Originally posted by Harrier88
I'm going for 1 push-up and 1 sit-up before the end of the year.
I'll get started tomorrow
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Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Originally posted by Harrier88
I'm going for 1 push-up and 1 sit-up before the end of the year.
I'll get started tomorrow
You´re going for the "Troll of the Year" award, Vorpal! :mdr::f_ugly: Good start! 
Originally posted by Primrose6789
You´re going for the "Troll of the Year" award, Vorpal! :mdr::f_ugly: Good start!
Are we still doing that one?I don't think there will be many eligible candidates, unless we include ourselves and whatever video game character trolls us during our gaming sessions.
But fair enough, be sure to keep us posted about your workout progress, Vorpal.
Nice thread!!!!
Just discovered it and liking it.
My goals: no situps, but lay down at least once this year.
Originally posted by Zeezout
Nice thread!!!!Just discovered it and liking it.
My goals: no situps, but lay down at least once this year.
Welcome aboard! 
We're still just getting started here, we haven't even played our first poker hand of the year yet.
And I have a feeling that you guys will all be a little more successful with your personal workouts than I will be... 
The pushups are still going fine, I'm done with Week Two now. Honestly... I'm not sure if I ever got that far. There is a reason why I started this during the winter vacation, when all of my regular sports are on break. I am supposed to do another exhaustion test this weekend, doing as many good form pushups as I can in order to determine which part of the program I shall follow in the next two weeks. I might do it tomorrow, but I don't think I should push myself too hard, or else I will be too tired by Monday.
I may also slowly start preparing for another sporting challenge, because I plan to finally go for another swim - I haven't been swimming since a few days before Christmas, when Prim was visiting and we were going to the pool together. I will take it slow, but I already have my swimming challenges in mind.
One of these challenges would be the Trollympics this summer, where I am aiming to get a "legit" Gold in a stamina event this time - I had to submit my DLRG Gold swimming badge for "extra credit" last year instead, which also counted as Gold for stamina. I can get Gold in this area by achieving a time of sub 15 minutes in the 3,000 meter run (Trollympic record is 16:47), or by getting a time below 19:15 minutes for 800 meters of freestyle swimming (Trollympic record is 20:30).
I had achieved this time last year by starting out with a few lanes of crawling, and then mostly doing breaststroke swimming after I got too tired, finishing with another crawling section as a final sprint. I was pretty new to this kind of swimming back then, but I have gotten some pointers this fall both from Primrose herself and from a swimming instructor at a local club where I showed up twice as a guest, so my technique should have improved a lot by now, and I should be able to crawl more lanes. Being able to crawl for the full 800 meters should give me an excellent shot at cracking the Gold time.
But yes, I also plan to go for a higher lifeguard badge some time this year. Let's take a closer look in our next post...
Going for Silver?
I have already started looking for the next opportunity to go for the Silver lifeguard badge, apparently the equivalent to being an "International Lifesaver" by ILSF standards.
There are supposed to be courses in mid to late February, not sure if I want to attempt them so soon, but I am currently in email contact with the local group and I am awaiting their response. Whether I take it then or at a later point, I can already start preparing. The requirements are (differences to the Bronze badge are marked in bold):
Theoretical part
- Passing a nationally standardized quiz about the following subjects: Respiration and blood circulation, hazards in and around water, assistance in case of bathing-, boating-, and ice-related accidents, avoiding strangleholds, rights and duties when providing emergency assistance, using life-saving equipment and the tasks and activities of the DLRG.
- Having passed an officially recognized first aid course within the last two years.
Note: This needs to be done separately.Practical part
- Swimming 400 meters in less than 15 minutes, including 50 meters of front crawling, 150 meters of breaststroke swimming and 200 meters of leg whip kick back swimming without using the arms
- Swimming 300 meters in full clothing in less than 12 minutes, with subsequent unclothing inside the water
- Performing a jump from a height of 3 meters
- 25 meters of distance diving
- 50 meters of transport swimming - pushing or pulling, in less than 1:30 minutes
- Diving from the surface of the water three times - once feet first and twice heads first - retrieving two 5 kg diving rings from the bottom of a 3-5 meters deep pool within 3 minutes
- Displaying abilities to avoid strangleholds and escaping neck chokeholds from behind
- 50 meters of transport swimming with an embracing technique (for people who may try to resist the rescuing) in less than four minutes, using two different techniques and switching halfway through, both participants being in full clothing
- Demonstrating the ability to use life-saving equipment
- A combined exercise involving the following steps without any breaks in this order: A 20 meter swimming approach, diving to retrieve a 5 kg diving ring halfway through at a depth of 3-5 meters, then dropping the ring and escaping a stranglehold, followed by carrying a partner for 25 meters, bringing them safely ashore and performing CPR for 3 minutes
Having to use equipment is new, but shouldn't be an issue. I also already took a practice version of the theoretical test a few times and discovered that many questions from the Bronze quiz were recycled one-to-one, with a few new questions thrown in, which aren't too hard either.
