Tree Pose was better today, Fan Pose is still a mess. So, balance is improving but flexibility still needs a lot of work.

Did 96 squats today (mix of normal, wide and overhead). I'm curious to see how I feel tomorrow. I was pretty sore through Monday after a similar workout last Friday.

Unlike Reggie, my body isn't ready. It will be, though!

@Guillaume
Haha, we should both look it up!

It always feels bad for me. Changing shoes helped a little, but the discomfort is still there. I mean, when you run on the road, you're basically pounding your feet/legs with a big concrete hammer, driven by your full body weight.

@Secret_Tunnel
What, really? Running on your toes is normal?? This feels like a Twilight Zone episode...


Look at us, talkin' about exercising!

@Anand

Not normal, natural. Most people don't do it, but it may have been what hunter-gatherers did, which suggests our feet are better built for it. But no one's really sure.

@Secret_Tunnel
That could describe me, as well. Not normal, natural.

Why isn't Spelunky on Switch yet, by the way?


Answer me!

@Anand

Yeah, for real! It's been so long that I wonder if there's some weird exclusivity thing going on behind the scenes. But my gut says there isn't, which makes me wonder what's up! You'd think that it'd blow up and find a whole new audience on Switch, which would be huge marketing for Spelunky 2.

@Secret_Tunnel
Man, don't even mention Spelunky 2...

Of all the games that Sony could nail down console exclusivity for...

It's been a little over two months with RFA now, but it's really been paying dividends over the past few weeks. I am up to about 35 minutes of high-intensity workout, 6 days/week (alternating between arms, core and legs). It's been largely Custom mode workouts, so I haven't done as much of the main adventure. It really comes down to whether the next mission is going to focus on the muscle group of the day (although today I did only Adventure mode):



I've also found myself doing a lot more stretching outside of the game. My hamstrings and lower back in particular are super-tight and can be very uncooperative. But in general I just feel so much better, and I'm really spent at the end of each workout. This game has been so much more than I was expecting.

@TheBigG753

Good stuff! I'm impressed by your daily playtime; I typically shoot for 15 minutes of exercise and sometimes can't even hit that. However, I did finally beat the last stage! It was a pretty tough fight. I appreciate that after beating Adventure Mode, you unlock a sort of New Game+ so that the exercising quest can still continue for even longer. A nice touch.

Secret_Tunnel said:

I haven't experienced any pain, but I'm about to order a pair of barefoot running shoes to keep on top of it before I do. I don't know if there are any studies to back it up, but the logic makes sense to me; why would running injuries be so prevalent in a species that evolved to run long distances? The big common unnatural variable are people's shoes causing them to strike the ground with their heels first, rather than the balls of their feet.

Btw, I redact this logic. We evolved to run barefoot, sure, but not on asphalt. Unnatural footwear for unnatural surfaces!

Probably.

@Secret_Tunnel
So did you order them?

@Anand

I did! They feel pretty good when walking on grass, but I'm skeptical about my uncushioned feet hitting concrete.

@Secret_Tunnel
Walking on grass always feels good...

I was finally able to get this friggin' game. It's safe to say my strategy of waiting for it to drop in price didn't work out, but now I'm happy with the $80 over the $120 scalpers want.

First day in, I'm really impressed. I ended up burning about 200 calories according to my smart watch and am pretty sore! Between this, Oculus Quest games, intermittent fasting, a low calorie diet, no booze, and starting employment again, I'm hoping the Rona pounds I gained will melt off over the next couple months.

I've been playing this game since it came out and I still haven't beaten it yet.

I must be out of shape. Even the Ring gave up on me and went to join Dragaux

One year update:

I'm still playing! Earlier this year, I finished the Adventure 100% and completed the skill tree after a little bit of NG+, and so now I'm sticking to the Custom mode. I started to slip a little bit in the fall and missed a few weeks and fell back into some of my other bad habits, and there were some other weeks where I only got a few days in. But I regrouped over the holidays and got back into a regular routine again.

Since the start of the year I've worked my way back up to 6 days/week of 30-40 minute workouts (I alternate daily between doing 20 arm/leg/core exercises, while also doing 10 yoga exercises each day too). At the max difficulty now, it gets pretty intense. I feel like at this point I can stick with this workout, and then increase the # of reps as needed. If I ate healthier I'd probably be in much better shape, but I'm not gonna lie, much of my reason for exercising is to allow for my vices.

Balance & flexibility has definitely improved through regular yoga exercises, although some days I just straight up suck in that regard. Boat Pose & Fan Pose I wasn't able to do at all last year, but I've gotten pretty good at them now. Squats (of all varieties) are the one exercise that hasn't really gotten any easier since the start. But part of that is due to increasing the difficulty, and the game I think glitches a bit with this exercise in particular. Often when I'm doing squats, as I do more reps the game tends to think I need to squat lower than it did on prior reps, to the point where squatting any further means putting my ass on the floor! Moving the leg strap down my leg a little bit helps w/ squats I think, but then the problem is the strap doesn't stay in place. Minor quibble though.

STATS

@TheBigG753

Wow, congrats!

So you stopped with the "adventure" part once the skill grid was complete, eh? I was wondering about that. I'm almost done with it myself, and I was hoping there would be some twist, like being able to level up old skills.

If I have any complaint about the adventure mode, it's this: there's not much of an incentive to use "weak" exercises. I ended up pretty much always having the latest, strongest attacks equipped at all time.

I might switch to Custom, like you have. Seems like a good way to vary the workout more. Plus, it's literally the only way I'll do the otherwise useless exercises that heal you in Adventure mode.

Guillaume said:

Plus, it's literally the only way I'll do the otherwise useless exercises that heal you in Adventure mode.

Heh, yeah, I've definitely taken damage intentionally just so I could do some of those exercises during the adventure.

And you're right about the Adventure not giving the best overall exercise. Sometimes, you're just at the mercy of whatever the next set of levels are. I might do a lot of leg workouts one day, and then the next day in the Adventure mode there will be 3 straight obstacle course levels that are all squats, and I feel like I wanna die. And then there will be times where I'll be winding down my workout, and the level concludes with 5 tough enemies, and it's like "Well, I guess I'll just drink a 2x Damage potion, do Overhead Hip Shake and just get it over with."

Wrapping up the skill tree was just something the completionist in me felt like I needed to do before moving on.

TheBigG753 said:

If I ate healthier I'd probably be in much better shape, but I'm not gonna lie, much of my reason for exercising is to allow for my vices.

Squats (of all varieties) are the one exercise that hasn't really gotten any easier since the start.

Me, too! I exercise so that I can eat cake on a daily basis.

Also, squats stink. I don't get as sore afterwards if I've been doing them regularly, but that condition usually doesn't occur, since I avoid them whenever possible. They make my knees sound like Rice Krispies.

@Guillaume
Man, my cousin was all about She-Ra. I wonder if she'd have any nostalgia for this...