Libitinarius

Update #5 Doing a bit better this week. Pushups Goal: 22 in a set, 37 total. Meditation Goal: P/F/F/P/F/F/P -- really having trouble with this and trying to figure out why. Chinup Goal: Still at two, so I'm probably not going to hit 5 before the challenge finishes.

Update #4 Was very sick all week on top of midterms. I didn't miss any of my classes or exams, but I did have to bow out on workouts on account of debilitating headaches and nausea. Sigh. Will be back on the grind this week.

Update #3 Pushup Goal: At 18 in a set, 35 total. Meditation Goal: P/P/P/F/F/F/P. This week was terrible, I was stressed to the gills. Grade: C. Chinup Goal: Still can only do two in a set and one consistent pullup. Trying to practice these whenever I walk by the bar to see if I can get my numbers up.

Update #2 Pushup Goal: At 16 in a set, 29 total. Meditation Goal: P/P/P/P/F/P/P. Missed one night when I was so tired I thought if I stopped to close my eyes, I'd fall asleep, heh. Grade: A-. Chinup Goal: I can do a neutral-grip pullup (and sometimes two)! Which is neat but also exhausts me too much for more chinups, so I'm trying to figure out the balance there.

Update #8 Twenty minutes of Tai Chi this morning. Same breakfast and lunch. I didn't have much time to workout today, but I did my first pullup without a band or anything! And then my second. The first one was close-grip and the second one was neutral grip. I could only knock out two chinups after that since my back was like ??? at the new feeling, but hey. I'm making progress.

Update #7 Twenty minutes of Tai Chi this morning. Breakfast was a bacon, egg, and lettuce sandwich with an americano. Lunch was a grilled chicken sandwich with bacon and lots of water to drink. Dinner will probably be another sandwich like the one from yesterday's breakfast. The wide variety of college cafeterias knows no bounds.

Update #6 Breakfast was a turkey sandwich with brie and raspberry jam. Also had some coffee, probably going to pick up another Americano later. Snack was an organic fruit smoothie. Next meal will probably be another sandwich and said Americano. Busy as hell all around.

Update #1 Pushup Goal: At 12 in a set, 20 total. Meditation Goal: P/P/P/F/P. Missed one night since I was both distracted and tired. Grade: B. Chinup Goal: Up to three in a set plus one negative. On a whim, I decided to give a pullup a try and got my face up to the bar (but not over it). Still, that's the highest I've ever gotten, so I'm really close to being able to do one. I also hit my bonus goal the first time I tried, which was a nice surprise. Now I do all of my planks for a minute a piece each time.

Update #5 Got up early to go on a field trip to the Buddhist center with my classmates. Did my daily meditation there. Had coffee and then got a steak and cheddar sandwich with lemon orzo soup. Still figuring out what dinner is going to be. Got a 93/100 on my first test, so that's good. Speaking Mandarin for 6+ hours a day is exhausting, though.

Update #4: A really frustrating day emotionally, but I still ate well. Same as before for breakfast, one espresso and one cup of coffee throughout the day. Lunch was chicken and potato wedges, snacks are fruit and Greek yogurt. Dinner's currently up in the air. Chinups: 3 (1 negative)Pushups 12/4/4Planks (front + side, 1 minute)Shoulder Presses 3x5 (50 lbs.)Dumbbell Rows 3x8 (25 lbs.)Lunges 2x10 Hip Bridge 2x10I tried for a pullup on a whim and got my face up to the bar, but not over it. Still that's better than I've ever done before, so it's some progress.

Update #3 Same breakfast, had roast beef and broccoli for lunch. Ended up getting shrimp with snowpeas and rice for dinner. Next workout is tomorrow. I'm incredibly wiped out, so I'm going to bed a bit early. Tomorrow's going to be a long day. I also forgot to mention my program does 20 minutes of Tai Chi a day, so that's been happening.

