Jarric

Week 1 Day 3 stats Running: 1/4 Hangboarding: 1/2 Splitting: 1/1 Rolling: 1/3 Brushing: 3/7 Drawing: 3/4 So I'm pretty sure I did some drawing at lunchtime yesterday? I've ticked it off now so lets say yes. I'm still working through Draw a Box exercises and it's a bit hard to tell what I did when. Snooker was fun last night, it was really nice to see Hopalong and given that it's the second time I've played in about 5 months I didn't play that badly. When I got home WW had made pesto pasta with feta cheese, olives, and courgette (zucchini). I also had some rhubarb and blackcurrant crumble that WW made the other day. 'Twas very nice, not least because it was cooked for me! I was knackered by the time I'd eaten, so teeth were done and I went to bed. * * * This morning I ran to Crossfit. The workout was AMRAP 16': 16 alternating single arm kettlebell swings, 4 mats (maybe 20ft?) handwalking, 200m run. I decided to do actual handwalking in the WOD, which I've never done before, doing half a mat at a time walking in towards the wall. As a consequence I only got 3 rounds done, but I got lots of handwalking practice and that's all I really wanted. We followed that with a bit of dumbbell bench press, I did 5x12 @ 17.5kg (~38.5#) each hand. Work again is going ok, still trying to mission through some stuff before I get busy. At lunchtime I had leftovers of the pesto pasta, and did some washing up so that WW doesn't come in to too much tonight. * * * Dinner tonight will be Chicken peperonata with cheesy potatoes, and then I have D&D. I think we're going to spend a session doing library research, which should be interesting for Urah, my bloodrager. (If you're not familiar with bloodragers, they are a sorcerer/barbarian hybrid class, so think angry guy, massive sword, sometimes on fire). Tomorrow night I'm going to Hopalong's to have pizza made in his pizza oven and have a few beers, and then it's the weekend!

Thank you! I thought it would be a really cool idea, and the more I drew it I thought "what have I done?!" Thanks guys ❤️ I think that's just WW's normal voice

Week 1 Day 2 stats Running: 1/4 Hangboarding: 1/2 Splitting: 0/1 Rolling: 1/3 Brushing: 2/7 Drawing: 2/4 Yesterday evening WW cooked a hipster meal of fried halloumi with honey roast spiced carrot and quinoa - it was bloody lovely. After dinner I finished off a drawing of Nott the Brave from Critical Role I've been working on. There's a few bits I'd change if I did it again, but in the interest of sharing stuff: Also did some stretching in front of the TV, but no foam rolling so nothing for that goal. Teeth were done before bed. * * * This morning Crossfit was 5-7 rounds for quality of 2 muscle ups and 100ft farmers' carry. I managed to get 3 muscle ups! Didn't string more than one together at any point, but super happy that I even got those ones . For the farmers' carry I worked up to 114kg (~251#) - 57kg (~125#) in each hand . Then we did some cable pull downs and some single arm rows - I just did that and didn't really track the weight. * * * Work today has been quiet, which makes a nice change. Trying to blitz through as much stuff as possible before everything goes mad again; wish me luck! Tonight is snooker so not a lot of goal completing time, tomorrow morning I'll run to Crossfit, and tomorrow night I actually do have D&D. Which reminds me, I think my character still needs to buy some more gear.

Awesome! Let me know how you get on with it when you get one. Ah, it's only a couple of miles each way, it's fiiiine. (Ok, maybe I'm a little mad)

Looks like you've got some solid plans for the month, good stuff! Hope the keto flu clears soon.

I think the photo a day thing's a great idea, and stopping to admire the view definitely makes running more fun. I never used to allow myself to do that because I thought I should be focusing on my training, and it turns out I was missing out for no good reason!

Yes, love seeing your Valkyrie transformation! We get to see the finished product, right?

It's really good actually. Would work on a tree branch or something like that too if you wanted to take it outside. I will say that I couldn't use it at all when I got it, so I needed some resistance bands to slowly build up before I could use the holds unassisted (for the board I have the deepest holds are 25mm, which isn't a lot, and that's bugger than their standard board).

Those are gorgeous! You should paint more, that's seriously impressive Puck!

Week 1 Day 1 stats Running: 0/4 Hangboarding: 1/4 Splitting: 0/1 Rolling: 1/3 Brushing: 1/7 Drawing: 1/4 * * * Last night I cooked a stir fry with leftover roast pork for dinner, and it turned out pretty well. Did my foam rolling in front of Crit Role and went to bed slightly late (only 22:30, but still later than planned). Teeth were done, so that's one day down! This morning I got up at 05:45 and ran to Crossfit. The main part of the session was pause front squats, building to a heavy triple. I capped out at 70kg (~154#), with a 3 second pause at the bottom that felt like an eternity. The workout was 3 rounds for time of 100m row and 10 wall balls. I finished in a very slow 4:16, because I stuck at wall balls but still decided to do the 12kg Rx weight. Only the second slowest in the class, so that's something! Then I ran home, giving me slightly over 4 miles running today in total. Tonight I will do some drawing and/or some foam rolling in front of the rest of Crit Role. I don't have a D&D game tonight it turns out, so that frees me up a bit. * * * Sidebar: yesterday I weighed in at 11 stone 12 (166# or ~75.3kg), and today at 11 stone 11. This is the heaviest I've been since some time in February, having consistently lost weight until the end of May and then slowly gone back up. I'm going to try and weigh myself daily for a bit and see if I can turn it around again by sheer force of will - if that fails I'll go back to tracking calories again. * * * Tomorrow I'm playing snooker with Hopalong after work, so I need to make the most of my time this evening and I won't be able to make up goals tomorrow.

