Firedance

Ok late posting but I had an excellent Zumba class and strength training session. A 35lb bar suddenly appeared and I did overhead presses with that which was fun, I was using a 30 lb straight curl bar before and wasn't sure how to move up directly to a 40 lb one haha. Squat: 55 lbs Press: 35 lbs Deadlift: 100 lbs! Enough: 4/30 days Exercise: 1/8 days Eat Fruit/Veggies: 4/28 days Accounting: 0/7 lessons

Thanks Briniel

YUP. It's amazing how fast it can unravel when you let it. This time I'm not letting it. Hopefully! Right? It's kinda amazing. If I told myself that a year ago I'd never believe it, but it's true now. Anyways goals. - Meditate or Journal daily on the theme of Being Enough most days. 25-30 is an A. - Exercise 2 x a week - Eat Fruit/Veggies at 2 meals a day 25-30 is an A. - Finish accounting course I started in Feb. The final is on April 1 Gotta catch my Pokemon team tonight! There is a strong chance this will push me back into my Gameboy DS, which I haven't used in ages. Which would be fun, although a possible time sink. But relaxing too.

I'm enough. I'm a recovering perfectionist. No doubt I'll always be one, but it's been sneaking up on me again. I love to learn and push myself with challenges like these, but it's always a fine line for me. It doesn't take much to beat myself up or start compromising on my goals because they aren't going perfectly. I missed one workout last weekend because an old friend was visiting. Then yesterday I realized I was thinking that maybe I didn't really want to be strong, maybe it was too much and I should skip this challenge because I'm busy this month. And really what I think it was is that I've been trying really hard and it's scary and I failed and I might keep failing and so I should just quit. Then I thought about how it felt when I PRd a deadlift and smiled to myself. That's worth the effort. Gotta figure out what the challenge will be but I'm doing one.

Kinda a crazy week and I see that I've completely failed to post apparently. I wrote one on Tuesday it must have not loaded. Oh well. Sadly I did not slide into base this week. A series of events had me decide to let go of having a perfect challenge in favor of a day of rest. I did get the accounting done though so it's not a total loss. Cardio: 7/8 Strength: 7/8 Accounting: 4/4 Learning to squat and press: Done So with the new rules, does this mean I don't level up? We don't do stat points anymore so I don't get 5.374478568 STR percentage wise, but I did really well so giving myself no credit seems contrary to the spirit of getting better and setting hard goals. Any thoughts?

It was called XenoShift, a deck building coop game where you try to kill a bunch of terrifying aliens. Mostly they kill you. Thanks! This week isn't going perfectly either, which is driving my poor perfectionistic brain crazy (recovery from perfectionism is a long process). I was unable to get my strength workout in at the gym last night, because as soon as I got there (late due to train traffic) we got kicked out of the building because of a Carbon Monoxide alarm going off. So off into the cold we went, although I did have my coat. SO I ended up only doing zumba, which went late because we started late. So in order to get enough sleep, I had to skip weightlifting, which made me sad. Hopefully I can make it up on Friday and then workout on Sunday. Cardio: 7/8 Strength: 6/8 Learning: 2/2 Accounting: 3/4

Always. But we were past the two hour mark and not even half way when we called it so it was an especially heinous lie! Even with our general insistence on over thinking every move... Thank you!

Slid in home just barely on the week. Strength training and a quick run on the treadmill. And an extra half a lesson on accounting. Then hours of board games! And a much later bedtime than hoped for but the hour long game was a lie. Squat: 45, 45, 45, 50, 55, 55 (YAY) Bench press: d15,45, 45, 50, 55 (very hard) Deadlift: 45, 55, 65, 95 (possible -10 on all) I have to figure out whether the trap bar at by gym is 35 or 45 lbs. I thought it was 35, but then someone said 45. So either all my deadlift totals have been low or this one is high. Cardio: 6/8 Strength: 6/8 Learning: 2/2 Accounting: 3/4

They are used to it, but grumbly nonetheless! Nothing to report today. The best part about today is that it's almost over.

Wow that was an epic process to catch up and totally worth it. Excited for your challenge progress and the story!!! Also the HSPUs are super impressive

Wow you are getting so much accomplished! It's very impressive. Kicking butt!

Thanks guys! Zumba last night was much needed to loosen up and be happy, definitely a bit sore today though. Especially my upper arms and right outside my arm pits. This is probably from the presses and accessory exercises we also did, but I think it's funny since the main focus Monday was on squats. Staying tight during the squats probably did contribute. Cardio: 5/8 Strength: 5/8 Learning: 2/2 Accounting: 3/4

Yay I did it!!! *insert bouncing around kinda happiness* I even was able to back squats with 45 lbs so I can use any bar. It was actually easier since I kept pitching forward a bit. He also went over accessory exercises. And he went over presses and checked my deadlift. So I feel much better overall. Reassurance that I'm not having horrific form is so great. I also did my half hour of accounting for the week. So even if my week is as crazy as I'm expecting that's done. Intimidatingly strong guys prepare to share the squat rack. (Wow that would be the most annoying work in situation haha. Let me just take those four huge plates off kthx) Cardio: 4/8 Strength: 5/8 Learn squat and press: Done! Accounting 3/4

The expansion for TM fixes the few flaws in that game I really recommend it. Plus you can be a dragon rider which is my favorite idea ever. Castles is always fun, I love games where I can build my own awesome kingdom. My friends are freaking amazing strategy game players, so I like having secondary goals like making pretty castles. Then I don't feel bad for losing most of the time! "Oh congrats you beat me by a 100 points. But my castle is symmetrical...."

