Loanna

It's alive!!! http://nerdfitnessrebellion.com/index.php?/topic/37169-loanna-barbell-affairs/ Wellcome to all the new faces, btw. Did i say this already? Then double welcome

Graduating to the Rangers! So I’m new to this guild, fresh from the adventurer’s. The main quest remains the same from challenge 2: I want to get stronger. During summer, I managed to stay in check but I did not move forward this goal. I was in maintenance mode… Now, things are going to get serious again! The lifeguard tests are due in October, so I’ll have that in mind during this challenge. 1) Let’s lift!: lift like someone else's life depended on it (4 STR, 1 CHA) Aiming for the basics here: Squats, deadlifts, some kind of press… the goal is just to train consistently over the 6 weeks of challenge, increasing weight bit by bit whenever I see progress happening. I know I have to lift heavy, but will start just testing where the “ceiling†is at the moment. A ) 3 workouts. I think this is the one that will get me where I want to be B ) 2 workouts per week. Sometimes life happens: maintenance mode. C ) Just 1 workout per week. Sub-maintenace mode F ) Coffe mug lifting doesn’t really count as “strenght trainingâ€, you know 2) The 80% of me: eat real food (3 CON, 1 CHA) Yeees, this one makes a comeback from last challenge as well. However, this time the aim is not to eat 100% Paleo, but to eat something between 85-90% (the usual, nothing fancy) but to keep track of protein intake and make sure it is enough. Around the 90g/day mark. A ) Real food and plenty of proteins: 90 g/ day B ) 80-ish g/day. Above average, but not enough to sustain the lifting! C ) Meh food resulted in 70-ish g. of proteins. “Mehâ€, indeed. F ) I had to sacrifice my existing muscles to get protein. 3) And now: relax (3 STA, 1 WIS) Sleeeeeep enough. I have been developing some crappy sleeping patterns for the last month because of the unemployed-but-still-working-on-PhD thing, and I should fix it before it goes horribly wrong. For instance, I am not able to focus or wake up early in the mornings… Of course, I’m allowing Saturdays to be a cheat day where I can go to bed late and wake up late. I will sleep 8 hours everyday (or at least stay in bed 8 h every day. The goal will be a set “wake up time†for the normal working days) A ) Each week: woke up at 6:30. B ) Each week: woke up at 7 C )Each week: woke up at 8:30 F ) Went to bed late and woke up late EVERYDAY. True apocalypse. Life Side Quest: Do something fun! (2 WIS) Just forget about work and stress and do something fun! Play frisbee, go surfing, scuba diving, play some roleplaying games, paint, or draw. Really, whatever that makes me have real fun… once a week! This might seem silly, but I’ve spent the last 2 years of my life working 7 days a week, 11+ hours a day… and I’m “a bit burntâ€. MOTIVATION: Lifeguard! Isn’t that epic enough?

Thank you very much Nusuth

Bit late but... (Copied from my thread, please find the link in my signature) End of challenge: 6 weeks have passed and it is time for thought. First of all, I've found this challenge to be more difficult than the previous one, even if the goals were less ambitious. The "summer break" and lost of routine really made it difficult for me, as is did switching from gym training to doing my workouts at home. Trips, vacations, incredibly hot and humid weather, social events and everything that happens in summer promotes laziness, at least in me. However, I thing I have done fairly OK, even tough I am disappointed with the overall result. This was a "maintenance" challenge, and as that it was a success... but maintenance mode is just not for me. 1) I wanted to get stronger: (1.5 STR, 0.75 CHA) I'll give myself an B here, as even if most of the weeks I managed to get the 3 workouts done, I skipped a pair BW workouts. I see how this have helped me stay active during summer, but the increase in strength just did not happen, or was very subtle. Sure, I can do more push-ups than before, but it really depends on the day. 2) I wanted to keep running (2.25 STA) I'm happy with this one. Had not been for the ankle injury I would have aced the running part. Sadly, I had to rest for aprox. one week and a half and thus did not keep the level of activity I aimed for. Again, a B 3) Perfect eating. (2.25 CON, 1.25 CHA) Nah, didn't happen. I started very motivated but by the end of the challenge I realised that I had eaten way more ice-creams than I wanted to. However, I did resist very tempting dishes, desserts and drinks. My friend's wedding and our city's holidays were days I let myself lower the standards, but I do not regret it. So, for this goal it'll be a B) 90 % Paleo. As for the reference measurements I took at the beginning of the challenge: Height: 169 cm (5'6") Weight: 62.4 Kg (- 0.5) Neck: 32 cm (12.6") Shoulders: 99.5 cm (+ 0.5) Bust: 91.5 cm (-1.5) Waist: 79 cm (-2) Hips: 99 cm (-4!!!) Tigh: 58 cm (+1) BMI: 22 Body Fat (Crappy scale at home): 22.4% Quite good, but crappy scale at home says I haven't lost any fat and it could be that I was loosing muscle or water (most probably) during this challenge. However, my returning to a normal schedule promises a bright future. See you next challenge!

