cn3wton, Battle log of Ages

[cn3wton]

The Battle Log of Ages

 

This battle log has been with me for quite a long time. It was just brought to my attention that I have been a member here for nearly 8 years. What an adventure it has been.

 

I found NF thanks to one of Steve's articles. I had been losing weight and working out for a while before I found everyone here. I chronicled my journeys and my choice to join a crossfit gym. Getting to my lowest weight and highest level of fitness of my life.

 

And then life happened, as it often does. A shadow began to creep over my life and I was too late to stop it. Depression. Something I didn't truly believe in until I had pushed it back. I struggled with it for years. Years which took a toll. Light pushed back against the shadow, but with this light came complacency. Letting myself enjoy things I had for too long resisted. I climbed up and up until I returned and exceeded to the weight from oh so long ago.

 

Try as I may I could not halt its gain. Over and over I tried to capture what it was so long ago that drove me to lose the weight. Again and again I failed. I sincerely hope something is different this time. I need to make changes.

 

I have accepted myself and my life. Accepted that I wrangled with depression. Accepted that which I cannot change. And I am here to move forward. 

 

My old battle log was themed around Lord of The Rings. Which I love. But I think its time for me to take new inspiration. I have decided to draw inspiration from my current obsession which is Dragon Ball Super. But not from the characters you might express.

 

First off? Gohan.

 

 

Gohan is arguably my favorite character in the series. He has all the physical strength of his father, but far exceeds him in what I feel matters most. Life. He becomes an amazing husband and father, something Goku clearly is not. He balances his health with work and family. Choosing to be there for his family instead of follow the same path of his father. Of course he struggles with the balance as we all do. He finds that he's stepped away from his training meaning he is unable to defend his family and begins it with renewed vigor.

 

I want to be like Gohan.

 

I want to be healthy and strong. However I want to be there for those that need me. I want to be able to tackle life and find the balance. Recognizing when I fail and must try harder, but always pushing ahead and pursuing my dream.

 

Second - Krillin

 

 

Runner up to my favorite character. Krillin is also inspiring. No matter what he does he will never be as strong as Goku. But this does not stop him. Super brings to light just how hard it has been for Krillin. But he pushes through. Pushing himself to the limit.  Despite his setbacks in life he keeps going and doesn't lose himself.

 

I think that's it for now. I look forward to growing and pushing myself once again!

 

 

[cn3wton]

Sunday the 27th's planned circuit.

 

Mace Windu

 

Steel mace workout with sledgehammer. Will do a "dry run" of this workout before going full bore. Just to make sure rep's are good. The first time through the circuit, the moves following the alternating sledgehammer swings will be done with the right hand on top. Then the second time through I will alternate.

 

Alternating sledge swing x 10

Barbarian squats x 10

Grave diggers x 15

Tire pull with hammer + jump (over or on top of the tire) x 10

Mace 360's x 10

Twisted sword draw x 20 

 

Resources for exercises

 

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/04/23/train-like-an-ancient-hindu-warrior-the-steel-mace-workout/

 

(pulls)

 

[ChristArtist]

Subbed! Watching. ..i hope to snag some ideas with protecting my neck in mind.

Consider posting some art once in a while. .. as an artist. .. it's in your blood.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[cn3wton]

Todays Cave Man circuit:

 

Jumping jacks

Sprints

Clean and Press x 2

Kettle bell swings

KB press

Crunches

Squats

Bent over rows

Deadlifts

Sledgehammer swings x2

Tire flips

[cn3wton]

Mace Windu completed in the rain. Reps looked good.

 

Really nailed the alternating swing finally.Which felt good. Getting more of the body moving during the exercise is always a plus.

 

Ran into a snag with the big tire. It cant hold my weight. Gonna have to build a jump box eventually.

[Sloth the Enduring]

Subbed for awesomeness.

[cn3wton]

Plans for the first day of challenge.

 

Yoga, just as soon as I'm done here.

After the gym look into the cost of building a jump box (may have enough stuff around the house)

 

Perhaps I will post my regular workouts on here as well.

[Balthazar]

subbed for inspiration

[cn3wton]

Yoga completed this morning. Found all the stuff I was looking for to build some equipment.

 

Figured I would post my exercise program (will do over the next few days). I do this same thing each week, monday through friday.

 

As I have said before I love HIIT. So each of these circuits is completed before moving on to the next, with little to no rest between each exercise. The goal each time is to barely be able to do the final rep on each exercise. The first round is a warm up, done until I can't do anymore.

