Blade

15 minute little blitz workout this evening, since I didn't have a ton of time. Here are the numbers:

Pushups: 30, 20, 15 = (65 total) = 246 cumulative

Squats: 40, 30 = (70 total) = 304 cumulative

Pullups: 0 = (0 total) = 0 cumulative

Lunges: 25, 15 = (40 total) = 195 cumulative

Planks: 1:30, 1:00 = (2:30 total) = 8:00 cumulative

Looking forward to seeing your next workout, Garjan!

AM workout! Made some progress, which I'm guessing Garjan will come back and immediately annihilate. Numbers:

Pushups: 20, 20, 16, 15, 20 = (91 total) = 181 cumulative

Squats: 40, 30, 30, 25 = (125 total) = 234 cumulative

Pullups: 0 = (0 total) = 0 cumulative

Lunges: 30, 25, 30 = (85 total) = 155 cumulative

Planks: 1:15, 1:15, 1:00 = (3:30 total) = 5:30 cumulative

Actually ahead (for now) in a couple! Your move.

On other note, did we ever figure out how pullups would be tracked vs. negative pullups?

Nice work on the pushups, Garjan! I've been slacking, but will put a dent in your numbers tomorrow morning. One of these days I'm actually going to get ahead so I'm not always playing catch up. Look out now...

Finally got the Fitocracy quests I completed last weekend to take - had to re-enter them, but am glad I did, since I got stiffed on points. Fun stuff! Knocked out:

"Learning The Pendlay Row"

"Baby Widowmaker"

"Untz Untz Untz Untz"

"Try Out The Deadlift"

"Zyzzthetics"

"I <3 The Bench Press"

"Not Very Dumb At All"

"Press Press Press"

"The Squat Isn't So Scary!"

"Squat Bench Deadlift 135 Club"

"Everybody's Doing It"

"Hip Drive"

12 Quests, plus the 1 I finished earlier, gives me 13. I'm going to bump up my goal to 18 now, just to keep things interesting. Have been slacking a bit on my PvP challenge, but will shoot for a morning workout early tomorrow - especially needed since I'll be in the office all day working on data entry.

Got a bunch of bodyweight exercises done today for the PvP challenge with Garjan. Made some progress on hitting that 60 pushup goal as well. And, well, went to work for the Life goal. Gotta work for the money!

Hope everyone else is doing well!

Alrighty, update. Didn't have a pullup bar available, but got the rest of the workout in, in about 20 minutes. Here are the numbers:

Total Time: 20 minutes

Pushups: 25, 10, 15, 20 = (70 total) = 90 cumulative

Squats: 20, 30, 15 = (65 total) = 109 cumulative

Pullups: 0 = (0 total) = 0 cumulative

Lunges: 30, 20, 20 = (70 total) = 70 cumulative

Planks: 60 sec, 60 sec = (2:00 total) = 2:00 cumulative

I look forward to seeing your update tomorrow with your immense wookie arm strength

Haha, zing! Pressure's on now!

Pfffff... never apologize for getting more workouts in. My prediction - you will kick my ass on the legs (especially lunges), I'll eventually win pushups and pullups, and we'll come out about even in planks. Should get a proper workout in on Wednesday - I'll let you know how much damage I can do!

Got in a good workout on Sunday morning, make use of a weight bench and heavy bag at my parents' house, and house music at a wedding. Fitocracy sadly isn't recognizing the quests I completed, which is ticking me off since I'm using that for one of my goals, but by my count I knocked out 6 quests, giving me a total of 7 thus far. Pretty happy about that, even if one of them is titled "Untz Untz Untz Untz" (Do 50 jumping jacks and dance for 30 minutes in one day).

Awesome weekend with the wedding, seeing my girlfriend, and visiting my parents. Now back to DC for my first (almost) full week of work at the new job. Life's coming together pretty well!

Took advantage of a weight bench at my parents' house Sunday morning, and I figure I'll count the following toward my totals:

Pushups: 20 = (20 total)

Squats: 10, 20, 8, 8 = (46 total) - done with weight, but for these purposes, I'll consider them bodyweight

Feels like we might need an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of our totals here...I've still got lots of catch up to do!

So excited about the PvP that I had to go and get my workout in today.

Total Time: 39 minutes (I'm using a kitchen timer to count down the hour so I won't run over)

Pushups: 14, 13, 10 = (37 total)

Squats: 30, 30, 25 = (85 total)

Pullups: 5, 5, 5 = (??? total) .... I'm still on negative pullups, need to determine how those will be counted

Lunges: 20, 20, 20 = (60 total) ... 10 per leg, assuming we are counting cumulatively

Planks: 50 sec, 55 sec, 49 sec = (3 total)

Awesome! You're wasting no time. We have the same idea re. lunges, so keep counting the cumulative number. I'm planning on running tomorrow and lifting Sunday (headed home to visit parents, so have to take advantage of a weight bench and wooded trails), but the pressure's on now. Well done, I gotta play some catch up!

