Nightcrawler Origins

[Nightcrawler_Bamff]

 

 

Story:

Parents presumed dead, Kurt Wagner grows up in a small Bolivian circus.  Admiring most the acrobats with their badass feats of strength and agility, Kurt decides:

“Heck!  I could do that!  Ich bin fantastisch!!!â€

And so his training begins.  Kurt is determined to become the best acrobat in the show.  In order to become the best, our favorite blue elf will of course, need to be able to perform the awesome tricks the acrobats are performing, requiring strength and a diet that will both keep him lean and provide enough protein to develop the muscles he is working so hard to build.

 

 

Main Quest:

Overall main quest is to move my round off-back handspring from the trampoline onto the ground so I can do this anytime.  This will likely take several challenges to complete, so my goal for this one is to be able to hold a handstand.  This will help develop shoulder and core strength, which will definitely help with my back handsprings.

 

 

Specific Missions:

1.  Earn a minimum of 20 Weight Watchers activity points per week with at least three strength workouts built into this.

2.  Track Weight Watchers points daily and stay within my weekly points allowance.  Within this, I will require a minimum of 56 100 grams of protein, increasing to at least 90 170 grams on days that I am doing a strength workout.  If I earn more than 20 activity points in a week, I will allow using these.

3.  At least five minutes of handstand work daily

 

Side Quest:

1. Our friend Kurt is bilingual, fluent in German and English.  I will need to work on this ability as well.  My language of choice however, will be American Sign Language.  My goal will be to sign up for and (hopefully) get accepted into one of the two remaining prerequisite classes required for the ASL Interpreting Program.

2. His most renowned ability is that of teleportation.  This is how he travels from one location to another.  For me to do this, I will require a car.  I am car-less at the moment, but will be borrowing my parents' car for a few months while I search for the right one to become available within my price range.  This is ongoing challenge to challenge until I find the right car now that I am able to borrow one.

 

[Nightcrawler_Bamff]

Inspired to do an ongoing story line by @ApfelStrudi and her AMAZING Pokémon adventure!

[raptron]

Hiiiiii again! Glad to see you are ready to continue your consistent challenge DOMINATION.

[Sea Level]

Welcome back! I'm excited for all the gymnast Assassins!

[Nightcrawler_Bamff]

Hiiiiii again! Glad to see you are ready to continue your consistent challenge DOMINATION.

Excited to focus on gymnastics again and building the strength to be able to do more!

 

Welcome back! I'm excited for all the gymnast Assassins!

Thanks!  Me too!

[Nightcrawler_Bamff]

Day 1 was great! Found a couple of handstand progression tutorial resources. My 5 minutes of handstand work a day will be one minute of each - handstand against the wall facing away, against the wall facing toward, L-position against the wall, hollow body hold, and trying freestanding handstands. Also used the mini challenge as part of one of my three required strength workouts, went for a run, and did more strength stuff at the "adult jungle gym" at the park. Based on what I are yesterday, I'm wondering if the daily protein goals are high enough...anyone have any ideas?

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[maenumania]

I wish I could do the backhandspring, generally, all this backflip, frontflip stuff is pretty awesome, you can do that!

 

Don't know much about the right amount of protein to build up muscles, I took some years ago protein powder, but all I gained was fat (I weigh 82 kg back then), I guess the best would be some natural proteinsources like chicken, turkey, nuts and oatmeal, etc.

[raptron]

I've heard aiming for 1g per pound of lean mass is a good goal for protein. I personally try to get 100g/day if I am paying attention.

[Nightcrawler_Bamff]

I wish I could do the backhandspring, generally, all this backflip, frontflip stuff is pretty awesome, you can do that!

Don't know much about the right amount of protein to build up muscles, I took some years ago protein powder, but all I gained was fat (I weigh 82 kg back then), I guess the best would be some natural proteinsources like chicken, turkey, nuts and oatmeal, etc.

I'm still pretty beginner...I can do front/back tucks and front handsprings on the trampoline, but don't have the strength to get the right amount of jump to do the tucks on the floor and don't have the shoulder flexibility (and probably the strength) for the front handsprings on the floor. It took me a year of drills to move my back handspring from the tumble track to a mat on the floor, then I wasn't able to go for about 4 months IMMEDIATELY after doing that so lost that skill, still working on getting it back, but I expect I will be able to do it again soon! Woo!

You taking classes or just learning on your own?

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[Nightcrawler_Bamff]

I've heard aiming for 1g per pound of lean mass is a good goal for protein. I personally try to get 100g/day if I am paying attention.

Holy crap! That's a lot more than I'm challenging myself to get haha! And I assume I weigh a lot more than you!! I'll have to look up how to figure out lean mass...

I had found several sites that said 56 grams of protein for an average sedentary male and another that had a calculation that gave me the 92-ish grams...

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[maenumania]

I'm still pretty beginner...I can do front/back tucks and front handsprings on the trampoline, but don't have the strength to get the right amount of jump to do the tucks on the floor and don't have the shoulder flexibility (and probably the strength) for the front handsprings on the floor. It took me a year of drills to move my back handspring from the tumble track to a mat on the floor, then I wasn't able to go for about 4 months IMMEDIATELY after doing that so lost that skill, still working on getting it back, but I expect I will be able to do it again soon! Woo!

