lucky fire dragon pulls through

[lucky fire dragon]

Lucky fire dragon pulls through

 

As I am going through rough waters and lots of changes at work right now and it has taken over much of my life temporarily, this challenge will see me stay grounded, strong and clear through all of it, rise to new freedom and JOY and whatever else blessings are arising from this.

 

I'll keep my challenge very simple - like REALLY simple - I will have two goals only

 

30 days of gravity - every single day

 

stick to the 30 day program by darebee to keep me strong and nimble, plus Gravity = solid ground, so what could be better during the times of change

 

Taking part in the mini challenge - every part of it

 

this will lead on into the next challenge as well which suits me fine as I feel by then I will be a lot more present on here again anyway and can enjoy it even more

For now it will be, like the 30 days of gravity, something to kick me into small units of action often, so that I keep my muscles awake and healthy. It's also a great tension release from all the work related question marks and shifts...

 

Oh, I do have a third goal, of course

 

Train at least 2x / week on the pole, bonus points for a third time

 

This is half of what I had scheduled during the last challenge, but considering how little I managed during the last two weeks, it seems more encouraging, because I might manage that

 

Level 2+ is challenging me big time (and I love it) and I will only catch on if I also train the actual pole moves and not "just" basic bodyweight exercises.

 

So that's it

 

Let's flyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, everyone 

 

[Fridelisan]

Oh, another poler! Hello there! 

 

 

I really like your goals! Totally following

[Happienumber]

Can't wait to see how things go!

Sent from the void

[annyshay]

[Lightning]

There she is!!!!

 

Since my kids have gotten me hooked on Pokemon, I am giving you a Garchomp.  He is a ground/dragon type.  Just like you!!

 

[Priscillia]

 

I went looking for cool dragon gifs and saw baby dragons.  That's my excuse.  Hope the work changes workout for you

[SymphonicDan]

Ooh, here you are! You should link your challenge on your old thread so we can find you

 

Good challenge - it's clear that you're working on so much other stuff at the moment that you wouldn't keep up with a challenge that requires lots of thought and self-motivation, but this will keep you in good form for as long as you need. Good luck

[karinajean]

hi! in for February!

[lucky fire dragon]

Oh, another poler! Hello there! 

 

 

I really like your goals! Totally following

 

 

Thanks. Always excited to meet new polers   will be following right back at you

 

 

Can't wait to see how things go!

Sent from the void

 

Things are actually going well, yay. Did have a bit of a gap half-way through the first week but sneakily caught up on weekend and while at other times I would have called that cheating right now I am proud of keeping up at all, so I'm calling it a win

 

Summary week 1 coming...

 

 

 thanks, Lady of the Shayr!

[Mrs Van]

I'm here! Going to catch up to all the awesome just now...

[lucky fire dragon]

There she is!!!!

 

Since my kids have gotten me hooked on Pokemon, I am giving you a Garchomp.  He is a ground/dragon type.  Just like you!!

 

 

That is very cool, thanks - I llllllike it

 

 

 

I went looking for cool dragon gifs and saw baby dragons.  That's my excuse.  Hope the work changes workout for you

 

  all the gorgeous dragon gifs, squeeee

 

Happy for any excuse that brings you by

 

Yes, work changes are starting to get clearer and whatever it will look like in the end will be good for me, so my happiness is right back on and time will open up again as well - thanks!

 

 

Ooh, here you are! You should link your challenge on your old thread so we can find you

 

Good challenge - it's clear that you're working on so much other stuff at the moment that you wouldn't keep up with a challenge that requires lots of thought and self-motivation, but this will keep you in good form for as long as you need. Good luck

 

yes, I know and meant to do it, but then .... I didn't. Now I did

Still pretty much in stalking mode and put this up as a first step for getting back on track here and for accountability, which is working well.

 

Yes, that was exactly the idea and I gotta say, those darebee workouts are NOT to be underestimated   I thought if I do them Level 1 "only" I'll be fine and just have something to keep me going, but wow, Level 1 is taxing already!!

So, it will keep me in good form AND get me stronger, ROAR

 

Thanks

 

 

hi! in for February!

 

Hi Gryffindarling

 

 

we can do dis!!

[lucky fire dragon]

I'm here! Going to catch up to all the awesome just now...

 

Yayyy!!! Not much updated to catch up with yet. Coming...

 

Even more to catch up still on all you lovelies

I am a Lady Magician from the Isle of Fire Dragon?? Love it! Magic is exactly what is woven at work right now and it's coming along. Might soon be back fully again on here, squeeeeeeeeee

 

[Mrs Van]

You are THE Lady Magician of the Isle of Fire Dragon. You're in charge and you fly dragons (or hippogriffs).

