Darth Yoga

For me, it really helped to just accept that my ability to want to do things is broken. So when there is a thing that I intend to do, that furthers my life goals, and I don't want to do it, I just tell myself, "Yeah, that is normal. You don't have to want to do it. Just get up, do the first step, and keep moving." Not that it always works, but I used to get real bogged down in trying to feel motivated. What will motivate me? Why don't I feel motivated? Um, because I have clinical depression is why. I have gotten a lot better at not feeling bad about feeling bad, not criticizing myself for my emotional state. It is bad enough without me adding an extra layer of guilt and shame to it.

I'm thinking of another bare minimum challenge this time. 100 pushups a day? That is a good do it anywhere "no excuse not to do it" challenge. If my shoulders get crabby I can switch to kettlebell swings.

A friend of mine wants to get me into .... east coast swing? Not sure I am remembering correctly. My main hesitancy is that she lives 45 minutes away and I hate driving. Otherwise I am intrigued. I like trying new activities with friends. Dance has never really my thing, except for occasional contra dance, which is sort of like square dancing but to the New England version of Irish and French folk music. It is easy, fully called, and not heavily partnered. Super beginner-friendly.

SUCCESS Okay, so I didn't post, but I DID do my squats 3x each week.

I got one of those at a thrift store years ago! I never tries steaming eggs in it but I make batches of "hardboiled" eggs in my vegetable steamer all the time and I can confirm they are way easier to peel than conventional. Plus the steamer is a "set it and forget it" cooking method, which I love.

Week one - SUCCESS! Three squat sessions. No meditation, but that is okay. Week two is already a partial success because the accountability of posting on NF has twice motivated me to exercise at an unreasonable hour when I had totally good excuses not to.

My secret is I really hate doing more than 5 of anything. 😄 Even 5x5 is kind of a drag. I like stuff I can do 3x5. (I'll sometimes do Pavel's 10x10 kettlebell swings but those are over really quick, with only very short rests so you don't lose forward momentum. Still kind of a slog though.) In my heart I prefer simple bodyweight work, with kettlebell as a distant second, but barbell is so simple to get a challenging workout quickly and efficiently, if you have the equipment. And people are always throwing away fitness gear, so over the past decade I've scavenged a lot of equipment. Skipping warmups, 3x5 squats 3x/week is a total time commitment of under a half hour a week. Spend the rests doing a little mobility work on my shoulders, and do 5 minutes of yoga every morning. That is about what I can manage right now. So far I have done zero meditation, but I will not feel bad about it. It was EXTRA CREDIT. Totally optional.

Yeah, I use MTWRFSN. I've never seen U for Sunday. Weirdo. 😄 Just here for spreadsheet love though. No wait. Squats. I'm here for squats. My Squatsmas is 3x5 barbell squats, 3x/week.

Despite being epically miserable (for other reasons) I got my ass under the bar on Sunday and Tuesday. Dropped the weight down to 110# instead of my usual 150# so I can just bang out three sets without warmup. No warmup is partly lazy, partly to maintain mental momentum, and partly because if I am not changing weights, I can be quiet enough that I don't feel rude doing it in the mornings. Good deep squats, not slacking there. It is enough to make my legs wobbly going down the stairs the next day, so I say that is enough to count as doing squats.

Oof! Good luck! Do you have a backup plan for mom? I always get nervous when my plans hinge on anyone doing anything they aren't already in a well established habit of doing. Is getting yelled at for moving the papers actually going to interfere with you doing your project? Is the project worth it? Because eating that might be your most efficient route forward. "Do something about.... (a thing I've been not doing for ages)" and "Move clutter" are both dAnGeRouS missions for ADHD brain. Be strong! Stay focused on the primary goal! Be ruthless about anything that doesn't directly further your mission.

Keeping it real simple. Just to keep my hand in and do SOMETHING. GOAL: Barbell squats, 3x5, three times a week for three weeks. SCORING: 10pt per set, plus 10pt for doing the whole week, makes 100pt/wk. Any non-trivial weight gets full marks, say over 100#. Extra credit: 1pt per 10m meditation.

WEEK 4: Success! 100/100 pullups Plus yoga every day. I am finding the GTG "do a few throughout the day" plan a little unsatisfying, but definitely sustainable at this level. Next challenge will be nutrition. Probably protein and veg at two meals a day, or a certain number of servings of each.

WEEK 3: Success! 100/100 pullups Plus yoga every day. Slacked off on posting updates, but not on doing the work.

WEEK 2: Success! 135/100 pullups Plus yoga every day. Definitely getting better at this. I was feeling pretty rough Thursday so I took it easy. Aside from that, volume is limited mostly by just not remembering to do it more often.

And happy birthday to me! I usually limit sweets pretty strictly (because I have NO BRAKES) but for my birthday I ate SO MUCH CAKE. So good. Picture doesn't show well but it was gold metallic.