Geek On Fire

Don't feel too bad about missing workouts to gain sleep - think about it this way: how well will you function if you don't sleep for 3 days compared to if you don't workout for 3 days? That's how important sleep is, but we don't give it its due. It sounds like you've been through the wringer for this one, mate. I'm sorry to hear about your Mum, too, that's pretty sucky. There's no shame or anything in dialling back the challenge goals to allow yourself to recuperate and tackle the situation life has thrown at you - after all, self improvement isn't all 10K runs and burpees (or whatever other ridiculous physical punishments we choose to pursue ). Looking after yourself mentally, and allowing you to go easy on yourself when you need a breather are also just as important. Nothing wrong with stopping to take a few deep breaths along the way.

Overdue update and challenge wrap-up My apologies for the lack of recent updates, I've been completely flat out. Here goes. Firstly, the move went well. Last week the wife and I hired a small truck, took a day off work, and commenced the move into our home at last. We managed one truck load on our own, then she had to tap out, and I was lucky enough that a few of the guys (well, 2 guys and 1 girl) were able to come and help out too. I'm putting it down as a serious day of strength training, and a demonstration that sometimes you can find a workout where you least expect it. A day to rest, then it was back into karate training on Thursday night, followed by leaving for karate training camp on Friday night. The kids and I had a great time at training camp. It started with a morning run on the Saturday, which was interesting for me just to compare my fitness to my training mates (I prefer to run alone, so there's not usually a gauge for me to compare to). We also had a session with guest instructors who gave us a taste of Tae Kwon Do in the afternoon, which more or less destroyed everyone's legs with an hour of kicking drills. Day 2 of camp involved a morning ab workout, which is always fun, followed by a weapons introduction, and then 2 guest instructors from a Brazilian Jujitsu school gave us an intro to basic grappling. Needless to say I went home sore and tired. Last week (the 5th to the 11th), was a bit of a challenge. I did no training on Monday to aid my recovery from the weekend, and even grabbed a short massage from a place near work. Tuesday I went for a 5K morning run in the new neighbourhood to help the legs relax again, and in the afternoon I began to feel unwell. This continued into Wednesday and Thursday, but had cleared up enough by Thursday night for me to do my regular karate class. By Friday morning I was feeling well enough for another run, so did a gentle 10K before the sun was up (mainly because I woke up at 4am for some reason.) Saturday was karate training again, and moving the rest of my stuff into our house, so more lifting. I went into this 4 week challenge knowing that it was going to be very vague, and with very open ended goals. This was mainly because I knew that it was going to be a rough 4 weeks, and needed to keep the goals very loose. Ultimately, I think it's paid off, because I'm coming out the other side of a very turbulent period actually feeling pretty good. I feel that I succeeded in keeping active in spite of everything that's been going on, and am entering the next phase with a pretty good baseline. Although I've not had any dedicated strength training sessions, I've been able to find workouts in what I've had to do anyway, and am now set up to re-establish a routine. I've also followed through on the plan to start up in one of the boxing classes at the dojo, which will knock over strength for one day of the week. Thanks to the ability to listen to my body that I started developing last year, and these fairly open goals, I've been able to keep my mental balance through all of the turmoil of the last 4 weeks, and am feeling positive and prepared for the next phase. I'm planning a bit of a reboot to wipe some of the habits developed while I've been in limbo, and am looking forward to unpacking the box with my scale and measuring tape with a hint of trepidation. That's everyone for following along, and for your support over the last 4 weeks, see you next challenge!

