Middleage start

Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
B Strength Day:
(+1600 XP)
- morning 10am
First thing Yurishka (+100 💪)
MamaTiger (+100 🤸)
Recomp 2/30 (+200🔥)
Audi R8 lvl1 + FG (+300 💪)
━━━━ False grip ━━━━
• Thorough wrists warmup (1 - 1)
• False grip bent-arm hang (8s - 8s)
• False grip hanging plank (8s - 8s - 8s)

━━━━ Audi R8 ━━━━

━━ WARMUP ━━
╭─ Star jump (11 - 11 - 10)
╰─ Elbow dislocates (7 - 6 - 6)
• German hang (40s)

━━ WORKOUT ━━
• Rings pullup (5 - 4 - 4)
• Rings support (42s - 30s - 25s)
• Incline row (11 - 10 - 10)
• Incline rings pushup (17 - 17 - 11)
• Rings plank (48s - 46s - 46s)

━━ COOLDOWN ━━
• Hanging cobra (33s - 31s)
• Sitting piriformis stretch (30s - 30s)

-afternoon 5pm
HiveB&C Taichi (+300 🤸)
Honey Deck: Morning Bell lvl3 15kg (+300 🔥)
Night Wolf Quest: No Burpees lvl1 (+200🏃)

-whole day
Walk 1000 steps (+100 🌿)
Received Hearts (+6❤️ )

Lizard's Smile:
⚔️ LEVEL 11: 5505 XP | ⚂str 3059 | ⚀crd 1530 | ⚀met 2148 | ⚀hit 1301 | ⚀com 2260 | ⚁flx 5360 | ⚀yog 405 | ⚂wel 3247 | ❤️ HP: 43 % | 📦Items: 🦎 ♣️ 🌹 🐟 🏁
calc
 
Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
B Strength Day:
(+1400 XP)
- morning 9am
MamaTiger (+100 🤸)
HiveB&C Taichi (+300 🤸)

-evening 9pm
Honey Deck: 5-Minute Push-ups lvl2 (+200 💪)
Recomp 3/30 (+200🔥)
Cali2 + FG (+300 💪)
━━━━ False grip ━━━━
• Thorough wrists warmup (1 - 1)
• False grip bent-arm hang (10s - 8s)
• False grip hanging plank (10s - 8s - 8s)

━━━━ Cali2 ━━━━

━━ WARMUP ━━
╭─ Plank jack thrust (13 - 13)
├─ Curtsy lunge (10 - 10)
╰─ Hanging knees to elbows (10 - 10)

━━ WORKOUT ━━
╭─ Hanging side plank (11s - 9s - 9s - 9s)
╰─ Deep lunge (5 - 5 - 4 - 4)
╭─ Rings horizontal row (7 - 7 - 6 - 6)
├─ Half pistol squat (6 - 6 - 6 - 5)
╰─ Chinup (6 - 5 - 5 - 5)

━━ COOLDOWN ━━
╭─ Side standing straddle stretch (27s - 27s)
╰─ Head-assisted crow pose (12s - 12s)


@calistree

-whole day
Walk 3000 steps (+300 🌿)
Received Hearts and Hugs (+4❤️ )

Lizard's Smile:
⚔️ LEVEL 11: 7405 XP | ⚂str 3559 | ⚀crd 1530 | ⚀met 2348 | ⚀hit 1301 | ⚀com 2260 | ⚁flx 5860 | ⚀yog 505 | ⚂wel 3847 | ❤️ HP: 30 % | 📦Items: 🦎 ♣️ 🌹 🐟 🏁
calc
 
Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
B Strength Day:
(+1000 XP)
- morning
Nothing (I'll have to force myself to do morning session)

-evening 8pm
HiveB&C Taichi (+300 🤸)
⚂🤸 Tier Up - Flexibility
Yurishka (+100 💪)
Audi R8 lvl1 + FG (+300 💪)
━━━━ False grip ━━━━
• Thorough wrists warmup (1 - 1)
• False grip bent-arm hang (10s - 10s)
• False grip hanging plank (10s - 10s - 8s)

━━━━ Audi R8 ━━━━

━━ WARMUP ━━
╭─ Star jump (12 - 12 - 11)
╰─ Elbow dislocates (7 - 7 - 6)
• German hang (42s)

━━ WORKOUT ━━
• Rings pullup (5 - 5 - 4)
• Rings support (42s - 32s - 30s)
• Incline row (12 - 10 - 9)
• Incline rings pushup (17 - 14 - 11)
• Rings plank (50s - 34s - 30s)

━━ COOLDOWN ━━
• Side Hanging cobra (10s)
• Half cross-leg spinal twist (15s)


@calistree
Recomp 4/30 Failed on second set. Maybe I wasn't able to jump after hour of exhausting exercises.

-whole day
Walk 2200 steps (+300 🌿)
Received Hearts (+5❤️ )

Lizard's Smile:
⚔️ LEVEL 11: 8405 XP | ⚂str 3959 | ⚀crd 1530 | ⚀met 2348 | ⚀hit 1301 | ⚀com 2260 | ⚂flx 160 | ⚀yog 505 | ⚂wel 4147 | ❤️ HP: 100 % | 📦Items: 🦎 🌹 🐟 🏁 💘
calc
 
Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
I thought I’d share a bit about the physical issues I’ve run into while training.

Recently, I injured my elbow while trying to strengthen my forearm muscles — the ones important for maintaining a proper false grip and for doing exercises on the gymnastic rings. I probably overdid it and strained either a tendon or a small forearm muscle. I took a break for about five or six days and avoided heavier, more demanding exercises.

When the pain eased, I went back to movements that engage that same area — but during push-ups, chin-ups, pull-ups, or even a simple 5 kg bicep curl, the pain returned. Technically, I can keep doing those exercises while in pain, but I’m not sure how smart that really is.

I’ve also been reading a bit about traditional Chinese exercise and medicine, and one common principle is not to force through pain. Instead, it’s advised to reduce or stop stressing the painful area, because pain is the body’s way of resisting or warning you.

According to this philosophy, pain is seen as a disruption in the flow of Qi (life energy), which circulates through the body alongside the blood, moving through so-called meridians — energy channels that run vertically through the body. Elbow pain can result from stagnation of Qi and inflammation of the muscles or joint.

To help restore balance, it’s recommended to do lighter exercises that don’t overload the elbow and to gently massage two acupressure points for up to two minutes:
  • LI11 (Quchi) — on the outer side of the elbow, used to “clear heat and dampness” from the joint.
  • PC3 (Quze) — on the inner side, believed to help regulate tendons and ease tension.
So, I’ll be massaging those points, as well as the forearm and biceps, and taking a break from heavier movements that strain that muscle group. I’ll focus more on legs and core, since they’re considered the foundation of Qi flow.

