Waldo

Workout Log - 1/11/22 Bench Press 135 x 10 185 x 5 195 x 5, 5, 4 That last rep took everything I had each 195 set. Going to stay at this weight next week to try to get 5 across all 195 sets. Front Lever Tuck Hold - 15 sec Tuck Row - 5, 5, 5 reps Open Tuck Hold - 3 sec Going to start working up to a good open tuck hold (flat back, knees straight up). These 3 seconds were a stopped negative more than anything. Gained 1 rep in total volume on the tuck rows, probably need those in the 8 range before I'll start having a strong open tuck hold. Standing Ez Bar Curl 49 x 13 59 x 10 69 x 7 Gained a rep at 49 and 69 over last week. Pushup One Arm - 3/3 Standard - 30, 26 Added a rep to the one arm set and 2 to the peak standard set vs last week. Weighed myself, 209.2, gained back a bit over yesterday, but I expected that. Tracked food. I did not read at all. I was in the gym by 1030. I did manage to get the 2nd mount installed for my rings, now all I have left to redo the beam for the first mount to change to the mount type to match #2.

Workout Log - 1/10/22 Kickboxing - 20 min, 164 max HR I got my HR up over 140 in about 8 minutes and stayed there the rest of the workout. I'm still not punching hard with my right arm; really the whole workout was more about balance and speed, I didn't do much power hitting. I did quite a bit more kicking than usual, really challenging my balance. But as a workout, this was the most intense one yet, I'm getting into the hiit range pretty easy. Pistol Squat - 5/5, 5/5, 5/5 Geez, big jump from last week. I was not expecting that, I guess I should have been. Deadlift 135 x 5 225 x 3 245 x 3 Wore a belt on the last set. In part because I just got a belt (probably a good idea to have one, esp since I hurt (or greatly worsened an existing issue) my back doing back squats), I've never really deadlifted with a belt so I wanted to get a feel for it. I my profile pic is me deadlifting 405 without a few years ago at work. Weight was super light yesterday, 208.0, but its probably an outlier low. Haven't eaten much the last couple days, been nervous and sad. I did log food though as well. No reading.

Weighed myself both Saturday and yesterday, logged meals on Sunday. No more reading after Saturday morning. My legs had some notable doms going on on Saturday so I wasn't feeling up for doing any sprints on the bike. I just did a set it to moderate resistance and go ride, 350 cals worth in 31 min, max HR was 143, most of the time it was around 125. Deadlifting on tap later tonight.

Mine is the brand TDS. Pretty standard 2"x2" power rack. Thanks. Making baby steps in the monk direction.

Last bit of flooring my my gym arrived yesterday. This is the 3rd time I've added to it (first got it Feb '19) and should be the final footprint, as it has hit all natural barriers. Covid has been good to the home gym, lol. I got the bike early on in the pandemic, then the tv for the bike (which is wired into the PC as a selectable monitor). Flooring under it is new though. Bag isn't hanging, you can see the spring for it hanging in the middle of the pic. Darn 2nd ceiling mount I was waiting on got lost in the mail, then they were out of that style; I ended up ordering a different pair that should move the bag mount up a good 2" (all the height I can get is important). I have the support beam and joist hangers all built and ready to install, but I need to physically have the mount to set the beam depth. Also have a 2nd spring. The 2nd mount is mostly for rings; the bag prompted me to upgrade my ring mounts, which I haven't used in a long time in part because the mounts were terrible (eye bolts through the joists). This time around I have the kind of mounts you'd expect of an engineer. But either mount will have its pros for the bag (more space all around or even more space on one side). Workout Log - 1/7/22 The general gist of my Friday workout has been unchanged since 2012, when it became pullup, dips, and handstand day; the handstands were replaced by OHP, kneeling OHP, now incline bench. Every time I've done a brutal pullup workout, it's always been on Friday. A dip belt for weighted pulls and dips though is a new addition as well. Incline Bench 115x5 125x5, 5, 5 This exercise is totally new to me. I stopped doing kneeling OHP when I hurt my back and never got back to doing anything overhead, instead just relying on bw dips for all my Friday pressing needs. Still not comfortable doing OHP. I used the 45 degree setting on my bench. I've never done anything but flat bench. This was perfect though since it doesn't stress the back at all, and I felt it in the deltoids much better than flat bench. Pullup 5, 11, 10 (+25) 3, 3 7, 6, 5 This exercise otoh is not new to me, lol. Weighted is new for now, but I've done a lot of weighted pulls before, just not the last 3-4 years. Huge jump in total volume (+14) and peak (+3) over last week. TBH I'm pretty disappointed in those +25 numbers given last year at this time I pretty much weighed +25 and I was banging out more than 5 on peak sets. Dips 12 (+25) 5, 6, 5 Weighted dips my old friend, they just hit the chest so well. L Sit Dip Bars - 15, 15 Ground - 3 Haven't tried getting up on the ground in a super long time, actually got it for a few seconds. I hadn't been doing my ab work for a long time prior to this (though the regular tuck front lever work should've kept a decent baseline). Last week I had 10 second holds. I was super light last night, 210.4. Logged food yesterday as well. I actually read today!!! Spent a solid hour and a half. I'm reading Nick Offerman's woodworking book Good Clean Fun, which my wife got me for Fathers day last year. Its really good, I agree with all the stuff written for beginners (quite rare for that to be true) and enjoy all the process things he talks about. I'm still getting through the beginner part, but its nice to see someone else that truly understands the role of the chisel in the shop.

