newcs

Thanks for the suggestions! I feel the same about the lunges...I feel like I'm putting so much energy into staying upright that I'm not focusing on the correct muscles that I was trying to work in the first place. If I take a smaller step to keep my balance, I don't get nearly as much impact as I'm going for. I tried the bulgarian split squats and my balance is great on one side, needs some work on the other. They definitely worked though...I could still feel it 3 days later. I might do that for now and alternate with hamstring exercises since I've had issues with my quads getting too much stronger than my hammies in the past and causing knee pain. The step thing seems like a good option that I'll definitely keep in mind. Probably more of an at-home workout thing since I'm short and the boxes at the gym are not I had a brief mental image of snagging my foot on the box and face-planting. I'd rather do that in an environment where I can then lay on the floor and nurse my wounded pride (and face) in peace

I think you did a fantastic job! You took on some pretty serious goals (that first push up is super hard and your garage task seemed like a beast!) and did great. I'm so impressed with your planking...I get mean when I plank lol. I'm pretty sure I look all little and friendly going about my workout and then I plank and look like I hate everyone so I'm in awe of your set of 3 2min planks!

Thank you! It's not what I planned but I think it came out pretty good anyway And I can actually use my butcher block island now that it's not covered in a sea of spice jars. Status update #10 (week 6, update 2) Last update of the current challenge! Gained quite a bit of strength...and a pound of weight. Normal fluctuation but I'm going back to calorie counting because my switch to mostly-paleo made me realize there's a good potential I'm a food addict just enough that I need to keep tabs on my intake. Glad I switched to grean tea since it's a little less caffeine, no sugar and quicker to prepare since I don't put anything in it. I've been thinking about what I want to set for goals for the next challenge. I'm thinking I'll focus on water intake, negative pull ups, vegetable intake and my continuing professional education credits. Stats: Weight: Then: 121 Now: 122 Hanging leg lifts: Then: 4 sets of 5, twice a week Now: 4 sets of 10, lifting my legs higher, 2-3x a week Inverted rows: Then: 0 ever Now: max of 7 consecutive, 4 sets of at least 5 per workout, 2-3x per week Knitting project: Then: 6" remaining Now: Done! Plus fingerless mittens and a coordinating hat Spice rack: Then: not started Now: finished and on the wall! Tea situation: Then: 1 cup of black tea with 1 half&half, 1 sugar per day Now: 1 cup of green tea, no sugar, no milk/cream at least 4 days a week Goal Summary: Strength Inverted rows: 40/week +4STR +1STA Week 1: 22 42 100% Week 2: 20 50% Week 3: 0% Week 4: 22 44 100% Week 5: 24 44 100% Week 6: 22 44 100% Average: 75% Points: +3STR +.75STA Hanging leg lifts: 80/week +2STR +3STA Week 1: 20 40 80 100% Week 2: 40 50% Week 3: 0% Week 4: 40 80 100% Week 5: 30 50 90 (20 regular, 70 extra high) 100% Week 6: 40 82 (all at max height) 100% Average: 75% Points: +1.5STR +2.25STR Diet Tea: replace with green tea (no sugar/creamer/milk) 2x/week +3CON - Upped to 4x/week Week 1: 1 2 4 100% Week 2: 4 100% Week 3: 5 100% Week 4: 1 3 5 100% Week 5: 1 4 100% Week 6: 2 5 100% Average: 100% Points: +3CON Life Finish my current crafty projects - 13 of 13 tasks complete as of 2/16/13 +2CHA Knitting: finish current project (assassin's hood...aka shawl) (1 point toward life goal) - Done! Build the wall-o-spices (each mini task worth 1 point) Wash jars √ Make stickers √ Create labels √ Fill jars √ Label jars √ Cut center boards √ Stain boards √ Antique hardware √ Attach hardware to boards √ Hang decorative center √ Hang shelves √ Fill shelves √ A: 13 points B: 10-12 points C: 8-9 points F: 7 or fewer points +2CHA

Thanks for the advice. I have decent balance when my feet are stationary so I'm hoping I can do this one without support. We shall see!

Thanks! Everything in my house (including the house itself) is crooked so I went with the standard of "good enough". Now I just have to convince my gf to let me add another shelf on the bottom since my spices on the top shelf are doubled up. She thinks we shouldn't put anything below the cabinet line though. In the interest of keeping my small amount of nerd street cred, I'll pretend I didn't have to google that.

Awesome! Thank you I've switched to dumbbell lunges which I really don't like but I have been really feeling it so I stick with them. This seems like it might work similar muscles without the part I hate (losing my balance as I go back to the start position). I ended up buying You Are Your Own Gym and switched my core exercise to 2 sets of 20 Russian Twists with a 4kg medicine ball which I repeat each circuit (for a total of 160 reps). Then when someone touches my side, I cry a little. That means it's working, right? lol

Spice rack is done!

