Jrosto - A Barbarian Pulls His Own Weight

[jrosto]

This 6 Week Challenge will basically be a continuation of the last one.  Gaining skillz, strength, and Assassin Badassery.

 

Main Quest for 2015: Do a pull up all the way to my transplant scar. 

Main Quest for This Six Week Challenge:  I've had the goal of doing a pull up all the way to my scar on my list for months now, yet I still have not achieved even a simple pull up.  That has to change.  I have 6 weeks to get it done, and I will have a pull up completed by the end of this challenge.

 

SMART Quests:

 

1.  Pull my own Weight: This one is easy, pass or fail.  I will do at least one, Tactical Hollow Body Pull Up.  (+1 Str, +1 Con)

 

Grading my success by the end of the six weeks.

 

A = Complete at least one Tactical Hollow Body Pull Up.

 

F = Not going to happen.

 

2.  Keep Calm and Carry On: An Assassin must be able to control his thoughts and breath. Continue working on box breathing, working up to 10 second boxes to improve breathing and focus.  Incorporate other forms of meditation into the program at least once/week.  This can be an Aikido Guided Meditation vid or a guided meditation app.  (+1 Sta, +1 Wis)

 

Grading my success by the end of the six weeks.

 

A = Perform breathing and meditation exercises an average of 5 times/week.

 

B = Perform breathing and meditation exercises an average of 4 times/week.

 

C = Perform breathing and meditation exercises an average of 3 times/week.

 

F= Anything less.

 

3.  Learn a New Skill: I would like to continue practicing rock climbing.  I really enjoyed starting this quest during the last challenge.   I will visit the local Indoor Climbing Center at least three times during this Challenge. (+1 Sta, +1 Wis)

 

A = 3 visits to the climbing center.

 

B= 2 visits to the climbing center.

 

C= 1 visit to the climbing center.

 

F= 0 visits to the climbing center.

 

4.  A Barbarian’s Got to do What a Barbarian’s Got to do: I will continue to perform the Simple and Sinister workout 5 times a week  I need to continue to progress towards owning the Simple portion of the program..  This includes at least one set of the warm up exercises, 10 sets of 10 one hand kettlebell swings with a 24 kg kettlebell and 5 sets of 1 (per arm) Turkish Get Ups with a 20 kg kettlebell, and the final stretching exercises. (+1 Str, +1 Dex, +1 Sta, +1 Cha)

 

Grading my success by the end of the six weeks.

 

A = Performing 10 sets of 10 one hand kettlebell swings with a 24 kg kettlebell and 5 sets of 1 (per arm) Turkish Get Ups with a 20 kg kettlebell.

 

B = Performing less than 10 sets of 10 one hand kettlebell swings with a 24 kg kettlebell and 5 sets of 1 (per arm) Turkish Get Ups with a 20 kg kettlebell.

 

C = 90% participation with 100% effort (100% participation = once every 5 days).

 

F= less than 90% participation.

 

Note:  StrongFirst may be performing a KB Swing research project.  If I participate in this project, the project will take priority over these goals.  I will post new goals at that time that will be inline with the project.

 

5. Mini Quests: For me, the weekly Assassin Mini Quests are an important part of these 6 Week Challenges.  I will continue to support the team to the very best of my ability during this one

 

Reward for Successful Completion of This Challenge: 

 

I have not yet decided on this challenge's reward.  I'll update when I do .

 

Motivation: On January 1^st, 2015 I received a life saving double lung transplant.  I have to honor the family that gave me the gift of these lungs.  On what is most likely the worst day of their lives they made the decision to help others.  Words cannot express just how much my family and I appreciate this gift. They gave us a future.

 

 

I need to take care of these lungs and this body to the very best of my ability.

 

Here's to an awesome Challenge my Rebel friends!

[jrosto]

Pink Team Mini Challenges:

 

Super Mario Assassin All-Stars: Level 1:  + .2 DEX

 

I cooked a Breakfast Stuffed Acorn Squash.

 

Super Mario Assassin All-Stars: Level 2: +1 WIS

 

I did 200 Bear Crawls

 

Super Mario Assassin All-Stars: Level 3:

 

I cooked a Beet - Sweet Potato - Bacon Hash.

 

Super Mario Assassin All-Stars: Level 4: +1 CON

 

I did a 3 min plank, a 1:40 right side plant, a 1:40 left side plank and a 20 sec plank.

 

Super Mario Assassin All-Stars: Level 5: +1 STR

 

I did 120 scapular pulls and 83 negative/assisted pull ups.

 

Super Mario Assassin All-Stars: Level 6:

 

I cooked Pomegranate Syrup. 

 

 

Week in Review:

 

Week 1

 

Week 2

 

Week 3

 

Week 4

 

Week 5

 

Week 6

 

Challenge Wrap Up

[KB Girl]

Why change a winning tactic? I'll be here, rooting for that pull-up! How are you training for it? You must have mentioned it, but I forgot. 

