Caramel

*spits out drink* YOU CAN ADD CINNAMON TO SWEET POTATOES?! *sprints to kitchen* Man, I f**king love cinnamon, you don't even know. I'm trying that! Anyway, an update. Had a weird thing happen at the gym tonight, was finishing up my first set, and I started feeling really nauseous and had to sit down. I used to get the same feeling whenever I went swimming, and it's like all the strength just left my body. As it was I couldn't even finish my first set without feeling like I had to vomit, so I called it off early. I don't know if it's exhaustion from having changed shifts early this week, which I'll admit has left me damn tired, or my current diet not keeping up with my exercising, but it sucked. So, whereas I would usually leave a day of rest after every gym visit, I will be going to the gym tomorrow after work again, to at least get up to 2-3 sets between both days. I kind of need to anyway, seeing as I'm travelling to visit my girlfriend from thursday morning-saturday, and won't be doing much exercise during that time (stop wiggling your eyebrows, ya pervs ). One good thing that came from tonight's short gym run was that I lasted longer on the treadmill than I usually do, and I CRUSHED my maximum press reps! I managed 7 on my first set, which is so weird considering all last week I was struggling with 3, so it's good to feel the difference at the start of the second week at least I also managed to pull myself up to eye-level with the pull-up bar when doing an assisted pull-up (where my lower legs are resting leaning on a bench ~1 metre high). So yeah, mixed night in terms of productivity. If anything, it'll spur me on even more to start really monitoring my meals, but for now I think I need to rest. Hope y'all are doing ok!

Aw, man. I ended up skipping gym last night due to a biiig blister popping on the heel of my foot (ladies ) and making it incredibly painful to walk, which sucks. On the plus side, I did apply for a buttload of jobs, which I've not had time to do in a while, so it wasn't a wasted night! And I'll be sure to go to the gym tonight, even if my foot isn't totally better I can just use the stationary bike for cardio instead of running. As a retrospective of my first week, I'm still making great progress considering how often I've been to the gym, so that's on target. Still going to keep on incorporating lead-up exercises to pull-ups and so on. Not prepared many of my own meals bar a post-gym smoothie and a stir fry, but seeing as the stir fry lasted me 3 nights I'm not going to beat myself up over it. Small progress is still progress! Will have to look up some recipes to use the sweet potatoes I have with that can fuel meeeee

Thanks for the support everyone! My laptop's wireless card seems to have stopped working so I might not be as active in here until I can get that sorted. Still going to the gym tonight though and will post how that goes. Thunderbirds HOOOO

Alriiight! Last night went wayy better than it could have, seeing as there were a bunch of dudebros hanging in the free weights section as soon as I arrived, which put me off starting my routine. So I decided that instead of doing anything half-heartedly I'd do cardio until they finished! I'd been meaning to incorporate more cardio anyway, so it was a blessing in disguise really! Ran for ~7 minutes on the treadmill, then did anohter 10 on a stationary bike. After the charming gentlemen were done taking off their shirts and comparing abs (I wish I was joking) they finally pissed off and let me get on with my routine, which went as follows: Assisted bodyweight rows (feet on press bench) 5, 5, 7. Squats -30kg exercise bar 12, 10. Squats -20kg barbell 10, 10. Overhead press 30kg 3, 4, 3 Bodyweight lunges 10, 10, 10 Press -20kg 5, 5 (after rest), 5 Deadlift -30kg 10, 10, 10 Bench rows -12kg 12, 12, 12 The Squats thing was interesting. Up until now I was using these shorter barbells 'exercise bars' to do them, and I was doing pretty well at 30kg with them. But when I tried it out with a full barbell it was more of a strain to keep balanced and everything, so I might keep trying to use the barbell from now on, to be sure I'm not doing it improperly or something. Chuffed about my press progress though! One more than last time

I may have actually sprayed my drink over the room reading this. THANKS OBAMA! Oh man. I don't think I could make eye contact with my cat now this is in my head xD

Oh my godddd this sounds like the BEST! I'm a sucker for cinnamon, so I'm definitely giving this a try!

Wow, you're really killing this challenge! I respect anyone who has the bravey to calorie count, I dread to think what my intake must be! I too share your shorts-related pain. I didn't wanna buy some new ones for starting the challenge, so I used some old ones I had...... Needless to say when I was trying to squat there was a certain, ahem, arching issue. Kudos on the running goal!

Yoo, I'm another recruit from Zion looking to make some questionable moral choices and survive this apocalypse!

That's some great work with your eating goals (what the hell is cheez??) I wouldn't worry about the scale's lies, it most likely is muscle gain from YAYOG and your walking. Keep it up!

Hey guys! I apologise for being pretty quiet on here the last day-and-a-bit, I've been pretty shattered with work and everything. Yesterday was one of my days off, so I decided to just take a day and put my feet up. It really helped, I feel rejuvenated and had a really cool day with a friend from work, so woo! I'm also massively happy that I've made some real progress towards a secret goal I've been working towards, which is putting some money aside every payday to get me out of my RIDICULOUS £2000 overdraft that my bank boosted me up to without asking while I was working abroad last year. After putting some money in it yesterday, I saw that I now have £500 that I can put towards lowering it, which is great news! I'm going back to the gym tonight, where I'll be incorporating some intro exercises to the pull-ups, like bodyweight rows, as well as a bit more cardio to help me burn some more fat. Hope you're all well! Well, I had a peek on '> I've not started doing anything but cardio to warm up yet, but as I increase the weight I will definitely start at 10kg before moving up. Thanks for the link! Wow, really? awesome! Good to know that it's possible! What kind of progression did you do in terms of exercises? Thanks 0gravity oooh that's awesome, I can use that! Thanks a lot. Haha, am I the only one who expected the last exercise to be the guy just ripping the bar off the wall and throwing it like a javelin? xD

Unless you sleepwalked across campus, I'd count that as conscious exercise! Exercise is exercise, and while going to the gym is obviously good for your 'let's do some exercise' mentality, you can turn anything into an exercise if you do it energetically enough. To quote a corny phrase, no matter how slow you walk/run/swim, you're still a lot faster than you would be on your couch! Great job in telling those project people to sod off too, I can't stand people that feed on the guilt and goodwill of others. You're doing great, keep at it!

