I Will Not Fail my City...

[Vidd]

Hey Rebels,

 

Today was a long week for me. Month end it always gets a little crazy in my line of work and this is going to continue into next week too. I did however, fit in my shoulder health routine which is a set of four exercises:

 

1) Wall Slides. Basically I flatten my back against a wall, and raise my arms at a 90 degree angle with the back of my hands and forearms against the wall. PaulG had a real in depth explanation of this in my previous challenge log which I've now moved the link to an archive in my first post of this battle log.

2) External rotation movement. I've got a set of three that I rotate through so that I'm mixing it up some. To do these sometimes I'll grab a couple 2.5lb blocks of weight out of my weight vest and use those as substitutes for 5lb dumbbells. I'd use my bands but my lowest resistance band is my red 30lber and I've found that if the resistance is too high, my bigger, stronger muscles start to take over due to having to cheat to do the movement.

3) Scapula pushups. I get into a plank position and I raise and lower my body trying to use primarily my scapula.

4) Facepulls using either my red band, or a door frame. I don't know why but the activation when I do it in the door is crazy.

 

I also got in a walk, but still only ended with 4,000 steps for the day. Half of what I ought to be doing starting Sunday. That's right, I finally got my challenge log up, and I've given it a bit of an rpg backstory where I end up in prison and the only way for me to make my escape is to master the front lever. Yeah I know, kind of a crazy scenario but I'm still going with my super hero theme and I thought it'd be an interesting side-story lol. If anyone is interested in following along in that challenge, link is in my signature

 

Tomorrow is a resistance day. It's going to be handstand pushup focused, and chinup progressions. Maybe I'll even see if I can do a double or a triple on the muscle-up? I've only done singles thus far. I need to get a proper swing going on my descent so I can do them consecutively. I hope everyone is still staying safe out there, and using this time to accomplish some cool things

[Vidd]

Hows it going Rebels? Today was an exciting day for me, two personal records that I'm very happy about Let's get right into it.

 

Handstand Pushups 9, 6, 5 reps

Side-to-side Pushups 10, 8 reps per side. First set was with 19lb vest

Muscleup 2 reps

Assisted One-Arm Chin 4 reps

Side-to-side pullups 6, 5 reps per side

Close-grip Chinups 10, 8 reps

 

Notes on workout: 1. Wow I've never jumped two reps on this lift before! My previous best was 7 reps, so 9 reps was incredible for me. I do believe set 2 and 3 were +1 rep from last time too. I almost think this one was a fluke somehow I was really feeling it on this. 2. Added in some volume for my chest 3. This is another PR, I've never strung multiple muscle-ups in a row before so a set of two is a start in the right direction. After my first rep I swung down, didn't feel like I was in the right spot so I let myself sway backwards before swinging forward again before getting it, so it's not quite fully fluid yet but I count it. 4, 5, 6. After only doing 4 reps on my first set, I knew I needed to back off and do an easier pulling variation, so I did my next two sets as side-to-side pullups. Afterwards I did some closegrip chinups as my bicep movement to finish off the workout.

 

Now one thing you'll notice is there wasn't any legs today. This is partly due to running out of time, and also because I'm thinking of changing things up and doing an Upper, rest, lower, rest, upper, rest. Every other day routine. I think they could use a little extra attention, so if I go through with this, Monday will be a full-fledged legs and core only workout.

 

That's all I've got for today, tomorrow is the start to my front lever challenge.

[fitnessgurl]

You're doing great! Keep going!

[Vidd]

Hey Rebels, today was a special day. First time doing a dedicated legs day in awhile and it's only been a few hours and I can already tell I'm going to wake up with a serious case of doms. Here is a recap of the workout:

 

Pistol Squats 8, 8, 8 reps

Explosive Jump Squats 8, 8, 8 reps

Bulgarian Split Squats 11, 8 reps w/ 35lb vest

Single Leg Hipthrusts 15, 10 reps

Single Leg Calf Raises 20, 15 reps w/35lb vest

L-sit on Parallel bars 10, 10, 6 seconds hold

 

Notes on workout: 1. Zero box on these just regular pistols. I'm happy about hitting 8 reps on each set. I've never done these vested without a box but maybe I'll try. 2. I didn't take these to failure because the key is to blast off the ground as high as possible. Rep quality quickly decreases past the 8 rep mark I've found. 3. Ok legs started to feel like lead on these. I wanted to hit 15 reps each leg but I fell short 4. I liked these they hit the hams and glutes pretty well 5. Finished off the legs with some heavy calf work 6. Snuck in some core work, I need to get my abs up to par if I'm to hit that front lever.

