Loanna

Yeah, Incantor is right. Don't push it if your knee hurts. Knee injuries are hell: they recover very slowly. If you feel like you "have to do something" try swimming. I'll always be a swimming advocate and would recommend it to anyone suffering from joint pain. Or anyone.

It is so encouraging seeing how you guys are breaking all you waistline marks. I'm waiting for the end of the challenge to see if I broke the hip-mark Also, when attempting chin-ups I find myself trying mostly with the arms (and that's not enough!). Any advice regarding how to engage the back muscles? I don't know if I'm doing it right...

Congratulations!

New mini challenge is up, anyone checked? Atthe moment I am VERY lazy to come up with any new recipes... plus I'm heading to San Fermín tomorrow and that means to put the healthy everything on halt until monday

Hey there! I'm just dropping by to say congratulations on the salary improvement! Also, buy some Ice-packs and place them wrapped in a towel over your pillow before you go to sleep (20 minutes or so? Before the pillow gets damp) and then remove them: you'll have a cool pillow that will feel like heaven. I've tested it here when we have 40ºC (that's 104ºF) outside, usually works.

Running on mud... that's impressive. I think it is one of the most disgusting terrains to run trough, not only because all the mud-splashing thing, but also because it is slippery as hell and it is so easy to fall down. Or maybe it is just me and a lack of balance issue. Anyhow, I'm glad you are back home. It is waaay easier to stay on target when you are in a place you actually enjoy living in! May I ask... do you get to stay on base very often being part of the reserve? Also, I just learnt from your profile that you are a fellow SCUBA diver. That's so cool

Haha, yeah, pull ups... It might have been wise to save that goal for later. I'm doing body rows at the moment, and planning on moving to chair-assisted pull ups... tomorrow

I'm glad the coffee trick worked for you! The grainless life requires a lot of tweaking... Also the chinups are impressive, I'm still trying to get just one done, and it's awfully difficult.

Hey Uri, Fellow #ZAP member here. How is it going? Have you added anything else to your sets/reps? Still having WiFi problems?

Oh, I know what you mean. Usually, after a long hard day at work what makes me feel better is to go for a swim. After spending 30 min or an hour at the pool I feel much better and I'm able to go back home in a good mood instead of being frustrated from work, and tired, and quite irritable, wich is no good company. However, after waking up at 6 am and getting home at 10 pm or later I just want to sleep (to be able to repeat 7 days in a row). Luckily, the maddening work shift thing has ended, and yesterday and today I've been working out as usual. Plus on Sunday I'm going for a hike near some cliffs here. Awesome landscape there. Goal wise... - I'm still there with the squats but will add some more weight next on Tuesday next week, and see how it goes. - Yesterday, finally, I went all out on the 5k and managed to complete the distance in 21 minutes, a time that I'm really satisfied with. Was it painful? Hell yes. I doubt I could have made it to 5.1k, so next week I'll aim to maybe get it done in 23-25 and will work towards 20 trying not to almost die afterwards. - Dissertation is going all righ. Just got Chapter 1 ready for printing and chapter 2 will receive the same formatting this weekend. And that's all for this week!

Yeah, definitely passing o the mini challenge. I'm gonna save the spreadsheet though, there are intersting demonstration videos there, all together!

This week is going awfully bad (okay, it's only wednesday). I've been working late, and by late I mean 12-13h in a row since last Friday and I am incredibly tired everyday! I've skipped two workouts so there is no progress either on squats or push ups. Work-wise It's being great. I've added another section to Chapter 2 of my disertation, and almost finished chapter 3. I did finish the presentation for the congress next week and I'm almost done with the gene expression thing! So: Moving towards fitness goals--> not at all Closer to actually becoming a PhD--> Hell yes!! I can sense some emotional imbalance here, jeje.

Hey, thanks for the recipe! We are preparing that for lunch this weekend

Hi Dr.Calcart, sorry for no having commented on your challenge before. I'm neglecting my fellow ZAPs. I admire your dedication to wrinting your progress here. That's the part I'm leaving behind everyday and you truly set an example. I'll try to do as you do and Write a little bit for each day. That will also help me to keep track of... well, what day of the week is it (everyday is the same foe me now, unfortunately!) Your hiking -redefined- goals are great now: when you take out all the stuff you can't control then it's only you who fail to deliver (likewise, the success is only yours as well). When I make fitness or improvement plans that depend on X happening I use to find myself making up excuses. "X couldn't come today so there's no point in me going for a hike" for example... As for the meditation, I've never tryed it before but sounds awesome. Do you have any tips for beginners?

I'm trying to get rid of grains as well, and also had a problem with breakfast cofee What I did to "solve" the coffe-in-empty stomach awfulness was adding heavy cream to my cofee (when at work) and switching to bulletproof coffee when at home. You could give it a go and see how it works for you.

You are from Orange County, CA, aren't you? One of the most amazing places for marien research is Scripps Institute of OCeanography, and it's in La Jolla near San Diego... so pretty close to you I think. As for the writing, it depends on whether you are linked to a project (then you have to cover whatever it is described in the description of work for that specific project) or not... plus how sadistic your supervisor is. So, high variability I'd say. P.D: Nusuth, don't get your hopes too high yet. We may be researching like there is no tomorrow, but the lawmakers may not read our reports or might as well ignore crucial parts if we don't make them clear enough...