For now, it’s just theory — we’ll see if it actually helps in practice. I might even try visualizing a golden thread of energy flowing from the shoulder, dissolving the red, inflamed area around the elbow. Let’s see how that goes. :)
 
Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
B Safe Mode:
(+1050 XP)
- morning 9am
MamaTiger (+105 🤸)

- evening 9pm
HiveB&C Taichi (+315 🤸)
Yurishka (+105 💪)
Recomp 5/30 - failed on 3rd minute, of 10 EMOM
Synced lvl1 15kg (+210 💪)
Yang Tai Chi 24 Form (10/24) Cloud Hands 30min (+105 🤸)

-whole day
Walk 4100 steps (+420 🌿)
Received Hearts (+1❤️ )

Lizard's Smile:
⚔️ LEVEL 12: 1695 XP | ⚂str 4274 | ⚀crd 1530 | ⚀met 2548 | ⚀hit 1301 | ⚀com 2260 | ⚂flx 875 | ⚀yog 505 | ⚂wel 5007 | ❤️ HP: 82 % | 📦Items: 🦎 ♣️ 🌹 🐟 🏁
calc
 
Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
I decided to make some changes to my Barbarian plan, so I made B2 plan.

BARBARIAN PLAN 2:

Screenshot 2025-06-03 122334.png



Sunday - Extreme Day
Monday - Rest Day
Tuesday - Strength Day
Wednesday - Strength Day
Thursday - Rest Day
Friday - Nothing
Saturday - Combat Day

Strength and Extreme Days, one of four types of exercises:
- Barbarian Fury - no equipment bodyweight workouts
- Barbarian Sword and Shield - dumbbells workouts
- Barbarian Mace - kettlebell workouts
- Barbarian Warbanner - gymnastic rings workouts (Audi R8)
Combat Day - additional combat workouts
Rest Days - Tai-chi and light workouts
Nothing - Nothing

---
B2 Extreme Day: (Not so extreme, as I have to watch out for my elbow, but still demanding)
(+903 XP)

MamaTiger (+105 🤸) - warming

Honey Deck - Coyote (+210🥊)
Synced lvl1 15kg (+210 💪)
Yurishka (+105 💪)

Yang Tai Chi 24 Form (11/24) Connecting 10min (+105 🤸) - cooldown

Walk 1600 steps (+168 🌿)
Received Hearts (+2❤️ )

Lizard's Smile:
⚔️ LEVEL 12: 4278 XP | ⚂str 4904 | ⚀crd 1530 | ⚀met 2548 | ⚀hit 1616 | ⚀com 2785 | ⚂flx 1610 | ⚀yog 505 | ⚂wel 5385 | ❤️ HP: 65 % | 📦Items: 🦎 ♣️ 🌹 🐟 🏁 ☯️
calc
 
Last edited:
Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
ZenFighter said:
I wish you can heal your pain soon!
Thank you for bringing my attention to No Burpees with your Night Wolf Quest. It's look great for introduction to regular Burpees and I hope I will be able to try it one day in my fitness journey :)
Click to expand...
Thanks ZenFighter, I'm in some dilemma now. I want to make a lot of hard exercises and workouts, but body needs rest, regeneration, and has it's limits, so I must slow down as I don't want to risk serious injuries. This elbow pain is not something serious, but I can not painlessly do some difficult muscle building exercises, so I want to heal and start over.

And concerning that Night Wolf quest, I fulfiled first task from @NightWolf714 , but she apparently overlooked it, and when she wants I'll continue. But as I said, that 50 burpees in one go is very demanding task, and I'm not sure when I will get to it.
 
Last edited:
NightWolf714

NightWolf714

Well-known member
Berserker from Nashville, TN, USA
Pronouns: They/she
Posts: 1,655
"The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change. ~Carl Rogers"
Gurg said:
Thanks ZenFighter, I'm in some dilemma now. I want to make a lot of hard exercises and workouts, but body needs rest, regeneration, and has it's limits, so I must slow down as I don't want to risk serious injuries. This elbow pain is not something serious, but I can not painlessly do some difficult muscle building exercises, so I want to heel and start over.

And concerning that Night Wolf quest, I fulfiled first task from @NightWolf714 , but she apparently overlooked it, and when she wants I'll continue. But as I said, that 50 burpees in one go is very demanding task, and I'm not sure when I will get to it.
Click to expand...
No worries, I saw. And I'm proud of you. ^_^ I just haven't had much time to find new tortures tasks for you to do. ^_^
 
Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
B2 Strength Day
(+1638 XP)

MamaTiger (+105 🤸) - warmup

HiveB&C Taichi (+315 🤸)
━━━━ Barbarian Fury ━━━━ (+210 💪)
╭─ Pushup (7 - 9 - 10)
├─ Deep squat (10 - 10 - 10)
├─ Straight-legs bench dip (10 - 10 - 10)
├─ Forward lunge (9 - 10 - 10)
╰─ Sit-up (20 - 20 - 20)
Honey Deck - Power Jacks (+210🔥)
Honey Deck - Five Minute Plank - Yurishka (+105 💪)

Yang Tai Chi 24 Form (12/24) Connecting 10min (+105 🤸) - cooldown

Walk 5600 steps (+588 🌿)

Lizard's Smile:
⚔️ LEVEL 12: 6840 XP | ⚂str 5219 | ⚀crd 1530 | ⚀met 2758 | ⚀hit 1616 | ⚀com 2890 | ⚂flx 2660 | ⚀yog 505 | ⚂wel 6267 | ❤️ HP: 47 % | 📦Items: 🦎 ♣️ 🌹 🐟 🏁 ☯️
calc
 
Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
B2 Strength Day
(+1344 XP)

MamaTiger (+105 🤸) - warmup

HiveB&C Taichi (+315 🤸)
Geronimo lvl1 (+210 🏃)
━━━━ Barbarian Fury ━━━━ (+210 💪)
╭─ Pushup (10 - 10 - 14)
├─ Deep squat (11 - 11 - 10)
├─ Straight-legs bench dip (11 - 10 - 11)
├─ Forward lunge (10 - 11 - 10)
╰─ Sit-up (21 - 21 - 21)
Honey Deck - Lazy Bear lvl2 (+105 💪)

Yang Tai Chi 24 Form (12/24) Connecting 10min (+105 🤸) - cooldown

Walk 2800 steps (+294 🌿)
Received Hearts (+1❤️ )

Lizard's Smile:
⚔️ LEVEL 12: 8184 XP | ⚂str 5534 | ⚀crd 1740 | ⚀met 2758 | ⚀hit 1616 | ⚀com 2890 | ⚂flx 3185 | ⚀yog 505 | ⚂wel 6561 | ❤️ HP: 38 % | 📦Items: 🦎 ♣️ 🌹 🐟 🏁 ☯️
calc
 
Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
Night Wolf Quest

Long cold nights in the cave.
The pain in my elbow comes and goes.
It’s my own fault — I never know how to just rest and let it pass.
I closed my eyes for a while, and when I opened them, I heard something like “chi, chi, chi…”
I looked up and saw a bat hanging there, staring at me strangely.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“I’m practicing Qi,” he replied (you pronounce it chi).
“And what’s that supposed to be?”
“It’s the inner energy that moves your body and muscles,” said the Bat. “I can teach you — it will help you complete your task of getting out of this cave.”
That caught my interest, so I agreed.
He said, “It’s very important to visualize the flow of Qi through your body. Before you start exercising, imagine the energy rising from the earth through your feet. Straighten your head as if it’s suspended from the sky by a cable through which heavenly energy flows. That energy gathers deep in your abdomen, three fingers below the navel — a very important place. It’s called the Lower Dantian.”
I grinned. “I knew the most important place was down there...”
“Not that, you fool,” the Bat said. “I know what you’re thinking — that’s something else, and we’ll talk about that later, about how to activate and maintain Jing. For now, let’s continue: all exercises begin from that place. You direct the energy stored there — from your core, let’s call it that...”
The Bat was so interesting that I fell asleep mid-lesson.
I woke up to a voice shouting from above — “Geronimo!”
It was Foxy.
And I wondered — what does an Apache chief have to do with all this?
Didn’t matter. The moment I heard her voice, I felt a flutter in my stomach — maybe that’s the core energy the Bat was talking about.
Foxy vanished again.
I stood up and walked east through the cave, and once more, there it was — the glowing red T.
I knew what that meant: another fight.
But honestly, I was getting bored, so I sniffed it again.
A flash — and suddenly, I was in a jungle.
This time, it wasn’t a girl — it was a one-eyed karate fighter charging straight at me. I didn’t even get to ask questions. Probably Geronimo, the guy Foxy sent.
I vaguely remembered her rambling about her husband’s girlfriend, or her girlfriend’s husband, or her friend’s husband’s neighbor’s girlfriend — whatever it was, my coyote brain just couldn’t process that many connections.
The fight was intense — a blur of punches and kicks — but once again, I managed to win.
Hmm. I’m feeling better now.
It wasn’t that hard after all.
We’ll see what the coming days bring.

Geronimo! Workout

Geronimo is a fast-moving, agility-enhancing, cardio-developing, body-shaping workout.
darebee.com darebee.com
LVL1
 
Last edited:
NightWolf714

NightWolf714

Well-known member
Berserker from Nashville, TN, USA
Pronouns: They/she
Posts: 1,655
"The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change. ~Carl Rogers"
I watched the coyote bravely fighting against the one eyed fighter. He was putting up quite a fight, weaving around the man's legs and sneaking in attacks. He was even learning to tighten his stomach so any punches didn't hurt as much. Perhaps it might be good to challenge the 'yote a little more to see how strong he gets. But what best to offer?

As I thought this, a passing friendly lizard walked by. Ahhh, yes, I knew this lizard. A curious friend who seemed to change forms as they grew, turning into bigger and stronger lizards like one of those millions of pokemon creatures my friends have talked to me about. (Many of which recently disappeared, crying out "new game drop" before vanishing into a void. Most curious.)
@astro_lizard was clearly heading off someone specific, so I didn't want to interrupt them. I could only catch snippets of what they said. Something about a slingshot?
My muzzle curled into a soft smile. "Hehehe. Perfect," I nearly purred.

"You're doing so well, my coyote friend. I hope you'll handle the next challenge as well as you've handled this one. SLING SHOT!" I yell the last bit, activating the strange magic I stumbled upon which allows a new challenge plan of existence to emerge. Then I scurry off to get snacks for the next show. Maybe some coffee too.

 
Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
B2 Strength Day (it supposed to be Nothing Day, but I have to go whole day trip tomorrow, so replaced exercising days)
(+1239 XP)

MamaTiger (+105 🤸) - warmup

Slingshot lvl1 (+210 🏃)
━━━━ Barbarian Fury ━━━━ lvl1 (+210 💪)
╭─ Pushup (15 - 15 - 15)
├─ Deep squat (11 - 11 - 11)
├─ Straight-legs bench dip (11 - 11 - 11)
├─ Forward lunge (11 - 11 - 11)
╰─ Sit-up (22 - 22 - 22)
Honey Deck - Dumbbell Abs lvl1 5kg (+210 💪)

Yang Tai Chi 24 Form (13/24) Kick with Heel 30min (+105 🤸) - cooldown

Walk 3800 steps (+399 🌿)


Lizard's Smile:
⚔️ LEVEL 13: 184 XP | ⚂str 5954 | ⚀crd 1950 | ⚀met 2758 | ⚀hit 1616 | ⚀com 2890 | ⚂flx 3920 | ⚀yog 505 | ⚂wel 7296 | ❤️ HP: 100 % | 📦Items: 🦎 ♣️ 🌹 🐟 🏁 ☯️ 💘
calc
 
Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
Night Wolf Quest

Today I did absolutely nothing.
While staring at the damp cave walls, I noticed my teacher, Bat, hanging upside down.
“Hey, what’s up?” I asked.
He replied, “I’m not sure what’s up, but I definitely know what’s down.”
I laughed — witty little bat.
“Have you applied the Qi transfer in your exercises like I told you?” he asked.
I tried to dodge the question, but finally admitted, “No.”
“Why not?”
“Well,” I said, “it’s kind of hard to trust someone whose butt is higher than his head.”
He chuckled and went on unfazed:
“You have to pay attention to your breathing. The rule is simple — Preparation: inhale. Execution: exhale. For example, in a jump — as you go down, inhale, gather energy in your core. Then release it from your core — that’s the Lower Dantian we talked about — and let it launch you upward.”
I told him I’d try and went on my way.
From a high ledge, Foxy suddenly shouted: “Slingshot!”
I figured that meant I had to launch myself somehow — though I wasn’t quite sure how.
Then I froze.
1.jpg


Under a rock, I saw a beautiful lizard.I locked eyes with her, motionless — maybe ten seconds passed.
When she started moving toward me, I sprang up into the air.
Aha. That’s the slingshot.
I repeated it several times until I stepped on another glowing stone.
And boom — a flash of blinding light, and suddenly I was somewhere else again.
A fence. Some forgotten corner of the world.
“What’s going on? I was just getting used to being that bald weirdo,” I muttered.
Then I saw them — two thugs standing behind the fence.
I jumped over and asked, “Who are you?”
“We’re Plank and Jump,” one said. “We’ll wear you out and send you back where you came from.”
“Oh, no you won’t.”
This time, I was younger — a ripped kung fu fighter.
Now that’s something new.