 

I'll be back tomorrow over at my challenge log for some lever progression for whoever is following me for that, too. Otherwise, I'll be back Wednesday with an update on what I plan to be a one arm push up focused day

[fitnessgurl]

Man, that's a hard-core workout! Definitely not up to that. Way to go!

[Vidd]

Thanks, I'm actually still feeling it in the legs even today.

 

Today was my one-arm pushup day and it was a struggle the entire workout. Due to the warmer temperatures I haven't been able to get my sleep, as well as a lot of stress from work weighing me down. I ended up regressing quite a bit. Nonetheless, here is a recap:

 

One-arm Pushups 5, 2 reps

Assisted One-arm Pushups 8 reps

Inverted Row 10, 10, 9 reps all sets performed w/ 35lb vest

Diamond Pushups 15, 15 reps

Band Bicep curls 2 sets

Band Facepulls 2 sets

 

Notes on workout: 1. Previously I did 5 reps and 4 reps on my second set. I fell to two reps on my second set, and whats more is the first set was even worse form than before. I just felt weak, and my core didn't seem as stable. I hope the lever training isn't impacting my strength training and that today was just an off day, but I'll have to press on and see.

 

I don't have a lot to say on the rest of the workout, today was mostly focused on trying to get my one-arm pushup better because that's my big lift for chest. I think I need to scrap the second set of one-arms altogether because 5 reps is already quite low on the first set. So for example I'll do a single set of one-arm pushups with my best form and max reps, then immediately go into assisted, ideally feet elevated, or with some added resistance from my vest just to make sure I'm still hitting my chest with enough volume to keep my muscle as I continue to lean down.

 

I think I was just expecting the one arm pushup to steadily increase much like handstand pushups did for me, but its such a stubborn exercise. Anyway I'll be back tomorrow for an active rest day, have a great night everyone

[fitnessgurl]

Everyone has off days-you got this!

[Vidd]

Hey Rebels,

 

Looks like I'm not out of the storm yet. Today was my handstand pushup focused workout and on the first set while going for the 9th rep I just felt my strength completely deplete. I bailed in an unsafe fashion and banged up the ball of my left foot pretty badly. Fortunately I don't think it's broken.

 

I tried to continue the workout but just felt weak the whole time. Its gotta be a combination of diet sleep and stress. Tomorrow I may just take it easy. I've had a lot of wins past few months and progress isn't always linear. I'm just in a low right now.

 

Thanks for the encouragement @fitnessgurl its only up from here I just need to bounce back :)

[Vidd]

Hello everybody,

 

Today is probably the first day since starting this log back in May that I really didn't do anything fitness or life-improvement related. I played Shadow of War all day long and tried not to stress out. The reason being is, I may of really messed up my big toe yesterday. I can only curl it up about 10-15 degrees. I already had injured this toe before through a karate injury when I was really young. I plan to go to my general practitioner and hopefully get referred to a good PT who can help me work through this. At the moment it's painful to walk, but it's not as painful as right after the injury. 

 

I'm really hoping this isn't something that's going to hold me back from all my goals such as parkour, martial arts, and of course calisthenics which is my current focus. At this time based off me googling, I either have something called turf toe, sesamoiditis or hallux limitus(really hope its not this one). I really should've stayed off google cause of course I end up convincing myself I have an incurable injury 😕

 

Anyway, I'm not one to fully give up even when I'm down, so I did my wall slides for my shoulders and an external rotation exercise to keep my shoulder health routine going strong. Maybe I'll need a toe health routine now too ugh lol. I'm going to take some anti inflammatories and get some sleep. Tomorrow I'm going to try to get a resistance workout in of some sort. Have a good night everyone.

[fitnessgurl]

No more Google! I dislocated my toe in karate once. Maybe you did the same in this instance. That could be all it is.

[fitnessgurl]

No more Google! I dislocated my toe in karate. Maybe you did the same in this instance.

[Vidd]

Alright I got another workout in. My recent injury did not seem to impede me at all in this upperbody workout so as long as I wear sweats to hide my chicken leg-... j/k I'm gonna get this foot thing figured out soon, I can't lose all this pistol squat progress! How can I call this superhero training if I don't have legs!

 

Ok onto the workout. Today I decided to focus on the one arm pushup and the one arm inverted row.