Those exercises sound great. Do you want to set up the thread or should I?

As far as schedule, definitely non-consecutive days. Maybe 3 days/week?

I don't know how close we are in skill level, but we could start with 3-5 sets with as many reps as we can manage for each exercise with some time limit (an hour?) to complete the sets. Time limit doesn't include the important stuff like warm up, cool down, stretching, etc.

Also, how do we want to grade ourselves? I saw another PvP basing it off total number of reps.

Works for me. 3 1-hour or less sessions per week, 3-5 sets each of those 5 exercises. Total number of reps sounds good. You want to set up the thread?

Congratulations on the new job! How is the personal/professional balance turning out so far?

Just started today, but I think it'll work out. It'll be long days of non-stop activity, so the biggest challenges will likely be eating well and persuading myself that I have enough energy to run/work out after work. Or before work if I'm really good.

Cool, this will be my first PvP. How do we want to set it up? (I'm not really sure how these things are set up)

Maybe some sort of circuit with 3-5 different bodyweight exercises? I vote for pushups and squats to be on the list. I'm still working on my pull-up progression stuff, but can do most of the other "common" bodyweight exercises

Want to incorporate this week's mini-challenge for the PvP? How does pushups, pullups, squats, lunges and planks sound? We can set up PvP's here (http://www.nerdfitness.com/community/forumdisplay.php?189-PVP-Challenges). Thoughts on how to set it up in terms of how many/schedule/etc.?

Hey Garjan - 5 sets of 20 for the burpees. Definitely slowed down toward the end, but splitting them up that way made them doable. Let me know about the PvP - I'd be happy to get something going with you involving pushups, squats, whatever!

Fitocracy Quest #1 (Functional) complete - 100 burpees and 30 bodyweight squats in one day. My legs are not pleased, but they need to get put to work. Looking forward to hopefully logging several more quests this weekend when I have access to a weight bench. Good luck to all!

At long last, I've been hired for a full time position. Hallelujah. Nailed down the details and officially accepted the job today, actually - first day of the challenge. My overall goal now is to kick ass at my professional life while continuing to improve my physical/personal life. Over the past two challenges I've started strong, gone on vacation, and completely come off the rails, but with a new job and no vacation days to take (other than a wedding coming up this weekend), I'm hoping to actually continue my progress through the whole six weeks. I'll be running the Marine Corps Marathon 10K in late October for the fourth year in a row, and I'd like to actually give my friend from college a challenge this year. Looking to build a solid base of overall fitness so that I can start pushing my training to take him down come the end of October.

Also looking for anyone interested in a PvP challenge that doesn't involve lifting weights - I'm poor and have no access to a gym. Running, bodyweight exercises, etc, anyone?

Diet and Fitness Goals:

1. Complete two sprint sessions and one longer (2-3 mile) run per week, including good stretching after each. (STA - 2 / DEX - 2 / STR 1)

2. Perform 60 consecutive push-ups. (STR - 4 / STA - 1)

3. Complete 10 Fitocracy quests by the end of the challenge. (CON - 1 / CHA - 1)

Life Goal:

1. Pay back half of a $2,000 loan. (WIS - 3)

Thanks to you both for the encouragement. I've got a bunch of healthy groceries and just got back from running a little over 3 miles - getting back on track as best as I can. Today's my birthday, but I'll aim to limit myself to a couple beers and not go overboard.

It's been a very busy week with work and theater stuff, and I've definitely slipped. Holding myself more accountable from here on out. Getting ready to run and cook a bunch of healthy food tomorrow!

Update, Day 18, 7.5.12

General update, since it's been a while. Had an awesome visit to Boston, Cape Cod, and Martha's Vineyard over the past few days. My day in Boston on Friday featured delicious beer, Irish pub food, more beer, and then yet more beer, fried clams, fries and ice cream when I got to the Cape Friday night.

Walked and swam quite a bit the next day in the morning, ate decently and then boarded the ferry for the Vineyard. Once I arrived that night, we headed out to a young farmers' pot luck/contra dance, where I ate (probably too much) amazing, delicious, organic and home grown food, and then contra danced for a couple hours, working up far more of a sweat than I expected.

