Colin 2019

**Rainbow Dragon** · February 9, 2019, 12:45 AM

Great work on those push-ups, Colin!

Glad you got to see the birds. I love kingfishers! Our bay is frozen over at the moment, but the kingfishers will return once it thaws. Thrushes will be back in a couple of months, I think.

**Colin** · February 9, 2019, 10:04 AM

Ah yes, thank you, PSW, and Rainbow, spring is coming here... the garden birds (mostly small brown birds, but blackbirds, magpies, jackdaws and crows, the odd thrush, a robin and some others) are starting to get livelier and a bit more aggressive!

Not such a good day yesterday, but I did do 10 Australian pull ups and 100 punches after DD with EC of 40 single-leg bridges. An 8-minute meditate.

Back to Pandora later today!

**Colin** · February 10, 2019, 02:57 PM

Back to AoP last night:

7 sets of mixed combat moves with some squats thrown in.

Good fun!

I did some punches and Australian pull-ups through the day, but didn't properly log them so can't give totals - 20 - 30,000 of each I should imagine. Yeah, something like that!

10-minute meditate too. I tried to bring it forward a little so it wasn't the last, rushed thing I did on the way to bed.

Om. And On.

**Colin** · February 11, 2019, 09:18 AM

A nice busy day yesterday, with some allotmenting - spring is really starting to spring, though it's still cold, the days are definitely getting longer (this is almost literally the most predictable thing in the world, I'm not sure why I'm always so surprised by it! One year, winter will last for ever, the Snow Queen will be unveilled as the new Leeds United manager and evil England will be named perpetual world champions of rugby. Or somthing like that!)

EDIT: DD with EC - 100 knife hand strikes. My form for these with my left hand is very poor I think.

Also 100 punches, because punches...
100 jumping jacks for our new quest, and
AoP Chapter 23: a cardio circuit with planks, for 7 rounds and a level III finish!

I am enjoying AoP! I'm afraid I don't read very much of the actual story though. I'm not a gamer I guess.

Also a meditate of 10 minutes.

More jumping jacks already this morning! Penguins belong together!

Have lovely days, Bees.

**BlackButler** · February 11, 2019, 09:34 AM

ooooo! Only a week left till your AoP! Keep up the epic work buddy

**Colin** · February 12, 2019, 09:05 AM

Good point, BB! I've flown throw AoP by my standards. I think it's helped that I haven't stuck a load of other challenges on top of it while I'm feeling confident, only to find that they grow to become monsters that slay me!

And, I'm enjoying it, it's a great mix of things.

A tough day yesterday though:

4 x (10 press-ups, 20 arm circles, 20 speed bag punches, 10 press-ups, 20 combos arm scissors/arm chops).

That's the top of my current capability for press-ups and I had to take a couple of breaks. I had dreams of doing this at the top level (that was a level II finish), but adding 5 press-ups to each set gives you an 80+ boost, and that would have killed me.

Also yesterday, 5 Australian pull ups, 1 set of weights (curls and rows), 100 jumping jacks, 100 punches. DD with EC: 40 high crunches.

So I'm not doing any other programmes, but I am trying to fit in little bits and pieces in my work breaks - hence those extras.

I also went for a short cycle.

**Lyra_H_W** · February 12, 2019, 09:22 AM

Sounding good there Colin

Those little bits spread out really add up

**Colin** · February 13, 2019, 09:14 AM

Thank you, Lyra_H_W! It certainly feels like it.

Yesterday: DD with EC. 20 basic burpees - 30 in the end because I misread it as 10 (because 10 is reasonable, right?) and did those, before checking and finding 20 and doing them.

5 Australian Pull-ups - I'm doing these with better form now. I do them under a table (the only option I have in my home) and had had my legs bent. I moved on to straight legs yesterday - significantly harder!

200 punches. Because punches.

AoP: 340 high knees and a cardio circuit x 7.

On we go!

**Colin** · February 14, 2019, 09:15 AM

A good day yesterday!

5 Australian pull ups

200 punches - BECAUSE PUNCHES!

DD with EC: 60-second chest squeeze

Age of Pandora Chapter 26: 860 high knees. Then 5 x 3 x (5 push-ups, 10 squats (last set of squats jump squats). That was pretty tough!

And a 10-minute sit

I enjoyed that and I would love to do the same today. I'm going to a concert tonight though so may not have time for much if anything.

On we go in any case.

Bee great!

**PetiteSheWolf** · February 14, 2019, 09:20 AM

"because punches" - yeah

Hope you had a fun concert!

**Colin** · February 15, 2019, 09:12 AM

Thank you, PSW! The concert was great - a Steve Reich bill. It was quite transcendent - I got right in the zone!

It did cut down my evening exercise time though, so, just the "extras" yesterday:

DD with EC - 30 cross reach sit ups,
200 punches,
5 Australian push-ups
A set of weights (this is usually 10 bicep curls (double arm) and 10 bent over rows, with my standard 15kg total dumbbells. I might work on turning this into something more structured I can do in my work breaks.)

I'm finding that I do better when I am less structured. Or rather, when I set fewer targets. This is interesting and useful - for me! - as for years I've tried to (and felt bad for not) force myself to do a lot of logging and listing, and I think I do better when I keep that stuff relatively minimal and actually do more. We all do things differently, so I'm glad to be finding my way.

I hope to be logged off fairly comprehensively over the weekend and I hope you all have a good one!

**KYRO** · February 15, 2019, 10:03 AM

Have an amazing offline weekend, too!

**Colin** · February 18, 2019, 09:54 AM

Thank you, Kyro! I did, and I highly recommend it!

I have done:

Friday, AoP, Chapter 27. A plank-based set. DD with EC (can't remember what!), plus some punches!

Saturday, 8 mile walk. Age of P, Chapter 28, a balance set, challenging for me!

Sunday. A day of rest as it turns out! My parents visited and I was pretty knackered by the end of the day. I did 100 punches.

I meditated on all three days.

I should finish AoP tomorrow. Well, part 1, at least. I suppose I just go on to Part II?

Well, we shall see.

Lovely to be back, on we go, Bees!

**Colin** · February 18, 2019, 10:08 AM

A photo from our walk. I didn't take many as the weather was grey - though it never rained - and, to be honest, there weren't all that many great views, though it was an interesting walk, we saw lots of birdlife and found a great place to do near our home that should have some lush woodland once the seasons change.

I've put this one up as it's quite a typical South Wales Valleys scene of terraced houses clinging to the side of a steep valley. The walk we did was largely along an old railway line that followed the River Sirhowy and would have carried coal down to the docks at Newport, nine miles away as recorded in the car park from where we set out, Nine Mile Point. I think (but I can't be sure now) that the village in that picture is Cwmfelinfach, which even I have enough Welsh to translate as Valley, Mill, Little - so, somethinb like "little mill in the valley".

We encountered a fox hunt - or a rider lost from a hunt that we could hear. Fox hunting is now illegal in the UK, but they still meet and - if they are to be completely believed - go out with their dogs chasing trails of artificiail scent. And if the animal rights activists - and some recent media reports - are to be believed, they're still fox hunting.

**Gandhalfit** · February 18, 2019, 01:09 PM

Next time when the weather is grey... I would like to see more pictures. But thanks for that one the scenery looks epic.

Colin 2019

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