The Animus (share your accomplishments)

[kaelvan]

Guys, I finally cut my hair after so many months of saying it. Best decision. EVER.

[Granny Nogg]

Before/after pics of said haircut?

Sent from my Samsung S4 using Tapatalk.

[Lilith]

Yeah, I'm curious too! 

[SunlitSapling]

I discovered a shortcut that now allows me to go from my back porch, down a small street, through some houses, and DIRECTLY to our nicely-paved walking track. Because of this, I started my daily rollerblading habit again!

I used to manage 6+ miles a day for years but now I'm only at about three miles (with some energy left over).

I had this daily habit for about six years but lost it due to college and a lack of safe/properly paved places to skate. Starting from scratch all over again nearly six years after stopping now!

[Elastigirl]

I discovered a shortcut that now allows me to go from my back porch, down a small street, through some houses, and DIRECTLY to our nicely-paved walking track. Because of this, I started my daily rollerblading habit again!

I used to manage 6+ miles a day for years but now I'm only at about three miles (with some energy left over).

I had this daily habit for about six years but lost it due to college and a lack of safe/properly paved places to skate. Starting from scratch all over again nearly six years after stopping now!

Wahoo!

[Blaze]

This happened in March during the previous challenge, but I'd kinda dropped off the NF map at that point, so I just want to share.

Last year I did my first Fight for Air stair climb and my time was 22:57.  This year I did it in 17:56.  

[Salivanth]

This happened in March during the previous challenge, but I'd kinda dropped off the NF map at that point, so I just want to share.

Last year I did my first Fight for Air stair climb and my time was 22:57.  This year I did it in 17:56.  

Wow, that's a damn good improvement! Did you train specifically for stair climbs, or is it a side-effect of your main training?

[TheComebackKid]

Starting to get the weightlifting going. Hiked 50+ mi in 3 days and avoided and angry bear...darn proud of that.

[lucky fire dragon]

Starting to get the weightlifting going. Hiked 50+ mi in 3 days and avoided and angry bear...darn proud of that.

 

That's so awesome! Where did you hike to meet bears? Did you need all your sneaky assassin skills to avoid it or how did you do that?

[lucky fire dragon]

I managed 15 push-ups in a row! Am totally thrilled about this as previous record was 13 and then for a while only like 11 or max 12 and this morning, just like that, while testing for our new minis bham I did 15 - woot woot

[Evermist]

Tiny personal woot: I can do 5 pull-ups on a slightly lower resistance-band level than I'm used to! Normally, I can't get over the bar by the third. So...yay!

[Airlia]

A couple of small milestones:  For the first time since I've been monitoring my body composition my % of muscle exceeds my % of fat (29.4% muscle and 27.2% fat) - Woot! 

 

Also, in prep for the mini-challenge I did a check to see how many standard floor pushups I could do.  Last time I tried I could barely manage 3, but today I managed to complete 3 sets of 5 with maybe 20 seconds between the first and second set and about 30 seconds between the second and third set.  I was happily surprised!!  I guess working on remodeling the house has done more muscle work than I thought! 

[annyshay]

A few things I noticed today:

 

1) My feet are flat on the floor in downward dog... without having to warm up to it

2) I can plank for almost 2 minutes

3) I can walk myself up to standing from a plank without much difficulty

 

Bendy strength, rar.

[Elennare]

I opted to take the stairs up to my office this morning, while carrying my bag, breakfast, and coffee.  Because it would be faster than walking over to the elevator.  Woot!

[Blaze]

Wow, that's a damn good improvement! Did you train specifically for stair climbs, or is it a side-effect of your main training?

 

 

I did train for it, and I think I was in a little bit better shape this year thanks to the running I've done, but the biggest change was that I got a better technique than last year.  First time around I climbed until my heart rate was crazy and I had to stop every couple of flights to catch my breath.  This time, I took long slow steps on every landing, turning wide so people could pass me on the inside.  So I went slow on the landings to catch my breath and keep my heart rate out of the crazy range, but I never stopped.  I didn't need to.  That was the big difference.

