabet, you are slaying it! keep up the good work.