WhiteGhost The Arruvia Conspiracy Chapter 2

[WhiteGhost]

On 7/7/2017 at 1:45 PM, Mad Hatter said:

NIIIICE!!!!  

 

18 hours ago, CourtnieMarie said:

congrats!!! that's a great achievement!!

 

11 hours ago, SymphonicDan said:

Congrats

 

 

16 hours ago, sylph said:

It seems like you've got a solid plan, but in case you want to add more info to your resource pile for future challenges--

 

These aren't all hang-related, but they sure are grip-related. https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=120622811 (don't be put off by the bodybuilding.com URL. The guy that wrote this post is an arm-wrestler)

 

Some really good ideas in there.  No need to do the screwdriver one though, half of the furniture in our house is from Ikea so I have already maxed out that category

 

[Broba Fett]

Regarding grip strength (without having read any of your thread, so sorry if it's already been discussed):  Heavy farmer carries, heavy deads, heavy DB rows. 

 

I used to do all three in one day.  It'll wreck your forearms and that grip strength will skyrocket. 

[WhiteGhost]

35 minutes ago, Broba Fett said:

Regarding grip strength (without having read any of your thread, so sorry if it's already been discussed):  Heavy farmer carries, heavy deads, heavy DB rows. 

 

I used to do all three in one day.  It'll wreck your forearms and that grip strength will skyrocket. 

Yeah, those are all good ways for improving overall grip strength.  Not as useful for improving one handed hanging grip, though, which is my primary focus.

 

Maybe really heavy DB deads and rows?

 

[Broba Fett]

One handed farmers are a thing as well.  Works your core in addition, I believe?

 

Get your bodyweight in one hand and run around with it until failure a few times and I guarantee you'll see grip strength results.   Plus that shit is just plain fun. 

 

Just be sure to chalk up before and be wary of torn calluses.  Those will set you back.  

[Mad Hatter]

I think these suggestions are great for pure grip strength, but for hanging/OCR stuff it's important to prepare the shoulder girdle in an overhead position with the added load.

[WhiteGhost]

The only weights I have access to are 30kg DBs so its all theoretical anyway.

 

Speaking of new ideas, I saw a guy the other day on the monkey bars doing forward/backward swings (grab the bar in front, let go and grab the bar behind, keeping one hand as a pendulum in the middle).  I tried a few times but I can't handle the BW + swinging grip shift + gravitational momentum combination yet.  Maybe a future challenge.

[WhiteGhost]

Week 0+ summary

 

Mission 1: Improve Grip Strength 3x/week  included in Mission 2

This is turning out to be a much better mission for me than I was worried about, thanks to some great advice and more than a few tweaks.  I have cut down what I am doing outside of my regular workouts but it seems to be working for me.  I can already see some improvements creeping in.

 

Mission 2: Muscle Up Routine 2 Days/Week

3 of 2 for the week   I am enjoying this routine and I feel like I am making good progress, but it takes forever.  Luckily it works ok with my current schedule.

 

Mission 3: Focused Flexibility 5 Days/Week

3 of 5.  I need to step this up 

 

Mission 4: Homemade Meal 1/Week

Failed this one.  We ate out 3 days in a row and I ate all the food.  I didn't track, but I estimate it was probably around 5,000 calories/day (compared to my average of around 2K).  I was pretty proud of myself for trying some new things, though.  We had Chongqing hot pot yesterday and Mi Vieja ordered congealed duck blood, duck intestine and tripe. I was feeling adventurous so I tried some of it.  It expected it would be all weird and gross, but it was actually not bad.

[WhiteGhost]

Warning: Circus content follows:

 

This is actually from a months or so ago, but I finally got the pictures from my MIL from my circus classes in Guilin.  I thought about posting in the Woot Room or making a Battle log, but decided to just go ahead and post it here even though it has nothing to do with this challenge

 

So while I was in Guilin, i got to take some circus classes.  I did two sessions on the trapeze and one on the silks.  The pictures are huge so I put them into spoilers.

 

I enjoyed the trapeze the most and wish they had a place near me where I could keep doing this.   In the first session we did knee hangs and backflips.

Spoiler

 

In the second session we did knee hangs, double back flips and pullover pump shooters.  The coaches told me that I was the first person to progress to pump shooters in the time they had been working there

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

For the silks we did french climbs, foot locks， single knee hangs, cross leg hangs, cocoons and some drops (I think one of them was called back star?)

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

It was super fun and I can't wait until I have a chance to do it again

[SymphonicDan]

Ahah that's really cool  Flying trapeze is so fun although I only did one swing once in Singapore.

 

Also one thing I forgot to mention earlier with the grip strength training - in my experience grippers (if you mean those lever things that you try to close) are almost useless for training grip strength. I bought a pair and used it for a few challenges, but it was nowhere near as beneficial as other exercises like those that you're doing. I gave it to my sister to sell.

[WhiteGhost]

40 minutes ago, SymphonicDan said:

in my experience grippers (if you mean those lever things that you try to close) are almost useless for training grip strength. 

Yes, those are what I have and I am coming to the same conclusion. However, they are better than twiddling my thumbs and are small and discreet so I can use them in my office without drawing a lot of attention, so I primarily use them to break up the work day.  

 

Plus they help to develop a killer handshake

[Mad Hatter]

Besides the killer handshake they're good for rehab, especially if one finger's weaker than the other. Other than that, meh. 

 

I don't know why you put a warning before the circus stuff because it was awesome!  I've tried flying trapeze once before and it was sooo scary, and ridiculously fun at the same time.  I've no idea about the terminology but it sounds like you managed to really do A LOT in your first session! On silks too! I only managed to do a catch in my lesson but for me that required a lot of mental coaxing. Really cool stuff, hope you get to do more of it soon!