 

Day 1 is a full body day

 

Circuit 1 (4 rounds)

Dumbbell squats x 8

Leg Press x 8

Cross crunches x 20

Assisted pull up x 6

Assisted dips x 6

 

Circuit 2 (3 rounds)

Leg extension x 10

Calf raises x 10

Dumbbell shrugs x 8

 

Circuit 3 (4 rounds)

Reverse curl x 6

Dumbbell hammer curl x 6

Preacher curl x 6

 

Circuit 4 (3 rounds)

Hanging leg raise x 10

Russian twist x 10 

[cn3wton]

Day 2, chest back and traps

 

Circuit 1 (4 rounds)

Dumbbell flyes x 15

Dumbbell chest press x 8

Incline Dumbbell chest press x 15

 

Circuit 2 (4 rounds)

Bent over row x 8

Plate shrugs x 25

Lat pull down x 12

Hyper-extension x 15

Upright rows x 10

 

This is my "easy" day as there are only two circuits. I actually saw a 5 pound increase across the board basically. (So 10 pounds when it came to dumbbell stuff, all except the flyes)

 

I also completed my first home-brew exercise equipment

 

 

A forearm builder. Loved this thing in high school. Keeping your arms out straight in front of you is just as hard as getting the weight up with your hands. Found the perfect piece to fit the plate. Most home brew versions of this just wrap the string through the center, I prefer the weight to lay flat on the ground at the start, and go straight up.

[cn3wton]

Complete yoga this morning added some stretching as well.

 

Day 3 in the gym is arms

 

Circuit 1 (4 rounds)

Underhand lat pull down x 12

Barbell curl x 8 (followed by 6 wide gripped curls right after)

Incline hammer curl x 10

Zottman curl x 10

 

Circuit 2 (4 rounds)

Wrist curl x 20

Reverse wrist curl x 20

Handshake curl x 25

Timed hang from bar

 

Circuit 3 (4 rounds)

Close grip bench press x 12

Overhead tricep extension x 12

Tricep push down x 15

[cn3wton]

Day 4 (shoulders and back)

 

Circuit 1 (4 rounds)

Wide grip lat pull down x 10

Lat pull down x 15

Wide gripped row x 10

Body weight row x15 (or as many as I can)

 

Circuit 2 (4 rounds)

Dumbbell shoulder press x 8

Seated lateral raises x 12

Wide gripped upright row x 15

Shoulder press dropset x 15 x 10 x 8

 

Circuit 3 (3 rounds)

Barbell shrugs x 15

Behind the back shrugs x 15

Plate shrugs x failure

Plate grip x failure

 

Ran out of time to finish circuit 3, as I had to go play racquetball. Definitely gonna cut back on the shoulder stuff. But I want to stick with this program until the end of this challenge. 

[cn3wton]

Also purchased resistance bands. Going to sketch up some ideas for a way to hook them to different surfaces. Got a few ideas for them.

[cn3wton]

Day 5 Legs

 

Circuit 1 (3 rounds)

Leg press x 15

Leg Curl x 15

Leg extension x 15

 

Circuit 2 (4 rounds)

Squat x 12

Smith machine lunges x 10

 

Circuit 3 (4 rounds)

Goblet squats x 15

Walking lunges x 20

 

Also picked up a set of adjustable dumbbells for 15 dollars.

[cn3wton]

This weeks free flow.

 

Bourne Again

 

Jumping jacks x 20

Lateral jump x 10

Deep squats x 5 (hold at bottom)

Box jumps x 10

Burpees x 5

 

I will complete this as many times as I can, with about 30 seconds rest in between sets.

 

*note deep squat is set only at 5 reps, due to the fact that I want to focus primarily on balance, and really getting as low as I can. Burpees are a bit low, but I dont know how this circuit will affect me. Will alter reps as needed.

[cn3wton]

So this morning I woke up and I was sore, really sore. I have pushed myself all week physically. My mind was saying "Come on you've worked hard, you deserve to sleep in. Your friends all backed out of the cave man workout this weekend, you don't need to do it."

 

Well I politely said "F*** that" and went outside and had the best workout I have had in a long time. I am still sweating!

 

Since no one else was there I switched it up and did reps instead of time. That ended up making this whole thing far more intense.

 

Cave Man Week 4

Cinder block jump x 10 

Clean and press x 10 

Kettle bell swings x 20

Forearm builder x Wind all the way up, then down

Alternating sledgehammer swings x 10

Tire jump across x 5

Tire flip x 4

Sprint (I would say about 100 yards)

Exercise band punch with spin x 10 (each side)

 

It was tough, I honestly thought that I would only be able to go around once. But I dug deep and did it again. I really wanted to add 2 jumping obstacles in, as my vertical leap is really bad. Going to have to do some research. Im also really glad I was able to finally try out the exercise band. It worked better than I had hoped.

 

If anyone has any questions about any of the exercises please let me know.

[cn3wton]

Completed bourne again. Started to get the hang of all the moves. Deep squat getting much easier to perform. The first set I had to hold myself with a fence post. After stretching out all the muscles that way didn't need to use it again to stay in the squat.

[Balthazar]

Hey dude, how high are the cinder block jumps?

[Inferno145]

Hey, looks like your doing awesome. Like the style of your posts! Keep it coming

[cn3wton]

Hey dude, how high are the cinder block jumps?

