Jarric

Awesome, I shall dig it out! And thanks Yeah, it wasn't too bad this week but it just doesn't sound sensible Handstands are ok; I'll try and get a new video tomorrow. I didn't do any towards the end of last week as my wrist was hurting (and the aforementioned lack of motivation), but they're definitely coming on.

Those handstands are amazing! Keep them up and you'll get there in no time. Re: kicking up to a wall, you bail exactly the same way you were there - just drop back down on to your feet. Was really good to see you on Saturday, Jyo's such a fun character, particularly in a dungeon she hates

It was awesome to properly meet you too man! And Ark was so funny . Can't wait for the next one.

Looks like you've got some really solid goals there. I used to hate vegetables too, until I got better at cooking them (usually putting them in things, rather than just boiling them and sticking them next to a meal like my parents used to do!). For OCR (obstacle course racing), as @Sylvaa says there's loads of great options out there. My recommendation would be to have a browse around, and book something far enough in the future that you have a good long-term training goal. Obviously a lot of things aren't running right now due to CV19, but if you're looking at a longer term goal that shouldn't be a major problem. If you have any questions on OCR don't hesitate to ask (best to @ me or quote me so it comes up in my notifications)

Ok, super quick update to say that I let things slide a little bit in the latter half of next week. Thursday I did my short run and stretching, but not the rest of the workout. Friday I procrastinated through half a workout and some hangboarding, which is definitely better than nothing but still. Work has been mega stressful for the last couple of days, but I've hoping that that will clear up soon and I'll have a bit more mental capacity available for my workouts. In the meantime I have revised my plan based on how zero week went and everyone#'s feedback. This was the first draft: And here's the new plan: Monday - "Pull" - 5-7 rounds, rest as needed: pullup variation, horizontal pull variation, bridge variation. Then hangboarding, l-sit practice, stretching. Tuesday - "OCR 1" - 4 mile run (as running plan), then (alternate weeks) AMRAP 10': 3(5) handstand pushups, 5(8) pullups, 15 air squats. Then 10 minutes handstand practice, stretching. Wednesday - "Legs and Core" - 5-7 rounds, rest as needed: squat variation, leg raise variation, plank variation. Then 10 minutes handwalking practice, 10 minutes splits work Thursday - "OCR 2" - 4 mile run (as running plan), then (alternate weeks) AMRAP 10': 3(5) ring dips, 5(8) plyo pushups, 15 tuck(broad) jumps. Then 10 minutes handstand practice, stretching. Friday - "Push" - 5-7 rounds, rest as needed: handstand pushup variation, pushup variation, ring dip variation. Then hangboarding, crow pose practice, stretch Basically I've swapped things around to move my leg work away from my long run, my handstand pushup strength work from that work in the AMRAP, to have hangboarding exclusively on upper body days, and to have the splits work following leg strength work. Hope it works; I'll keep adjusting in the coming weeks as needed.

Ooh, that's a bit of a worry. I know it must be possible to do them pain free though, just need some baby steps to get there. Don't worry about it, it's never too late. I'd definitely recommend setting something up (if you haven't since you posted this - I've not been round to find everyone's threads yet); it's better to start late than not at all. ^this is excellent advice. Glad I could help As long as you take it slowly and build up to it it should be ok - ultimately handstands will build wrist strength providing you don't push so hard that you pick up an injury.

Last night we went to the supermarket, and between losing track of time and the machine breaking so we had to re-scan the entire shop, I ended up getting home and going to bed pretty late. ===== This morning I woke up a bit late and got distracted by things, so ended up starting my workout late. The workout was: In a circuit: || Weighed pullups - 23# (~10.5kg): 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 || Elevated single leg ring rows: 4+4, 4+4, 4+4, 4+4, 3+3 || Head bridges: 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 10 minutes handwalking practice Splits stretches Pullups felt hard but good, ring row form was slipping hence the reduced reps at the end. I've never really done bridges before so I'm still feeling them out and hoping to progress pretty quickly. On the handwalking I went for my first attempt and my wrist suddenly really hurt. I gave it a minute before trying again and it was fine, but then I got /the fear/. After that it took me most of the rest of the 10 minutes before I got a decent attempt, with the rest being me not kicking up hard enough for fear of falling forward. I got there in the end and finished with a couple of good attempts though. Split stretches were fine. Full disclosure here, I'm nowhere near getting the splits and I'll be very surprised if I ever get there, but just getting my pelvis to tilt in vaguely the right direction would be a win I feel. ===== This evening I cooked a sausage and apple cassolet bake type thing, which was lovely, and I've done my foam rolling. Now it's well past my bed time, so I'm off to bed!

