Topic: Deborah's Log

[Hopefulpilot]

All right, about myself... I'm a girl. An overweight, very unfit girl. I noticed Parkour about a year ago, and at that point I figured there was no way I'd EVER be able to do any of that cool stuff! I discovered Ryan Ford's site, ParkourElements, some time ago and reading some of the stuff thought maybe I could work up to being able to do minor little things. He integrated his stuff with americanparkour, and, here I am! This is a really cool site! I goofed around with exercising for a bit, then around Feb. '09 decided to really see what I could do. I've gone from only being able to do 3 knee pushups max. to over 20 (still can't do full body pushups). Went from maybe three feet of QM to being able to do it all around the house (haven't really tested myself to see how far I can go). I've lost 20 lbs., and I feel better.

I'm not your average girl, and I'm extremely self-conscious. I turned 23 last month and I currently weigh approximately 215 lbs. I'm 5'7". For religious and modesty reasons I always wear skirts and dresses, which adds an extra lvl of challenge and self-consciousness to some things. >.< Don't worry, I always wear pants under my skirt! Working with anyone from the opposite sex makes me very nervous. I'm always scared of what people think about me. Part of the reason I'm getting into Parkour is to build self-confidence (which has probably already doubled since I started), and to teach myself to overcome fear (which... I'm not doing so well at). Ok, I think that about covers it... If there's something else I should be including, maybe someone could let me know.

Since procrastination could be my middle name, it's going to be a challenge to stick to this!

To start with, I'm going to make 5 goals.

Goals:
1. Complete 1 pullup. Just bought a doorway pullup bar last week. Can't even hold myself up for a whole second!
2. Be able to squat all the way down, keeping my feet flat. I'm hoping this will help me with burpees, monkeys, etc.
3. To run 400m without dying from lack of breath. Incredibly lame, I know.
4. Know how far I can precision jump, and actually be able to make a jump without freezing in the middle and twisting my ankle or cracking my shins. I do this even on tiny jumps that I can easily enough step across.
5. Find someone I can work out with? I have my brothers, but they're all so very advanced above me that it's pretty much impossible to keep up with or do anything with them.

Things I can currently do:
I can roll over my right shoulder. Working on over my left, but I can't seem to roll straight yet.
20 pushups only lifting from my knees up. Some days I can't quite get 20 consecutively.
Working on tuck jumps and silent landing. Tried working on them here at home, but all we have is concrete, and my ankles and knees kill me. Getting to the park where there's some grass is not common, but I'm working on it. That's a self-consciousness issue. If I do get to the park, there's usually people there, and I always chicken out on practicing anything in front of anyone.
There's probably a little more, but I can't think of anything right this minute.

So, that's it for now. I have to go take an allergy pill before I sneeze my throat out.

[TraceuseDS]

Hi, Deborah! It's great that you've decided to start keeping a log. They *really* help a lot with keeping motivated, and there are a lot of people with awesome advice around here. It sounds like you've already made a lot of progress yourself!



For your goals:
1) Can you do a pullup negative? This is when you start at the top of a pullup position (get there by stepping on a box or a chair or whatever) and slowly lower yourself down. The goal is to make this last for 5-7 seconds. If you can't that's OK; there are other things you can try, but negatives are a good starting place.

2) Just keep practicing this. Feet should be shoulder width apart, toes angled just a *little* bit out. Your knees should track in the same direction as your toes. Heels stay down.

3) That's soo not lame! 400m is HARD when you're not used to it! Just make sure you practice sprints (shorter ones if necessary) a couple times a week. Usually the recommendation is 4x400m, resting as needed in between. Run AS HARD AS YOU CAN. If you feel sick, you did it right (just don't throw up ).

4) Have you tried just practicing these between lines on the sidewalk? Sometimes it helps just to build confidence first. Remember to really tuck your knees up high when you're jumping (something that really helped me with this was to practice jumping UP onto things - like a stair step - and slowly increasing the height).