I'm 6'1"

Workout Log - 1/6/22 Kickboxing - 22 min, max HR 159 It took about 10 min to ramp up my HR to peaks >150. I had intended to go 20 min, but the Beastie Boys were playing so I wasn't stopping. Instead of riffing off a pattern, some songs I hit strong, some I hit fast. My right arm is still sore and weak so I wasn't hitting as hard as I could with it. Left feels fine, had some real nice jabbing power. I take way too many awkward steps transitioning out of kicks but its definitely gotten better. Front Squat 135 x 5 145 x 5, 5, 5, 5 Starting these like I am with deadlifts, its been so long that I'm starting from square one, tacking 10 lbs a week onto the bar. Also added a set to the volume this week. Grip Hang/Pullup I got some grip balls to hang from my pullup bar (or ring mounts). In part because my younger kids treat the power rack like a jungle gym so why not add to the fun. I used to train grip regularly (hanging from door frames) and I want to get back to that. I just got them so feeling out exactly what to do; with a strong grip on it I can do a couple pullups, but other hand positions I lose after a couple seconds of dead hang. Something to do between squat sets. Bear Hug Heavy Bag Carry I carried the bag (84 lbs) 2 laps in the basement (~160' total). Last week I did 2 sets of it, but time was running short, I spent too long in the transition from hitting the bag to squatting. I weighed myself and logged food, 211.4. I'm right on the flat stomach cusp (when standing), another pound or two of fat loss and I'll be there. No reading occurred.

The proof though is fairly thin, at best for eating extra protein for most people. There are two kinds of studies done Studies on bodybuilders and athletes; high performance studies so to speak, funded by supplement companies Studies on obese populations; medical studies done for clinical reasons Regular 30-40 something joe schmo working out has has no real research done in this area. The high performance studies that do show an affect are almost always done on individuals at bodyfat levels where muscle catabolism is a huge problem (think seeing abs even better). The body has a strong hormonal defense system to defend against starvation, defeating this system is the key to any fat loss in this zone, protein almost certainly plays a role (you may not agree, but to your body 8% body fat is a fairly serious emergency). This isn't really an issue though until you're fairly lean, even if you've been dieting a while. Studies on obese populations usually don't give the results the supplement companies want.

I guess I should have specified that the 10g-ish is in addition to a the baseline maintenance amount you'd need (this comes from the chemical stoichiometry of muscle growth, a calculation not experimental result). So yes, an elevated amount overall, but nonsense like 1g lb/bw or 1g lb/lbm is just that unless you are near late teen male building potential. Maintenance I think is in the ballpark of 0.2g/lb bw or 0.3g/lb lbm. No experiment could be designed with sensitive enough measurements to detect a real lbm difference between 0.5g/lb bw protein and 1.0 g/lb bw protein intake in a trained adults over the course of standard experimental lengths (2, 3, 6 mo), as any differences would be well within measurement error bars. Most "science" on this is beyond trash, advertising for GNC and little else (there is some real signal tho amidst all the noise). And purely anecdotally, you really don't want to be eating a lot of protein when in a surplus and building muscle. Bulking is fun for the first few days, but it gets old even faster than cutting. Forcing yourself to eat when you're stuffed sucks, most surefire way to stay stuffed and be unable to continue eating is to eat lots of protein. Worrying about protein as a point of stress about your diet is really a waste of brainpower as long as you're not outlier low (vegetarians/vegans may be); there is a near infinite effort to results ratio (no matter how much you try and worry, it really doesn't amount to a hill of beans)).