Slingshot Workout

Slingshot is a DAREBEE no equipment bodyweight exercises workout that will torch your body and help you build muscle.
darebee.com darebee.com
 
Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
B2 Extreme Day
(+1650 XP)

MamaTiger (+110 🤸) - warmup

HiveB&C Taichi (+330 🤸)
Max Burpees - 15/50 (+220 🏃)
━━━━ Barbarian Shield and Sword ━━━━ lvl1 (+330 💪)
╭─ Dumbbell deadlift (10x5kg - 10x5kg - 10x5kg DB)
├─ Goblet squat (10x5kg - 10x5kg - 10x5kg DB)
├─ Dumbbell bent-over row (10x5kg - 10x5kg - 10x5kg DB)
├─ Double dumbbell overhead press (10x5kg - 10x5kg - 10x5kg DB)
╰─ Renegade row (10x5kg - 10x5kg - 10x5kg DB)
• Double dumbbell biceps curl (20x5kg - 20x5kg - 20x5kg DB)
Honey Deck - Saitama lvl2 (+110 🥊)
Yurishka (+105 💪)

Yang Tai Chi 24 Form (13/24) connecting 10min (+110 🤸) - cooldown

Walk 3000 steps (+330 🌿)
Received Hearts (+2❤️ )

Lizard's Smile:
⚔️ LEVEL 13: 1834 XP | ⚂str 6394 | ⚀crd 2170 | ⚀met 2758 | ⚀hit 1616 | ⚀com 3000 | ⚂flx 4470 | ⚀yog 505 | ⚂wel 7626 | ❤️ HP: 100 % | 📦Items: 🦎 ♣️ 🌹 🐟 🏁 ☯️ 💘
calc
 
Last edited:
Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
Night Wolf Quest

This was getting boring.
I paced back and forth in frustration, my claws scratching the stone floor.
Then I looked up — and there she was.
Foxy. Just standing there in silence, watching me from high above.
She was far up — maybe fifty rough, jagged steps carved into the cave wall.
I could reach her. I was sure of it. Enough hesitation. I’m going.
Push-up. Jump.
Push-up. Jump.
I was climbing fast, feeling strong, feeling unstoppable.
But around the thirteenth or fourteenth step, my legs began to give out.
How?
I thought I was strong. I was strong!
At the fifteenth, my strength simply vanished.
I slipped — fell — tumbled all the way down to the bottom.
Foxy only shook her head, disappointed, and vanished into the shadows.
Half-conscious, I saw an Owl perched on a rock, eyes wide open, staring right at me.
“What’s happening?” I mumbled.
“Are these hallucinations? Am I the coyote, the kung-fu fighter, the bald freak? Who am I?”
The Owl kept looking at me, unblinking.
“These are only forms,” she said. “The question is — what are you inside?”
Then she began her story.
“There was once a man who wanted to change the world around him. He trained for years — how to fight, how to grow strong.
But his teacher told him: 'You cannot change things alone. You must find Her. She’s been in the struggle much longer — and she will show you the way.'
The teacher sent him to an old warehouse in a shady district — the kind of place crawling with criminals.
He climbed the fence, took down two guards, and entered a room full of dangerous idiots counting stacks of cash.
Was it a mafia money-laundering hub, a bank, a tax office? Who knows. It’s all the same thing, really."

As the Owl spoke, the story started to materialize around me — and suddenly, I was inside it.
The fight had begun.
I had to reach Her.


I fought, struck, dodged, and dropped them one by one, but this time, not enough.
After a barrage of heavy hits, I collapsed — and everything went dark.
 
Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
B2 Strength Day
(+1342 XP)

MamaTiger (+110 🤸) - warmup

Honey Deck -Boxer Flexibility (+110 🤸)
━━━━ Barbarian Mace ━━━━ lvl1 (+330 💪)
╭─ Double kettlebell swing (5x15kg - 10x15kg - 10x15kg KB)
├─ Goblet squat (10x15kg - 10x15kg - 10x15kg KB)
├─ One-arm weight row (7x15kg - 7x15kg - 7x15kg KB)
├─ Single kettlebell overhead press (10x5kg - 10x5kg - 10x10kg DB)
╰─ Turkish get up (2x5kg - 2x5kg - 1x10kg DB)
HiveB&C Taichi (+330 🤸)
Yurishka (+110 💪)

Yang Tai Chi 24 Form (14/24) connecting 10min (+110 🤸) - cooldown

Walk 2200 steps (+242 🌿)

Lizard's Smile:
⚔️ LEVEL 13: 4166 XP | ⚂str 6944 | ⚀crd 2170 | ⚀met 2758 | ⚀hit 1616 | ⚀com 3000 | ⚂flx 5680 | ⚀yog 505 | ⚂wel 8198 | ❤️ HP: 83 % | 📦Items: 🦎 ♣️ 🌹 🐟 🏁 ☯️
calc
 
Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
B2 Strength Day
(+1045 XP)

MamaTiger (+110 🤸) - warmup

Honey Deck - Anywhere Abs (+110 💪)
Audi R8 lvl1 (+330 💪)
━━━━ Barbarian Warbanner Audi R1 ━━━━
• Active hang (15s - 15s - 20s)
• Rings support (28s - 30s - 30s)
• Incline row (8 - 8 - 6)
• Half dip (3 - 3 - 3)
Yurishka (+110 💪)

Yang Tai Chi 24 Form (15/24) connecting 10min (+110 🤸) - cooldown

Walk 2500 steps (+275 🌿)
Received Hearts (+3❤️ )

Lizard's Smile:
⚔️ LEVEL 13: 5211 XP | ⚂str 7494 | ⚀crd 2170 | ⚀met 2758 | ⚀hit 1616 | ⚀com 3000 | ⚂flx 5900 | ⚀yog 505 | ⚂wel 8473 | ❤️ HP: 76 % | 📦Items: 🦎 ♣️ 🌹 🐟 🏁 ☯️
calc
 
Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
Night Wolf Quest

Another uneventful day.
When you do nothing… your mind does everything.
I wandered into a small underground lake and saw my reflection — a coyote.
“Hey, not bad… just need a bit more muscle here and there…”
Then I spotted a golden fish.
“Hey, hello there! Who are you?”
The Golden Fish replied:
“I am DeepSeek AI… and I will grant you a wish.”
“Perfect!” I said.
“Give me an exercise or a sequence that doesn’t require much space, can be done slowly, works the whole body… and sprinkle in some Eastern wisdom — you know, a bit of mystique, inner energy, that trendy stuff…”
“Of course,” she said. “Here you go:

The Coyote's Coil Sequence​

Philosophy: This is not a dance of a celestial dragon, but the gritty, intelligent movement of the ultimate survivor. It embodies trickster resilience—the ability to fall, adapt, and rise again, smarter and more determined. It is strength through cunning, power through adaptability.
  1. Plank (The Coyote Stalks)
  2. Push-Up | Lowering (The Coyote Yields)
  3. Bow Pose (The Coyote Springs)
  4. Cobra (The Coyote Surveys)
  5. Downward-Facing Dog (The Coyote Stretches)
  6. Walk to Hands (The Coyote Creeps)
  7. Slow Roll-Up (The Coyote Grows)
  8. Reach for the Sky -> Heel Raise (The Coyote Aspires)
  9. Deep Squat (The Coyote Rests)
  10. Transition to L-Sit (The Coyote Gathers)
  11. L-Sit (The Coyote Hovers)
  12. Transition to Supine (The Coyote Lies in Wait)
  13. Leg Raise (The Coyote Tests the Current)
  14. Sit-Up (The Coyote Rises from the Dust)
  15. Corkscrew Squat Left and Right (The Coyote Spins a Tale)
  16. Transition via Child's Pose (The Coyote Plays Dead)
    ...and back to Plank, closing the circle.

