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Not sure anyone around here will remember me. Here's my most recent log: Log I just skimmed through that old log. It was fun to see me just starting my business. I've kept with it and last year did over $80k (CAD) in revenue. I'm still working full time at the Frito Lay plant making Doritos, Tostitos, Popcorn and Cheetos weekend nights. Father of 3 (4m, 7f, 10f). Between the Chip factory and my business I work every day doing the equivalent of 2 full time jobs. In a lot of ways I wish I could quit Frito Lay. After expenses and taxes, the business just doesn't pull in enough to support my family. While I work both of these jobs I've started investing and we're in a much better financial place than we've even been in before. But I'm tired. OK, you're caught up on my life. So, what am I doing back here? It's been 7 years. I always TRY to be fit. Since I last posted, I spent some time going to a chain gym and really enjoyed it. Fit4Less had pretty much everything I needed and at a price that I could stomach. I'd spin, walk and use the weights. I was going after dropping the kids off at school (not a euphemism!) and had a good routine. Then Covid happened. Gyms closed. I didn't give up. My wife and I decided to buy a Treadmill. I also bought myself some PowerBlock dumbbells since the random assortment I had didn't cut it after having access to a full set at the gym. Life went on, but it was much easier to come home and get straight to work on business stuff, or just sit down and chill while telling myself I'd go do my workout after this video is over... So ya, I've had some periods when I was on point with my fitness. I took up running for a while. Completed a Couch25K program and found that I actually like running. I tried intermittent fasting and lost some thing like 30 lbs. And I've gained it all back. I struggle with the ALL or NOTHING thing. When I start missing workouts or eating poorly I tend to throw it all out. I need to find my pressure guage. My current workout plan is: Short PPL workouts TWT followed by 30 minutes on the treadmill while watching Star Trek. That's it. My PPL workouts take about 10-15 minutes. I haven't done it in months. I got a second treadmill a few weeks ago. I love the idea of walking while I work and I've set up a makeshift desk on our existing treadmill a few times but when it's that much work to set up... I just don't do it. So I got an underdesk treadmill and I love it. Anytime I'm doing remote work for a client, or setting up appointments on the phone or anything in front of the computer in my home office, I'm walking. Eventually I'd like to spend more leisure time on it too - gaming, watching TV, etc but that's hasn't happened yet.

