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

wjs

wjs

Well-known member
Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
Well, I may not be getting the results I want as immediately as I want them, but this morning I realized the reverse angels this month are definitely giving me a different set of results I both want and need. Those results? My posture is clearly getting better. I don't know why it took so long for me to notice, maybe something about all the other stuff going on in my life. But this is definitely a good thing. In other news, I need to figure out what my Warrior Arms Challenge bonus workout is going to be. I don't have the equipment for bow or hammer, so those are right out, and five sets of max Push-Ups for axe doesn't sound pleasant. That leaves dagger, sword, and staff. Any thoughts?

The workout

Forty Reverse Angels
Better Legs Day 20, three sets of 40 Side Leg Raises with thirty seconds rest between sets
Ten minutes in the Pits with bastons
 
wjs

wjs

Well-known member
Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
Any Europeans who would be willing to talk cost of living with me, I would greatly appreciate direct messages about your country. The internet can only tell me so much that is relatively current*.

The workout

Forty-two Reverse Angels
Better Legs Day 21, three sets of 42 Back Leg Raises with thirty seconds rest between sets
Extraction at level 1






*I did some research this evening and was consistently getting data that was as much as two years old. Up to date data would assist me so very much. I need to figure out what job** I have to aim at to make this a thing.
**And language. Perhaps more importantly, even.
 
wjs

wjs

Well-known member
Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
Nothing to see here.

The workout

Forty-four Reverse Angels
Better Legs Day 22, three sets of 42 Side Leg Raises with thirty seconds rest between sets
Forty-five minutes of steady-state cardio

I thought yesterday's Plank Rotations were going to be bad. They were pretty easy. And then there was forty-five minutes of step jacks and side jacks after forty-four Reverse Angels. The only thing worse than today for muscle soreness will be fifty minutes of cardio after fifty-six Reverse Angels next Monday. It hurts so good... well, it hurts, anyway.
 
wjs

wjs

Well-known member
Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
Nothing to see here. Again.

The workout

Forty-six Reverse Angels
Better Legs Day 23, three sets of 44 Back Leg Raises with thirty seconds rest between sets
Paladin at level 1, modified with Knee Push-Ups on the second grouping per set and the second of the first grouping only on the third set. Yes, I've advanced a bit on Push-Ups without actively working on them. Wish I felt like I accomplished something.
 
wjs

wjs

Well-known member
Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
Day off. It was quiet.

I think with June* I will start at level 2 on those workouts for which I feel comfortable moving up. Others, like Paladin, will be staying at level 1. There is also the possibility I'll switch out a few workouts for new ones, too.

The workout

Forty-eight Reverse Angels
Better Legs Day 24, three sets of 44 Side Leg Raises with thirty seconds rest between sets
The Clash at level 1






*The next month for which I will be doing individual workouts, next month being Total Body.
 
wjs

wjs

Well-known member
Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
So, three days next month I'm out of town with no realistic expectation of having the time or opportunity to work out. As a result, I'll be picking up extra workouts early* to account for those days.

The workout

Fifty-eight Reverse Angels
Better Legs Day 29, three sets of 50 Back Leg Raises with thirty seconds rest between sets
Standing Abs






*As opposed to last month, where I decided it would be a wonderful idea to have to double up on later workouts in the month. Because clearly I'm intelligent.
 
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wjs

wjs

Well-known member
Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
Thank you, @Mamatigerj, @Jaga, @Louve Rose, and everyone who congratulated me silently for Better Legs. In other news, who had the brilliant idea to do Cardio & Core?* And also to pair it with the Total Body program?**

I probably could have completed Total Body day 2 at level 3 had I not been mostly cooked by the first workout of the day.

In other questions, does anyone have a good replacement for Side Bridges? They come up late in Total Body, but they always wreck*** my elbows. I would think something like Heel Taps, but there's the resistance difference**** to account for.

The workout, part 1
10 Arm Scissors (the vertical ones)
Cardio &Core Day 1, four sets of High Knees for 30 seconds with 30 seconds rest between
Total Body Day 1

The workout, part 2
20 Arm Scissors
Cardio &Core Day 2, four sets of Climbers for 30 seconds with 30 seconds rest between
Total Body Day 2 at level 2









*Oh, right, that would be me.
**Also me. Dammit.
***As in it is really, really painful to do Side Bridges, Side Planks, and other, similar exercises.
****One's body weight, in this case, in Side Bridges that does not exist for Heel Taps.
 
wjs

wjs

Well-known member
Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
Louve Rose said:
I have the same problem here, but now I put a pillow under my elbow.
Click to expand...
I've done the same thing with limited help from doing so. Maybe I just don't have great pillows? Maybe my mass is too much for them? I don't know.

My quads are still unhappy with me today. I can't imagine why. This is going to be a great month for DOMS... However, the challenge doesn't get harder*, so I have to hope I can adapt to it quickly so it becomes easier.

The workout
30 Arm Scissors
Cardio &Core Day 3, four sets of High Knees for 30 seconds with 30 seconds rest between
Total Body Day 3 at level 2. I can see cardio + cardio days are not going to be fun.








