Unto the Breach (At Least Once More...)

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

 

[wjs]

I was doing better today, until the end of the second set of Prowler when I felt like I was spiked in the side of the head. I finished up set three for level 1, but prior to the sudden onset of the headache, I was expecting at least level 2. This sucks. Hopefully I can catch my workouts up before the end of the month, but who knows given the new wrinkles this past weekend and tonight have thrown at me.

The workout
30 Prone W-Extensions
Power Pose Challenge, Day 6
Prowler at Level 1

 

[wjs]

Hopefully I can continue working out as intended and pick up doubles the next couple Sundays to catch back up to where I should be. We'll see if my body and/or sleep cycle will allow that to happen. Also, I missed it yesterday because of the page change, @Laura Rainbow Dragon, thank you for the supporting vibes.

The workout
35 Prone W-Extensions
Power Pose Challenge, Day 7
Ten minutes in the Pits, wielding bastons

 

[wjs]

The workout
40 Prone W-Extensions
Power Pose Challenge, Day 8
Beekeeper at Level 1

 

[wjs]

The workout
45 Prone W-Extensions
Power Pose Challenge, Day 9
One hour of Steady-State Cardio. Well, ten minutes, anyway. I think that was better than last time*.












*Or at least the last time I recall, when my ankle cut me off at under five.

 

[wjs]

I missed posting yesterday and worked out far too late tonight...

The workout, 12DEC2025
50 Prone W-Extensions
Power Pose Challenge, Day 10
Paladin at Level 1

The workout, 13DEC2025
55 Prone W-Extensions
Power Pose Challenge, Day 11
Clash at Level 1

 

[wjs]

The workout part 1
60 Prone W-Extensions
Power Pose Challenge, Day 12
Graveyard Shift at Level 1

The workout part 2
65 Prone W-Extensions
Power Pose Challenge, Day 12
Posture Perfect

 

[wjs]

Slowly catching up.

The workout
70 Prone W-Extensions
Power Pose Challenge, Day 14
Ten minutes in the Pits, unarmed

 

[wjs]

I don't know that my steady-state cardio is good for me right now. I didn't make even four full minutes before my ankle gave me issues. I'm not sure how to take on cardio while also protecting my ankle at this time.

The workout
75 Prone W-Extensions
Power Pose Challenge, Day 14
Steady-State Cardio. Well, sort of, as noted above.

 

[wjs]

The workout
80 Prone W-Extensions
Power Pose Challenge, Day 16
Standing Abs

 

[wjs]

So, I disappeared for a few days. Thursday, 18DEC2025, was rough and I fell asleep shortly after supper, waking up not in a particularly good shape and failed to work out. The rest is outlined below. I still have opportunities to finish out the month.

All that said, I still don't have a plan outlined for next year. I really don't know how I'm going to tackle it. I'll probably just have to go at it on a month to month basis.

The workout, 19DEC2025
85 Prone W-Extensions
Power Pose Challenge, Day 17
Sentry at Level 1

The workout, 20DEC2025
90 Prone W-Extensions
Power Pose Challenge, Day 18
Brawler at Level 1

The workout part 1, 21DEC2025
95 Prone W-Extensions
Power Pose Challenge, Day 19
Lower Back

The workout part 2, 21DEC2025
100 Prone W-Extensions
Power Pose Challenge, Day 20
Tempered Steel at Level 2

 

[wjs]

The workout
105 Prone W-Extensions
Power Pose Challenge, Day 21
Butt & Gut

 

[wjs]

So, yeah... I'm having issues finding time to post. This will hopefully get better after the new year as things calm down post-holiday season.

The workout 23DEC2025
110 Prone W-Extensions
Power Pose Challenge, Day 22
10 minutes in the Pits, unarmed

The workout 24DEC2025
115 Prone W-Extensions
Power Pose Challenge, Day 23
Prowler... went undone due to serious ankle issues. I could barely stand and I prepared for climbers but my ankle hurt whether my leg was contracted or relaxed.

