lucky fire dragon is planting a garden of strength and flexibility

[lucky fire dragon]

Last round I had a delicious "un-challenge" that clearly showed me how much I treasure exercise and using the muscles and joiynts of my body every day. Really, if I do too little for just a few days I don't feel good any more and that is relatively new for me, but of course totally good

 

3x pole training per week are going well, but not enough (?!?! when did that happen??)

 

Spontaneous craziness had me sign up for an aerial hoop course over the next 5 weeks as well as (meaning hoop class on Wednesdays and pole class on Thursdays, plus 2x training at home on the pole) 

I am both super excited for it and a little terrified. But I'm sure it'll be great fun 

 

But as I do need some form of exercise every day and maybe not always full, full power I decided to tempt myself with little goodies spread out. Thanks to the game of pawns mini from last challenge I learned that if I do little snippets of something spread over the day, I can do a lot more than I would have thought and that, too, does feel realllllly good.

 

Sooo

 

this time I will make this "un-structure" my structure for 5 weeks and see how I go with it. Hopefully I will grow with it, gain strength, balance and flexibility with it and let it all bloom into a luscious garden of human heaven on earth

 

 

In order to plant this garden I will:

 

A, loosen the soil (+ 3 STA)

do anything that gets me to loosen up from sitting or standing too much 

such as jumping jacks, rope skipping, trampoline, non-habitual dancing, quadrupedal movements,...

aiming for 90 minutes/week and ideally doing something every day

 

 

B, plant the bulbs and seeds (+ 3 CON)

do things that get my hands on the ground

such as headstand, handstand, cartwheels (or attempts of them), down dog, crow pose,...

aiming for 20 minutes/week and ideally at least 2 min a day

 

 

C, let them grow (+ 3 STR)

get them to go UP by doing things like

pull ups, chin ups, leg raises, push ups, sit ups, bulgarian split squats,...

will count in units, 1 unit being 8 pull ups, 10 chin ups, 15 leg raises, 30 push ups, 30 sit ups or 20 bulgarian squats each leg

aiming for 10 units/week and of course ideally at least one day

 

 

D, let it unfold and bloom (+ 3 DEX)

this means stretching, either active or passive and relaxing into the stretch totally counts as well, point here is to give time - you can't rush the unfolding of a rose bud either - so at least 1 min per pose

aiming for 30 units/week and ideally at least 2 or 3 every day

 

 

E, give water and rest (+ 2 WIS, + 1 CHA)

inspired by other's early up challenges and enough sleep during night hours I will go for 

5 days/week of bed time before 10.30 pm and rising at 6.30 am or earlier

also have been generously given some colloidal gold, which seems to be quite a powerful support for all kinds of good things in the body, so I'll see if I will turn into a golden dragon then and have a spoon full every morning before breakfast 

plus as plants like things really fresh, clean and pure I won't have any alcohol over this challenge either

 

 

Plants respond very well to kind words and attention, so my bonus will be to feed myself with nourishing questions throughout my days:

 

If I wouldn't HAVE to do anything today, what would I love to do? (and do at least one of those things, it IS possible any day!!)

How can I be happy while this is in progress/while I do this?

What do I want to celebrate first/soon/today?

What amazing thing could happen today that I have yet no clue about?

What am I excited about today?

What would I love to have happening for me right now?

 

Apart from this, I WILL keep up better with my updating *super determined* and have already printed a spreadsheet for tracking my gardening activities (thank you SymphonicDan and Elizevdmerve!) And I WILL lurk less in the shadows of your threads and speak up more, maybe dropping some magical flower dust while I am there 

 

What else... 

won't do any before and after pics this time, can do it next time again, it's not all that important. I can see that I am getting slimmer and stronger so that is what counts, I am happy.

 

Oh, yes rewards!

 

Depending how well I do on my gardening I can unlock different stats and eventually rewards as follows:

 

A                                status                                   reward

0 - 90 min done         hard as rock

91 - 180 min              for very tough plants only

181 - 260 min            for tough plants only

261 - 330 min            for pioneers of all kinds

331 - 399 min            for bountiful mixtures           massage from hubby (his suggestion, so yay to that  )

400 -450 min             soil of Eden                          another massage from hubby 

 

 

B

0 - 24 min done         scarecrow

25 - 40 min                leprechaun

41 - 55 min                bulb buddy

56 - 70 min                dances with earthworms

71 - 85 min                master planter                     new yoga mat

86 - 100 min              rooted in heaven                 barefoot shoes

 