5) Sorry! Can't help you here! But we'll be around on the forums. Check the "for-locals-only" board to see whether there are any people in your area.




Hope that helps! If you have any questions, just ask!

[Hopefulpilot]

TraceuseDS, thank you so much for the helps!

1) Yes, pullup negatives are what I'm working on. Today I was able to make the first pullup last almost 3 seconds. All the rest were pretty much jump up, drop down.

2) I tried squats this way, and they worked! I don't know if I'm getting as far down as 90 degrees or not... I need to find a long mirror, or get a mirror I could lean against the wall on the floor or something.

3) Yeah... I'm almost thinking running is going to be harder than strength training stuff. Maybe if I get more weight off it'll get easier?

Ok, now my log for today.
__________________________________________________________
June 05, 2009:

Had about 6.5 hrs. of sleep. It wasn't solid sleep. There was a tense section sometime in there involving mysterious lights, jiggling doors, etc. Also, it would help if my brothers weren't up all hours of the night playing computer games. Flashing moniter lights and shooting sounds leaking from headphones don't make for the most restful sleep!

Didn't get up 'till 6:00. Did some stretches, 15 squats, 10 pushups, 10 situps, 5 negative pullups. Was feeling really tired and weak. I've been kind of sick, weak and achey all last week, so I haven't been exercising as much as usual. I was surprised how hard it was to do the pushups and situps.
At various points through the day I did 20 more squats, and about 8 more negative pullups.

Had cornflakes with strawberries and blueberries for breakfast. I didn't measure anything... I was still starving after that, so a little later, in attempt to avoid more carbs, I made a salad with turkey, cheese and onion.

For lunch, mom had bought cheetos, and I splurged it's been ages since I've had cheetos, and I'm ashamed to say I ate a LOT. I had something else too, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was.

I grabbed two pieces of cheesebread while I was getting ready for work. My rule is no food after 6:00 pm. Since I work from 4:45-7:00, there's no room for supper.

Went to work. I work at a retirement home, and tonight was a server, serving supper to the residents. The serving shift is always rushed, with everyone almost, but not quite, running, and I consider it a little cardio workout.

Got home, then went out and measured the sections of sidewalk, in order to figure out just how far 400 meters is. Each section of sidewalk = 5 meters. Wow! 400 m. is a lot farther than I thought! I managed to run 225 m. My legs got pretty heavy by the end of that distance, but I think I could have kept going if it wasn't for the horrible lack of breath. It felt like a huge weight was on my chest and I couldn't draw in nearly enough air. It felt like I was suffocating and I had to stop. Then it was chore time, and I don't think I'll be getting anything more in today.

[Hopefulpilot]

June 6:

Weight today: 209 lbs. Woot! That's still a lot, but not nearly as much as it was at the beginning of the year!

7.5 hours sleep + 15-20 minutes of sitting with head on table in the afternoon.

Up at 6:00. Did some random quick stretching.

Did 2 sets (I think that's what you call it):
10 knee pushups
15 situps
15 squats. Form got pretty messy on the last few...

3rd set did:
5 knee pushups
5 situps
5 squats, concentrating on keeping what form I have.

Went to work at 8:00. While waiting to clock in did 3 sets of 10 calf raises and shin raises (Not sure what they're called). One set with toes straight, one with toes out, one with toes in.

Serving breakfast includes a lot of squatting and sitting on my heels (the cold cereal is on the bottom shelf of the cart and everyone wants that). So, squatting and quick walking for two hours. My right knee bothered me most of the morning. Nothing major.

I really wanted to do something for National Parkour day. I had asked a former co-worker that I've kinda kept in touch with if she wanted to do something, but she had to work. So, I walked home from work and picked up trash along the road on the way. Got almost a whole bag. The bag was donated by Holiday Retirement Corp. 

And that's pretty much it. Saturday's usually my rest day.