The vast majority of protein we eat is broken down by the body into carbs and used for energy. It takes a little energy to do the breaking down, so protein is the least efficient fuel (good thing if you're trying to maximize bang for buck when dieting, but there is no magic aside from that). For muscle building and repair, availability matters more than any sort of quantity, mathematically you need a teeny tiny amount of aminos, as most of muscle is synthesized from basic energy molecules, a slow trickle throughout the day is better than a huge meal and nothing else (though digestion takes many hours so it doesn't matter much). Most muscle building and repair though happens while you are sleeping, so that is the most important time to have some amino availability.

I finally got around to measuring the waist, 36 1/2". So a 10 lb loss should have me at 34", which is my target for the first phase of plan abs. Also means I'll need to get down to about 190 to rock a 6 pack. I got so close to reading last night. I got in my reading chair intending to read. Then got sucked into my phone; before too long it was time to watch this week's episode of the Book of Boba Fett with the kids and no reading happened. 211.6 on the scale last night. I rode about 11 miles on the spin bike last night, 375 cals per the bike, in a hair over 30 minutes. Heart rate peaked in the high 160's after some sprints. My bike is a Schwinn IC4, and I use it with Zwift to virtual ride. My workouts are free form based on whatever song plays; some songs I'll do seated with a high cadence, others I'll set a moderate resistance and just go, some I'll do out of the saddle at moderate resistance, others will be out of the saddle sprints. Depends on what I'm feeling up for and what Spotify sends my way, but I time transitions and slow breaks between peaks using the song progress bar in Spotify. I'm not a fan of cold weather running at all, once it dips below 45 or so, I spin instead.

I have a basement gym I've been expanding over the years. Can't do any standing overhead lifts. For OHP, kneeling is a fine substitute. We have a drop ceiling so I had to remove a tile above the pullup bar to get a little extra head space between the floor joists. It was important when picking a power rack to size based off the pullup bar; many racks have pullup bars too high to be useable in my basement (but I'm also 6'1" so want it to be as high as possible). If you have a power rack on a rubber floor and store weights on it (you can get plate holders that are made for power racks, nbd under the safety bars), there is no need to bolt it down whatsoever, it isn't going anywhere. That article about building a gym was probably written by a Rogue affiliate (they are EVERYWHERE); don't get me wrong they make nice stuff, but you can get a decent power rack and bars for a fraction of the price. But pretty much any discussion of equipment anywhere on the internet is completely infected by Rogue affiliates; its their marketing model and it works well.

I tend to think that worrying about macros in general (including protein) is a complete waste of time and effort. Its a 1% effect. You only actually need like 10g of protein a day to build muscle (esp if you're not a 20 year old male). I did it for a while, and I did without for a while, and I noticed no difference in mass gain or loss. But yeah, you can really get the calories nailed in MFP. If you're really consistent you can calculate your metabolism (net calorie break even point) and diet with ridiculous precision.

The gym is where things went sideways for me, and I haven't yet fully reconstructed good habits. For me the gym was at work, which excluded all times I was not at work as times I could lift. Most programs don't deal with missed days very well, especially at a high frequency. You end up going backwards, spinning your wheels, and getting nowhere. Its was just too easy for something to come up and miss the window for lifting at work. For the first year I did really well. After that it just sort of started to peter out and any sort of progression fell apart; the long gov't shutdown was the ultimate nail in the coffin since it completely removed access. I bought my home power rack with the shutdown backpay I got.