Thanks. To be honest, I'm struggling a bit, but what feels like a marathon has finally ended - settlement went through today and we can finally move in! Now for a bit of disruption as we move and settle into a new routine, then life can return to normal. Honestly, I think I need to reboot for the next challenge. Thank you. It's good to be back amongst people who are on the same wavelength. I feel like I've flubbed the SMART framework for this one, but I'm currently running on a principle that it's better to do something than to give in and do nothing at all. In the absence of any proper updates, here goes: As described, I'm in the midst of relocating my family, but the light at the end of the tunnel is finally visible! It feels like I'm holding myself together with duct tape, but the end is in sight, so I'm just holding on for a bit longer. All in all, I'm keeping sane, although I did get a little bit down today simply as a result of disturbed sleep. I. CANNOT. WAIT. TO. SLEEP. IN. MY OWN. BED. AGAIN! The activity level is definitely being kept up - last week, in addition to my regular karate training, I got in a 10K and 20K run through the forest where we're staying. This was only the 2nd time I've cracked the 20km barrier, and I was pleased with how it went, although next time I might bring a Camelbak so I have a drink available. This was also my last run of the Southern Hemisphere summer, so it was nice to go out with a bang. To give me an incentive to keep up the training, I've registered to do the Red Bull Wings For Life World Run again this year, and have set a goal to get past 15km before the catcher car passes me - last year I just missed this goal by a few hundred metres. The strength training goal is about to get a big boost, as tomorrow I'm taking a day off work to move my furniture out of storage and into our new home. I also have a training camp with my karate school over the weekend, so I'm sure this will involve a bit of everything. I've also started a bit of an experiment on myself, and have started taking an Omega-3 supplement (for multiple reasons, but primarily to see if it can help improve my ability to focus), so it will be interesting to see if there's a noticeable long term improvement.

Ain't nothing wrong with being a geek... (greetings from the colonies!) Sorry I'm late to the party. They look like some really worthy goals, I'm following along from here on in.

Apologies for arriving a week late. It's just been one of those weeks. Following on from the last challenge, my family and I are still living in limbo while we wait to take possession of our next home. The outgoing owner is being a bit obstructive, so, even though our bank is ready to go, they're not allowing us to settle early and move in sooner. Thus, I'm writing this from the kitchen of an AirBnB. My goals for this challenge are a continuation of last time, although better tuned to my circumstances, and continue the theme of keeping things simple: 1 - Keep active even though life is a bit up in the air. We're fortunate enough to be more or less surrounded by forest where we are, so I've mapped out a couple of running routes that meet my needs. I'm also keeping up with my karate training, as the dojo isn't too far away. 2 - Find ways to incorporate strength training into my routine. The bodyweight training I started is sort of on hold, but I'm taking whatever opportunities I can to do strength work. I'm also making preparations to add one of the boxing/fitness classes at my karate club to the routine, so that will inject a lot of strength work into the schedule. (It will also make Thursdays after work a 3 hour training-fest) 3 - Maintain mental balance in the face of our current situation. Despite the disruption that living out of bags has caused, it's important that I don't let this situation get the better of me - for the sake of my family. Combined with a fairly heavy workload at the moment, I'm pretty run down (hence the late arrival to the party). I need to listen to my body and mind at this time so that I can get all 4 of us across the finish line that's in our new home. I've done alright so far. Even though I took a few days to recover from my last run (decided to test myself and clocked up 19.4km [about 12 miles]), this morning I was up before the sun and got one in before work. Like I said, i'm keeping up with my karate training and also trying to keep the kids motivated. I think my daughter is losing interest, so he goal is to get her to grade for her blue belt then give her a break if she wants it. We also have a training camp coming up at the start of March, which we're all looking forward to. It's nearly midnight now, so I'm going to turn in for the night, but I'll attempt to get another update in in the next couple of days.

LOL - that's a classic.

So my first challenge in a while has come and gone, and how do I feel about that? Positive. Mostly positive, actually. This is a change for the guy that last year would have been thinking he hadn't done good enough. The big move definitely threw my plans into a bit of disarray, but it's also made me further appreciate using my body as a gym. Sure, I've not been able to get in all of the workouts that I wanted to in the form I wanted, but I've still gotten in much more strength training that I'm used to this month thanks to the work required to move house. Even as I type this I feel muscular aches right through my body, which tells me that I've done alright. I feel that this really is the path for me. There's a few challenges want to set for myself this year: Red Bull Wings For Life is coming up again, and I'd like to get further than I did last year; I'm finally feeling confident enough to tackle a half marathon, and think I found a good one; I want to earn my green belt at karate and take on the role of deshi; our GM at work is talking about entering a work team at Tough Mudder, so I want to have a crack at demolishing him. All of these, plus life in general, are going to require functional strength, so I will continue to pursue this worthy goal - all while being mindful of not overdoing it and running myself into the ground. There were a couple of concepts I learned of during my instructors' course, both are components of Black Belt Excellence in martial arts: Be Happy, But Never Satisfied; and Compare Yourself Not To Others, But To Your Own Potential. These are the mantras I'm working to apply to myself from here on in - it's OK to look up to those who are ore adept of capable than me and be inspired by them, but I can only achieve what my body and mind are capable of, and that's just fine. See you all next challenge!