Individual Movement Insights​

1. Plank – "The Coyote Stalks"
  • Description & Tai Chi Insight: This is active, patient waiting. Root through your forearms and toes. Inhale earth-energy; exhale to become a single, taut line of potential energy. You are not holding a position; you are hunting the next moment.
2. Push-Up (Lowering) – "The Coyote Yields"
  • Description & Tai Chi Insight: This is strategic retreat. Lower with a slow exhale, yielding to gravity without collapsing. Let your shoulder blades draw together like a coyote ducking under a fence. True strength knows when to give way.
3. Bow Pose – "The Coyote Springs"
  • Description & Tai Chi Insight: From yielding comes explosive action. Grasp your ankles and kick back, creating a powerful arch. This is the full-body extension of the pounce, storing elastic energy in every sinew.
4. Cobra – "The Coyote Surveys"
  • Description & Tai Chi Insight: The immediate follow-through. Place your hands and lift your chest, a lower, more controlled rise. Scan the horizon from this new vantage point. The attack is over; now, assess.
5. Downward-Facing Dog – "The Coyote Stretches"
  • Description & Tai Chi Insight: A moment of re-calibration. Press your hips up and back, working your heels toward the ground. This inverted "V" is a stretch, a shake-off, and a new perspective before the next move.
6. Walk to Hands – "The Coyote Creeps"
  • Description & Tai Chi Insight: The essence of trickster movement. Take tiny, deliberate steps. This isn't a race; it's a stalk. It teaches minimal, effective action—the small steps that lead to a big change.
7. Slow Roll-Up – "The Coyote Grows"
  • Description & Tai Chi Insight: A meditation in verticality. Uncurl vertebra by vertebra, as if growing from the earth. Feel the weight transfer from hands to feet. You are becoming a bridge between the earthly and the sky.
8. Reach for the Sky -> Heel Raise – "The Coyote Aspires"
  • Description & Tai Chi Insight: A full-bodied stretch for the heavens, followed by a brief, powerful push from the earth (the heel raise). Even the earth-bound trickster reaches for the stars, if only for a moment.
9. Deep Squat – "The Coyote Rests"
  • Description & Tai Chi Insight: The ultimate grounded position. Sit deep in the haunches, spine long. This is not a weak posture but one of stored potential, like a coyote curled for a moment's rest, fully aware of its surroundings.
10. Transition to L-Sit – "The Coyote Gathers"
  • Description & Tai Chi Insight: The shift from grounded to suspended. Place your hands, lift your hips, and slide your legs forward. This is a gathering of forces, a transfer of power from legs to core, preparing to hover.
11. L-Sit – "The Coyote Hovers"
  • Description & Tai Chi Insight: A test of compact power. Push down through your hands to lift your body, creating a tense, hovering shape. It’s the controlled tension of a predator ready to dart in any direction.
12. Transition to Supine – "The Coyote Lies in Wait"
  • Description & Tai Chi Insight: A deliberate, controlled descent. Lower from the L-Sit to sit, then slowly recline onto your back. This is not a defeat; it is a tactical repositioning, a moment of stillness before the next engagement.
13. Leg Raise – "The Coyote Tests the Current"
  • Description & Tai Chi Insight: From stillness, create a wave. With control, raise and lower your legs. This is a probe, a test of the core's strength and stability, moving with the resistance of an unseen force.
14. Sit-Up – "The Coyote Rises from the Dust"
  • Description & Tai Chi Insight: Use the momentum from the leg raise to curl the torso up. This is the resilient rise, the ability to get back up from a prone position, again and again.
15. Corkscrew – "The Coyote Spins a Tale"
  • Description & Tai Chi Insight: The trickster's signature move. Rotate your knees in a circle, engaging the obliques. This is the spiral, the deceptive movement that twists reality, massaging the core and disorienting expectation.
16. Transition via Child's Pose – "The Coyote Plays Dead"
  • Description & Tai Chi Insight: The master trick. From the Corkscrew, sink back into Child's Pose—the ultimate posture of surrender and Yin. But this surrender is a ruse. From this state of total rest and compression, you coil your energy and then, with a sharp inhalation, push forward and flow seamlessly back into Plank. The "dead" coyote is alive and stalking once more.

The Final Word: The Trickster's Eternal Return​

The Coyote's Coil does not end. It cycles.

Child's Pose is not an exit; it is the ultimate trick. It is the Coyote playing dead, only to leap back to life. This final transition is the core lesson of the sequence: Resilience is not about never falling. It is about the cunning, the adaptability, and the sheer will you use to get back up.

You do not conquer this sequence. You learn its tricks. You practice its deceptions against your own limitations. You fall, you yield, you play dead, and then, when the moment is right, you spring.

This is the way of the Coyote: forever coiled, forever ready, forever returning from the brink to run again."
 
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Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
Beyond the Coyote's Coil – his fluid sequence of tricks and cunning – the Coyote must also eat. To grow truly powerful, he must hunt and conquer other beasts.

Therefore, in my practice, I would occasionally replace the Bow Pose with a "feast" from the Apex Predator Menu.