'Sup? I guess I'm back. I don't know. Trying to get healthy again. I actually have a gym membership this go around. I guess I'll start with my basic plan: Weight Training 2 days a week, various cardio machines 3 days a week and working a job that gets me 20k+ steps a night for 3 nights of the week. Plus tracking calories and trying to eat at a deficit for weight loss. Last Thursday was my first day at the gym. I'm intrigued by spinning so I spent about 30 minutes on a spin bike. Then 20 minutes cooling down on a treadmill. I also did a few laps around the gym getting a lay of the land, discovering where everything was. On Friday I did my first weight workout in a gym. It was lower body day. I messed up. I didn't know what to lift so I just looked back at my workout logs from 4 years ago and started there. OUCH! I made it through the workout (mostly... had to modify some things) and then stumbled home. Workout Logs Exercise Name 1RM Lifting Logs Barbell Squat 157.5 Set 1 : 135x5 Set 2 : 135x5 Set 3 : 135x5 Barbell Squat 133 Set 1 : 95x12 Set 2 : 95x10 Set 3 : 95x10 Dumbbell Step Ups N/A Set 1 : 0x5 Set 2 : 0x5 Set 3 : 0x5 Barbell Stiff-Legged Deadlift 171 Set 1 : 135x8 Set 2 : 135x8 Set 3 : 135x8 Barbell Stiff-Legged Deadlift 113.33 Set 1 : 85x10 Set 2 : 85x10 Dumbbell Standing Calf Raise 172.5 Set 1 : 115x15 Set 2 : 115x15 Set 3 : 115x15 Hanging Leg Raise 4 Set 1 : 3 Lap/Rep Set 2 : 1 Lap/Rep Set 3 : 4 Lap/Rep The squats pretty much did me in and everything after that was much lower than I had planned. But I still did it. Following that was 3 nights of work. They were excruciating because of the pain and the fact I do 20k+ steps and 15+ flights of stairs during a shift. Monday after work I went to the gym. I spent some time on an Arc Trainer (wtf is that?!) because when I got on it I thought it was an elliptical (and I read that Dwayne Johnson uses an elliptical!) and was too embarrassed to just hop right off. THEN I spent a bit of time on an elliptical and called it a day and went home to sleep. Today was upper body day: Workout Logs Exercise Name 1RM Lifting Logs Barbell Close Grip Bench Press 78 Set 1 : 55x5 Set 2 : 55x5 Set 3 : 65x6 Barbell Close Grip Bench Press 75 Set 1 : 50x15 Set 2 : 50x15 Set 3 : 50x15 Smith Machine Overhead Shoulder Press 78 Set 1 : 55x5 Set 2 : 65x5 Set 3 : 65x6 Dumbbell One Arm Row 40 Set 1 : 30x5 Set 2 : 30x10 Set 3 : 30x10 Smith Machine Overhead Shoulder Press 75 Set 1 : 50x15 Set 2 : 50x15 Set 3 : 50x15 Machine Assisted Pull Up 135.66 Set 1 : 110x7 Set 2 : 110x5 Set 3 : 110x4 Dumbbell Bicep Curl 21 Set 1 : 15x12 Set 2 : 10x12 Set 3 : 10x12 After the disaster that was lifting too heavy on leg day I scaled my planned numbers WAY back for upper body. The result? I feel like I can go heavier, but I also feel good. I don't feel like I never want to step foot in a gym again. I call that a win. After the weights, I spent about 30 minutes on the treadmill to get some steps (gotta stay competitive in the fitbit challenges, ya know!). I'm not opposed to spending time on the cardio machines. I hope I can figure out a way to get my gyms virtual spinning classes to work tomorrow, but if not I found some on youtube I can try instead. I think I'm probably a Ranger now as far as NF guilds go. I'm not sure how long I'll stick around this time. I do like having somewhere to write down my thoughts though.

Later Thursday I did some biking while watching Suits. I think I did around 13 KM. THEN, at 3am Friday morning (without sleeping) I hopped on the bike again and pumped out another 13 clicks. Saturday morning after work I did around 7 km on the bike with Star Wars The Clone Wars. Sunday morning and this morning I had wanted to and planned to ride while watching more Clone Wars, but it just didn't work for various reasons, including being responsible and shoveling my snow. While I was sleeping today my Fitbit Blaze showed up so I've been having some fun with it. I'm mostly happy with it. I guess the only big disapointment I knew about before I bought it - the utter lack of decent Watch Faces. This is my first wearable, but I've been watching Pebble and Android Wear for some time and I've admired the many awesome faces out there. The nine or so that the Blaze offers leave me underwhelmed big time. On a positive note: The alarm feature is robust enough for my stupid crazy sleep schedule. I was worried it wouldn't work for me and I'd either have to set a new alarm three times a week to meet my needs, or just stick to my phone, but it works, so YAY! Tonight I did P90X Legs and Back. I hate leg day. My legs are pathetic and my upper body weight is immense. I should mention that last night at work I was hit with a nasty cold. Got a super sore throat and lost my voice within minutes of starting my shift. Still can't talk. If I hadn't got the Fitbit as extra motivation (BOO MOTIVATION, DEVELOP WILLPOWER!!!) I probably would have used the sickness as an excuse to skip the workout. I'm proud I did it anyway AND that I did an hour long one when I could have chosen 10 minutes again. ANYWAY, I did it. I didn't go full out the whole time. I stopped to cough and hack up some flem once or twice. But I did it! Fitbit says I had an average heartrate of 122bpm and burned 695 calories. I guess that's good? I'm not sure I'm going to continue posting here. So far it's mostly just been to organize my thoughts. Hopefully I get them in order and don't need it. I'll have my workouts tracked on Fitbit so having a second record to look back at isn't useful to me.