 

Somewhere around 8 inches I would say? My vertical leap is atrocious. I know that its not my max leap though. Its just what I got around the house right now. Gonna build a box soon.

 

Hey, looks like your doing awesome. Like the style of your posts! Keep it coming

 

Thanks and I will.

[cn3wton]

Yesterday was not a good day. Had to take my mother to her first radiation consultation, and since I had to work that meant I didn't have time for the gym like I thought I did (should have went in the morning).

 

On top of that I didn't eat too well. I had a lobster pizza and 2 biscuits and red lobster (which in my defense the lobster pizza isn't all that bad, those biscuits though.)

 

Then I turned it around and had 1/4 of a chicken and a couple ribs before work, but didn't have any veggies. Then instead of a salad for dinner, I had chicken with vodka sauce, peas and a few peppers. While not bad for me its not great either. The kicker was that I then had a whole loaf of garlic bread (they are like 6 inches long). To say I was sick to my stomach after was an understatement. I just can't have these kind of things anymore. Which I guess is a good thing. 

 

I can't be too hard on myself here, but I still want to kick myself in the a##.

[cn3wton]

Raising The Bar
Each exercise done with a Olympic bar only. Little to no rest between exercise.

1 armed barbell shoulder press (barbell lever) x 10 each arm
T bar row x 20
Barbell Squat x 10
Deadlift x 15
Barbell twists x 5

 

This one was surprisingly tough. I thought after the first time through I'd add weight, but keeping up a good pace made up for the lighter weight. On top of that I did this today after I had just completed a killer full body day in the gym.

[cn3wton]

I am finally getting the donkey kong! I managed to do it 3 times tonight. While not in a row, I am starting to get the movement down. It can only get more fluid from here on.

 

Full story of how I ended up leaping into the stairway in my challenge thread.

[cn3wton]

Run Forest Run COMPLETED

This circuit was done once

 

Jog to path then to bottom of hill

Run up the hill and down two times

Sprint as far as I can and jog back (Done 3 times, each time going a little farther than the last)

Jog rest of the way to the river

Find a large rock, jog/fast walk it to the hill then back to the river

Perform some kind of parkour esque exercises (PARKOUR!)

Jog/Fast walk backwards to hill

Run up hill to victory

 

If not dead walk home

 

So I completed this one 5 days early as a part of an accountabillibuddy challenge to push myself outside of my comfort zone for this 3rd week of the challenge. So I decided to do a running free flow exercise, since I absolutely detest running.

 

Heres how it went.

 

I jogged to the path, my dog followed. Oh did I forget to mention it has been pouring outside? Yea so on top of all of this there was mud everywhere. It was basically a mud run, which made it even more fun.

 

Running up and down the hill became much harder. The first part of the hill (which is I would say about 30 degrees) wasn't too bad. But then it turns and the last part (45 degree incline or more) was killer. My feet couldn't get traction and I almost slipped. So going down I was much more careful. I sort of bounded down the hill though. It felt good. And I was surprised how quickly I made it up the hill. Breathing condition didn't flare up as bad as I thought it would.

 

I prepared for the sprints. First one went well, but on a curve I almost slipped in the mud. Made it a good distance and jogged back. On the second attempt I slowed down around the turns, and jumped over some puddles/mud (PARKOUR!). On the third jog I made it all the way to the river. Breathing was very ragged. But it's something I am working on.

 

So I looked around and found a large rock, and started jogging back. Half way back my arms and legs where burning, and I slowed down to a fast walk. Managed it back to the hill. Threw it down and roared in victory. Then I picked it up and jogged most of the way back. Then had to fast walk the rest of the way (gym today was back shoulders and chest, so Im not surprised upper body was dead).

 

I found a gravel pile that had eroded some on one side next to the river. Leaving a height of about 1-2 feet. I started right next to it and jumped up. Then on the next one I would step back. On the last attempt I was about 3 feet away. And I was happy with that. I could have gone farther but I would have been in the river! I decided that I would do some balance walks once I got back to the hill.

 

Jogging backwards... much harder than it sounds. I started out strong, alternating between what shoulder I was looking over. Then my foot got caught up on something and I almost fell. From then on I walked backwards as fast as I could during the rough terrain, but I will be honest I was feeling it in my legs. Walking backwards is definitely not an exercise I will overlook in the future.

 

At the base of the hill I found various fallen trees that I could balance walk on. After a few minutes of that I ran up most of the hill. And fought through the steep incline as my feet struggled for purchase. Then finally I found myself at the top of the hill, exhausted.

 

Then I threw a steak on the grill, and had that, a glass of milk, and half a bag of steam fresh vegetables for lunch.

[Inferno145]

This sounds like it was a lot of fun. Wish I could have done it with you.

My wife and I did one of those Obstacle Races last year. It went through a local state park. The course took us up and down the ravines, across and up creeks, and then all the firefighting themed obstacles on top of the tough terrain. It was intense. But was so happy we did it together and finished!