[Salivanth]

I did train for it, and I think I was in a little bit better shape this year thanks to the running I've done, but the biggest change was that I got a better technique than last year.  First time around I climbed until my heart rate was crazy and I had to stop every couple of flights to catch my breath.  This time, I took long slow steps on every landing, turning wide so people could pass me on the inside.  So I went slow on the landings to catch my breath and keep my heart rate out of the crazy range, but I never stopped.  I didn't need to.  That was the big difference.

Makes sense. Yeah, it's definitely better to do a steady pace than to go all-out and have to stop every minute or two.

[Yuen]

I've been doing one arm chin up progressions for a while now (it has been my main goal since joining NF).

 

Here is a video I took this morning (just skip to halfway to avoid seeing me faffing around beforehand):

 

Would you count that as a rep?

 

I was baby sitting my niece and nephew today:

My niece said no.

My nephew said yes.

My wife said it wasn't bad.

 

In a way it doesn't matter, since I know the form/ROM could clearly be better. And I will be continuing chin up progressions to continue to improve form, ROM, and maybe eventually reps.

 

However, a reward I promised myself when I joined NF, was when I got an one armed chin, I would reward myself with an NF t-shirt.

 

What do you think? Back to the drawing board? Or get out the credit card?

[erosan]

2 things: I am sooooo jealous of your strength, and I'd wish I could do that. Its bad ass (and you do it with your left arm... so bad ass x2). Congratulations.

 

I'd say you are barely there. A couple more days of playing with those exercises and you'll do a proper proper one. I'd count this one though, so do order your shirt. Then again, I can barely do a couple of chin ups and pull ups... so what do I know? you are light years ahead of me.

[Anim07734]

It's hard to tell from the angle whether you got your chin over the bar.  Everything else looked good.  If your chin reached the bar, that's one, go collect your shirt.  If not, you're at ~3/4, so you should have one by the time the shirt ships. 

 

Either way, very badass.

[aalex]

I broke my personal squat record today! It's not that impressive of a weight, but it's a big deal for me.

[Yuen]

2 things: I am sooooo jealous of your strength, and I'd wish I could do that. Its bad ass (and you do it with your left arm... so bad ass x2). Congratulations.

 

I'd say you are barely there. A couple more days of playing with those exercises and you'll do a proper proper one. I'd count this one though, so do order your shirt. Then again, I can barely do a couple of chin ups and pull ups... so what do I know? you are light years ahead of me.

 

Thanks for the kind words erosan! After reading the opinions of yourself and others on my thread I've gone ahead and rewarded myself with a t-shirt! Yay

 

It's hard to tell from the angle whether you got your chin over the bar.  Everything else looked good.  If your chin reached the bar, that's one, go collect your shirt.  If not, you're at ~3/4, so you should have one by the time the shirt ships. 

 

Either way, very badass.

 

Thanks Anim07734, you're right the camera angle is pretty crappy. I had to sit my phone on the floor propped against a stool, since my usual camerawoman (my wife) wasn't at the gym with me.

I thought I just got my chin to bar level while I was doing it, and then I kinda thought the video supported that. But then I wasn't sure if I was completely biased, since I've been wanting this OAC so bad for so long that I would subconsciously lie to myself and tell myself it was good when it wasn't.

[Granny Nogg]

This week I've increased the weight in my dumbbell rows in the BBWW from 17.5 lbs to 20 lbs.

 

[ApfelStrudi]

I ran and finished the Spartan Race Sprint in Munich two days ago. I have never been prouder of myself. I am bruised, battered and I bled like crazy. Picture-proof on my challenge thread so I don't spam this one. Seriously though, I'm on a major high. It was amazing. Brutal, but amazing.

 

http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/62793-apfelstrudi-enlists-for-the-apocalypse/?p=1463548

[Daryl of the Pines]

I already mentioned this in the Assassin's Den, but it seems applicable here. I recently acquired the ability to do a chin-up. Now I'm up to about 2 - 3 chin-ups in one go. I aim to get to 10, and start working on the pull-up.

 

I'm quite happy with this achievement, as I've never had this ability in my life. The success has inspired me to join the Assassins (I'll be jumping in one week late, but oh well), as I think I can gain so much more from continued body-weight training.

[Lightning]

Small WOOT for me.  I did 5 push-ups  Didn't think I was ready for the real ones but thought I'd give it a try and pounded out 5 really good ones.  Hope to be back here soon to post 10!