Thank you! Good to see you Terra Thanks man, good to have you along Thanks! ? I've got one of these: The main reason I got it is that I rent my house and can't drill holes in the walls to fit a normal hangboard, whereas I can hang that off a doorway pullup bar. It's a little harder to use as it's free swinging, but after a couple of years (of owning it, and a few months of real consistent use) I'm slowly getting somewhere with it!

Good to see you man. Glad the storm wasn't too bad.

Following along man, looks like a great setup you've got.

Day 1 So far so good (which really should be the case 15.5 hours into a new challenge), teeth were brushed this morning, I did a little bit of hangboarding after Crossift, and a bit of drawing at lunch. Crossfit was good, our workout was AMRAP 12': 6 (3 each side) D-ball to shoulder, 12 (6 each side) strict kettlebell press. It's the first time I've used a d-ball, so I'm not sure how my form was, but I don't feel crippled yet. Used a 40kg (~88#) ball, a 16kg (~35#, and in fact ~1 pood) kettlebell, and managed 5 rounds exactly. Hangboarding was pretty tough after that, and also probably due to me going climbing yesterday. I did a set on the top of the board - 7 x 7 seconds on/7s off, a set on the 25mm holds - 4 x 5s on/5s off, and two sets on the 25mm holds with a black resistance band - both 5 x 7s on/7s off. I should normally be able to do everything without a band, but I figured it's better to do a bit more work even if I have to reduce the weight to do it. Work is so much better already than it was last week, though I'm going to need to be really on it to try and catch up with the fallout of the last couple of weeks. Drawing was a Draw A Box exercise, which isn't terribly exciting but hopefully will make me better in the long run. Tonight I'll be chilling out and watching Crit Role when it goes up on YouTube, and doing some foam rolling. Tomorrow I'll run to Crossfit, and have D&D in the evening.

Love the simple approach to this man, and excited that you'll be getting back to lifting! Hope the holiday's going well.

I am confused seeing these two statements in the same post. Glad you're back; let's both be here for the full challenge this time!

I like that That is a thing of beauty . I'm genuinely shocked that a fathom is only 2 yards though. From my point of view the main differences between UK and US Imperial are: we use stone (14lbs) to weigh people, our tons are heavier, our pints and gallons are bigger, and our fluid oz are smaller. Lengths are generally the same, though I sometimes talk in chains and furlongs (that's not a British thing, that's a me being weird thing) Well hello there! *waves* Yes, let's stick around here together! Always good to have you alongside.

Hope you have a good week off, and that the withdrawal passes quickly.

Jarric awakes suddenly, and sits bolt upright in his chair by the fire. After slightly too many seconds he appears to recognise his surroundings, and orders his usual from the barman. It's been too long, friends, he says, raising his glass before settling down to pet the menagerie of creatures arrayed before him.

Thanks for the support! Sorry about the funts, I'll see what I can do.

