Hi all, Sorry for the late post, I was an ocean away when this started. I set my goals and wrote them out before I left and tried to work on some of them while I was away. I spent some time working on the running goal in particular, but I did a lot of outdoorsy stuff, hiking, trying to jog (heck trying to walk!) in the sand of the beach, and swimming until I was to tierd to even float anymore. Due to my late start with the lifting (I only had a good gym for half of the trip) I'm hoping that I can stil manage to meet my goals during this challange. Below is what I had prepared and forgot to post before I took off. Thanks for being there everyone! As a newb to the Nerd Fitness forums I didn’t realize just how much people posted and planned for their goals in this challenge. I check in with the blog regularly because it makes me smile and not feel so alone as a nerd in the gym (I love the looks I get working out in my “Civil War Nut†T-shirt!) but I’ve never posted on the forums before. I signed up just because of the challenge. A great friend who is also a personal trainer keeps telling me that I need goals but once I introduce myself you might understand why I have never set any in regards to fitness. I’ve been active my whole life. My whole family is active and I grew up as a serious and sometimes competitive dancer and hiking, canoeing, going on all day bike rides, and playing softball with my very active family were standard activities (when I didn’t have my nose in a book). So for me doing stuff and keeping busy and staying active is just what you do. Between work, school, and volunteering my schedule has stopped allowing for as much “play†time so I got a gym membership. Since I’m a nerd I did a bunch of the reading on the subject and learned all the benefits of lifting. I’ve been lifting (mostly barbell) for about three months and I lift, yoga, and zumba every week and when weather and time allow I hike, swim, bike, play tennis, or do something else outdoors. I’m the only person I know who really works out just because it’s what they’re supposed to do. I have never had any goals related to this and I’m still not sure why I’m making goals except that my friend thinks it would be good for me and since he’s smarter and more experienced than me I guess I can try it and see how it goes…. Goal 1: Get my deadlift from 105 pounds to 140! This is huge for me since I don’t typically care how heavy I’m lifting, I just up weights when it doesn’t feel hard to lift anymore. Also, I feel like I’m really shooting high for this, my crazy-about-form and not about weights approach to lifting means that I think I have the form and ability to do it, but I’ve never gone up by that much in six weeks before. 35/6= approximately 5.8 pound increase per week. I do two alternating workouts on gym days so I guess I will increase by 5 pounds on “A†workout days and stay static on “B†workout days. This should actually give me a little wiggle room if I struggle or get stuck at work and don’t make the gym. Goal 2: Much like my deadlift, I don’t push my squat nearly enough. So Goal 2 is to get my squat from 100 pounds to bodyweight (135) in the 6 weeks. It is the same amount of weight increase as the deadlift so I suppose I will increase weight on “B†workout days but use the same method for this. Goal 3: I grew up training very seriously in dance. Most people can’t remember what life was like before they could walk. I started dancing so young and danced so much that I can’t remember what life was like before I could dance! Since running is bad for your joints and turnout we as dancers weren’t supposed to run. So now I’m a 25 year old woman and I honestly cannot run. My body has no clue what I’m doing when I try. How crazy is that? That being said, I have no clue how to make a plan for learning how to run, and suggestions are welcome because my goal is to be able to run 2 miles by the time this is over. I have no clue if that is overkill or way under what I will be able to do. Mostly the game plan is to power walk for a warmup, run until I can’t run anymore, powerwalk until I catch my breath, and repeat. I live in a major city were blocks are regulation size so I’ll be able to track distance and theoretically my abililty to run any distance should slowly increase. I’m in fairly good shape and can do a lot of other strenuous endurance exercises, so I think it’s just a matter of teaching my body what running is a sticking to it. Goal 4: Level up your life! I have an English degree as my BA and for much of my life writing helped me touch base with myself and my goals. Now that I’m back to writing papers at school in addition to pushing papers at the office I’ve noticed that journaling has fallen by the wayside and I feel less in control because of it. So Goal 4 is to journal at least twice a week to keep in touch with myself and reinforce the good things I have and the things that I want to attain and sometimes just as a creative outlet! Addition on 6.12.13: Ok, finally understand the whole point system. Goal 1 and 2 each get 5 STR points Goal 3 gets 3 STA points Goal 4 gets 2 WIS points Thanks :-D
I'm so glad you've reached that goal and that you're excited about it. Eating right is about more than what you eat and our society doesn't realize that. Bravo for finding the problem in your life and making those changes!