Nimdyd

This is what February looks like so far. 6.7mph was a tough one, but I leveled up on that one yesterday AND rocked out on 6.8 today. Woot! Wed, Feb 1 - 30 mins @6.5 Thurs, Feb 2 - 30 mins @ 6.6 Sun, Feb 4 -Elbow-in Pushup 5/5/5 -Negative Pull-up. 5/5/5 -Chair Pistols. 5/5/5 -Pike Pushup 5/5/5 2 mins b/w sets, light stretch after Total time: 20:00 Mon, Feb 6 -30 mins @6.7 -two 1min rests @17min, 27min Wednesday, Feb 8 -30 mins @6.7, 1 x 90sec rest @ 23.5 Friday, Feb 10 -30 mins @ 6.7, 2 x 60 sec rest, 1600 and 22:00 Monday, feb 13 - 30 mins @6.7, 2 x 60s rest: 14:35 and 25:00 Tues, Feb 14 - 30 mins @6.7 - NO REST! LEVEL UP! Wed, Feb 15 - 30 mins @6.8, NO REST! LEVEL UP!

Hey Rebels! I've been floating around here on the forums, mostly in the 6/5 Week Challenges Sections, for a couple of years. And now I'm facing my most important mission ever: MARRIAGE That's right! I have somehow managed to utterly bamboozle the greatest woman on the planet to actually spend the rest of her blessed, amazing life, with me. You can't possibly understand how awesome this woman is. So I have to lock this thing down, and I have to lock it down HARD. And that means, among other things, losing this gross middle-aged dude's belly I'm carting around. So I'm committing to exercising at least four times a week, and preferable 6 times, until July, when the Big Event Happens. I've got about 20 weeks left. So if I lose 1 pound per week, I'll be about where I'd like to be. Diet is always my struggle. But I'm not ready to daily log that beast yet. But I am going to lay it down with the exercise. My plan: every week day I run for 30 minutes on the treadmill. If I do it without stopping to rest, next day I up the speed one tick (1/10 mph in this case). If I have to rest, even a little, next day is the same speed. I also want to find a way to work in bodyweight circuits, but nothing's fit with my routines yet. So you might see some of those mixed in. This is what January looked like. Anything measured in time is a treadmill run. Anything measured in distance is a street run. Mon, Jan 2 -Run 25 min @6.0, 2 x 1min break Tues, Jan 3 -Run 10 min(?)@6.0 -pushup 5/8/8, negative pullup 4/4/4, squat 10/10/10, plank 30s Wed, Jan 4 -run 23 min@6.0, -3x1 min, -1x7min Thurs, Jan 5 -run 10 min@6.0 -elbow-in pushup 4/4/4, negative pull-up 4/4/4, chair pistol 4/4/4, pike 4/4/4, plank 35s Fri, Jan 6 -30:30, -2x1min @6.0 Sat, Jan 7 -2,6km -several walks. outdoor. cold. Sun, Jan 8 -5km, 32 mins, 5x100 step walks. outdoor. cold. mon jan 9 - 12min@6.0 -5/4/4 elbow in pushup, 5s/5s/5s pullup hang, 5/4/4 chair pistol, 5/4/4 pike, 40s plank Tues, Jan 10 - 12 min @6.0. Interrupted by personal call. Wed, Jan 11 - 30 mins @6.0, 1x1min rest Fri, Jan 13 -30 mins @6.0 Sat, Jan 14 -10km @ 1:01:45 Sun, jan 15 -walked 5.1 km Mon, Jan 16 -30 mins @6.1, 1x1 min rest Mon, Jan 16 -elbow-in p/u - 4/4/4 -pike - 4/4/4 ~5 min rest between Tues, Jan 17 - 11:45 + 19:00 @ 6.1 (involuntary break 2-3 mins) Tues, Jan 17 - chair pistols 5/5/5, half-pull-up, careful on form 2/2/2 ~10 min between set Wed, Jan 18 - 30 mins @ 6.1, no rest Tues, Jan 24 - 30 mins @ 6.1, no rest wed, jan 25 - 30 mins@6.2 thurs, jan26 - 30 mins @6.3 Mon, jan 30 - 30 mins @ 6.3 Tues, jan 31 - 30 mins @ 6.4

Final week and Final Results I struggled with diet this past week. I ate clean maybe two, three days. Exercise has been both good and bad. I've been doing a very good job of doing a quick circuit at work every hour, but when it comes to my runs I dropped the ball more often than I picked it up. The cold weather is bad for my breathing, so a couple of runs were just ruined even though I started out with all good intentions. All in all I give myself a C for this challenge. I'll probably sit the next one out and feel out my home routines on my own. And then see what's working and what's not and pop back in for the next challenge. Thanks for following along! The encouragement really helped!

