realbrickwall

"First requirement, 20 pull-ups"

Welp.

I'll keep working on it, I guess. Also my dips, for the upper part. But I think muscle-ups will be my 2013 Christmas present, at best.

Welcome to the assassins! You'll never escape!

The top article on the Nerd Fitness page right now is about eating healthy while you're in college. If you haven't already, give it a look.

In a few weeks, the forums will be starting a 6-week challenge en masse. Definitely keep working on your goals until then, but I hope you decide to start the group challenge when it comes. It's always more fun to train alongside other people!

With bodyweight, leaps of faith are the ONLY way to bust plateaus. You can't do those tiny increments. Bodyweight is always going to be about flinging yourself off the edge of the unknown, and knowing that, even if you fail, you will survive to try again.

Good job! Now get it even higher

Speed vaults are scary, there's no denying that. I'm still working on them. Getting your inside leg up is tough!

The quality (major, minor, augmented, diminished) and the root of the chord determines its name. If you really want to learn and write music...take piano lessons. It's been done this way for centuries. No offense, but software cannot teach you music.

Basically the reason I invested in a keyboard. It's just so much easier to understand than pure abstraction. I can't afford a teacher, but it's better than nothing.

Blech. Moved bags of rice today. Nothing is worse than getting tired after work only to find out that you were barely doing anything. Seriously, only 20 kilos? Somewhere, a personal trainer is crying and he doesn't know why.

Of course, I did more than anyone else there, so maybe the whole world needs to work out more.

DO you have something that you love to do but that you are absolutely awful at? I'm not talking about your workout routine or hitting PRs or something like that, but an activity/hobby that you seem completely unfit for?

Everything.

Okay, that's not true. Everything I'm awful at (which is everything, basically), I am awful at due to lack of practice, not due to some innate lack of ability. I'm a serial dilettante.

The only thing that escapes me despite practice is juggling. F**king juggling.

Hmm...

I would recommend that, instead of doing push days and pull days, that you do even splits. Like, for the exercises you listed, I would break it down as follows.

A Day

Warmup

Almost-pull

Dips

1-arm PU

Pistols

Elbow lever

Pseudo tuck planche

Tuck Flat Back Lever

Finger plank

Reverse plank/Bridge

B Day

Warmup

Almost-chin

Pseudo-planche PUs

Divebombers

Pistols

Half-tuck neg dragon flag

L-sit

1-leg side planks

Hollow hold (I added that one in there for you)

This way, you're targeting everything every day, but you're not destroying everything every day. A workout like this will probably take you about 30-45 minutes instead of 1 hour+.

This is more an idea than a recommendation, really. I want you to enjoy your workouts and feel fulfilled by them, not feel like they're holding you hostage, or that they're not doing enough.

As I've mentioned in other places, getting to belt notch #6 was a small goal I set for October (I went from #4 to #5 in September). And I managed to reach it over a week ago.

Every time I've pulled my belt tight today, it's been at belt notch #7.

DIET

WAT R U DOIN

DIET, PLS

STAHP

(No, wait, the other thing)

Oh- and I DO NOT want to lose any weight!

Then make sure you don't eat a caloric deficit. Has nothing to do with what kind of yoga you do.

If you don't like steam rooms, then don't do steam room yoga. Seriously. Yoga has tons of benefits without using a steam room. People did it for thousands of years without steam rooms. Honestly, I'm skeptical that the steam room actually gives any benefits. Go ahead and do some other kind of yoga.

Oh snap, they have beaked hoodies... totally need to get in on that.

If they were in white with a less garish lining, there would be no force on earth stopping me.

As it is, I only want it enough to maybe hump a few legs.

Also, those belts are neat, but I have to wait until my waist stops shrinking!

I tried. I really tried. But 15 burpees was already so much...I couldn't add 10 more. I'll do some tomorrow morning, I promise.

100% brother... I have walked and jumped on boulders and rocks many times in the past, never that fast though. I often play "lava " with the ground in mountainous areas, where I have to hop from boulder to boulder and not touch the ground or else.

Challenge mode: do it over a rocky river where you're forced to remember your failures (protip: DO NOT BRING ELECTRONIC DEVICES)

Okay, guys, I had intended to stay offline so I could focus tonight, but I just had to come back online to talk about my workout today.

So, I really didn't feel like doing my workout. Like, I was just "bluh". But, I figured I had to, so I went into the gym and began.

