jammon1372

Thanks for the links! I've been following this one to learn a bit more before investing in the book.

doh

Congrats on the progress everyone!

Thanks guys! I am really proud of quitting, this last stint I smoked for almost ten years. I feel about ten years younger, I've made a lot of positive changes recently with in addition to quitting but I've lost about 19 pounds since April, have a ton more energy and much more positive outlook in general. Grading wise that week I was on vacation lowered the overall numbers but really I'm proud of my results and the commitment I put into pushing through the challenge.

Here's the final week's scoring - · Slay the Dragon – I have set a firm date to quit smoking, June 1st. Week 6 - A, I'm still smoke free, had my first step down in patch dosage and doing OK. · Practice makes me better and stronger - Attend Karate classes a minimum of two days a week and practice at home a minimum of two days a week (off work-out days). Week 6 -A, Lots of practice and classes. · Adding capacity to the gas tank - Increase the number of reps to 25 and minimize rest times between each of the bodyweight exercises and between each circuit . Week 6 - B, I'm pretty happy with where I'm at, 15 secs rest in-between exercises and taking about 1 min rest between exercises. Would have been an A if not for the illness bug · Return to the path – Start and complete the couch to 5K running program - Week 6, C missed 2 days due to being ill. Here's a quick rundown on the overall score averages: Slay the Dragon - 4,4,4,4,4,4 =A Practice makes me better and stronger - 3,4,1,3,4,4 =B Adding capacity to the gas tank - 3,3,0,2,4,3 = C Return to the path - 4,4,1,4,1,2 = C+ Overall I have to say that I'm really happy with where I am at after completing this challenge. This biggest goal by far to quit smoking and I have crushed it to this point! I'll figure out my percentages latter, been a long day already.

Thanks again Zuel! I'll try to make time tonight to summarize the results (working on a final project for school also). Overall I feel really good about the challenge and the results I earned from it.

Congrats on putting the beatdown on your challenge Mouse! You really put in the hard work and it showed through your posts and through your results! Congrats again!

Hit 41 this morning!!! Not a huge improvement but 5 more than I started with.

To fit it into this challenge period I'm going to try and re-test either tomorrow or Sunday (recovering from a bug) look out Congrats to everyone for attempting the challenge to improve your fitness!

Wow....I've been really slacking on updates this week. It's been one of those kinds of weeks, I've got finals and I'm fighting off a bug. Started feeling uber tired and not so hot Wed after Karate class, woke Thursday feeling pretty rough so I just took a 30 min walk, stretched and stepped through my katas to loosen up but not tax my body too heavily. I did my normal warm-up this morning (10 squats, 50 single unders, 10 normal, diamond and wide arm push-ups, 20 bridges and 20 sit-ups) hit the katas again but didn't lift and felt better afterward. Well, to catch up on everything else - I'm still smoke free, today is day 42 and tomorrow is my first dosage step down on the nicotine patch and I'm looking forward to it. I was able to make three classes again this week with Karate and I've been putting in some extra kata work as well. Reps and rest times stayed good throughout the week for the days I was able to work out (2 out of 3 days), I've taken the last two days off of full workouts due to feeling like crap. I ran on Tuesday and walked yesterday and probably take a good walk again tomorrow and hit it at normal speed Monday. Thanks for the feedback or just reading my thread, I may not have detailed it in my posts (trying to stay positive) but this challenge really has been tough for me and positive encouragement and backup has really helped out.

Thanks Zuel! After some further consideration over the weekend. I think I'm going to halt my forward progress on the C25K and go through my last completed week a second (possibly third) time. My main goal with the C25K is to build up my endurance for other sports/activities and while I was completing the runs, I was left so drained it was affecting my performance and motivation toward Karate and just about anything else. I would rather say that I didnt need to do this but realistically I'm having trouble keeping up the pace. I could make it through the C25K while learning Karate and my BW/Strength routines but it would not be fun and I want to maintain these changes long term. I'm also starting to find that I dont recover as quickly at 41 as I did when I was a little younger. I dont like not meeting a goal I set but I think I may have reached a bit far in trying to do too much at the same time with this one. I'm still going to run just at a slower pace. · Slay the Dragon – I have set a firm date to quit smoking, June 1st. Week 5 - A, I'm still smoke free and looking forward to my first step down in patch dosage next week. · Practice makes me better and stronger - Attend Karate classes a minimum of two days a week and practice at home a minimum of two days a week (off work-out days). Week 5 -A, Lots of practice and even a couple of longer than normal classes. · Adding capacity to the gas tank - Increase the number of reps to 25 and minimize rest times between each of the bodyweight exercises and between each circuit . Week 5 - A, I cut the rest times down by 15 secs between exercises and between circuits. · Return to the path – Start and complete the couch to 5K running program Week 5 - D, With rain I missed one day and then on Saturday, I couldnt make myself go run and then have a full day of other stuff.

