I Will Not Fail my City...

[Vidd]

Thanks, I've really been pushing myself hard on that exercise. Back when I was in the gym one of my favorite lifts to progress on was the overhead press so maybe this is why I've gravitated so much towards the handstand pushup.

 

Yep exactly, the nordic hamstring curl is an alternative I've recently found for the glute ham raise. Monday I may give it more of a full try. One set of 10 reps was just me doing some experimentation.

 

Well as planned, today was the back, bicep and abs day to make up for the push dominance of yesterday's workout. Here was what I did:

 

Muscle-up training for about ten min

Archer Pullups 12, 12, 12 reps

Commando Chinups 12, 12, 10 reps

Inverted Row 15, 12, 10 reps

Human Pullover 10, 10 reps

Sit-ups w/ twist at top 10, 10, 10 reps

 

Notes on workout: Muscle ups are still not happening yet but I won't be giving up on this. A little practice here and there and I should have it down eventually. Commando Chinups is a brand new lift I recently discovered that absolutely lit up my biceps. If anyone is curious may want to check out a video on it but you stand underneath the bar, facing the end of the bar so you can grab it with palms facing inward(neutral grip) with your hands so close together on the bar that they touch. Then alternate by pulling yourself up to your left shoulder, then right shoulder. It kind of reminds me of riding a zipline in a way. My biceps were hit so hard that I didn't even do the band curls that I had initially intended to do in this workout, so I think the commando has earned it's place as a returning lift in my workouts

 

Tomorrow is finally my active rest day. Yoga, walking, and maybe some abs.

[Vidd]

Hi rebels back again for another update. My body is feeling pretty beat up from the double duty I pulled this weekend on resistance workouts so a day of walking and yoga was much needed.

 

I met up with a friend who hasn't seen me since the lockdown and she was impressed that even without the gym I seem to of not lost any muscle whereas most of her guy friends are definitely not looking themselves after the 90 days of no weights. This was pretty encouraging to hear. The skills ive picked up on this journey have given me the freedom to continue to go without the gym if it ever comes to it.

 

Anyway today was 45 min of walking and 30 min of yoga. Tomorrow is ordinarily another resistance day but I'm actually considering a 2nd rest day. I've been continuing to hit new personal records every session and it's like spidey senses I feel a wall coming unless I deload... Have a good night everyone

[Vidd]

Hey all looks like I made it to my resistance workout after all. Here was the workout of the day:

 

Speed Pullups 5, 5, 5, 5 reps

Chinups 15, 12, 9 reps

Assisted feet elevated one arm pushups 10, 10 reps

Feet elevated pushups 12 reps

Band Tricep Extensions 2 sets

 

Notes on workout: 1. I'm pulling these to my chest-line, this is a progression to eventually do a muscle-up. I keep the reps low so that my performance doesn't deteriorate. Not a lot to say on the rest of the workout. The rain began to pick up and I had to make do with what I could before I was drenched.

 

My body is still very tired I hope tomorrow's active rest day will leave me feeling refreshed and ready for Wednesday.

 

 

 

[WhiteGhost]

Just came across your BL by accident and I am really liking what I am seeing.  The exercises you are doing are right up my alley  

 

Following along for the awesomeness going on here  

[Mad Hatter]

Hi and welcome to the forums! You do cool stuff, have you considered doing a challenge with the assassins? It's completely optional but since challenges get a lot more traffic than the battle logs it might be a better place to get to know people. Plus it's fun.  

 

Re handstand fear - I just wanted to say it's completely normal, so don't get dejected or upset with yourself! I'm a scaredy cat with an unfortunate tendency to pick up hobbies that involve fear, so I know all too well how much it can mess with your head. But there are strategies to overcome fear.  

[Vidd]

I really appreciate everyone's positive vibes and checking out my log

 

Yeah as I've spent more time on the forums I've realized the challenge section is super active and may be a way for me to really hone in on focus areas. I'm definitely considering joining in on this next challenge.

 

Kicking up into a handstand back facing the wall is something ive still yet to do. Thanks for the kind words. At this point its really just a mental barrier. Ive worked up to belly facing wall handstand pushups so I have more than enough strength to do a static hold... I need to revisit this when I'm feeling brave... Slay my dragons and all lol.

 

Ok as today was an active rest day I spent it going for a walk, yoga, and my ab circuit from page 1. The walk was one of my first steps back into society... The mall opened and a close friend of mine really wanted to check it out. We visited for about an hour with masks still on then ate on top of the cars trunk due to no indoor sitting. I'm getting to bed early tonight so im hoping for some nice progress on tomorrows resistance day

[WhiteGhost]

33 minutes ago, Vidd said:

I'm definitely considering joining in on this next challenge.