 

One Arm Pushup 5, 4 reps

Feet elevated assisted one arm pushup 8 reps

One-arm inverted row 7, 6 reps

Archer inverted rows(?) as many reps as possible lost count how many per side

Closegrip Feet elevated pushups 20, 12 reps

Band Bicep curls 3 sets of 10-15 reps

L-sit on parallel bars 2 sets

 

Notes on workout: 1. I don't think what I did today was a personal record but I feel better about these anyway. I really focused on tensing the entire body. I sometimes get so focused on this being a chest exercise and I need to think more along the lines of total body because everything needs to be working together to nail this move. 2. Once I hit 4 reps on the one-arm I went to these to avoid going too low in reps 3 & 4. 7 reps may be a record on the single arm rows, then since I didn't bring my weight vest with me and regular rows would be too easy I tried to do them archer style, it seemed to work. 5 & 6. Some extra arm work to add in some volume 7. Core work, and to pretend I am making progress towards my front lever. Hopefully soon I'll update that thread with a real front lever workout.

 

As for an update on the toe, I found these two physical therapists named 'Bob and Brad' on youtube and have been using their big toe exercises very gently. Plus they have a really catchy/cheesy intro so that's a plus   The pain isn't as bad and I want to make sure I can maintain what little range of motion I do have until I can get in to see an in-person doctor.

[Vidd]

Hows it going rebels,

 

I'm back again with another update. This one is rather overdue. The short answer to what has been going on is I've hit a bit of a plateau or even regressed some in my workouts. Lifes been hitting hard lately, but I'm getting ready to hit back harder

 

But first, an update on my injury. Tomorrow is my doc appointment to check out the foot issue. I don't expect it to go anywhere. After telling me to get an x-ray before my visit so I could talk about it with the doctor, I called the imaging place as I was told to, and was then told they have no record of my doctor calling in for me to get an X-ray. So the lady from the imaging place called my doctor's office to speak with the front desk person who set this all up, and now the person I spoke to at the doc office is saying I should not get an x-ray before my visit *facepalm*. So I'm going to show up tomorrow, get told to get an x-ray more than likely, then do another visit. Basically a little bit of the run-around. It is what it is, but I will get this resolved.

 

Alright so today was a resistance workout and was the first one in awhile that I made some progress on.

 

One-arm Pushups 5, 5 reps

Feet elevated assisted one-arm pushups 10 reps

One-arm inverted rows 6, 6 reps

Inverted row 10 reps

Diamond Pushups 15, 12, 8 reps - all sets performed w/ 35lb vest

Close-grip Chinups 15, 12, 10 reps

 

Notes on workout: 1. So the highlight of this workout was getting that 5th rep on the second set of the one-arms. This is very slow progress but I'm excited for anything. This is a tremendously hard exercise and I know it's going to take me awhile to get into the higher reps. 2. Volume work as an assistance move 3. These felt ok, I think I've done up to 7 reps before, but 6 is a solid number of reps 4. An assistance for the one-arm variant 5. These were killer for my triceps, and I think because the diamond pushup has your arms in a similar placement as the one-arm, that there may be some good carry-over here. 6. My bicep move, these are pretty difficult after the rows Bonus: I did one muscleup just to keep the movement in my arsenal. I can still do it! Haha.

[Vidd]

Hey all, quick update.

 

The plan today is to try to get in some steps. I want to aim for 8k but we'll see how the foot feels. I just got back from the doctor and he thinks its a tendon strain/sprain and not anything too serious. He ordered me an x-ray anyway and told me he would look at it, and text me what he thinks, but in the meantime has prescribed me something to help it heal quicker. As far as timeline goes, he says if I rest up it'll heal in 4 weeks, if I keep exercising it may be up to 6 weeks. I do feel I need to still walk some, but I may need to just cool it on leg workouts for awhile.

 

The doc actually seemed really cool. He was a former gymnast and knew exactly what my goals were, in terms of getting back to 100% so I can continue my active hobbies. He's also willing to prescribe me something I've been having to go to a specialist to get a prescription for(for something else) and having to pay a bunch out of pocket since my insurance doesn't cover specialist visits that well.

 

All in all I'm glad I found him he seems like a good doctor to have on my side going forward. I'm still feeling kinda down about my challenge it's turned into a bit of a train wreck. I'm almost hiding out in this battle log cause it's so awkward to post 'updates' on me doing nothing towards that front lever grr lol

[fitnessgurl]

2 hours ago, Vidd said:

He was a former gymnast and knew exactly what my goals were, in terms of getting back to 100%

That's cool!

[Vidd]

Hey all, been taking a little break but just checking in to let you all know what's going on. I'm still healing up from the injury, and on the prescription I was given. The prescription has given me some insomnia which sucks! But, I stop taking it Friday so soon I'll be back to normal.

