Lowenna

Hi everyone, I've decided to come back to NF after a veeeery long break from anything even vaguely fitness related (except for very occasional Yoga). It's been so long, I've decided to start from Level 0 again, so here are my beginners baby steps for the New Year. Main Quest To be fit enough to do awesome stuff like rock climbing, hiking and snowboarding again Missions 1. Do basic body weight work out 3 times a week. Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 1 point for every circuit completed. 2. Walk or run 3 times a week. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. 1 point for every walk, 2 for every run. 3. Do yoga at least once a week. 1 point for every 30 mins of yoga. Side/Life Quest 1. Sell some of my clutter on eBay. 2 points for every item sold I've decided that I'm going to be measuring fitness indicators rather than weight or inches or anything, so here's what I'm measuring, every Sunday: 1. My peak flow. I'm asthmatic and my peak flow is a bit rubbish at the moment, it ought to improve as my fitness improves, so watch this space. 2. Rest Heart Rate 3. Number of push ups I can do 4. How long I can hold plank for My Motivation To be fit enough to do awesome stuff like rock climbing, hiking and snowboarding again. So exactly the same as my main quest. Points 120 - A 105 - B 90 - C 75 - D 60 - F

I like http://www.doyogawithme.com/yoga_classes all their videos are free to stream and so far every one I've tried have been really good.

First week has been a bit patchy. My workouts have produced suitable amounts of sweating and gasping for breath for me to know that they're doing some good, but I haven't managed to workout as often as I'd hoped to. Trying to look at is a good positive though. Three workouts may not be as good as the four I had been planning, but its a lot better than none.

Quick question When I do the bodyweight circuit I always find that it's my arms that are working the hardest when I'm actually working out, but the next day I get most DOMS worst in my legs, is that weird?

In which case I call shotgun on being on the top (seriously guys, you wouldn't want me anywhere else, I'm terrible at doing plank)

I wrote a huge long post, them my computer ate it *sigh*. I'm not writing it again so a quick summary Day 6 Three meals no exercise Day 7 Three meals Did bodyweight circuit and yoga, which made me feel loads better after a horrible day at work. Target for next week: Increase frequency of bodyweight circuits.

Day 3 Three meals, but no exercise. Felt a bit horrible and ill all day and failed to motivate the self Day 4 Back on the exercise ship! Working out actually seemed to take some of the soreness out of my muscles Ate three meals Day 5 Three meals No exercise Did online food shopping

Great goals and looks like you're off to a really good start. I feel your pain with the push ups, I struggle doing them with my knees on the floor let alone proper full ones. So props (can I say props? Is that okay? I feel too nerdy and English to say props), anyway props for doing one. Like how thorough your grading system is and good luck with your cardio.

Thanks, Imminn, trying to think about it that way, but it's tough. missrackl, I usually practice with the guidance of a video from DoYogaWithMe. I feel pretty okay with practising alone because waaaaaaayyyyy back in the mists of time when I was in shape I was a big yoga devotee, so I know what I'm doing and the instructors on the videos I use are good at talking you through everything. I am going to try to get a few classes to make sure I'm maintaining good form. Progress. Day 1 The online shopping I did earlier in the week (yay! forward planning) arrived, so I have a week's worth of food in the house! Ate three meals, or four if you count the bowl of cereal I had when I got home from work at midnight. Did my first bodyweight workout, which was so incredibly hard. Certainly felt the burn. Afterwards I did this yoga video, which was lovely and made my spine feel awesome. Day 2 Another three meals. Had Leek and Potato soup for lunch which is my favourite soup in the world, was delicious. Have DOMS rather majorly. Made cycling to work much harder work than usual, then spent the whole day hobbling about. I'm taking it as a sign that the workout did me some serious good.

Glad I'm not the only one with all the muscle soreness, I spent the whole day hobbling around at work like a cripple. Walking down stairs is horrible. I guess that means it's doing me some good, right? My first bodyweight circuit yesterday was crazy tough. I was expecting it to be hard, but I was shaking when I finished, wasn't expecting it to be that hard. Also, ended up more out of breath doing all those squat than doing the jumping jacks, didn't expect that either. All good though, shows it's what my body needed.

*pokes head round the door* Hi guys, mind if I join? I'm doing the beginners bodyweight circuit this challenge plus some yoga. Looking forward to getting a little stronger and getting to know you all.

