Let's try this again...6 week challenge!

[smashmp]

Gah, I'm late!

Seeing as I recklessly abandoned my first 6 week challenge, it's time to try again; this time with a tangible goal at the end of the challenge.

Main Quest: Improve strength and endurance for karate and lifting.

• As some may know, I'm in love with powerlifting and I also practice Shotokan karate. The two don't particularly go hand in hand, but they do complement each other. While I'm psyched I've gone from deadlifting 135lb to 205lb in less than a year's time, my squats fell prey to poor form and I'm not at all where I want to be for bench presses. Shotokan is all about strong, low stances and quick and powerful punches. Here's how I'm gonna do this:

• Dedicate 30 minutes each day to karate basics (kihon), focusing primarily on blocks and leg position, holding for 10-15 seconds each.
• Squat with purpose. While there's little more satisfying than driving up from a heavy squat, my focus here will be maintaining balance and form while driving up from the squat at about half my normal speed.
• Pass my karate exam on May 17, 2015! This is my end goal for this challenge. If I pass, this will push me into the intermediate level. If I don't, I'll try again during Fall exams .

Life Quest: Memorize kihon (basics) commands in Japanese.

• Since this next exam will push me into a somewhat more advanced level of training, I'm expected to know at least some of the movement commands in Japanese. So why not study them all? In lieu of flashcards that I'm sure to lose, I'll use my nerdy know-how to build a electronic mini-quiz for myself. Maybe this will even morph into another side-quest where I actually fiddle around with my Raspberry Pi!

Accountability: I plan to update this thread every Wednesday with my overall progress for the week and recap the previous Tuesday night's karate class.

**Last Update: 5/20/15 (see comments)**

[Kishi]

Nice! I like it. Sticking to the basics and working on form seems to be the way to get a lot of good things done.

 

Good luck!

 

Oh, and if you like, stop by here and say hello. We'd love to hear from you.

[Stephanie]

Sounds like your goals are definitely realistic and achievable!

 

Kudos on the deadlift progress

 

Just curious how you chose your deadlift goal? I'm trying to decide how much to aim for, but don't really know what to base it off of… Right now my 1RM is 175 lbs.

 

May 17th is a day I've been working towards too! I always HATED cardio and once I got my CrossFit and weightlifting under control, I decided to challenge myself by signing up for a 10k! One of the nuttiest things I've done, but I'm so excited and the coolest part is how my endurance training has translated into progress in CrossFit workouts...

 

Good luck,

Stephanie

[smashmp]

Sounds like your goals are definitely realistic and achievable!

Kudos on the deadlift progress

Just curious how you chose your deadlift goal? I'm trying to decide how much to aim for, but don't really know what to base it off of… Right now my 1RM is 175 lbs.

May 17th is a day I've been working towards too! I always HATED cardio and once I got my CrossFit and weightlifting under control, I decided to challenge myself by signing up for a 10k! One of the nuttiest things I've done, but I'm so excited and the coolest part is how my endurance training has translated into progress in CrossFit workouts...

Good luck,

Stephanie

Thank you, and you'll rock that 10k! I love seeing progress in other areas. It's amazing to go from hardly being able to keep up in a sparring exercise and then seeing how much strength and endurance has been gained by weightlifting.

Truthfully, my deadlift goals have largely been based around my bodyweight and what I can physically withstand for a full set. When I started, I would alternate between adding weight throughout a set, usually increments of 2.5 to 5lbs. The one thing that helped me was to track everything. Deadlifting, in particular, is the one thing in my life I don't overthink, but the benefit of writing down every single workout was what helped me determine what goals were feasible and when.

When my weight dropped to 165 from 185ish, I was only deadlifting about 135. So, my goal was to set small incremental increases each week until I could compete a full set of deadlifts at 165. From there, I did the same to see if I could deadlift my weight when I started and made those small weight increases each week until I hit my bodyweight (185) a year ago.

Everything since then has been a bonus. So really, it depends on what you can do without risking poor form or injury. A lot of plates have been added and taken away due to bad form.

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[Stephanie]

Thank you, and you'll rock that 10k! I love seeing progress in other areas. It's amazing to go from hardly being able to keep up in a sparring exercise and then seeing how much strength and endurance has been gained by weightlifting.

Truthfully, my deadlift goals have largely been based around my bodyweight and what I can physically withstand for a full set. When I started, I would alternate between adding weight throughout a set, usually increments of 2.5 to 5lbs. The one thing that helped me was to track everything. Deadlifting, in particular, is the one thing in my life I don't overthink, but the benefit of writing down every single workout was what helped me determine what goals were feasible and when.

 

 

Yeah! Seeing progress is wicked awesome  !!

 

Gotcha. Haven't worked on deadlifts in a while, but it's one thing that I am very comfortable with (in addition to bench press), so I think I'm going to go back and work on it. I think I'd like to hit 300lb (for now - I'm all for increasing that once I get there I guess it's just a matter of slow and steady wins the race. 