 

Challenge #2 just wrapped up and I'm ready to put that all behind me and go at it again in my next challenge. The 12th will be my 30th birthday which is still shocking lol. I've got some of my friends saying its the end of my youth, others saying I'm just getting started. Personally, I'm going to get after this next decade and make it even better than my 20's. The one win I got from last challenge was I did drop nearly 5 lbs of fat. I think I've got 3-5 more lbs to go and I'll be where I want to be.

 

No workouts until I'm off the prescription I figure my body is under enough stress. I hope everyone has been well. I'm still doing that social distancing even now, but I know some places are back to normal I'll be back soon for another update.

[Vidd]

Good evening rebels,

 

Here in WA we are still impacted by poor air quality causing me to shift my workouts indoors. This, I hope, will change this coming Friday because a workout just doesn't feel complete without a pull up or inverted row variation. But I made do with what I had on hand, and got a quick workout in.

 

Band Bent Over Rows 15, 15, 12, 10 reps - all reps performed using the heaviest band I have, 80lbs

Assisted One-Arm Pushups 12, 12, 10, 10 reps

Superset Band Overhead Tricep Extension - Band Bicep Curls 3 sets each as many reps as possible

Air squats 35 reps
Single-leg romanian deadlift 15 reps

Single-leg calve raise as many reps as possible

 

Notes on workout: I'm getting back into the swing of things. This was a way easier workout than I am normally posting up in this log. The prescription combined with terrible air quality had me taking some time off working out. I debated waiting until I could return to the park but discovered I was starting to get stir crazy not moving at all. Overall I'm pleased I did the workout, and I think tomorrow I'm going to do an ab circuit if I've got the time.

[Vidd]

Hey all, back again with another workout/life update.

 

After taking the prescription as prescribed and resting for a week, then being forced to rest longer due to air quality, my foot has gotten better, but still hurts if I bend it up. I think I need to make a long term decision here, and get an MRI even if it's going to cost me. I want to find out what's really wrong, and what I can do about it, and not just let these nagging injuries pile up on me.

 

Anyway with that said it isn't stopping me from diving back into things. The air quality is currently 'Excellent' and there was a nice cool breeze in the air. Leaves covered the basketball courts that I usually find a wall to do my handstands against and things were definitely feeling like Fall. I really needed this workout. I've been battling with some emotions lately. I entered into this pandemic really strong but things are starting to get to me. That's why getting back into these workouts, and also my current challenge, are going to be instrumental in getting my life back on track. Here was the workout of the day:

 

Handstand Pushups: 8, 6, 5 reps

Feet Elevated Side-to-Side Pushups: 10, 6, 15 reps *First two sets were side to side, 10, 6 each. Final set regular pushups

Assisted one-arm Pullups 6, 3 reps

Side-to-side Pullups: 6 reps each side

Chinups: 13, 12, 15 reps final set was with a 50lb resistance band aiding me

Hanging Knee Raises two sets to failure

 

Notes on workout: 1. For two weeks off I'm happy with where my handstands are at right now. 9 is still my all time PR but 8 is very close. 2. Volume work here, I didn't feel I could get in a lot of reps doing 3 sets of all side to sides so I needed to back off some on set 3. 3. 6 reps for set 1 is very good, I'm happy on this. What I need to work on is not using the band as much, or increasing reps on set 2. Remainder of this workout was some more volume work.

 

[Vidd]

Hey rebels, it's been a busy few days. I actually had my internet knocked out on Friday for most of the day. It's back running for now, but it's concerning that my ISP doesn't know why it was down for so long. Anyway, I ended up having to split my upper body workout into two days, so this will be a recap of Saturday's workout, and today's.

 

Day 1:

Handstand  Pushups 9, 6, 5 reps

Side-to-side Pushups 3 sets to failure

Overhead Tricep Extensions 15 reps, followed by 5 more sets with only 10-15 sec rest. (Restpause style)

 

Day 2:

One-arm Inverted Rows 6, 6, 6 reps

Archer and Regular Inverted Rows 3 sets to failure

Band Bicep Curls 4 sets to failure

L-sit practice 4 sets holding as long as possible

 

Notes on workouts: My handstands are still going strong. I've certainly had better days when it comes to the inverted rows. The rest of the workouts were me getting some volume in but I'm really focused mostly on my 'big lift' for each day, and whether or not I'm making micro-improvements to those workout after workout. I'm not sure if this has been the case. I feel like I'm suffering from a lack of momentum in my life right now. Usually when my fitness stagnates some, it's a sign things as a whole may need to be reevaluated.