Other than that, it's largely the same, but a little tougher, with some stricter limitations. The swimming times are less trivial, but should still be doable. Transport swimming and swimming in full clothing now also have a time limit, and this could cause some problems, because I don't think I did too well there last time, though I caught on somewhat. Also note that the transport swimming with an embracing technique, used for unresponsive or uncooperative swimmers in distress, will now have to be done in full clothing too... this could prove to be difficult.
While our exam had us diving in a shallower part of the pool, we practiced diving in deeper waters early on, and I had some problems with the feet first version. Maybe I can improve, but it is hard to practice on my own time, as my local pool isn't deep enough. 25 meters of distance diving is also tough - and still an ongoing challenge for Primrose. I can do it on a good day, and I have also learned some better techniques in my Bronze course. I think I can pull this part off, at least.
Finally, the combined exercise is a lot more complex, now involving everything that is considered part of a typical rescue, all the way to bringing the victim ashore and performing CPR.
This is what may be in store for me this year in the water. What can I practice already? Well, I can start with the distance diving for the Silver badge, and of course the front crawling for the 800 meter freestyle swim. Improving my swimming in general should increase my odds when going for the badge too, of course.
I think this will be my plan for my future (possibly weekly?) trips to the pool: Start by going for a 25 meter distance dive, possibly going for a few extra meters after reaching the end of the pool, and later just trying to keep crawling for as long as possible, trying to add a few more consecutive laps every time, until I can hopefully eventually complete my 32nd lap for the full 800 meters.
I did my Week Two test today after getting up, before my trip to the pool. Depending on whether I can make 16-20, 21-25 or 26+ pushups, I would follow a different column in the program for the next two weeks. Failing to make 16 would mean that I would have to repeat one of my previous weeks and try again at a later point.
I counted 20 decent pushups, and then noticed myself getting shaky. Thing is... I counted twenty, but was that my real amount? My policy is that whenever I'm doing reps of any kind during my workouts and I start to have a feeling that I may have lost track, e.g. not being sure anymore if I am currently on my 13th or 14th pushup, I would always take the lower amount, and in case I was wrong, consider the extra reps I have to do as a penalty for losing my count. Kind of like when biathletes have to go for a penalty loop after missing their target.
It happened again here, so I'm not sure if I really just did twenty or maybe a couple more... and considering that the cutoff point is exactly between 20 and 21, this is a little inconvenient. Which column should I take now?
It's a judgment call, both choices have their own risks. Taking the lower option means that I will have it easier, but that I may run into more difficulties later on because my workout was too soft, possibly forcing me to repeat a week. Taking the higher option means that I will have a tougher workout that should prepare me a little better for what is to come, but also carries a higher risk of failure, possibly forcing me to drop down a column once again and potentially throwing me off-schedule, or in the worst case forcing me to drop the entire program.
Given my history with this, I think I am going to value consistency over speed of progress and go for the lower option, which assumes that I really did complete twenty pushups. Therefore, my workout program for next week will be:
Monday
10, 12, 7, 7 and 9+ reps
Wednesday
10, 12, 8, 8 and 12+ reps
Friday
11, 13, 9, 9 and 13+ reps
This is actually less than what I had to do last week... but once again, I would like to make sure that I can keep going, rather than trying to make more progress right away. Let's see if this decision pay off in the future.
Looks like many people over here made a resolution to go swimming more often in the new year, or maybe it just happened to be a busy day. Plenty of traffic at the local pool today.
The left side of the pool is usually intended for the more casual swimmers, including families with children who may often like to just splash around a little, while the right side is for those who want to swim proper laps, typically also at a decent pace. When I arrived, both sides where pretty busy.