The Coyote's Apex Predator Menu​

(From Easiest to Hardest Prey)
  1. The Frog (Frog Stand)
  2. The Crow (Crow Pose)
  3. The Scorpion (Tuck Planche Hold - toes on floor)
  4. The Flying Crow (Flying Crow Pose)
  5. The Lizard (Archer Push-Up)
  6. The Hare (Tuck Bent-Arm Handstand)
  7. The Serpent (Planche Lean)
  8. The Cobra (Curved Handstand Hold)
  9. The Falcon (Elbow Lever)
  10. The Eagle (Full Tuck Planche)
  11. The Ibex (Tuck Straight-Arm Handstand)
  12. The Dragon (One-arm Straddle Elbow Lever)
 
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Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
B2 Combat Day
(+1287 XP)

MamaTiger (+110 🤸) - warmup

Honey Deck - Blade lvl2 (+330 🥊) in 5th set I added 2.5 kg to the one side of dumbbell bar I used as sword, and it was axe then.
Audi R8 lvl2 (+330 💪)
━━━━ Barbarian Warbanner (Audi R1) ━━━━
• Active hang (19s - 31s - 25s - 23s - 19s)
• Rings support (32s - 32s - 32s - 20s - 23s)
• Incline row (8 - 8 - 8 - 5 - 6)
• Half dip (4 - 3 - 3 - 3 - 3)
Yurishka (+110 💪)
100 punches

Yang Tai Chi 24 Form (15/24) connecting 10min (+110 🤸) - cooldown

Coyote's Coil (1-3) (+110 🤸)
Walk 1700 steps (+187 🌿)
Received Hearts (+3❤️ )

Lizard's Smile:
⚔️ LEVEL 13: 7565 XP | ⚂str 7934 | ⚀crd 2170 | ⚀met 2978 | ⚀hit 1616 | ⚁com 3330 | ⚂flx 6780 | ⚀yog 505 | ⚂wel 8957 | 😵 HP: 0% | 📦Items: 🦎 ♣️ 🌹 🐟 🏁 ☯️
calc
 
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Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
Hello, everyone.
I had really inactive period this year. Many injuries while trying to get in shape, because forgetting that I'm in fifties. Elbows, spine, knees, and lastly neck... No land for old dog.
But I'm trying to get start again, so decided to make log with chosen exercises, while following that with gaming, and letting my imagination describes me as hero and adventurer. :D
That was interesting period, beginning of my fitness journey, so I'll give a second shot.
 
Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
━━━━ Neck Isolation ━━━━

━━ WARMUP ━━
╭─ Deep squat (21)
╰─ Prying squat (26s)

━━ WORKOUT ━━
╭─ Horse stance (48s - 48s - 47s)
├─ Tuck reverse crunch (13 - 13 - 13)
├─ Floor dumbbell press (12x5kg - 14x5kg - 14x5kg DB)
├─ Bow stance (38s - 37s - 37s)
├─ Lying Dumbbell fly (10x5kg - 10x5kg - 10x5kg DB)
├─ Lying legs raise (13 - 13 - 13)
├─ Side Lying One-arm lateral delt raise (6x5kg - 6x5kg - 6x5kg DB)
├─ Cat stance (33s - 32s - 32s)
├─ Sitting Single dumbbell biceps curl (11x5kg - 11x5kg - 11x5kg DB)
├─ Lying alternating leg raise (12 - 11 - 11)
├─ Dumbbell lying triceps extension (13x5kg - 13x5kg - 13x5kg DB)
╰─ One-leg stance (26s - 27s - 27s)

━━ COOLDOWN ━━
• Yurishka (4m00s)
• Coyote's Coil (1)

1. The Mud, The Blood, and The Lack of Breakfast​


The first thing Gurg felt wasn't the cold, but a profound sense of disappointment that he was still alive. Being dead sounded peaceful; it certainly involved less mud in one's ear.

He opened his eyes. The sky was a miserable, bruised grey, perfectly matching his current mood. He tried to turn his head, but a bolt of lightning shot from his neck straight to his soul. He let out a sound that started as a warrior's roar and ended as a pathetic, high-pitched whimper.

"Fantastic," Gurg rasped, his hand flying to his throat. "I fell off a fortress, survived, and now I’m going to be killed by a stiff neck. What a legendary end."

He was Gurg. The Wolf. But right now, lying in a puddle that smelled suspiciously of horse urine and ancient failure, he felt more like a damp squirrel. He remembered the fall—the stone wall giving way, the brief, majestic feeling of flight, and then the very sudden realization that humans are not birds. His mercenary company, the "vanguard of heroes," had clearly decided that checking for his pulse was too much paperwork. They were gone.

With a groan that vibrated through his entire skeleton, he began the "ritual." He pushed himself up into a deep squat, then slowly rose into the Horse Stance. His thighs started screaming almost immediately.

"Oh, shut up," he hissed at his own muscles. "You’re just legs. I’m the one with the headache."

He stood there, trembling, defying gravity while the fog swirled around his bald head. He looked like a statue of a ancient warrior, if that warrior had been beaten with a bag of stones and left in a ditch.

As he began his Neck Isolation—slow, agonizing tilts to the left and right—his mind wandered. He thought of the tavern in the last village. Specifically, he thought of the barmaid with the laugh like silver bells. He’d spent three hours rehearsing how to ask for a refill without sounding like a bear with a throat infection, only to trip over a stool and spill beer on his own boots.

"At least she’s not seeing me now," he muttered, a faint, embarrassed flush creeping up his neck despite the pain. "The 'Wolf of the Wilds,' propped up against a pile of rubble like a discarded turnip."

A raven landed on a nearby skull, eyeing Gurg’s green eyes with professional interest.

"Not today, you feathered scavenger," Gurg growled, finally managing to stand upright without his vision going black. "I have a neck to fix, a company to find, and a very long list of people to apologize to before I kill them."

He took a step. His boots made a wet, squelching sound. Somewhere in the fog, a wolf howled. Gurg howled back, but ended up coughing violently.

"Right," he sighed, wiping mud from his grey beard. "Dignity is overrated anyway."

He began to walk. He didn't have a map, a sword, or a plan. But he had a very, very angry set of trapezius muscles.

To be continued...

View attachment 9375
 
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Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
graoumia said:
Welcome back friend, be carefull for this new beginning, fifties can be tricky. I missed our games :makeway:
Click to expand...
Hello graoumia, I missed our games too.
I have to figure out something new: game easy to perform, competitive, fun, ego boosting, with no big obligation, no time limitations - like marriage :)
 
Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
━━━━ Restday ━━━━

2. The Gravity of Failure​

Gurg marched into the fog, his mind a whirlwind of grand plans and very few supplies. The air grew thick with a low, primal growling. His instincts, honed by years of questionable life choices, screamed: Danger.

Peering from a low ridge, he saw them. Three travelers, cornered by a wolf that looked like it had crawled out of a nightmare and skipped breakfast for a week. The hero within Gurg—a part of him that usually stayed quiet during sensible moments—roared to life. He had no sword, but he found a rock the size of a tavern loaf.

With a battle cry that was supposed to be terrifying but sounded more like a startled goose, Gurg leaped from the ledge. He hurled the stone with all his might. It didn't hit the wolf. It didn't even come close. The rock smashed into a tree ten feet away with a pathetic thud, scaring a few crows but leaving the predator entirely unharmed.

The wolf froze. The travelers froze. Everyone looked at Gurg, who was currently discovering that his knees were not prepared for a five-foot drop. He landed with a sickening crunch, his "weak knees" giving way instantly, and proceeded to tumble down the slope in a tangle of limbs and bandages.

He came to a stop at the feet of a middle-aged woman with long, grey hair tied in a practical ponytail. Instead of screaming, she burst into a loud, mocking laugh that echoed through the valley.