The new challenge just started so now would be a perfect time to jump in and try it out.  It's a zero commitment thing, so if you give it a try and don't like it you can always move things back over here anytime you feel like it.

 

35 minutes ago, Vidd said:

At this point its really just a mental barrier.

mental barriers are often the most difficult to overcome.  Absolutely no less real than any other kind of struggle either.  I had this problem trying to kick up on paralletes and so what I did was use a narrow hallway, walk up into a chest facing handstand and then reach one leg over at a time behind me, leaving one foot touching a wall the whole time.  One thing that I know helps a lot f people with this specific hurdle is to work on bails first.  Cartwheels, front rolls and regular kick ups that approach but don't reach full vertical are all ways you can practice. 

[Mad Hatter]

Padding can also help. Even if you logically know that it's safe and you won't hurt yourself, or even if you logically know that the padding might not even help, sometimes it just helps surrounding yourself with a bunch of cushions or mattresses or whatever you have on hand. That's what I had to do when I wanted to move my handstands away from the wall, despite never having had an uncontrolled fall. 

Another thing is to take small steps when expanding your comfort zone. Handstands might be scary, but maybe crow pose isn't? Just an example, the idea is to find the edge of your comfort zone and hang out there for a while until you're ready to expand it.

[Vidd]

Yeah you're both right. I just need to break this fear down into smaller pieces. I think with a combination of both of your posts I've thought up a strategy that may help me work on this. I live in a very packed living space with many other people, and so all of my exercise is typically done outdoors. That said, falling in some dirt and grass as a form of natural padding is a lot less fear-inducing than some concrete lol. So I may try some partial kick-ups in the grass, and work up to a full kick up, and then get used to bailing out of it safely when the consequences of me messing up aren't as severe

 

I've also gone through with starting my first challenge: https://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/116791-vidds-journey-to-the-top-of-the-bar/

 

I'm really going to put forth the work to master a skill I've been wanting to do ever since starting these bodyweight workouts. This is all going to be about the muscle up. For the time being I'm going to continue to post updates in this battle log, but as soon as Sunday hits, I'll be moving on over to my challenge log for the daily updates, and my battle log will be updated more periodically.

 

Here was the workout of the day:

 

Handstand Pushups 4, 4, 3 reps

Assisted One-arm Chinup 5, 4, 3 reps

Inverted Row 15, 12, 10 reps

Feet elevated Pushups 20, 15, 9 reps

Band-resisted Bulgarian Split Squats 12, 10, 10 reps

Band Bicep Curls 15 reps Rest-pause: 5, 5, 3, 3 reps

 

Notes on workout: 1. 1 rep improvement on the second set of my handstand pushups against the wall. Very happy on this. 2. I'm feeling strong on these, but when I go to do a one-arm chin with no band assistance my body doesn't budge. I'm going to keep working up to higher reps. 3&4. Some volume work for back and chest. I decided to rep out some regular pushups on my paralletes and with the depth I can get I was definitely feeling the burn. 5. I felt very strong on these I'm happy with my leg development so far, but I may need more hamstring work 6. Rest-pause was as usual. First set is the activator set, then I rest for 15 sec, before pumping out another 3-5 reps. A good finisher movement to squeeze in some volume in a short time span.

 

 

[Vidd]

Hello hope everyone is well. This may be one of my briefest entries for today's active rest day. As I said in a previous post, I at times use my walks to keep in touch with friends and family. Today I had some great conversations and the time flew. I hit 10,000 steps in a day which for someone who works as an accountant, that's not an easy mark to meet with how sedentary my job is. I ended the night with some stretching, and didn't have time for a full yoga class today.

 

I'll be back tomorrow for my regularly scheduled resistance day.

[Vidd]

Last resistance day update before the big muscle up challenge ive set for myself! I'd say it was successful.

 

Handstand pushups 5, 4, 4 reps

Dips 18, 15, 12 reps

Explosive jump to high ledge 10, 10, 10 reps

Archer pull ups 12, 6 reps

Pullups 10 reps

 

Notes on workout: big thing of note is that 5th rep on the handstands. This will be my last workout in awhile that I'll be prioritizing this movement so this was a great place to leave things at.

 

[Vidd]

Hey all. Final night before my muscleup challenge starts.

 

I took it easy and just stretched and walked today. I tried a few hanging leg raises and the what ill call bar sways. The leg raises I can do 6 with ok form but there is no power here yet.