Desire: I really want to run 5k every day. AND I really want to do bodyweight routines three or four times a week. Obstacle: I find that doing them back-to-back diminishes both the pleasure and the benefits I get from both. And I also find that managing two completely separate get-changed-work-out-cool-down-shower-get-changed sessions in a single day to be very challenging. What's a ginger to do? Proposed Solution: my place of business has a little exercise room. So, every hour or so, I figured I'd get up from my desk, go to the room, bust out a set of two exercises (pull-ups & push-ups / squats & leg lifts) and then go back to work. That way I get the reps in but I don't sweat enough to require changing clothes or showering. And while not warming up is less than ideal (especially at my age), the actual exercise I'm doing isn't intense enough to seriously risk injury, so long as I'm careful. Result: I'm finishing up week two of this plan and it's been working like gangbusters. I average five 'mini sessions' per day and I'm already getting a sense of what I can do and what I can't to just barely not break a sweat. And the in evening I do my more formal 5k. It's like getting a 'free' workout. Each individual piece is so small and easy it doesn't feel like anything at all, but over the course of a whole day, it's almost a full work-out. Woot!

Week Three Results! In a word... meh. I ate clean four days out of seven, which is one shy of my five day goal. And I got four work-out stickers (1 each for two 5k's, and 2 for as 10k). Which is also one shy of my five per week goal. I also keep forgetting that the week starts on Sunday, not Monday. So I'm already one day behind this week for both. But the Rebel Alliance didn't give up when Hoth was destroyed. And they didn't give up when Luke died. And they didn't give up when Han got captured by Bobba Fett. So I'm not going to give up now. And I think I found an interesting solution to my desire to do bodyweight workouts AND run, without either doing them back-to-back (which, I find, diminishes my enjoyment of each and makes it more likely I'll just play Terraria instead), or scheduling two separate work-outs into my day (which has proved challenging). At work, I'm going to set a 1 hour alarm. And every hour I'll pause what I'm doing, go to the workout room, bust out a pull-up and 5 push-ups. See how many hours I can keep it up without failing, or until I break a sweat and get gross. And every second day I'll do squats and planks (or maybe leg lifts) instead. And we'll see how that goes. If I can keep it up all day, every day, that's a lot of reps. And maybe I'll be able to increase reps as I go.

Yeah. she's pretty awesome. And it works. It's not so much the stickers as it is the accountability. I respect her more than just about anyone on the planet, so if there's one person I don't want to disappoint, it's her. Thanks for checking in, BTW, Manarelle. It's very much appreciated.

Week Two went better. Still not perfect, but better. I've done a switcheroo on the scoring system, and enlisted the help of my SO in my trials and tribulations. We're doing a sticker system (like in Grade School!) and she's set up a little calendar and everything. It's adorable. So now, the goal is thus: -every day I 'eat clean' (which is defined as no processed food and no heavy carbs, with the possible exception of a single snack) I get a sticker -every 5k or work-out is a sticker -I aim for five food stickers and five exercise stickers per week. If I get both, I get a 'Big Sticker' for that week. My 15 year old son, when he saw that, rolled his eyes and was all 'isn't that childish?' And I shrugged and said 'Who cares if it works.' And then I grounded him. So. Last week I did, indeed, eat clean for five out of seven days. And I got my five stickers for exercise. Woot! My other milestone last week was running a 10k in under 1:00. 58:53. I haven't done a 10k that fast in over a decade. I was pretty psyched. So far this week I'm totally on track. I gave up Thanksgiving as a lost cause, but every other day I've eaten clean and exercised. Onward and upward!

