Happy Friday, Mounties! We’re heading in to the long weekend, and back to guild-themed challenges. I’ve tried to stick with body weight exercises that require no equipment, but for this week you will need access to a pull up bar, at home or at the gym. This week’s challenge is… Balimoran Strength
Strong back muscles are key to climbing in the forested/jungle terrain Balimorans call home. These will also work your biceps and other key arm muscles. So, to complete this challenge, do a set of pull ups until failure each time you exercise. True to the chaotic nature of Balimorans, this number will be different and unique for each of us.
Can’t do a pull up? Start with “inverse pull ups”- take a standing jump at a pull up bar and grasp the bar at the height of the jump and hold your position for as long as possible. As slowly as you can, lower yourself down to the ground. This will build the muscles needed to eventually overcome the gravitational constant and do a full pull up on your own! If you’re at a gym, you could also try weight-assisted pull ups, but that requires some highly specialized equipment.
LOL. So I totally did 1.5 miles (on a treadmill, but still) yesterday and I was all excited but then I FORGOT to post it here.
On the subject of this week: I very much do not have access to a pull-up bar - thanks, useless tiny apartment workout room. Maybe I can co-opt monkey-bars in the park next door? Any better suggestions for those of us stranded without gym memberships/other adequate fitness facilities?
This week’s challenge is inspired by our friends in Thornmouth… sitting in their libraries, among walls and walls of books… That’s right! The Thornmouth Stillness Challenge is Wall Sits!
You’re going to want to bring a book, because the challenge is to wall sit for two minutes. If you can already wall sit for two or more minutes, 1) screw you and 2) add a 10 pound/4.5 kg medicine ball (or any other 10 pound/4.5 kg object, really).
And here we are, with the final installment of the Mountie Motivation Fitness Challenge - Flinterforge Industry. The Day’s Work is the essence of the Flinterforge mindset: using one’s hands to transform, to improve. Putting your hands in the soil, getting them dirty, to make something new out of raw materials.
For this challenge, you’ll be putting your hands to the ground to transform your own body: pushups to failure. That means doing as many pushups as you possibly can until you literally can’t pick your body up off the ground. You will be amazed at how quickly this transforms the muscles of your arms and chest, with simple (and free!) body weight exercise.
There’s no need to post the number of pushups you do here - everyone’s numbers will be different, and really aren’t comparable across ages, sexes and body builds. I want anyone participating to do three sets over the course of the week, and feel free to post that they’re done on this thread.
This has been a really fun initiative. I have one last thing to share with everyone next week after the Flinterforge challenge is over. Stay tuned, Mountaineers!
I would really like to thank everyone for joining in on our fitness challenge. I’m really proud of everyone who participated in the weekly challenges! The MVP award goes to @Remus, who left me in his dust doing planks.
I wanted to leave everyone with one last pretty neat thing - it’s called Hero’s Journey, and it’s a free, RPG-based fitness program developed by a company called Darebee. It’s meant to be done daily, but a good friend and I are doing it on weekends to supplement our regular Monday-Wednesday-Friday gym time. It requires little-to-no equipment. It’s surprisingly difficult. If you’re interested, also poke around on the website since they have some other cool programs, like a sci-fi space ballad based program, and even an exercise programs for mothers, using your baby as a weight.
