realbrickwall

Youtube videos and a drive to improve are all you need! Seriously, there are easily over 1000 parkour tutorial videos up on youtube. Heck, it might even be over 10,000. Certainly OVER 9,000!!!!!!!! Ahem. It's the way most of us get started these days, so don't be shy.

Summary: [TABLE=class: cms_table] Goal Attributes Assigned Grade Attributes Awarded Comment 5 Pull-Ups +2 STR, +2 STA A +2 STR, +2 STA Started out at "almost 2", went to "almost 6". One-handed push-ups +3 STR A +3 STR They're not as absolutely perfect as I'd like, but they're good Three 30-minute parkour workouts every week +2 DEX, +2 STA B +1.5 DEX, +1.5 STA My last couple weeks were only two per week, but I've still been learning and making progress Write 800 words per day, 2000 WPD during NaNo +2 WIS, +2 CHA C +1 WIS, +1 CHA No excuses. It's hard, and I should be doing better. But I'm worried that NaNo might not be fun for me. I'll still try [/TABLE] Thanks for the table, Nuala. I claim it in the name of Spain. Overall grade is a B. In other words, an absolute disgrace to my parents (my parents are not Asian Dad Meme, but they're close). I'm so much more fit than I was when I came on this trip. But I'm really getting worn out by this place. I'm hoping my return to surroundings that aren't entirely stressful will bring back my energy. I certainly know that getting to set my own schedule more than 2 hours per day will help, at least. I missed the last 2 mini-challenges, so I'm sadly not eligible. But there are assassins who worked harder than I did, so they deserve the prize more than me, anyway. You guys are an inspiration to me, and I'll never stop trying to be like you. You know who you are. It's all of you.

I'm not sure where you're starting. HIIT can overwhelm people who aren't already involved in fitness, but if you've been doing martial arts and paintball long enough to be seriously concerned, then there's a good chance you have enough baseline fitness to take it. Completely out of nowhere, I offer bodyweight training and parkour as EXCELLENT supplements to your current activities. Being used to moving nothing but your own body and clothes is great for what you're doing.

Yup! That's why this challenge went so much better than the last. You have no idea. If I could, I would add "not going ax-crazy" to my goals. I'd probably give myself a B, too, all things considered.

Challenge start: 2 sort of almost probably maybe Challenge end: 5, close to being able to do 6 Yup, that's a good six weeks there.

Man, is it really time to post our results? Welp. Okay. I'll post them here and also add them to the beginning, and take progress photos either today or tomorrow. 1. 5 Pull-up ROCKED IT THE F^%! OUT! That's an unambiguous A. +2 STR, +2 STA 2. Be able to do a one-armed push-up YUP! I can do 2 at a time now. I might be able to do more fully-rested. Don't know yet. A. +3 STR 3. Three parkour workouts per week Admittedly, this turned more gymnastics-focused around the halfway point, but I did parkour stuff too. Also, the last couple weeks saw me doing 2 instead of 3. But even doing those 2 is quite difficult, and still rather productive. Based on my progress, I'd say a B is appropriate here. +1.5 DEX, +1.5 STA 4. Writing Uuuugh. I was doing well at first, but this is a HORRIBLE environment for writing. I'm still going to try NaNo, but I am not confident. Anyway, I deserve no more than a C. +1 WIS, +1 CHA So, my report card says A, A, B, C. My parents would ground me, but it's still WAY better than my first challenge. I guess that means my next challenge needs to be EVEN BETTER. EDIT: Wow, I need to up my CON. And I don't just mean to be randomly nerdy. My attention to my system health has been low. Next challenge will see a diet goal from me!

I have access to un-padded stools, which I'm guessing won't be terribly good. But my situation is changing in a couple weeks, so tell me how to use 'em anyway.

I've never even heard of a bar kip, so floor kip.

Whoops, this thread probably goes in Parkour/Gymnastics, doesn't it. Ugh...

Short follow-up: when I tried to do it again the following day, I couldn't. This was pretty frustrating, until I worked on it for a bit and realized that I'd gotten too cocky, basically falling backwards and expecting to be able to catch myself. This was silly. I'm happy to say that I'm enroute for more consistency.

I have a very strong immune system, actually. Mostly this "being sick" is stomach discomfort combined with being really sleepy, except it just doesn't go away. I'd honestly probably not give even half a **** if I was nice and comfy at home, or could at least look forward to being so. Most times where I'm "sick", it lasts quite literally less than an entire day and is so mild I honestly don't even notice it until the last couple hours. I'm just in a stressful living situation right now, and that makes every problem worse.

I LOVE BEING SICK SOOOOO MUCH, YOU GUYS. The past couple weeks have seen me doing only two parkour workouts a week instead of 3. I'm already a full day behind on my NaNo goal. A lot of things are just not going well for me. I feel like I really need to get back home, but that's almost 3 weeks away. It would be really nice to have a place with indoor heating to exercise. Really, really nice. Maybe I wouldn't be sucked dry of all my motivation by just trying to struggle through every day.

So, I'm trying to learn to do kip-ups. I've gone ahead and found tutorials, and I can tell my technique is awful. That sort of thing goes away with practice. That brings me to the actual issue. Is there any way to practice kip-ups without landing on your spine every single time? It's pretty uncomfortable.

Just wanted to pop in and say I did it! Honestly, the biggest part of it was no fear. You have to accept the fact that you might screw up and hit your head. But I didn't hit my head, so I'm awesome!

It is incredibly weird, because I just ran across them today as well while looking up dragon flags. I haven't checked their lessons yet, but I will.

AAAAA NANOWRIMO AAAAA I've already written 1000 words. This is...this is gonna be hard. But I'm gonna try. Kishi, what's your username on NaNo? I know you haven't been able to find me, but I might be able to find you.