[Lightning]

Oooh, you have some solid goals once again.  I love to include the Assassin Mini into my challenges too!  They keep me motivated which is something that will be tested with the cold weather and holidays coming my way.  

Maybe we will be on the same team this time   !

[ninjakitten]

New challenge, old stalking behaviour.  

 

An awesome new challenge to you as well! 

[RES]

Following along again

Sent from the handheld device that holds all of my friends

[Riverleaf]

Looks great!

[jrosto]

Why change a winning tactic? I'll be here, rooting for that pull-up! How are you training for it? You must have mentioned it, but I forgot. 

 

I haven't come up with a firm plan, my old one wasn't progressing as expected.  I'll likely do assisteds every two to three days.  I have a session with my kettlebell trainer tomorrow morning, I'll ask him for some ideas.

 

Oooh, you have some solid goals once again.  I love to include the Assassin Mini into my challenges too!  They keep me motivated which is something that will be tested with the cold weather and holidays coming my way.  

Maybe we will be on the same team this time   !

 

It would be cool to be on the same mini team

 

New challenge, old stalking behaviour.

 

An awesome new challenge to you as well! 

 

Thanks

 

Following along again

Sent from the handheld device that holds all of my friends

 

 

Looks great!

 

Thank you.

[Urgan]

My man, jrosto...let's do this thing!

[AthenaMM]

To Assassin Badassery!

[KB Girl]

I haven't come up with a firm plan, my old one wasn't progressing as expected.  I'll likely do assisteds every two to three days.  I have a session with my kettlebell trainer tomorrow morning, I'll ask him for some ideas.

Alright! I'm interested to hear what he comes up with.

[Urgan]

I haven't come up with a firm plan, my old one wasn't progressing as expected.  I'll likely do assisteds every two to three days.  I have a session with my kettlebell trainer tomorrow morning, I'll ask him for some ideas.

 

If I may humbly suggest a progression that made the rounds last challenge, you may have already seen it... http://twentypullups.com/intitial-test/

[blkhole24601]

A lot of challenges focused on relaxing this time around! It's like we Assassins are busybodies or something.

 

Here for dis, as always!

[jrosto]

Had an awesome session with my kettlebell trainer this morning.  Ready for a list of PR's we set?

 

I'll start with the easy ones, these are PR's pretty much because I hadn't tried them before.

 

One hand KB deadlift - 28 kg, One set of 5 with each hand.

 

Two hand KB deadlift - 48 kg, Two sets of 5.

 

Now for the good stuff

 

One hand swing - 24 kg, Two sets of 5 with each hand.

 

Two hand swing - 32 kg, Two sets of 5.

 

I can swing 32 kg  That is way cool.  I also showed that I can start progressing my one hand swings to 24 kg.  We'll see how my time goes on Saturday before I make that decision, but it does feel great to know that I can 'swing it'

 

We also did a lot of work with lighter 'bells.  One hand swings switching hands with the 20 kg 'bell, and a couple interesting drills with a 12 kg KB that I've seen, but never tried.  I did one set of 20 swings (2 hand) as fast as I could with the trainer pushing down on the 'bell at the top of the swing.  Then a set of 10, just to see how it felt, with a light resistance band to get the same effect.  

 

He worked me hard, and I exceeded my expectations.  These monthly sessions are well worth the expense, and the I35 construction traffic.

 

We tried several different pull up progression ideas, looking for what would work for me.  Turns out what I've been resisting the most may be the best help.  Assistance bands.  I'm going to cycle assistance bands in with negative pull ups for this next challenge and see how that works.  I think it will really help.  Being able to complete the entire movement, even with a band, should help get things going.

 

I'm getting very excited about this next challenge, should see some great gains

[jrosto]

If I may humbly suggest a progression that made the rounds last challenge, you may have already seen it... http://twentypullups.com/intitial-test/

 

I saw that during the last challenge and almost committed to it, but the progressions would seriously kick my butt and would have affected my other goals.  It is on my radar for the future, but after I can get some pull ups done.

[Urgan]

 

Had an awesome session with my kettlebell trainer this morning.  Ready for a list of PR's we I set?

 

FIFY. Well done!

 

 

I saw that during the last challenge and almost committed to it, but the progressions would seriously kick my butt and would have affected my other goals.  It is on my radar for the future, but after I can get some pull ups done.

 

That makes perfect sense, priorities are key. Maybe another challenge, then.

[KB Girl]

Congrats on those wicked PRs! It's always so lovely to move up a bell.

The problem with resistance bands is that you don't train the bottom of the movement much, since that is where you are getting the most assistance. And it's usually the hardest part of the movement.. So make sure you pay some special attention to that area during negatives.

[jrosto]

Congrats on those wicked PRs! It's always so lovely to move up a bell.

