PaulRein

Thanks, Knightwatch!

Carcassonne! (If there are newbies around, only basic tiles, otherwise with some extras.) My daughter's favourite game is Dino Hunt but, much as I love dinosaurs, it is too simplistic for my taste. Still, lots of plays! I also love Zendo, Blood Bowl and RoboRally. My collection

Hi everyone! I've been on and off (mostly off) the forums since beginning of 2011 but I have not done any successful challenges since spring 2011. I've spent most of those two and a half years battling depression, so motivation has not carried me through. Time to change that. Main Quest: Become the fittest me I can be. (Functional) Strength, endurance and flexibility. The Final Boss: Doing a hand-stand push up! Goals for this challenge: - Do strength training 3 times a week. (Either bodyweight or barbell) - Take at least one 10km walk per week. - Get a full nights sleep minimum 4 nights a week (>50%) Life Side Quest: Move to a new place, thereby slashing my rent in half. (Actually, I have until end of september to leave the current apartment but I aim to do most of the moving during my summer vacation, which is within the challenge time) Side Quest: I plan to take a hike (>2 nights out) in a couple of weeks, I can as well mention it. :-) Motivation: I want to be physically active far into retirement age. And the time to fix that is not when I have arthritis at 65, but right now!

What is this? Are there no Swedish rebels? Then again, I'm born and bred in southern Sweden (Skåne) so I'm actually closer to Copenhagen than most of Denmark is! ;-) See ya!

Thanks Loren! Today I can add playing Floorball for 1 hour.

Ok, been slow in updating. May 7th: Walk Distance: 4.01 kilometers Time: 0 hr 42 min 24 secs Average pace: 10:34 min/kilometers Route link: http://www.logyourrun.com/showroute/P3ooPFKeMt6Shs May 8th: Walk Distance: 3.89 kilometers Time: 0 hr 42 min 14 secs Average pace: 10:52 min/kilometers Route link: http://www.logyourrun.com/showroute/7xeKKrxylIsISq Squat: 52,5kg, 5x5 (Overhead) Press: 35kg, 5x5 Deadlift: 70kg, 1x5

Tabata anything is murder! Makes four minutes stretch to eternity! :-)

Thanks for all encouragement!

A bit slow to start but today I can at least log a 3.91km walk (took 42min so it was not the best of paces).

Well, seems like this ranger returned from his travels through dark and marshy places just in time! PaulRein Class: Ranger (I guess my fitness have deteriorated enough for me to drop to Adventurer, but this is where I *want* to be) Race: Human Height: 1,93 m (get with the SI already! ) Weight: 99,7 kg Body fat ratio: 17,8% STR: 2 DEX: 1 STA: 3 CON: 3 WIS: 4 CHA: 2 Goals: Let's begin with the life-goal. I'm currently recovering from a depression that began last summer and reached its lowest point around mid-december. (Hence the "travels through dark and marshy places" above.) I was on complete sick-leave during december, and have been on partial sick-leave since then. Currently I work 50%. My goal is to increase that to 75% and sustain that level before the challenge ends. It will be a challenge because my immediate boss is less than supportive. (WIS +3, CON+1, CHA+1) Strength goal (STR +3, STA+2): Keep to Stronglifts 5x5, 3 times a week and increase my Deadlift (1x5) to 1xBW (≈100kg, currently lifting 65kg) and Squat (5x5) more than 75kg (currently squating 50kg). Speed (DEX+3): Do something involving short bursts of speed (e.g. tabata sprints, play floorball) at least every 10 days. Endurance (STA+3): At least once a week, take a walk for ≥3km.

Hi everyone! I missed the Greatest Contest Ever as I managed to get Achilles tendinitis a couple of days before. (I overestimated the distance I could run in Five-fingers…) That forced me to an almost sedentary life for four weeks and then some…inertia…expanded that to the full six. But now I'm back, time to hit some weights again, and perhaps take advantage of the summer to get some (light) outdoor running added in. I'll have to rework my charts to see what a reasonable challenge will be, I'll post back later.

Ok, so I did a workout A on April 1st (no fooling ) And today, on the last day of this challenge, I did another workout B. Warmup: 100 Jumping Jacks and 10 Shoulder Dislocations Squat: 20 kg, 1x5 (warmup), 67,5 kg, 5x5 Overhead Press: 40 kg, 1x5, 1x1 (actually worse than last time) Deadlift: 80 kg, 1x5 (Yeah, stall broken!) Prone Bridges: 1x60s, 2x45s A good one, broke through the stall on Deadlift and extended the Planks. Good job!

Yeah, I know my form is bad in the picture, it was just enough time on the self-timer to run forward, un-rack the bar and squat, not get into proper form. I did just that one squat at the time anyway so it didn't hurt anything. Unfortunately I can't do Overhead Press anymore, as I passed 40 kg I noticed that the ceiling is too low, I can't achieve lock-out anymore. So, I'm forced to do Seated Overhead Press nowadays.