Total Body - Les Milles Combat Kick Start 31 minutes. MFP says 479 calories. Looking forward to a slightly more accurate number when I start wearing a fitbit. This was the first time I've done a Les Milles workout. I enjoy kicking and punching. I found it pretty hard to follow along at times, but that wasn't helped by the fact I was trying to focus on NOT kicking my 3 year old (came REALLY close once). I hope to bike later while watching a show. By later tonight I'll have a few options: Suits, Arrow, Powerless and Riverdale.

Guess who's back? Back again? It's time for the "All my clothes are way too tight and I'm too broke to buy new ones" comeback. I bought myself a fancy Fitbit thingy mabob. Or at least I ordered one. It hasn't showed up yet, but it has motivated me to get back into a fitness routine. Here's the plan: Saturday, Sunday and Monday morning: 22 minutes on the stationary bike while doing a chronologically correct watch through of The Clone Wars Monday evening: lower body Tuesday evening: Upper body Wednesday evening: Yoga/stretching Thursday evening: Total Body/Cardio Thursday latenight/Friday early morning: Stationary Bike with TV (completely optional!!!) The evening workouts will be done with a Beachbody Video workout program. I have pretty much all of them on my HDD and I just cherry pick one that matches the day. I can tailor the length of the program choosen to match how I feel and how long I have motivation to work out. They range from 10 minutes to 1.5 hours. So far this week... Monday: set up a PLEX playlist of The Clone Wars in the right order so I'm ready to go. 10 Minute Trainer Lower Body. Short and sweet to get myself going. Tuesday: Body Beast Shoulders. 36 minutes. Wednesday: 10-15 minutes of an Insanity 'recovery' workout that I thought would be stretching. It really wasn't. Switched and did 10 Minute Trainer Yoga Flex. I love that video. I've memorized all the dialogue spoken and find myself talking back to Tony Horton throughout, but I always feel so good after doing it. PS I'm getting a Fitbit Blaze. Anyone have any tips for cool things to do with it? Or advice for fitbit use in general? Want to be friends?

Time for the big ol weekend update. Friday: Gym: off (1/12) Bike: yes (4/16) Angry Birds: Off (1/4) Food: 434 Calories Left (4/26) Business: nope (1/10) Saturday: Gym: Push (2/12) Bike: off (4/12) Angry Birds: off (1/4) Food: 389 Calories left (5/26) Business: naw (1/10) I had McDonald's for supper on Saturday. The supper my wife was making was still frozen when I had to leave for work so I grabbed McDees on the way and wolfed it down. Not the greatest plan, but a guys got to eat. Also going to McDees tonight with my family for family date night... Sunday: Gym: Pull (3/12) Bike: off (4/12) Angry Birds: off (1/4) Food: 414 left (5/26) Business: No new tickets, but I did go shopping for some supplies I'll need. (1/10) Short Week 1 update and thoughts: -I'm thinking I should take Friday off from any workouts. I end up doing them in the middle of the night, after being awake for too long. I can push it. Maybe I'll just do it and take it easy. -My business goal this month was WAY too ambitious now that I look at it. Especially since I'll be out of town for a week (although I have a client set up for while gone...) -happy with my gym time. Glad I chose to go back. Who needs to sleep anyway! -it was fun to repeat pull day so I could try to improve. -some days it is hard to eat enough.