*This might be why I thought it wouldn't be too bad.
 
wjs

wjs

Well-known member
Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
Thank you, @CODawn.

The second of three days* with two sets of workouts. It's gonna hurt. The only small bit of good news is I found my roller last night and it helped my quads a bit. At least they didn't hurt nearly as badly after even shoddily rolling them out. That said, the high knees in Cardio & Core are killing me and I wish my skin would start catching up to my fat loss, because the way I look and feel are both gross. Worse, I can feel the muscle all around my midsection, so I know it's there...

The workout, part 1
50 Arm Scissors
Cardio &Core Day 5, four sets of High Knees for 30 seconds with 30 seconds rest between
Total Body Day 5

The workout, part 2
60 Arm Scissors
Cardio &Core Day 6, four sets of Climbers for 30 seconds with 30 seconds rest between
Total Body Day 6 at level 1. They weren't particularly high knees. It wasn't particularly fast-paced. But it was the only way I would make it through even three sets. I'll be honest here, I'm not sure if the challenge is too much for me or it's the fact that I need to double up workouts this month for a work trip. Either way, I don't know if I'm going to be able to continue Cardio & Core with Total Body. Even if I don't double up one more day and instead push the last week or so of workouts until 31MAY, I am unsure that I'll be able to last the entire month with this combination.










*The third should be Thursday, assuming nothing unusual at work requiring my presence.
 
wjs

wjs

Well-known member
Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
The workout

80 Arm Scissors
Cardio &Core Day 8, four sets of Climbers for 30 seconds with 30 seconds rest between, which I failed after nearly face-planting during set two. I think I may have been too aggressively optimistic in choosing this challenge. Maybe in the future.
Total Body Day 8 also failed, but for different reasons. I don't know what's going on, exactly, but my right quad hurt enough after the above failure and the five sets of Split Lunges that I decided during the first set of Lunge Step-Ups to stop instead of potentially injure myself. What a great night.
 
wjs

wjs

Well-known member
Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
I've dropped the challenge and moved forward with the next day on Total Body. I'll circle back around to catch day 8 in the future after giving my right quad a bit of time to heal. In addition, all this week I've been running low energy and almost always hungry. Maybe I need a refeed this upcoming week, then with my work trip prior to Memorial Day weekend, I'll adjust by eating appropriately as I have available.

The Workout

90 Arm Scissors
Total Body Day 9 at level 3
 
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wjs

wjs

Well-known member
Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
More great news this week, I had bad milk yesterday. It has not been a fun day today, I'm just glad I had already decided it needed to be a refeed week soon, it just started a bit early with a ton of bread, which helped my stomach feel better. For a while, anyway. Also, I made a mistake... I should have completed two workouts today. I realized that way, way too late to actually do that. It's been a challenging week and there are a couple days left.

The Workout

100 Arm Scissors
Total Body Day 10 at level 2.
 
wjs

wjs

Well-known member
Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
Thank you, @PetiteSheWolf, I appreciate your well-wishes, as well as everyone who silently provided them. My stomach is feeling better. I'm not quite 100%, but I am much better than yesterday.

The Workout

110 Arm Scissors
Total Body Day 11. Did I mention I hate tendon days? Also, the right side of my hip/pelvic region is worse than my left for... whatever it is tendon days do.
 
wjs

wjs

Well-known member
Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
I appreciate the commiseration, @CODawn. My stomach still isn't at 100%, but it isn't being weird during work hours, so I'll take it.

The Workout

120 Arm Scissors
Total Body Day 12. Easiest Build day of the program, by my estimation. Even with having to re-learn Get-Ups on the fly. Also, the intent is to actually complete Day 8 alongside Day 29 on 30MAY. It's the only day I have the ability to do two workouts that doesn't pair the Day 8 Build day with Cardio, which was the initial problem back at the beginning of the week.
 
wjs

wjs

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Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
Good day off. A bit warm for cardio*.

The Workout

130 Arm Scissors
Total Body Day 13 at level 1. Knee and ankle twinges kept from from doing more than the bare minimum. I was having trouble with keeping a good cadence with the Split Jacks, too, which may have been caused in part by the pain.













*He says, having worked out in the middle of Texas summers, cardio included.
 
wjs

wjs

Well-known member
Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
Management sucks sometimes. I don't recommend it unless you're a serious people person.*

The Workout

150 Arm Scissors
Total Body Day 15. The last two sets of Plank Rotations nearly killed me, even with extra rest time and a need to stop for a bit in the middle of the fourth set or risk collapsing as a result of knee weakness. But it was completed.












*But wjs, I didn't know you were a people person. Your posts often sound like you'd prefer to be left alone.**
**That would be correct, but I also have difficulty not seeing a project through, no matter how unlikely it is that I'm the right person for the job. There's a word for this, I just can't put my finger on it.***
***Some people may use words like determined or dedicated. I think of it more as stubborn or, potentially, stupid.
 
wjs

wjs

Well-known member
Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
Chaos reigns. One person showed for our bi-weekly event, but that freed up the tournament organizer to help me with the other event scheduled for today, a tournament for the board game Unmatched. I was also able to leave work early today, which helped balance Thursday slightly.

