I hope everyone feels one with the Magiqverse after last week’s Gossmere Tranquility medication challenge. You’re going to need for this week’s challenge. May I present…
Friday Challenge: Ebenguard Discipline
I’d like to thank @OracleSage for the inspiration for this challenge. What exercise better distills the balance between mind and body, the self-discipline of the Ebenguard than … “planks?” Planks are deceptively simple, but in reality very, very difficult. Trust me.
What is a “plank” you ask? It’s an exercise where you hold a posture face down, resting on your feet and elbows with your back kept perfectly straight. A picture is worth a thousand words, so…
Photo courtesy of Muscle and Fitness, where there’s a great detailed article and video on planks.
Okay, Mountaineers - your challenge is work up to planking for one minute. How often you plank is up to you. “Hahahaha, Augbro! I can already plank for one minute! Challenge: Complete!” you say. Then, sir/madam, if you can already plank for one full (excruciating) minute, your challenge is to increase the duration of your maximum plank time by 30 seconds.
My method for timing my planks/distracting myself is watching short videos on my phone while I do it. You’ll be staring at the ground anyway and it’s more fun than counting. So here is a collection of funny YouTube videos, all one minute or under. I haven’t seen all of them but I highly reccomend Benedict Cumberbatch Trying to Pronounce Penguins. Although come to think of it maybe laughing while planking isnt ideal. Idk. https://www.someecards.com/videos/videos/funny-videos-short-less-than-one-minute/
So planks are my favorite exercise, but I’ve neglected working out in any capacity since July or so. But Augo’s challenge this week, so I decided to try to plank for as long as I could after a long period of inactivity, and…
I did pretty well! I’m definitely going to start doing more of the core exercises I used to do, but if nothing else, I’m going to see how much longer I can last than this!
Okay, day 3 of planks and I’ve gotten up to 50 seconds (No timer proof tho…I’ve been watching music videos as motivation)! So still a bit more to go to meet the goal, but I’m feeling good, given it’s probably been like 6 years since I’ve done planks…
Unexpected obstacles so far: my apartment is almost completely carpeted, so I got mad rug burns on my elbows after the first two nights.
A little late with this challenge, but better late then never.
This week, it’s Weatherwatch Motion!
Always on the move in search of the Further Fire, I wanted a to choose a body-weight exercise with constant movement that honors the Weatherwatch guild. So for this week’s challenge: Burpees!
No, I don’t mean what happens after too many burgers and sodas aboard the Ascension on the way to the next adventure. Burpees are an exercise where you drop from a standing position to a crouch, hands on the ground in front of you. You then extend your legs backwards, out straight, bring your legs back into a crouching position then stand up, raising your arms over your head. If you’re feeling ambitious and want to work your chest, do a pushup in the middle of all that.
I know its a bit late to the party, but for those still interested, try mediating while planking, it will help the time pass and distract from the exertion.
We’re going to take a brief break from guild-themed challenges (don’t worry, Flinterforge - your time will come) and retrace more of our dear friend @CRSumner with another Cole’s Footsteps Challenge! This one is inadvertently shorter than Footsteps Challenge #1, at about 1/2 the distance, but I think we could all use a breather after the torment of burpees. So, here goes:
