Flac Mcfae

Eh, sorry for falling off the grid there, its been hectic to say the least. It was going well until this week, where I slacked off on my meditating, and due to a variety of problems at work, I ended up buying a pack yesterday. I did thoroughly enjoy my relapse, and now it is back to not smoking. It sucks to see my chain of red x's broken, but the battle rages on.

Howdy ho adventurers. I chose to come play with you guys this time primarily because my Main Quest this time fits nowhere. Last challenge I learned a few things, like I will do cardio activities, but not on a schedule(or regularly), that I am currently infatuated with Convict Conditioning and mobility exercises, and that if quitting isn't my primary focus I will generate a reason to cheat. So, based off of this learning experience, here is my main quest: QUIT THE GORRAM SMOKING! Mini Quest 1:Use my ecig solely Mini Quest 2:Mark days without a cigarette on a calendar in red Mini Quest 3: Meditate on being a nonsmoker/not wanting a cigarette atleast once a day Reward: 60 days without a cigarette and I can get a new tattoo Even though this challenge is just starting, I started this last Monday, so I am already 7 days into it, having missed one meditation session. If I smoke at all, that is failure and starting over from day 1. That simple. Thanks for the space, and good luck to everyone.

Well, here is the after action report. The skiing is an absolute bust, however a 30-45 minute dynamic movement/stretches was quite easy to sustain and rather enjoyable. While I rather quickly gave up on the bowflex, I have found the Convict Conditioning progressions to be quite engaging, and am going to continue down this course for the foreseeable future. As far as the snack machine goes, that puny kobold has been vanquished. As for my Main Quest of 15% body fat, I have gone from 228 to 219, losing 9 pounds and dropping to about a 37" waist, so down to about 19-20% body fat. Of course, I didn't expect this to happen in 6 weeks, but feels like a good start. I ended the challenge with a mere 2 days without a cigarette, but have developed a new plan for it(instituted on Saturday), which will be fully outlined in my next challenge. Congrats to all of the other newbs on their successes and lessons learnt.

So, middle of last week update... the workouts are going well, and replacing x country skiing with mobility exercises/pseudo yoga has worked well, having not missed a day. I picked up Convict Conditioning, read through it, and am now working on progressing through 5 of them, handstands being a bit beyond me at the moment. I weighed in at 219 on Monday, with a 95cm waist, putting me at 19% body fat. The avoiding the snack machine has also been a success, so yay...however, due to a laundry list of excuses, I fell off the wagon again, it having been not even a full day without a cig. On a positive note, this challenge has taught me a few things, and I already have a structure/plan for the next one. The question is will it be with the assassins or the adventurers?

If you have the free time, you might want to talk to the sensei's at the dojos about working out a deal on the price. I know my old sensei would give a break on the fees in exchange for cleaning up around the dojo whenever you could. Just a thought.

So I have been putting this off for awhile for no real reason, but here goes nothing. I am 36, working as a hi-lo driver in Northern Michigan. I am currently weighing in at 226 lbs., 6' tall. When I was 21 I weighed in at about 205, and that was the one and only time in my life I could successfully perform a chin up, until about 3 weeks ago. I got married, had the best daughter ever, and divorced by the time I was 26, at which point my weight skyrocketed to 250(though in fairness I had been putting on pounds before the divorce). I cut this back to 230, and then found WoW(the burning crusade, I wasn't around for vanilla WoW). Between that and some seriously poor diet choices, I ended up at 280 by the time I was 32. I made some conscious decisions to change my diet, like eliminating soda, which got me down to 250. I always loved strength training, but never really stick with a program too long. I also had a torrid love affair with Kendo and Judo for awhile, before moving somewhere that offers neither. I have tried counting calories, which works for maybe a month, then I get bored with it. Then I found NF in December. I read quite a bit, lurked a bit more, and started a pseudo-Paleo diet in January(I say pseudo due to the fact that I still eat legumes and corn, and am not terribly picky about the oils I cook with). At that point I was around 240-245. I decided to pop my head out for this challenge due to a lack of any kind of support group up here for me, and just to see what it is like. Anyway, that is the abbreviated long version of "Hello, my name is Flac". Cheers

Welcome, and I botched my dodge roll

So, belated update. The body weight workouts are going well, getting in all three last week. I still could not get myself out skiing, but did mobility exercises/stretches on Tues/Thurs. for 30 min. The snack machine was completely avoided, along with free snacks offered by coworkers. Tapes are at 96cm waist and 43cm neck at 224, so getting there slowly on the body fat. Good news is as of this post, it has been 6 days without a real cigarette. Well, cheers and good luck on the last half to everyone.