BATTLE LOG: WEEK ONE In a word: not great. I ran 25km this week. Which is actually reasonably badass, all things considered. I'm thinking making 35 my goal might have been unnecessarily ambitious. It doesn't give me a lot of wiggle room. I didn't do any bodyweight workouts. At all. I'm finding it hard to figure out where it's going to fit. Do I do the calisthenics and then run? or vice versa? Or have two separate work-out times? All of them have their challenges. Plus I got to Hardmode in Terraria in main world. So I had a lot of work to do. Aaaaaaaaaaaaand diet.... not wonderful, but not too too bad. I ate about 75% clean and 25% not-as-clean. Which is probably something like normal for me. Maybe a little better than normal. No take out though. Having the goal was enough to prevent even a single trip to the Wendy's drive-thru (Mmmmmm.... Baconator). So that's good. I think, moving forward, that my exercise goals should be built around the ideal of 100% compliance on weekdays and 0% on weekends. And then the reward for not missing a day is not having to do anything on the weekends unless I want to (when I'm running regularly, I tend to get antsy if I go more than two days without getting out). And if I do miss a day or two during the week, I have the weekend to catch up. And that pesky diet. I don't know. Again, I don't think I eat that badly all in all. The problem is this 20 pounds of belly fat. If I could get rid of it, I think my current regime would do a good job maintaining. But it's so much effort to get rid of. I'll keep plugging!

@mom2sjm I just checked out Darebee. That site is fantastic! I've been looking for a way to inject some fun and variety back into my routines and I think that's going to be it! I think my goal just changed from working out twice per week to every day!

Week one is going well. I'm totally on track for my 35k this week. I haven't done a bodyweight workout yet, but one tonight and one Saturday and I'm good. I'm not much of an easer-into-er. I know I can run 5k in 30 - 35 minutes, so when I decided it was time, I suited up and went for it. Day one was 34:00. I'm down to about 31:00 now. When my routine fell apart in July, I made it under 25 minutes (24:58!) for the first (and, sadly, only) time. So that's my background goal. Nutrition is, even at this early stage, shaky. I'm doing marginally better than normal, but I don't think I'll be hitting 90% this week, even pro-rated for the two days I missed by starting late. @Rincewind - it was a struggle. I love(d) smoking. Just freaking love(d) it. What got me through was getting a vape. Using the vape was instrumental in uncoupling the physical pleasures of smoking from the emotional. As in, I was getting my nicotine fix, but not participating in the "Smoking is what the cool kids did in High School' emotional payoff that's been my downfall since I started. So after a while, I found that the vape had no real emotional payoff, so I didn't need it for that, and then I found that the actual physical addiction was no big deal. So when I left my vape somewhere, by the time I got around to getting it back, I didn't need it anymore. I imagine it's a very (VERY VERY VERY) mild version of what heroin addicts go through when using methadone.