The wolf, apparently deciding that Gurg’s sheer incompetence was a bad omen, turned tail and vanished into the mist.

"You absolute idiot!" a sharp voice hissed. Gurg looked up, dazed, and saw a black-haired beauty clutching a bow. She wasn't grateful. She was furious. "We’ve been tracking that beast for ten days! What are we supposed to tell the villagers now? We’ve already spent the deposit!"

Gurg didn't hear the part about the money. He was too busy staring. Despite the mud on his face and the fire in his knees, he found himself scanning her curves with a glazed, stupid smile. She was magnificent.

Then, the world darkened. A man with a face like a tombstone stepped into view. He held a massive, heavy mace in one hand, while his other arm moved to firmly grip the young woman’s hip. The message was clearer than any poem Gurg had ever failed to write: She is mine, and this mace is very hard.

Gurg’s smile faltered. His neck hurt, his elbows burned, and he had just saved a wolf from a bounty hunter.

"Nice mace," Gurg managed to wheeze from the mud. "Does it come with a manual, or do you just hit things until they stop laughing at me?"

To be continued...

View attachment 9378
 
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Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
━━━━ Upday ━━━━

━━ WARMUP ━━
╭─ Jack burpee (11)
├─ Opposite arm circles (1m02s)
├─ Elbow circles (50s)
├─ Crouching stance (15s)
├─ Thorough wrists warmup (1)
├─ Neck warmup (5)
├─ Trunk rotation arm swing (27)
├─ Lateral leg raise (14)
╰─ Duck walk (30s)

━━ WORKOUT ━━
╭─ Pullup eccentric (4 - 4 - 3)
├─ Hanging active splits (5 - 5 - 4)
╰─ Hanging knees to elbows (5 - 5 - 4)
╭─ Inverted straddle (16s - 16s - 14s)
├─ Incline rings triceps extension (5 - 5 - 5)
╰─ Inverted front splits (5 - 6 - 5)
╭─ Horizontal row (7 - 5 - 5)
├─ Jackknife rings dip (6 - 6 - 9)
╰─ Hinge row (5 - 5 - 5)
╭─ RTO plank (10s - 10s - 10s)
├─ One-leg sliding leg curl (5 - 4 - 4)
╰─ Rings wide pushup (3 - 5 - 5)

━━ COOLDOWN ━━
╭─ Two-hand kettlebell swing (15x15kg - 15x15kg KB)*
╰─ Arnold press (14x5kg - 15x5kg DB)

Found:
* 4 Iron Ore

nell said:
KB swing challenge
Click to expand...

​

3. The Price of Disrespect​

"We lost a bad wolf and gained a stupid one," Geric had grumbled, his voice like grinding stones.

Gurg hadn't cared. He had no money, no food, and his stomach was a cavern. He had begged to join. He had watched the grey-haired Sylvia as she considered him, a mix of pity and pragmatism in her cool gaze. "He’s a strong back," she’d said, and that was that.

But now, the meadow was no longer a peaceful sight. Two figures, a hoodlum and a poacher, blocked the path.

The hoodlum didn't look at Gurg, nor at Geric’s massive hammer. His eyes, foul and hungry, were fixed solely on the women. He pointed his blade, still caked with someone else's blood.

"Perfect," he leered, his voice a low, repulsive growl. "Two new playthings. Here’s exactly where we’re going to dip our cock."

A switch flipped inside Gurg. A primal, ancient part of him took control. This wasn't about money. It was about honor.

With a roar that tore his throat, Gurg lunged. He tore a crude wooden shield from the pony's pack. The muscles in his upper back and shoulders, tight from hours of heavy lifting, flexed with explosive power as he braced the shield like a dorned battering ram. He charged, driving his legs forward with every ounce of force he could muster.

An arrow whistled past his ear—Ellie’s mark. It spun the hoodlum around, and Gurg didn't waste the opening. He slammed the wooden rim of the shield straight into the thug’s face with a satisfying crunch.

But the bastard was fast. His poisoned sabre lashed out, a jagged line of fire that bit deep into Gurg’s leg.

The venom spread like burning acid. The world began to sway.

"Move, you useless cub!" Geric roared. The giant swung his maul in a devastating, rotational arc, a display of pure torso strength and stabilizing force. The heavy hammer caught both the bandit and Gurg’s shield.

Gurg’s elbows—already burning and tender from his own recent strains—protested violently as the wooden shield absorbed the terrifying vibration of the impact.

The bandit staggered, dazed, but stayed up. That was his final mistake. A shadow flickered behind him. Sylvia. Her dagger, a flash of silver, was out and across his throat before the man could even make a sound.

Gurg scrambled to his feet, seizing the fallen brute's notched iron sword. He ran. The poison, the fatigue, the deep ache in his straining muscles... it all fueled his anger. He was the first to reach the poacher. He used his entire body weight to drive the blade downward, dropping the archer to his knees.

From the flank, Ellie finished it, her bowstring snapping as a clean arrow pierced the archer's throat.

Silence returned, thick and heavy. Gurg stood over the fallen thug. He looked down at the lifeless body, a dark sneer on his face, and spat on the corpse.

"Well," Gurg growled, his voice a low rasp. "You definitely won’t be dipping anything of yours here."

In the distance, Ellie lowered her bow. A soft laugh escaped her lips.

"He didn't mean you, Gurg," she said, her eyes twinkling.

Gurg grunted, tightly gripping his new notched blade. "Well... with these bastards... you never know."

To be continued...

View attachment 9383
 
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Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
I'm thinking about making daily practice this awakening ritual, combination of my earlier exercise flows.

Yurishka - holding plank sequence poses up to 30 secs every pose: plank, low plank, side plank on elbow, one arm one leg plank, planche lean, tuck plank, forearms long plank, plank fingers back, fingertips plank.
Coyote's coil - sequence of moves holding at least 2 secs each: pushup, bow pose, upward dog, downward dog, inchworm walk, touch earth and sky, deep squat, pistol squat, tuck l-sit, l-sit, corkscrew squat, child pose.

Nice awakening workout, most of muscles are activated, but I'll see if my muscles an joints can endure that tempo.