Food wise:
Smaller than normal bowl of cornflakes to tide me over through work. Again, I didn't measure. I'm kinda scared to, because then I might find out I need to take smaller portions. 
After work had scrambled eggs and a raisin scone with butter.
For lunch, home-made taco salad. Very small portion. Was what mom managed to save from my brothers from their supper last night.
Later in the afternoon had 2 slices of bread with butter and blackberry jam.
Supper was grilled cheese sandwiches. I had two. 
I'm thinking, maybe too many carbs still? I've been working for a few weeks to cut them out more, and I know I don't eat nearly as much as I used to, but I see that I'm still eating alot.

Just now sat on the floor with legs straight and stretched out to hold my toes. Took probably 30 seconds to slowly get that far, and held it while dad prayed. That was longer than a minute. 80 seconds? Felt nice afterwards. Pleasantly warm.

[Hopefulpilot]

June 7

7 hours sleep
Up at 5:30.

My calves and back of my knees are sore today! I'm guessing that's from the stretch last night?

Did 15 minutes of stretching. Worked into each stretch slowly, spending at least 45 seconds on each.

2 sets of:
10 knee pushup
15 situps
15 squats

3rd set was:
10 knee pushups
10 situps
10 squats

Finished up right when my 6:00 alarm went off.

Went to work at 8:00. while waiting to clock in did elbows-in sissy pushups against the desk.
Two hours of work. While waiting for the family to pick me up I worked on L-sits. Kind of. Held myself up in a chair with arms and tried to lift my legs. I sort of pushed my butt against the back of the chair for leverage. I can pull my thighs parallel to the floor, but my knees aren't straight out. Aren't L-sits supposed to work your gut? They tired out the fronts of my thighs!

Played piano for 45 minutes for the hymn service. Back was killing me after about 15 minutes. Really have to remember proper posture!

Walked to where I work for a chapel service. Counted sections of sidewalk on the way. 170 sections (approximately). Each section is 5 meters. That's 850 meters, or slightly over half-a-mile.

After chapel I messed around for 1/2 hour. I had watched a video of the big jam in London with Parkour Generations, and noticed them doing something where they put their hands out in front, then jump up, pulling their legs with their knees straight, up to their hands. I couldn't do it at all on flat ground. I went in a stairwell and went up 32 steps planting my hands two steps up, and pulling my legs up to the step before my hands. Wasn't really hard, but I think it's helping learn how to transfer my weight onto my hands...
Did some random QM. I really want to learn ground kongs, but I can't seem to get my legs pulled up far enough, and my knees won't stay together! ERG! Again, I had to quit simply from breathing problems, and my right wrist really hurt.

Served supper. Finished slightly early!

When I got home, I changed and went straight out to help the boys hang cabinets in the garage. Lots of moving big floor tools, tons of random wood chunks, and then moving the cabinets and holding them up while Gideon screwed them in. That took two hours. My arms were so tired!

Got to bed slightly earlier than 10:30.

[Hopefulpilot]

Monday, June 8

Was frustrated because I could barely do 7 pushups. Did 10 squats and 10 situps, but that was it.   Did some other random exercises throughout the day, but nothing significant.
Had an earache in both ears.
Went to the chiropractor because my neck and back have been bothering me for weeks. Yup, neck, lower back and right hip were out. Also, something in my upper back. Took him three tries to get it to go back in. And it HURT!
Came home and slept for a few hours. Felt pretty rotten and tired. Thought I might be getting the flu?

Tuesday, June 9

Did the evening cooking shift: 10:30-19:00.
Felt pretty OK in the morning. On my break I walked through all the halls in the building, and worked on those jumping up the stairs things, concectrating on keeping my knees together.
The AC for the kitchen is broken, so it was incredibly hot in there. Around 15:00, I didn't feel the heat anymore, and instead starting shivering and felt like I was freezing to death. Was happy to stand over the griddle and make 60 grilled cheese sandwiches. The dishwasher thought I was crazy! Shivered/trembled the rest of the evening through, then went home and wrapped up in an afghan. Never did get warm.