The workout 25DEC2025
120 Prone W-Extensions
Power Pose Challenge, Day 24
Back & Core with one minute rests

 

[wjs]

I think I've found an answer to my ankle issues, but it seems to be only temporary until I find the root cause of them. I think I'm on the right track, it's just a matter of exactly where and how deep I need to massage my calf.

The workout
125 Prone W-Extensions
Power Pose Challenge, Day 25
Alpha Protocol at Level 1

 

[wjs]

The workout
130 Prone W-Extensions
Power Pose Challenge, Day 26
Extraction at Level ... well, whatever level two sets counts as. My Achilles tendon was feeling problematic enough during the second rest duration that I chose not to risk a third set, especially the plank rotations, which I believe were what aggravated it in the first place.

 

[wjs]

The workout
135 Prone W-Extensions
Power Pose Challenge, Day 27
Ten minutes of Steady-State Cardio, which implies that rolling out my calf is better than not, but I still need to find the right location to remove this tension on my tendon and the muscle on the medial side of my talus. More work is to be done, but progress.

 

[wjs]

I think I figured out January. Unbound and Square One paired with Punch Up and working on Push-Ups to failure, High Knees*, and Elbow Planks to failure.

The workout
140 Prone W-Extensions
Power Pose Challenge, Day 28
Ten minutes in the Pits. They weren't particularly good, but it was the full time.








*I dunno, maybe for thirty seconds to start? Well, the first day I'll try it and see what shakes out, I suppose.

 

[wjs]

A little unintentional stretching prior to the workout tonight has further confirmed there is something holding my left calf back from full range of motion. Figuring out how to remedy this is going to be the fun* part.

The workout
145 Prone W-Extensions
Power Pose Challenge, Day 29
Graveyard Shift at Level 2







*For varying definitions of "fun".

 

[PetiteSheWolf]

Yeah, fun is really a very variable adjective / word, LOL! Take good care of this , and of yourself - see ya early february!

 

[wjs]

Yeah, fun is really a very variable adjective / word, LOL! Take good care of this , and of yourself - see ya early february!

"I'll do my best," he says, knowing she won't read that until February.

The last workout of 2025
150 Prone W-Extensions
Power Pose Challenge, Day 30
Posture Perfect

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

Congratulations on completing the Power Pose Challenge!

 

[Fremen]

Congrats

 

[wjs]

Thank you, @Laura Rainbow Dragon and @Fremen.

Not a great start to the year for me as an individual. My store, however, did very well for the month of December and all of 2025, including being the second best store* overall** for yesterday.

The workout
Elbow Plank to failure: 00:01:45 -- Not a bad start, I guess.
Punch Up Challenge Day 1, five sets of Overhead Punches with thirty seconds rest
Unbound, Day 1
Square One, Day 1 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest and modifications to increase difficulty.







*Second only to our powerhouse store in the Mall of America, which makes as much as the next two stores combined, neither of which is my store***.
**I assume that my employer meant both in sales and profit. Probably just sales, actually. Regardless, it's a pretty big deal for this store to do that well.
***My store is currently the fourth best in both overall sales and profit, which is weird, because the two lists are largely different.

 

[Fanta]

How did that elbow plank feel throughout?

 

[wjs]

How did that elbow plank feel throughout?

It started easy, burned in the abs about a minute or so in, and ultimately my left leg gave out, probably due to the long-standing issues I've been having with it and is a large part of why Unbound is part of this month's workouts.

I changed up my thoughts on High Knees from a target to whatever I can manage*. I feel better about that than failing to reach a goal because of concerns like pain or possible injury.

The workout
High Knees to failure: 00:00:32 -- Thanks, ankle. A beginning, not an ending**, I guess.
Punch Up Challenge Day 2, two minutes Overhead Punches with no rest
Unbound, Day 2
Square One, Day 2 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest.










*Otherwise known as "to failure".
**Probably.