 

C

0 - 10 units                witch of the waste

11 - 20 units              droplets of green

21 - 30 units              sprouting strength

31 - 40 units              fields of growth                    movie night out (for assassiny inspiration)

41 - 50 units              fields of gold                        new pole shorts and top

 

 

D

0 - 34 min                  broomstick

35 - 59 min                bud baby

60 - 94 min                blooming rose

95 - 120 min              wind in the willows               special body lotion (something yummy, not sure yet what)  

121 - 150 min            bendy as ivy                        extra spa day with hubby

 

E 

0 - 9 days                  sleepy and hollow

10 - 13 days              breaking dawn

14 - 17 days              morning glow

18 - 21 days              morning star shine               chocolate pralines (because chocolate!!!)

22 - 25 days              shining bright                       restaurant night out with hubby

 

 

For accountability and extra motivation I will put my stats into my signature, so you can all see right where I am at 

This program is quite ambitious for me at present, but that is deliberate as firstly I had a yummy unchallenge AND a lazy, laaaaaazy two week holiday just now. Secondly some of the rewards do cost quite a bit of money and I want to feel good having "earned" them.

Last and foremost, I do want to get stronger, more nimble and keep a good balance overall and if I really do all these things, chances are gooood 

[Mad Hatter]

Wonderful challenge! Happy day 1!

[SymphonicDan]

Ooh, good to see you back for another challenge Maybe I should try the rewards for challenge success sometime... that could be a fun new dimension. Good luck for the next few weeks

[Mrs Van]

Found you! Love your challenge and I love those garden pictures with all the dragon statues. All the best.

[raptron]

Oooh, a new lucky fire dragon challenge! I LOVE how you molded these to a theme -- it's such a nice thought to think of your own strengths and habits as a garden. I look forward to hearing about hoop and as always, your awesome progressions in pole. 

[lucky fire dragon]

Wonderful challenge! Happy day 1!

 

yay, thanks for being here again and happy start to you too

 

 

Ooh, good to see you back for another challenge Maybe I should try the rewards for challenge success sometime... that could be a fun new dimension. Good luck for the next few weeks

Thanks! Yes, do that - ha, I will be sooo curious to see what you'll pick for rewards

 

 

Found you! Love your challenge and I love those garden pictures with all the dragon statues. All the best.

Yay, welcome on board and thanks! I find a nice theme does help my motivation and so do the images, and I really love dragons   

 

Oooh, a new lucky fire dragon challenge! I LOVE how you molded these to a theme -- it's such a nice thought to think of your own strengths and habits as a garden. I look forward to hearing about hoop and as always, your awesome progressions in pole. 

 

Thank you  I was really happy about that idea and am having a good start. But then week 1 is always full of motivation... Will update tomorrow and about hoop only on the day after due to self set curfew times at night  Soooo excited!!

[Airlia]

Hey Lucky Fire Dragon!!  Seems like it takes forever for me to find threads of the people I like to follow.  Love the garden theme!! It's not part of my challenge, but I'm spending a LOT of hours this summer trying to transform my yard from a weed infested wasteland to a lovely place of peace and relaxation.  Problem is I'm much better at working out there than I am at relaxing (haha).  And your rewards are great!  I tend to shop when the mood strikes, but I think having specific rewards directly tied to accomplishments is a great idea! 

[lucky fire dragon]

Hey Lucky Fire Dragon!!  Seems like it takes forever for me to find threads of the people I like to follow.  Love the garden theme!! It's not part of my challenge, but I'm spending a LOT of hours this summer trying to transform my yard from a weed infested wasteland to a lovely place of peace and relaxation.  Problem is I'm much better at working out there than I am at relaxing (haha).  And your rewards are great!  I tend to shop when the mood strikes, but I think having specific rewards directly tied to accomplishments is a great idea! 

 

I feel you on finding the threads of people, same here! But we just started and will still find all of them Wow, can I have you work in my garden too please? I promise to do the enjoyment part for you

Because my workouts unfortunately don't magically transform my jungle of a garden into paradise just yet (wouldn't that be nice if it worked like that )

 

Sometimes rewards aren't important to me at all, as I too by the things I want when I want them, but then again there are things I might not allow myself that easily or feel they aren't necessarily justified, so this is a nice motivation right now.

 

Thanks for being part of my journey again!

[katniss]

Beautiful challenge, following along and good luck to you

[lucky fire dragon]

So in order to keep my "curfew" and get well rested - which I neeeeeeed - I will keep this short, but I wanted to rave quickly how much fun the first Hoop lesson was yesterday and how excited I am.