Ha, yeah, the Covid 15. A whole lot of people gained that. Though I wonder, with home gym equipment selling like crazy now since, I wonder if exercise as a sustained and regular habit for people is on the rise. Its much, much easier to stick to a plan that involves doing something at home rather than going somewhere to do something. One of the first things I started doing once my foot was good enough was walking on the treadmill 10 minutes at a time (half mile) on a small incline; trying to do that at least 3-4 times a day. That at least helped to stop the gain. Though I had also just gotten a spin bike so game on with the high intensity cardio as well (ordered very, very early in pandemic, when it was clear I wasn't going to be running for a long time, took 3 months to get). I took a long time off of running with that stress fracture, more than 9 months. Sadly one day last fall I was walking on it and heard a pop, it went dead, and started smelling of an electrical fire. I tried to fix it, but isolated that the main control board is what fried, a replacement is 2/3 of what the treadmill cost new 15 years ago, that's not happening. My wife almost never used the thing, it'd basically been mine for the last 10 years, at times I've used it quite heavily. The treadmill had been that foundation that trashes all excuses, yes you can go downstairs and walk up a hill for a bit. I'm going to do without for a while; tho the spin bike changes the calculus a lot, as it replaced the treadmill's role when outdoor running isn't viable. Even before that, I don't think the treadmill had been at running speed in over 5 years, I didn't really care for running on a treadmill (spin bike had been on my radar a while before I pulled the trigger, years, due to its compatibility with normal running injuries). My current gym upgrade spree started when I got the rubber flooring tiles to fill in where the treadmill was. Workout Log - 1/4/22 While my Monday workouts are new and novel, the base of my Tuesday workouts (bench/row) I've been doing many years, going back to when I started in the work weight room. Tuesdays is bro day, I've always enjoyed getting a good chest pump, so this is the one day I've stuck to really well. Whereas progress is going to come easy on leg days, not so much on bro day; while the volume and effort has been lacking for a few years, I at least always show up. Bench Press 135 x 5 185 x 5 190 x 5 190 x 5 I had been lollygagging at 185 for a while; a couple years ago I stopped putting the 35's on and doing work sets at 205 (I'd been losing reps and was down to triples) and hadn't tried to get back (at one time my work sets were 225). Last week I went up to 190 for the peak sets and failed on the last rep so repeated this week. Last set was strong this week, I remember the twisting hands mental cue that broke a plateau at 185 when I first started lifting iron. Going to add next week; I'm also going to bench on Fridays, but Tuesdays will be where I add weight. Tuck Front Lever Hold - 15 sec Row - 5, 5, 4 reps I'd been a 3 reps for years until the fall when I gained rep #4 on a set here and there (mostly because of losing weight). Last week I banged out 4 across all sets. Hit 5 this week, though that last rep is ugly. I do them on the dip bars on my power rack, but might switch to the rings here once I finish with the new ring mount. The basic gist of this exercise is that you pull your back up parallel to the ground in a tuck, and hold it while doing pullups, which because your back is parallel to the ground, turn into rows. It doesn't work well on a bar because the knees are in the way of full motion. Holding the back like that multiplies the force on your lats above and beyond the force needed to row alone, since it uses them too. One day I'd like to get back to training for a full front lever. Standing EZ Bar Curls 49 x 12 59 x 10 69 x 6 I bought my wife an ez curl bar for her birthday (words that are a joy to type, lol) last year; I'm going to start using it this workout as an accessory. I've never really stuck to curling very long, so we'll see where this goes. I'm guessing I'll make rapid progress since I haven't curled at all in years. Pushups 28 reps 2/2 one arm 25 reps I haven't done amrap pushups for a long, long time, going to do them as an accessory along with some one arm pushups, which are a must for fighter training (ultimate punching power exercise). Its impressive enough that I was able to even do those reps, I haven't trained them in many years. I made it to the gym by 1030 to start my workout and weighed myself and logged it (211.0, woot), also logged meals. No reading, I thought about it yesterday, but not at the right time.