Update #2 Breakfast was a bacon, egg, provolone, and lettuce sandwich with my espresso. Lunch was chicken and potato wedges again (lunch right now is very limited) and snacks are still fruit and Greek yogurt. Working out dinner after I review for tomorrow's å¬å†™. I got a 9.3/10 on my first å¬å†™, which was good. After class, I worked out in my room. Chinups: 3 Pushups: 10/4/4Planks (Front & Side): I hit 1:00 a piece, which was a bonus goal!Shoulder Presses: 5/5/5 (50 lbs.)Bent-Over Dumbbell Rows: 8/8/8 (25 lbs. each side)Lunges: 10/10 (still unweighted because of my knee)Hip Bridges: 10/10I also started my new Assassin challenge yesterday.

After my recruit challenge, I was reached out to by the Assassins, so now I'm here! My first challenge started really well, but I got sidelined at the end by an old knee injury acting up due to walking around Chicago for a week and ignoring the faint twitch there until a little too late. As a result, my first goal from that challenge -- do 30 pushups in one set -- is being pushed forward to this challenge. I succeeded in my other two goals -- getting 6+ hours of sleep a night and eating healthy dinners -- so I'll be trying to keep those habits in place on top of my new goals. Main Quest: Reaching a certain degree of fitness. The specifics I have in mind are 10 unassisted pullups without stopping, 50 pushups without stopping, 20 unassisted dips on dip bars, and able to run a mile near the ten minute mark. Goal #1: 30 pushups in one set. I'll be using the same daily pushup chart as last time in order to hit this goal. My high last challenge was 26, but since I had to go off for two weeks, I'll probably be starting a bit lower. (+3 STR, +1 DEX) Goal #2: Meditate 10 minutes a day. I've been a Zen Buddhist since I was 17, but I've been pretty bad at keeping up with meditating since I stopped having regular access to a meditation group. That's no excuse, though! So I'll be marking this as a pass/fail every day. (+2 STA, +2 WIS) Goal #3: 5 chinups in one set. I have a pullup bar in my dorm room, so I'll have to see it every day. I've managed to do sets of two or three in the past, but that's without a daily effort. If hitting 5 ends up being too easily, I'll bump it up to 10 before the end of the six weeks. (+2 STR, +2 CHA) Bonus Goal: Hit 1:00 on front and side planks. I've gotten pretty close so I don't think it'll take me the entire challenge to do this, but I'd like to mark it down anyway. (+1 DEX, +1 CHA) Hit on 6/12! Updates should be every Saturday, barring any spectacular progress I want to post about.

Update #1 And then I lost internet for a few days! Now I'm at school and in my program so I'm going to be hilariously (painfully) busy, but I'm going to do my best to keep up with this. This morning I had sausage and eggs for breakfast with my coffee, then had four hours of classes. Lunch was a whole load of chicken and a few potato wedges, since the original plan for lunch got shafted (the cafeteria's not open yet). Snacks have been fruit and Greek yogurt. Trying to figure out what I'm going to do for dinner, since I'm almost too tired to think after speaking Mandarin for six hours straight. Considering time constraints and the fact that walking to the gym on campus isn't convenient from this dormitory (also, it's hot as hell), I'm glad I brought my weights and chin-up bar to the dorm, which has overpowered AC on a good day. I'll post a workout update tomorrow.

Well, metaphorically speaking. I make a lot of bad mortician jokes (hence the name). This log is to keep me rolling on progress during and in-between challenges, especially since I'm in the middle of a lot of transition stuff personally that can make it hard to hold onto a routine. I'm a full-time college student (double-majoring in Mandarin and Telecommunications) for the second time around -- the first time was for the mortuary license currently collecting dust -- and have a job as a contract writer. Workouts will be logged here as well as progress with diet, meditation progress, and probably reading books or studying notes too. After the first week of June, I'll probably be writing my posts in Mandarin as well as English because I'm in a summer program with a language contract. Might as well flex all the 汉字 I know. Right now my main focus is pushups and chinups, trying to eventually work towards full pullups. Planks and lunges will be thrown in there too, as well as probably the weighted jump-rope my friend gifted to me after ACEN. I also use HabitRPG to keep me on track for stuff, so that might be mentioned here and there.