[WhiteGhost]

11 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

I don't know why you put a warning before the circus stuff because it was awesome! 

I did it to catch the attention of all the circus heros here

 

The back star drop or whatever it is called took a fair bit of mental coaxing for me. I got all rolled up in the silks (the last picture above) and then I first did a forward fall where my legs passed through the silks and then on the second time around I had to open up and catch the silks with my knees.  Essentially almost like a one and a half front flip.

[raptron]

Yeah, for serious, those tricks sound pretty advanced! I really really want to try flying trapeze but the place who used to do it around me closed so I'll have to make it a point to seek it out elsewhere if I ever want to actually do it. Your experience sounds so fun.  

[sylph]

Woo circus! Looks amazing! I'd love to try flying trap sometime. And if you managed French climb in your first session (much less all the other stuff) you're off to an amazing start.

[Sloth the Enduring]

Whoa. That looks amazing.

[Rhovaniel]

Wow, those photos are awesome! All caught up and following again  

[WhiteGhost]

On 7/10/2017 at 10:14 PM, raptron said:

Yeah, for serious, those tricks sound pretty advanced! I really really want to try flying trapeze but the place who used to do it around me closed so I'll have to make it a point to seek it out elsewhere if I ever want to actually do it. Your experience sounds so fun.  

Trapeze is crazy fun.  If you get the chance I highly recommend trying it!

 

On 7/11/2017 at 6:42 AM, sylph said:

Woo circus! Looks amazing! I'd love to try flying trap sometime. And if you managed French climb in your first session (much less all the other stuff) you're off to an amazing start.

The problem is it was only a 1 off thing.  There aren't any places around here to keep working on it, so now I just have to live vicariously through you all

 

On 7/11/2017 at 7:46 AM, Sloth the Enduring said:

Whoa. That looks amazing.

Thanks!  I was pretty amazed at myself that I could do it

 

19 hours ago, Rhovaniel said:

Wow, those photos are awesome! All caught up and following again  

Glad to have my Dunedain hero here   

 

[WhiteGhost]

Week 1 Update as of Wednesday Morning

 

Mission 1: Improve Grip Strength 3x/week  included in Mission 2

I did my routine yesterday morning and decided to try the monkey bars BEFORE my workout and discovered I can do much better before having worked my hands for 2 hours.  Duh?  I was feeling it a lot more than usual, and by the end of my workout my hands were completely fried and I could barely hold on to anything.

 

Mission 2: Muscle Up Routine 2 Days/Week

1 of 2 for the week so on track to hit this one.  I had time for a workout this morning but need to rest my arms and shoulders, so did some leg/parkour stuff.  Still ended up using my shoulders more than I should have on the parkour stuff.

 

Mission 3: Focused Flexibility 5 Days/Week

I skipped this last night because I lost an argument with Chad (aka Chadworth Dickington III, aka the voice in my head that tells me I can't do things and I should just quit)    I know I need to do this and I know if I stick with it I can make some progress, but it is so slow and so hard to see progress that Chad can be pretty convincing.  I need to beat Chad with a sock full of soap bars tonight.

 

Mission 4: Homemade Meal 1/Week

Not sure how I am going to make this one work because I am going to be on a business trip Friday through Sunday.  Maybe I will try to make something simple (like spaghetti) tonight or tomorrow (the burritos I made last night don't count because everything was straight out of the bag/can/bottle).

[Mad Hatter]

3 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

(aka Chadworth Dickington III

Great name. Definitely a name not worth listening to.

[Korranation]

Mission 4: Homemade Meal 1/Week

Not sure how I am going to make this one work because I am going to be on a business trip Friday through Sunday.  Maybe I will try to make something simple (like spaghetti) tonight or tomorrow (the burritos I made last night don't count because everything was straight out of the bag/can/bottle).

Sounds tasty

[CourtnieMarie]

maybe make the homemade meal a two night event, prep all the ingredients tonight so that you can make it tomorrow without it taking too much time?

 

also, don't listen to Chad. you need your stretching!

[raptron]

Take your expectations about the progress you are supposed to be making with your flexibility and THROW THEM IN THE BIN. Enjoy the stretching for what it is rather than the progressions it could be. Just doing the stretches is already progress over not and your body will feel better for it!

[WhiteGhost]

1 hour ago, CourtnieMarie said:

maybe make the homemade meal a two night event, prep all the ingredients tonight so that you can make it tomorrow without it taking too much time?

If I can make time to prep, I can usually get the actual preparation in without much trouble.  Tonight I turned the leftover burritos from yesterday into makeshift chimichangas (which were super yummy, by the way) so it looks like tomorrow is going to be spaghetti

 

[WhiteGhost]

56 minutes ago, raptron said:

Take your expectations about the progress you are supposed to be making with your flexibility and THROW THEM IN THE BIN. Enjoy the stretching for what it is rather than the progressions it could be. Just doing the stretches is already progress over not and your body will feel better for it!

I wish I could.  I just really, really do not enjoy stretching.  Without that vision of where I want/need to get, it feels like torturous drudgery.

 

That said, I used to feel the same way about exercise which I now love. I suspect this is something that I am just going to have to drive through, clinging to that vision of future flexible me until Chad starves to death or something

[CourtnieMarie]

7 minutes ago, WhiteGhost said:

I wish I could.  I just really, really do not enjoy stretching.  Without that vision of where I want/need to get, it feels like torturous drudgery.

 

That said, I used to feel the same way about exercise which I now love. I suspect this is something that I am just going to have to drive through, clinging to that vision of future flexible me until Chad starves to death or something

maybe stretch while watching videos of flexible people? lol that would probably make me frustrated but it might give someone like you motivation