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Quadzilla won’t be happening, but I’m too addled on NyQuil to come up with a new theme. This training block was supposed to be about building quads of heroic proportions, however I’ve been nursing Ebola (or perhaps a minor chest cold) and tendinitis for a couple of weeks now. I don’t know what the heck I’ll be doing even if I ever do get healthy. I’m continuing to diet, but with my greatly decreased activity my weight is ooching up. So I have the worst of both worlds, constant hunger and increasing fat. *sigh* Since we’re mixing and mingling this challenge and there may be new folks about, here’s a bit about me: • I love bullet points • I’ve been around NF forever, almost as long as @Elastigirl • I’m in my second half-century • I’m not as fast as I used to be • I’m 100% slow-twitch (hence the name) so I never was fast anyway • I teach sixth grade science in a city public school, I’m adequate • I have a better wife and kids than I deserve • In the summer I love to do marathon mountain bike races • In the winter I like to do nothing • Those last two facts are incompatible • I like working out with kettlebells, sandbags, and sledgehammers. Also battle ropes, but I don’t have one • I seem to witness or experience more than my fair share of minor odd events • we foster sad-sack dogs and get them adoptable • I don’t like the challenge system and instead tend to write about any of the above items, plus glutes and tacos.

Main Quest: Body weight squatSanity Mini main quest: Be a quadzilla Background: Have made nice progress on both goals. Suffered major squat set back when I fractured my foot. Recently got my boot off so I'm rebuilding the ol' squat. Maintained a good level of over all strength where possible, but lost a lot of mobility and strength in some key places. Fixing that is priority numero uno. Goals: 1. Mobility - Always. Ankle, calf, and hip. Unjunk what the boot junked. 2. Accessorize - Front squats (squat!), hip dominant movements, single leg work. Anything that helps me get my body moving right again. Hips and various glute areas are not so much on board with proper squat movement yet. 3. Squat - Just squat. A lot. Still using the basic set up I had before, but adding front squats back in. 100+ is the goal. 4. Punch the clock - Just do it. Get in the gym. Put in the work. Remain consistent. Trust the process. /cliches **** My birthday is the first official day of the challenge and I will be out of town doing super fun things in celebration. Feel free to spam the hell out of my thread with silliness and happiness in the mean time. It IS my birthday, after all.

Good day I've been doing split squats for a few weeks now and have never had a problem with them before. Today while doing my BW routine, I had a horrible pain in my right quad during split squats. My quads were both a tiny bit sore this morning, but nothing too painful. I foam roll daily and also do quite a bit of stretching. The odd thing was it was only my right quad - the left one was fine. And it only hurt when my right leg was in the leg back position (left leg in front). It was a little sore during the opposite (left leg back/right leg forward) but easily tolerable. The only way I can describe it is like a massive rubber band being stretched and at the most painful spot it almost felt like a ripping/pulling pain. Sorry - very difficult to put into words. It feels okay now... but I'm worried how it's going to feel tomorrow. Any suggestions on stretches or specific foam rolling movements I can do tonight to try to prevent awful DOMS tomorrow? I really don't understand why it hurt so bad. I watch myself in a full length mirror when I work out so I can focus on my posture and form as much as possible and I didn't notice anything that looked off. Thanks in advance... --Bela

Hi everyone! If I go up two or three flights of stairs in a day (even if not all at once), I'm in pretty bad pain for several days afterwards. My doctor also explicitly told me that I am in "maintenance mode" and that I should never jog, run, or jump again for the rest of my life, despite being 28 years old when I was told that. And I want to fix that, so I'd appreciate any help you can give! So the goals of my workout routine are: 1) Build leg strength in general 2) Build hamstring and quad strength in particular 3) Stretch my legs and improve flexibility 4) The more typical goal of "Generally build muscle" My current workout is: For each exercise, a warm-up set then 3 or 4 sets Mondays and Wednesdays: Stick-ups (upper-back exercise, done hoping to improve my posture because potentially that can contribute to the knee issues) - currently ~60 per set Wall sits (quad exercise) - currently <=60 seconds per set Calf raises (calf exercise) - currently 60 per set, no weights Walk ~3.6 miles (no steep hills or stairs; one day a week I go 6.6 miles instead) Tuesdays: Stool scoots (hamstring exercise; http://www.mavenlive.com/physical-therapy-exercises/stool-scoots.html) - currently ~5 laps of my workplace per set Pushups - currently ~30-35 per set (I'm working on progressing these to one-handed pushups) Crunches - currently ~30-40 per set Glute bridges (back and hamstrings) - currently ~60 sec per set Walk ~0.6 miles (from car to work and back) Straight leg lifts, side leg lifts, and various other related exercises - currently 15 per set with 8 lb ankle weights Thursdays: REST Straight leg lifts, side leg lifts, and various other related exercises Walk ~0.6 miles Fridays: Walk ~3.6 miles Pushups Crunches Glute bridges Saturday: Straight leg lifts, side leg lifts, and various other related exercises Triceps extensions - Currently ~10 per set with a 10 lb dumbbell Front raises - Currently ~7 per set with 10 lb dumbbells Sunday (I'm thinking of adding these but haven't yet; currently this is a rest day): Bent-over rows Bicep curls Obviously my focus has been on my legs, but I want to start working on everything else. So, any advice on what I should add that WILL NOT hurt my knees? Or advice on what I should progress or change in my current routine? The following definitely hurt me: Step ups, step downs, lunges, squats, burpees, leg extensions, walking up steps, walking up steep hills, kneeling, sitting for long periods, jumping In terms of equipment I only have access to dumbbells and adjustable ankle weights. Thanks!