[lucky fire dragon]

[lucky fire dragon]

Summary Week 1

 

Am so used to thinking in weeks, and it just works so well for me, that even though the challenges run less than four weeks, I'll just keep this format a little longer for myself - total rebel, I know

 

Pole workouts done 2/2

30 days of Gravity done 6/7 details below

mini challenge - AMRAPS tested on beginner shrimp squats (35 on left leg and 42 on right) and Standard Push Ups (8 and I am damn proud of those as I am going really low nowadays, not just with moving my neck forward )

 

The Pole training is challenging me big time still and what is adding to it, is that my right hand wrist started giving me trouble after more intense training sessions. It might be the combination with push ups before, might be lots of lower arm grip use, where I found out yesterday my left arm is more solid and straight on the pole whereas I leave a bigger gap under the wrist with my right arm and also have a tiny twist in... will keep an eye on that and try to change that habit and will give the wrists a total rest day today, maybe tomorrow as well until they are better again

With push ups I have to watch out that I don't lean so much onto my wrists as push into the finger tips rather. Again something I do better on my left side than on my right - yet my right arm is stronger and I have a suspicion I unconsciously lean more weight onto it... complex stuff this

 

Anyway, I recorded some of my current pole battles for progress documentation, so you can soon watch me sweat Don't expect too much smiling, even though I wouldn't want to swap it for anything else!!

 

30 days of gravity:

 

ahahaha, my daily goal is not going super smooth yet, but I am hanging on, so yay on that

 

Monday I did Day 1

60 reps of lunge step ups

60 reps side leg raises

60 squats

then 3 sets of wall sits to failure: 65 sec, 62 sec, 60 sec

 

Tuesday I did nada

 

Wednesday I did Day 2

Part 1: 3 sets each of 

20 side to side backfists

20 raised arm circles

20 sec raised arm hold

deceiving those are!! First set you think easy peasy, second set not so much and third set wow. Maybe I should have been less impatient and taken the up to 2min breaks between sets... as it was I didn't take any break until after the third set, so I guess it's my own fault for being buggered

Part 2: 3 sets of push ups till failure

5 (elbows close) 6 and 4 (elbows out) - this time I did take breaks!!

 

Thursday I did Day 3

3 sets of

6 flutter kicks

6 scissor legs

10 sec raised leg hold

6 flutter kicks 

6 leg circles

10 sec raised leg hold

 

took short breaks between sets, so I am learning...

 

Friday and Saturday I did nada

 

So Sunday I did Day 4, 5 and 6 and then went training on the pole...  did not need no warmup no more lol

 

Day 4 was flexibility, so yay on that

back stretches

toe touches

hip flexors in a wide lunge step, each side

100 half jumping jacks and then 2 min side splits (which are not very low at all with me, but that's not what it's about right?)

 

Day 5 abs and core

3 sets of

10 plank arm raises

10 plank leg raises

10 body saw reps

5 up and down planks from elbows to hands and back

 

impatient me skipped the breaks again, too much to do that day... maybe I should have taken those few minutes, it just seems such a waste of time at the time and wheezing through set 3 is not that bad, who am I kidding, those things are so much more nasty than they seem!

 

Part 2: 1 min plank (usually I could do more, but not that day and I wanted to keep some strength for pole...)

 

Day 6 

3 sets of

40 side to side backfists

40 scissor chops (arms up and down)

40 scissors (arms horizontal)

 

Part 2: Push ups to failure timed and rest time = time it took to do set

8 - 30 sec

4 - 17 sec

3 - 14 sec

 

All in all I'd say week 1 went well enough. Aiming for week 2 to keep up or be better, am told I am a magician so let's do all the STRENGTH MAGIC!!!

 

[Starstuff]

Awesome job! That's the second Pink Puma video I've seen this week; I think I have a new fitness hero (and hair hero, omg).

[annyshay]

Damn. That is some strength magic.

[Fridelisan]

Seems like you've been working hard with your strength the last week. Wow. Keep it up!

 

So looking forward to seeing your pole stuff! With that strength you're working on, you'll be super badass, I'm sure!

 

Btw, pink puma is so great! And I love these  performances that isn't all about sensuality and stuff. Strength is so impressive!

[Mrs Van]

Wow, three days in one! And Pole! You are a Rockin' Dragon!

Thank you for that awesome HIppogriff picture!

 

[Lightning]

My jaw dropped when I read those beginner shrimp squat numbers.  Dang Girl!

 

[lucky fire dragon]

Awesome job! That's the second Pink Puma video I've seen this week; I think I have a new fitness hero (and hair hero, omg).

 

Isn't she just amazing?! One of my absolute heroes! Strength, flexibility, creativity,... and the hair of course

 

 

Damn. That is some strength magic.