"Never gonna give you up..." So after three (count 'em!) spectacular failures, I'm back again. I might stumble, I might fall, I might descend into a self-hating orgy of inactivity and self-indulgence for a few days weeks months, but I'm never, never gonna give you up, Rebellion. I got a pocketful of green mushrooms and it's time for a respawn. "Never gonna let you down..." So my previously healthy routine got apocalyptically disrupted and I've been doing basically nothing for the past two months. No working out, no running, barely any attention paid to my diet. Nothing. And I just feel gross. So I want back in. I want another shot. I want one more change to prove that I won't let you down, Rebellion. "Never gonna run around and desert you..." Well, I do hope there'll be some running around, but this time there'll be no stopping mid-challenge. I'm signing up for 28 days of self-improvement, and 28 days is what I'm gonna give. So here's what we're doing. "Never gonna make you cry..." Not that I think I can make an entire internet forum cry, but all the same, first thing's first, we're getting back into the running. 5k each day, every day, with extra points for tossing in a 10k here and there. But I'm going to make the goal kilometers per week, instead of per day. That gives me the flexibility to play Terraria all night once in a while, so long as I make it up, which means no crying for this cat. 35 km per week, is Goal #1. "Never gonna say goodbye..." Bodyweight! I was working the bodyweight for almost a year before some asshats at work ruined the work-out room priveleges and totally messed up my routine. So I need to re-establish a new routine. I have two options, each less optimal than my previous, but both doable. I can do them at the park that's almost exactly 1km from my house, or I can do them in my house. Knowing me the way I do, this one is going to be really hard to get re-started, but I'm not saying goodbye to this awesome, healthy, and very satisfying part of my life. 2 work-outs per week is Goal #2 "Never gonna tell a lie..." Not gonna lie to you, Rebellion, the one thing that's really keeping from looking like a million bucks is my diet. I don't eat very poorly, but I don't eat well enough to lose the 20 - 30 pounds of belly fat I'm carting around. In the past few years, I've made a lot of very healthy decisions. Stopped smoking. Almost no sugary beverages. Way way way less take-out. I eat clean about 60% - 70% of the time. But I need eat clean AND restrict my calorie intake AND find fewer excuses for cheat days (and stop emotionally linking eating poorly with personal freedom, but that's another topic). I've tried a lot of ways to track this and none of them have worked. But I'm going to saddle up one more time. For the next 28 days I'm going to commit to eating well 90% of the time, and do calories next time. This is the truth, Rebellion: 90% Paleo Diet is Goal #3. "And hurt you..." So. Metrics. GOAL #1 - run 35 km per week. That means 5k per day, generally speaking. But it allows the possibility of missing a day and making it up. WEEKLY SCORING: 35k = 1pt. 20k = 0.5pt. Under 20k = 0pts. Over 35k = 3pts GOAL #2 - two bodyweight sessions per week. These are generally full-body circuits composed of five exercises (push-up, pull-up, pike push-up, squat, leg lifts). I'm really hoping to do three. But we'll set the bar at two and see how I do. WEEKLY SCORING: 2 sessions = 1 pt. 1 session = 0.5 pts. Over two sessions: 3pts GOAL #3 (a.k.a - the really hard one) - eating clean. That means pure paleo. Nothing but meat and veg. No carbs. No junk. No processed anything. I'm going to aim for roughly 90%, which should help keep me on track with the flexibility to indulge here and there. I generally eat 2.5 meals per weekday (2 full meals and a number of snacks). On weekends it's closer to 2.75 meals. That makes 18 'meals' per week, which we can round to 20. Which gives me two meals per week where I can eat whatever. Or a combination of meals and snacks. WEEKLY SCORING: 90% clean eating = 2pts. 80% clean = 1pt. 75% clean = 0.5pts. Over 90% = 3pts FINAL SCORING: At the end, every four points is 1 Gold Star. Each Gold Star can be cashed in with my family for one activity of my choosing. A movie, or a board game, or frisbee, or not doing a chore. We've been together for so long, Rebellion. Your heart's been aching. Inside we both know what's been going on. We both know the game. And we're gonna play it. GAME ON.

WEEK THREE, REPORT! Mostly the same as week two. Barreled through my exercise like it was nothing. Made some progress on my work projects. But didn't eat anything close to 100% clean. Again, I don't eat poorly, overall, but I don't eat as well as I'd like to be eating. So zero points for eating, one point for exercise (I took one evening off from running last week. I forget which one it was. But it was a good idea, bonus point or not). And and and... I finally broke 25:00 in my 5k! This has been a goal of mine for a long time. And last night I clocked 24:57. I'm paying for it today. But that's how we roll in Assassin-land. I'm very excited.

Been following along and I think it's great that you leaped into this, guns blazing, and that you're still with it despite some setbacks. I could tell you, most of us could tell you, that our journeys are mostly setbacks. Success is mostly a matter of getting up one more time than you fall down. But in response to your comment that eating paleo requires preparation, I do have some advice to make that easier. This little routine changed my life, diet-wise. 1. Get a Foreman Grill. Even a small one. 2. Buy a bunch of pork chops and some ziplock bags. My routine is, when I'm at the grocery store, I buy pretty much whatever they have on sale (usually because it expires soon). 3. While you're there, buy the cheapest pack of frozen veg you can find. California mix, oriental mix, julienne. Whichever. 4. Take the pork chops home and put two or three of them into each zip-lock bag. Make a neat stack of them in the freezer. So now, whenever you have to eat, and you haven't made other arrangements (no fresh veg, no fresh meat), you just plug in your foreman, thaw your pork chops enough to separate them (I find tossing the stack in the microwave for a minute, flipping them and doing it again usually does the trick), put them on the grill. Put a cup of veg in a bowl, cover with water, microwave for 5 minutes, check if they're warm, if not another couple of minutes. (I also liberally salt everything while cooking, and I also like allspice on my pork, but you can experiment to taste) And in twelve minutes you'll have a perfectly acceptable, perfectly paleo meal. It won't be fine cuisine. But it'll be tasty enough, 100% paleo, and super, super easy. If I'm in a rush, running late, whatever, I can come home, plop my kid down with his homework, and have dinner for three on the table in less than twenty minutes. Happy hunting!