You taking classes or just learning on your own?

 

When my hand is finally healed and I can bring up the courage to do that stuff, I would learn it on my own.

[AKLulu]

What did we even DO yesterday at gymnastics? My hips are so stiff today!

 

Also, here's that macro calculator I was telling you has been recommended around chat.

[Elastigirl]

Your park has a jungle gym for adults?! I think we need pictures.

[Phayze]

Agreed! I want a jungle gym, too!

Also, remember that the 56g protein recommendation is for staving off deficiency is sedentary men. Active dudes like you are going to need more, especially if you want to build muscle size. I've heard that protein grams = 80 percent of total body weight usually works.

[Nightcrawler_Bamff]

When my hand is finally healed and I can bring up the courage to do that stuff, I would learn it on my own.

Hope your hand heals fast! Good luck on learning it yourself! It's a blast learning to make your body do things you didn't think you'd ever be able to do!

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[Nightcrawler_Bamff]

What did we even DO yesterday at gymnastics? My hips are so stiff today!

Also, here's that macro calculator I was telling you has been recommended around chat.

Haha! Must have been from the workout before hand...I was definitely hobbling around today!

Thanks for the calculator! I'll check that out soon (probably tomorrow)!!

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[Nightcrawler_Bamff]

Your park has a jungle gym for adults?! I think we need pictures.

Meh...it's like a workout station at the park...bars, monkey bars, a sit up bench, parallel bars...that sort of thing...fun to go and make a fool of myself on sunny days TRYING to do some of the beginner stuff that I've learned and am working on! I'll try to remember to get a picture next time I'm there!

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[Nightcrawler_Bamff]

Agreed! I want a jungle gym, too!

Also, remember that the 56g protein recommendation is for staving off deficiency is sedentary men. Active dudes like you are going to need more, especially if you want to build muscle size. I've heard that protein grams = 80 percent of total body weight usually works.

Ya I figured that! Was talking to AKLulu yesterday and Raptron the other day about trying to figure out the right amount for me...that's why AKLulu posted the macronutrients calculator on here for me! Thanks for the tip!!!

Love your profile pic by the way!!!

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[Nightcrawler_Bamff]

Woo! Already feeling/seeing a difference in my handstand! Several handstand drills at gymnastics on Wednesday before vault/front handspring stuff. Worked on my handstands quite a bit and some back handspring at gymnastics open gym Thursday. I was able to hold my handstand for about five seconds several times!! Very exciting! Also getting close to asking for a spot for my back handspring on the floor again! WOO! Next time we work on stuff where I can ask for the spot I think I will be able to!!

Also...general consensus is my protein goals are too low. Sounds like more along the line of 1g per lb of body weight would be better...so around 165-170g. This will be much more difficult than what I'm doing now haha! I'll just have to make sure I have lots of egg whites and protein shakes around! I will officially change this on Monday.

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[Nightcrawler_Bamff]

Updated my protein requirements...We'll see how this goes!  Nervous about this larger amount...Still going to do a different amount for the days that I am not doing a strength workout (56g -> 100g // 97g -> 170g), mostly because I dont want to set myself up for failure...I'll try this for the next week and see how it goes.  

[Nuala]

I want some pictures of the jungle gym too! Around here there are only some for children, and most of them are for children under 12! It's so stupid that it annoys me to no end.

 

Good luck with your macro!

[Nightcrawler_Bamff]

I want some pictures of the jungle gym too! Around here there are only some for children, and most of them are for children under 12! It's so stupid that it annoys me to no end.

Good luck with your macro!

Weather hasn't been great on my days off since that last run...better today, but feeling kinda lazy...we'll see if I get motivated later to go for a run and I'll take pictures if I do!

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[Nightcrawler_Bamff]

Week 1 review: already talked about most of it! Handstands are coming along nicely and got my required proteins, but decided its not enough so officially upped it by nearly double. Didn't participate too much in the weekly challenge much other than incorporating it into my strength workout on Monday and doing some of the stretches at gymnastics Wednesday and Thursday. My plans got derailed a bit when I got called back into work after I was off Thursday, but still doubled the amount of exercise points requires for the week! And didn't use any of those extra ones even with partaking in Easter dinner with friends yesterday! So far so good! Gotta keep it up! The challenge for this week will be to make sure I get the new amount of protein in...I don't know how hard that's going to be!

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[Nightcrawler_Bamff]

And I got some motivation and went for a run after walking around the mall for two and a half hours (some browsing, but mostly just walking around the hallway)! Stopped at the "jungle gym" half way (4 miles total, walked the last mile as a cool down) an did my workout and handstand work outside! Here is a picture of the area as promised!

The rings on the monkey bars aren't usually there...the people visible on the edge of the picture brought that for their workout.

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[Sea Level]

That's a sweet outdoor gym. Simple, but effective. I wish I had something like that nearby!