 

Isn't it?! Totally inspiring, works on me every time 

If I could one day do a fraction of that, I will be a very VERY blissed out fire dragon... might even breathe fire then

 

 

Seems like you've been working hard with your strength the last week. Wow. Keep it up!

 

So looking forward to seeing your pole stuff! With that strength you're working on, you'll be super badass, I'm sure!

 

Btw, pink puma is so great! And I love these  performances that isn't all about sensuality and stuff. Strength is so impressive!

 

Thank you

 

That's where I am hoping to get to for sure. Current battles uploading right now...

 

Yes, I love the pole art championships, they are so creative    it's often like watching a story unfold

[lucky fire dragon]

Wow, three days in one! And Pole! You are a Rockin' Dragon!

Thank you for that awesome HIppogriff picture!

 

 Thank you, doing my best to keep up with all the awesome fellows here

 

You always find the most amazing pics   

 

 

My jaw dropped when I read those beginner shrimp squat numbers.  Dang Girl!

 

 

it's funny, some things go super well and others.... let's just not talk about them

 

Todays gravity was 80 lunge step ups (and I felt like death already, had to break them up in 2x 40) then 80 calf raises (which comforted me as surely with all our time standing on the balls of our feet at pole this should be no problem... wellllllll they did cramp, but I made it in one set  ) and then 80 lunges from side to side and I thought, those will be the certain death of me now, but then lo and behold, I managed!! In 1 set no less - pole leg work for the world

 

Didn't have time after for the wall sit sets of part two and now I am really tired so I will allow myself to leave them for tomorrow.

Actually I had felt too tired for the other leg work, too, but kicked my ass and then was surprised what was possible after all... maybe I will still attempt the wall sits? Will see.

 

Anyway, thanks so much for the praise, it means a LOT to me coming from one of the IS queens herself

[lucky fire dragon]

So here is my pole work from Sunday, as I said not my strongest day and fully focused, so don't expect many smiles

 

The first part is something I have done before, but folding over the front leg and now it's the back leg and that is somehow harder. Also the transition to that seat hold I need to gain some more strength for (and grip) because I should actually NOT stand on the floor in between...

The next tricky part is the dismount which we used to do the other way round (again that was easier version, this one is harder and boy, do I wish my ceiling was higher to give me a bit more play, but hey I have a pole at home, so no complaints really)

 

A little later comes a turn into swing mount (to make SURE we can't use momentum to kick up) and my caterpillar attempts, which are still killing me, but you can already see more of less what it's supposed to be, whoooooohoooo

 

The dismount is different from what I did here, we are now sliding down and I didn't yet know how to on Sunday. Since yesterday I do know and have the bruises pole kisses to show for it Am I crazy? 

 

[lucky fire dragon]

ugh DOMS from those lunges yesterday.... have to kick myself real hard in the butt to do ANYTHING today

 

Also a bit down as my dad in law is not well at all in fact we got hubby a flight to SA tomorrow to stay for a bit over a week as we really don't know how long we will have his Dad with us still. Could stabilize again, could go quickly... so hard to tell. He had a kidney removed due to cancer a few months ago and had a pace maker set, which all seemed to work fine, but now the remaining kidney is giving trouble, the blood pressure going too low due to that and on top of it all he might have pneumonia. So praying for him to stay strong enough for us to see him once more!! 

We can only go with the whole family in August though and as that might be too late, hubby now cancelled all his work and is flying tomorrow. Too precious a time to miss! Let's hope it's a beautiful visit AND dad recovers and we can all see him in August...

 

So a bit busy with logistics around all this and keeping spirits as high as momentarily possible.

 

The big train accident just round the corner from us yesterday didn't help either.... fortunately it's school holidays and there were a lot less people on those trains than normally, still 10 died and 80 got injured, feeling so grateful all our friends and family stayed safe. My sister in law normally uses that very train but for some reason took the car that day as an exception. Gotta appreciate every day we have with our loved ones!!

 

[lucky fire dragon]

Wall sits to failure from yesterday's gravity workout

 

125 sec

95 sec

70 sec

 

the difference a workout before makes or not wonder if I would have managed 3 min in total at all if I had added it yesterday... but I had run out of time yesterday as I had fit it in between cooking, eating and a work session with a client, so yay on having the first half done and yay on doing the wall sits today despite a big case of blergh 

 

day 8 of gravity (yes I am 2 days behind, one last week already and another one on Monday, might catch up still by doing 2 in one day, but my wrist is only easing up now so ... will see)

 

Today was flexibility 

 

bridges,

knee rolls (crocodile stretch)

pawn stretch

 

100 half jacks for warm up, 2 min side split stretch

 

added long deep calf stretches in down dog as my calves were super tight today, also foam rolled a bit and now they feel somewhat alive again