Wednesday, June 10

Felt rotten. Was supposed to do evening cook shift. Walked to work at 10:30. Zombied my way through to 12:30 when someone noticed I looked really pale and that I wasn't moving as fast as usual. My head hurt, both ears hurt, my sinuses felt like they were on fire, and my throat felt terribly raw. Was sent home.
Took me 20 minutes to drag myself home. Collapsed onto a bed for a few hours. By evening Sinuses were running, sneezing uncontrollably, and throat felt terrible.
No exercise.

Thursday, June 11.
Went to the doctor. Got antibiotics. Every muscle in my back and especially my neck is tight and painful. Slept alot. Drinking lots of Throat Coat tea. Tomorrow better be a better day!
Am slightly worried about losing any progress I've made in exercises...
Interesting note: Usually with a plugged up nose, I want nothing to do with food, and eating is hard. This time, all I want to do is eat. Carbs. Lots of carbs. I feel like I can't possibly get enough bread.

[TraceuseDS]

On my break I walked through all the halls in the building, and worked on those jumping up the stairs things, concectrating on keeping my knees together.

Actually, don't worry about keeping your knees together. Let them track over your toes, kind of like when you're doing a squat. If you keep them in the middle, and ever lose your balance...a smashed nose or black eye can result...um, don't ask me how I know this... Also, make sure you're absorbing the impact by landing on the balls of your feet, never your heels.

It sounds like you're doing a great job of incorporating bits and pieces of training into your everyday life. That's a great way to start! And don't worry about losing progress if you take time off. Rest days are just as important as training days, especially when you're sick! Hope you feel better soon.

[Hopefulpilot]

Thanks for the advice Carolyn!
I understand about keeping knees tracked over toes, but aren't you supposed to keep your legs together for kongs, ground kongs, etc.? 

I haven't done anything earthshattering since last post. I did feel better Friday.

Saturday was slightly worse than Friday, but I served breakfast and lunch.

Sunday was an OK day. Walked to chapel, and even managed to keep up with my brothers, without getting so badly out of breath! Served supper. I planned to exercise in the back hall (work is pretty much the only place with space to work on QM, and it has stairs to do other stuff), but got distracted practicing on the beautiful grand piano there. 

I splurged last night. Today isn't a school day, and I didn't have to work today, so all my siblings and I stayed up 'till midnight watching "Monster House" (kinda dumb  ) and eating whoppers and candy corn, and drinking some kind of concoction my youngest brother made. Not even going to ask what was in it! As expected, I feel kinda rotten this morning, but it was fun anyway!

Goal for today:
100 pushups in various forms.

[TraceuseDS]

I understand about keeping knees tracked over toes, but aren't you supposed to keep your legs together for kongs, ground kongs, etc.? 

Yep. For work on kongs you keep your feet together and your knees together. But for just about everything else, it's OK to let them separate. Sorry if I misunderstood you!

Glad to see you're feeling a bit better!

[Hopefulpilot]

Whew! Got my 100 pushups in yesterday!! Woohoo!  The last five were especially hard, and my arms and chest hurt today!

Also worked on some L-sits and leg-lifts...

Tuesday, June 16
For today, I'm trying to do 100 situps. Have 90 done so far, and I figure I'll get the last ten in before bed.

Also walked two miles, and ran 400 meters in two sets of 200 m.

Worked supper.

Got on the scale today. I was shocked that the first number never turned into a 2! 198 was the reading. I dunno if our scale isn't broken though... it can't be possible to lose 11 lbs. that fast, can it? That's a little more than a pound a day.

Note: need to be keeping track of sleep hours. I want to see how it affects my performance. Dad says no one really needs more than four hours of sleep a night.  I suppose if you had some kind of job that you could robot through, and if you didn't really do much physical stuff... I should point out that he can't remember a thing from the point in his life when he lived like that!