 

Bar sways is me swaying forward and reaching that point where I should be exploding up but not, so i can conserve energy. This is new to me because I keep my body as immobile as possible because ive mostly trained strict pull ups.

 

I can already feel some last minute doubts creeping in but I need to channel my inner Naruto and believe in myself :D I'll be back tomorrow for another update

[fitnessgurl]

Just finished reading all your entries. Such a cool thing you're doing! Keep at it!

[Vidd]

Wow I'm honored that you read through all my entries my posts can get a little long sometimes.

 

I haven't updated the battle log in awhile due to my ongoing muscleup challenge. I've hit some bumps along the road but I'm going to master that move one way or another :)

 

As far as general updates go my workouts are not as isolated as they once were. The sun has brought out families and large groups of teens. I've had to stay adaptive and find other areas to fit in workouts. Since beginning this journey I've become a lot better at looking at ordinary landmarks and envisioning ways that I can make use of it to do my exercises.

[Vidd]

Today was another rainy day in WA. Fortunately it wasn't a resistance day, but this did mean my normal active rest day of walking did not take place. I've worked out in the rain before, but I found an alternative that needed to get done anyway. My bat cave has once again become very messy. So what better way to burn a small amount of calories than to do some cardio cleaning? I kept a fast pace as I washed several loads of clothes, dusted, vacuumed, and even managed to fill a couple bags with trash. But, there is always more that can be done so I plan to set aside more time on future rest days.

[Vidd]

Hey all, things are wrapping up in a couple days over in the challenges. I just landed my first ever muscleup and posted a video of it too. I'm beyond excited and I gotta say, as you move on from your childhood and teen years and into adulthood, having 'firsts' becomes rarer over time. And unlocking this ability just felt amazing and new. I had literally never made it to the top of the bar before.

 

Anyway, I decided to review this battle log, and the goals I set out to accomplish, and of those I listed I have met them all since starting here in May. I've never reached my goals like this so quickly, and it got me thinking as to why. A big part of it has been the accountability of staying in touch on these forums, and also seeing what everyone else is doing, and drawing inspiration.

 

Another part of it is, when all that's going on currently in the world first began, I tried to make the best of it. This was an opportunity for me to work on myself with no distraction. The temptation to cheat on my diet by eating out, or to skip a workout to spontaneously meet with friends was now gone. Gatherings were barred, and commute became a thing of the past. Drama in my friend circle that I once thought was important now no longer occupied my thoughts, I was able to self-reflect, and get in tune with my inner motivations.

 

I want to keep up the momentum, and finally build that superhero-worthy Oliver Queen physique that's not only strong, but capable and agile too. I know in a lot of areas the restrictions are being lifted as more time goes by. For those who still check in with me though, this log is still going to be me training in isolation. Gyms are still closed here in WA state, and my work just announced due to the current number of cases, that they wouldn't be requiring us to return to the office until at least the start of 2021. Due to both the pandemic and the seeming rise in violence in the area, my trips into civilization will be very minimal. I still plan to train in the neighborhood park as I normally have but I haven't ran into any issues, and if it ever gets very busy I move on to other areas.

 

Now, I want to make sure I'm still striving for something so I've updated my goals on the first post with some very high bars to meet, but I believe once each goal is achieved, I should have the physique i've been chasing. I'll be returning to daily updates in this thread, and also post my thoughts on what I might do for my next challenge. Have a good night everyone and thanks for reading this somewhat dear diary update

 

[Vidd]

Good evening rebels,

 

Today was another resistance day and it was blistering hot out today, at least much more than I'm used to. I found a shaded area, and even though the weather was perfect for outdoor activities I completed my workout in peaceful isolation. Sundays are always a little slow.

 

One-Arm Pushups 5, 4 reps

Assisted One-arm Pushups 10, 8, 6 reps

One-Arm Inverted Rows 4, 4 reps

Weighted 35lb inverted rows 9, 6, 10(BW) reps

Weighted 19lb Pistol Squats to low box 6, 5 reps

3 sets of facepulls with band

2 sets of L-sit holds on dip bars

 

Notes on workout: 1. Five reps is a PR for this lift I'm pretty sure, my form is just not looking as pristine as I'd like it to be. I'm hoping it comes with time. 2. Some more volume work 3. These went okay. I think a little less reps than normal but I was pretty gassed from giving it my all on the pushups 4. My weight vest helping a lot here to keep the two armed variant challenging 5. These are TOUGH! 19lbs may not be a lot but when it's a single leg movement that's really like 38lbs more. 6. This is part of my new shoulder health focus I discussed in my muscleup challenge 7. My L-sit is not really an L-sit I've got some low flexibility, and I know its because I haven't been as consistent as I need to be on my yoga on active rest days, so this movement's a good reminder

 

With my muscle up challenge finally over I'm looking to the future on what's next. There is so much I want to accomplish. Remember, Oliver Queen not only had supreme control over his body but he also trained on that island in isolation to develop his skills  I want to develop at least some skill in a martial art, I want to be fast, be able to overcome any obstacle, and also have complete control over my body. So an example of goals with this in mind would be 1. Find and train at a dojo 2. Work up to a 6 minute mile to be able to cover short distances swiftly 3. Train in parkour and 4. Build relative strength and calisthenic skill.

