kiki

Hi vengeful pear, and thank you - I look forward to joining you guys too! I look forward to leveling up regularly until I'm good enough to jump off tall buildings into haystacks with you guys SO - this week I had ym two circus classes together because i forgot to book my classes last Monday and I didn't get my first choice of flexibility. That meant I did body conditioning on Tuesday, with my circus arts class yesterday (flying trapeze again). Tuesday was hardcore – I thought at one point I was going to throw up during the cardio, and then the class teacher said she was deliberately working on little used muscles as well as the big major ones most people use because those little muscles are the most important for joint stability and safety when you’re doing circus arts. So it really hurt! Lots of balances and moves I've never done before, working muscles I didn't know I had. I struggled with it (especially compared with the people who’ve been doing that support class for a year) and I was so sweaty by the end of it, but I picked up some really good exercises for building up the areas I’m weak in. But made it pretty clear that while I might be a pretty good cyclist I’m not great at high-intensity cardio and need to work on that. Yesterday evening was pretty good – we were practicing our trapeze swinging ready to start doing tricks next week. We’ve got our proper teacher now (she was injured last week) and she’s great – strict and she keeps us moving. She’s also really good about giving individual feedback. Unlike most of the other part of my group it looks like I’ve got a strong enough core to swing hard, but my fingers aren’t strong enough to hold onto the bar. That means that I launch pretty well, and do a nice pike at the front of my swing, but when I swing back at the middle of my back swing, I swing so hard I fling myself off the bar. So I’ve been given grip and finger excercises to do before next week so I can hold on to the bar long enough! Food wise, I’ve done pretty well at bringing lunches in until today, when we were supposed to be having a potluck lunch but everyone else forgot to bring stuff in. So I’m having to spend some of my budget to buy lunch out L But that’s how it goes I guess!

SO... I am a bit late with this post, because of computer troubles. Saturday was my first flexibility class. Most of my body is fine, usually bendy. My legs, however, are not. The class was mostly stretching with some pair work and much of the leg work involves going into a straddle. Problem is, for some reason going anywhere near a straddle puts me into a nerve stretch which I can't push any further and I can't hold for any length of time. It's not even a muslce stretch - I can handle the pain of that. It's a nerve-y stretch which means my body involuntarily moves itself out of that position. I am hoping this is simply a case of me being a cyclist (and therefore having real tension in my upper leg muscles) and never really stretching or bending previously. I'm going to keep working on it, but that was hard! Last night (Sunday) I made a whole batch of roasted vegetables and quinoa which will last us for lunch until Wednesday (success!). I'm also back on the no refined carbs thing for good now - I have been feeling super sluggish but now I've got good slow-burning food in a proper balance I know I'm going to feel good again. I'm looking forward to Wednesday (as I'll get my first star for not spending my savings!). I didn't get booked into flexibility this week, I'm doing body conditioning on Tuesday instead - so I'll be doing both classes in my Wednesday post. The best thing about this week so far is getting back on my bike to ride to work this morning! I shaved 5 mins off my previous time without even trying. Awesome!

Hi Adulthoodforbeginners So sorry to hear about your ankle - injury is a bummer. I've just started an aerial circus arts course (I'm learning circus skills like the flying trapeze) which is the foundation of the excercise part of my 6 week challenge and there's quite a lot in it that you might be able to do without using your ankle so much. Not the trapeze because you have to land on your feet when you let go, but things like the static bar or rope tricks might suit you, as you spend the whole time up in the air using your core muscles, upper legs, and arms for movement = no pressure upon ankle. And it's something you can do wearing any ankle supports you need. I'm not a professional (or anything like) but it looked to me last night like it was the kind of thing you could do without putting any pressure on a bad ankle. If you live in NYC you're pretty much guaranteed to have an instructor or school somewhere near you - if it appeals perhaps that might be a really good way to build upper body and core strength? I find the easiest way to keep healthy when travelling is to go to a supermarket and buy fresh foods that don't need preparing - i.e. I'll buy a selection of veggies that can be eaten raw like peppers and carrots, some unprepared nuts, and maybe some peeled prawns for protein and just eat it all as though it were a salad. Stops you buying those slightly curly sandwiches or eating a pizza! Sometimes i set myself a challenge to get my whole 5 a day in some sitting doing this! xx

Good for you taking this change and using it for good - I know how easy it is to get stuck in a rut at a time like that and I'm glad you're showing yourself some love to get into a better place. I also love your scoring system - I might have to nick the idea of grading myself on how well I do! Best of luck xx