Great progress on the decluttering! I have to get on that one tonight Some times you just have a rough workout. But sometimes it's a step back and then you surprise yourself with 2 steps forward the next time. Never know!

Status update #10 (week 6, update 1) I can't believe it's already the final week of the challenge! I'm so glad I joined this challenge because it's really helped to keep me on track and keep me from pushing things off just a little bit at a time only to later realize I've been pushing them off for months (*cough*spice rack*cough*) I'm starting to feel more confident strength-wise but still not really happy with my lack of significant progress toward my first pull up. My back and shoulders are definitely getting stronger (shoulders were a super weakness before) and I'm making headway on pushups (now at 2 sets of 8 and 2 sets of 5 "real" pushups). Inverted rows are still really hard but I can now do 4 sets of 5 without having to pause (was usually doing 3 then quick pause, then 2) and managed 7 on my last set yesterday. The spice rack will be on the wall tonight! All the measurements are marked, holes are drilled and the shelves are dry with their hardware attached. Just have to screw them to the wall and put the jars on. Goals: Strength Inverted rows: 40/week +4STR +1STA Week 1: 22 42 100% Week 2: 20 50% Week 3: 0% Week 4: 22 44 100% Week 5: 24 44 100% Week 6: 22 Hanging leg lifts: 80/week +2STR +3STA Week 1: 20 40 80 100% Week 2: 40 50% Week 3: 0% Week 4: 40 80 100% Week 5: 30 50 90 (20 regular, 70 extra high) 100% Week 6: 40 (all at max height) Diet Tea: replace with green tea (no sugar/creamer/milk) 2x/week +3CON - Upped to 4x/week Week 1: 1 2 4 100% Week 2: 4 100% Week 3: 5 100% Week 4: 1 3 5 100% Week 5: 1 4 100% Week 6: 2 Life Finish my current crafty projects (11 of 13 tasks complete as of 2/13/13) Knitting: finish current project (assassin's hood...aka shawl) (1 point toward life goal) - Done! Build the wall-o-spices (each mini task worth 1 point) Wash jars √ Make stickers √ Create labels √ Fill jars √ Label jars √ Cut center boards √ Stain boards √ Antique hardware √ Attach hardware to boards √ Hang decorative center √ Hang shelves Fill shelves A: 13 points B: 10-12 points C: 8-9 points F: 7 or fewer points +2CHA

I'm new to NF but would love to go to a Boston area meetup! I can do any of the Saturdays or Sundays listed...weekdays are tough since I'm a tax accountant and it's tax season. Edit: I'm in Maynard...if anyone on my way-ish needs a ride, I can fit 4. I don't mind going a little out of the way. Only catch is my car usually smells like a puppy, which is less cute than it might sound.

Exciting news before the actual update: Signed up for my first 5K! And because I can't just do anything the easy way, I signed up for a Spartan Race. I recruited my brother and sister plus all 3 of our significant others so we have a team of 6 so far. Should be fun! My goal is to work up to Tough Mudder for 2014...it looks like an awesome challenge but I need more upper body strength (and more time to psych myself up for the possibility of things like getting shocked in the face). Thanks I feel slow sometimes because there are so many high speed runners at the gym but then I think back to when I started and was dying at 5mph after about 15 seconds. Status update #9 (week 5, update 2) So the potential blizzard was everything it was cracked up to be. With the wind, it's hard to tell how much we actually got but some cities in the area recorded 30" and the snowbanks around my neighborhood are shoulder height or higher (granted I'm short). They instituted a vehicular travel ban so I worked from home and when I got bored, I did a few pushups, negative pullups, hanging leg lifts and a little bit of jump rope. Finally got some work done on the spice shelves but they're not coming along as planned. I did the 2nd coat of paint on the hardware, cut the center shelves and did the first coat of stain (drying now) but I'm not entirely happy with the results. For now, I'll give myself points for tasks completed but will probably not really consider the project done since I'm going to make some changes. Goals: Strength Inverted rows: 40/week +4STR +1STA Week 1: 22 42 100% Week 2: 20 50% Week 3: 0% Week 4: 22 44 100% Week 5: 24 44 100% Hanging leg lifts: 80/week +2STR +3STA Week 1: 20 40 80 100% Week 2: 40 50% Week 3: 0% Week 4: 40 80 100% Week 5: 30 50 90 (20 regular, 70 extra high) 100% Diet Tea: replace with green tea (no sugar/creamer/milk) 2x/week +3CON - Upped to 4x/week Week 1: 1 2 4 100% Week 2: 4 100% Week 3: 5 100% Week 4: 1 3 5 100% Week 5: 1 4 100% Life Finish my current crafty projects (9 of 13 tasks complete as of 1/28/13) Knitting: finish current project (assassin's hood...aka shawl) (1 point toward life goal) - Done! Build the wall-o-spices (each mini task worth 1 point) Wash jars √ Make stickers √ Create labels √ Fill jars √ Label jars √ Cut center boards √ Stain boards - 1/2 done. Need to stain the under sides Antique hardware √ Attach hardware to boards Hang decorative center √ Hang shelves Fill shelves A: 13 points B: 10-12 points C: 8-9 points F: 7 or fewer points +2CHA

