A testing time

I'm all about numbers, so this morning I did the first stage of my testing, the main tests really. Strength and girths. I think I have done OK, I was surprised in some areas, and not actually disappointed in any, which is a bit of a shock.

	Time	Start	Today
Push Ups	1 min	7	33
Squats	1 min	31	53
Plank (prone hold)	to failure	34 sec	1 min 6 sec
Crunchies	1 min	22	49
Chin Ups	1 min or failure	0.75	15
Side-to-side	1 min	67	143
Wall Sit	to failure	33 sec	53 sec

Probably the biggest improvement was the chin ups. Going from almost being able to do one to being able to do 15 is pretty dramatic. Push ups rising from 7 in a minute to 33 was above the goal I set myself a few weeks ago (of 30) but I want to get that to 40 before I'm happy. My plank (prone hold) is still embarrassing, but I have doubled the time I can hold it so want to push for 2 minutes next. Gulp. In fact, looking over the results, the majority of my improvements have been about double what I had 20 weeks ago. Not too shabby.

My body fat has dropped 2.9% and my weight has dropped by 7.9KG. I have managed to lose a bit of my guts too - 6.5cm off my waist, 14.5cm off my abdomen and 5cm off my hips. My muscle measurements have seen my thighs drop a bit (they were over developed) and arms remain the same, but my chest has increased by 2.5cm. So my plan of balancing out my body seems to have worked. My arms are stronger, my thighs have reduced so my calf muscles can develop and I have better symmetry and balance.

On top of this, I'm even more flexible too! In a sitting hamstring test, I was 10cm away from my toes, now I can touch them! I have always had good shoulder flexibility, but this has improved even more! With one arm up and over, and the other down and under, I can grab my hands behind my back. I have always been able to do this, not just touch fingers, but actually perform a hearty handshake. I have improved this even further, I'm able to grab wrists!

Tomorrow morning I head up Rapaki to try and demolish my time of 30 mins. I'm thinking I'll go too hard and bomb before the top, but it's the last challenge I'll be doing for a wee while, so might as well leave it all on the park (or side of the hill) right?