The Weekend Gym: Saturday: Barbell Bench Press 110.83 Set 1 : 95.0x5 Set 2 : 95x5 Set 3 : 95x5 Set 4 : 95.0x5 Set 5 : 95.0x5 Barbell Standing Military Press 82.33 Set 1 : 65.0x8 Set 2 : 65.0x5 Set 3 : 65.0x5 Set 4 : 65.0x5 Set 5 : 65.0x5 Dumbbell Lying Triceps Extension 44.33 Set 1 : 30.0x10 Set 2 : 35.0x5 Set 3 : 35.0x6 Set 4 : 35.0x6 Set 5 : 35.0x8 Dumbbell Lateral Raise 17.5 Set 1 : 15.0x5 Set 2 : 15.0x5 Set 3 : 15.0x5 Set 4 : 15.0x5 Set 5 : 15.0x5 Sunday: Barbell Deadlift 133 Set 1 : 95.0x12 Set 2 : 95.0x12 Set 3 : 95.0x12 Reverse Grip Lat Pull Down 139.33 Set 1 : 110.0x8 Set 2 : 110.0x8 Set 3 : 110.0x8 Dumbbell Alternate Hammer Curl 31.66 Set 1 : 25.0x8 Set 2 : 25.0x5 Set 3 : 15.0x10 Barbell Curl 56.66 Set 1 : 50.0x4 Set 2 : 45.0x6 Set 3 : 45.0x5 Monday: Barbell Squat 118.99 Set 1 : 85.0x12 Set 2 : 85x12 Set 3 : 85.0x12 Barbell Romanian Deadlift From Deficit 140 Set 1 : 100.0x12 Set 2 : 100x12 Set 3 : 100.0x12 Standing Calf Raises 147 Set 1 : 105.0x12 Set 2 : 105.0x12 Set 3 : 105.0x12 Barbell Glute Bridge 63.33 Set 1 : 50.0x8 Set 2 : 50x8 Set 3 : 50x8

It might. I unfollowed the worst of the threads. Our, I guess they might have been the best... The most busy at any rate and it had been much more manageable. Only cut two out. Sent from a Rebel CommLink

I unsubbed from Ranger Chatter and that has made a pretty big difference in the updates coming into my phone. We'll see if I need to trim back any more. Yesterday (Thursday): Gym: off (1/12) Bike Intervals: 18.37km, with a side of Suits. (3/16) Angry Birds: Off (1/4) Food: 1117 calories left. Really annoying because MFP glitched out on me and I thought I had eaten enough. It said 41 left so I was like... Hey, I'm good! But then on todays I noticed a glitch and fixed it, and it dawned on me that I had entered the same thing yesterday so I checked... sure enough it had logged one of my meals that I edited to be half as 1.5 instead...(3/26) Business: nadda (1/10)

Yesterday I biked. Intervals. 18.37km. Kinda surprised myself to get that distance (happily). Also took my daughter to swimming lessons in the morning (so swam leisurely for about an hour. Today I got my middle of the night ride in. 16.41km.

Thank you! I will. Two days a week anyway... Today: Gym: Off (1/12) Bike Distance: 18.59 km! 44 minutes, Supergirl. (2/16) Angry Birds: Yes, 3 stars in Planks, 2 in errything else (1/4) Food: 286 Calories Left (Had to have a bag of popcorn and a muffin this evening to get within my goal... Not sure this goal was such a good idea.... (3/26) Business: Did some work on an existing ticket (1/10) I think I bit off more than I can chew this challenge forum wise. Everytime I open my phone tapatalk tells me I have 29 unread messages on nerdfitness! And I just followed more today. Like THAT was smart. But I gotta follow my Jedi Council member!!

295 lb DL. Nice!

I hate when that happens... Sent from a Rebel CommLink

Angry Birds this morning. Finally cracked 3 minutes of plank in 2 sets. Kinda wish I hadn't knowing I need to do 4 minutes of it now! I had hoped that more rest between doing AB and other workouts in between would help my numbers somehow, but I was wrong. That's OK, It's more here as a stop gap mid week so I don't loose gym gainz. Or something like that. Biked this afternoon. Really pushed it. Will my Quads EVER not hurt again? 44 Minutes Supergirl: Fortress of Whaaaaa? 18.59 km (NEW PR) I hate my legs. And they hate me back.

