bbonzo

Hey everyone! I've got some good news and some bad news. Good news is I had a wonderful trip to Michigan visiting family and friends and was finally able to relax a bit. I also ended up trying out some pullups and chinups and while I'm still at 4 for pullups I ended up cranking out 7 chinups! I don't know what happened there but all of a sudden they were way easier than before. More good news is that I've finally decided to take the next step in achieving my dreams and go into business for myself. I am in the process of ordering prints of some of my work along with packaging materials and business cards and all that fun stuff and will be opening an etsy shop by the end of the month. This is all very exciting and I'm hoping to be able to leave my job by the end of the summer to fully pour myself into my work and business but until then I will still be working and going to school. This means I will be insanely busy! I've felt stressed recently with the amount of stuff going on in my life but even though this will add more stress I know that working towards my goal of being self employed, doing what I love, will also give me a lot of peace and happiness. Here comes the bad news... with this life change and all the craziness that will be going on, I have decided to gracefully bow out of this challenge. I will still be working out and focusing on my fitness but having the added stress of fulfilling my challenge requirements is something that I don't feel I need in my life right now. I love you all and I will definitely be back for another challenge in the future when things settle down a bit and I may pop in from time to time just to see how everyone is doing and update on how things are going in my life. Good luck to you all and thank you for the support you have given me along the way! Keep up the good work rebels!

Not challenge related but I just discovered today that I now weigh 149! My first time under 150 in forever, my goal weight was 145 but I think 135/140 is doable too! 20.5 lbs lost since October 29th! I'm so excited and I'm feeling great!

Hey everyone just wanted to update on my husband as well, he is doing a lot better but I can tell he is still not totally himself which I absolutely understand. I went through this same situation just a couple years ago with our family cat who we had for 16 years as well. It was really rough so it was I guess good for me to experience that to be able to be there for Karl and know what he is going through with losing Sparky. Karl is a really tough guy though and doesn't usually let his emotions show, he wants to be strong for everyone, including himself and I think a lot of what he needs is just knowing that I'm here for him if he needs to talk or just needs a hug. It's so tough losing a family pet like that, but he is coping well with everything. Thanks for your concern, you guys are great!

Today was another busy day, I'm soooo looking forward to next week, it's spring break so all I have to worry about is work, and all the housekeep, wifely duties, no school, though I still do have projects I need to work on but hey no mandatory show your face in class days! Woohoo! I didn't do a sketch today I honestly thought about it and still was just meh and decided not to do it, Bad Me! Oh well, I'll make sure to continue on in the days to come. I have to make sure to get a run in tomorrow to make up for today's missed run too and I might run Saturday instead of Sunday, we'll see. I did do some stretching and holy cow was my shift at work a serious workout tonight! I had to stock about 20 buckets of joint compound that were 62lbs each! When I filled the entire pallet up (64 buckets) before moving it back in to position I actually had to switch to the big forklift cuz mine was teetering (thankfully I didn't lift it more than a few inches before noticing my lift couldn't handle that weight) anyways it seemed like everything else I was pulling down from overstock was super heavy too, cabinets, vanities, sink basins, toilets, etc. so I definitely got in a great workout today. I'm going to try and do one last update tomorrow but then I'll be away for a few days cuz hubby and I are going to visit some great friends that we haven't seen in waaaay too long! Road trip to Michigan woot woot! We're stopping off at my parents to break up the trip and I'm planning on lifting with my sister again Saturday morning. I'm so excited to get away for a while! I'm going to try and keep up with everything and I'll make a big update post when we get back either Monday night or Tuesday morning. Also one last thing, a little humble brag, but I officially broke below 150 this morning, I stepped on the scale and it was exactly 149. This is the first time I've been under 150 in forever! I'm so pumped! I've lost 20.5lbs since October 29th, I love feeling healthy again!

