Ashcan Pete

Two days off this time, due to being completely unable to get out of bed early Thursday, and then a work thing that night that left me not getting home until 2AM (and in no condition to get up at 5AM. So. No workouts Thursday or Friday. Today: 3x5x245 back squat 3x5x100 overhead press 1x4x275 deadlift. Still couldn't get the fifth rep up, AND my form was for shit. Awesome. Looking forward to the reset when I fail this one again.

Quick log of today's work 3x5x235 back squat 3x5x140 bench press 5x3x105 power clean. Need to concentrate more on the form with these.

6:15 is a slightly better time to be jogging. Week 2 day 2 of C25k. I'm not adapting well, so far, to this early morning thing. Possibly because I haven't really moved bedtime back enough to support it. Also, I'm very, very hungry all the time right now, so I'm not losing much/any weight. But, that's a goal for later; right now, I'm just laying the foundation to make those goals easier to reach. I hope.

5:30 is too early to be at the gym. 3x5x225 back squat 3x5x95 overhead press 1x4x275 deadlift, which means I get to try this weight again next time. Also, I know I'm not supposed to compare myself to others, but the dude throwing down 400+ pound squats next to me this morning was giving me a bit of a complex.

Yeah, food is and ever shall be the stumbling block for me. I do way too much eating mindlessly, or out of boredom, or for any of a hundred other reasons that don't contribute to better health or even greater enjoyment of food. And that's before I even get to rationalizing things. And, right now the workouts are coming easily for me - I like doing them, and there's no voice in my head at the moment telling me that I don't have the time, or other things are more important, or this thing, or that thing...Before late May, though, I hadn't gotten into a gym since November, because other things (ie, coding school) were taking priority. Today's workout: week 2/day 1 of C25K. Tomorrow, I try to move my workouts to the morning, before work, because I don't love not getting home until 7:30 at night (plus, I'd like to have some evenings free for work events, networking (insert barfing noises), etc...)

Exercise log for the day: 3x5x215 back squat 3x5x135 bench press 5x3x95 power clean

Good to be back. Now to make it stick... Today's report: my food choices were for shit, although my goal is, technically, just to record the food for this challenge, I guess. At any rate, fiddle-dee-dee, tomorrow is another day, where I will not eat 200+ grams of carbohydrates. Exercise: week 1 day 3 of c25. Something around 1.75 miles, based on a rough block-reckoning. I'm reading a bunch of your threads every night, I just never think I have anything useful to add. So, good job and/or hang in there, as appropriate, I guess.

All things must be lifted. Back Squat: 3x5x205 Overhead Press: 3x5x90 Deadlift: 1x5x265

Today was for mental exercise, as it was Puzzled Pint night. Back in the gym tomorrow.

Thanks! Good to be back. Everything's just...better...when I'm taking care of myself.

Week 1 Day 2 of C25K down. Food duly recorded. Drank most of the water I was supposed to. And, got a mentoring session out of the way. Pretty good day, all in all.

Way to get back on the horse. Have you read The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch? That would be recommendations like one through three if you haven't. Maybe David Eddings (The Belgariad, for starters). I'm sure I'll think of more later.

Today's workout stuff: all the lifts come with warmups and building to the weight, of course... Squats: 3x5x195 Bench press: 3x5x130 Deadlift: 1x5x255

Respawning, respawning...it's been almost a year since i was here. Lost my job, which one would think would give me nothing but time to work out; turns out it didn't happen like that. Got pretty decent at Crusader Kings 2. Went through a coding bootcamp. Found a rat tail and brought it to the king of the dragons. Changed careers, which is working out well for me so far. And now, it's time to get in some semblance of shape again. So, hello again, it's good to see you fine folks.

So. When last I left y'all, things had taken a turn. Basic story, for those who don't care to go back: lost my job, disappeared from here, went through a coding bootcamp, and, thus-far successfully, have changed careers. Kind of fell off the workout bandwagon, however, so now I'm re-enlisting in the Rebellion. Upgrading my life one section at a time, you might say. Long-term goal remains to lose a bunch of weight, but, more importantly, improve my body-fat %. Assuming I take care of my goals, I think that will work itself out. Fitness Goals 3x Couch-to-5k workouts/week 2-3 3x5 lifting workouts/week (3 for preference, but time does not always permit) Diet goals Starting simple - track everything that goes in my facehole every day for the challenge Drink through my 24oz water bottle 2x per day at work Life goals I just changed careers; more knowledge is useful. Complete at least 4 coding challenges on codewars.com per week Passing on my knowledge is also sweet, as is giving back. Offer my time 1x/week as a mentor at the bootcamp chapter I graduated from.

Sorry for the long absence; life occurred. My exercise goal is going great, apart from it being a back-off week in my lifting program, which is driving me insane. Getting plenty of walking in, though. The rest of my goals...well...not so great, Al. You see, I got a surprise extra life-quest thrown at me - lost my job last Friday (I'm a futures trader and I haven't really made any money for 6 months, so, not surprising, but still). So, my sleep schedule is screwed, since I don't have to be up at a set time. On the plus side, I'm not grazing through the kitchen at work, so I'm eating both better and less (probably too little, honestly, but I'm not hungry, so it seems ok). So, now things are more about figuring out what's next. Talking to recruiters, considering moving back to my actual field (mechanical engineering), considering moving over to computer programming - mostly, I'm working through the stuff over at FreeCodeCamp, right now. Rambling here. Yeah. Fun.