Thanks, guys. I've been trying really hard to hold everything together, as Mrs On Fire hasn't coped too well with the situation, so it's my turn to be the rock (not the Dwayne Johnson kind)

Thanks! It's on the verge of going well, just gotta get over a small hump of not technically living anywhere. I'm planning to be more active here again once a bit of dust settles. This line kept playing over and over in my head as I carried boxes and cleaned the old house, and ultimately dragged my weary carcass to bed during the move, so thanks for the inspiration. Apologies to everyone for the lack of updates. The family and I have completely moved out of our old house, and are staying in a bit of an internet black hole at the moment. Trying to arrange the change of ownership on my new place right now, but it may not happen until the end of February. After 3 weeks of holiday away from home around Xmas, and now living out of bags less than a month later, there is nothing I want more in this world than to settle down with my family again. I'm feeling tired and stressed, and although I tend to suppress much of my emotion, I'm finding my temper is short at the moment, and I'm snapping a bit at the kids, which is not cool. All in all, the move went alright, despite a bit of trouble with the removalists not heeding instructions, and finding out about a small repair I had to to to the old house before ownership changed hands one day before settlement. Surely it's not always like this, is it? Also, sorry if anyone out there wasn't able to do squats last week - I think I did them all picking up boxes and there were none left for anyone else to do. Moving last week has really disrupted my routine, meaning I've not kept up with my strength training the way I'd hoped to. I was prepared to allow a couple of days, last week, but was so tired I ended up not getting a single workout in - although I did complete Ride The Night, my annual ride 64km (about 40 miles) around the streets of Melbourne, last Saturday. My cousin and I put the hammer down and did the whole thing in 3 hours with a couple of rest stops, so I took a couple of days to recover. Haven't gotten in strength training this week, but I do have karate tomorrow night, so I'll get some strength work in there. Planning a run for Friday morning, so I'll attempt to get one training session in over the weekend just to get the wheels turning again. The big thing is that I'm still motivated, and will continue with this goal into the next challenge period as planned.

Thanks, mate. It's pretty intense, but the end result should be worth it. The new location is going to change my kids lives for the better.

I'm well overdue for an update, apologies for that - got a lot of balls in the air at the moment. I sold my home late last year, and D-Day is next week. We've been unable to find anywhere to live in the interim, despite our best efforts, so to say the wife and I have been stressed is an understatement. Just this week we've signed a contract to purchase a gorgeous place really close to my kids' school, but still had to find somewhere to live in the interim - AirBnB to the rescue! Got a roof and beds sorted now, but Mrs On Fire is still pretty stressed as she didn't envisage the scenario playing out like this. It's all going to end ok, but it will take a little time for the new house to grow on her because she wasn't 100% sold on it. In amongst all of this calamity, I've managed to stick (roughly) to my routine. I'm finding that keeping active is good for my mental health anyway, so everyone wins. Got a mountain bike ride on on Sunday, which was great. I usually ride with mates, and we typically solve the world's problems while we ride. Even manages a PB on one of my favourite sections of trail, so that was a plus. On Monday is started the day with the Ruffian Workout, which is easily the toughest of the 3 I've selected. Got through my 3 sets and felt pretty good, the muscle soreness after workouts has already abated. I ended the day with signing a contract of sale. I was super tired on Monday night, and was up late, so I delayed my run until Tuesday night and went out for 13km. Almost rolled my ankle on one rough section of the trail, but somehow saved it and made it home in one piece. I've you've ever considered trail running at night, I highly recommend it. The fores is so different at night. I used Wednesday as a rest day, because I was sore from running and knew it's what my body needed. I'm going to make up for it by using the extra credit slot on Friday morning for another run. I have to say, I'm loving the flexibility of this schedule - there's a lot to be said for leaving one or 2 free slots in the plan. This morning I rotated back to the Action Hero workout and got through it with much less discomfort than the 1st time. I'm beginning to feel like I could add and extra set and still be OK. This weekend I will be sitting an instructor's exam at karate. Another thing I took on last year was putting my hand up to begin deshi training, which as an introvert is really going to put me outside my comfort zone. We're finishing our packing this weekend, and moving house next week, so I don't expect to be able to stick to my training, but will still try to. I may also have trouble putting another update together for a few days, so apologies if I go dark for a bit. Just know that I'm still trying to stick to the plan.