Day 16 Yesterday was a rough day, my husband's family had to put their dog down, they had him 16 years and he was my husband's best bud. So instead of being super productive, we were very distracted and preoccupied. There were a lot of tears and hugs and not much in the way of exercising at all. I got some stretching done but that was it and I didn't get a sketch done either. I spent time with my husband instead, reminiscing about all the great memories he had with Sparky and what a great dog he was. I wouldn't trade that for the world. I'm not counting anything against myself for yesterday since I was right where I needed to be supporting and comforting the ones I love. Day 17 Today was much less crazy and I was able to get quite a bit done. I ran, stretched a lot, and got my sketch done. I'm hoping tomorrow is nice again so I can maybe get some pullup work in too!

I chose to get an activity band heart rate tracker, I wanted a heart rate monitor and an all day activity tracker and I figured I would just get the combo instead of getting them separately since it costs about as much as getting a heart rate monitor alone. I've got the mio fuse. It's an all day activity tracker as well as heart rate monitor. It's just a wrist band no chest strap, but the reason I chose it over the fitbit heart rate bands was because the reviews said it was super accurate, it uses similar technology to an ekg, and I heard the fitbit ones were less accurate. I really like mine, it has a "workout" setting where you hold a button on the band, it finds your heartrate and then you can start your workout and just hold the button again to end your workout meanwhile it tracks your steps/cals/distance throughout the day. The only downside with it is that the app for it is really basic and simple so if you want to track your runs you have to use an app like mapmyrun or runtracker or something like that and sync it with them. Overall it's really handy to have though and I like using it a lot. I can't recommend any others though, the only other experience I've had with heart rate monitors is in high school gym class and I have no idea what we were using there haha.

Day 15 So today was crazy, I really didn't have time to do much of anything between school, work, and homework today just kind of zoomed by without me realizing it! I did some let me ins, and body pulls on the floor, got some stretching in and did a quick sketch of my front door cuz I didn't know what to sketch, I looked up and there it was, boom! Inspiration! haha. Everything today was really quick and felt rushed, I've got a lot to do tomorrow too but hopefully I can slow down a bit and really focus on my body and myself for a little while. Anyways here is my sketch, now you all know what my front door looks like haha.

As far as the pullups go, through doing the let me ins, in a lower position to make it more of a challenge, I found that my back muscles were really feeling it, way more than when I do pull-ups so I think I might be neglecting my back and using my arms too much for pull-ups so I think I'll keep working on those, however, since it is finally nice out again, I do plan on going to a park a couple times a week or so to see how I do and if I'm progressing still. Most of the time when I run I just use a heart rate monitor tracker and map my run occasionally, but sometimes I love to go out "unplugged" and just run, listening to my body and going off that rather than what my tracker says my pace is. I get super competitive with myself so if I track runs too much and I dont see progress or I have a bad run I can start to get really down on myself for it, that's usually when I just get out there and enjoy running and not think about anything else.

Awesome job this week! You killed it!

I really want to get a slackline! Are they hard to setup? I've only tried it a couple times but it was really tough and really fun!

Dude I did some let me ins today and really tried to focus on my back muscles and I think I've really been neglecting using my back for pullups, I could tell those muscles need some strengthening, I'm excited to work more on those, thanks for the tip!

Day 14 has been super busy, but also great! I've gotten so much done today I ran, did a quick sketch, and am stretching right now! I cooked up some super yummy slow cooker apple cinnamon oatmeal for this week's breakfasts and have been getting a bunch of coding done for my web design homework! I still have a decent amount of work to do tomorrow but I can worry about that later. Here's my sketch for today... I've seriously been staring at my computer all day so when it came to sketching this was about all I could think of. Anyways I'm really happy with how today turned out especially my run, it's funny how some days can be terrible and others you feel invincible, I seriously felt like I could run forever! It was a great run and a great day! Week 2 Recap I cant believe it has already been 2 weeks, man they went by fast! This week went well, even better than last week! Pullup progress stalled but I've still been working on it and have even been finding some creative ways to work on developing the muscles without actually doing pullups! A this week I went on all 3 runs this week and am super pumped for next week since it's supposed to be so nice out! A this week too! I stretched every day, though I wish I would have done more yoga, I feel great when I do yoga so I'll try to do more next week A this week. I missed one sketch this week but that's still pretty good so A- for this week. Overall great week, hoping next week is even better!