I'm sorry, my challenge thread title is completely unnecessary, I've been listening to too much music from my misspent teens. Yeah, I'm back, again. I've been repeatedly faltering and flaking out of challenges then going back to exactly where I was before. This is not good, this is not what I want, so I'm back, again. This time I have set myself goals which are big enough to make a difference but not so big as to be unachievable. Diet: 1. Do a weekly food shop Buy enough food for an entire week in one go, so that I'm not constantly realising that I've got no food in the house and traipsing to the corner shop when I'm hungry and therefore much more likely to make bad food decisions. 2. Eat at least three times a day My eating is irregular to say the least, so I will try to eat three decent meals everyday, rather than waiting until I'm starving and eating huge amounts of rubbish. Exercise: 3. Beginner's bodyweight workout on at least alternate days The rule is, if I did not workout yesterday I must workout today. 4. Yoga post-bodyweight workout Stretching is good after workouts and yoga is awesome, hence this goal. Life: 5. Pay £100 off my overdraft Might not sound like much, but I work for minimum wage so it's loads to me. To finish, an inspirational (and slightly nerdy) quote: "The man who fears losing has already lost" Syrio Forel

Seconding the love for the Aristotle quote. I think that the idea of repeating the same goals until they become second nature is great. Good luck.

Thanks for sharing the awesome yoga resource, it looks incredibly useful. I might not be the best person to be giving advice on weighing as I almost never do it (I actually don't own any scales), but everyday does sound excessive might be getting so much info that you can't see the wood for the trees. Once a week might be better for tracking purposes as it reduces the impact that all the natural daily fluctuations will have on the results you're getting. Good luck!

Looks like you have some good goals there. Good luck!

Congratulations, sounds like you had a yummy and veggie-filled day.

Thank you , and feel free to steal anything and everything useful. I keep reading other people's goals and thinking "Guh...those should be MY goals." Which is to say, I feel for ya. Reading your descriptions, everything could easily describe my own situation. I hear you! I do that all the time, there are so many things in my life that I want to fix and I see other people fixing them I keep wanting to do their goals as well as mine. It's so tempting to try to fix everything all at once, I have to keep reminding myself that it's all about baby steps and that I find the baby steps tough so doing more would be incredibly silly. Personally, I've never been much of a morning person and tend to be most productive later in the day. If I get up late I get nothing at all done early on and a few things done later, whereas if I get started early I tend to get a few things done in the morning and lots done later. Hence the current focus on mornings.

Hi Marisstella, I think that theme-ing your year around overcoming fear is an amazing idea. I think I'm going to take that idea of asking "what would I do if I wasn't scared?", I also get completely overcome by fear often. Sounds like your off to a great start. Congratulations. Thanks for mentioning Briohny Smith's Equinox yoga, I've not seen them before and you're right her body control is incredible, I'd love to be able to stuff like that. I agree with you about the relationships, there's nothing positive about continuing to inflict people who drain you of energy and positivity sometimes it's best just to get some people out of your life. Good luck, keep it up!

Good luck, I like your goals. I'm also on the trying to get lots of tidying done this challenge, it seems like there are quite a few of us working on that one. How's your fist week going so far?

Congratulations, it sounds like your off to a great start!

Awesome goals and and a great start to the challenge. I'm with the others, love the goal about checking facebook. I really enjoyed your blog post, definitely bookmarking your blog.

Also, have added tracking stats to the first post, to track how things are going.

Thanks LG, I'm trying to get some good habits good, it's hard though. Updates: Not off to an ideal start with this challenge. Day 1 - Got all my daily things done, did them all in the beginning portion of the day, they weren't all strictly in the morning because I got up so late, but I'm counting them. Day 2 - Developed a horrible cough and accompanying feelings of malaise. Went for a twenty minute walk (not half an hour so I'm only getting half marks for that) and ate a decent breakfast. But did not get yoga or tidying done. Day 3 - Apparently cough is a chest infection (my silly asthmatic lungs have to make everything into a big deal). Did some yoga, but I think that the class I picked was a bit to intense for me at this present time, so I've picked out a super gentle one for tomorrow. Also got some decluttering done, I now have enough enough clear floor space to make vacuuming worthwhile. Not great, but tomorrow is another day.

Thank you Tank and Jonesy Tank, thank you for the goal suggestions. I did seriously think about setting a getting up time in the morning and a day scheduling based goal, but I decided to use scheduling as a means for achieving my above goals and as soon as I do a day schedule a getting up time is scheduled, so they all sort of combine together. I also really need to sort this clutter out, it's really getting me down, so I've decided it's the most important life goal for me right now, if I do find myself really struggling the life goal may be altered to a set getting up time in the morning. A quick pre-challenge update: Supplies for healthy breakfast have been bought. I did playlist of short yoga videos this afternoon, because I was feeling motivated (yay!). By some miracle my flexibility has remained moderately okay (yay!), I found the balance sequence super tough, I'd love to be able to do the whole thing without having to grab onto some nearby wall. Have written a day plan for tomorrow. Feeling pretty positive about all this.

Hi Margie, looks like you've got some really good goals there, good luck! What are you writing your dissertation about?