 

It started challenging because the book that I had finished editing and all last challenge came fresh from the printer (1000 copies) and I got to carry 930 kg of books in total from our garage into the house - hooray on having them and woot for my arms managing to store them all. I decided that every two boxes carried (about 20kg) would count for one push up equivalent and therefore 57 push ups got entered into yesterdays gardening record

 

So that gave me a little tired arms to start my hoop lesson but nevertheless I managed nearly everything we learned and it was sooooo cool!!! We did Delilah, straddle pike and normal pike and Mermaid and I managed them all   They look so elegant, it is simply beautiful.

They still added something called candlestick at the end, but I was too tired and couldn't manage anymore.

I mean everything you do before you can hook one or two feet in is like a chin up all the time! And going up into sitting from hanging on your knees looks so much easier that it is, too. But I managed and sat for at least a minute in sheer bliss before having the head to do more from there.

 

It was awesome and I will look for pics on the net to show you a bit better tomorrow... now of course I wish I had a hoop at home to train more often, lol

But maybe it's a good thing for my poor hands, which got some blisters at the base of the fingers, if I am forced to take it slow...

 

And I also realized, I have learned so much on the pole already and am enjoying it so much, I wouldn't just want to give that up either. It's both really cool. 

 

In pole lesson today we thankfully did a lot of leg work with climbing high in pretty ways, playing with supergirl, knee hangback release from there. It was great fun even though we all sweated like mad on a very humid day.

 

Now I am officially flattened and will call it a day and sleep well 

Especially as I did do 101 box jumps to help against the troll in our mini challenge - that last one for just for added motivation, like a take that Troll!!  - I have to laugh at myself how competitive I can be at times and how loyalty to a team really kicks me into action. Am grateful for that and for our guild leaders crafting these minis for us, it makes me do things I normally wouldn't.

 

So sleep tight and/or have a glorious day all around. May the stars shine bright upon you!

 

[lucky fire dragon]

Beautiful challenge, following along and good luck to you

 

Yay, welcome back and thank you! Same to you, I am actually following you already, just haven't yet gotten to tell you and speak up

[Mrs Van]

Wow, awesome hoop stuff. So glad you like it! I also did a bit of box (stump) jumping just now, and guess we can go back later and do some more?

 

Congrats on all those books! Are you going to send it to the writer? How does it work now?

[lucky fire dragon]

It was just as I thought it would be - by this morning the box jumps were done and over with! Good thing I managed last night still

But I got to do quite a few side kicks for adding my efforts today. Other than that I did not do a single thing today as I was simply unbelievably tired.

 

Well I worked a bit and had some family things going on, but no exercise at all and that was good.

 

I co-operate with the author in being the one who not only translates, but also gets the German copies of her books printed and sold. So now comes the happy part of packing up the books already ordered from people who were waiting for it (some bookstores and other people who sell on and others just for themselves) and getting it out in general.

There are quite a lot of pre-orders waiting and as the author is coming to Germany this summer to lead a 5 day retreat here, we will sell a lot of those books soon - yay. 

So I get to build up a wall of storage at home and then watch it "melt away" as they sell. I love that part

[lucky fire dragon]

Here are the pics of the aerial hoop things I got to play with on Wednesday. The pics are taken from the net, I might be able to record myself in a few weeks time at our last lesson and then I can share my own (yay)

 

Here is mermaid (not me here)

 

 

delilah, which we also did with the other arm and/or leg stretched out and then with free hand holding on to free foot... so many options to play with here: (again not me here)

 

 

fun things like this one: (not me)

 

 

and the same with hands wide and legs in the middle together stretched out (pike) plus of course to get into the hoop and then look cool like this

(me - just kidding)

 

pro-tip: in order to look cool you should maybe not freak too much when you finally managed to get there   

[katniss]

Wow, now I want to do hoops too, that looks totally awesome! I hear you on being tired, we all need rest in there here and there.

[Mad Hatter]

Beautiful lines!

[SymphonicDan]

Ooh, the hoop moves look pretty fun - glad you enjoyed doing them For how many weeks/sessions is your class? As it happens in another tab of my browser I already have a course list for the local circus group, including hoop! I'm probably too busy for it though in terms of needing recovery time

 

How does it compare to the pole classes you were doing recently? Are you still learning pole?

[lucky fire dragon]

Wow, now I want to do hoops too, that looks totally awesome! I hear you on being tired, we all need rest in there here and there.