I haven't really sat back and looked at my whole MFP history before. I count 14-16 separate cuts over the years; hard to separate some of them. Keep at it in mfp for 25 more years and I'll have weight data for half my life, lol. My habits have sort of converged on an easy to optimize system, I snack during 2 time periods a day. Eliminate or seriously curtail snacking during these times causes me to run a 750 cal/day deficit. The easiest way to eliminate or control the snacking is to log it all in MFP. Trying to do it intuitively doesn't work for me (I tried this in 2020 to poor results), I like cookies and chocolate and ice cream too much. That big spike right under the red dot in my lifetime MFP weight chart is the start of the pandemic, also when I got a seriously bad stress fracture in my foot and could barely walk for months. I had been successfully cutting too when the double whammy hit. For me I went from being a 4x a week office worker (1x telework which itself was only a couple years old) and quite active just as a baseline, as I took the train and there was a lot of walking involved, plus just walking around the office, to someone who moved from upstairs to downstairs then back upstairs and that's it on 100% telework with no ability to exercise due to my foot. We used to always pack our weekends with outings as a family, and that stopped too for a time. I've been working on assembling a new set of habits since; eating less and moving more basically. Still on 100% telework, and when we finally "go back" it'll be 1 day a week to get the team together face to face, so 80% telework. I've picked up gaming a lot more since the start of the pandemic. I built a new PC early on, my old PC was like >10 years old and was pretty useless, new one can run any new game. My kids have the games they play, I have my games. Played a lot of Civ6 early on. Then I played some Cities and Anno. Lately I've been swapping between Planetfall and Humankind. Currently playing a game of Humankind. Life in general changed pretty dramatically around the start of the pandemic, about 6 months before I got promoted at work, something that I'd been working toward for a long time, I'd basically been doing the same thing for 12 years without any notable raises to speak of. The promotion I did get was not the original path I had intended, but things have a way of working out; I moved on to bigger and better things and a much more enjoyable day at work. Though I did have to let go of hands on engineering which was hard. Project manager now; project management is a recurring process, not the goal oriented system that a single project or small set of projects is. It turns out I'm actually really good at optimizing a recurring process to manage a huge throughput, and enjoy doing it. Kinda like the video games I play and the way I've approached fitness and dieting over the years. I didn't see that until after I had the job though and I understood. Lacking any sort of finish point goals, nothing is ever late or behind, there are no big can't miss dates huge projects depend on me hitting, all of that stress is gone. Now I just run the high level project management processes and help set the goals. Also in a completely different place financially as a result.

I don't think MFP is consistent enough to use for macro tracking unless you have very dialed in entries and don't eat a large variety. Its mostly good enough for tallying up all your protein since the bulk of that comes from a fairly small subset of the daily diet.

30-40 psf live load is probably on the low end, nvm the hilariously massive factor of safety built into anything not made of steel. Practically speaking people weigh more than anything else. Big 250 lb dude doing jumping jacks is loading the structure waaaay more 500 lbs of plates spread over the 4x4 footprint of a power rack. Its almost impossible to load a residential or commercial structure with floor loads great enough to seriously stress the structure, hence why buildings and homes (and floors within) falling down from being overloaded isn't really a thing (putting in a pool supported by the structure though isn't a great idea...).

I tried just about everything under the sun, nothing added to my single set reps more than doing rest-pause pyramids on the doorway pullup bar. Getting stronger will not help your rep count past about 12 reps. Doing them higher, doing them loaded, clapping, one arm, none will help for reps. Past 12 reps is all about sustaining strength output, not mustering it. You can do raw volume (always add volume to your workout, workout volume will beget single set volume over time). That means though that set count can get quite long. Rest-pause work creates the training effect of a much higher volume of work as you hit failure over and over. A 5 step rest-pause pyramid is: 1 rep, 2 reps, 3 reps, 4 reps, 5 reps, 4 reps 3 reps, 2 reps, 1 rep with 5 deep slow breaths off the bar between each. If you can successfully complete the whole thing, move up one level next workout If you fail, tough, finish every rep, then take 5 deep slow breaths and keep going. Below 5 steps a pyramid is pretty pointless, get stronger instead. When you are failing each set on the way back down, it absolutely destroys your muscles, and the lactic intensity is crazy. But it does wonders for your single set max volume (and your wings, should you be in a calorie surplus).

I imagine its the same as boys dad where each one is completely different. I have 3 boys (10, 6, 4); its like there is mutual personality repulsion, each one is the polar opposite of the others. The oldest is a classic genx slacker that sits around playing video games all day and watching youtube; can't get him to do much of anything physical (and in general), but he is into programming and game modding and super into cars. The middle one needs to be social at all times and can't sit still for a second, he entertains himself climbing up the door frames and doing moves of some sort (kid is rockin a solid 6 pack at 6). Youngest is sneaky and shady and likes to play by himself; smart as a whip though and super self sufficient (unlike #1). Parenting each one is pretty different, even when they were the same age.