The problem with resistance bands is that you don't train the bottom of the movement much, since that is where you are getting the most assistance. And it's usually the hardest part of the movement.. So make sure you pay some special attention to that area during negatives.

 

Thanks

 

The 'bottom of the movement' issue is why I didn't want to use bands at all.  I'll still do my hollow body dead hangs and definitely work the bottom of the pull during the negatives.

[blkhole24601]

YAY! Congrats on the PRs!!!!!

[ElemHH]

I missed the last challenge, but I'll be following along for this one.

[jrosto]

YAY! Congrats on the PRs!!!!!

 

Thanks, I'm still pretty pumped about being able to swing the 32 kg 'bell.  I was a bit worried about jumping 8 kilos, but that session proved that I could do it.  That'll save me some money, I don't have to by a 28 kg KB

 

I missed the last challenge, but I'll be following along for this one.

 

Glad you are back ElemHH,  I still use that image you shared with me as a major motivation

 

Today is Saturday, and Saturdays are when I test my progress with the kettlebell swing.  On Saturdays I only rest until my heart rate drops to 100 BPM in between sets.  Today I got ten sets of 10 one hand swings with 20 kg done in 15:52.  That's over a minute and a half faster than last Saturday.  I was hoping to be sub 15 minutes, but there were a couple of times my HR just sat there at 101 BPM for what seemed like forever.  I could of started another set then, but that would have skewed the data.  And if you've been reading my past few challenges, you know how much I value data

 

My Turkish Get Ups were kind of strange today.  Get Ups with 16 kg felt way light, with 20 kg felt way heavy.  Today I did a rep from each side with 16 - 20 - 20 - 16 - 16  kg.  I really expected to get in three sets with the 20 kg KB, but thought better of it after that second set.  We'll give it a shot again Monday

 

Under the spoiler tab is a fundraiser for one of our granddaughters.  She's the one who likes to workout with me and thinks it's funny that I had such a hard time achieving a good Goblet Squat.  She's also ran a Tough Mudder already

 

 

 

You can share your voting link with friends and family via Facebook, Email, Twitter etc. Votes will be $1 with a $5 minimum and 100% of proceeds will benefit Kidd's Kids. 

People can vote as many times as they like before voting closes on October 31st, 2015 at 11:59:59PM.

The top 13 families with the most votes will be featured in the Enchanted Fairies 2016 Calendar benefitting Kidd's Kids. The 1 family with the most votes will be featured as the cover of the calendar and win a $10,000 prize package. The next 12 families with the most votes will represent one of the 12 months on the calendar and win some incredible prizes!

We have raised over $75,000.00 for Kidd's Kids since August 2014 from photo sessions alone!

You're amazing, and from the bottom of our hearts we thank you!

Have a Magical Day & Good Luck from Enchanted Fairies!

 

Making short ribs for dinner tonight (and several other nights next week).  I love Fall and Winter cooking.  We can fire up the oven without stressing the AC

 

 

[obax]

Awesome goals again (I too need to get out my thesaurus to find an awesome word for awesome )

 

Have you ever tried scapular pulls to help with the bottom of the pullup? It's essentially the very first movement of a pullup, and apparently often a weak point for a lot of people. Essentially what you're doing is hanging from the bar, then pulling yourself up a few inches without using your arm muscles, only your lats. It's the movement that gets you started and gives you the power to get through the whole motion. Or at least that's the idea, I have yet to succeed at a pullup. I did find these helpful, though, and after training these for a while I really felt like I was making progress towards a pullup. Alas, injuries have set me back, but it was a good thing at the time.

 

Anyway, if you're interested here's a link that gives you the basics. I'm certain a bit of googling would find you some info that goes into more details about how it relates to pullups.

 

Also, mmmmmmm, short ribs....... I'm maybe drooling a bit right now..........

[AthenaMM]

I'm very impressed with your PR's!

 

I also know what you mean about being able to use the oven finally! We replaced the A/C this past year and this was the first summer it didn't crap out on the really, really hot days.

[jrosto]

Obax, yep, I've been doing the scapular pulls into a hollow body dead hang for awhile now.  Dumbbell rows (with a KB of course), inverted rows and negatives.  I could probably do more of the negatives.

 

Once my bands get here I will come up with a routine that includes bands, negatives and the scapular pulls/hollow body dead hang.

 

The short ribs turned out pretty great.  Very tender and at least 3 meals worth of food  I subbed coconut flour for the flour and it worked well.  I'm not sure how well it would work with a dish that was more dependent on a good roux, but worked ok for this one.

 

Today is a rest day before this challenge gets rolling...  Can't wait to see what our illustrious Guild Leader has in store for us

[Suzaqu]

I'm definitely following this challenge! I decided last week that I wanted to be able to do pull ups, so I'm here to learn! Also short ribs. I rechristened our oven with some focaccia this weekend, yay cold weather!