Hello! So, as promised here I am updating about my very first ever circus class and progress so far. @avalon4712 hopefully this will give a bit more info on what is incvolved in a circus class! And @DarkRaven I'm thinking I might be joining you guys pretty soon if I keep up like last night - wowza but my core is feeling it this morning! SO my partner has agreed to come on board and do his own six week challenge, but because we're still on holiday this week (but staying at home to enjoy our own fair city) he's starting next week. So now I'm doing a seven week challenge - I'll record my six weeks of successes here and do one more week of measuring alongside him just to ingrain these good habits even deeper. As he's starting next week he hasn't decided what his quests are yet but he's having a think. Hooray for being Captain America! Anyway - last night (the very first circus class) was amazing. The class isn't so much aimed at being an exercise class - it's not billed as keep fit, which is part of why I found the idea appealing. It's a class to teach circus skills, and I'm on the aerial arts stream. This term is the introductory term, and we're doing three skills each for four weeks each. Last night I was put into the group for the flying trapeze! After a pretty intense warm-up (where I was glad to see I wasn't the only non-dancer in the room, unable to touch anywhere near my toes!) We went over to the trapeze. Because it was the first lesson there was a load of safety stuff to go through first, which meant we didn' get as much time flying as we normally would. We had to practice getting onto all of the positions on the platform, keeping ourselves safe up in the air, and managing the trapeze bar. Once we'd done THAT it was our chance to fly. It seems lie most of my group came to do the course because they're scared of heights, so I was the only volunteer to go first! I climbed up the ladder onto the platform (probably around 10' up), hooked myself into the safety lines, grabbed hold of the bar and stepped off the platform. And I was flying! It was amazing - as someone who has never managed to do monkey bars before, I thought I'd have to let go of the bar as soon as it started to take my weight, but I was well able to hold myself on. To build momentum, you have to kick forward and backwards in rhythm with the swing, and while I can kick forwards really well, kicking back with your legs, keeping them straight, and holding onto the bar with your hands is really difficult! It requires a load of core strength, which I'm hoping to really build up over the next few weeks. Because there's only one trapeze, we only got to have one go each at flying this week, because of all of the safety stuff. But I've got a flexibility class on Saturday to help me touch those toes, and next week we'll all know the safety stuff so hopefully I can spend a good amount of time flying. After that it's ropes, which is apparently the most difficult bit on your core muscles. I'm really excited! Doing pretty well on the refined carbs thing - had no sugar sugar, but did slip up on Tuesday by eating a pizza for our evening out at our favourite Italian. However, I wasn't hungry for most of it after mussels and salad to start, so I only ate half, and got right back on the wagon after. I was aware I was going to be eating probably not really well for tea so early that day I ate really healthily to make up (think tomato soups, roast chicken legs, salady things). Financially speaking my savings are still in their savings pot, and I haven't yet spent all of my alloted holiday money (might have some over to put in my extra money jar at the end of the week). I've decided on the jar, so I will get all my spending money out in cash at the start of the week, and at the end of the week put any I haven't spent in the jar. That way if I want, for example, to go out with friends for a meal I can't go until I've put enough in the jar to cover what I don't get in pocket money that week. Neat no? Reminds me of being a kid and saving up for a game I really wanted. Christmas and birthday money (as if I get them anymore!) will also go in the jar for nice special things. This is to stop me taking money out of future weeks' pocket money, and then not actually docking the money when I get there. Thanks all! xxxx

Hello! I'm Kiki and also a newbie from across the pond. I felt I had to join, as I'm about to start aerial arts circus training and fully expect to look a lot like a penguin attempting the trapeze when it starts on Wednesday due to a lack of flexibility and upper body strength. I'm hoping with your help I can turn into the leanest, most elegant circus penguin ever seen (although my full transformation will almost certainly take longer than 6 weeks!) My quest is pretty simple: get back to my university measurements of 34-25-35 (currently 35-27-39 3 years later), fit back into my sexeh clothes, look leaner and be fitter and stronger and an immense circus athlete. My life quest is to save £4,000 by next September so I can go on Safari in Kenya, and I'm starting small, setting myself a weekly spending limit, putting money into a savings account, and not moving the money back out of the savings account when I want to spend it. I tend to be a sandboxer because I don't like linear storylines and I get bored quickly with things I 'have' to do once I've achieved a bit. I have the same issue with fitness - I'll turn up to 2 classes for something and then never bother again, get to the stage where I can do a press up and never attempt one again, or run 5k and never run again after crossing the line. I'm hoping you guys can help me stay focussed on my goals, prod me into forming habits when I get bored, and encourage me to post twice a week to keep me accountable. I hope to be able to offer encouragement, support, and motivation to any other penguins! Also, I worked as a chef for a while, my partner is part-time paleo, and I'm a whole-food veggie so I'm pretty good with recipes if anyone is in a food rut (eating whole foods is something I am pretty good at!). Look forward to meeting you all! xx