For tomorrow, I'd like to try to get 100 squats in, but I'm nervous about how that will affect my knees. They get sore with just 30. Maybe I'll try lunges instead... I also don't know how all the walking a running will make them feel. Guess I'll play it by feelings tomorrow!

[Max G]

nice job! and while those 11 may not be all fat (some is likely water) that's still well done.

[Hopefulpilot]

Thanks Max! I needed the encouragement just now. 

I'm not going to be able to do a detailed post, but I want to get something up here.

A little history: We moved here to the city from a farm 9 years ago. We were beekeepers, and had goats, chickens, a large garden, etc. We brought a lot of beekeeping equipment with us, planning to get a piece of land to set back up on, and stored it in our backyard in the meantime. That never worked out. Now the neighbors have complained to the city about all the "wood and metal" in our yard, and we have to get it all out. We've ended up hauling most of it to the dump. 

So, I have gotten hardly any traditional workouts in since last post, but I've been expending a LOT more energy than usual. Loading hive stands and bee boxes on the trailer, and unloading in the dump. Shoveling gravel. Sorting and loading 2 tons of metal on the trailer. Driving the Motor home a mile out to an empty lot with a for sale sign, and walking back, then walking out to drive it back every day. Regular work in between.

As far as eating, I haven't been sticking to my "no food after 18:00" plan very well. I've been so tired, busy and hot, that I haven't really cared. I keep putting off checking with the scale, but I feel heavier, like I've gained a lot of weight back. I've also been drinking a ton of liquids trying to stay hydrated while working in 100+ tempuratures.

Since Friday I've been feeling extremely tired and energy-less. I broke my glasses Thursday evening, and have been wearing an old pair. They aren't nearly strong enough, and I feel like I'm constantly trying to adjust and focus my eyes. I wonder if something like that contributes to that tired and sleepy feeling?

Sunday was kind of a rest day. I worked in the morning, and had the two chapel services, but then I just napped and did computer work the rest of the day. I was hoping I'd be back up to par today, but that hasn't been the case.

I'm also slightly depressed because we had to take our cats to a shelter today. We had four, then in the last month three of them had kittens and we ended up with 16. We knew we'd have to get rid of them as soon as they got old enough, but we were going to keep one or two. A neighbor heard about how many we have and doesn't seems to realize 12 of them are two weeks old. She saw a cat killing a bird, was absolutely convinced it was ours, and threatened to call the county if we didn't take them ALL in. Grrr. 

I have an eye doctors appointment tomorrow at 9:00.

Here's hoping for a better tomorrow!

[Hopefulpilot]

July 2, 2009

Yay! The next day WAS a better day!

Went to the eye doctor and got a new pair of glasses the same day. Seeing again really does help get rid of the drowsy feeling.

Got called in to take over for the morning dishwasher at work because he was suffering from heat stroke. There has been no AC in the kitchen all summer. That day it got to 118F, and it was SO hot in the kitchen! Got chewed out by a resident about how the staff is just too lazy in the kitchen, and she's so sick and tired of sandwiches at night, etc. I let it get to me and ended up going home crying. 

Wednesday was a good day. Did 4 hours of breaking up and shoveling dirt in the morning, then 4 hours of hauling wood in the afternoon. Exhausted in the evening!

Today, did two hours of shoveling, then about two hours of hauling and stacking bee boxes on the trailer. Spent two and a half hours sorting through the wood pile in the shop, then trying to arrange it to fit on the trailer while my brothers hauled it out. Served supper, cleaned the kitchen, etc. I am SO ready for bed! I'm supposed to play some special music for the Sunday after Independence day, but 1. I haven't practiced, and 2. my hands hurt so much. They're sore and it hurts to grip anything, and even typing is slightly painful. I played for a concert once with a jammed pinkie, and that was painful, but this is a little different.  We'll see.

[Hopefulpilot]

Sunday, July 5.

Friday was very hard. Got some more junk and equipment hauled out, and I think all the big work is done for the yard. Just little stuff left.