 

[wjs]

The workout
Knee Push-Ups to failure: 14. I'm going to alternate between Knee Push-Ups and standard because that pairing feels like it will give better gains.
Punch Up Challenge Day 3, five sets of Overhead Punches with thirty seconds rest
Unbound, Day 3
Square One, Day 3 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest.

 

[wjs]

The workout
Elbow Plank to failure: 00:02:01 My concentration was broken by a notification on my phone, not that I was likely going to make it much past that point.
Punch Up Challenge Day 4, two minutes Overhead Punches with no rest
Unbound, Day 4
Square One, Day 4 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest and modifications to increase difficulty.

 

[wjs]

The workout
High Knees to failure: 00:00:38
Punch Up Challenge Day 5, five sets of twenty Overhead Punches with thirty seconds rest
Unbound, Day 5
Square One, Day 5 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest.

 

[wjs]

The workout
Push-Ups to failure: 4. To be fair, that's more than I thought it would be.
Punch Up Challenge Day 6, two minutes Overhead Punches with no rest
Unbound, Day 6
Square One, Day 6 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest

 

[wjs]

There may* be a thread that runs through the entire workout, about as thick as a tendon. Probably.

The workout
Elbow Plank to failure: 00:01:21 I chose my ankle over getting to two minutes a second time.
Punch Up Challenge Day 7, five sets of thirty Overhead Punches with thirty seconds rest
Unbound, Day 7 Something happened to mess with my ankle. It was painful.
Square One, Day 7 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest and modifications to increase difficulty**.










*Or may not. Who knows?***
**After rolling out my calf and Achilles tendon to reduce the tightness. It helped, to a degree.
***Me. I know.

 

[wjs]

The workout
High Knees to failure: 00:00:30 -- Ankle, per usual.
Punch Up Challenge Day 8, two minutes Overhead Punches with no rest
Unbound, Day 8
Square One, Day 8 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest

 

[wjs]

The workout
Knee Push-Ups to failure: 15
Punch Up Challenge Day 9, five sets of thirty Overhead Punches with thirty seconds rest
Unbound, Day 9
Square One, Day 9 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest

 

[wjs]

The workout
Elbow Plank to failure: 00:02:03
Punch Up Challenge Day 10, two minutes Overhead Punches with no rest
Unbound, Day 10
Square One, Day 10 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest and modifications to increase difficulty.

 

[wjs]

The workout
High Knees to failure: 00:00:39 -- The best my ankle has felt during High Knees so far, but that foot definitely doesn't strike the landing quite right at the moment.
Punch Up Challenge Day11, five sets of thirty Overhead Punches with thirty seconds rest
Unbound, Day 11
Square One, Day 11 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest

 

[wjs]

The workout
Push-Ups to failure: 5
Punch Up Challenge Day 12, two minutes Overhead Punches with no rest
Unbound, Day 12
Square One, Day 12 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest

 

[wjs]

The workout
Elbow Plank to failure: 00:02:10
Punch Up Challenge Day 13, five sets of forty Overhead Punches with thirty seconds rest
Unbound, Day 13
Square One, Day 13 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest

 

[wjs]

The workout
High Knees to failure: 00:00:32 -- Concentration broken, but very little hindrance from my ankle. I hesitate to say improvement there, however. But it is another data point.
Punch Up Challenge Day14, two minutes Overhead Punches with no rest
Unbound, Day 14
Square One, Day 14 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest

 

[wjs]

The workout
Knee Push-Ups to failure: 15
Punch Up Challenge Day 15, five sets of forty Overhead Punches with thirty seconds rest
Unbound, Day 15
Square One, Day 15 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest

 

[wjs]

I missed two workouts in a row, one expected, one not. If I had remembered earlier, I would have done the expected one back on Thursday, but... here we are. So, today had two workouts and I'll pick up the other one on the coming Thursday.

