Hugh

Thanks only managed one workout this past week food diary still going ok. been having breakfast every morning so that's al good.

weekend workout done. HEMA sunday. food diary going ok. diet not too bad but could be a bit better as some meals included rice or bread and had to do porridge for breakfast as out of eggs/greens. - Saturday was treat day - all good.

2000+ burpees is intimidating! I've only done 20 so far. More this evening...

food diary going well. eggs or green smoothies each day and not eating too much carby crap. "weekday workout" done. karate wednesday. HEMA thurday. More HEMA sunday along with "weekend workout".

Thanks for the tip. I'll check that out.

oh dear. Apparently I'm a masochist... I'm in.

Good luck with the lumps business...

Grey Jedi... Jensaarai..? Kinda?

Awesome stuff as always... and giftastic

Good Stuff! Recovering from the holidays seems to be a common topic this time round

NPTs FTW! Fantastic concept.... <yoink>

^ This! Yep, sounds very familiar

Greetings and salutations Assassins! I wasn't sure whether I was going to post a thread in this 6 Week Challenge as I've been (and am still feeling) preoccupied with "life stuff" but the idea of sneaking back into the Assassins playground seemed to call to me, so here I am. My intention over the next 6 weeks is to get back into the swing of things after a couple of months of relative inactivity. During this time, my weight has increased, my diet has gotten poor and my fitness has suffered. I've mostly kept up my Karate and HEMA training but have picked the Assassins guild over the Monks this time round as my main focus will be bodyweight training with the addition of some kettlebell exercises. So, without further ado, here is my main goal for this year: Do a pull up. That's it. Simple and straightforward. I managed to do the odd one here and there a couple of years ago but things went downhill a bit and never quite got back on track. Now I'm more overweight and unfit than I've been for a good while, I've just recovered from a broken hand and I really feel my diet quality and fitness have been dwindling unacceptably. I've GOT to turn this around. My specific goals for this 6 Week Challenge: Consistency Turning up is the key to getting things done. Stick to the plan! I'm making it flexible enough to fit around changing schedules and to require little or no equipment. It's flexible in what days I do stuff and what sets / reps I do to achieve targets. No excuses left not to do it! Bodyweight / KB training two days a week. Diet six days a week. As a reward, I get a treat day each week! Yay! Diet This is always where I fall down the most. It's the one that's most effected by my low, fixed income and my very bad ability with budgeting but I KNOW it is possible to eat fairly healthily on an extremely low income. My tendency is to eat crap foods rather than good foods simply because I can get enough calories to get through the day for relatively little money.... I know, I know. Bad. Very bad. I also tend to pig-out on whatever is around the house when I get in from my typical running about after everyone (I'm the only one in my main circle of friends who drives and is not physically disabled in some way so my time is often monopolised by driving and helping people with all sorts of tasks - good karma and grateful friends but can be very draining). FOOD DIARY: I have tried to keep a food diary before but I have failed. I will attempt to try again but this time, I'll keep it on my laptop and set myself some kind of automatic reminder each day to fill it in. Breakfast: Eggs are awesome! So are green smoothies! Porridge less so, but still acceptable. I'll almost always have access to one of these options before I have to go out and do stuff so I've no excuse not to eat (or drink) breakfast! More Vegetables - Less Carby crap: I can't do full paleo, as much as I'd like to. It's prohibitively expensive hereabouts (rural Ireland). But I can take a couple of small steps: Some colourful vegetables with most meals, sweet potatoes instead of normal spuds, minimise bread, pasta and similar bulk grains (I am allowed toast with my eggs for breakfast. I'm not a philistine!) Healthy Snacks: To be determined but I'll be looking mainly at paleo type options. Bodyweight Training (and kettlebells) At least two days a week - once on the weekends and once during the week. With an initial focus on muscular stamina, I'll be going for volume over intensity for now, using easier versions of exercises when necessary in order to achieve the target volume WITH GOOD FORM. That in mind, I'll have a target number of each exercise I will aim for during each training day, progressively increasing each week. This number can be achieved through any number of sets and any number of reps, as long as I hit the target for the day. Push Ups: I can do proper push ups... but am out of practice and probably can't do very many at the moment so I'll be going for incline push ups for now, especially as volume is my goal this next few weeks. Week 1: 60 Week 2: 70 Week 3: 80 Week 3: 90 Week 5: 100 Week 6: 120 Squats: I'm happy enough with proper squats but I reserve the right to do chair-squats if I feel I'm risking injury by overdoing it. Week 1: 60 Week 2: 70 Week 3: 80 Week 3: 90 Week 5: 100 Week 6: 120 Inverted Rows: Haven't done these for a while so my targets might change if I drastically overestimate or underestimate my capabilities Week 1: 15 Week 2: 20 Week 3: 25 Week 3: 30 Week 5: 35 Week 6: 40 Kettlebells: Clean & press and one hand KB swings (or exchanges). numbers will be for C&P then Swings (will be done with each arm). I'll stick to a relatively light weight for this challenge as I don't want to risk injuring my hand or overdoing it.Week 1: 20 & 20 Week 2: 25 & 30 Week 3: 30 & 40 Week 3: 35 & 50 Week 5: 40 & 60 Week 6: 45 & 70 Other: Moar walking! I have audiobooks and a nearby forest park. No excuses! Karate class each Wednesday. HEMA Class each Sunday and Thursday. Plan and execute something nice for valentines day. Usually we order in, have a few drinks and watch the star wars trilogy or something (yes, my wife is awesome) but I'd like to arrange something nice for her. Maybe go out for a nice meal or something...