Me too! I grew up in Kalamazoo, moved to portage around middle school and went to Portage Northern for high school, small world! So here is day 12's sketch I wish I would have spaced out the dots a little more but I like it well enough! Day 13- Today was a good day. I went for my run, got my stretching in, and did my sketch. I, however, did not eat very well at all but that's okay I can do better tomorrow. All in all, I felt pretty great about today and I'm excited to do even better tomorrow!

Okay so I had a super emotional day for no real reason, well a bit of a reason (stupid shark week) anyways I started out super happy and wonderful, then I started to get cramps and got super hungry at work and everything went downhill. I ate crappy food when I got home and then ended up just being all down on myself and emotional and I went out and got ice cream and ate a bunch but honestly that along with watching New Girl and lots of laughs with my husband turned my night around and now I'm going to bed happy and ready to take on tomorrow. For today though (Day 12) I did some decent stretching and got my sketch done (I'll upload it tomorrow, too tired tonight). I didn't actually do a workout today but I stocked a ton of 24pk water bottles and gallon waters so I'm counting it as a workout haha. Anyways goodnight everyone! Here's to tomorrow being a better day!

Thanks everyone! I'll definitely look in to those, in the meantime I can always use my friends when I see her, I just want to be able to work on them more regularly

Day 11- So I skipped my run yesterday since it was -1F out in favor of doing it today when its supposed to be 28F out! I'm planning on doing it after work/before dinner so I'll update again tonight with that. I did a loooooot of stretching yesterday which felt great, and I got a lot done around the house too! I did however completely forget to do my sketch! It wasn't even that I didn't want to do it, just that I got so busy I honestly didn't even think about doing it, so bummer! I didn't do any pullup work, that's supposed to be for today buuuuuuttt.... I need help/advice. I was doing pullups at the gym since I don't have a bar at home and my membership just expired and I can't afford to renew it. I'd like to get a pullup bar for my apartment but all my door frames are either flush with the ceiling or don't really have overhangs to the side for the bar to brace against. The only door that would actually work is my front door, which I'm not opposed to putting one there but It would have to be one that could go up and come down easily so that I wouldn't have to leave my front door open all the time haha. Any exercises or tips for my current situation and/or if you know of a home pullup bar that would work for me let me know, I love the idea of grease the groove pullups but I don't know if my situation lends itself to that. Thanks for the help guys! And good news! Yesterday after class my photography teacher came up to me and asked if she could exhibit one of my photographs in the school library! I'm really excited that she thinks my work is good enough to share with everyone! Great confidence booster Here is the image she chose, sorry it's so big, but really not sorry, it's not as pretty shrunk down haha.

Hey everyone! I need some advice, one part of my challenge is to increase my pullup reps and it has been going well so far, I was working on them during the days I went to the gym (3x a week) since I don't have a pullup bar at home and everything was coming along pretty well. My gym membership expired and I can't afford to renew it, does anyone have any exercises that I can do at home to help me train for pullups without actually doing pullups? Also if anyone knows of any pullup bars that work well with tiny door frames/super low ceilings that would be great! Thanks!

Haha cool!

Yea I enjoy visiting the city but it's way too busy for me to enjoy living there for long periods of time, I would definitely need to get away from it all every once in a while! Where do you do gymnastics? the place I was looking at going is Lakeshore Academy in Chicago, I'll only be able to make it out once a week sadly cuz its about an hour/hour and a half drive from me but I'm excited to start going!