As far as 'eating well' in the general sense, I did fine. But as far as 'eating clean 100% no exceptions' as per my goal, not so well. Everything else is moving right along, though. WEEK TWO REPORT! GOAL ONE: No junk -I didn't eat any JUNK, per se, but I did have a fair amount of carbs. My fiancee moved in on the weekend and there were carby snacks and such all around. So there was a lot of snacking on Saturday. And some cookies. REALLY really good cookies. Baked goods are my Achilles Heel. So, while I don't feel overly bad abou my actual performance, I still can't give myself the point. So I'm 0 for 2 on the eating. SCORING: So far I'm 0 for weeks 1 and 2. Boo urns me. 0 out of 4 GOAL TWO: Exercise -Kicked all the ass again last week. I skipped a lifting session on Friday due to being short-handed at work, but I still ran that evening. I did NOT run on Saturday (moving day) so I don't get the bonus point this week, but I still exercised six days out of seven. So point for me! (also, two nights ago I did 5k in 27:40. I'm closing in on the elusive 25:00 I've been chasing for some time. SCORING: I got two points in week 1, and 1 point for week two. 2 out 4 (+1 bonus!) GOAL THREE; Work Projects -Not too bad.I'll be putting the final touches on one of them today. And by the end of today I'll have a plan in place for the others. I fully expect to have two of the remaining three finished by next week. SCORING: If i count a couple of chickens before they're all the way hatched, I'm at about 1.5 out of 4. So, all in all, not too shabby. I wish I could do better, diet-wise. I still think I'm eating a caloric deficit, week-by-week. But I have that problem where, when I lapse, I say STUFF IT and just lapse like a boss. Maybe I need to go back to some kind of sliding scale where I'm rewarded for small changes. On the plus side, I was under 190lbs this morning for the first time. Just under. But that's totally progress. So maybe we're getting there.

It really is just all about routines. You build a routine with an act and a payoff and then it maintains itself. I've gotten so much better lately. And, like any addiction, the better you do, the better you do (as it were). Last night I did my 5k (5.2 actually) in 30:30. Best time I've run that distance in years. And 1 whole minute faster than Monday's run. Pretty excited.

WEEK ONE PROGRESS! So I actually started all of the above the week BEFORE the Four-Week Challenge started. In that week, I was pretty much perfect. I think I had some hamburgers with my kid on the 12th. But for this week? The first week of the Challenge? Let's have a peek... GOAL ONE: No Junk -ZERO POINTS. That's right. I was doing okay all week long, then I had McDonald's with my son for his Grading Day. Then I ate carbs on the weekend. Pizza. And some more hamburgers. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. GOAL TWO: Exercise -Batting 1000 so far. Since June 7th, I have run at least 5k every single day (sometimes twice that much), seven days each week, on top of my regular three lifting days. I've lost a couple of pounds, I THINK my belly is smaller (I'm going to take Manarelle's advice and do some measurements, I think). But the main difference is in my cardiovascular capacity. It is astounding how much activity I can do now, and how easily, compared to even a month ago. Today, after my lifting, I was less winded than, historically, I am after my workout. I have to skip rope about 20% faster in order to even break a sweat withinin five minutes. Yesterday I ran my 5k like normal, and later when I played frisbee with the spawn, it was like a walk in the park. It's pretty awesome. GOAL THREE: Work Projects -I'm not going to grade myself on this just yet. The projects are all kinds of starting to get done. I'm going to aim for the half-point schedule beak down for next week. So all in all, it's just the damn diet. Ah well, another week is another chance.