ahem... Well, I totally failed to update this 6wc. This is in part because I totally failed at goals 1 and 2 and really let my fitness and diet regimen slip out of my brain for most of November and the entirety of December! I could make excuses, being a creative type, but it's down to me. Fail. Not too pleased with myself. Technically, I did pretty well on Goals 3 and 4 though... 1 - Diet: FAIL! = F: 0 1 - Diet: Winter is coming and I can feel my vitamin reserves dropping... So more fruit and vegetables. This can be achieved by densely packed smoothies in the mornings! (4+ days a week) (Fruit smoothies and green smoothies.) CON +2, WIS +1 2 - Exercise: FAIL! = F: 0 2 - Exercise: During the first week I'll still be moving house so walking about and lifting stuff will be my exercise. After that is done and dusted... Strength: Squats and lunges. Depending on the state of my broken hand, I'll see what kind of upper body exercise I can manage. Cardio: Mostly walking. I'll aim for a long walk twice a week. But once the cast is off, I'll try to get a sprint session or two in each week. STR +2, STA +2 3 - Martial Arts: Success to some degree = B: DEX +1.5, CHA +1.5 Did every karate class but not a lot of kata practice outside of class. Got a brown tip on my blue belt HEMA every Sunday AND, due to popular demand from the students, Thursday evenings as well. Students doing well. Lesson plans and the learning journey are nicely defined. 3 - Martial arts: Karate: Every Wednesday*. Work on katas at least twice a week outside of class. Can't really participate in karate this week as still moving house and wearing a cast but hopefully will have cast off in a week or two. HEMA: Every Sunday. Until the hand is better I'll be using the swords left handed. See improvement in all the students and try to codify the learning journey and lesson plans. DEX +2, CHA +2 4 - Life: Pretty good = B: WIS +1.5, CHA +.75, CDO +.75 Actually did pretty good here. Settled in nicely and got stuff sorted. Handed back keys and got back my security deposit with no hassle. Signed up to electricity in new place. Bins are still an issue due to <excuses>. Hand has healed nicely and I haven't done anything too stupid (outside of pre-planned stupidity re parties etc) 4 - Life: Move house, leaving old place tidy, clean and the garden in good order. Sort out all the utilities, bins, etc at old and new places. Let hand heal by not doing anything too dumb.WIS +2, CHA +1, CDO +1* So: Must do better. Will do better. More and regular updating, clear SMART goals and renewed focus for next challenge!

Hmmm.... I posted an update the other day but it hasn't appeared... The interweb faeries are at it again! So, to sum up: I got my cast off the other day. Bone only 20% healed so need to be super careful not to re-break it. Cast needs to stay off to avoid the fingers and wrist seizing up totally (three weeks of immobility has left them extremely stiff. Another few weeks would be a nightmare). Got appointment with physio on monday afternoon. Did karate wednesday night, very carefully. Can't really do Sai or Bo but with a bit of caution, kihon, katas and paired katas are ok. HEMA this sunday will again see me using a single hander, left handed. Did ok last time thanks to one of the more experienced students doing much of the two handed demos while I explained it. Haven't quite hit my target of fruit or green smoothies most mornings because of, well, crappy excuses. Had a few but must try harder. Will make one as soon as I hit "post". Moving house was a lot of work. Rather more heavy lifting than I anticipated but we got there in the end. I'm pretty sure the effort did not do any favours for my hand healing. Haven't done much dedicated exercise since finishing the move but now the cast is off, the post workout shower is much less hassle so I'll get on that asap

5th metacarpal - a bit unusual in that it's straight across the proximal epiphysis but everything was in place and didn't need pins or anything. As I said, poor technique... Lesson painfully learned. Hopefully only another week or two in the cast - back in hospital on 19th to have it looked at... fingers crossed In my climate the biggest issue is the cast getting wet, especially this time of year (barely stopped raining for last few weeks).