Gosh, good thing the fall wasn't worse. It seems each passing year it hurts more to fall down than it did the year before; and when things hurt it doesn't go away as fast as it used to.

Thanks Elastigirl! Workout Log - 1/3/22 I made a new workout plan starting after Christmas; while most days stayed similar, Mondays totally changed. From a day of cardio (running or the spin bike, depending on the weather) to a kickboxing/leg day hybrid. Thus far I've been super amped for this workout each time. Kickboxing - 15 min, max HR 160 My HRM cut out in the middle, but it came back in time for the peak towards the end. My right wrist and forearm is still ridiculously sore from cutting all the zippers, buttons, and rivets off of 84 lbs of old clothes to stuff my bag (its been almost a week), and the shock of punching only made it worse (same muscles...), esp with my old gloves that had no wrist support. I immediately recognized that issue last week and got new gloves though, caught some sweet Star Wars ones on crazy markdown on the Amazon (they're very legit gloves, must be a clearance, the cool ones were gone, I had to get the stormtrooper model). Long story short, I took it easy on the punching power today, especially with the right arm. For the most part I just freestyle, but riffing around jab-jab-cross-kick, a pyramid up to it (jab, jab-jab, jab-jab-cross, etc..), and swapping the kicks for uppercuts. I switch stance after each series and repeat opposite. Toward the end my footwork was verging on dancing (yes music was involved). This was a good workout, very similar to higher intensity spinning (but not sprints). HR was pretty much a continuous climb until the end. It'll be a bit before I can handle much more volume. Pistol Squats - 4/4, 4/4, 3/3 Keep on keepin on with Pistols. I haven't done a lot of leg work in the last year due to hurting my back doing a back squat, mostly just weighted step ups (and mentally a heavy spin workout "counts" as a leg workout somewhat). Since switching to weights, I've always tried to continue to incorporate pistols, even if I've been spotty with them. They are now going to be a regular part of my Monday workout. Heck I used to be able to bang out >15 per leg and did them with +70 in DB's. As the focus of my training is on fighting, pistols are a super obvious must do exercise; nothing will help more with single leg balance control and ankle mobility than single leg squatting. Last week I did 3 per leg all sets. Deadlift 135 x 5 225 x 3 235 x 3, 3 Prior to last week the last time I deadlifted period was 2019, the last time I deadlifted with a lot of load was 2017. Its been a while. I'm basically starting back as if I'm a beginner, adding 10 lbs to the bar a week.

I'm going back to my old workout plan that I rode 2012-2020. Which is legs M-Th, upper body T-F, cardio W-Sa, Sun rest or yoga. I had dropped a leg day starting in 2020 and was doing 3 cardio days instead since, but screw that now that I can deadlift and beat up a punching bag. Saturday I ran 2.34 miles in 29.1 minutes. The same 2.34 miles I've run at around 29 minutes for years now. I usually get really baked and put on the phish, zone out an go. I enjoy it, keeps me fit, even though there's been zero progress in ages or effort on that front. I don't really care, I don't really enjoy tryhard running; I like it to be more like mowing the lawn. Later tonight I have punching bag cardio, pistols, then deadlifts on tap. A kick ass and pick heavy shit up workout.

Huh, so basically everyone in this thread has been here forever. Hi y'all. I too am rockin the dadbod these days.