That document is not open, it says "needs owner permission" On another topic... I had to skip my running day this week due to overwork..so i'll probably be a zombie by the end of this challenge. I don't see my 5k time improving in the near future. However, I'm planning to go on a geocaching hike today with some friends, if it doesn't start to rain! As for the stretching routine, check this

Good job! Impossible is nothing, they say, and you just proved that! And I feel sorry for you, tax duty in the UK is... pure hell

Jaja, gotta love Think Geek. We have this at home. It does indeed freak people out. Btw, I'll post the stretching routine tomorrow in a break from work, it does need some translation... it's in spanish :S

Hey DrCalcart, My PhD is in marine environmental toxicology. I've been testing some nanoparticles: toxicity tests and modelling, how can they impact the marine environment if (when) they are released? Will the impact last? Will it get magnified (ie. affecting marine organisms/populations at different degrees)? Adittionally, all this data should help buid a sound regulation around nanomaterials in the EU, since they are regulated as "normal" materials right now. But we (the EU) are supposed to have a regulation directive over all the materials that enter the union's frontiers ready for 2020 which is very ambitious (and very expensive). I'm working in one of those projects trying to make that happen As for scuba diving... it's more of a hobby. However, we are often required to adress the health status of underwater populations (fishes,some clams, algae and whatever you can imagine), so we go there, take some samples (is the seabed polluted? is it not? is that pollution affecting the animals/plants living there?) some pictures and video... it's really fun compared to standard labwork. As usual, you are a PhD student for 4 years in my country, but it can take longer if you are enrolled in a long-term project or if "science happens". Meaning that you may have everything planned to perfection and the aquaria start to leak, animals die...etc, etc. PhD students in fields other than biology usually finish after 3-4 years. About the pullup, i'll see if there is anything I could use asa chair at my gym and'll follow your advice, thanks!

Hey there! I love the mini challenges in your accountability group, good luck with them As I promised, more swimming tips: Let's assume that the problem you have is a coordination one, not technique. Bad technique will get you faaar more tired at the end of a pool lenght but you shouldn't sink. Truth is, a lot of people struggle with coordination when it comes to simultaneous movements that are different in their motion cycle. Here you have the scissor-like movement from the legs and the rotation from the arms, which is also performed at a slower pace than the legs' movement. Ideally, you'll have someone to help you by supporting your core with one hand while in the pool while you practise arm stroke. This way you wouldn'd feel like your legs are sinking and could focus on getting the arms movement right. Anyhow, if that option is unavailable you could try this: While walking try to move your arms the same way you would when swimming freestyle (turns for breathing and all). I guarantee this looks awfully ridiculous, but it does work (my mom had your very same problem and she said this helped). Plus you can do it at home when noone is there to see it (huge plus). Also, try to include some lower back, torso and hip stretching movements in your routine (hint: mini challenge 3 ), as it will help you with the rotation needed to breathe while keeping your legs as parallel to the pool as possible. Don't stress with this too much as it will come naturally when you loosen the lower back muscles. For reference, look at the video I linked and notice how, in order to breathe, he twists his body at the lower back mostly, and the legs don't really lose the horizontal position. Hope I made myself clear. Don't hesitate to ask anything though!

Hey Nusuth! Don't feel old, I have strong legs just because I spend a lot of time walking around all geared up for scuba diving. Btw, I have a stretching routine for the lower back that a fiend of mine recomended (she is a physio). I will post it in the ZAP thread when I get home tonight.

Well, i't Wednesday and finally I have time to update this! I've focused on mini-challenges this week: - I'm now a proud member accountability group ZAP - I've increased my protein uptake. This one has been a tough one. I don't feel dizzy or see how my workout performance decreases when I'm eating less proteins (or below my suggested caloric intake), so it is really hard for me to eat more just for the sake of eating more. Might need to tweak macronutrient ratios a bit though, because it looks like I'm gaining a bit of fat. Not that I'm dissapointed about that because I'm seeing muscles that weren't there before. However I'm a bit concerned about buoyancy issues and would hate to increase the lead blocks on my weight belt just because I gained fat. The thing rests on your hips and it can be kind of painful... bruises and all. - I love stretching. Have added inner and outer thighs, and lower back to my routine. Will see how it goes! As for my own challenge... 1) Level up my Squat (STR 3) - UPDATE I reached the 3x10 proper form 32kg squat (70lbs) so I'm updating the grades. A ) + 20 kg (would be a total of 52kg : 114 lbs) B ) + 16 kg C ) + 10 kg --> currently here D ) + 6 kg E ) + 4 kg F ) Didn't manage to add any weight while keeping good form - For the pull up goal I've started training with the workout weatherford linked and I'm having a blast! I don't know If I'll get to the pull up, currently I'm on lvl 2: inverted rows. They are ridiculously hard! - My 5k running time is slooooowly going down. I'm at 28' at the moment, I'm hoping to cut it to 26-ish the next week as I currently have a mild cold that makes breathing not as comfortable as usually. - Writing pace has stalled. However I'm working a lot, just not in the thing I wanted to. I'm preparing a presentation for a congress in two weeks and running some gene expression assays till late hours everyday. Not writing, but my work is moving forward! To becs: I'll post some more tips on your challenge thread. That way we can keep them all together and easier to read if someone else is interested with the topic (plus I'm crazy and love things that are neatly organised)

Hi guys! Thanks for letting me join. I'll take care of the boat-driving and scuba diving for salvaging goods if required. Zombies can't swim, do they? This week is being really rough for me: I'm working 12h and when I get home I'm incredibly tired. Also, had to switch my workouts to the early morning, which is.... well, I perform worse but the gym is empty so i'll try to stick to the morning workout thing! See you guys, I'm off to update my challenge thread

Hi everyone, I'm terribly late to this join-a-group thing, but I think it'sa great idea and this one sounds right for me (being a zombie movie enthusiast as I am), do you have a spot left?