So once upon a time, in a suburb echanted forest. There lived a Nimdyd. And one day, after a long time of not liking the way his body looked, he decided to cling to the coat-tails of a whole group of people who were winning at life in a way he wished he could. And that, lads and lasses, was my first Six Week Challenge (back in my day, you see, challenges were six weeks long. You kids today are soft). And I challenged myself to eat right, lose some fat, and start working out on a regular basis. And the work out of it worked. Really well. In fact, it worked SO well that today, nine or so months later, I'm still turning out three or four bodyweight sessions a week. And I feel fantastic. I can toss heavy stuff around like it's nothing. I can do pull-ups. And incline diamond push-ups. I can ALMOST do an unassisted pistol-squat. And there's this weird little muscle that pops up on my shin when I flex my calf. I don't know what it is, but I never get sick of watching it. HOWEVER. I have lost ZERO pounds. And my big fat middle-age guy's belly is just as big and fat and round as it was when I started. All that work, all that effort, and I still look in the mirror and see a fat dumpy middle-aged guy (albeit with some sweet traps). (I know, I know, gains are gains, and progress is progress, the journey IS the destination, and I'm not that dumpy, I'm worthy of respect and people like me, and etc etc, but this belly is really getting to me) The culprit, you see, is my diet. I don't have a really bad diet. But I just don't eat a caloric deficit. Not enough to lose that stubborn belly fat anyway. I tried two more challenges, both focused on diet, and failed at both of them. Well, to be more accurate, I failed at one of them. And then failed to really even start the next one. Failure, thy name is Nimdyd. But! At the end of July, I'm going to visit my family in BC for the first time in three years or so. And I want to go down there looking my best. And I know 45 days isn't enough time to change my body (not safely anyway). But I want to use this even to motivate to change some of my unhealthy routines in the hopes that, once the trip is done, I can maintain that positive momentum. So here we go. GOAL ONE: Empty the handy haversack! -No junk. No take-out. No chips. No baked goods. No bread. No dairy. No soda. -I'll eat two meals a day, in which I'll basically eat as much meat as I want and 1 cup of veg (and then reduce the veg after a week or so). -Snacking will be vegetables and meat only. My fiancee makes an absolutely delicious avocado ranch dip that's basically just healthy fats. If I need to snack, and I'm sick of chicken, I'll eat cucumber sticks and dip. SCORING: 1 point per week that I sucessfully don't eat garbage. If I weaken and cheat once, I'll give myself half a point for the week. GOAL TWO: Downtime training! -I already work out three days a week pretty much like clockwork (Monday, Wednesday, Friday). I'm going to add cardio on my 'active rest' days. -Two days a week (Tuesday and Thursday), I'll do a 30 minute treadmill run. On Saturdays (and Sundays as a bonus day), I'll do Interval Sprints. -No exceptions, no excuses, that's six work-outs per week, and maybe seven if I'm feeling good. SCORING: 1 point per week that I do all six work outs. Bonus point if I do seven. And half a point for five (no points for less than five). GOAL THREE: Multiclassing! Not fitness related, but I have four large, complex, amorphous projects at work that I've been putting off for some time. None of them NEED to be done. But they all SHOULD be done. So I'm going to try to polish them off before I go visit my family. I know I'll feel a lot better in general if I do. SCORING: 1 point for each project brought to completion. I'll further break that down to 0.5 points for breaking each project into bite-sized, daily-task pieces. And then 0.5 points for finishing them. So we're keeping it nice and simple. Three goals. 4 points each. 12 total for the whole Challenge.

Battle Log Week 2 Not as much like a Bauss. More's the pity. But still pretty good. I had a bunch of stuff happen this week. My older son got married on Friday. I went away on a little vacation with my SO on Saturday. I got a really crappy cold Friday/Saturday that has played havoc with my lungs. And even that much chaos just killed my routines. I've decided to write myself a 'sick note' for all three goals for one day last week to account for some of this. I'm also not working out yesterday or today. But the big take-away here for me is that I need to be more careful with pre-planning when I know things are coming up that aren't routine. Second take-away is that my eating habits just absolutely disintegrate into filth the moment I allow myself even a hair's breadth worth of exception. I think diet is really going to be my challenge, long-term.

Oh yeah, this is exactly what I'm doing. I'm using the progression from startingbodyweight.com. So right now I'm doing elbow-in push-ups, and once I've got 5 sets of 5 of them down, I'll move to diamond push-ups. Thanks for the advice.