 

I'm also big on keeping track and try to record all my workouts in my notebook It's so much fun to look back and see the amazing changes!

[Kishi]

I like your DL thoughts. They sound very process-oriented, which means that you have a good habit that'll keep you lifting even when it gets hard. This is very good. Though, as I'm shamelessly biased about that kind of thing, maybe you should not trust me on this.

 

How was Karate this week?

[Teirin]

Hello and welcome back! 

[smashmp]

How was Karate this week?

It was great and frustrating at the same time. I love and hate when testing is coming up because our instructor does NOT let up on us. Which is good. That's exactly what I was hoping for. He's big on basics, even though half our class is black belts. We did get to do a more advanced kata as a class that the black belts are working on. That's always my favorite; getting the chance to do something that I probably won't encounter again for a few years

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[smashmp]

Week 1: Overall, a good week, but a week of silly injuries. Dealing with mild lower back strain (probably hyperextended during the last set of a deadlift), sore feet, whacked my knee and shin slipping in the rain and managed to chop a chunk out of my thumb while making breakfast Sunday. Graceful, I am not.

Tuesday (karate class): Lots of basics drills, which is great since that's exactly my goal area of improvement over these next six weeks. Oddly, some of my blocks have weakened, so I spent much of the class making adjustments. We also ran through chinte - black belt kata - as a a group, so that was pretty awesome. I love when we baby belts get the chance to try an advanced kata; our instructor is awesomely inclusive.

I made good on my goal of dedicating 30 minutes a day during week 1 to karate basics. Even threw in a bodyweight circuit Saturday to compensate for the lack of lifting. Also, I got my squats up to 125 lb; that's a far cry from my 165 lb PR, but it's a rebuilding phase. Knocked out 3 sets of 5 reps and felt damn good. However, only lifted 2 of my usual 3 days.

Also created my karate quiz! I just threw it up real fast using 000webhost; I'll move it eventually to somewhere less ad-filled.

Week 2: Rough week so far. I've gotten back into the habit of writing down my food intake after some recalculation. I'm pretty discouraged today since today is measurement day, and both my bodyweight (up to 166 from 164 last week) and measurements squeaked up a tick. I know bodyweight shouldn't matter quite as much, and it wouldn't had my waist measurement gone down instead of up. I'll quit beating myself up, because it's been a busy, productive week otherwise, and today is lift day.

Tuesday (karate class): Oof! Sensei kicked our asses. Imagine the karate equivalent of leg day. I'm still feeling it 2 days later, but it was good. My stances are improving, but my kata is a bit wobbly from recalibrating my stances and making sure my hand placement is correct.

I'll update further after the weekend.

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[Kishi]

Well, as Shotokan boils down to nothing more than basics, I'd say you're getting a taste of things to come.

 

Also, chopped thumb is not a part of a balanced breakfast. Be careful.

 

Anyway. Breathe. Give yourself a break.

 

How's week 2 been for you?

[smashmp]

Week 2: Rough week so far. I've gotten back into the habit of writing down my food intake after some recalculation. I'm pretty discouraged today since today is measurement day, and both my bodyweight (up to 166 from 164 last week) and measurements squeaked up a tick. I know bodyweight shouldn't matter quite as much, and it wouldn't had my waist measurement gone down instead of up. I'll quit beating myself up, because it's been a busy, productive week otherwise, and today is lift day.

Tuesday (karate class): Oof! Sensei kicked our asses. Imagine the karate equivalent of leg day. I'm still feeling it 2 days later, but it was good. My stances are improving, but my kata is a bit wobbly from recalibrating my stances and making sure my hand placement is correct.

**UPDATE** 4/27/15

I never got around to lifting last week as planned; my lower back has been screaming at me. I thought it was karate or weightlifting-related but it's more painful waking up in the morning and remaining sedentary. I've been grumbling about a new pillow for months now, so I finally just shut up and ordered one. Once it arrives, we'll see if it at least helps my back/neck/sleep issues.

Since I wasn't in a state to lift, I did my basics! Also took my dog for a few nice long walks to loosen my back up. Still tracking food and indulged in a couple beers - two to be exact - and goal shots to celebrate the Blackhawks win over the Predators.

Back is feeling somewhat better today. Goal is to get up from my desk every half hour to walk and stretch it out a bit. When I get home, it's time for more basics (hopefully a video of my kata) and some light barbell exercises.

Week 2 sucked...week 3 will not.

[Kishi]

I've had to deal with some lower back stuff between my hip flexors being weird and having to stand at work all day. I found that what really helped me was to stretch before going to bed - sit and reach and standing hang. It might help you too.

 

Hope you get to feeling better soon!

[smashmp]

Week 3 has been good for the most part. My back is finally in a state that I can comfortable lift without any pain. Lots of stretching both at work and at home has helped immensely. I'll also get to try out my new pillow this weekend.