SO. I did pretty well for the first four weeks of my journey to becoming an assassin - I cut out sugar, cycled to work every day and was losing about a pound a week and visibly redistributing weight from tummy to (particularly arm) muscles. And I was able to do a proper push up. Since then I've gone on holiday and my diet has been horrible and (although it's been a pretty active holiday) I can't do a proper push up any more. SO time to get these habits properly set. So my three targets are: - Attend every circus class (2 2 hour classes per week) which starts on Wednesday! - Prepare healthy, balanced lunches ahead of time to take to work EVERY DAY - Cut out refined sugar NO EXCEPTIONS. When I hadn't had sugar for a week and a half, I wasn't concerned. Since I got back from holiday I have thought of very little else, have snuck bits of cake from the fridge and even baked a whole syrup sponge from scratch and ate it all when I wasn't hungry, because I NEEDED SUGAR and was 'still on holiday'. It seems I can't do moderation with sugar (certainly not yet), so I'm going cold turkey. If I don't eat sugar, it's much easier not to eat sugar. Same goes for refined carbs, I actually think it was the white bread sandwich first day away which kicked me into cakeland.... Now I'm out of university and have a proper job, it's also important to me that I get a handle on my spending. Currently I just spend my salary which means I'm not managing to save. I want to go to Kenya with my boyfriend next September for Safari, and I won't be able to afford it without some serious saving. So my life quest is to save £4,000 by next September. To achieve this my mini goals for this 6 week challenge are: - Put a minimum of £200 savings into my account each month when salary is paid - Live on £40 per week or less once bills etc. are paid, to pay off overdraft at the same time - Don't take any money out of savings accounts - use space built up in overdraft for emergencies, and if it's not an emergency, don't pay for it. I've already recruited my partner, who has put together a wonderful star chart for me to track my good work with the finances, and who is going to start doing bodyweight workouts with me to watch my form and help me get strong to boost my performance in circus class. Now I'd like to get some nerdy support online, to help me set these habits in stone. My intention is to post twice a week - after every circus class on a Wednesday and a Saturday. Wednesday will summarise my first circus class of the week, how I'm doing on my spending limits (As I get paid this month on a Wednesday) and any extra successes/slip-ups. On Saturday I'll update you on my second circus class, how lunches for the week went, and again any extra successes/ slip ups. I'll keep a running total of how many stars I'm awarded for good financial behaviour too. Please chivvy me if i don't post - I also want to get into the habit of keeping myself accountable! Thanks! xxxx

I kind of agree with you Waldo - if it makes me feel bad and impairs my training, it's not healthy for me. I'm not sure 'healthy' for such complicated biochemical organisms can be pared down so easily to a one-size fits all as some of the Paleo community seem to suggest.

I'm afraid I'm british- I may have to order it from ikea as I don't think there's a target in the UK! But it's a good to if I make it across the pond.

yeah, the only think I every really crave is milk- when I was a teenager I'd drink a couple of pints a day. and I find it calms down my stomach normally when I'm hungover (it hasn't helped with my most recent discomfort much though) so I work on the basis my body likes it and it works for me.

Hooray! Maybe we can form a "we've mutated to need grains and legumes" style xavier institute...

Thanks very much LessJos - that's so helpful. The only things I can find online are about how evil grain and legumes are, so it's nice to hear I'm not the only person who responds badly to having none of them. Congratulations on your success so far, I hope it continues!

Hi LessJos - that's really interesting - sounds like the same kind of profile as me. I tolerate meat well (I don't eat it for environmental reasons so I'm allowed meat on special occasions and then i can eat all the bacon with no problems, so long as there's plenty of carbs alongside), so maybe I'm just not built for Paleo. The symptoms you describe are EXACTLY how I feel. How do you find it affects your BF% or how you look, if at all? Does it make it harder to look lean and (sorry Steve) 'toned'?

Hi dmstanford42. Thanks for your advice - I think you may be right that I've bitten off more than I can chew (hence I suppose the little steps aspect of the rebellion!) I have scandinavian family so I'm a fan of Filmjolk - just have to see if I can track some down and add that in. And I will up my carb intake and then reduce more slowly. Thank you!

Seafood might be an easier way in - like eating prawns, moving up to crayfish or crabs, squid, mussels, cockles, whelks and similar. Then you'd get used to the fresh sea-like smell of fresh fish, and the seafood taste without having to face a whole fish at once. Then include fillety fish in things you eat otherwise (paleo makes this a bit more difficult, otherwise you could do things like paella or a pasta dish, but I guess you could do flaked bits of fish in a salad or similar). Alternatively if you like pate you could use smoked fish pate (if you eat butter. Smoked fish pate is just fish, butter, and seasoning). It might be easier to eat slightly more processed stuff like homemade smoked fish pate first then work up to whole fillets once you know you like the taste.