Yesterday went well. I was up at 6 and got in a hilly (280m of elevation gain) 5K run to start the day, and was pleased to notice that the muscular aches had dissipated. This included the most uneven section I've been on since dislocating the toe, and it didn't present any issues, so that was a bonus. The best thing about getting out early where I live is it gives you to opportunity to witness some of the wildlife that lives in the area. I was treated with the sight of a wallaby on the trail having a morning munch. Karate also went well, once again I managed to not injure myself, although there was a moment near the end of the class when I knocked my bad toe and got a bit of stabbing pain for a couple of minutes, but then it came good. I elected to take today (Friday) as a rest day. We did a lot of strength work at karate, so I figured it was best to give myself one day to let my body recuperate from this week's activities. I slept terribly, too, so it was an easy decision to make.

In defence of this awful display of an adult failing to walk without running into something, we were both rushing to help our son who had slipped on the edge of a swimming pool and banged his head - so it's like saving an orphan. I just failed to notice when Mrs On Fire stopped rushing

Thanks! It's kinda funny how I got it, as it was caused by accidentally kicking my other half in the back of the heel while walking bare foot. Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk

Day 2 was successfully accomplished. I woke a little earlier on Tuesday morning and get in a 10K run as promised. My legs were still hurting from the jump squats, so my pace was way off, but I kept within the heart rate range I set a while back (136-146bpm) and completed it. I've also been away from home for a few weeks, so I'm getting back into the swing of running in the hills again. This morning I did the Inner Beast workout, which includes more plyometric exercises (I had to learn what plyometrics were to know this). It felt easier than the last workout, but the addition of the more explosive strength movements was appreciated. I can see these being useful for generating power in karate. I'm aching all over from the workouts so far, which I take as a good sign indicating that I have gains to make in this area. Tomorrow brings my first karate class of the year, which I've been looking forward to. I will need to be careful though, as I have a toe that is recovering from being dislocated in late December. It's obviously good enough that I can run on it, but I'm still a little nervous about it.

Thanks, man, it's good to be back. I like to think I've baked enough flexibility into the plan to make it sustainable.

Day one has ended well. Was up at 6am and completed 3 sets of the Action Hero workout. This one includes lots of core work, and a lot of jump squats, which I haven't done for a while. It's surprising how quickly they can deplete the power in your legs! Overall I enjoyed the workout. I think I could have managed another set or two, but I want to ease into this one, so kept it at 3. I decided that an evening 10K was a bad idea after all of the squats (starting to feel DOMS coming on), so I'm going to adjust my alarm and do it tomorrow morning. I figure there's no sense running myself into the ground at the starting gate.

Right back at you, man. Wasn't sure if you were still here after reading your last challenge. Yep, both the little 'uns are still training, my daughter has completed her first grading, and we even managed a father-son grading in December and both earned our 5th kyu - it's surprisingly difficult to grade in front of your own son

Room at the bar for a lapsed ranger?