Congrats! I am mildly jealous, having just started the conversion to ecigs(all of a 6 days without a real cig). Quitting is the hardest thing I have done, so seeing someone else get it is pretty awesome.

So, week 2 was a wash. My back didn't stop hurting until Thursday, so I only got in one workout. I did buy some new ski boots that don't hurt my feet, but only went skiing once again. Fat Tuesday I blew my snacking, and again on Sunday. Part of this is I am now working on my 24th day straight at work without a day off, but excuses are like bungholes... On a good note I have now gone 2 days without a real cigarette. Back to a bad note, I gained back the 3 pounds I lost, but am still taping in at 38.75" (98cm). I have also decided to change my workout to a BBWW/300 hybrid, 3 times a week. I am bored with the bowflex, and also think it helped to contribute to my back pain, so on to bodyweight/free weights(though all I have for free weights right now is a pair of adjustable dumbbells and whatever I can manufacture). This Monday I did my hybrid workout and it went well, and hopefully sooner rather than later work will calm down. Anyway, cheers and good luck on week 3.

So, update...Down to 225 after first week of pseudo paleo. Taped at 38.5, but that has to be an error, either in last weeks tape or this one. The strength training was pretty easy to maintain(A(last week)), but the smoking is still a work in progress. I avoided the snack machines, but fell victim to a free donut my boss bought, so a B there. The x-country skiing I only did once, but hey room for improvement©. So the cold turkey thing isn't working for me, so I am introducing an e-cig into my habit today. If I can get off actual cigs I will feel better, and continue to try and nurse myself off the e-cig. Todays strength workout was a bust, due to sharp, shooting pains between my shoulder blades. I did some light stretching and my warm up, so hopefully this is a one day thing, and not an "I hurt myself". My success at doing a pullup has me stoked and looking forward to the snow melting so I can focus more on a BW workout, but one step at a time. Cheers all.

Heh, was messin around at work and was able to do 1 full pull up and almost a second(like 2 inches short dammit). I haven't been able to do a pullup for 15 years, so pretty stoked.

Skiing was a bust due to Mother Nature, but chopped wood and kindling for 30 minutes, so not a total loss.

Awesome. I miss fencing. Like Ancalagon I was a Sabre fencer, but that was because I could never stay aware of my feet enough to keep them from getting poked. Utmost respect for epee, I could never get the hang of it.

Workout today was solid. I record those, so not going to post them here anymore, may start a battle log though. Took Redeaglespirit's(or someone's) grading scale and modified for myself. Str workouts 24-A Skiing 12-A Snack 0-A Smoking 3+weeks-A 21-23-B 9-11-B (per week) 1-B Counted from 2 weeks-B 18-20-C 6-8-C 2-C end 1 week-C 15-17-D <6-F 3-D less than-F The smoking grading may seem lenient(and may well be), but the rationale is that if I can make it 3 weeks without smoking then I wont feel the need to go back to smoking. As it stands, this is day 2 of failing to quit. We will see how the skiing goes tomorrow.

So I totally botched quoting Jacksson, but this is one of my two beefs with Paleo. One, unless you are only eating heirloom vegetables, you are eating fruits and veggies that have been genetically modified. Even the heirloom ones have, just to a lesser extent. My second beef is with the concepts of "free range" and "grass fed". One, a grain is a grass that has been cultivated. The cows are getting the same negative effects from grass as grain. Most "grass fed"(not all) beef is also receiving the same hormones as grain fed, and in many cases being fed grain to supplement grass and promote growth(for sale purposes). Now does this mean I disagree with the concepts of the Paleo diet? No, not at all. It makes absolute sense to me to increase my veggies, eat better cuts of meat, organ meat, and avoid calorie dense food, because I am not burning those calories(hence my being at 24% body fat). Be all this as it may, I am slowly adopting more of the principles to my own lifestyle, cutting out the processed calories, most grains, etc. People will always disagree, and if you put your faith in something, then no one will change your mind. Also, as a last point, many of these studies point to a correlation, not necessarily a causation. Eh, there is my less than useful opinion.