Back in the Saddle Apparently my last forum post was 22nd June. That's 6 weeks I've been away, damn! Work has been busy, particularly in the last couple of weeks, but I didn't realise it'd been this long since I logged in. I think I got a bit overwhelmed by things, but that's ok, I don't think I've really lost anything as a result. I have missed you guys though, like, a lot. Last week I went back to Crossfit (though our gym has actually cancelled its affiliation with Crossfit I'll keep calling it that for convenience), and so this is a great time to start re-building a routine. Hopefully I should be able to work some more sensible hours than I have been, and also spare the brain power to think about things that aren't work, so we should be all good! For this challenge I'll be going to Crossfit 4-5 times per week, and probably bouldering once per week. Those won't be challenge goals, because they just happen, so I need to focus on the stuff that won't happen otherwise. I'm also going to trust that I'll stretch after exercise and/or when I have time - we'll see how that goes and I'll try and report on it. Here we go... Running - 15XP Run 4 times each week according to my running plan. I might have a race at the end of week 5 if it goes ahead, so keeping my fingers crossed for that as I've spent the last 6 months training towards it! This is a goal because as my weekends get busier and my weekend evenings get boozier there's a temptation to skip runs (I am in fact skipping a run whilst writing this). I'm currently running to and from Crossfit a couple of days per week, but if I don't get on with that I might switch to a mid-week run of about 8 miles, and then I'll be doing 3 sessions per week but the same mileage. We'll see how it goes; total mileage is more important than precise structure. Hangboarding - 10XP Hangboard twice per week. I've done quite a lot of hangboarding over the summer and got a lot better at it, and I think that's helped me return to bouldering without having lost too much ability. I don't want to lose that ability just because I'm now going bouldering, as I can only climb once per week most weeks, so lets keep it going. Planning to do this immediately after Crossfit providing the session hasn't been too tough on my grip. Splitting - 10XP Split stretches once per week. I don't think I'll ever actually be able to get the splits, but this seems to help with the issues in my hips and generally being more flexible in these positions can't be a bad thing. Rolling - 10XP Foam roll my legs at least 3 times per week. This is another thing that really helps with my hip issues, so I need to do it. Generally expecting it to be in front of the TV of an evening, when I've got evenings free from playing D&D or doing other stuff. Brushing - 10XP Brush my teeth twice per day, and clean between them once per day. I've learned over the years that whether or not I brush my teeth is an indicator of the kind of place I'm in mentally. If I'm stressed or depressed I don't brush, and when I feel good and in control I do. I'm not entirely sure what to do with this information, or whether I can reverse the cause and effect to feel more in control of my life by brushing my teeth, but I don't want them all to fall out so it's a reasonable goal anyway. Drawing - 10XP Draw stuff 4 times per week. I've started doing actual drawing lessons from Draw A Box, and I'm also just drawing stuff for fun. I find it quite good for clearing my head, and quite relaxing, so I think being consistent with this would help me mentally. It will hopefully also make me better at drawing stuff! No set requirement of when I do this, or whether I do lessons or just random stuff, this goal is purely about doing the thing. So that's that! A couple of housekeeping bits: Challenge start tomorrow, and challenge weeks run Monday to Sunday. Honestly, what kind of maniac starts their week on a Sunday Weights and measures may be in metric or UK imperial, or both, but they're unlikely to be in US imperial. They'll almost never be Russian imperial (as much as I love funts and poods), probably. Due to the rule of threes, it would be more satisfying if I had a third thing here. But I don't.

Yeah, wall walks are good for building upper body strength if you need that as a stepping stone towards handstands, but I think you're already strong enough to just kick up judging by that video.

I'm not particularly good at this, but I saw @DarK_RaideR post a great video on this elsewhere a while ago: That sounds amazing! Well done.

I'm going to elaborate a bit more on my weekend, because I was in a rush yesterday to just get a revised workout plan written so I knew what I was doing this morning! Saturday I dropped WW (Wonder Woman, my fiancée) at work, and then drove up to the Downs for a run. Deload week, so it was only 10 miles, but it was really nice to get out and just relax. The weather was grey and overcast so I didn't wear any sun cream, but as soon as I started running it was blazing sunshine for 2 hours. I got quite burned, and now it looks like I'm wearing a white vest if I take my t-shirt off! When I got back I got to play a live game of D&D (over the internet) with @DarK_RaideR, @Raxie, @Starpuck and @Wild Wolf. It was my first time meeting Wolfie and only my second meeting Puck, and we had so so so much fun. D_R was a great dungeon master, Raxie played the dark and broody fallen aasimar Penemue, Puck was the firey (literally) genasi barbarian Jyotika, and Wolfie was the horny (also literally) tiefling bard Arkaryn. I play a modron cleric called Cog, which is a fun challenge to try and act like a robot. We've been playing this game as a play by post for months, but it's amazing to actually get a live session and be able to see everyone! * * * Sunday I had a short 2 mile run first thing, and WW and I went to a garden centre to try (and fail) to buy my mum a birthday present. At lunch time we went over to my parents' for fathers' day and had a barbeque. I cooked and we had lots of meat, white a lot of veg and cheese, and a few beers. All in all a very good day, the highlight of which was probably everyone spontaneously singing Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd. One thing I didn't do at the weekend was track calories Friday to Sunday. These are the first days I haven't tracked since 3rd January, but I needed to borrow that brain space for other things and that's ok. Back on it today, and a bit more motivated to push for a low body fat percentage again. * * * This morning my workout was: Warmup As a circuit: | Weighted pullups +23# (~10.5kg): 5 x 5 | Single leg elevated ring rows: 5 x 4+4 | Head bridge: 5 x 7 Hangboarding: | Top of board, 7 seconds on/7 seconds off: 1 x 7 | 25mm, 5 seconds on/5 seconds off: 3 x 6 Tuck L-Sits: 5 seconds at the top of every minute for 5 minutes Stretches: Forearms, wrists, groin * * * Pullups and ring rows were both tough but good, will stick with the current weight and reps until my form gets a bit smoother on them. Bridges I'm still making it up as I go along, but I'll do sets of 8 next time and then move on to the next progression if it feels ok. Hangboarding felt really tough, but given that a few months ago I could barely do 4 seconds once I'm very happy. L-sits I did the first set and it really hurt my right wrist. I switched to parallettes for the 4 remaining sets and that felt fine. It's also miles easier on parallettes - I've never used them before (the only reason I have them is that they're part of my pullup bar). I think I'll stick with these until I can do full l-sits before going back to the floor; my wrists get enough punishment from everything else I do so having something a little different here is probably a good thing. * * * Tonight I've got a chilled evening, so I'll get my first set of foam rolling in and probably do some art.