 

All this sounds really cool but I want to give some background to why this next chapter is going to still be focused on #4, and why my long-term goals in this log are all strength based. Basically my obsession with strength and calisthenics is that as I've begun training them it's made everything in my life easier. Having more strength, and control is going to underpin every single physical pursuit I have in this superhero theme I've got going. That also goes for developing greater flexibility. Since my goals are diverse and many of the things I want to learn take a long time to master, I can drastically expedite that process if my foundation is rock solid. So at this point in time I want to learn another calisthenics skill, the Front Lever Pull and improve on my L-sit.

[Vidd]

Hey all, another quick update for my active rest day.

 

I spent the entire day indoors this time. It was even hotter out than yesterday, and so I drew the shades, and tried to keep cool. Not a lot of note today it was a real restless night last night and so my energy levels were very low. I find when I don't get proper sleep that my hunger becomes ravenous and so I may of went over my caloric goals too...

 

It's ok though, I'm not going to stress over an active rest day. I've been really disciplined lately and its fine to take a break at times.

[fitnessgurl]

I went over my calorie limit like it was a competition to do so. 😆 It happens. Going to rein it back in today.

[RouleurBaby]

Absolutely loving this battle log keep it up! Great theme, and fantastic writeups. I haven't quite caught up yet but I will do soon! Following!

[Vidd]

@Rouleurbaby I really appreciate the support!

 

@Fitnessgurl lol you were probably competing with me without knowing it. It happens we'll get back on track

 

Today was very productive workout-wise. I fit in an ab circuit, on top of my normal resistance day. I also made a rare exception to my social distancing. A close friend of mine just turned 30 years old, and she wanted me to be there for her milestone. But to keep it a small group she selected only three friends, and we all grabbed a bite to eat and caught up some. Before I get to the workout, I found that I forgot how to socialize? I was stumbling on my words, and felt my stutter I had as a teen coming back. Perhaps the 4+ months that I almost only had my family to talk to has me a little out of practice. It was good to catch up but, quarantine has definitely impacted some differently than others and I felt something off with the others too. I'm more of an introvert, but they thrive off of extroversion and I hope I'm wrong but they looked a little depressed... 😕 I'll make a point to call them more. They were surprised I was still working out but this has really what's allowed me to keep my sanity.

 

Alright onto the workout of the day!

 

Handstand Pushups 7, 5, 4 reps

Side-to-side Pushups 24, 20 reps(12 each side, 10 each side)

Bulgarian Split Squats w/ 35lb vest 15, 8 reps

Assisted One-Arm Chinup 4, 3 reps

Muscleup 1 rep

Commando Chinups 12, 8 reps

 

Notes on workout: 1. I'm feeling strong on these, I'm feeling next workout I might be able to get a 5th rep on that third set. 2. Really went high volume on these 3. Actually felt like these hit my glutes harder than my legs this time around 4. These haven't been budging but that's ok for now 5. Did a muscleup just to prove to myself I still can 6. Love these to finish off the biceps.

 

I still don't have a new challenge up, but rest assured I'm thinking on it, and I want to present it in a way that gets me really fired up for whatever it is I'm wanting to achieve. I'll see about getting something posted this weekend but for now I'm still sticking to this battle log so I'll be back tomorrow with another update!

[PaulG]

On 7/27/2020 at 10:18 PM, Vidd said:

I spent the entire day indoors this time. It was even hotter out than yesterday, and so I drew the shades, and tried to keep cool.

 

I read this and then realized you're in WA too. Yeah, yesterday was insane. So glad it was a rest day for me too. I am regretting passing up the AC unit a friend offered me for free last month...

 

If you're near the Seattle area and interested in parkour, I've practiced with the Parkour Visions organization for a long time, and they're starting to open up very small, outdoor-only classes. I'm nervous about being around people myself, but the structure of parkour classes kind of encourage social distancing because you need so much space around you to practice. Might be something to keep on your radar if you're thinking about taking a class.