The Workout

190 Arm Scissors
Total Body Day 19
 
wjs

wjs

Well-known member
Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
Busiest not busy day ever, getting ready for my upcoming trip to a trade show.

The Workout

200 Arm Scissors
Total Body Day 20 at level 1. My ankle does not appreciate the HIIT days, hence the level 1 yet again. Also, what makes High Knees so much harder than just about any other cardio exercise? I can do Step Jacks and Side Jacks for damn near an hour at this point, and could for a full hour without issue in the past, but High Knees kill me thirty seconds at a time...
 
wjs

wjs

Well-known member
Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
Surges and flickers and outages, oh my!* My store had a rough hour and a half as the mall's power went weird. Computers not working, lights not properly illuminated, security cameras off. We had to shut the gate for about twenty-five minutes due to the outage. It was crazy. Tomorrow, though, I'm on the road to a trade show for a few days. I'll be back Friday evening. This week continues to be interesting...

The Workout

220 Arm Scissors
Total Body Day 22. Not particularly deep Cossack Squats, but I did them.









*Wait, is that right? Hmm...
 
wjs

wjs

Well-known member
Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
I had a great time at the trade show. I saw a bunch of games that are still a ways out from release. I saw a few games that are about to release. I met a ton of super cool and amazing people. I would really like to go back next year. It's possible I could go back, especially if I get to be the RPG* guy for the company. Which could be a thing. The big question regarding that is whether adding buying duties on top of managing a store** would be too much for me to handle. But I like a challenge and this looks fun...

The Workout

230 Arm Scissors
Total Body Day 23 at level 3. Climber Taps subbed in for Wipers due to a lack of space.







*Role-playing game, for those who don't know.***
**The largest store, by area, in the company. Thankfully, I'm not also in the Twin Cities, where I would probably feel under attack every day.
***That said, not many of you wouldn't know that, given DareBEE is kinda gamer focused. See: Hero's Journey, Carbon and Dust, Ronin's Blade, Shadebound, Pathfinder, Spellbound, and Age of Pandora.
 
wjs

wjs

Well-known member
Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
A rest day I needed. Well, a rest day from work. Obviously not a rest day from working out, as I got those during the trade show. As an aside, there really wasn't much time to work out during the trip anyway.

The Workout

240 Arm Scissors
Total Body Day 24 at level 2. I had a stiff knee, which caused trouble with the suspension, as it were, for all the jacks. Still, I did manage five sets of seven total.
 
wjs

wjs

Well-known member
Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
Why stay at home with food and family for Memorial Day* when one can instead go to the mall to waste time and money? No, seriously, why?

The Workout

250 Arm Scissors
Total Body Day 25









*In the US, this is a holiday meant to memorialize those who lost their lives in all the wars in which the country has been involved. Not that it closes retail, hence why I was at work.
 
wjs

wjs

Well-known member
Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
I feel so drained. I've been fighting with this since I returned from the trade show and I can't figure out what the issue is.

The Workout

270 Arm Scissors
Total Body Day 27 at level 1. Again my left calf was very tight on top of the drain and the ankle that's been bothering me during High Knees.
 
wjs

wjs

Well-known member
Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
Day off. Ish. I was in the store early until my opener got in because we have a new display arriving and I wanted to make sure someone was at the store if it arrived before open. In addition, I'm swapping days 29 and 30 so I don't have two "build" days in a row.

The Workout, part 1

Total Body Day 8. I told you I'd get back to this. Maybe a little later than I thought I would, but it's in the books. Also, I still like Up-and-Down Planks, just not 40 of them with little rest.

The Workout, part 2

280 Arm Scissors
Total Body Day 28. Thankfully no more yoga.
 
wjs

wjs

Well-known member
Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
Busy, busy, busy. The display for which I went in for a bit in the morning yesterday arrived during the day along with a couple of direct shipments. I spent the better part of six and a half hours getting that all squared away. But it's done. One of my staff is going to build and put out the display on Sunday. It's going to be great.

The Workout

290 Arm Scissors
Total Body Day 30 at level 3
 
wjs

wjs

Well-known member
Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
I feel like trash. I have a headache that's only gotten worse since it initially struck and that's after having taken some ibuprofin. On top of that, I fell asleep for a while, too. I'm lucky to have done anything at all today. I'll finish Total Body tomorrow, then later pick up my June plan.

The Workout

300 Arm Scissors
 
wjs

wjs

Well-known member
Guardian from St. Cloud, MN
Posts: 450
The Workout, part 1
Total Body Day 29. Did it take a bit of extra rest time? Yes. Did it take a few extra days? Yes. Is it done? Yes. Do I feel good about it? I really feel like Day 8 and yesterday are cheats.*

The Workout, Part 2
10 Heel Taps
Warrior Arms Challenge, Day 1, with bonus quest Path of the Sword: five sets of 20 Horizontal Strikes using a Bokken with one minute rests
Ten minutes in the Pits, unarmed. I might use either my jo or bastons for one of these this month, but expect it to be unarmed given I have bokken work every day.















*This should come as no surprise to people who remember my old check-in threads.
 
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