Moving house is always so much work but it looks like it's for the best. Once you're through the stress, you'll be grand

OP updated

Aside from the hand, I'm ok thanks. In the middle of moving house (difficult with only one good hand) and having all sorts of other connected delays/costs/complications/catastrophes but getting by thanks to the support of good friends. As for the hand Well, it's a "stupidity-related injury"... I was asked, on my course, to run a short, very basic karate lesson as part of a fitness class. I'd done it before and the tutor was pleased with it. As part of showing how to punch correctly I included the benefits of emitting a kiai with a strike. In my infinite wisdom, I decided it would be a great idea to demonstrate the power of a kiai with a punch to the padded back of a chair... (you can see where this is going) So that's what I did. Two things then happened: 1 - I elicited poor technique (i was generally distracted and in a bad mood so really shouldn't have even agreed to take the class, but that's neither here nor there) 2 - The back of the chair was not as padded as it appeared. In fact it was solid wood with a fabric covering. The chair went flying. Everyone was impressed. (I'm hanging onto that. It at least looked cool!) My hand hurt a bit but I carried on with the lesson. Push ups were uncomfortable but I assumed I'd just strained the wrist a bit. It was sore that evening and more so the next morning so I went to my doctor with a look of acute embarrassment. Hospital, x-rays, cast. And here I am And yes, every time I look at the cast, I feel stupid. Every time I see my wife struggling to lift heavy stuff that would be no bother for me, I feel stupider. And yes, I deserve to be mocked and ridiculed. Hope you enjoyed the popcorn I'll be using a single handed sword, left handed, in this afternoon's HEMA class. I suppose I'd better come up with some exercises that I can demo with a single hander but the group can practice with two handers...

Thanks guys All my swords with scabbards are two handers... Longswords (for HEMA) and Katanas (for Japanese swordy stuff) are my thing so I'll be borrowing a single hander for training for the next few weeks.

So... Here I am. Right hand is broken. I'm in the middle of moving house. Teaching HEMA on Sundays. Karate on Wednesdays. I didn't do the last 6wc due to hectic life stuff. I was kept pretty busy on my course though: lifting heavy, sprinting, swimming and getting my lifeguard qualification. Other than the gym and pool time, the course has become an onerous chore... my initial excitement waned as the discipline and the tutors' control over the group did likewise - with clearly stated intention to do nothing to rectify the matter. <sigh> Over the past month or so, I've been looking for other options in terms of training courses, etc... at the very least trying to find a way off the course without loosing money (I get a training allowance equivalent to social welfare payments, neither of which I would continue to get if I just quit) but my hand injury has rendered it all a moot point. I can't write, type quickly, or do the practical aspects of the course. So I've got all the reasons I need to step back from it. This challenge, I'll be rehabilitating myself, settling into my new home, gradually building intensity and frequency of exercise and working on my martial arts, both western and eastern. 1 - Diet: Winter is coming and I can feel my vitamin reserves dropping... So more fruit and vegetables. This can be achieved by densely packed smoothies in the mornings! (4+ days a week) (Fruit smoothies and green smoothies.) CON +2, WIS +1 2 - Exercise: During the first week I'll still be moving house so walking about and lifting stuff will be my exercise. After that is done and dusted... Strength: Squats and lunges. Depending on the state of my broken hand, I'll see what kind of upper body exercise I can manage. Cardio: Mostly walking. I'll aim for a long walk twice a week. But once the cast is off, I'll try to get a sprint session or two in each week. STR +2, STA +2 3 - Martial arts: Karate: Every Wednesday*. Work on katas at least twice a week outside of class. Can't really participate in karate this week as still moving house and wearing a cast but hopefully will have cast off in a week or two. HEMA: Every Sunday. Until the hand is better I'll be using the swords left handed. See improvement in all the students and try to codify the learning journey and lesson plans. DEX +2, CHA +2 4 - Life: Move house, leaving old place tidy, clean and the garden in good order. Sort out all the utilities, bins, etc at old and new places. Let hand heal by not doing anything too dumb.WIS +2, CHA +1, CDO +1* *this is to even out the uneven decimals... they bother me. CDO is like OCD but with the letters placed in alphabetical order!

Camping plans delayed - original site not accessible.... but it turns out an acquaintance of mine has some private forestry under their watchful eye and will welcome a leave-no-trace camper like me maybe this weekend...

ahem.... Video?

I'll just leave this here...