Filled in the Google Doc thingy! Hi to all ZAP member for another round!

End of challenge: 6 weeks have passed and it is time for thought. First of all, I've found this challenge to be more difficult than the previous one, even if the goals were less ambitious. The "summer break" and lost of routine really made it difficult for me, as is did switching from gym training to doing my workouts at home. Trips, vacations, incredibly hot and humid weather, social events and everything that happens in summer promotes laziness, at least in me. However, I thing I have done fairly OK, even tough I am disappointed with the overall result. This was a "maintenance" challenge, and as that it was a success... but maintenance mode is just not for me. 1) I wanted to get stronger: (1.5 STR, 0.75 CHA) I'll give myself an B here, as even if most of the weeks I managed to get the 3 workouts done, I skipped a pair BW workouts. I see how this have helped me stay active during summer, but the increase in strength just did not happen, or was very subtle. Sure, I can do more push-ups than before, but it really depends on the day. 2) I wanted to keep running (2.25 STA) I'm happy with this one. Had not been for the ankle injury I would have aced the running part. Sadly, I had to rest for aprox. one week and a half and thus did not keep the level of activity I aimed for. Again, a B 3) Perfect eating. (2.25 CON, 1.25 CHA) Nah, didn't happen. I started very motivated but by the end of the challenge I realised that I had eaten way more ice-creams than I wanted to. However, I did resist very tempting dishes, desserts and drinks. My friend's wedding and our city's holidays were days I let myself lower the standards, but I do not regret it. So, for this goal it'll be a B) 90 % Paleo. As for the reference measurements I took at the beginning of the challenge: Height: 169 cm (5'6") Weight: 62.4 Kg (- 0.5) Neck: 32 cm (12.6") Shoulders: 99.5 cm (+ 0.5) Bust: 91.5 cm (-1.5) Waist: 79 cm (-2) Hips: 99 cm (-4!!!) Tigh: 58 cm (+1) BMI: 22 Body Fat (Crappy scale at home): 22.4% Quite good, but crappy scale at home says I haven't lost any fat and it could be that I was loosing muscle or water (most probably) during this challenge. However, my returning to a normal schedule promises a bright future. See you next challenge!

Congratulatios on doing so well in this challenge. I can see that Cross Fit has helped a lot keeping you enthusiastic about working out, and that's incredibly valuable! Also, it is great that your wife has agreed to start making healthier food choices. As i said before, to see that your loved ones not only support you but are trying to be healthier themselves is the most important "reward" of making a lifestyle change, in my opinion. So, congratulations, and see you in a week! P.S: What happened with the tough mudder?

Yeah, only a few days left. "Just keep lifting"!

Aaaaaand, another week is gone... Days 29 to 35 Strenght goal: Did all my workouts, adding the mini-challenge 5 exercises as part of the warm-up, plus the deadlifts and dips. I was realy motivated by this part, since I was less confident with running because of the ankle injury. Grade for this week: A Running goal: Started the Zombies 5k all over again. Itd've been too agressive for my new weak ankle. Anyhow, I ran my 3 workouts so Also pretty happy with this one. Grades for this: A Eating goal: My best friend got married on Saturday. Besides the ones during the wedding day and the day after, every other meal was 100% Paleo. Grades for this: B Life quest is not progressing because both my supervisors are on vacation and I feel pretty demotivated to write more stuff that's just going to get ignored.

Take it easy! you have to survive one week more!

Welcome back DL! Glad you haven't been beaten by the "misterious virus" that attacked you...

I added all of them to the warm-up before the BW workout for last week, and plan on keeping them there! Thanks for the mini challenge!

Hey Nusuth, I'm glad you are doing better now! Good job on the 4th day sober Also, congratulations on getting rid of the belly fat. If you keep things up you'll be more than ready to enter the dojo!

Hey DL, is that cold of yours getting any better?

Crossfit really sounds good, and fun. I wish there was some place here where people trained that way!