OH YEAH! Five pull-ups, you guys! That was my 6-week goal! But I'mma keep trying to do more anyway, because life is longer than 6 weeks.

This is...really hard. I haven't written in days. I've not been entirely unproductive, but I haven't written. I just can't sit down to write knowing that I might be called away from my work at any second. I don't know why, but I can't. And that's the state I'm stuck in the majority of the day. AGH! That same issue is interfering with the frequency with which I am getting to do my parkour workouts. I'm down to about two a week now. Which is better than zero, but not my goal. The sessions are also less productive as the tiny injuries I need to avoid aggravating pile on (I've had at least some part of my hands torn up for the past...two weeks now?). But I'm doing them. And, you know what? I'm having fun. Forcing myself to find new things to work on actually lets me identify all kinds of tiny skills to practice. My balance hasn't gotten measurably better yet, but I think it will with practice. I'm also learning to DO things while balanced. I believe that, given a lot of time, I will come to know the secrets of my body and its interaction with the world. I'm willing to practice for years to be able to do great things. For now, I'm stuck trying to do all the parts of the Gangnam Style dance on a 3-inch wide line. Oh, well. In better news, I decided to do a pull-up exhaustion test. FIVE PULL-UPS! GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAL! So, while my 'constant maintenance' goals are at sub-optimal (but not disastrous) levels, my more goal-like goals have both been rocked out. I am happy about that. Unrelated to my challenge, it looks like there may be some chaos in my living situation when I come back. Also I'm super stressed because I feel like I have no future. It's not that I'm not willing to work towards anything, it's just that I don't know what I really want to do, and working towards five hundred things gets you nowhere in the end. Blech.

Lie on your back (bench or ground) and push the dumbbells directly upward from your chest. Dumbbell bench press, basically.

Good job on considering leftovers as a food source! Cooking is a chore, but doing it right means you can get multiple meals out of one cooking session. I'm actually still really bad at that (granted, that's partially because I can eat half a pound of meat plus a decent amount of vegetables per meal). I'm glad you're still on track, and that you haven't given up just because things keep getting tougher and tougher. You're bound for good things!

Man, I haven't updated in too long. Did my second parkour workout of the week today. Now, my posterior shin splints were complaining before I even started, so I figured today would be bad for running or vaults or precision jumps. But I found stuff to do. I worked on my QM balance (made a distance PR), and my hanging sidle (finally made the whole distance without relying on my feet at all, another never-before-done-by-me feat) then I decided to work on climb-ups. Of course, I'm not even close, but that's no reason not to start working! I used my hang-sidle ledge. Mostly, I ended up practicing jumping up and grabbing it (which I used to have trouble with, but found surprisingly easy this time around), then getting as high as I could climb-up style. It...it wasn't impressive. That obviously means I need to do it more! After one of my callouses tore off and left raw skin on my hand, I decided it was time to start practicing something else. I did some more QM balance work, practicing climbing over stuff while QM balancing (guys, this is really hard; please practice it). Intermittently, I also practiced regular balancing...with eyes closed (if you've done balance work much at all, you know how much we rely on sight for it). And I got sick of my flailing hands, so I pretended they were tied up in front of me. Am I planning to ever have to do some kind of daring-do while restrained and blindfolded? Well, I don't think anyone ever PLANS to (except performers), so there. When my 30 minute timer came up, I tried to sneak in some more stuff, but I relented after a couple more balance runs. I want to get some other stuff done tonight, and I have to get some sleep because I work tomorrow. Stupid adulthood. Also, gentle readers, please check out my tumblr. A lot of the writing I do is going up there (well, technically, it goes to my wordpress, which goes to my tumblr, but that's just because I don't like the way tumblr handles text as much as I do wordpress). Of course, it's very likely you don't give a care about what I write, even if you support me and my goals. Believe me, I'm not hurt or offended. But some people do seem to enjoy what I write (I have no idea what fraction of people who read my writing like my writing, but it's some), and the NF community is full of intelligent people whose feedback I'd much appreciate. And, hey, if you have a tumblr page, I might just follow you.

Water! Drink water! HURRY!

Exercise or the owl will eat you. Okay, but seriously, you have the capability. Every workout and every run that you feel too tired to do, you're almost definitely not actually too tired to do. Remember that a long, hard day (I said "day", get your mind out of the gutter) can't stop you from busting out what could be your greatest workout yet. You're continually improving, and will do so as long as you stick with it.

I don't know my PRs for most of these exercises...once I hit 8 reps of anything, I try to move on to the next progression. But I'll list what I know.

Boxers suffer long-term consequences from repeated head injury, including facial disfigurement and brain damage. But you certainly become more accustomed to it. Fighting experience will make you more capable at fighting through injury and pain. There's a reason I like learning martial arts where the primary thing they teach you is avoiding injury, then dishing it out. What boxing I've taken has been very offense-oriented. If it's attractive to you, go for it. But remember that face punches are just plain awful, and that there's a reason they're banned in almost every other form of competitive fighting. They're very painful, VERY likely to cause irreparable damage, and mess your face up something awful. Also, on the downside for the attacker, you're pretty likely to mess your hands up punching somebody's face. Seriously, the human mouth is full of tiny knives, and you're sticking your fist in it at what could be hundreds of pounds of force. Not smart. In general, avoid face strikes unless you have a serious advantage and can get your attacks exactly where you want them. I've been hit in the face. It actually only really hurts for an instant. What sucks is the immediate follow-up of delirium and numbness and exaggerated feeling of swelling. It's like someone stuck a hose into your face and is just pumping water into your head.