 

But yeah I will be back in a couple days with an update on my next leg workout

[Vidd]

Hi everybody,

 

I hope you've all been well. It's been nearly a month since my last update I can't believe it!

 

I'm starting to feel the impact of this change of seasons. I start work in the dark, and clock off in the dark... I've never really paid much attention to the weather until now. I'd always have a cozy gym to go to that was always set to the perfect temperature, 24 hours a day. If you told me a year ago I'd be working out in a dimly lit playground in the cold I wouldn't of believed you. Anyway, nothing a pair of gloves and some layers can't solve

 

One arm Pushup 8, 5 reps

Feet elevated Assisted One arm Pushup 10 reps

Inverted row 10, 8, 8 reps w/ 35lb vest

Bodyweight dips 15, 12, 12 reps

Band Bicep Curls 15, 12, 10 reps

 

Notes on workout: 1. This is my second workout hitting that 8 rep mark on this lift. If I can keep up the pace and reach 10 reps, I'm going to 'level up' and start doing these feet elevated 2. More volume 3. These felt decently difficult. Ordinarily I do single armed but my core felt shot after those pushups lol so I threw on my vest and just did them weighted 4. I don't do these enough so I figured I'd throw them in 5. Just some bicep volume here

[fitnessgurl]

Hi! I wasn't on last month either; but I'm back & following!

[Vidd]

Hey welcome back fitnessgurl! Glad to have you following along again

 

Today I finally wrote up my 4th NF challenge and it's all about combating the tendency to throw your goals to the wayside during this Holiday season. With colder weather, shorter days, and Holiday food everywhere there are going to be a lot of temptations. And while I plan to enjoy life some, I want to regain some momentum during this time and start feeling like I'm moving up whether than just treading water. So the whole idea of this new challenge is no excuses. I'm really excited for it and I'm going to be posting to my battle log way more than I have recently. https://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/117640-vidd-makes-no-excuses/

 

Anyway as a quick update to today. I didn't do any resistance exercises but I got in a lot of stretching, and some ab work. I did this all indoors because by time I clocked out of work I could already see the sun setting. I also ordered 3 pounds of beef jerky as a healthy high protein snack to make it easier to turn to a high protein snack, than something full of sugar and carbs. I'll be back tomorrow with a resistance day update.

 

[Vidd]

Hello everyone,

 

I'm back again after just finishing up my fourth challenge. I feel like this battle log has turned into sort of a 'war room' where I jump back in every 4 months to reflect on how the past month went, but more importantly, brainstorm where I want to take things next. I discovered some things along the way in November that I can identify as focus areas. I want to improve my communication skills during this time of isolation, and I also want to nail the body to waist row that I stumbled across while watching exercise tutorials one night. I think all I am missing is a cool way to theme my next challenge. I'll still need to think on it, and hopefully have something up by the end of the week. Anyway today was active rest, but it turned out to be just rest. I did about 10-15 minutes of stretching and that was really it. It was my first time back to work after last week off, and also a longer day due to the mandatory overtime I'm still on.

 

However on Sunday I was able to knock out a leg workout. What is interesting about this workout was I was able to do pistol squats without the weightlifting shoes that have a slightly raised heel that assists with my lack of ankle mobility. I spent a long time stretching my ankles before the workout and it gave me just enough mobility to do it. This was a fully indoors workout due to the very cold weather on Sunday. Since I was low on space I altered my workout a little bit from the usual.

 

Pistol Squats 10, 6 reps

Reverse Lunges 20, 15, 12 reps w/35lb vest

Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift 15, 12, 12 reps w/35lb vest

Single-Leg Calf Raises 20, 20, 18 reps

L-sit 3x sets to failure

[Vidd]

Hey rebels, just a quick update on what's been going on. My workouts have been a little spotty now that the parks and schools have begun shutting off their lights. I've been able to do a few pull up work on the weekends, and lots of band rows during the week days. I'm also finally seeing a physical therapist for the foot injury I had a month or two ago. It's quite pricey so I'm hoping I get something out of it. I still haven't gotten a challenge task up, I'm hoping some inspiration strikes but I'm still here, and still getting in my workouts. It's tough in this holiday season.

 

Anyway I'll be back with another update hopefully more regular

[PaulG]

Hey man, hope things are going well despite the difficulties with finding a workout venue. If you need to move things inside, don't hesitate to hit us up for equipment/build ideas! Or you can set up a challenge and just make desserts, that seems to be popular this month.