So, as promised: 228lbs, 40" waist, 17" neck at 6'0"=24% body fat. Tape on the waist was actually 39.75, but hey. So that leaves me with 21 lbs. of fat that needs to be lost/converted to muscle. The workout went well today, with bench at 270/10/5, resisted punches 55/12/5, leg lifts 20 reps(no weight) for 3 sets, 12 last 2. pushdowns 260/12/5, deadlifts 120/10/5(just started deadlifts last week). The vending machine avoidance was easy today, probably due to a combination of taking veggies with me, it being a new challenge, and being busy. The quitting on the other hand was not so great. I ended the day smoking 2 cigarettes, which is an improvement, but is definitely not "quit". I will just have to do better tomorrow.

Good luck to you, and I am going to pirate your grading scale lol

I am personally torn on guilds as well. Lifting heavy things and putting them down is glorious, but if my muscles(or weight as is currently the case) gets in the way of other activities I wouldn't be happy, making me lean towards Rangers. However, I loved practicing kendo and judo, and while I am far from a dojo I can still practice some basic stuff, so makes me lean towards the Monks. I will probably end up in the Adventurers until I get to a weight/strength level that I can handle pursuing other things and decide then

So, a battle plan. 1)Monday and Thursday- Strength train bench, pushdowns, deadlifts, resisted punches and leg lifts Tuesday and Friday- Strength train pulldowns(narrow and wide grip), rows, walking lunges, curls 2)Wednesday and Saturday- While the snow lasts x-country ski for 30 min(if snow magically melts, switch to kendo,tumbling and archery) 3)Take fresh fruit, veggies to work with me to snack on I am planning on eating at a caloric deficit throughout the week to assist with the main quest, but will not be primarily focused on it 4)Life quest...so this is actually my main focus for this first 2 weeks, is going cold turkey and pushing past those pesky withdrawals. I am planning on doing simple exercises(like a quick set of bodyweight squats, pushups, jumping jacks, etc.) to fight the cravings. I have also prepared some cinnamon toothpicks to chew on(for that damned oral fixation).

I am also a huge fan of judo. I thought it was a great workout. As far as the cooking thing goes, I am also a fan of the cooking once, maybe twice a week and making leftovers for later. My added 2 cents...invest in a spice rack and buy chicken breasts. They are probably the most versatile protein I have found, besides eggs, and even if you spice them wrong they will probably still taste edible. Also, if you cook with cast iron or Teflon coated pans, your clean up is wiping out the pan while still warm, you are not supposed to actually wash them. The cast iron because it destroys the seasoning of the pan, the Teflon because it scrapes off. So either of those will make the clean up a little easier. Good luck and practice those throws!

Nope, hadn't seen that before llammer, that was pretty nice. I just need to make it through those initial two weeks, heh.

So hello there NF heroes. I have been lurking around the site for about a month, and have decided to take on a 6 weeks challenge. In person I can be quite verbose, but I was taught to be to the point when writing, so to the meat of things... Main Quest...15% body fat or less. Goals to get me there: (1) max out weight on my bowflex on Bench and pulldowns (310 "lbs") (2)start cross country skiing for 30 min at least once a week (3)stop snacking out of the vending machines at work, replace with fruits and veggies Life Quest...Quit smoking. Now a little background. I have been strength training for about a year now, but intermittently. So after reading a bit on NF and checking some sources, I am redesigning my routine to reach my goals. For the body fat percentage I will be using the Navy tape formula, since it is less forgiving than the YMCA tape formula, since I don't have calipers. I will post my weight and tape measurements Monday as we begin. As a side quest I am going to save the money from not smoking to buy some free weights and build some parallel bars. My primary motivation is to be able to do whatever I want, whenever I want and not have my body hold me back, so I can show my daughter the wonder that is this world more efficiently and in depth.