 

lol, all the shiny things, right? I wouldn't mind trying out silks... aaaaah the beauty of having so many options

 

 

Beautiful lines!

 

yes, but it's not me, so I can't take any credit... don't have any pics of my own yet, so I "borrowed" from the net.

But the poses do have beautiful lines and once you are in them that is the easier part. Already excited for the next lesson next week.

 

 

Ooh, the hoop moves look pretty fun - glad you enjoyed doing them For how many weeks/sessions is your class? As it happens in another tab of my browser I already have a course list for the local circus group, including hoop! I'm probably too busy for it though in terms of needing recovery time

 

How does it compare to the pole classes you were doing recently? Are you still learning pole?

 

Thanks, I do enjoy them The class goes over six week with one lesson a week, but I won't be able to attend the last one as I am on retreat then. But I can catch it up in a later course, so no loss. It is great fun, yet in a very different way to the pole classes I go to. Yes, I am still learning pole and won't stop either. Now that I can do the basics this well, the fun is just really beginning and it has a momentum that I won't have with hoop for quite a while yet. Also it's different and I can't really put my finger on it yet, just now I really, really like both a LOT!!

Hoop is definitely more circus style, while Pole has more dancing moves (though that might still come with hoop). In terms of recovery I find Hoop taxing the upper body a lot more while pole is a more overall workout. Hoop gives me less bruises though  

I could well imagine with all the upper strength you have from your rings and handstand training that you would do well on the hoops and might not need as much recovery as you might think! Give it a try - it's a lot of fun. Turning your world upside down, moving out of comfort zones in a whole lot of ways and like a whole new play-park 

[lucky fire dragon]

worked out in my actual garden today and found some actually really rock hard soil to loosen (how appropriate), but as my hubby worked through our compost heap today, I had plenty of fresh, rich soil to add to the loosened ones and planted some bright, beautiful new flowers I bought today.

Thinking how blessed I am to have the money to just go out and buy flowers, just because - and what do I get on my return at home? A letter from the electricity company saying we payed too much last year and they will give us money back!! And it's more than I spent today, how cool is that, whoohoo

 

 

Another big win: upon testing my AMRAPS for our mini I have finally managed my third chin-up, woot woot

 

Also upped my push ups to 15, leg raises to 11 (and that one more is a big woot) and bulgarian split squats to 25 each leg. All in all a great day!

Oh, and I brought the new books to the local book store who sell them and they were super happy to finally have them, that too feels awesome. So happy dragon here, keep watching the gif, if you wanna know how I'm doing today

 

Wishing you all an as amazing day with many wins!

[karinajean]

Super congrats on the AMRAP gains! Also following, BC us gryffindarlings need to stick together.

[Mad Hatter]

LOL that's what happens when I skim through posts on my tiny phone screen. I'm sure your lines are just as pretty though.

 

 

Ooh, the hoop moves look pretty fun - glad you enjoyed doing them For how many weeks/sessions is your class? As it happens in another tab of my browser I already have a course list for the local circus group, including hoop! I'm probably too busy for it though in terms of needing recovery time

 

With your strength I don't think you'd suffer that much from recovery time, at least not at first. The tricky thing with hoop is that it's an apparatus where a lot of tricks require a high degree of flexibility to look good. And a high pain threshold. Something to work on. But it is really fun! Wheeee spinning!

[lucky fire dragon]

Super congrats on the AMRAP gains! Also following, BC us gryffindarlings need to stick together.

 

 

Awww, you are very much darling and I am thrilled to have you pop by! I often really enjoy your comments on people's threads, how cool to have you here

Gryffindarlings will stick together for sure, will pop over to yours asap!

[lucky fire dragon]

LOL that's what happens when I skim through posts on my tiny phone screen. I'm sure your lines are just as pretty though.

 

 

 

With your strength I don't think you'd suffer that much from recovery time, at least not at first. The tricky thing with hoop is that it's an apparatus where a lot of tricks require a high degree of flexibility to look good. And a high pain threshold. Something to work on. But it is really fun! Wheeee spinning!

 

Thanks, I wouldn't know as I was too busy holding on to look closely in the mirror

 

Am very tempted to get one for at home though and then I could record and improve from there... looking all over the house now pondering "where would be a possible spot???" Is that crazy?

Hubby has resigned to my eccentrics already, but insists that wherever I end up mounting it, I'll have to get a proper mat underneath for safety. While I feel I'd rather need that for upside down things on the pole rather than the hoop lol but however it probably is a good idea to get anyway.