My kihon has been getting much better; I'm actually feeling ready for this exam.

I'm also down from 165 to 163 bodyweight. It's not much to be proud of, but I've been focusing hard on nutrition since my back issues flared up. I finally got a new blender too because I miss my morning spinach smoothies.

So yeah, we're rolling! Today is my first heavy lift day, so I'll update on that as it happens.

And I saw Age of Ultron last night. GO SEE IT.

[Kishi]

DUDE I KNOW RIGHT. I can't wait for the new Avengers gifs to come out. (and they will. Ohhhhh. They will).

 

Glad you're feeling better and that the kihon is on point. That is good. Sounds like you're getting ready to rock.

[Ilham]

Good luck with your exam, the date is approaching, I hope you'll be ready!

 

Edit: Sorry, I couldn't help but notice, in your signature, there's a little problem: 300 lbs isn't 90.8 kgs. 90 kilos are about 200 lbs, and 300 lbs are about 135 kilos. Which is actually your goal?

[smashmp]

Edit: Sorry, I couldn't help but notice, in your signature, there's a little problem: 300 lbs isn't 90.8 kgs. 90 kilos are about 200 lbs, and 300 lbs are about 135 kilos. Which is actually your goal?

Thanks for the catch! My original goal was 200 lbs. once I hit 205 and updated my lb goal to 300, I forgot to update the kg.

[smashmp]

Week 4 Update!

How did 4 weeks already fly by? Seriously...where the hell did they go?

Anyways, week 4 was stellar. Back pain is completely gone, and full mobility is back. On Sunday, I woke up crazy early (5 a.m.), made myself some chorizo and eggs cut down 24 trees in my yard. Not big pretty trees, I'm talking about those damn squirrels' buried acorns that sprouted. The previous owner of my house didn't take care of the yard. Did that from 7 a.m. to about noon.

Thursday and Saturday consisted of light lifting, just below bodyweight for squats and only 165 for deads so as not to anger the back. I'll be weakling back up to 205 for deads during week 5.

Now; for karate stuff...

Kata (heian nidan) is improving, but not quite where I'd like it. Gotta work a bit less on kihon now and focus on timing of each move. However, our instructor helped me tweak a few movements during week 4 and noted that the lower belts (literally myself and one other guy) had the most energy in our class.

I feel like I've forgotten something...hmm.

[Kishi]

They just tend to go quick with these challenges. The days crawl, the weeks fly.

 

Looks like it's been an interesting few weeks. Take this one at a steady pace. This week is when things tend to hit the fan the most, so be careful and take it all day by day.

[smashmp]

How in the raging hellfire is the challenge over?

 

Well, I suppose I should recap, eh?

 

Let's hit big picture first...

 

Main Quest:

• My squats are back in business! Still adding weight, and capped out around 145 lb, but that's a vast improvement since I wrecked my lower back a few weeks ago. On Sunday, 5/10/15, I completed 3 sets of 5 and, while tired, felt fantastic. I'm looking to push my sets to 5 if not 4 beginning tomorrow; we'll see how it goes.
• Kihon for karate is more or less solid, and I genuinely feel prepared for my exam. Last night's class was exhausting. I really like that our instructor focuses heavily on basics drills in the weeks leading up to testing, so it made my job surprisingly easy. I'd really like to keep up the 30 mins of kihon each day, as my endurance has improved ever-so-slightly as a result. So, yay there!
• My exam is Sunday 5/17/15...I'm nervous, but I feel prepared for it. I'll update once I find out my results (probably within another 2-3 weeks).

Life Quest: While I didn't quite memorize everything, I've gotten better. I still need a lot of work in this area.

[Ilham]

The challenge is over? No it isn't! It ends on the 25th!

[smashmp]

The challenge is over? No it isn't! It ends on the 25th!

I don't math well...that should be the next life quest! I totally thought it ended this week.

n00b lvl: expert

[Ilham]

I don't math well...that should be the next life quest! I totally thought it ended this week.

n00b lvl: expert

I had a good laugh . Sorry some cosmic joke keeps making me post in your thread every time you make a mistake - I would make a great sitcom boss. But yeah isn't it great? You still have 12 days to suffer meet your goals! ;D

[smashmp]

I had a good laugh . Sorry some cosmic joke keeps making me post in your thread every time you make a mistake - I would make a great sitcom boss. But yeah isn't it great? You still have 12 days to suffer meet your goals! ;D

Lol you're officially my mathematical accountabilibuddy. And that gives me 12 days to wreck keep up the good eating habits and study more Japanese.

[Ilham]

Lol you're officially my mathematical accountabilibuddy. And that gives me 12 days to wreck keep up the good eating habits and study more Japanese.

And I'll be there to haunt your dreams with metric conversions and calendar updates. I hope you didn't lose all motivation because you thought this ended, though. Keep at it! 

[smashmp]

I hope you didn't lose all motivation because you thought this ended, though. Keep at it!

Not at all!