Yup, I'm back after a lengthy hiatus, and am ready to take on a new, but simplified challenge. I'm hoping to become more active here again, and reconnect with the friends I made last year (you know who you are). Since I dropped off the RADAR last year, I tried logging meals for 3 months as a research exercise, kept maintaining my fitness, and even managed a 15K PB running the City2Sea in Melbourne in November. I've also learned from the mistakes of last year, and identified that I tripped myself up by trying to do too much at once, including my challenges here. I didn't take into account that I'm a single tasker, and so ended up overwhelming myself, so my mental detriment. In light of this, I'm going to apply the concept of "Shu-Ha-Ri". I first learned of this concept when I began reading up on the theory side of karate, and came across it on the awesome Karate Nerd blog. It basically translates to "Follow the rules, Break the rules, Make the rules", and represents the different stages along the path to achieving mastery. I'm beginning to find myself using this in my own karate training now that I'm beyond the novice grades, and due in part to being wired up as a single tasker, I'm going to sort of break the rules with this challenge - I'll be tracking only one thing and not the usual four. Last year I took on intermittent fasting, became an OK long distance runner, and managed to lose and keep off 8kg. I call it an overall success. What I didn't manage to nail down was strength training, something I need to enable me to be better at the activities l enjoy. I tried a few things, including the Primal Fitness method of the 4 primal movements (push up, pull up, plank, squat), and progressed alright for a while, but it quickly became stale, and I fell off the wagon. Strength is the key component missing from all of my other activities, especially upper body strength, so I'm making this a focus for the year. With this renewed focus, I've racked my brains and applied the lessons learned from last year (don't over complicate things and burn out, find a way to keep it fresh, don't overdo it) and have created a training schedule that includes all of my interests - karate, distance running, mountain biking - with bodyweight strength training added in. At present, it looks like this: Schedule Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Morning MTB or long run Strength Strength Short Run (5k-ish) Strength (extra credit) Afternoon Karate Evening Mid Length Run (about 10k) Karate For the training part of this, I've trawled through the workouts on Darebee and selected 3 that are the most appealing and that I will most likely enjoy - Ruffian, Action Hero, and Inner Beast. My plan is to rotate though these, thus keeping things fresh. If I start to get bored of one of them, then it's no big deal to find another and switch it in. For the month of January my challenge (or mission as I think of it internally) is to incorporate this additional training into my plan above, and tweak when necessary. Realistically, this will need to roll over into February just to nail down the routine. Results will be measured by actually performing these workouts, with additional metrics provided by the weight and body measurements I already take to roughly calculate my bodyfat percentage. I last measured this on the 4th of January, so that's my zero point for this - 79.6kg and 15.91%. My alarm is set for 30 minutes earlier tomorrow morning, and the workouts are printed out and sitting next to me at the table right now. Let's go!

Wow, so much has happened since I was on last, and it looks like you've really progressed yourself. Looking sharp in the uniform, too. Nice work, mate!

Yes, this for sure. I've fallen into that trap.

Thanks! I had a similar mindset to yourself towards IF. I'd been aware of it for a couple of years, and had read up on the potential benefits, but didn't think I could miss an entire meal without losing my mind. Starting on a weekend definitely helped me to transition into it gently, as did going with 16:8 fasting, which I think is the least restrictive form. It was definitely worth doing, as I managed to drop 8kg really quickly, and have kept it off. The thing to remember is that none of this is a religion, so it's fine to have a day where you do get breakfast in here and there, or sometimes have a little something in the evening - I've recently tweaked the formula and now subscribe to Mark Sisson's mantra of WHEN (When Hungry, Eat Now), so if I've had a couple of days of good training, and I'm hungry in the morning, I'll eat, and be OK with that.

After a bit of reading up on the 3 main different body types, I've come to the conclusion that I'm a classic endomorph - not much upper body musculature, and too much squishiness around my waist. As such, I'm trying to read up on the optimal exercise and nutrition for my body type. It's interesting to learn about, and I am planning some minor tweaks to my diet, since it appears that I'm more or less doing the right exercise for me.

They're doing pretty well, thanks. My daughter has now settled in at our karate club, and is working towards her first grading!