Hello NF, its been a while. This is pretty much the 10 year anniversary of "working out" for me. I started losing weight 9/11/11 but actual real workouts like legit cali and running (no offense to any beginners) didn't start until I'd dropped like 40 lbs walking on the treadmill. The NF beginners BW routine was one of the very first workouts I did (TBF it only lasted like 2 weeks before I moved on) but I started hanging around this place around then too and have been back off and on since. The very first challenge I posted in I believe was 10 years ago exactly, on the old workout blog. A lot has changed in the last 10 years but the one constant has remained that I work out. There have only been a handful of short periods when I wasn't regularly doing both cardio and strength training. That said in recent years my effort has been lacking when it comes to training; and whereas I was once a master of dieting, I've let things go there too a little too much. I leveled up my home gym again and am ready to buckle down and hit it hard. If I had to give excuses as to why I'm not at one of the peaks I once was despite the fact that I've been lifting a few times a week for years and doing cardio a few times a week for years, its that I became gym reliant then had my access to that cut off, both in terms of gym/no gym, then once at home, the breadth of things I could do (also gaining regular access to herb and its demotivating effects, lol). The overall plan: Abs baby. By my Birthday (July). My starting point is 212 lbs and ??? on the waist (gotta figure that out, kinda important). I cut last year, losing 25 lbs, getting out of the embarrassing zone into dadbod zone, but it started getting hard so I took a long break starting in Oct. Made it down to 209. Back at it now after the holidays. The nice long break should make cutting a piece of cake for a while (has been for the last week). I figure I can do a quick cut down to the 202-203 area here in the winter. Switch to a small surplus from March to mid-April, try to stay under 206 Then starting mid april cut to abs. Neighborhood pool opens late May. Under 200 by June, target goal is guesstimated to be 195 (need measurements to be sure). Goals: #1 Weigh myself every day Some of y'all might recoil in horror at this goal, but I'm super comfortable with the scale, and its the bare minimum "I'm on the train" as I log it in myfitnesspal. I skip logging days I know are crap numbers for whatever reason (this isn't a cheat, I'm honest with myself here). Logging my meals is a minor step above. I've learned that in myself, weighing daily and logging it is really important. That's all 10 years of my weight history in myfitnesspal. Every time there's a gap, the line goes up (straight lines = data gaps). #2 Beat up the Bag I added a 5 ft heavy bag to my gym recently and I want to integrate some of this type of cardio into my workouts. As a teen I made it as far as could test for black belt in TKD, so I have a fair amount of familiarity with beating on the bag. I've only done 2 kickboxing type workouts (1 with the bag) yet, wearing my HRM I'm hitting the 120-150 range right now, would like to work up to some 160+ HIIT. As I'm both a total noob here and quite experienced, its going to be a bit to figure out just what the heck even constitutes a good workout, what goals I want for myself, or how to even track anything. However I do know that I want the cardio I do other days (running or spinning) and the strength training to be with the purpose to make me a better fighter (this can be entirely superficial, just a motivation thing); beating up the bag is the core of the plan. I'm going to do this work on leg days, before I hit the iron, at least starting out. A subgoal, getting a bag in the first place grew out of imminently signing up the middle child at the local martial arts place. Its on pause now due to covid insanity, hopefully though things calm down in a few weeks and we can get him in. Subgoal is to do it, get Leo (6) signed up at martial arts school. Honestly I'm not even sure what forms they teach. There is definitely "risk" that ol dad could join in the fun too; maybe that is the fitness journey I'll eventually find myself on. #3 Make strength training progress This may sound simple but I haven't made any notable progress on any lifts for years. In fact I've gone backwards. I haven't set a PR at anything since 2016-17, most go back further than that. There's lots of reasons that are more excuses (face it, I got strong with basically nothing, just a doorway pullup bar and myself at home, that trashes almost everything that could be construed as a reason). But no more excuses. I expect weekly progress throughout this challenge on: Bench, Pullup, Front Squat, and Deadlift. This should be a layup, but we'll see. I've been benching regularly for years; once a week for 2-3 work sets (or 1...). Haven't seen progress in years and have actually lost some. Its obviously a volume problem first and foremost. Pullups are about the same, I'm doing what I've done for years, same rep counts; need more volume to progress. I haven't done either front squats or deadlifts since 2019, if not earlier, so I expect solid progress. These won't be the only exercises I do, but they are the easiest to track. Part of this goal being successful is having my butt in my gym every night by 10:30 (I usually work out 1030-1130 each night). If I start late and keep on slacking from there, the volume just isn't there. But one thing I do excel at in my gym, I never, ever, ever skip workouts, that was definitely what crushed my progress when I was lifting in the gym at work a few years ago. The time immediately before working out I'm working in my shop each night, so peeling myself away isn't always easy. #4 Read I like reading. I'm trying to read a few books right now. Its good to do to model good behavior for my kids. I barely ever read. So I need to do that, at least 1x a week. Preferably more.