I tried to do extra burpees during my warmup. I only managed 15, though, so I felt "ech, this workout's gonna suck".

Anyway, I was doing my incline one-arm push-ups, and I was thinking, "gee, it feels like my max is higher than normal". So, on a whim, I decided to try doing regular one-arm push-ups on my last set.

Busted it out. Both arms.

And then, I decided I wasn't being badass enough, and I did a max set of 4 pull-ups.

Oh, and yesterday I forgot to mention that I did a QM balance of easily twice my previous max distance.

I don't think I'll be able to bust out another finished work by the end of the week, but I will sure as buttfire try.

I've been taking progress photos irregularly, but I think I'll hold off until the end of the challenge to post a set. Still, there's actually some noticeable difference now from before I started exercising (besides a fixed posture).

Love the wilderness video. That's the sort of stuff I have to practice on. I recognize how tough it is.

Seriously, rocks were not meant to be walked on. You mess up a landing or a jump on rocks and you're boned. It's so much more difficult than man-made surfaces.

Just two more days. Just two more days.

For those of you who don't know, I've been living in a group situation for about one and a half months now. I've had to endure unpredictable restrictions on my schedule, even on "free" days, having to share two internet cables between five people, and tons of other constraints on my ability to work, study, and get fit.

In two days, two of the volunteers are going home, including the one who, for no apparent goddamn reason, enjoys occupying the gym for hours just bouncing a ball around by herself. Not with any serious athletic pursuit, mind you, because I can obviously sympathize with wanting to get fit, but no. Just. Bouncing. A ball.

So, in two days, I will be able to use the gym with much less restriction, and use the internet with much more reliability, and also cross a hundred annoyances off my list of reasons to just go on a killing spree.

Anyway.

I did another take of my parkour workout yesterday. I'm gonna try stitching the videos together (I can't possibly get it all in one shot) soon. My workout was actually cut short by aforementioned annoyance, but I did manage to find enough time to take skin off both my hands. Yay.

I wonder what effect this kind of long-term stress is having on me.

Took a yoga class today. I'm not spying for the Druid guild... I'm doing it for flexibility, not spirituality, I promise! :-D

Assassins in general are huge fans of yoga, actually! It's not our primary area of fitness, but we get huge benefits from the flexibility, mobility, proprioception, balance, and strength that yoga encourages. You'll find that more than a few of us do yoga regularly, and even have yoga-related goals.

Core exercises:

-Hollow Holds

-Rolling Plank of Doom

-Hanging Leg Lifts

Have fun!

kite shield is almost as big as I am! (5'2" and 106 pounds of skinny nuthin)

My first SCA friend was about that height, and probably not much heavier. She had big coke bottle glasses and a librarian's bun hairstyle. She basically looked like a 20-year-old grandmother. And she was an unholy terror on the battlefield, fighting in the heavy armor/weapons division. It's all about skill and attitude. You'll get a lot of satisfaction the day you're up against some 6' tall guy who thinks you're gonna be a pushover and you proceed to destroy him in seconds.

I bet it started innocently enough, you know, like when mom sincerely says "have you tried not being gay?"

"Have you tried NOT being a Slayer?"

Now to figure out a progression to fingertip pullups.....

-Fingertip dead hang

-Fingertip flex hang

-Fingertip negative

-Fingertip pull-up

Let me know if you think that won't work.

You can do dips one workout, pushups the next, and alternate them.

Wait, dips and push-ups are the same muscle group?

No wonder last workout kicked my ass so hard. >.<

this whole plank set was made of, "Fuck you, I'm doing this to the end."

Know that feel, bro.

These workouts just keep getting longer, something's gotta give and I'm way overdue for a routine change. Any suggestions, brotherhood?

1. Any static holds that you have over 60 seconds, try to find something more difficult. More work in less time will be wonderful for everything. Same is true for any exercises you have that are over 8 reps.

2. Don't be afraid to cut a little. If you're crunched for time, focus on varying the muscle groups you work. If you have semi-redundant stuff (i.e. lunges and squats), do one for one workout, then switch it out the next workout. Like, say, do a set of planche-arms planks one day and then next workout do a set of side planks. They don't work the exact same muscles the exact same way, but staggering them out over the days will retain that variety while keeping your workouts at a reasonable length.

Man, with the Time Lords and the door frame pull-ups, you're blazing a trail through the jungle of back muscle fitness that I have no intention of not following. Keep going!