Status update #8 (week 5, update 1) It appears I've gotten back on track just to get thrown off by another snowstorm. We have a potential blizzard coming tomorrow so I'll be running today and hopefully will convince myself to do some bodyweight stuff tomorrow if I work from home or I'll go to the gym as normal if I make it into the city. I don't have anything to do inverted rows on at home so I'm glad that I did those Mon/Wed. Goals: Strength Inverted rows: 40/week +4STR +1STA Week 1: 22 42 100% Week 2: 20 50% Week 3: 0% Week 4: 22 44 100% Week 5: 24 44 100% Hanging leg lifts: 80/week +2STR +3STA Week 1: 20 40 80 100% Week 2: 40 50% Week 3: 0% Week 4: 40 80 100% Week 5: 30 50 (20 regular, 30 extra high) Diet Tea: replace with green tea (no sugar/creamer/milk) 2x/week +3CON - Upped to 4x/week Week 1: 1 2 4 100% Week 2: 4 100% Week 3: 5 100% Week 4: 1 3 5 100% Week 5: 1 4 100% Life Finish my current crafty projects (7 of 13 tasks complete as of 1/28/13) Knitting: finish current project (assassin's hood...aka shawl) (1 point toward life goal) - Done! Build the wall-o-spices (each mini task worth 1 point) Wash jars √ Make stickers √ Create labels √ Fill jars √ Label jars √ Cut center boards Stain boards Antique hardware - 1/2 done. Needs another coat of paint Attach hardware to boards Hang decorative center Hang shelves Fill shelves A: 13 points B: 10-12 points C: 8-9 points F: 7 or fewer points +2CHA

Maybe try to think of it as sharing her artwork rather than "letting it go." It's good to keep some of it in the family for the family to enjoy and pass down to those who want it but when it becomes clutter, no one is enjoying it. Better to put it up to be available for a new home than let it continue to be a source of stress. I like your plan because it gives the family an opportunity to step up but also makes a boundary that you cannot be an eternal storage unit.

Glad to see you're still around and mostly staying on track Congrats on the sub-six mile, finishing that beast of a book and getting your veggies in most days. Bummer on the swinging goal...but at least you can learn from it for setting your goals going forward.

I'm getting bored with one of my current exercises (goblet squats) and don't want to just up the weight (currently at 30lbs, could probably do 35). What's a good move to sub in? I'm mostly focusing on bodyweight exercises but open to using free weights as well. Doesn't have to be a squat variation but would like it to focus on legs. I'll be needing to swap in a new core exercise soon too (currently doing 4 sets of 20 scissor kicks like these: http://www.lifescript.com/diet-fitness/tips/c/cut_lean_abs_with_these_scissor_kicks.aspx) What's your favorite core exercise?

I seriously need to get my butt in gear on this one. I really have no excuse this week since I'm home alone and have run out of Hulu and Netflix shows. In theory, I should be able to finish it in two weeknights if I buckle down. Thanks for the reminder to look back and see how far I've come I've been getting frustrated with my apparent lack of progress on a few things (the spice shelves and my first pullup) but it really is kind of impressive how far I've come overall so thanks for reminding me! Thanks for the vote of confidence I went for it...partially because I really do want strength gains more than cardio gains currently and also because I forgot to bring a tank top and I overheat running in a t shirt lol. Seemed to go ok though I'm still not where I'd like to be with pushups. We'll see how my little arms are doing by Friday!

Have you tried putting a magazine on the floor and reading while you plank? I think I'm going to start because I keep mentally defeating myself before I'm physically wiped out. I figure if I can distract myself, it'll force me to go til I'm at my physical limit rather than just when I'm bored or overwhelmed by the idea of hitting a certain time.