I am so guilty of chasing all the shiny things at once, I just want to try it all! I think I need to go in cycles, that would be a good way to figure out what I enjoy doing the most too so I can cut out the meh exercises that I don't miss when I stop doing them. Thanks for all the great ideas everyone!

So Day 10- My pull up work was kinda lousy, I just wasn't feeling it this morning and now I have a stitch in my left upper back/shoulder/neck area, I've been doing some stretches to try and get that feeling better and I'm working on opening my hips because ummm I'm suuuuuper tight! Today was alright but I've had better, it was just kinda meh. I was uninspired for my sketch too so I just did some abstract geometric shape things. I'm hoping tomorrow will be a better day, I'm also hoping my run goes well cuz Tuesday's was pretty lousy and I felt pretty defeated with it. Anyways I think I need some extra rest tonight hopefully the moodiness will be gone tomorrow with some extra sleep!

Just skimmed through your challenge so far and you're amazing! I'm determined to start doing gymnastics soon, I even found a gym that teaches adults, I can't wait! Anyways I'm following you now and am excited to see the rest of your challenge and all the awesomeness that I'm sure is to come. Just out of curiosity what are you doing for your HIIT workouts and it looks like you lift weights too... how do you schedule that around gymnastics and your HIIT training? I'm looking at doing the same, just basic powerlifting stuff (squats, deadlifts, bench, overhead press) and I'm training for a tough mudder so I'm running 3x a week as well, then I'll add the gymnastics class in once a week as well, with hopefully some practice at home during the week. How do you manage it all? Awesome job so far! Keep up the great work!

Hey everyone sorry for the lack of update yesterday, I had a great day but it was really busy so I just collapsed into bed without updating anything so for Day 9 I ran 2.5 miles, did a bunch of stretching through out the day, and got my sketch done! So far today I've done some pull-up work and a little stretching but I'll give the full update later tonight.

Thanks! Yea the UP is seriously my favorite place on earth (though I really haven't traveled much) my mom grew up in the UP in Menominee then went to college at NMU in Marquette so we go back there quite a bit. I went to southern Indiana for the first time this past year and it's way more beautiful than I expected, I was so used to flat northern Indiana that all the hills and trees really surprised me! The hip opener was double pigeon/firelog pose I think that's what it was called at least. It's the one where you sit cross legged but you actually lay one leg on top of the other instead of in front, mine looked terrible but I'm planning on doing a bunch of them tonight as well as forward folds to hopefully loosen up my lower back. I might even take a picture of my yoga fail and post it here cuz I'm pretty sure I look pretty funny trying them haha. Anyways yea I really have to put a lot of work into loosening up, hopefully all this work pays off soon!

Thanks for the encouragement everyone! Day 8 was great! My sister headed home this morning but we had a ton of fun together and I'll be able to see her again fairly soon so that's nice. I got a toooooooon of stuff done around the house today, I still have a lot more that I need to get caught up on but hopefully I'll be able to do that by the end of this week. I ended up skipping my workout today from being too busy and too sore from working out with my sister this weekend, she killed me, but I loved it! Oh speaking of which, I don't lift weights much, though I might start cuz I do actually really enjoy it during the times I do, but my sister is really into lifting so I was doing stuff with her and I got a PR for my bench press! I ended up being able to do 105 lbs for 4 reps I've never done more than 95 lbs before so I am really pumped about that! It feels great to break into that 100 zone! Tomorrow I'll do my run, another 2.5 miler, but no run today. I learned a new hip opener yoga pose and learned I reaaaaally suck at it which is great cuz I know it will work to loosen me up, I'm gonna keep working on those a lot throughout the day. I did some other stretching today too. Aaaand I got my sketch done as well! This is something I'm thinking of starting a series with. I really love the idea and look of taking an outer shape that looks very fluid and organic and splitting it up with very sharp geometric shapes and lots of lines. I like doing abstract stuff because there's no right or wrong. It just is what it is and it's nice to just be creative and not think about trying to make anything perfect. Anyways that's it for today, more updates tomorrow!