Congratulations! Not only you are freeing the muffintop (as DL says) but you've hit personal bests on several exercises. That's impressive progress! Also, very wise reflection on food. It is funny how you discovered that the things that used to be "tasty" or even "delicious" now pale in comparison with oven roasted potatoes, for example. It makes you wonder how much people would change their diet if only they gave new ways of preparing food a chance (or new food altogether).

Yeah, I find myself to be more picky about what I'm going to "cheat" with. Only high quality and tasteful things like that chocolate Ice cream you mention, or really well-made pizza (as it was the sub I had). Thanks for the encouragement! I really feel like there's no progress at all, because everything gets paused whenever it reaches supervisor 2. But I guess that's I myself am doing OK delivering my writings at a good pace.

Such is the magic of deep squats...

Oh, my bad, turns out it is a recurve bow. As for shooting places, I've done a little research and it happens to be a place 40 mins from where I live that is accepting new members in September so I may go and have a look there.

Since I’ve been outside and have avoided updating this for so long I’m just going to sum up the last three weeks! Vacations: Days 11 to 18 Strenght goal: Managed to squeeze 2 BW workouts and two dives. I’m quite happy with this because for the first time I was able to load my gear in the boat without any help, even if I chose a 15L steel air bottle for the dives (which are quite heavy!). Not only that, I was able to help other divers load their gear as I was the first one to step in the boat. Usually, I was the one needing help! I’ll take a B for the strenght goal this week. Running goal: Went on a run 2 days then substituted it with hikes so B as well. Eating goal: Perfect during vacations: A Days 19 to 28. Strenght goal: 3 BW training days. So getting an A! No dives though, due to sea being a stormy nightmare. Running: Nope. At first because I was trying to catch up with work and then because I injuried myself while playing tag with a dog’s friend and my ankle hurted a lot. Miserable: F Eating: Kind of good, but I’ve found myself loosening the criteria a bit. It was an Ice cream (the famous parmesan one) one day, a subway* with a glass of wine the other, then some homemade cookies and cheesekake… Okay, so it’s just 3 meals off out of 10 days, still not too bad but we ain’t aiming for “not too bad†here! I guess It’ll be somewhere between a C and a B… so C. * How do you call those when they are not from the “subway†franchise? Is there a word for regular “baguette sandwich� Here we call sandwiches... sandwiches and this other ones are called “Bocatas†or “Bocadillos†in Spanish. Life Side Quest: Scape from the "scientific limbo" Overall, I’ve submitted chapter 4 and I’m about to sumit chapter 3. Chapter 1 got corected by Sup 1 and is stuck somewhere near Sup 2. Probably on his dest under a pile of other stuff. Chapter 2 got corrected by “Supervisor 1†and has been handed to Supervisor 2 for suggestions. (Which for Sup. 2 means “total make over†but meh) Chapter 5 is on the writing and chapter 6 is faaar faaaar away. In a distant galaxy. You were right indeed! I used the weight belt for this. It also substitutes for a kettlebell when doing kettlebell swings. And 2 of them are weight-discs proxies for "I just want to get the form right" deadlifts. Very useful piece of gear!

After the closet cleanup, I've donated two small bags of clothes... awesome! +0.5 WIS

Oooh, it is awesome to have another diver in ZAP. That makes Uri you and me the underwater division, y guess I just completed Advanced OWD (SSI), and just want to get moving towards the next, that is, Master Diver. Y took Night diving, Basic Life Support & CPR (that is mandatory in Spain, but is not listed as speciality in SSI), Ecological diving (well... I'm a fish scientist...) and Stress and Rescue. I really just need to get my 50 dives which is awfully difficult in the cantabric sea: most of the times it just looks like the perfect storm is falling upon us. For vacation I went to a place called L'Ametlla de Mar in Tarragona. The Mediterranean is so calm, and so warm, and the lack of 5m-tall waves just makes the boat ride delightful... I'm in love. I think I'll take your advice and will go for dry suit and nitrox. A dry suit would really come in handy here.. and I would be able (maybe) to dive also in October!

I'm planning on a closet which is neatly organised but filled with too much clothes that I don't wear... and maybe the kitchen.

Awesome costumes! But...but... there is a Firefly tabletop game? Did you play during GenCon? Any chances you could share your opinion about it?

Hey Tefin, sorry to hear about the pups and you getting sick and hope that the 3 remaining weeks go smoothly for you. Also, good luck with the promotion! By the way, isn't being "the bad guy" when training dogs scary as hell?