I'll keep that rule of thumb in mind I've noticed if I take a couple extra days off every once in a while, I come back and am stronger than I was in my last workout. A week or more seems to set me back a little though. Status update #8 (week 5, update 1) I can't believe it's week 5 already! The pup is at boarding while my girlfriend travels for work so I'm thinking this is a good time to work on the spice racks. Did my 2nd workout on Friday and am finding I'm able to do a couple extra inverted rows. Still no real improvement on my ability to do a full pull up though. I'm going to try the AM workouts starting tomorrow so I have tonight to get all my stuff ready. I've been reading You Are Your Own Gym by Mark Lauren and am toying with the idea of switching for 2x strength, 3x cardio workouts to 3x strength 2x cardio. My goals are mostly strength based and my main cardio goal was to overcome my asthma, allergies and lung damage to get to a point where I didn't need to take an inhaler daily (which I achieved a couple months ago). Depending on if I feel like running or lifting this afternoon, this might start this week or next. Goals: Strength Inverted rows: 40/week +4STR +1STA Week 1: 22 42 100% Week 2: 20 50% Week 3: 0% Week 4: 22 44 100% Week 5: 24 Hanging leg lifts: 80/week +2STR +3STA Week 1: 20 40 80 100% Week 2: 40 50% Week 3: 0% Week 4: 40 80 100% Week 5: 30 (20 regular, 10 extra high) Diet Tea: replace with green tea (no sugar/creamer/milk) 2x/week +3CON - Upped to 4x/week Week 1: 1 2 4 100% Week 2: 4 100% Week 3: 5 100% Week 4: 1 3 5 100% Week 5: 1 Life Finish my current crafty projects (7 of 13 tasks complete as of 1/28/13) Knitting: finish current project (assassin's hood...aka shawl) (1 point toward life goal) - Done! Build the wall-o-spices (each mini task worth 1 point) Wash jars √ Make stickers √ Create labels √ Fill jars √ Label jars √ Cut center boards Stain boards Antique hardware - 1/2 done. Needs another coat of paint Attach hardware to boards Hang decorative center Hang shelves Fill shelves A: 13 points B: 10-12 points C: 8-9 points F: 7 or fewer points +2CHA Edited to add workout from 2/4/13

haha I love charts...especially if the conclusion drawn from the chart is "look how awesome I did!" I'm thinking I need to start keeping a written log. I forget to enter it into my phone and I lost interest with fitocracy already because it takes me too long to figure out how to log some things that aren't super common exercises. I tried keeping a spreadsheet but forgot to update it every time after my workout so that didn't help. Toting around pen and paper should be a good reminder though.

Congratulations on the garage!! I have to imagine it's a huge sense of relief to have reached the point that your car is in and a functioning door closes

I figure I'll just aim to have grandkids who will get me all sorts of obnoxious "world's best grandmother" merch

Can't wait to hear your update later! Is it sad that I know what PV=nRT means?

Thanks! Definitely getting there

Status update #7 (week 4, update 2) I feel a lot better now that I'm back on track. Work was crazy again yesterday so I skipped my afternoon workout and ran after work instead. My lungs were not amused with the week or so I took off and let me know but I felt a lot better afterwards and it definitely helped with some work stress. Only managed 2.2 miles instead of my usual 3.1+. My break from strength seemed to actually help me...maybe my muscles needed some time to recover? Pushups in the first set were easier but I'm still not up to 2 sets of 8 and 2 sets of 5 instead of 4 sets of 8 like I'd like to be (then again I maxed at 7 when I stared doing full pushups 1/10/13). Today was my first strength workout since week 2 and also I believe the first since I started eating mostly paleo. I definitely need to get a grip on my food timing and how it interacts with my workout. I think I burn through the paleo foods quicker than the non-paleo ones so I'll have to eat a little closer to gym time. I got light headed and a massive headache around circuit 3 so I'm pretty sure I should've eaten more and definitely should've drank more water. Finished out the set and managed to crank out a 4th...barely. I'll play around with different snacks and timing. Next week I'm going to experiment with taking the earlier trains for first thing in the AM workouts. I figure if I sleep in my gym clothes and pack my work clothes and a snack the night before, I shouldn't have to wake up too much earlier AND I get to commute in comfy pants. Always a plus. Goals: Strength Inverted rows: 40/week +4STR +1STA Week 1: 22 42 100% Week 2: 20 50% Week 3: 0% Week 4: 22 Hanging leg lifts: 80/week +2STR +3STA Week 1: 20 40 80 100% Week 2: 40 50% Week 3: 0% Week 4: 40 Diet Tea: replace with green tea (no sugar/creamer/milk) 2x/week +3CON - Upped to 4x/week Week 1: 1 2 4 100% Week 2: 4 100% Week 3: 5 100% Week 4: 1 3 Life Finish my current crafty projects (7 of 13 tasks complete as of 1/28/13) Knitting: finish current project (assassin's hood...aka shawl) (1 point toward life goal) - Done! Build the wall-o-spices (each mini task worth 1 point) Wash jars √ Make stickers √ Create labels √ Fill jars √ Label jars √ Cut center boards Stain boards Antique hardware - 1/2 done. Needs another coat of paint Attach hardware to boards Hang decorative center Hang shelves Fill shelves A: 13 points B: 10-12 points C: 8-9 points F: 7 or fewer points +2CHA