The workout, part 1
Elbow Plank to failure: 00:01:18 -- Tendon/talus issues cut this short. I can't afford to have an injury, especially to my leg.
Punch Up Challenge Day 16, two minutes Overhead Punches with no rest
Unbound, Day 16
Square One, Day 16 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest

The workout, part 2
High Knees to failure: 00:00:44 -- Nothing like having one's concentration broken by items suddenly falling.
Punch Up Challenge Day17, five sets of forty Overhead Punches with thirty seconds rest
Unbound, Day 17
Square One, Day 17 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest

 

[wjs]

The workout
Push-Ups to failure: 6
Punch Up Challenge Day 18, two minutes Overhead Punches with no rest
Unbound, Day 18
Square One, Day 18 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest

 

[wjs]

The workout
Elbow Plank to failure: 00:02:20 -- It's pretty clear I can do relatively well when my tendons cooperate with me.
Punch Up Challenge Day 19, five sets of fifty Overhead Punches with thirty seconds rest
Unbound, Day 19
Square One, Day 19 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest and modifications to make it more difficult

 

[wjs]

The workout
High Knees to failure: 00:00:35
Punch Up Challenge Day20, two minutes Overhead Punches with no rest
Unbound, Day 20
Square One, Day 20 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest

 

[wjs]

And caught back up.

The workout, part 1
Knee Push-Ups to failure: 18
Punch Up Challenge Day 21, five sets of fifty Overhead Punches with thirty seconds rest
Unbound, Day 21
Square One, Day 21 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest

The workout, part 2
Elbow Plank to failure: 00:01:25 -- After 43 seconds of High Knees. Like, essentially immediately after. I should have checked which exercise I was on again before starting...
Punch Up Challenge Day 22, two minutes Overhead Punches with no rest
Unbound, Day 22
Square One, Day 22 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest and modifications to make it more difficult

 

[wjs]

The workout
High Knees to failure: 00:00:38
Punch Up Challenge Day23, five sets of fifty Overhead Punches with thirty seconds rest
Unbound, Day 23
Square One, Day 23 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest

 

[wjs]

A small hiccup this morning in which I slipped on the ice. Barring not slipping, at least I fell in the best possible manner, I didn't hit my head, keys out of my pocket, and on the side opposite from my phone. That said, I did have a multi-tool in my pocket... so now I have a very deep bruise on my quad. Awesome, working out is going to be fun. Also, let me just say one has no idea how much a muscle is used until one can feel it during a workout.

The workout
Push-Ups to failure: 2
Punch Up Challenge Day 24, two minutes Overhead Punches with no rest
Unbound, Day 24
Square One, Day 24 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest

 

[wjs]

The workout
Elbow Plank to failure: 00:01:06 -- The deep bruise on my quad limited me today. That said, it was easier moving about today than yesterday, especially as the day drew on.
Punch Up Challenge Day 25, five sets of sixty Overhead Punches with thirty seconds rest
Unbound, Day 25
Square One, Day 25 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest and modifications to make it more difficult

 

[wjs]

The workout
High Knees March Steps to failure: 00:02:29 -- I figured to give my quads a bit of a rest while it heals, especially since it's still a bit sore when I put a bit of pressure on it and there's still some discomfort while walking.
Punch Up Challenge Day26, two minutes Overhead Punches with no rest
Unbound, Day 26
Square One, Day 26 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest

 

[wjs]

I've been tired a lot the last few days. I guess healing one of the biggest muscle groups in the body takes energy, or something.

The workout
Knee Push-Ups to failure: 15
Punch Up Challenge Day 27, five sets of sixty Overhead Punches with thirty seconds rest
Unbound, Day 27
Square One, Day 27 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest

 

[wjs]

Maybe it's some combination of rest and calories* that will get this muscle back to good.

The workout
Elbow Plank to failure: 00:01:36
Punch Up Challenge Day 28, two minutes Overhead Punches with no rest
Unbound, Day 28
Square One, Day 28 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest and modifications to make it more difficult








*Probably protein. Probably.

 

[wjs]

The workout
High Knees to failure: 00:00:25
Punch Up Challenge Day 29, five sets of sixty Overhead Punches with thirty seconds rest
Unbound, Day 29
Square One, Day 29 at Level 3 with thirty seconds rest