October - 2018

Empower Yourself to Design Encounters

If one was to look in the Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG) for 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons, there's a section on designing encounters based on player character levels, enemy Challenge Rating (CR), and the number of combatants on either side. On the surface, this seems reasonable. CR is meant to approximate how difficult a given creature would be (insofar as any system can really do that), and the side with the most offensive actions has a noteworthy statistical advantage. H

Workout Recap - Week of October 21, 2018

I chose to skip a Thursday workout in favor of dedicating my free time on that day to helping out a friend in sudden need, so I only got four in this week. I have no second thoughts about that choice. Also, there will be no more referencing where I was with my fitness in the past. They sound too much like regrets and excuses, and regardless of not meaning them in that way, it's too much of a crutch. From now on, this column exists only from October 21 onward. Sunday Type:

Workout Recap - Week of October 14, 2018

This week was about a return to normalcy. That is to say I wanted a mixture of timed and pass/fail workouts, plus a weekend challenge. In that respect, it was a success. The actual results were subpar, but I'm sure that'll correct itself in due time. Monday Type: Pass/Fail Shoulder-width Handstand Push Ups - 2 sets of 10 (pass) Uneven Pull Ups - 2 sets of 6, each side (pass) Pistol Squats - 2 sets of 5, each side (pass) Bonus: 5 breath isometric one-armed dead hang (each s

Workout Recap - Week of October 7, 2018

Seeing as I'm both back home and well aware of the regression with my upper body flexors, I was making a point of working on the bar every chance I got this week. As a result, my shoulders and upper back are still pretty sore, but I could feel the improvement with each workout. The horizontal rows that I'd been doing during my trip didn't seem very effective in keeping up my arm and back conditioning (in retrospect, I suppose I should've been doing them one-armed to increas

Workout Recap - Week of September 30, 2018

I'm back home at last, and I'm expecting that to remain the case this time, at least for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, I did catch a bit of an ailment on the way back, which has been slowing me down, but it should pass enough to be negligible in another day or two. Sunday Type: Pass/Fail Fingertip Push Ups - 1 set of 10 (pass) Bridges - 1 set of 15 (pass) Straight Leg Raises - 1 set of 20 (pass) Bonus: none Honestly, I have no idea what I was aiming for with this wo

Workout Recap - Week of September 23, 2018

On the plus side, my acclimatization has progressed to the point where I'm basically fine now. I say "basically" instead of "completely" because there's really no way to be completely fine with the poor air quality here, but it's about as good as I'm going to get. I have also reached the point where I'm too tired of being here to be particularly creative or interesting with, well, anything that I'm doing. Perfunctory workouts are perfunctory. Sunday Type: Pass/Fail Overhan