Saturday, I was so sore and tired! Slogged through serving breakfast, then the rest of the day was a rest day. Whew!

Still a little sore today. I figure this will be a rest day as well.

I wanted to note that I've noticed that I'm more flexible or something now. I had no problem climbing over stuff, in fact, I WANTED to climb over stuff because it was fun! Usually I just stand back and let other people do whatever climbing and jumping because I'm too afraid, and/or I just can't balance and move over it. (Is this making any sense?  ) One example: I needed to step up onto something a little over waist height to pull the tarp off of something. Usually it would take a lot of work for me to get up there, but 1, I was able to step my leg up with no problem, and 2, I just... got up there. It was shockingly easy!! I was so happy, I wanted to make a big deal out of it but, of course, my brothers really didn't see what was so exciting.

Also, as mentioned before, I haven't been doing exercise as in pushups, pullups, squats, etc., but I was hanging on a pole and did a leg lift (I think that's what it's called, where you pick your legs up parallel with the ground?) without even thinking about it! I've been trying to do those for a looooong time! I couldn't do it a second time, but it's so awsome to see improvement in myself!

Now, if only I could actually do some vaults or flips or something. 
I want to be able to do Parkour and do it smoothly so bad! Maybe someday soon...

[Hopefulpilot]

So, I was losing any motivation to continue trying to get ready for Parkour. I've been so tired, and depressed, and dreading any kind of workout. My knees hurt, my back hurts, my ankles hurt... I can't do any kind of actual Parkour practice, and I have nowhere to work it. I've been sick and tired of plain workouts, with no way to actually use them. It seems so easy for so many other people.

Then I was looking around on here, trying to find something to get me feeling like maybe I can do it again, and I came across Muse-of-Fire's stretching post. Then I read her log. Good job for her! If she can do all that, I really have no excuse. I'm thinking now, maybe I can incoporate some stretching before I go to bed? And where I've been afraid to do any hard workouts, fearing that they will make me too tired to handle what work I must do the rest of the day: perhaps I've been depressed and tired feeling  because I'm not getting that extra work in?

Goal: Grit my teeth, and get at least the APK warm-up in for the rest of the days this week. See how it affects my mood and the rest of work. I HAVE to remember that I'll never really improve unless I push myself.

[TraceuseDS]

Ohh, you can do it! Sometimes it IS really hard to stay motivated, especially when you're new and training by yourself.

If you're having trouble incorporating an entire structured routine into your day, just keep doing little bits here and there. Parkour doesn't have to just be made of vaults and flashy stuff. If you haven't seen this thread yet, check it out: http://www.americanparkour.com/smf/index.php?topic=18547.msg218534#msg218534

Just walking down the sidewalk and paying attention to your foot placement can be parkour. And I'm sure there are curbs somewhere that you can practice your balance on, or a handicap ramp that you can use for practicing flow around and through rails if you're not ready to vault over them yet. It takes time. Just be patient with yourself; your body has a lot of reorganizing to do as you teach yourself all these new skills. Muscle fibers, nerves, connective tissue, and bones all change as you start exercising and increasing the demands you put on them.

The APK warmup is an awesome idea (and that can be an entire workout in and of itself!). And stretching before bedtime can be really relaxing. Go ahead and try incorporating them into your routine - along with good rest - for a few days, and see what happens. Listen to your body, and take a rest day when you need to. You've already started seeing a difference in the amount of effort it took you climb and carry stuff. I'm sure that if you keep going, you'll see even more!

[Gencala]

Hey,
I was reading your posts and I want to say keep the hard work. It's amazing how you have been able to do this by yourself..don't give up, it takes time, but if you are determined you will get there.  Parkour is great. Congratulations and keep training.

[Hopefulpilot]

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Thanks guys. A LOT.

Ok, first, I'd like to apologize for my whine session. I've been really, really tired, and I don't think I'm normally like that. I hope...