 

1 hour ago, Vidd said:

Before I get to the workout, I found that I forgot how to socialize? I was stumbling on my words, and felt my stutter I had as a teen coming back. Perhaps the 4+ months that I almost only had my family to talk to has me a little out of practice.

 

I am 100% on the same page, you are not alone. I've had very little in-person contact with friends and every interaction feels very high-stakes, so I've stumbled on my words when making conversation too. I guess it turns out talking to people like a normal human being was actually a skill? It's been a long time since we had to worry about getting enough practice at it...

[fitnessgurl]

8 hours ago, Vidd said:

@Fitnessgurl lol you were probably competing with me without knowing it. It happens we'll get back on track

Lol! So far so good. Did well yesterday & got in a walk/run in spite of the heat (although I had to dial it back quite a bit).

[Vidd]

21 hours ago, PaulG said:

 

I read this and then realized you're in WA too. Yeah, yesterday was insane. So glad it was a rest day for me too. I am regretting passing up the AC unit a friend offered me for free last month...

 

If you're near the Seattle area and interested in parkour, I've practiced with the Parkour Visions organization for a long time, and they're starting to open up very small, outdoor-only classes. I'm nervous about being around people myself, but the structure of parkour classes kind of encourage social distancing because you need so much space around you to practice. Might be something to keep on your radar if you're thinking about taking a class.

 

Yep in WA too   Seattle is a bit of a drive but close enough that I'm considering it. I even found they have a youtube channel and it looks really interesting. I had a busy day so I've only had a chance to watch only one of their videos but it definitely looks up my alley. My plan initially was to try to learn Parkour solo, but this could really expedite my learning process. I'll check it out more in depth this weekend.

 

Another active rest day today. I logged about 5,000 steps, and did some hanging leg raises for abs. I really dislike those but getting good at them is a prerequisite for a lot of higher level moves I'm going to want to learn later on. After that I went home and did a shoulder health routine I made and that was it for the day. I tried to stretch some throughout the day. This is something I'm not making a whole lot of headway on. Stretching may need some serious dedicated time, I'm talking an hour, just to break this plateau of immobility.

 

Anyway have a great night/morning whenever this is read, I'll be back tomorrow as usual.

[Vidd]

Hey all, today was my resistance day.

 

The goal today was to focus on my one-arm pushup. I've tried a lot of things with this particular movement but right now due to the low amount of reps I'm capable of performing, I'm allowing myself to spread my legs out into a wider straddle to reduce the difficulty just a tad. As I improve the legs are going to come back inward. I've found doing so allows me to get 5 reps on my first set which I'm feeling pretty good about.

 

One-arm Pushups 5, 4 reps

Side-to-side pushups 6, 5, 7 reps per side, first two sets were done with 35lb vest

One-arm Inverted Row 5, 5 reps

Inverted row 9, 8, 6 reps all sets performed with 35lb vest

Explosive Squat Jumps 10, 10, 10 reps

Face pulls w/ band

3 sets of band bicep curls

 

For my diet, I'm still doing the intermittent fasting that I implemented in my prior challenge. So far this has been the easiest I've ever lost weight. Conventional diets involving eating small meals a day always resulted in me leaving every single meal unsatisfied. For lunch today at noon, after fasting since waking up at 7:30 AM, I had a stirfry of beef, broccoli, on top of some quinoa and wild rice and it was a massive plate of 1,000 calories. Then after work around 4:30 I had a banana before my workout, and had my last meal at about 7:30. Family made hot dogs and beans, this was another 900 calories. The reason this has been easy for me to adhere to is after the first two weeks of fasting were over(hardest part, body had to get used to it) each of my meals feel like big feasts. Psychologically it doesn't feel like I'm dieting at all because I'm not doing those small meals where I walk away from the table wanting more. My maintenance if my calculations are correct is 2,580 calories so I ended the day at roughly 500-600 caloric deficit.

 

Currently I'm sitting at 171.5lbs and I think for me to be lean, I'll need to go to 160lbs. I think in an earlier post, maybe on my challenge thread, I'd said 165lbs, but I'm a little further along in this cut and am realizing the journey is a little longer than planned. I'm in the midst of the period I always have where I second guess myself, and my brain tries to convince myself to go on a bulk out of fear of losing all my muscle. The difference is you're rewarded for leaning down doing bodyweight training by feeling stronger. At the gym, it was the opposite, you felt weaker, and the negative feedback loop really used to bring me down.

 

Anyway that's it for today. Tomorrow I'll be back with an update on my active rest day, and maybe my next challenge will even be up