BATTLE LOG: WEEK 1 Short Answer? LIKE A GODDAM BAUSS! GOAL 1 - Eat between 1500 and 2000 calories 6 days out of seven. 100%! GOAL 2 - Count every calories, every day, even snacks, even bad calories 100%! GOAL 3 - Work out four times per week 100%! I totally rocked it this week! Notes and Impressions: 1. I started doing one of my two work-outs as a circuit. I really like it that way. I finish exhausted, breathing hard, and covered in sweat. It does seem odd to me that my work out only lasts about 13 minutes, though. 10 minute warm up, 10 minute stretch, and 13 minutes of working out? Does anyone else do bodyweight circuits? Does that seem right to you? 2. What do the Assassins think of doing dips and push-ups in the same work-out? What about push-ups and dips on consecutive days? 2. Diet continues to be the hard part. And mostly when I'm home with my son, hanging out and playing board games. Snacks and junk just feels so much a part of this that it's hard to break free. On days when I'm not with my son and have my food all organized and in place, it's a breeze. Future efforts at food control need to focus on son/Daddy time. 3. Counting the calories is way easier than I thought it would be. Once I decided it's a thing I'm doing, it just became a thing I did. My Fitness Pal also makes it about as easy as it's possible to be. 4. I'm a little bit behind on my writing word count (I should have had 15,000 words as of midnight last night), but I'm going to catch up and then some today, so I'm not too too worried. All in all I'm feeling pretty good. I wish I could see some results on the scale from all this. I'm 1 week into my second 6WC and I haven't lost a pound. But I'm telling myself the scale is a lying deceptive demon machine. And it's helping. So far. But I could totally see it becoming demotivating if it continued. How's everyone else coming along?

Hey Rebels! For my current 6WC, I've decided to do a 2-day split bodyweight routine following the progressions from startingbodyweight.com. So, on Day 1 (Monday, Thursday) I do: Push-ups, Squats, Handstand Push-ups, Leg Raises and on Day 2 (Tuesday, Friday) I do Pull-ups, Horizontal Pulls, Deadlifts, Planks. I just this week started doing the Day 1/Push routine as a circuit. So instead of 3 sets of 8 with 2 minutes in between I'm doing 5 sets of 5 with just enough rest to ensure that it's been two minutes since I did the first exercise (so, about 2:30 per circuit). I'm not doing it for speed, I'm taking my time and watching my form. So far I'm enjoying it. It feels a lot more intense than work-and-wait-work-and-wait. But I noticed that I'm only actually working out for, like, 13 minutes. 10 minute warm up, five 2.5 minute sets (plus some) and then a 10 minute stretch. So I'm basically working out for almost the same length of time that I'm warming up and cooling down. Does that seem right to you? Does anyone else do this? Is 13 minutes of work-out enough? Should I add some extra exercises to beef it up a little? Extra circuits? 5 x 5 seems like plenty. It's just over so fast. And this brings me to my second point: Dips vs Push-ups. Has anyone ever decided to do Dips and Push-ups on the same day? Or on consecutive days? Like, if I did Dips on Day 1 and Push-ups on Day 2 or whatever. Or am I just looking for trouble? Help me Rebels, you're my only hope.

Hangry is totes no bueno. And my SO, who has to deal with me, would way rather me be fat than hangry. So I have to walk the line here. (NSFW - f-bomb) But I've been calorie counting now for four(?) days and it's working a treat. I've been well under 2000 every day and only over 1500 once. And watching the calories of everything I eat, like Urgan says, does absolute WONDERS for my food choices. Just that moment's extra thought takes away most of the bad, self-indulgent ones. One my employees, for Halloween dropped off a box of Ferro Rocher on my desk. These things are my favourite. And I'm like... 75 calories each? That's not TOO bad... I could have one... maybe two... Grrrrr. Bringing sexy back is SO HARD.

I really, really, really wanted to job on board this train for my second challenge. But I think my Lifequest is going to eat up all the time and energy I've got to spare. So methinks that, rather than sign up and suck, I'll give it a miss and do it next time. I'll be watching though. Cheering y'all on from the sidelines!

Form check videos is an excellent idea. I think I might need some of that too. I'm convinced I'm doing [things] wring with my squats and pull-ups/inverted rows. Right now establishing patterns and routines is of paramount importance, but as soon as I have them settled, I'm thinking it'll be time to get my head around making videos and getting some advice. Will be checking in to see how this goes!