Enjoyed a bunch of great farm fresh food on Sunday, and made it to the beach for some swimming, which was excellent. Lots of walking around the farm and digging up weeds as well, so got a bit of exercise in that way too. Realized at some point on Sunday that I'd been wearing my NerdFitness t-shirt for about 2.5 straight days - love that thing.

Walked to the beach early Monday morning, did a bunch of swimming, and actually found a convenient pull up bar located underneath one of the lifeguard stands. Got some pull ups, chin ups, and pushups in, and felt pretty good. We nibbled on random stuff most of the morning and early afternoon, and then went to a friend's house for a phenomenal dinner (she's the personal cook for a family on the Vineyard this summer). Sea bass with a mango-peach salsa, quinoa, green salad, sugar snap peas, a baguette, and a couple glasses of wine. All farm/ocean fresh and beautifully prepared. If I had tons of money, I'd hire her for life. Amazing culinary skills.

Walked to a farm/bakery Tuesday morning to sample their amazing muffins and produce. Spent the late morning/early afternoon wandering through town and on the beach, swimming and sunning. Had to fly back to DC that afternoon, so bought a couple bakery goodies to keep me away from the airport food. Made it back to DC, sunburned and bug bitten, but happy.

The good: Managed to keep track - on my phone - of everything I ate over the few days. Didn't completely keep me on the straight and narrow, by any stretch, but felt good about monitoring things. Ate a variety of great farm produce and supported the locals - tried to stay away from typical touristy spots, by and large. Swam and walked a lot, and managed to sneak a few body weight exercises in there.

The bad: Diet was largely crap. Started awful on Friday in Boston, and gradually improved over the next few days. Primarily too much food, although enjoying a bunch of typical summer goodies (beer, fried food, ice cream, burgers) didn't help.

The ugly: My torso is still pretty bright red and hideous from too much sun, and my arms are covered with bug bites. The next credit card statement also will probably look pretty bad, so need to get more work lined up quickly.

Overall a terrific trip, and I have no regrets, except not putting on more sunscreen. It was great to get out of the city and spent time on the Vineyard, enjoying the beach and the farm with a very good friend. Now, back to business!

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

Update, Day 11, 6.28.12

1. No running today.

2. No lifting today.

3. Ate too much today, as seems to often happen right before I leave for a trip and am trying to empty out the fridge so things don’t spoil. Blah. Made some pretty tasty things, on the plus side, but could’ve done a lot better keeping things in check. Blah.

1. Spent no money.

Headed up to Boston, then the Cape, and finally Martha’s Vineyard for a few days. I anticipate a mixed bag of food opportunities. Boston will definitely feature a Sam Adams brewery tour and Doyle’s Irish pub burger, and possibly a visit to the Boston Brewing Company and Mike’s Pastry. Once I get out to the Vineyard, though, I’m hoping to enjoy some local (healthy!) produce from the friend I’m staying with, who’s working on a farm out there for the summer. Plus, I’ll aim to get plenty of running, biking and swimming in – maybe some bodyweight exercises too. Hope everyone has a great weekend! This baby Wookie will check back in Tuesday or Wednesday with a damage report!

All this looks excellent. Way to keep on track, man! And you're killing those pull ups - I'm jealous. Awesome job!

Quickest of updates because I just woke up from a nightmare about a zombie apocalypse (true story). By the way, let's talk zombie apocalypse preparedness sometime, because my dream made clear to me that physical fitness will only get me so far.

Haha, I fear a zombie apocalypse prep conversation might completely take over this thread. Always a fun topic though!

You should try running with one of these and see how many people talk smack. Glad there's at least one nice person out there.

Keep up the great work!

Haha, go the F!@# to sleep - always a worthy goal!

Update, Day 10, 6.27.12

1. Ran 1.25 miles to the grocery store with a pack on. Shopped, filled up pack. Ran 1.25 miles home with some weight. Speed wasn’t impressive, but given how hilly the route is, and the fact that it was a weighted run on the way back, not too bad.

2. 45 pushups. 110 crunches. Done.

3. Ate pretty crappily today. Had a small breakfast and then didn’t want to eat lunch before running to the grocery store. By the time I got home, I was starving, and ate way too much. Dinner stayed pretty small, but I’ve been nibbly all night. Ah well. Will eat better tomorrow.

1. Deposited money in bank, spent far less money on a couple groceries. Paid rent.

Today’s goals: Run 2 miles, do 40 pushups and 100 bicycle crunches, work on job apps and alumni association contact form, work on theater lighting plans.

Tomorrow: Wake up EARLY (5am - have to get my body’s clock ready to catch a 6:30am flight on Friday), pack for trip to MA, possibly run, definitely stretch, submit 5 job apps, get to bed early.