I splurged and am having a personal training session tonight to learn how to squat with a barbell. Super excited!

Also, My friends have Risk Legacy and I got to play one game thus far. It might be a limited number of plays, but it's making it up in memorable games and long breakdown conversations. Which adds a lot to the value. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I recently played Grand Austria Hotel and it was excellent. Complicated like Terra Mystica, but with different mechanics. Another recent good one was Nefarious the Mad, which was much quicker (and I miraculously won which was nice). I really liked that you pull two "twist " cards at the beginning that make it different every time you play. Citadels is another game I love that I haven't seen mentioned yet. I haven't played Abyss in a while but the art is stunning. Most of my other favs are already listed! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It was a tough week but I got my goals done so I'm happy. 3x5 Squat: 4, 8, 12, 12, 16, 16, 16 3x5 Press: 20, 20, 30, 30, 30, 30, 1x5 Deadlift: 35, 55, 70, 85 And running for not quite 10 minutes and foam rolling. Cardio: 4/8 Strength: 4/8 Form: 1/2 Accounting: 2/4

Thanks Erick that means a lot.

Well since I did pretty well on the 35 lb kettle bell squats I did a test set with the barbell, which was a fail. I didn't drop it (thank god) but I also did not manage a full squat. Serendipitously, about ten minutes later the personal trainer a worked with when I joined the gym stop to say hi and I asked for a lesson. I think the expense will be worth it, especially because bad form causes injuries and those are expensive. In happier news, I totally bench pressed the bar. I dumbell pressed 22.50 and this convinced me I could do it so I tried. So I'll have to build up to doing sets of that as my base, which will be nice. AND I did an 80 lb deadlift. . Dance/Yoga/Run 2x week: 3/82. Strength train 2x week: 3/83. Learn to squat and press with a barbell. 1/24. Practice accounting (30 mins a week): 1/4

Thank you! I'm trying hard to meet them all That is a good idea, since falling down is exactly what I'm afraid of. I don't have a gym partner, and am totally chicken about asking a stranger to spot (who may or may not know how anyways). I will have to figure out how to implement that. Haha I finally did the math on kg/lb conversion and felt a lot better when I realized it was 35 lbs! I've never been a math person, and am incapable of doing mental math. But I'm liking the theory of accounting, and gaining an understanding something complicated is always a thrill for me. I live to learn new things. I think if I was being forced to learn it or tried to in high school, I'd hate it. I'd get terrible grades and it would have sucked. But because I'm learning in a context of skill building and can take my time, I like it. I did get my yoga in on Sunday before the Super bowl, but then never posted it. Zumba and lifting tonight, maybe in a power rack if I can find an open one! 1. Dance/Yoga/Run 2x week: 2/82. Strength train 2x week: 2/83. Learn to squat and press with a barbell. 1/24. Practice accounting (30 mins a week): 1/4

I'm mentally dancing around in excitement because I did so much new stuff today and yet got lots of down time! I did presses for the first time, using what I think are curling barbells? Anyways they are much lighter and I went to 30 lbs. Then I deadlifted 75 lbs! And squated with a 16 lb kettelbell. This made me feel much better about not falling down and looking like an idiot when I squat with a barbell for the first time. Then I practiced accounting and set up a spreadsheet for practicing double entry bookkeeping. If I ever start a real business, I'll use software to deal with all the complicated stuff and do math for me. But I want to learn the complicated stuff, so I need to start by hand. Next time I'm going to make up a bunch of imaginary transactions and practice figure out what accounts the effect and how to post them and stuff. Plus I also watched lots of Fringe and cross stitched. 1. Dance/Yoga/Run 2x week: 1/82. Strength train 2x week: 2/83. Learn to squat and press with a barbell. 1/24. Practice accounting (30 mins a week): 1/4

Finished the account course I was taking on Lynda.com. Gonna try putting together a spreadsheet this weekend

I don't follow a specific diet, but I am trying to eat a serving of veggies at two meals a day. I have an app called Balance that I use to remind me of that, so it seemed silly to duplicate it here. The minute I start trying to restrict food I start eating more of them, so I take the opposite approach. I'm learning to silversmith, and I'm in love with it. It's frustrating and wonderful. Strength training is much more fun than I'd ever have expected, so I'm pretty excited to try more of it. My plan is to hog the squat rack this weekend when less people are there and was practicing with a broom at home. Yeah, it's not "real" mostly as a mental trick so that I don't have panic attacks about it. I'm easing my way into the idea that I could do it if I decide I actually want to, and it's not like the skills will be wasted! 1. Dance/Yoga/Run 2x week: 1/8 2. Strength train 2x week: 1/8 I deadlifted 65 lbs last night for the first time 3. Learn to squat and press with a barbell. 0/1 4. Practice accounting (30 mins a week): 0/4