Just dropping in to say hello to all my new guildmates. Am I assigned a fancy cloak and bow, or do I need to provide my own?

Okay. Hi, y'all. Dyno here, fresh from the Recruit ranks. Xena was nice to me over there, so I decided to come join your esteemed company. As it worked last time, I'm going to stick with the theory that my goals should all be things that feed into my main quest (still, as ever, losing weight). Ergo, my quests will all, in theory, be things that make that main quest happen so long as I do them. So, onward: Food: I'm going to stick with recording it every day, but I'm going to make it a little tighter this time: I'm actually going to aim for certain numbers of macronutrients. I'd like to be at or under 75g of carbs per day, and I'd also like to be at or above 130g of protein. The rest should be high-quality fats (olive oil, nuts, fat from grass-fed meat, etc), but I won't be tracking that. While I'll be tracking daily, it's probably better to judge these things weekly, so, that would be 525g or less of carbs and 910g of protein or more per week. I've already got a whole bunch of seasoned chicken breast and the like ready to go to help me hit that protein level; the carbs, honestly, I haven't had too much trouble with, and don't anticipate it in the future. Exercise: keep to the 5/3/1 lifting plan, 4 days a week. Walk 50k steps per week. Slowly become a beast. Even more slowly, manage a pullup. Bury the gym's ab wheel so I don't see it taunting me. Rest: back to getting my 8 hours a night. I've hit a patch of insomnia lately, and am unsure why, but I've got a week to figure it out before the challenge starts. Skills: Duolingo for Spanish every day. Teach myself a little Python every day, as well.

It has no name that is safe to print. It is truly a relic of the Old Ones, and should not be trifled with. I'll stick to plain old planks for a while. Blah, blah. To wrap things up here, I guess: My sleep game was extremely not tight there, at the end, but I still hit 25/30 nights. Correcting for the error I made when designing that quest, I think that still gets me 2 STA and 1 CON. Food tracking fell off only this last weekend, as well, leaving me at 40/42. 5 WIS for me. Also, didn't miss a workout for the six weeks. 5 STR. Plus, let's see...1 more WIS for smartifying, 1 CHA for friending, and...that's it, I think. As for more measurable results, down almost 17 lbs over the challenge (sweet!), and I dropped a bunch of inches in my chest, although not many in the stomach, which is a little odd. Oh, fat, you scamp. Last weekend served as a blowoff for some cravings I'd been having (booze, ice cream, candy...you know, the usual), but I'm back on the wagon and looking forward to the next challenge. Think I'll join the rangers, if you'll have me.

Lots of walking over the weekend. Big fun. Did one of those Room Escape things Sunday. Got out, after time penalties, 50 seconds past the hour allotted. Boo. Monday lifting: Squats. Back squats: 45x5, 95x3, 110x5, 135x5, 160x3 190x3, 220x3, 245x5 Front squats: 120x5x5. I'm never going to love front squats. The feel of a steel bar against my throat is somewhat unpleasant, now and forever. Pullups: 18/16/12, with massive rubber band assistance. Getting close to lowering the assistance, though.

Thursday: OHP : 50x5, 60x5, 75x3 80x5, 95x5, 105x7 Bonus work: 75x10x4, 75x9x1 Chinups: 15/10/8, again with really big rubber bands Friday: Deadlifts: 110x5, 140x5, 170x3 185x5, 210x5, 240x7 Good Mornings: 95x10x5 Ab wheel: 6x5. Seriously, f$%* this thing. I die. Sleep, if I'm being kind, I hit 2 days this week. 20/25, overall. Food recorded every day, although quality today has sucked - can't have leftover pizza in the house. At least, not for long.

Today, I decided that I'd add the bench press back into my lifting. Why? Good question. Dunno. Bench: 65x5, 80x5, 95x3 105x5, 120x5, 135x5 Dumbbell Rows: 35x5x5. Pullups: 15/12/10, with a couple of enormous rubber bands helping.

Thanks. As for the play...yeah, it's a whole thing. Well worth seeing, though, if you can carve a weekend day out just for it. I think they may do a version where the four parts are on four consecutive nights, too, but I'm not sure on that. As for my challenges, I'm falling off the wagon on the sleep challenge. 0/2 so far this week. (17/22) Food logging, still good. (30/30) For the lifting, since I had these shiny new maxes to work with, I adjusted my lifting plan. Suddenly, things are much more difficult, at least through squat day: Back squat: 110x5, 135x5, 165x3 175x5, 205x5, 230x6 Front squat: 115x5x5 *^&%#(@$&*^*! ab wheel: 5x5, although my range of motion left a little to be desired

Workout on the 4th - no real workout to speak of, just walking to the beach at my family gathering, then walking to the lake at home. Something like 8-9 miles, total, according to my fitbit, with about 4 annoying hours of driving interspersed in there. Today? Who knows? Definitely considering full rest - at most, a short walk.

Deadlift day. 105x5, 135x5, 160x3 200x5, 225x3, 250x5 285x1, 315x1, failurex2 at 335 Mistakenly felt I needed to do a little more, so I did a couple of low-rep sets with the ab wheel. God help me.