Normally, I go to the lap swimming section right away, but those columns of ambitious swimmers would have made my initial distance diving difficult, so I started with the casuals, where I also had to wait a while to at least get a somewhat decent opening, then I just tried it. The result was essentially an obstacle diving course. Now, this won't be expected of me in any of my future badges (though the Gold lifeguard badge has a version of it, where you need to pick up a certain amount of diving rings while going for a seemingly impossible distance).
I figured that as long as I am diving deeply enough - only possible in the later section of the pool, which is why I had to wait for an opening - I should be able to avoid all those folks who like to have a little chat with each other during their swim. I still somehow managed to collide with an old lady who was swimming in a pretty much vertical position, with her feet near the ground. She may not have even known what hit her - literally.
Despite this, I arrived safely at the other side of the 25 meter pool, and even managed to do an underwater turn there for the first time to keep on diving, though I had to surface almost immediately afterwards. Tougher badges may require me to go beyond the 25 meters, though those will surely take place in a standard Olympic size 50 meter pool, so no pushing off the other edge for me.
Looks like the distance diving is going well, but my crawling could use some improvements. My first attempt had me going for four consecutive lanes (100 meters) and I later tried again and went for six in a row (150 meters). Probably a personal best at that point, but still not very good.
Ah well, it was the first proper swimming trip for me in a long time. 
Keep it steady, and we may see some progress soon.
Here, the public indoor swimming pool is still closed but will re-open next week. My Friday-evenening-tennis-training will start also next week. So, I can start my swimming workouts and FULL sports schedule next week, but I haven´t been completely without sports this week either: Played tennis already at January 1st and two crossfit-workouts are behind me. I do not have as many sports goals as Harrier, as I am a competitive tennis player and my goal is just: win at tennis! 
Will start competing in February until May, during summer I will only do practices in the evenings (due to my fair skin and last year I got diagnosed with Actinic Keratosis, a pre-cancerous lesion which was removed) and compete again in September and October. That´s the plan. And my biggest goal is: NO INJURY! 
Originally posted by Primrose6789
I do not have as many sports goals as Harrier, as I am a competitive tennis player and my goal is just: win at tennis!
It would still be cool to have you join in the "Trollympics" this year.
But yes, the most important goal is "NO INJURY!" for sure.
In fact, during summer I will focus more on swimming - as you know: Gotta avoid the summer sun, especially the midday-sun! 
Originally posted by VorpalF2F
I did a push-up yesterday. OK, I'm done for the year now.
Sit-up next.
Vorpal showing us up once again, being halfway done with his yearly workout already while we are still struggling...
And he´s already busy with trolling ♠_biggrin:♠_drink:
As we know, mods can be trolls too ♠_biggrin:♠_ugly::sifflote:
To think that Prim and I are supposed to be the Trolls here...
Maybe we can have a Troll of the Year contest after all, like in the good old days. 
Plenty of sports and exercising here so far, a little gardening... but no poker yet.
This may be about to change. I finished my last poker spreadsheet last night, and now I am ready to put some numbers in there. I haven't dealt with the OFC client yet, but I should be able to play my first SNGs later today.
By the way, I did get LibroOffice to crash once, when I had my big Combined Stats spreadsheet open with many cross-references to be updated, and most of the other relevant spreadsheets being open in the background. It still has a much better track record than OpenOffice, this is the first crash that I can recall, despite heavy use.
Primrose is currently dealing with a minor infection, I believe, so she will still sit out this weekend. I think she had to postpone one of her workouts too. It's nothing serious, but of course, we are all wishing her to get well soon. She will be fully recovered in no time.
To briefly get back to sports one more time, I stumbled upon some other possible challenges yesterday, which may or may not be available to me. I will have a look around, and as soon as I know more about them, I might start practicing and keep you updated about my progress.
Probably I may postpone my tomorrows Monday-workout to Tuesday, it depends. It seems to be a very mild stomach flu. Let´s see how I will feel tomorrow.
Well, this is it, the first poker hand of 2024, for both of us. It was a Courchevel hand, I signed up for a bunch of SNGs, and this happened to be the first one to open.
In the end, I placed 2nd in that one, and also played a Five Card Draw on the side. This one bubbled, continuing what has been a bit of a theme last year.
It was fine in order to get my feet wet after the long break from the tables. SNGs were always supposed to be mostly a side game anyway.