Thank you! Yeah, we rent our house so I can't really screw a normal hangboard into the wall, so I was really pleased when I found this. That's interesting. Guess I'll just have to play with it and see what works. You say obscene amounts, I say appropriate for something you love

This challenge looks amazing. The moment in that video when the puppet appears over you is gold

I'd never heard of Bardcore before, so thank you for the introduction to it! What's Hero's Journey like? I've always thought it looked interesting, but never given it a go.

Hey, following along! For the French, have you listened to the Duolingo French podcast at all? I've only listened to a couple of episodes, but I find it quite good because it's a mixture of native French speakers and narration in English, so it means you get to hear some stuff in context. Good luck with the daily considerations, that sounds like a really good thing to explore. I like the hair goal too! I've been growing out my beard over lockdown as I don't have to go to the office; it's been nice!

Last night I cooked dinner. I made a "what can I find in the fridge" pie, which turned out to be chorizo, bacon, leek and mushroom in a white sauce, topped with a potato and sweet potato mixed mash. It was bizarre, but really nice. I think we need to go shopping tonight though, we're definitely scraping the bottom of the barrel! I also did my first rolling session. My calves are dramatically better than they were when I last rolled them on Saturday, so that's good. Top of my hamstrings where they meet my glutes are agony, which might be related to my sore knee. Or at least I hope it is, because I know how to deal with this. ====== This morning's workout was: 2 mile (~3.2km) run, being 1 mile warmup, 0.6 mile tempo, 0.4 mile easy AMRAP 10': 3 handstand pushups, 5 pullups, 15 air squats Handstand holds Stretches The run was only 2 miles because it's my running deload week, it'll be going up to 4 miles in week 1. On the AMRAP I got 7 rounds and 1 rep. I was quite happy with that, but I've just looked back and I got 7 rounds 5 reps a few weeks ago, so maybe I can push a bit more. Regardless, the handstand pushups felt much stronger than yesterday, and everything else felt solid. On handstand holds the best was a 5 count kicking up from standing, and an 8 count coming back off the wall. Progress is slow but it's definitely there. Stretches were fine, I'm finally at a point in a forward fold where I can honestly put my hands flat on the ground, which is nice. ===== The whole workout took about 1:15. Given that I expect to be adding 2 miles running to this that is again much too long! I think part of my problem is that I assume 40 minutes of running, a 10 minute AMRAP, and 10 minutes of handstand practice, will take an hour. But it doesn't, because I have to transition between workouts, recover after the AMRAP, and set up some equipment. My other problem is that I wrote this whole programme with a time limit in mind, and then decided to add stretching to every day after I'd done that. So I'm already 10-15 minutes over time just with the stretching. It needs to be done though, even if I need to sacrifice sets of something else to do it - no point in getting stronger if I can't move to use it.

I will endeavour to find and watch it. That's good to know, hopefully I will get used to it then. Hey Puck, good to have you here Be careful, or the assassins may uncover our master plan.

Ah, that's interesting, ok. I googled crane pose to get a visual idea of the difference, and found a lot of sources saying that in crow and crane your shins should be on your triceps instead of your knees (as well as a lot indicating the opposite!). I'll experiment with leg placement a bit. Yeah, good shout. I couldn't find a way to not have something back-to-back when I was putting it together. With luck I'll be able to do it by keeping the intensity in check, but that's something I'll have to watch. Thank you, good to be here . I can't believe that I didn't give Sir Terry Pratchett a mention! I've not seen Good Omens but it might well be my favourite book of all time. I should re-read it actually. I'm going from a crouch/squat, putting my knees on my triceps, and then rocking forward over my hands. So I think similar to what you're describing, but without the feet elevated to start.

