EthanKanke

I'm sure this is answered somewhere in the forum, but I couldn't find it. So here goes: what's a good beginners yoga sequence to increase flexibility?

Hey scouts! This is my second challenge on nerd fitness, and as early preparation for a possible tough mudder, I decided to be a scout. For those who caught the reference above, you'll know that I was a Boy Scout, and proudly and an Eagle Scout. I'm also a husband, and dad to a beautiful 3 month old baby girl. I felt pretty good about my last challenge. I set out to walk for 10 min every weekday morning, eat at least 3 mostly paleo meals a week, and exercise at least three times a week. I did good with the exercising and the paleo meals, but due to moving my workouts to before work, I didn't really do the 10 min walks. The problem with this is that I wanted to build those walks up to runs, in preperation for the tough mudder I mentioned above, as well as possible color runs and 5ks. So this challenge I'm going to continue with the mostly paleo and the exercise at least 3 days a week, but those aren't going to be my goals. My goals will be: Primary goal: Run for at least 4 days a week. Each week, at least one of the runs will be at least one minute longer than my longest run the week before. The reason that it's at least one run being longer is because of my schedule. Working full time with a 3 month old means that it's not fair to my stay at home wife if I spend all my non work time working out. That being said, I'd like to do long runs more than just the once a week, but I'm allowing myself the wiggle room. Secondary goal: Do some beginner yoga at least 4 days a week. As I've lost some weight and gained some strength, I've become very aware of how unflexible I am. This is something I want to change, so I'm adding it to my challenge. I didn't do a great job of keeping up with posts for my last challenge, so I'm not going to bother joining an accountibilibudy group. But I will be checking out the mini challenges, and as I get more into running I'll probably reach out to you guys for questions.

I know I've been pretty quiet this challenge, but I've been reading your comments, and I've really appreciated your help and support throughout this challenge. For the next challenge I think I'm gonna do Ranger. I still need to lose some weight and get my cardio up before I can focus on really building muscle.

Does anyone have any tips on how to prevent your teeth from hurting after a run? I did my first real run today, and afterward my teeth hurt so bad that it's hard to convince myself I want to run ever again, which isn't an option since I want to do a tough mudder and a color run. Help?

I keep saying I'm going to post more frequently, and I keep forgetting. So I'm not gonna promise that anymore. Instead, I'll just give updates when I remember too. Anyway, things are still going good. I've been slacking on my morning walks, but I'm trying to make up for it by exercising more. On Saturday I weighed myself, and I was under 200lbs for the first time in years! Then super bowl sunday happened and... Well, I won't be weighing myself again for awhile. But I'm ready to hit it hard this week, to try to make up for the super bowl party a little bit.

I checked it out, and I think it's more than I want to keep track of. I'm avoiding counting my calories, cause I know I'll get burnt out. Instead I'm trying to just generally eat better. I might see if there's something that can track just protein.

I've been considering that, I just haven't done it yet. I'm kinda worried about the cost.

Things are good. I keep forgetting to post on here. I do it entirely through my phone, and it can be a bit of a hassle sometimes. Anyway, I kinda hot a bit of a slump last week. I skipped my morning walk for three days, and though I was still working out, my heart wasn't in it as much. But sunday my brother came over and worked out with me, and that ended up being just what I needed to get back in the swing of things. Starting this week I'm gonna workout before work instead of after. I hope it goes well. I prefer working out in the evening, when my muscles are looser and I can use exercising to destress, but it was cutting into my family time. I was getting home, working out for 30 - 45 min, then starting supper. It wasn't fair to my wife. So hopefully working out in the morning will be good too. This morning it seemed to wake me up a bit more. I'm still havin salads every week day for lunch, and two (mostly) paleo dinners during the week. Last night we had pulled pork on sweet potato buns. And for breakfast this morning I ate a pulled pork omelet. The one thing I'm worried about with my diet is that I might not be getting enough protien to build the muscle that I want. Anyway, sorry for the novel, and for checking up on me! I'm gonna try to post more consistently this week.

So, 3rd week. Almost halfway through, and I'm feeling great! I missed my walk this morning, but I'm ok with that. Salad for lunch, and leftover bbq chicken (delicious!) for supper. I did a body weight workout using my new pull up bar after work. But probably the most exciting part was the warm up. I ran in place for 5 min, non stop. By the end, my lungs weren't burning, I wasn't gasping for air, and I didn't feel like throwing up. It was amazing! I haven't been able to do that in a very long time. It was a great reminder of why I'm working so hard.

I missed my walk this morning, but made up for it with a 2 hour walk with my wife and daughter. It was an absolutely beautiful day! It's not often you take a walk in short sleeves in January. For supper I grilled some mostly paleo barbecue and bacon chicken. The chicken was marinated in some homemade pineapple bbq sauce, then wrapped in bacon. It was delicious! As for working out, today was my rest day. Ready for the new work week tomorrow.

I just bought a Golds Gym "door gym trainer" it lets you do different kinds of pull ups and chin ups, as well as a lower door position which allows for sit-ups, and a floor position which allows for all kinds of other exercises. I'm still a beginner when it comes to exercising (I can't quite do a pull-up). Does anyone know a good routine that makes use of this kind of bar. It was a bit of an impulse buy, cause I want to work up to doing pull ups, but till I'm at that point I don't want it to go to waste.

I love it. I did something with leftover steak once that involved cooking it in a skillet and making a sandwhich out of it. It was the ridiculously delicious, and I cant rember what I did

Today was another great day. Morning walk, salad for lunch. Came home from work and did another killer workout (I had trouble walking for awhile), and finished off the day with some paleo banana pancakes and sausage.

I forgot to give an update last night, so here goes. I was able to do my 10 minute walk yesterday morning. No evening workout since it was my off day. Salad for lunch, and leftover burger for supper (with added avocado spread).

Thanks for the advice! It's really helped. I did a killer workout yesterday, drank a lot of water afterwards, and I feel great today.