Second, we finished the yard today!!! I'm so happy, and I feel a hundred pounds lighter! There's still improvements to do, but

I didn't get a single APK warmup in. I did something to my back Wednesday that made it feel like I had a knot somewhere on the right side of my back, and made it painful to stretch either arm out to the side. My right arm went a little tingly, and my right leg ached. Hopefully I can get to the chiropracter either tomorrow or Friday.

As mentioned before, I've been SOOO tired. Saturday I did my usual work and spent time with my great-aunt. Then I had an hour or so nap. By 16:30ish my head hurt so bad, and even though I had more things to do, I lay down, planning to be up by 17:00. Well, I slept right through 'till 6:50 the next morning! I felt many times better after that! And, my mood has improved a ton!

So, that's pretty much all I have to report. We may, might possibly go to the lake tomorrow to celebrate finishing the yard... That'll be fun. I haven't been for about 4 years. I'll have to see if I still know how to float! Say, does anyone know any good Parkour exercises to do in a lake? 

[Hopefulpilot]

Thursday, July 16

So, mostly enjoyed my time at the lake. Wow, it's been ages since I've tried to swim! Right off, when I went in, I'm not sure what I was thinking, but I jumped in a little too hard and smashed my head on the bottom... spraining my neck? I dunno, but it hurts to move it. Didn't get to the chiropractor Wednesday, but have every intention tomorrow!

Good news, Dad says maybe we can try to go a few more times this year! I noticed a pole fence that I could try to vault over or move around (when I feel better...  ), and there's a roof over a picnic area that has, like, some ledges to hang off... 

[Hopefulpilot]

Wow! Long time since I updated!

Tuesday, July 28

Got my neck fixed. It and my shoulders are STILL a little sore, but it's waaaay better!

I've been getting real workouts back into my days. I'm not getting it every day, but I am doing something. I need to also remind myself to keep track of stuff on here again.  So much for fighting procrastination!

Summary of workout since last post:

More shoveling of dirt and gravel.

Lots and lots of lifting and carrying 60 lb. bags of sand and 80 lb. bags of concrete mix.

Concrete mixing and shoveling.

Walking/running as much as possible. Not much running though. 

Getting back into pushups/situps/squats. Squats are getting easier. I have to plant my feet a bit wider than I think I'm supposed to, otherwise I end up losing my balance and always having to step out of it. Also, I end up leaning forward when I go down so my chest is over my knees. Is this OK? Should I be trying to keep my shoulders back?
On the pushups, I managed 7 full-body (I don't know what their proper term is) pushups. They were the kind with my hands way out to the side. I've been working on elbows in pushups, but they're going to take a while longer! 

Working on leg lifts. I can't do them slow and controlled yet. Currently working on pulling my knees up so I'm in a sitting position, then stretching my legs out from there.

The biggest problem for me lately that made me get on here is my right wrist.  Several months ago I was attempting handstands, and did something that brought sharp pain to the end of the bone that sticks out on the outside of the wrist. It hurt for a few days, but I figured it'd get better. It has given my slight trouble since then if I do a lot of QM or anything that involves leaning on it. 

These last weeks it has gotten worse. It would twinge slightly with shoveling, then it started hurting anytime I bent my wrist toward the outside of my arm. It hurt alot when I was using the trowel to smooth concrete. We made a mistake with the concrete, so I spent three hours kneeling on it, coaxing a circular saw with a masonary blade for about 20 feet. That completely did it in, and now there's sharp pain going through it if I move it anywhere other than to the inside of my arm or put any stress on it. Typing here, bending my hand up to punch the backspace hurts. There is no swelling, no bruising, no visible sign of injury. The only difference I can find is that the bone on the side of my right wrist feels like it sticks out a very small bit more than the left. I've been keeping it wrapped in an Ace bandage, but it doesn't seem to be any help. I just now thought about icing it. Don't know why I didn't think of that before! I don't think that will fix it though. So, any suggestions from anyone? I don't know if the chiropractor can help or not... I'm a little wary of spending money on it if it won't be any help.