Biked today. It was the first day that I tried intervals. I think it went ok. I dunno. I really don't know what I'm doing. I found an app that beeped when I told it to and I went for it! I set it to 1 minute work and 2 minutes 'rest' or relax? I forget the wording. I aimed for 30+km/h on the work sections and 19-20 km/h on the 2 minute rest periods. I think it worked ok? I wish I had a working Heart Rate Monitor so I could actually see what was happening. Gym: off (1/12) Bike Intervals: 16.47km, Legends of Tomorrow aka the best Arrow episode in two seasons... (1/16) Angry Birds: Off (0/4) Food: 185 calories left (2/26) Business: I have my only Clients Computer again. I spent an hour with him last night when I thought he was just paying me and picking it up. He's got more he wants me to do on it so that's a Ticket! (all 10 might be him..) (1/10)

Thank you for the follows friends. I don't want to say how much time I spent thinking about this challenge. It's embarrassing, but my job can be boring at times (when we aren't busy mixing product up!) and I have nothing to do but think. I went to the gym again! Barbell Squat 123.5 Set 1 : 95.0x9 Set 2 : 95.0x9 Set 3 : 95.0x9 Barbell Romanian Deadlift From Deficit 133 Set 1 : 95.0x12 Set 2 : 95.0x12 Set 3 : 95.0x12 Standing Calf Raises 140 Set 1 : 95.0x12 Set 2 : 100.0x12 Set 3 : 100.0x12 Barbell Glute Bridge 62.99 Set 1 : 45.0x12 Set 2 : 45.0x8 Set 3 : 45.0x8 Again, this was first time for some of these so I didn't really know where to start. I think it went well. I also think I need to add at least one more exercise to leg day. Not sure what yet though. Other than that I GOT PAID for my first client. So that's fun. Now I can put that money towards a few marketing type things and hopefully get more clients. I also moved a few couches today. That's never fun. Gym: 1/12 Food: 325 Calories Remaining 1/26

Right now. Sent from a Rebel CommLink

Sent from a Rebel CommLink

I went to the gym today. At 7am. Now granted, that's not really morning for me, but rather it's close to my normal bedtime. I do enjoy the gym. I don't know why I quit going. I like lifting weights more than I do body weight work. But I really like the IDEA of body weight. Only using my body, functional strength, learning to move myself and be ready for different situations. The idea, is good. But I realized this morning that I just like pumping iron dammit! Barbell Deadlift 118.99 Set 1 : 65.0x12 Set 2 : 75.0x12 Set 3 : 85.0x12 Chin Up 1 Set 1 : 1.0x1 Reverse Grip Lat Pull Down 126.66 Set 1 : 100.0x7 Set 2 : 100.0x8 Set 3 : 100.0x8 Dumbbell Alternate Hammer Curl 35 Set 1 : 25.0x7 Set 2 : 25.0x6 Set 3 : 25.0x5 Barbell Curl 62.99 Set 1 : 45.0x5 Set 2 : 45.0x5 Set 3 : 45.0x5 I can't do chin ups. I tried, I really really did. I added in the Lat Pull Down in the hopes of working toward chin/pull ups. I didn't really know where to go with weights so I guessed. I can go up on Deadlift for sure. Hammer Curl I'll stay. Same with Barbell Curl. Lat Pull Down I will stay but I think I can increase my reps on it. Only problem is that I really should be going to bed now, but I'm a little too pumped up.

And now I need to find this show too! Thanks a lot. Lol Sent from a Rebel CommLink

That preview video on YouTube makes it look tough. Sent from a Rebel CommLink

Let's DO EET!

Hmmm. Firefly, eh? I think I'll follow this one.

Following again. Will you be doing videos of your Hard Corps workouts?

Following for Disney. Also, because you're awesome.