Awesome challenge Wolfman, here to see you crush it!

Hey, following along! That's a lot of pressure to put on yourself. Absolutely work hard for those straight A's, but try not to stress about what happens if you don't get them. On the pushups, as Ghost said diamond pushups emphasise the chest and triceps more, whilst wide grip emphasise the back. Just pick a progression that's manageable and stick with it until you can move on.

Sounds like a great plan - work with yourself, not against yourself.

This morning's workout: Circuit, rest as needed: | Handstand pushups (to 2.5" pillow): 5, 5, 5, 4, 2, - | Diamond pushups: 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 | Ring dips: 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 Hangboarding: Top of board: 7 seconds on, 7 seconds off, x 7 25mm: 5 seconds on, 5 seconds off, x 6, 6, 5 Crow Pose: 5 x 5 second holds at the top of each minute Stretching: Wrists, groin, hamstrings, glutes ===== Handstand pushups were really tough this morning; I couldn't do a single set unbroken. I've made 5 reps unbroken quite a few times recently, so I'm just going to chalk it up to a bad day and stick with sets of 5 for now. I also did some overhead stretches between rounds, which combined with focusing on form did seem to help. Diamond pushups were pretty easy, will got for sets of 7 next time. Dips were ok but I want to work on form and not arching my back as much before I up the reps. Hangboarding is good - I had a bit of a breakthrough a couple of weeks ago where I'm now strong enough to sensibly use the hangboard without resistance bands, so I'm just building up slowly a few seconds at a time. At some point I'll get on to using smaller holds. Crow pose I'm just really beginning with. Kneeling on my triceps hurts, is that something you get used to? Having sunburn and having scraped them up with the dips first probably didn't help. Stretching I'm trying to write down how I feel and how deep I can get, so that I have some sense of progress. We'll see how it goes over the course of the challenge. The whole workout took 1:35, which is way too long. I think I need to get on task more with the first bit - I was procrastinating with the handstand press-ups because I was finding them so hard - but I may also need to accept that 5-7 rounds is a bit much to fit with everything else. We shall see. I also took a couple of videos, comments on form (or anything really) are always welcome:

Holy shit, now this is a movie I need to see!

In answer to @PaulG's question, my big goals at the moment are: OCR - perform as well as possible in obstacle course races. My next races will be in September with a bit of luck, so focuses for this are on running endurance, upper body strength, and efficient movement on obstacles (hard to train the last one without obstacle and climbing gyms being open) Aesthetic - I had a goal to look as good as possible by Comic Con in London. That would have been last month if it wasn't cancelled, but it's still something I'm working on. I've been slowly losing weight over the course of the year, and today weighed in at 11 stone 5 pounds (159# or ~72.1kg). I also have a load of smaller goals/stuff I'd like to do: I've been doing a ton of handstands over the last 12 weeks and got significantly better, so I want to capitalise on that and get even better in terms of form, hold times, and get some distance handstand walking. I want to do other cool tricks too - l-sits, crow pose, pistol squats, muscle ups (I'd love to add flags to this list, but with no equipment I wouldn't know where to start) I injured my hip in January last year, so I want to continue making that stronger and less painful I can't go bouldering at the moment, but I want to be in the best possible shape for it when I can (hence the hangboarding)