 

How much experience do you have on hoop? So great to have someone with experience tell me more - you really do do ALL THE THINGS, don't you Love it! 

[lucky fire dragon]

 

 

Summary Week 1

 

wow, I can't believe it has only been one week! Coming back from holiday (2 weeks of doing sweet nothing at all) and diving fully back into work etc has made this week quite intense for me, but there is nothing I would have wanted to leave out either

 

Hoop class on Wednesday was awesome fun and I am so proud of what I managed already - super excited for the next class this Wed

Pole class on Thursday was great, even though I couldn't move an inch without the aid of my towel (I don't think I ever sweated this much). We are doing nice climbing variations, cleaning up our supergirl pose and cross-knee release needs to be brought back to memory as I hadn't done it in a while... all in all great class and the best part is I have one of my old dance friends in the group again, yay!

 

Strength training for the mini went okay, even though I felt soooooo tired during the second half of the week. Still I pulled through and now after a nice weekend am fully motivated for week 2

 

The resting part needs some fine-tuning still, I struggle with making my curfew and adapted it now to 10.30 pm that seems more realistic. Still, in the past months I often only went to sleep after 11pm or even round midnight and I had none of that, so yay on that too. Plus I managed my early morning on every workday 

 

A, loosen the soil (+ 3 STA)

Monday - 5 min trampoline, 5 min running up and down the stairs 

Tuesday - 3 min rope skipping, 2 min Jumping Jacks

Wednesday - 10 min of various activities that actively kept me on my toes

Thursday - 10 warm up and cool down at pole, 5 min non-hab dancing, 10 min box jumps for mini

Friday - 10 min side kicks for mini

Saturday - 15 min various things (gardening kept me very busy for 90 min or more, but as it wasn't all active movement, I'll count it for 15 at least)

Sunday - 25 min of wretched parkour rolls, boy am I glad those are over   

 

Total of 105 minutes which makes the ground ready for some very tough plants, yay 

 

 

B, plant the bulbs and seeds (+ 3 CON)

Monday - 2.5 min on feet-up

Tuesday - 2 min feet up, 1 min in headstand

Wednesday - 90 sec headstand, 90 sec downward facing dog

Thursday - 3 min legs up wall (I was super tired), 2 min down dog

Friday - 2 min active headstand training

Saturday - 2 min down dog

Sunday - 5.5 min in headstand on feet-up, 2 min active headstand training

 

Total of 25 minutes which turns me from scarecrow into leprechaun, yay   

 

C, let them grow (+ 3 STR)

Monday - 8 pull ups, 2 chin ups, 12 push ups, 20 bulgarian split squats each leg, 10 leg raises

Tuesday - 20 leg raises, 24 push ups

Wednesday - 114 book boxes = 57 push ups, 10 pull ups, 10 chin ups

Thursday - 8 push ups

Friday - nada

Saturday - 15 push ups, 6 chin ups, 11 leg raises, 15 bulgarian split squats each leg

Sunday - 3 chin ups, 1 pull up, 11 leg raises, 15 sit ups, 17 push ups

 

Total of 19 pull ups (2 units + 3), 21 chin ups (2 units +1), 133 push ups (4 units +13), 45 bulgarian split squats (2 units +5), 52 leg raises (3 units +7) and 15 sit ups

So with 13 units done I am moving into "droplets of green" hooray   

 

D, let it unfold and bloom (+ 3 DEX)

Stretching went well, I love it a lot, just need to make time for it - did over the week days 5 min / 9 min / 3 min / 7 min / 4 min / 0 / 9 min (can you tell it's weekend? lol)

Total of 37 minutes gets me from broomstick to bud baby   

 

 

E, give water and rest (+ 2 WIS, + 1 CHA)

had my gold water every single morning and no alcohol despite barbecue night and outdoor festival, so yay on that

did get up 5x before 6.30 am, but even with today went to bed on 4 days only at 10.30 pm max... room for improvement here!

Total of 4 days done will keep me at "sleepy and hollow" for now

 

Am happy to have caught up with quite a few of my fellow assassins around here already and will catch up on more over the next week. Thanks so much for your presence here!! 

 

Wishing you all a fantastic start into the new week, LET'S ROCK IT 

 

[lucky fire dragon]

oh, and I had a delicious awesome pole home training today.

 

Going from ugh, why can't I do ANYTHING today to doing things I have never managed before, odd mixture yet very happy