Hi everyone! Now I finally made a Squat Rack so I can continue doing Squats without being held back by what I can Steinborn lift! [ATTACH]246[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]247[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]248[/ATTACH]

Oh dear. Time really flies does it not? All right, so I did not do any strength workouts last week, I was busy building a Squat Rack so I will no longer be held back by what I can Steinborn Lift. It took all week because it is a supreme effort to do anything when I come home in the evening. I could not understand why, everyone says that eating right (primal-ish) and exercising should fill you with energy but I feel like I've skipped a night of sleep when I come home! I got the answer last thursday, I have a moderate Vitamin D deficiency! I'm on supplemental Vitamin D but it might take a few weeks to re-balance it. Still, the rack is finally in working condition, I'll upload some pics when I empty the camera next. However, I did a 2,5 km run (well, 2,5 km movement, at least. I had to slow to a walk a few times. :-) So, last monday I resumed strength training, amazingly I could do the next rung in the chart with no problem. The Squat is *so* much easier when I can settle the bar correctly before having it weight down on me! Today I did another workout, a Minimalist StrongLifts 5x5, Workout B. This time things did not go as smoothly. Warmup: 100 Jumping Jacks and 10 Shoulder Dislocations. Squat: 62,5 kg, 5x5 Overhead Press: 40kg, 1x5, 1x3, 1x1 (I should have know, I had a failure before my hiatus as well) Deadlift: 80 kg, 1x2 (Another Failure, this is the first time I have failed the Deadlift) Prone Bridges: 3x30s Pride made me push beyond my reach, time to forget about the challenge and scale back the weights to a level I can progress from! Oh, and I *totally* need to make "update my NerdFitness post" a goal for April… :-)

How appropriate that your post turned over a new page, spezzy!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011 Minimalist StrongLifts 5x5, workout B Warmup: 100 Jumping Jacks Squat: 57,5 kg, 5x5 Overhead Press: 37,5 kg, 3x5, 1x4, 1x3 (only counting those where I achieved full lockout) Deadlift: 75 kg, 1x5 Prone Bridges: 3x30s So, failure at the Press, not just improper Military form, put incomplete lifts. All right, new try next time!

What a curious coincidence, I noticed a poster for the donation bus this morning, noticed that the next scheduled stop was a time I would not be in town for but noted the URL to investigate the rest of the schedule. I'll have a look tomorrow and see if I can make the next round. I donated plasma once, similar to what Raincloak described, and it is really weird to see your blood go out one arm, getting filtered in the machine, and then get pumped back in the other arm.

All right, all right, half my family have already decided that I have joined the Dark Side (of vanity-obsessed meatheads) so I guess I can accept it as well. Team Sith it is. Oh, and Kahn, remember that "once you start down the Dark Path, forever will it dominate your destiny!"

No problem knowing what to do, it is clearly spelled out in the Minimalist StrongLifts 5x5 progress chart. :cool: Yeah, if it takes a while I might need to substitute, or just de-load down to 50 kg, which I can handle, and stay there. I will still try the current weight on the next few times, though. I saw a kind of Squat Stand in a shop the other day but it just had an open "bowl" or "cup" on the top, requiring me to balance the bar just-so so it does not miss the cup on either side. Not something I want to do when I'm tired at the end of the last set. Over at the StrongLifts forums I got a link to a DIY Squat Stand made out of 2x4's. It would be much cheaper but I'm not certain I have the time to build that right now. (But my hands/lower arms would get a real workout from all the, er, screwing…)

Friday, March 11, 2011: Minimalist StrongLifts 5x5, workout A Warmup: 100 Jumping Jacks and 10 Shoulder Dislocations Squat: 55 kg, 1x5 (FAILURE: Could not handle the Steinborn Lift after the first set, lost the grip and dropped the bar behind me) Floor Press: 37,5 kg, 5x5 Power Clean: 37,5 kg, 5x5 Reverse Crunch: 3x12 Ok, first time I failed the Steinborn Lift, I definitely need a rack quickly, otherwise I will stall.

So what will we call us? So far the suggestions seem to be: Team Voldemort WORMHOLE: EXTREME! Team Sith Team Threepio Being the suggester of one of them, my vote of course lies there. What say the rest of you?

Wednesday, March 9, 2011: Minimalist StrongLifts 5x5, workout B Warmup: 100 Jumping Jacks and 10 Shoulder Dislocations Squat: 52,5 kg, 5x5 Overhead Press: 35 kg, 5x5 Deadlift: 70 kg, 1x5 Prone Bridges: 3x30s It is starting to be really difficult to do Steinborn Lifts at the beginning of each Squat set. I seem to expend most of my energy getting the bar in position and I almost always pinch some skin under the bar which hurt like hell. I need to get a rack ASAP. Press is also beginning to be a problem. This time I had to forgo Military form and add some hip drive on the last set. Also, in a week's time, when I pass 40 kg and need to use 10 kg plates, I will have to switch to Seated Press because there simply is not enough room under the ceiling for me to extend my arms completely with those on (I already bump the ceiling with 5 kg plates on). No, I am not too tall, the ceiling is too low!

Correct, most of them have a double "http" in the beginning which is wrong. Silence, can you edit the link post?