The Swampling Ups Chins and Turkish Gets

[Swampling]

Hello again!

For this (my 4th) challenge, the main quest is still the same as before: getting healthy and strong.

I'll still be working towards those pull-ups (ok, chin-ups first) 3x/week (Tue/Thu/Sat), and my basic routine will stay the same this time around: Bodyweight workouts on Mon/Wed/Fri, yoga class 1x / week.

Goal 1: (Walk the) plank on non-BW days , 3x/week (+3 STR, +2 STA)

If I can keep up the progression from the past weeks, I'll reach the starting point (5 x 8 negatives) for the Scooby "walk the plank" program during week #2 of this challenge. Yay!
Since I need some rest between those sets, I'll continue doing side planks and wrist & elbow mobility during those periods. It has turned out to be a good combination over the past couple of weeks

A: 3 WTP days / week => 18 WTP days total
B: 2 WTP days / week => 12 - 17 WTP days total
C: 1 WTP day / week => 6 - 11 WTP days total
F: anything less

 

If I miss a WTP day or two (I'll be traveling for a couple of days at the end of January, with no access to a suitable pull-up bar), I can try and make it up during the rest of the challenge to reach the desired total WTP days.
 
Goal 2: Do at least 120 complete Turkish Get Ups OR 240 TGUs up to bridge and back in 6 weeks (+2 STR, +2 STA)

I'm currently learning to do the TGU, and I find that practicing every day is both time consuming and also pretty taxing. I can't add TGU practice right after my strength exercises, so I will have to spread those out a bit. I'll only count complete TGUs, any other practice of specific steps will not count for the grades.

Considering that my left knee is giving me increasing trouble right now, putting my weight on it repeatedly during TGUs seems like a really stupid idea.

So, since the buggy thing seems to be set on being obnoxious, I'll have to revise this goal and simply leave out the parts where I put weight on my knees. The first part of the Get Up should be fine, up to the "bridge" stage (before I sweep the "off" leg under and behind, into what later becomes a lunge position).

 

So on days when the knee is troublesome (or if the PT generally forbids putting that kind of stress on it), I'll just do the first half of the Get Ups - I'll just have to do twice as many...

A: >= 20 complete TGUs / week, >= 120 TGUs total OR 40 half Get Ups / week, >= 240 half GUs total
B: >= 16 complete TGUs / week, >= 96 TGUs total OR 32 half Get Ups / week, >= 192 half GUs total
C: >= 12 complete TGUs / week, >= 72 TGUs total OR 24 half Get Ups / week, >= 144 half GUs total
D: >= 8 complete TGUs / week, , >= 48 TGUs total OR 16 half Get Ups / week, >= 96 half GUs total
F: anything less

Goal 3: Have a closer look at my diet (+2 CON, +2 WIS)

While regular exercise has not only become a habit, but fun, I think my nutrition could be better. I decided to start tracking at first. Just see what and how much I'm currently eating. I'm not confident that I can handle anything more right now, so tracking will have to do in the beginning. I'll decide how to go on from there after this challenge.
In the past I have started several attempts to track, but I found it very cumbersome and usually gave up after a couple of days because I just couldn't be bothered.

A: tracking 7x / week
B: 5 - 6x / week
C: 3 - 4x / week
D: 1 - 2x / week
F: no tracking at all

Life goal: Finally get a good (!) job reference from my former employer (+1 WIS, +1 CHA)

In our neck of the woods it is not only customary to get a reference from your former employer when you leave a job, but it is your legal right. I wouldn't care so much, if it weren't for the fact that many potential employers will take a close look at your references when they are looking for new hires.
I would really, really love to finally check this off my list and just forget about the former job from heck. But I have been struggling with this for the past months. Not only did my former employer take almost six months (!) to finally get this reference done (they should have one ready on your last day of work!), it also contained formal errors, plus (adding insult to injury) - concerning some key phrases, or the lack thereof, it was a rather negative reference, and I believe I deserve a little better.
I hate this haggling and I shouldn't have to do it, but I can't leave it at that. *sigh*

 

A: formally correct reference with the additions I would like

C: formally correct reference without any changes to the contents

F: not an option. I need at least all the formal errors gone.

Have a successful challenge, everyone!

 

EDIT 07th Jan for the first Mini Quest.

[AlexCold]

Ha! First! Sub'd

[forkboy]

I am so competitive, so therefore I am saddened Alex beat me.   I won't let it ruin my day though.

 

Yay for TGUs!  Go get it! Sub'd, of course.

 

[AshPS]

 

Lol, Love it!

[AshPS]

Pffffffttt.....of course I am sub'd!

 

Lol, my first thought when I read the 120 complete TGUs was that you meant PER WORKOUT!

 

(Thought I might go have to find an easier guild to join. ) lol

 

Yay for my swampling!!!! 

 

Sounds like she is ready to do some butt kicking!

[Jill Beat]

Great goals! 

 

Sometimes just tracking makes it easier to eat better (Do i really want to eat this cookie if I have to walk over there and write it down?) And it's definitely a good tool for the future to see where you can improve.  Don't short-change yourself, this is a fantastic goal and a tough one! 

 

I'm not sure how employer references work where you live, but I used to have a high school teacher who would provide references but he would want you to tell him what you wanted him to say, basically write it up, and then if he agreed with it, he'd sign it, and if not, he'd discuss it with you.  Would it be possible to basically edit what your employer provided you and then get them to sign off on it?  Stuff like this is always hard, good for you to tackle it!