View attachment 9384
 
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Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
━━ Good Morning ━━
• Yurishka (4m28s)
• Coyote's Coil (1)

━━━━ Downday ━━━━

━━ WARMUP ━━
╭─ Jack burpee (12)
├─ Neck warmup (5)
├─ Elbow circles (51s)
├─ Downward dog (34s)
├─ Trunk rotation arm swing (28)
├─ Standing hip circles (20)
╰─ Duck walk (31s)

━━ WORKOUT ━━
╭─ One leg dragon flag (6 - 7 - 7)
├─ Foot-hold dragon squat (2 - 3 - 1)
├─ Candle pose (22s - 20s - 20s)
├─ Boat pose (13s - 11s - 11s)
├─ Basic Squats plus calves (3 - 3 - 3)
├─ Frog stand (12s - 8s - 11s)
├─ Supine arch body hold (18s - 16s - 16s)
╰─ Planche lean (18s - 18s - 18s)

━━ COOLDOWN ━━
╭─ Weighted sitting compression (12x5kg - 13x5kg DB)
╰─ Weighted lunge (15x5kg - 15x5kg DB)


4. Thievery and Liniment​


The adrenaline of the slaughter faded, and reality hit Gurg like a brick. The poison in his leg was turning his veins to ice, and he began to stagger, his torso collapsing. Before he could face-plant into the dirt, a massive hand grabbed his collar.

Geric. The giant pulled out a vial of thick, foul-smelling counter-venom and sloshed it directly into Gurg’s wound. The burning stopped almost instantly, replaced by a dull, throbbing ache. Gurg gasped his thanks, but his eyes quickly drifted past Geric’s hip. Just a few feet away, Ellie was bending over to retrieve a spent arrow from the grass, presenting a spectacular view of her contours. Geric had an arrow sticking out of his thick tunic—the bandit's shaft hadn't even breached his skin—but Gurg was too busy staring at Ellie to notice.

"Don't strain your eyes, cub," Geric grunted, snapping Gurg back to reality.

They took to the road, leading their baggage mule—a stubborn, heavy-set beast that Sylvia had inexplicably named Dog. The absurdity of leading a mule named Dog through the foggy woods kept the mood surprisingly light, the group exchanging dark jokes about the short lifespans of local bandits.

By midday, they reached a roadside smithy. While Geric distracted the blacksmith, negotiating the price of a horseshoe, Ellie glided through the shadows like a ghost. With the smooth, effortless core control of a thief, she slipped behind the owner and deftly slid a handful of supplies straight into her pack. The smith smiled warmly as he took Geric’s coins, waving them goodbye, completely unaware that he’d be cursing their lineage by nightfall.

During their next rest stop, Geric pulled out two pieces of raw iron ore. With the precise, crushing grip strength of a man who swung iron for a living, he began to fashion tools. From one piece, he meticulously shaped a lockpick; from the other, a sturdy fishing hook.

"A useful skill," Sylvia noted dryly. "Considering our archer is a menace to the local economy."

They pushed north, the terrain growing steeper. By the time the wooden palisades of Stromkapp village appeared on the horizon, Gurg felt like a corpse holding onto life by a thread. Every step had required the agonizing unilateral stability of a deep single-leg squat. Unloading the heavy packs from Dog the mule was the final straw.

They set up camp just outside the village perimeter. Gurg collapsed onto a log, his upper back and rear shoulders burning with a deep, systemic fatigue.

Sylvia walked over, her gray hair catching the firelight, her expression unusually soft. "You look like you're about to fall apart," she murmured. "What hurts?"

"My elbows," Gurg wheezed, rubbing his joints. "My shoulders. Everything feels like it was put through a meat grinder."

To his surprise, Sylvia stepped up behind him. Her hands, calloused but incredibly strong, began to dig into his tight back muscles, kneading the tension from his shoulders.

Gurg let out a pathetic groan of relief, closing his eyes. "If I knew getting stabbed and beaten would get me a massage, I would have fought the wolf with my bare teeth."

From across the fire, Ellie looked up from sharpening her arrows, a dangerous smile on her lips. "Careful, Gurg. Keep making noises like that and Geric might use his hammer to fix your posture."

Gurg shut his mouth, but didn't tell Sylvia to stop

To be continued...

View attachment 9385
 
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Gurg

Gurg

Well-known member
Barbarian from Bosnia
Posts: 784
━━━━ Good morning ━━━━
• Windmill (30)
• Yurishka (4m30s)
• Coyote's Coil (1)

5: The Apothecary’s Curtain​

The morning sun brought a rare blessing: Gurg didn't feel like a total corpse. Sylvia’s green liniment from the night before had smelled violently of sharp peppermint—enough to clear a man's sinuses and burn through three layers of skin—but it worked. After a deep, heavy sleep and a thorough routine of morning stretches to open up his battered hips and stiff neck, Gurg could actually stand upright without his spine screaming.

By the fire, Sylvia was calmly whipping up a wooden bowl of goat's milk mixed with oats and wild grains. Gurg ate in silence, his eyes tracking Geric and Ellie. They were off to the side, whispering intensely, their heads close together. Look at them, Gurg thought, watching Ellie’s dark hair catch the morning breeze. Constantly glued to each other. Are they married? Just lovers? Either way... lucky bastard.

Later that day, Gurg took a stroll through the muddy lanes of Stromkapp to clear his head. Near the village edge, he spotted Ellie in a heated shouting match with a couple of local shepherds. Her hands were flying, her posture aggressive; she was likely arguing about the escaped wolf from days ago, completely unbothered by the peasants' glares.

Before he left camp, Sylvia—acting as the group’s resident herbalist—had shoved a crumpled parchment into his hand. It was a list of rare roots and dried leaves she needed. "Go to the village apothecary," she’d ordered. "And don't lose the coins."

Gurg found the apothecary's house near the marketplace, but the heavy oak front door was firmly locked. A sign on the handle read 'Closed for Inventory'. Grunting, Gurg stretched his legs and walked around the side of the stone building, looking for another entrance.

That was when he caught a movement through a low, side window. The linen curtains were partially drawn, but there was just enough of a gap.

Gurg peeked in.

Sitting at the main wooden desk was Leudatrice, the village apothecary—a strikingly handsome woman with a notably generous chest. She was staring at something just out of view. A second later, a massive shadow stepped up behind her.

It was Geric.

Gurg’s jaw nearly hit the mud. The giant was completely shirtless, his massive, athletic muscles perfectly defined and gleaming in the soft candlelight of the shop. Gurg stood frozen, shocked to his core. The absolute dog, he thought, his brain scrambling to connect the pieces. He leaves Ellie at the camp and sneaks off to the herbalist?

The scene inside escalated with silent, cinematic intensity. Leudatrice stood up from her chair with a slow, predatory smile. She leaned entirely forward across the cluttered desk, shifting her weight onto her forearms, exposing a sharp view of her contours before deftly gathering and pulling up her heavy woolen skirt.

Geric didn't hesitate. The giant stepped directly behind her, his large hands anchoring onto her hips, and closed the distance. The desk began a rhythmic, heavy creak.

Outside, in the dirt, Gurg’s shock slowly melted away, replaced by a massive, sinister grin that crinkled his bald head. He adjusted his grip on Sylvia's shopping list, watching the shadows move behind the glass.

"Well, well, well," Gurg whispered into the cold air, his voice dripping with pure satisfaction. "Now I have you, you unfaithful prick."

To be continued...

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