I read a study recently were taking Vitamin C two hours prior to exercise was improving lung function by as much as 50%. The link is below, my daughter has an inhaler she has to use prior to exercise so I've started a trial on myself (I have allergies myself too) to see if I notice any improvements. A little extra vitamin C is not going to hurt anything anyway, I've been trying for a week and haven't noticed a major difference other than feeling less congested. http://news.menshealth.com/the-vitamin-that-helps-you-breathe-easy/2013/06/20/?cm_mmc=ETNTNL-_-1343066-_-06262013-_-Module2

I'm a little behind on my updates, Wed was good on the BW exercises kept the rest times down between exercises and then was able to sit in on the advanced class also. X2 the workout fun The C25K on Thursday kicked my behind, they snuck in an another 10 minutes on the run. This morning's Kettlebell session was brutal Still smoke free!!!

Karate was fun last night, long class almost two hours. My run was rained out this morning, so I did some tabata intervals with the jump rope.

I've been doing BW training two days and Strength/Weights one day a week with C25K on the off days for about 4 or 5 weeks (had an off week when I was on vacation with the family) and the I've been feeling pretty good. Achy knees some days but that could be the amount of BW squats I'm doing or that I generally have knee pain also. I would echo Starpucks comments as well.

Time for the weekly grading: · Slay the Dragon – I have set a firm date to quit smoking, June 1st. Week 4 -A, I have not smoked since May 31st! I hit the 30 day milestone yesterday. · Practice makes me better and stronger - Attend Karate classes a minimum of two days a week and practice at home a minimum of two days a week (off work-out days). Week 4-B, I was able to get in two classes this week and practiced two days but not to the level I had intended. · Adding capacity to the gas tank - Increase the number of reps to 25 and minimize rest times between each of the bodyweight exercises and between each circuit . Week 4 - C, After vacation I maintained my progress but did not make an effort to really progress. · Return to the path – Start and complete the couch to 5K running program Week 4 -A, Although my first run last week sucked, I made it through all of them and saw time progression for the distance on run 3. I've started this week out the right way so far, worked on my stances and footwork yesterday and took 10 seconds off my exercise rest time on all of my BW exercises this morning. I still feel a little smoked this afternoon Looking forward to Karate class this evening though.

Best of luck mistler7 and lets go Blues!

Felt much better on my C25K run Thursday, knees were achy toward the end of the day but tolerable. Today I did my first workout with my fathers day present, a kettlebell. Very fun and taxing workout, the backs of my forearms are a wee bit sore. Didnt practice Karate today but I'll get some practice in Tomorrow morning. My teachers was starting to talk about a belt test at my last class Today is the 28 day mark in the smoke free battle and I'm still way in the lead, looking forward to hitting the 30 day milestone.

Glad to see your feeling better!!! Good choice on the dubliner cheese (one of my favs)

Thanks Kishi, I'll put in some research on that.

Good times with the BW routine this morning, hit the numbers although not much progress on the rest times. Karate was really good last night also. My knees have been achy after running, thinking I may need to back-off the running or take it at a slower pace.

Amen SFG!!! It's good to focus on a goal and I understand from reading your posts that you worry about rationalizing or excusing lapses but dont use that as a tool to beat yourself up, that's a recipe for real failure. My wife and I (she's a lurker) have a solid history of perfecting ourselves into failure or giving up and not even taking into account the progress we made. It's really hard but accept your progress as well as your challenges/slips and use them both to learn and grow, not to penalize yourself.

Kishi - I totally agree and not-smoking has by far been the most important of the 4 goals to me. Being accountable and honest for the challenge is really the only reason I was reporting on the lack of exercise, sometimes life re-arranges your priorities and schedule for you and you just have to roll with it. With not being able to get up before the kids it just wasnt working to try to exercise. I'm deaf in one ear so setting an alarm loud enough to wake myself but not everyone else wasnt practical. I'm back home and back on track with exercising although the run kicked my butt this morning, I'm pretty sure the 90% humidity at 6:30AM didnt help much either I had to skip Karate class last night, my father-in-law had a heart attack yesterday (he's doing really well) and we went to visit him. I did run through my BW exercises yesterday, I didnt try to cut the time down after taking a week off but at least I know what my goal will be next week. Grading for last week: · Slay the Dragon – I have set a firm date to quit smoking, June 1st. Week 3 - A, still smoke free · Practice makes me better and stronger - Attend Karate classes a minimum of two days a week and practice at home a minimum of two days a week (off work-out days). Week 3 - D, no classes with the vacation and I didnt practice as much as I should have · Adding capacity to the gas tank - Increase the number of reps to 25 and minimize rest times between each of the bodyweight exercises and between each circuit . Week 3 - F, no progress on this one for the week or even any exercising · Return to the path – Start and complete the couch to 5K running program Week 3 - D, I did run one of my three scheduled days (on the elptical) but wasnt able to time it for the others Overall, the rest was good both physically and mentally. Being home this week will allow me to get back on schedule and back into the groove. I'm looking forward to pushing my limits again this week.

So far workouts have been a fail this week. Not being able to set an alarm without waking the kids (sharing a hotel room) has pretty much made it a no-go. Realistically I could make the wife and kids wait but I think I would rather miss this week of workouts I did get a run in Tuesday morning but that has been about it. Karate has been tough for the same reasons in addition to physical space. In respect to the challenge grading won't be hard this week but I have to say that taking one week off for the family has not really bothered me. We've been walking a ton and enjoying the time together so all in all, not a week to repeat often but worth it, at least I'm still smoke free

Ummm, yeah working out Monday didn't happen but I did run this morning. Still smoke free, the stress of the "vacation" has not made it much easier though but all is good.