I'm done my first challenge! Can I be an Assassin now? Please? PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE? Okay! fresh my very first ever (even vaguely successful) 6WC, I figured the best way tio reward myself for 6 weeks of hard work was.... another six weeks of hard work! So here I am again. Donning the cloak. Flipping the hood. Putting on the badass and getting ready to rock out. (I totally look just like this right now) Things I learned from my first 6WC -I hate (HATE) running on the treadmill unless it's so low intensity so as to be useless to me -I love (LOVE) bodyweight training, especially the part where I very nerdily record my gains in my little book -Diet is hard, and grading myself pass or fail each day is not useful or motivating So with all this newfound wisdom, I officially embark on Nimdyd's Odyssey of Self-Exploration and Achievement, Part Deux GOAL 1 - Tickets to the Gun Show -Bodyweight workouts four days per week, every week, no exceptions, no excuses. -I'll be using http://www.startbodyweight.com/ as my template, the two-day split. So Mondays and Thursdays will be Push (squats, push-ups, handstand push-ups, leg raises) and Tuesdays and Fridays will be Pull (pull-ups, horizontal pulls, deadlifts, plank). -I've actually started this already, and for future reference, this is where I am right now: --Squats: Beginner Shrimps, 8/8/8. I'm actually moving to Assisted Pistol Squats today (woo!) --Push-ups: Elbow-in Push-ups: 5/5/4 --Handstand Push-ups: Incline Diamond: 8/8/8 (next up: Pike Push-ups!) --Leg Raises: Forearm Knee Raises 8/8/8 (next up: hanging kneee raises!) --Pull-ups: Jack-knife pull-ups: 5/5/5 --Horizontal Pulls: Bent-leg Rows: 4/4/4 --Deadlifts: 200 lbs: 8/8/8 --Plank: Kneeling Plank 1m (next up: Side kneeling plank!) SCORING: 1 point per routine, 4 days per week, 24 points total BONUS: I want to get into the habit of doing a 5k once per week on a rest day, but the nature of my Wednesday and weekend schedules makes it impractical to make it a requirement. So I'm going to give myself one BONUS POINT for each 5k I do. If I get 5 BONUS POINTS by the end of the challenge I'll give myself +2 Constitution. An extra bodyweight workout on the weekend will also count toward this goal GOAL 2 - All Your Base -I have a big belly. I inherited it from my father. And I dislike it rather intensely. It makes me feel old and fat and gross and makes me always slightly uncomfortable in my own skin. I want to get rid of it. -So I need to get my diet under control. And by that I mean make permanent changes to the way I relate to food. Just 'going Paleo' isn't cutting it, nor is restricting myself to cheat days. A new approach is needed -Part one of the solution is: I am going to count my calories for 6 full weeks. The counting itself, because I'm bad at daily micromanage-y stuff, will an actual goal, aside from whatever calories i wind up eating. -Count everything I eat, good or bad, seven days a week, for six weeks. I'm going to give myself 3 points per day for every day I do it right (count every teeny thing, as I eat it, and log it on Habitica) and 2 points if i do a half-assed job (count them all at the end of the day, from memory, guestimate more than a reasonable amount, don't log it in Habitica, etc). SCORING: up to 3 points per day, seven days a week, six weeks = 126 points total GOAL 3 - All My Base -Since I'm counting calories, I might as well try to remain within a certain amount, right? -Depending on what method I use, my recommended daily caloric intake to lose between 1 and 2 pounds per week is 1500 - 2500. -I'm going to aim for between 1500 and 2000. 1500 will be the general goal, but I won't starve myself. If I'm hungry, I'll eat, so long as I'm eating healthy and I don't go over 2000. -I'll allow myself two completely unhealthy meals per week. I'm still going to log the calories for those meals. -I will not restrict myself, snack-wise. The calorie counting should keep those in check all on their own (like, for example, as part of my 'eating paleo' I had a LOT of pepperoni sticks as snacks. And then it turns out the brand I like is 110 calories PER STICK. So I could easily eat my whole days' calories worth of pepperoni in one sitting). -Being mindful and healthy is the key, not being hangry SCORING: I'm going to score myself 1 point for every day I finish under 2000 calories, 6 days per week. The buffer is just so that I don't feel it necessary to make unhealthy choices for the sake of a point. 6 days per week x 6 weeks = 36 total points BONUS: Every week I finish with 7 points I'm going to give myself a BONUS POINT. If I get 5 BONUS POINTS over the course of the challenge, I'll give myself an extra +2 Charisma Lifequest: -Since this challenge corresponds quite nicely with November, I'm going to partake in Nanowrimo this year. In case you don't know, every November many people challenge themselves to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. the Toronto Nanowrimo community is very large and well-organized and have lots of really fun events. -So this year I'm going to write me a book in November. -I'm going to track my word count, but I'm not going to score it. It's just for poops and giggles. Okay? Okay! I'm really looking forward to this.