The difference between creepy and nice is often just based on who's saying something. Or their tone of voice. Anyway, it didn't sound creepy to me. Given the amount of Assassin's Creed you've played recently, and other computer game talk on your thread, you're certainly not a bad nerd. Good to have you! I hadn't thought about non-fiction nerddoms (like Systematic Theology, which I had to google), so I guess for me I could add etymology and mathematical conversions! Well I'm with you on the socially awkward! I've always been more of a trekky than a Star Wars fan though. I'd never heard of Buckaroo Banzai until just now, so I googled it: "Adventurer, brain surgeon, rock musician Buckaroo Banzai and his crime-fighting team, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, must stop evil alien invaders …" - is this really as insane as it sounds? Thanks, pleased to be here Ah you write, that's really cool! I've always enjoyed writing but I can't seem to construct a narrative longer than a single scene! I'd not heard of TwoSetViolin. I'm glad I asked this question; it's giving me a lot of interesting things to look up. Under the category "deceptive songs", because it sounds so sweet and lovely until you realise it's about stalking! I'm going to do a separate post on that in a minute I think, because that's a big question! You sounds like a good nerd to know then, can't beat experimental food and drink! That's a good shout. I'll have to have a think on that, because I like having the hangboarding sessions as far apart as possible but you're right it doesn't 100% fit. No, it was just a D&D reference (as is cunning action). I do want to learn parkour rolls, if nothing else so I'm less scared of bailing from handstands! Not sure where to fit that in with everything else though. Yeah, I know what you mean. I still consider computer games and comics nerdy (see my comment to Deffy above), but I don't know if they really are any more? I think D&D is probably still nerdy.

Cunning Action Hi, for those of you who don't know me I'm Jarric, and I usually challenge with the Rangers. Since joining the forums 3 and a bit years ago I've got into obstacle course racing (OCR), and most of my fitness goals have revolved around that. I also started Crossfit about 18 months ago. When lockdown began my gym closed, and I started getting a home workout routine from my coach instead. Here in the UK gyms still aren't allowed to open, and I have now stopped getting workouts from my coach, so I need to do my own programming for the first time in a long while. And that's where my visit to the Assassins comes in, I'm going to be experimenting with a lot of calisthenics type stuff and I couldn't think of a better place to do it or better people to learn from. This time round I only have 2 goals. Cunning Action - 35XP A simple goal, not sure if it's an easy one, stick to planned workouts 5 days per week. I'll adapt the plan as needed, but here's what I've got so far. I would really welcome any feedback on this: Monday - "Push" - 5-7 rounds, rest as needed: handstand pushup variation, pushup variation, ring dip variation. Then hangboarding, crow pose practice, stretching. Tuesday - "OCR 1" - 4 mile run (as running plan), then (alternate weeks) AMRAP 10': 3(5) handstand pushups, 5(8) pullups, 15 air squats. The 10 minutes handstand practice, stretching. Wednesday - "Pull" - 5-7 rounds, rest as needed: pullup variation, horizontal pull variation, bridge variation. Then 10 minutes handwalking practice, 10 minutes splits work Thursday - "OCR 2" - 4 mile run (as running plan), then (alternate weeks) AMRAP 10': 3(5) ring dips, 5(8) plyo pushups, 15 tuck(broad) jumps Friday - "Legs and Core" - 5-7 rounds, rest as needed: squat variation, leg raise variation, plank variation, then hangboarding, l-sit practice, stretch Week 0 is a trial, and I'll start tracking in week 1, so that's 35 workouts to execute for 35XP. I'll also be running Saturdays and Sundays, but that's not part of the challenge this time round. Acrobatic Roll - 15XP Foam roll 3 times per week. It's something I need for my legs/hips/glutes, particularly for running. I've struggled to do this every day and as a result given up entirely in the past, so instead I'm going to give myself a more manageable goal that I know I actually have time for.15 sessions in 5 weeks, 15XP. Icebreaker Also, I want to get to know you guys a bit better, so I might throw a few icebreaker questions out there. To start with, what are your nerddoms? Personally I play a lot of D&D and Pathfinder right now, and watch/listen to a lot of it on High Rollers, Critical Role, Glass Cannon Podcast etc. I'm also a big fan of the Marvel films (though I still need to watch Spiderman Homecoming), and I've recently picked up Pokémon again - currently playing Black.

Apropos to nothing, I've just realised that this thread should have been called "Jarric Gets Metal \m/", because this challenge would have usually been me going to Download Festival. I'm watching the alternative they've put on YouTube now, and it's weird to think about how different things are this year for once.

Business, we do their insurance so insurers want to know that they're managing their risks properly when they reopen the ground to players. Yeah, fair point, thank you!

That's really good to hear. Sometimes we hold ourselves to such high standards we almost expect ourselves to be robotic in control of our emotions, but truthfully that's not normal or healthy for most people. Also, Soji is incredibly cute!