Nothing wrong with adjusting your targets to suit your pace! The best thing to do is see how many you can just about do, with all your reserves of strength and muttered curses, and then make that your target for the next few days. Because if you get even one more than last time you'll know, and it'll feel amazing! Looking good on your other goals though, keep at it with the job application stuff! I had to do something very similar when I was on jobseekers, it's bleak but at least you have your family encouraging you

DOMS is the true nemesis of anyone's challenge. hang in tharr! You'' find yourself adjusting to it as your week goes on. Personally, although it is a bit exhausting, I kind of like the burn, it's like a mental tattoo of your progress! Good luck finishing up this week!

Lunges are my kryptonite, I swear. THEY LOOK SO EASY! Ahh well. Good work on keeping it all up! Once you get every squat past parallel, THEN you'll be cooking with gas

Whewww! I just finished making my first ever post-workout smoothie, and it is good! A little bit chunky/leafy, but I'll still take that as a good first attempt! Anyway, down to business. Tonight at the gym, I bumped up the weight a bit to see how far I could go, and by the end of the second set my grip was slipping on the deadlifts and I was struggling with pressing so I ended up doing like 2 and a half sets. I still feel good about it, it's good to see what weight's my current limit to beat. I also incorporated some lunges because I really, really suck at lunges and want to incorporate some leg-focused exercise. Here's the breakdown: Squats @30kg: 12, 10, 10 Overhead press @30kg: 3, 3, 3 Lunges @12kg: 5, 5 Presses @20kg: 5, 4 Deadlifts @30kg 10, 10 Bench rows @12kg 12, 12 Chest press @20kg: 10, 8 And for those of you curious about the smoothie, I used: 1 banana, a couple handfuls of kale, a couple scoops of peanut butter (crunchy. That was a mistake), one lime, juiced, one cup of almond milk, one cup of blueberries. Now I'm going toooo sleep!

Oh wow, so I was super butthurt the other night that I couldn't get our blender to work after the gym, and resolved to buy a new one. Today I mentioned it to my stepdad just in passing, and he went over to it, straightened the lid, and turned it on right away. Stay in school, kids.

Thanks for the heads-up! I'm going to add overhead presses to my routine tonight, which should help a bit, and as much as I'm opposed to machines I'll have a look for any pull-down that might help me build muscle in those areas. Wow, that's real old school haha sounds like it was a blast! Those all sound like good disciplines to me, although after seeing how amazingly efficient Muay Thai is I'd lean more towards that if it was my choice. Good luck getting back into it! Mm, that's very true. To be hoenst, I wouldn't mind it if I could find somewhere around me, I think with enough common sense you could find a way to apply anything to a real-life situation. Haha, to be fair I don't think many things stand up to Muay Thai, it's brutal. Thanks Ciara! Work those arm/back muscles! We'll be there in no time Oh god, I don't know if I'm ready for another food industry exposed documentary after being shown various vegan propaganda in university. Scarred me for life!

What's up Yandapanda! Fellow Matrix enthusiast here good luck with the HIIT stuff, I'm also pretty interested in seeing the results it'll have. Good on you if you can stick to paleo, I keep trying and then forgetting to look up more than one recipe at a time xD oh well!

Good start to your challenge! Man, I miss having a long bath. Maybe I should have one on my next day off... Also, chocolate shake! SO jealous.

It's great to read a challenge from someone with a really positive mindset, so thank you for that some great goals there, that bodyweight workout is a fantastic way to keep yourself balanced in terms of what you're exercising. Subbed for motivation flag-waving!

'Sup red-pill-taker-in-arms! Those are some good, steady goals you've got there. Keep at it and you'll bust through in no time! Also, I may officially start calling cycling cardio via mechanics. That sounds awesome.

Wow, it looks like you got this challenge down! Keep up the good work Amdhiel, I'll be rooting for you!

Muahaha, face the craving and overcome it through my username! I used to do mixed martial arts in university and found it really cool. I'm more interested in functional martial arts that you could use for actual self defence rather than flowery outdated katas and so on, but on the other hand I have always loved kung fu. So I guess I'm pretty open to most styles, and I'd like to try out boxing. What about you? Thanks balesom! Haha, it does seem to help when you're clutching out one last lift, I will say. That 4th rep in my press was one long f*********k youuuuuu, if I remember correctly.

Holla alwaysreading, those are some great starting goals to a healthy lifestyle! I've got diabetes in my family too, and I'm hoping to steer well clear of it with my new slate as well. Good luck!

Aw, don't. I was so gutted I couldn't make my cool smoothie but there's randomly a new healthy eating fast food (??!) place opened on the way to work so I might pick one up from there after scrutinising them a bit.... I know right! With any luck I'll make steady progress with that, and eat plenty of protein to fuel my muscles.