 

Best of luck!

[TennisGeek]

Good luck with job hunt. I know how stressful it is. 

 

Welcome back.

[iatetheyeti]

Sub'd, naturally

 

I had to google TGUs, turns out I thought they were something completely different...

 

Best of luck with everything

[Swampling]

Ha! First! Sub'd

 

Hi, Alex! Thank you for stopping by! Glad to have you on board! 

[Swampling]

I am so competitive, so therefore I am saddened Alex beat me.   I won't let it ruin my day though.

 

Yay for TGUs!  Go get it! Sub'd, of course.

 

 

Necktie! Nectar. Nickel? *cough* *cough*

[Swampling]

Lol, my first thought when I read the 120 complete TGUs was that you meant PER WORKOUT!

 

(Thought I might go have to find an easier guild to join. ) lol

 

 

, indeed! If that were the case, I'd need waaaaay more strength and stamina than I currently have (maybe after another thousand challenges or so? I still doubt it!).

 

Just the opposite, in fact. I find that doing TGU practice every day is probably more than I can handle while the chin-up progression gets noticeably harder.

In my first draft of this challenge I was thinking of doing more TGUs, but then I did some maths, found out that I really needed to do TGUs every day (or at least six days a week) to reach those totals.

Ummm. No. Not going to happen.

So I decided on a somewhat smaller, but more realistic, number.

[Swampling]

Great goals! 

 

Sometimes just tracking makes it easier to eat better (Do i really want to eat this cookie if I have to walk over there and write it down?) And it's definitely a good tool for the future to see where you can improve.  Don't short-change yourself, this is a fantastic goal and a tough one! 

 

I'm not sure how employer references work where you live, but I used to have a high school teacher who would provide references but he would want you to tell him what you wanted him to say, basically write it up, and then if he agreed with it, he'd sign it, and if not, he'd discuss it with you.  Would it be possible to basically edit what your employer provided you and then get them to sign off on it?  Stuff like this is always hard, good for you to tackle it!

 

Best of luck!

 

Thank you, Jill!

Yes, I have already noticed that since I started tracking a couple of days ago, I don't snack as much as I used to, simply because having to put in all those pesky numbers is not worth it.

 

Re references: With almost all my former employers it worked pretty much the way you describe it. I wrote a big part of the thing myself, they added all the necessary key phrases and fine tuned the wording (job reference lingo is a language of its own), everyone was happy with the result.

I'm currently trying the approach you suggested: edit / rewrite the parts that I would like altered, send them my suggestions and hope that they can agree to that. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

[Swampling]

Good luck with job hunt. I know how stressful it is. 

 

Welcome back.

 

Thank you, TennisGeek!

 

Thankfully the stress of looking for a new job is already over for the time being! My current employer already knew me from when we worked together, a couple of years ago - so he wasn't too fixated on that missing most recent job reference when he hired me.

I sincerely hope to stay at this company for a good long time, so I hopefully won't need this particular job reference any time soon, but I'd still like to have a good (and formally correct) one for when I might need it at some point in the future.

[Swampling]

Sub'd, naturally

 

I had to google TGUs, turns out I thought they were something completely different...

 

Best of luck with everything

 

Hi Yeti, great to have you! And thank you!

 

What did you think TGUs were, if you don't mind my asking? Just curious...

[Teros]

Subbed again.  GL with those turkish getups.

[Swampling]

Subbed again.  GL with those turkish getups.

 

Thank you, TerosX!  

[iatetheyeti]

Hi Yeti, great to have you! And thank you!

 

What did you think TGUs were, if you don't mind my asking? Just curious...

 

Heh, it was a toss up between a dance move (a friend tried to convince this was exactly what a TGU as...) and something involving a pull up bar. Thing is, I was aware of the TGU as an exercise already, but I can't think for the life of me what I was calling it.

[Swampling]

Heh, it was a toss up between a dance move (a friend tried to convince this was exactly what a TGU as...) and something involving a pull up bar. Thing is, I was aware of the TGU as an exercise already, but I can't think for the life of me what I was calling it.

 

Ah, a dance move! That would make sense. Kind of.

[Swampling]

Good morning!

 

Workout today:

- warm up

- BW 10 x 3

 

TGU practice will probably follow this afternoon, first another lesson with the Redhead (yay for national holidays and some extra free time!).

[AshPS]

Morning swampling! :love_heart:

 

Yay for time with the Redhead!

 

And good job on the workout! Hope the TGU practice goes well!

 

What is the Holiday?

 

Have a fantastic Monday my friend!

[Swampling]

Morning swampling! :love_heart:

 

Yay for time with the Redhead!

 

And good job on the workout! Hope the TGU practice goes well!

 

What is the Holiday?

 

Have a fantastic Monday my friend!

 

Yay, indeed! We had a very productive lesson, I think - the Redhead might beg to differ, but at least she got some munchies out of it, so she shouldn't complain...

 

The holiday is apparently called "Epiphany" or the "Day of the Three Holy Kings" (the latter is closer to the German name), and I must apologize - it's not a national holiday (I think it used to be), but it depends on the region where you live. The more catholic regions (like Bavaria) still celebrate this holiday, the more protestant regions do not.

 

TGUs:

5 x with mitten, each side. Yay!

[Swampling]

Food tracking: done! *whew*

 

First day of this challenge is officially killed!

[AlexCold]

Awesome!

[Teros]

Nice job

[AshPS]

Nice swampling! Very, very nice indeed!  :triumphant: