Search the Community

It's fun to do music in my challenges again. I missed it. So, gonna keep this short and simple because I've started parts of it and I'm on a short amount of time. Yes, time. I was staring at my schedule - all the things that I wanted to do and want to do still - and it finally occurred to me: life would just be easier with more daytime in it. And the way that happens is to go to bed earlier. But it's not just about going to bed earlier. The truth is, a lot of my life is messy. I'm thinking about that a lot I guess because, well, my bro and I are looking at moving out of the parent's place. Yup, that's right. Now that Dad's back to dying as slowly as we can ask him to, it's feeling a little crowded under this roof. He, I, and a third roommate are looking at places where we might want to live where the rent doesn't suck. And I want to leave this place as well as I can. That'll be a lot easier if I clean my end of things up more. So. Clean time, clean house. Let's get to it. GOAL 1: CLEAN UP MY TIME - BED BY 11 GOAL 2: CLEAN UP MY SPACE - ONE WALL OF MY ROOM EACH WEEK GOAL 3: CLEAN UP MY GUT - ONE SERVING OF SAUERKRAUT A WEEK GOAL 4: CLEAN UP MY CATALOG - FINISH UNDERTALE TO MAKE ROOM FOR ME: ANDROMEDA Bonus-That-Isn't: 4 written pages a week. And with that, we're off to the races.

I floundered a bit last challenge, since I was burned out and didn't have much direction. Now that I'm studying to be a full instructor at the parkour gym and may be helping with some stunt fighting classes, I have renewed my focus and motivation! So, on that note, it's time to become Immortal and enter The Game. Each goal has a target of 100 points over the course of the challenge. Goal 1: Fight! - Immortals need to be experts in combat to survive. Points toward the combat goal are earned by doing any of the following: -2 points for every 10 minutes of weapon training -2 points for every 10 minutes of shadowboxing -2 points for every 10 minutes of remembering and reviewing hapkido self defense techniques -5 points for every strength session that includes some sort of muscle up progression, some sort of hanging core work, HSPU progression, handstand holds, and grip training). Goal 2: Run away! - Sometimes, the best way to survive is to run away. Points for running away are earned by: -5 points for parkour open gym skills practice. Fast wall top outs, vaults, and other things = easier time fleeing. -4 points for actually working on swimming when I take the kids to to the pool -4 points for any jog of any length -4 points for any nature ruck Goal 3: Immortal Healing- I'm still having some knee issues, and I need to stay on top of my prehab. So, 4 points are earned every day that I do foam rolling and prehab. Goal 4: Seek Holy Ground- Immortals are safe* (more or less) on holy ground, so they can relax a bit. For me, this goal is about reducing stress. I earn 4 points every day that I take 30 minutes to just do something for myself, like yoga, reading, playing a video game, or whatever else might help alleviate stress. Goal 5: Become worldly - Immortals who live long enough travel the entire world. I will work toward worldliness and earn points by: -50 points: plan and take vacation up the Atlantic coast. -5 points for every chapter of Harry Potter that I manage to read in Spanish. Bonus: study the instructor guide and schedule my test. Hopefully, all of this focus helps me get my mojo back!

Got to the WOD last Wednesday and it included handstand push-ups. The coach asked what I was going to do and I said "scale" -- either box press or feet on the wall. He asked if I could do a (supported) handstand and when I said yes, he said, "why don't you try a handstand push-up first?" and put down two abmats to make it easier. I got inverted and tried a handstand push-up but came down too fast and collapsed at the bottom. Coach said: "get yourself stable on top before you come down..." and I did it! Woot! The WOD included 5x HSPU each round and 5RFT; I figured I would do 1x HSPU each round and scale the rest... but when I reached the HSPU in the first round I went into 20s berzerker mode and... got 5x HSPU! Woot Woot! After repeating that performance in rounds 2 and 3, there was no turning back... so I blasted out 5 HSPU in each of rounds 4 and 5 to finish the WOD -- reaching for RX, 2 abmats of assist. One of my Fitness Goals for 2014 is to get an HSPU. I'm closer than I thought... need to drop to 1 abmat and then none... Woot!

Main Quest: Grow old but stay fit. This man did a one arm chin up on the day of this photo (89 years old). He is my hero GOALS: (in order of importance) Life Goal 1: Have my work and practice all set up for my impending return to Australia on 25/11/13. There are a hell of a lot of forms, paperwork and email I need to get through. I won't be able to do it all by the end of the challenge, but there are certain things which have a lot of red tape attached to them which need to be started early. Fitness Goal 1: Develop a training program based on the principle of 'Minimum Effective Dose'. I know when I return to Australia I am going to be much busier. I plan to create a program which involves the shortest amount of time (utilising as low as 1 set of 1 rep) to maintain a certain level of fitness during this busy period. If for example I do 1 1-arm push up every 2nd day. That takes about 10 seconds to drop down and do it, but I could potentially keep that certain baseline level of fitness indefinitely. This will involve a lot of trial and error. Fitness Goal 2: Continue one arm chin up training. Continuing on from my previous 2 threads - this is my constant dream. A line in the sand, which when crossed will mean that I have surpassed my previous pulling strength peak in youth. I however plan to go about this very slowly and without injury. My only goal for this challenge is to be better at one arm negatives than I was by the end of my last challenge. My longest hold was R:20s (8s hold at top + 12s descent). L 18s (6s hold at top + 12s descent). My best consecutive alternate reps attempt was R:12s,L12s,R10s. My most amount of (good 10s+) reps done in one day was R:5, L:2 Fitness Goal 3: Continue full depth HSPU training. Did 1 full depth HSPU last challenge. But not as controlled as I would like. Aim for this challenge is to have a perfectly controlled full depth HSPU. Controlled negative. Pause at the bottom (shoulders touch hands/bars). Press out without arching my back too much. Currently doing reps with 5 inches of elevation. Aim to increase the total reps in a training session by 1 per session. Aim to have 8 consecutive elevated HSPUs by the end of the challenge. Fitness Goal 4: Continue planche progression training. Aim to have tuck planche holds at 30s sets by the end of 6 weeks. Making my 4th goal rather small and very achievable. This one will just take consistency. And it is a little baby step towards Phylanx and the full planche! Side Goal: Pancake flexibility It sucks. Make it better! I aim to be able to make my PIPJs touch the floor with straight knees by the end of this challenge (and hold for 5s). (currently just finger tips).